Will comment some final thoughts on the Faerie Festival later. Though right now just want to repost my thoughts about this year's Trick-Or-Treating here. I posted them on JN though, like know, I'm late to the discussion so who knows if anyone saw them. I posted a shorter, summarized thoughts on Herdy's Neoboard thread asking for feedback, I can post that here too. Onto my thoughts:
Probably a bit late to join, but wow, I really like the spooky story angle they did here!
That said, there are some headscratching things I'll go over as I get to them.
GENERAL SETUP: I know generally the Trick-Or-Treating aspect is kept separate from Halloween Events, though still it's been over a decade since they tied it to something more eventful. Like I think back to 2011's Saskia Masks event or 2013's Spooky Food Eating Contest. Those were fun mix-ups and wouldn't mind something more involved again.
STORY SET-UP: Despite this, I like what was done. Having a spooky "story", or at least pasage in a book, to go along with each bag. And I like each was presented differently, in both "design" of the book (would like for them to be items, some sound interesting) and how they were written. Obviously some are setup for the next plot, though the ones which didn't (on the surface) gave me Neopedia vibes which was nice. Though, I do question some stuff
So, for those who didn't read the News, Reginald was put in charge of the Trick-Or-Treating Event and, in addition to the goodie bags, there's a book with a spooky story in it from his personal collection. And that's basically it.
Now, on paper it's a fine set-up. But when you start seeing what these books are & the story they contain, you start wondering where in the world did Reginald get these books? We have:
* An ancient faded book (alright).
* A handmade book with ramblings of a crazed Sloth loyalist (has Reginald been to Virtupets, and even so where did he find this?).
* A waterlogged logbook of Captain Scarblade (Note Neovia is nowhere near the Neopian ocean).
* A pitch black book with runes that hurt your mind trying to decipher it (should you be letting other people even read this book?).
* An ethereal book of The Three trying to take over your mind (WHY would you let others read this?!).
* A book that's almost done mutating that's from Vira (okay, I can see how Reginald would at least have this book, but it's another that feels should be in a "forbidden section").
* A student mage's notebook (so what happened to the student mage that Reginald has her notebook?)
Like, is Reginald is okay? Being two or three of those books have some bad magic around them, one specifically trying to mind control you, I'm kind of concern about Reginald now. Like, is he even aware these were the books he picked? Is he even still "aware" or has he been turned into a mind controlled puppet? Well, big fat question mark as we don't ever return to him. Which, by the way, does that mean we still "own" the 7 books? With at least one pointing toward the next plot, are we going to start it with these 7 books in our plot inventory and they'll have a role to play in solving some puzzles? Which, if so, really neat idea. Eitherway, I also wouldn't mind seeing these books be made into actual book items for our Neopets to read (or to be put into Galleries where they apply).
Taking a closer look at each book:
ANCIENT FADED BOOK:
Nothing major here. Just a quick retelling of the Darkest Faerie's story up to this point. Not going to dwell too much on it. I like that Tormund and Roberta got a mention, feels like those two get left out of things sometimes. Mentions "rumors" her next plan is in motion, which makes me curious is this a red herring? Like, if you don't know who Drakara is you can easily see how people would think the figure with Vira in the Faerie Festival's final teaser comic is The Darkest Faerie. Or is this maybe implying TDF is working with Drakara (which would be a big twist as that would mean TDF would have to have lost a lot of power to even think about working with another powerful Dark Faerie).
HANDMADE SLOTH RAMBLINGS BOOK:
So, sounds like whoever this is they're a leader of a Sloth loyalist group. I don't feel we've ever met a character like that before, at least one who isn't crazy as this book implies them to be. Garoo is militant, Parlax an opportunist schemer, and Grimilix is an introverted follower. None would either write like this or be looking for Sloth. It could be an existing character that doesn't have much story to them. There's Zelroo, Sloth's ship builder, though he would seem more like the mad scientist type at best. There's also Xarthmog, a programmer Sloth loyalist who has a random Plushie and nothing else; maybe this is him? Eitherway, nothing much else to peer from this. It is an amusing piece with of course hints that Sloth may be returning, though we already knew his minions were looking for the Space Faerie Token so it's also not anything we didn't know.
SCARBLADE'S WATERLOGGED LOGBOOK:
Now we're getting to the interesting stuff! TDF rumored to have a plan and vows of loyalist finding Sloth, obvious but also vague. But here we find out what Scarblade been doing these past few years. He rebuilt his crew even stronger and fiercer than before, has rebuilt his wealth & infamy, and has tricked his new crew in thinking he's still captaining them when in fact he's with a mysterious woman obtaining some ultimate power & treasure (and still plans on destroying New Maraqua). This is definitely building up to the new plot, methinks the mysterious woman likely being Drakara (I guess she hid being a Dark Faerie from him?).
JET-BLACK, WARPED BINDER BOOK:
So I don't know how I feel about this one. It makes the Shadow Usul into this Eldritch Abomination being who has tremendous power that can take down an entire village mob in one fell swoop with a chilling storm of darkness. I never got that impression from the Shadow Usul. Yeah, it's a monster, but it always felt like a "personal" kind of monster. Like it's not this force but rather a creature which hunts and stalks you via the shadows it can meld with and travel between. Like, it could probably take down an entire village mob, but it would do so via taking them out one-by-one as the villagers are lost & scattered in the dark woods foolishly trying to look for it. It's certainly an interesting story and does feel like I'm reading a Neopedia entry, so there's that. Not sure if it's leading to anything though. I guess the author of this tale is still alive, not sure if its meant to be anyone we know (off the top of my head... Gilly? We don't really know anything about her backstory).
THE THREE'S ETHEREAL BOOK:
This is a fun and interesting one. I like the idea behind it, The Three writing a book that's actually a way for them to sneak into your mind via directly talking to you "through" the book. It ended as ominously as it could, though not with much of a punch. Though what interests me especially is that we got some clarification on who-is-who of The Three, or at least one member. For one, we know the Faerie is the only female of the group and she's Ambition. We still technically don't know which between the tall, sword-wielding Gelert and the squat, transparent Skeith is Revenge and Greed, though I think it's rather obvious. I also think this is the first time on the site it's confirmed these are their names.
VIRA'S GREY-TURNING BOOK: Vira's tale, but from her point of view which is interesting (yes, Vira, you're very "humble" praising how beautiful you were). Seems like after her Mynci Paw wish she gave up all hope and joined the "darkness" that cursed her feeling she can't fight against it. Her philosophy she shares with the reader: Might as well give in to the all-powerful being and blindly hope whatever it promises it grants. Resistance is futile. Though, now I wonder, is the Grey-Turning of the book a possible hint at one of Drakara's power? It's not exactly what happened to Vira, she didn't turn Grey she mutated into an imp (also, does this Drakara is the one who cursed Vira?). Actually, that would be more fitting to Jennumara, the Dark Faerie who turned Baelia to a Grey Faerie (though, that's not exactly her power, any Faerie who loses their power turns into a Grey Faerie). Maybe I'm putting too much thought into this.
STUDENT MAGE'S NOTEBOOK:
A bit of an odd one. This mage apparently was a fellow student of Xandra when they were in magic training school. Xandra used her as bait to draw out a monster eating (I guess?) people, using a magic spell with trinkets to trap it in a cage. So I guess Xandra was always drawn to using powerful magical artifacts to accomplish her goals, and I guess also manipulate whoever she found useful. Curious what the torn out pages were about, like the other pages are assignments (I guess basic stuff as they weren't interesting enough to know about). And, as I mentioned before, who was this mage (and how did Reginald get a hold of their old notebook)?
REWARDS: All I really got to say on that is I like how a few have rare album items instead of just the one. Kind of wished all of them have a high value specific item, but from what it looks like the shared rewards are a nice range of items so can't complain.
That said, there are some headscratching things I'll go over as I get to them.
