The Legacy of Saradomin (Part 1)

[Slade]

Originally Posted by Pogo

I think there's quite a bit of potential for Big Movie spoofs here

Yes please, people!

[Jaret]

Great movie, one of the best, though, I don't think it beats Vlarion. Anyway, I thought everything was really well done... I did, however, notice some things:
1) Some of the voice acting feels "emotionless". I didn't really feel anything for the characters.
and 2) The bricks used in the final battle were too bright and didn't allow the characters to really stand out...

Considering those are the two only pet-peeves, congratulations. You can tell alot of work was put into this. And, another major awesome thing is...
You used FFX music! Now I want to play it because of the credits music... Anyway, great job... I give it a 9.6/10.

[Dark Figure]

Greatest movie ever, 30/10! Better than Vlarion!

[Ben Rice]

This movie requires more attention. MORE.

[Dominator Dan]

haha i thought looking back at my post i'd be all oh man what the fuck was i on * embarassed *, but it seems pretty normal for some reason

[Ned]

It's all you, Dan.

I found this movie particularly interesting because of the way the construction of the movie seemed to reflect the advances in v3dmm's expansions over time. As the movie progressed, I found myself admiring the visuals more and recognizing Aaron's font expansions being used to increasing (and better) effect. One specific shot of a mountainous landscape during the trek out of Cadfael was particularly stunning, and reflected how much better the visuals can be with these fonts.

[Anders Borg]

Okay I haven't been able to finish seeing this through until just now, mainly because my patience when it comes to watching 3dmm movies have been slacking a lot. Just so you know, it's not because of the movie.

Will's big movie is finally here, does it disappoint? Not at all. It's been in the making for what, 4 years? If I remember correctly. On and off of course, and you can see that Chippy here has gotten better through the movie's progress. Animation, scenery and direction wise. I sense a bit of Haynes in there, but that's not a bad thing. I will admit that I haven't paid much attention to progress of this movie, other than asking how it's going on MSN every now and then. This is mostly because I'm not that big of a fan of the genre, BUT the movie itself somehow was very interesting. I don't think there were any slow spots, I'd have to see it again just to check but right now I'd say no. No slow spots are good, because then you have the viewers attention pretty much through the entire film. Now for some random mentions.

First off, I'd like to say that the soundtrack was awesome. MOSTLY because of the WoW soundtrack, it was cool being able to listen to it someplace else besides in the game.

Like I mentioned before, the movie progresses as well as Will's 3dmm skills. The last few minutes was a great watch. The last boss caught me by surprise, I did not expect that at all, and I liked it. It reminded me of The Stockades and Deadmines (Will knows what I'm talking about). Hell the whole movie reminded me of WoW in movie form. KICKASS.

This was a great watch, you must be absolutely stoked to finally have finished this. I'd understand if you didn't bother making part 2 seeing as this took so long, but hopefully the feedback you receive from us will bring you motivation to do so. Although I'd like to see something else from you, maybe a few short movies before you eventually start on a new chapter.

Good work, Will.

[Jalal]

Fucking Brilliant.

Amazing job, that last fight scene was sooooo epic.

[Space Goat]

It's quite a work of art, really. I don't really care for these RPG style movies story-wise, but you can't help but be swept away by the epic scale of this. Like Vlarion, the passion and attention to detail is incredible. It's something the community will surely treasure for a long time. Thanks, Will.

[Pizza The Hut]

Pros:

I like the feeling of depth, the atmosphere, and the subtleties. The animation was very very smooth, and great camerawork. The voicing was very good, sans a few parts. The characters were relatively interesting. The various tidbits of flashbacks of previous conflicts involving main characters piqued my curiosity. The dialog was written pretty well. The fight scenes were pretty badass, especially the mage; love his magic! I like the FF7-style black screen&text. I like the "editing"; the scenes were put together in a very good order. The music helped a lot too. A TON of time went into this, and it shows. Pretty stylish film overall.

Cons:

The story was hard to pay attention to. I watched it twice and even now I don't feel like I fully got it all (not because it was hard to get, but because it didn't capture my attention fully).

The ... "3dmmness" of it really took a toll for me. I know this is unfair, because I can't expect every movie to make full use of v3dmm for everything, but seeing mass Gustaves, Franks, Valentines, Venies, and Michaels kinda ruined the "epic scale" war feeling, probably more than it should have. I don't mind the main characters being regular 3dmm but I can't help but feel the mass ones should've used models of some creature or another.

The visuals and scenery, while it must've taken years, weren't all that impressive except for a few scenes. I know that must suck to hear because I can tell the time put into it, but I feel the time it DID take could've produced better stuff. (note: This isn't really that big of a deal to me, probably less than a percentage point, but it is a con if anything)

The comic relief was close to nil; it left a dry taste in my mouth. There was only one character used for this as far as I could tell (Venie, forget his character name), and even he didn't have that many funny lines, and they weren't that funny. I understand that humor was not a focus at all in this, but I can tell it was tried for in the Venie character, so obviously you get the concept of comic relief and wanted to use it. However, you didn't use it enough or effectively enough. I think more of it was needed.

The scene with the princess dragged on too long. I think you were trying to establish that she has a major important role in this whole picture, but I felt it was kinda forced. Like, "audience, there's this princess bitch! Don't forget about her!" But she didn't have much to offer for THIS film, so should've been more briefly introduced.

I didn't really feel the "sinisterness" of the Gustave character, the King or whatever. I get the feeling he's supposed to be one of the big evil people behind everything, but it's not really shown in his character that much. Maybe you weren't trying to give that much away yet, that'd be forgivable.



So yeah, overall, this felt like a good solid start. However, I expect better things to come in future installments if they're ever made.

Sorry, I can't help but be honest about these things. But I did enjoy it, honestly. Great work.

[Slade]

Yeah, the story isn't as straightforward in the film as it is in my head. I tend to overcomplicate things like this. Still, if I ever continue with this I'd do my best to straighten it out.

The default characters seem to bother everyone else a lot more than they do me. I guess it's because it was like that pre-v3dmm and I was already used to it, and I have no personal modeling skills whatsoever.

Hm, I hope you don't think these four years have been spent SOLIDLY working on the film. Because, like... hell naw. Some scenery is definitely sub-par, but I dunno, the visuals seem to get different reactions from different people. Some scenes I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to make and they came out nicely, others I didn't really know and made it up as I went along, resulting in some of the sloppier work.

In response to the comic relief thing, yeah, it wasn't much of a focus. I didn't really want a lot of it, just the occasional 'heh' moment to balance out the ultra-serious-omg stuff. I had to be careful and not make him annoying, but I dunno, perhaps I was too sparse with him.

The princess scene definitely dragged on too long. The result of too many ideas and not enough trimming, really. As for the King, yeah he's a very significant character in terms of the 'baddies', but we're not really supposed to see the worst of him yet.

[Ben Rice]

Hey Will, how much of the film was completed in normal 3dmm before switching to v3dmm and editing the characters and effects etc?

[Slade]

I think it was from the beginning, right up to the end of the Cadfael fight scene. Bits and pieces inbetween hadn't been thought of or made back then but it was quite a large chunk of the film. So yeah, deciding to add v3dmm then and not sooner was a bit of a hassle. But I just really, really didn't want a save bug.

[Aaron Haynes]

Time to start mining for more viewers, Will.

And reviews from the rest of you.

[Slade]

How, exactly? No experience in actually releasing movies here.

[Breed]

perhaps blatantly advertising it in your sig or the like! That's what I did for Gameshow and it seemed to work :|

[Aaron Haynes]

AIM. MSN. PMs.

Ask nicely. Offer them money.

[Slade]

Originally Posted by Tom Breed

perhaps blatantly advertising it in your sig or the like! That's what I did for Gameshow and it seemed to work :|

It's probably been in my sig long enough. But having said that I'll probably put in a new 'out now omg!' one sooner or later.

As for IMing, the 3dmmers that are actually on when I am have probably already seen it. I'll scan through 'em though, anyway.

[Fredrick]

I will. I actually haven't had time to watch through it in one sitting yet.

[Bown]

ok so yeah I finally got round to watching this all in one go and JESUS CHRIST

There was actually a lot to that that I hadn't seen before which I didn't expect, that entire final battle was totally incredible, this is just so brilliant and amazing and you can really see the effort that's gone into this. Great work! now for the love of god don't make us wait four more years

[The Chinese Jew]

Originally Posted by Aaron Haynes

AIM. MSN. PMs.

Ask nicely. Offer them money.

Yeah. I still remember sending out a shitload of PMs for "Shit Happens".

Just posting to say I will watch this soon and leave a review. I just got around to watching Dominator Dan's movie. It's odd, a part of me is dreading watching a 3dmm movie that's over an hour long, but another part of me knows this movie's gonna be awesome as well. But, for how much hard work went into this, I really do hope to see more than 2 pages of replies.

[Aaron Haynes]

I did contact about 10-15 people on AIM and MSN, but none of them replied.

I'll be an asshole about this. You know I can.

[Bown]

hey, I watched and posted

[Pizza The Hut]

OBAMA/SARADOMIN '12 (if..Biden dies I guess? okay bad excuse)

[The Chinese Jew]

Originally Posted by Slade

It's probably been in my sig long enough. But having said that I'll probably put in a new 'out now omg!' one sooner or later.

I didn't see your previous sig so I don't know if you did it already, but I recommend putting a quote from a fellow 3dmmer in your sig.

Some suggestions:

“A sure contender for Best Movie of 2008, and in some ways puts Vlarion to shame.”
-Aaron Haynes

“the moment after watching this could be compared to waking from a magical dream”
-Jesterfoot

"You can't help but be swept away by the epic scale of this. It's something the community will surely treasure for a long time. Thanks, Will."
-Space Goat