it's always sad when the rewrite is worse than the original product. who knows, maybe the author will rewrite again and notepad will do the "Hexen academy (again) (again)" video. i would say time will tell but in time no one will remember this
I am honoured to have read the lore out loud in VC doing silly voices for your entertainment, Notepad. Shoutout to the Balosian secret society whose fault everything is.
So I wanted to wait a few days to clear my head before giving more detailed thoughts on the review as a whole and honestly, after rewatching it, the reason why I liked the 1st review more is because this one felt really sloppy . This is gonna be a long one because there's a lot of examples but the TL;DR is that a lot of details in the review are either wrong or never really properly expanded upon in the video. 0:41 : He says that the Balosian government is made up of cultists, but they were not. They were influenced by members of a cult, but the cult itself was a separate faction. He also claims that the Balosians lost because they were incompetent, but never really explains why they were incompetent. 1:02 : The reason why I changed "Proficiency" into "Mastery" and "Complexity" into "Difficulty" is for the sake of readability. I didn't want to use a term that included "Proficiency" in two different mechanics and "Difficulty" was more straight-forward. He also says I replaced the bullet points with "word vomit" but used examples that were 3 sentences long; one to explain it, one for example, & a related mechanic. 1:23 : Rolling under a target's resistance doesn't deal 5 damage overall, it only means that that damage die is adding 5 damage to the total dealt. He also says dice can't explode multiple times, but they still can, it's just relegated to a specific {Tag}, rather than being a core mechanic so it's easier to deal with. 1:44 : He calls Wands slingshots for some reason when the version in the latest update are described as styluses and he didn't really go over how Wands changed either. Essentially, you choose up to four different Traits and get 2 charges, which can be used to decrease the Difficulty of an Action or decrease the Cooldown of an Incantation, but only if the Action/Incantation relates to the Trait in some way, rather than spending 1-6 charges and rolling to see if your Wand was damaged in some way. 1:53 : Moves are simple actions that can be used to travel across the field as one way you could use them. When the game talks about mechanics that allow you to go around the field, it uses the term "Travel" and the {Movement} {Tag} increases the amount of squares you can travel as well. Admittedly, I could've chosen another name for {Movement}, but it's not as confusing as Notepad says, especially when one is a resource, one is an effect from spending that resource, and one is essentially an upgrade. 1:59 : The glossary entry was a typo admittedly, it was supposed to say "one cubic yard" but it does explain what each square represents within the first two pages of the core rules section & the term can also be found in the index, which tells you to go page 8. 2:10 : He doesn't talk about how the "building mechanics" have been condensed from 6 rolls to one roll that offers vastly more Steps of Progress in comparison. He also doesn't really talk about how the Steps required to learn a {Tag} or craft an item has been changed as well so it takes less time overall. 2:51 : "Hexen Academy has dogshit lore and takes up over half the book" he still never really explains why it's bad. As an aside, he also never mentions the lore added on the war or the Academy either. 3:24 : "nothing happened for 80 years" but still never expands upon it. For the record, during this period, the Balosians were developing superweapons to help them end the war, the Balosian populace started to question/protest the ongoing state of the war, and several Balosian officials were assassinated for trying to look too deeply into the government. It wasn't that "nothing happened," it's that nothing as major as Balos invading another region happened during this period of the war. Like, I get that these videos are meant to be "opinions" rather than "reviews" but it feels weird how he says stuff like "what else is there to talk about" multiple times in the video, while either neglecting to mention details that could've been interesting to talk about or getting details wrong, especially after spending an hour or so reading the PDF on his livestream a few weeks ago. It also felt weirdly personal at times, like the "toxic positivity" section at 3:14, mentioning that I'm a mod of a mutual server at 3:41, or calling the hardcover a "magical paperweight" at 3:52 after advertising his own stuff at 3:41 just because we made games that share the same publisher (which IMO is really unprofessional) and I'm not sure what I did to piss him off, but I wish that he reached out to me in private instead of letting his personal feelings taint the authenticity of the video. Overall, it felt like something he did out of obligation and spite and I wish that he just told me straight up "hey, I don't like the concept" (like he did at 0:21) and refused my request on that basis when I asked him if he could do another review about 5 months than waste so much effort on a review that, quite frankly, felt like he didn't really want to do but did it anyways because we shared a server, rather than because he was interested in the changes I made or because there was stuff he wanted to talk about.
There are those words again - "Wasted Effort." Nothing I do is wasted effort. I was asked to review a game again after the first one didn't impress. I did and my opinion remains unphased.
@@NotepadAnon I think it's curious how the first thing that you decide to address isn't the numerous mechanics you got wrong, the material you refused to elaborate on, the parts that got weirdly personal, or even the parts that were unprofessional, but the part where I wrote the words "waste" and "effort" in a sentence towards the end. IMO, to go through an hour or two of reading a TTRPG that you apparently never even liked, to go through the effort of writing down notes, and the effort of recording/editing a video surrounding said game after the fact, yet to get so many details wrong, that to me just sounds like wasted effort because you went through all the effort of giving an opinion on the game that I could've gotten from someone who didn't read it at all & because of that, it makes your opinion feel very misinformed in the process, which is a shame, because I know that you can do better than this. I didn't expect a complete 180 shift in regards to your feelings of the first vid, but I was hoping that it'd be about as constructive as the 1st video at the very least, which did help me out in the long run when I was sitting down to work on the physical version.
@@MultiKarmachargerI shouldn't have to rewatch a 1-2 hour stream to get those details when those details should've been in the actual video, especially when there's a non-zero percent chance that those details would still be wrong, I'm sorry.
I'm gonna be honest with you man, I genuinely think that the first review was better; it was harsh, but you really helped me realize how much of the game was flawed, which helped me improve it in time for the physical release. Anyways, once again, thanks for the review, I'm sorry that you still don't like the game, even with all the changes I've made to it since you looked at it a few months ago.
dont take too seriously he is harsh with every one but he had a point you you can improve more and a setting focused on a school needs to have lore about the school
@@yokai1235 He ignored both the new lore related to the academy and the module at the end of the book though, which is why that statement confuses me. There's more content dedicated towards the Academy than on any of the individual regions even.
Sometimes we the feebleminded fools who occupy his discord server will playtest the flavour of the week, usually breaking it in half over our knees while doing so.
Some recommendations. To review. Roll for shoes is the most rules light game that's not straight up freeform. Risus is the most popular rules lite game and i hate it. I want you to tear it down. Teenagers from outer space is a classic that interests me. Why not review knave 2e. Seems like even the osr communities I'm a part of don't like it. I really am interested in fist tactical espionage action. Game looks super fun. Review landshut. Seems like the most popular fkr game. Review trollbabe amd poison'd since those are some incredibly forgotten forge stuff. And for a final recommendation, why not review that chuck tingle rpg.
it's always sad when the rewrite is worse than the original product. who knows, maybe the author will rewrite again and notepad will do the "Hexen academy (again) (again)" video. i would say time will tell but in time no one will remember this
Every year, there'll be a new Hexen academy video until the stars die out.
@@MultiKarmacharger He will never escape the cycles of guilt.
I am honoured to have read the lore out loud in VC doing silly voices for your entertainment, Notepad. Shoutout to the Balosian secret society whose fault everything is.
Madlad
So I wanted to wait a few days to clear my head before giving more detailed thoughts on the review as a whole and honestly, after rewatching it, the reason why I liked the 1st review more is because this one felt really sloppy . This is gonna be a long one because there's a lot of examples but the TL;DR is that a lot of details in the review are either wrong or never really properly expanded upon in the video.
0:41 : He says that the Balosian government is made up of cultists, but they were not. They were influenced by members of a cult, but the cult itself was a separate faction. He also claims that the Balosians lost because they were incompetent, but never really explains why they were incompetent.
1:02 : The reason why I changed "Proficiency" into "Mastery" and "Complexity" into "Difficulty" is for the sake of readability. I didn't want to use a term that included "Proficiency" in two different mechanics and "Difficulty" was more straight-forward. He also says I replaced the bullet points with "word vomit" but used examples that were 3 sentences long; one to explain it, one for example, & a related mechanic.
1:23 : Rolling under a target's resistance doesn't deal 5 damage overall, it only means that that damage die is adding 5 damage to the total dealt. He also says dice can't explode multiple times, but they still can, it's just relegated to a specific {Tag}, rather than being a core mechanic so it's easier to deal with.
1:44 : He calls Wands slingshots for some reason when the version in the latest update are described as styluses and he didn't really go over how Wands changed either. Essentially, you choose up to four different Traits and get 2 charges, which can be used to decrease the Difficulty of an Action or decrease the Cooldown of an Incantation, but only if the Action/Incantation relates to the Trait in some way, rather than spending 1-6 charges and rolling to see if your Wand was damaged in some way.
1:53 : Moves are simple actions that can be used to travel across the field as one way you could use them. When the game talks about mechanics that allow you to go around the field, it uses the term "Travel" and the {Movement} {Tag} increases the amount of squares you can travel as well. Admittedly, I could've chosen another name for {Movement}, but it's not as confusing as Notepad says, especially when one is a resource, one is an effect from spending that resource, and one is essentially an upgrade.
1:59 : The glossary entry was a typo admittedly, it was supposed to say "one cubic yard" but it does explain what each square represents within the first two pages of the core rules section & the term can also be found in the index, which tells you to go page 8.
2:10 : He doesn't talk about how the "building mechanics" have been condensed from 6 rolls to one roll that offers vastly more Steps of Progress in comparison. He also doesn't really talk about how the Steps required to learn a {Tag} or craft an item has been changed as well so it takes less time overall.
2:51 : "Hexen Academy has dogshit lore and takes up over half the book" he still never really explains why it's bad. As an aside, he also never mentions the lore added on the war or the Academy either.
3:24 : "nothing happened for 80 years" but still never expands upon it. For the record, during this period, the Balosians were developing superweapons to help them end the war, the Balosian populace started to question/protest the ongoing state of the war, and several Balosian officials were assassinated for trying to look too deeply into the government. It wasn't that "nothing happened," it's that nothing as major as Balos invading another region happened during this period of the war.
Like, I get that these videos are meant to be "opinions" rather than "reviews" but it feels weird how he says stuff like "what else is there to talk about" multiple times in the video, while either neglecting to mention details that could've been interesting to talk about or getting details wrong, especially after spending an hour or so reading the PDF on his livestream a few weeks ago.
It also felt weirdly personal at times, like the "toxic positivity" section at 3:14, mentioning that I'm a mod of a mutual server at 3:41, or calling the hardcover a "magical paperweight" at 3:52 after advertising his own stuff at 3:41 just because we made games that share the same publisher (which IMO is really unprofessional) and I'm not sure what I did to piss him off, but I wish that he reached out to me in private instead of letting his personal feelings taint the authenticity of the video.
Overall, it felt like something he did out of obligation and spite and I wish that he just told me straight up "hey, I don't like the concept" (like he did at 0:21) and refused my request on that basis when I asked him if he could do another review about 5 months than waste so much effort on a review that, quite frankly, felt like he didn't really want to do but did it anyways because we shared a server, rather than because he was interested in the changes I made or because there was stuff he wanted to talk about.
There are those words again - "Wasted Effort."
Nothing I do is wasted effort. I was asked to review a game again after the first one didn't impress. I did and my opinion remains unphased.
If you'd like a more detailed review, it's looked through in Divinity of the Grind IV in more details.
@@NotepadAnon I think it's curious how the first thing that you decide to address isn't the numerous mechanics you got wrong, the material you refused to elaborate on, the parts that got weirdly personal, or even the parts that were unprofessional, but the part where I wrote the words "waste" and "effort" in a sentence towards the end.
IMO, to go through an hour or two of reading a TTRPG that you apparently never even liked, to go through the effort of writing down notes, and the effort of recording/editing a video surrounding said game after the fact, yet to get so many details wrong, that to me just sounds like wasted effort because you went through all the effort of giving an opinion on the game that I could've gotten from someone who didn't read it at all & because of that, it makes your opinion feel very misinformed in the process, which is a shame, because I know that you can do better than this.
I didn't expect a complete 180 shift in regards to your feelings of the first vid, but I was hoping that it'd be about as constructive as the 1st video at the very least, which did help me out in the long run when I was sitting down to work on the physical version.
@@MultiKarmachargerI shouldn't have to rewatch a 1-2 hour stream to get those details when those details should've been in the actual video, especially when there's a non-zero percent chance that those details would still be wrong, I'm sorry.
If only you put as much thought and effort into the lore as you did into writing this things might've turned out differently
We got a Notepad video out of it, so it's not all bad.
I'm gonna be honest with you man, I genuinely think that the first review was better; it was harsh, but you really helped me realize how much of the game was flawed, which helped me improve it in time for the physical release. Anyways, once again, thanks for the review, I'm sorry that you still don't like the game, even with all the changes I've made to it since you looked at it a few months ago.
dont take too seriously he is harsh with every one but he had a point you you can improve more and a setting focused on a school needs to have lore about the school
@@yokai1235 He ignored both the new lore related to the academy and the module at the end of the book though, which is why that statement confuses me. There's more content dedicated towards the Academy than on any of the individual regions even.
0:51 omg, is that a fudgemuppet reference 😮
I can't believe Rosa did that to poor Goku
hey notepad
do you play the games you review on here or is it mostly reading?
Sometimes we the feebleminded fools who occupy his discord server will playtest the flavour of the week, usually breaking it in half over our knees while doing so.
I'm sure third time's gonna be the charm
True Hexen Academy has never been tried
I am already hoping for a Hexen Academy Threepinion video now.
I have a hard time believing this game has ever been played by anyone, let alone its own creator.
Oh my, I had forgot about this one XD
If he keeps this up version 6 should be a C+
Oh dear.... This is sad
But, hey, it's an improvement! 4 editions more and it might just get averagely good! 😂
Still in no danger of buying this, review or re-review or not.
Positive comment
Your video title is missing either the word opinion or follow up
Second
Third
@1:15 Why the f*ck am I seeing antisemitic symbolism in an RPG review!?
The Hexen Academy symbol is a slightly changed Star of David, I thought it was funny as I'm a Jew myself.
@@NotepadAnonnew lore added
Some recommendations. To review.
Roll for shoes is the most rules light game that's not straight up freeform.
Risus is the most popular rules lite game and i hate it. I want you to tear it down.
Teenagers from outer space is a classic that interests me.
Why not review knave 2e. Seems like even the osr communities I'm a part of don't like it.
I really am interested in fist tactical espionage action. Game looks super fun.
Review landshut. Seems like the most popular fkr game.
Review trollbabe amd poison'd since those are some incredibly forgotten forge stuff.
And for a final recommendation, why not review that chuck tingle rpg.