Nemesis: Sub-Terra Discussion (**contains spoilers**)

General discussion regarding the UK's No.1 Theme Park. Talk about anything and everything Alton Towers here.
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thefatone
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TomG - How on earth can you gauge the "negative reaction" when you haven't ridden it, nor have you stood by the exit of the attraction to see how people are reacting.

The attraction has been far improved now. The batching area is pretty dark and warm, it feels like a pre-briefing room in a scarezone now. Really sets the mood. The video is fantastic, explaining exactly what they've found and pretty much what's going to happen next.

The main chamber has had far more improvements now. Although the ride hardware and length is the same, the storyline has been explained and worked out that it makes sense. You feel like the egg has hatched and a monsters escaped - it actually works.

Then obviously the exit lifts where it goes pitch black and are pretty decent overall. However, some guy shouting at you as you leave the lift adds to that final touch, making people scream and run out. Very good altogether, far far far better than before.

As for negative reaction? I heard "i thought it was a rollercoaster" and "long queue" as negative. Nothing about the ride being **** or too short. I asked a guy filling in the forms and he said they have been really positive today. Probably indicative of the changes.

The rides had a hex done to it. It's actually decent. Now please stop drowning us with biased over-negativity as you haven't ridden or experienced it in its current form, and let us relax for a few days until you do. Please.
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Benzin
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God sake, can we talk about the ride's changes please? Oh wait, yes we can, cos I went on it today (Twice, and also managing in my first 4 goes to get a different side everytime, awesome)... Also, DAMN YOU FATTY, ninja'ing me by a second... Git :P

Firstly, they've placed some of that plastic door hanger stuff in the big space of the entrance, making it darker, enclosed and more atmospheric. The metal detectors also the entrance now beep. Silly addition, but it does kinda work...

Inside, two new TVs sit, where the Phanlanx logo is constantly on repeat until a new video is shown, which not only briefly explains Nemesis, but also what's going on for the ride (i.e. The nest is off limits, however we have brought one up for people to see... Dunno HOW this could go wrong...), and it does further the story a bit more...

Into the lifts, and the only differences here really are more vibrations, and a change in the video, being louder and more descriptive of what we have to do in the core...

The core is (naturally) where most of the changes have taken place, with darker lighting, smoke, and a loud heartbeat upon your arrival and during loading... The show begins as before, until the first power surge begins, which before hand involved the egg hatching and the drop. Instead, the egg hatches, power returns and we can now see the broken egg in the middle. Creature roars, lights go out again, we then drop. From this point, it's mostly the same experience as before, but with much more violent leg ticklers (unavoidable with raised legs) and upon returning to the core, louder sirens, strobes and flashing lights...

It's a minimal change to the ride itself, BUT, it does make a fair bit more sense to those who may not have twigged that the water (which is less in volume) represented the hatching eggs, helping the nest sequence also make a lot more sense really...

Into the lifts, which have no lights aside from the flashing warning red light of impending doom, doors close and it 'rises' as before. Difference here, is that when the creatures attack, it's pitch black and a LOT louder. With some extra air cannons inside as well (most likely located in the falling panels) it feels a very different experience with all this going on and no vision whatsoever...

The doors open, and (if they have enough staff it seems) you may get lucky and have some operative come into the lift yelling "GET OUT" causing one last jump and some potential for members of both lifts to leg it to the bag drop...

Overall, it does not seem like much has changed, indeed, it's still a single drop (which felt relatively forceful, but it won't ever be that much due to the mechanism of the ride and the floor), but the story and sense of claustrophobia are much improved. Whilst it still gets mixed reviews afterwards (which ride doesn't?) inside there seems to be a fair bit of fear and panic, especially when for some reason the offloader decides to pack 3 towers into one lift (due to the bars not raising, which actually in a way DOES cause more panic and fear in some cases), leaving the rest of us confused and in a rather empty lift.

It's still not going to be everyone's cup of tea, or the best dark ride ever, but considering the amount of space available, they have given it a fair good go, and the changes improve it quite a bit, making it a relatively different ride to what I originally did a week ago, and VERY different to what anyone did on opening day, so it might be worth another shot and maybe then we shall see if it will find it's own place on the park like the last ride that everyone hated after the first go *cough*thirteen*cough*
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Tom G
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thefatone wrote: TomG - How on earth can you gauge the "negative reaction" when you haven't ridden it, nor have you stood by the exit of the attraction to see how people are reacting.
I have my sources.

These changes appear to have taken the edge off slightly, but people are still ultimately disappointed by a smaller-than-Thirteen drop, a short experience and no rollercoaster.
nemesismad

thefatone wrote: TomG - How on earth can you gauge the "negative reaction" when you haven't ridden it, nor have you stood by the exit of the attraction to see how people are reacting.

The attraction has been far improved now. The batching area is pretty dark and warm, it feels like a pre-briefing room in a scarezone now. Really sets the mood. The video is fantastic, explaining exactly what they've found and pretty much what's going to happen next.

The main chamber has had far more improvements now. Although the ride hardware and length is the same, the storyline has been explained and worked out that it makes sense. You feel like the egg has hatched and a monsters escaped - it actually works.

Then obviously the exit lifts where it goes pitch black and are pretty decent overall. However, some guy shouting at you as you leave the lift adds to that final touch, making people scream and run out. Very good altogether, far far far better than before.

As for negative reaction? I heard "i thought it was a rollercoaster" and "long queue" as negative. Nothing about the ride being ice-cream or too short. I asked a guy filling in the forms and he said they have been really positive today. Probably indicative of the changes.

The rides had a hex done to it. It's actually decent. Now please stop drowning us with biased over-negativity as you haven't ridden or experienced it in its current form, and let us relax for a few days until you do. Please.
I've heard nothing but great things since the revamp (ie new effects) that where added on wednesday. Having ridden the ride in it's previous state on opening day and a few times since i thought it was a great little addition & attraction as a filler to keep us all occupied till sw7. I'll be back at the resort on tuesday and i for one cannot wait to try it out in it's all new state, i was getting a little fed up last week listening to the public coming off the ride and saying "is that it" ?, hopefully now, with the added effects the ride will have more of an impact on the public and rise it from the negative feedback over the past few weeks. Nemesis Sub-Terra is amazing......END OF !!!
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Tom G wrote:
thefatone wrote: TomG - How on earth can you gauge the "negative reaction" when you haven't ridden it, nor have you stood by the exit of the attraction to see how people are reacting.
I have my sources.

These changes appear to have taken the edge off slightly, but people are still ultimately disappointed by a smaller-than-Thirteen drop, a short experience and no rollercoaster.
The fact it isn't a rollercoaster shouldn't even factor in calling the ride negative! It's never been marketed as one, the building is CLEARLY too small to house one and despite the Nemesis name, not many people are expecting one.

It's clear that the main issues with the ride ("what just happened?" "is that all?") will be remedied by these new additions. They lengthen the experience, make it more involved and take attention away from the drop. Although it is still, and will always be, the main element of the ride - by extending and making other elements of the ride longer, it takes attention away from the drop element.
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Benzin
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Tom G wrote:
thefatone wrote: TomG - How on earth can you gauge the "negative reaction" when you haven't ridden it, nor have you stood by the exit of the attraction to see how people are reacting.
I have my sources.

These changes appear to have taken the edge off slightly, but people are still ultimately disappointed by a smaller-than-Thirteen drop, a short experience and no rollercoaster.
The proof as they say, is in the pudding... As well as detailing the proof of how you know what people think of the ride after the changes being made the other day...

Not everyone will like a ride, BUT judging on today, the reviews are positive, and generally it's always a group of teenage guys who seem to be the real negatives on it... But this could easily be due to machismo and alpha male philosophies...

There were a few shaken people leaving the ride, including a young girl leaving the batching point in tears, also supporting the 12A marketing stuff...

Maybe, just maybe, this ride COULD be successful with the main target audience of Towers, as it isn't scary enough to detract lots of people, but enough so that it can cause a good amount of screams and fear into the majority...
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Tom G
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The misconception of it possibly being a rollercoaster is ADDING to people's disappointment of the attraction, in my view.

I can absolutely assure you a significant number of people at least wonder if it could be a rollercoaster. Using the Nemesis name does lead the average person to assume it could be a rollercoaster. That's all the word Nemesis means to the vast majority of people. I know this from friends, I know this by overhearing people, I know this by being directly asked via my website and its social networking pages. You can't call these people stupid either, it's a marketing flaw and that's what I'm getting at.

*I* welcome these improvements and will probably enjoy the ride compared to the experience I had on opening day, but I am talking about the general public's view with these posts.
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thefatone
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It's *extremely* difficult to enter the lifts thinking the experience is a rollercoaster. The batching preshow puts to bed anything along those lines. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that it's a rollercoaster and nothing to suggest it's even a ride, so people aren't being misleaded.

Sure, people may come and think it may be a rollercoaster due to the name, but they won't be disappointed. They're not. As I said before, just stop moaning without any actual reason.
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I think with sub terra, the main spoiler is if you know it's a drop tower.
If you have no idea what's inside it will be a much better experience.
I'm glad they have taken in reviews and changed the ride quite a bit, it must not have been easy.
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It is good to hear that Alton Towers have taken on board a lot of the criticism and general negative impression of Sub Terra and made some much needed improvements.

Will be there tomorrow, my first visit since opening weekend, so I will look forward to seeing how these changes have made a difference.  My initial reaction from opening day was that it wasn't a bad attraction, there were just a few pieces of the jigsaw missing which kind of made the overall experience a bit meh!  I guess a case of having a great idea in mind but not executing that idea very well.
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Tom G
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thefatone wrote: It's *extremely* difficult to enter the lifts thinking the experience is a rollercoaster. The batching preshow puts to bed anything along those lines. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that it's a rollercoaster and nothing to suggest it's even a ride, so people aren't being misleaded.

Sure, people may come and think it may be a rollercoaster due to the name, but they won't be disappointed. They're not. As I said before, just stop moaning without any actual reason.
I've been explicit in explaining every point I've made, so don't say I'm moaning for no reason. You simply don't agree with me and are incapable of challenging my point properly.
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People who think the ride is a rollercoaster shouldn't come into it. It shows nothing but their own stupidity really.
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Tom G
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Blaze wrote: People who think the ride is a rollercoaster shouldn't come into it. It shows nothing but their own stupidity really.
Some people do actually have lives you know, they shouldn't be expected to know Nemesis is an alien :lol:

The fact that there's another rollercoaster in this country - at a sister park of Alton Towers - called Nemesis Inferno doesn't help things.

You seriously cannot slate your once-a-year or less average guest about the misconception.
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You don't have to know it's an alien to know the attraction in a tiny little shed that hasn't been advertised as a coaster is not a coaster.
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Blaze wrote: You don't have to know it's an alien to know the attraction in a tiny little shed that hasn't been advertised as a coaster is not a coaster.
You say that blaze, but me and ritadz seem some random guy point to nemesis and say "is that the new nemesis?"

Words failed me...
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Tom G
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Blaze wrote: You don't have to know it's an alien to know the attraction in a tiny little shed that hasn't been advertised as a coaster is not a coaster.
The ride is described as taking place in a network of underground caves. They have put the faux vents in place to give them impression that you are about to enter a much larger ride area than what you are actually visiting.

What are you actually arguing about here? That a lot of people DON'T think it's a rollercoaster, that they shouldn't, or that I'm just wrong/lying?
Blaze

I'm saying that the people who think it's a rollercoaster should not be considered when it comes to gauging opinion.
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The vents give off the perception of being underground NOT a larger ride area, hence the rides slogan "your worst nightmare, underground".
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Tom G
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Blaze wrote: I'm saying that the people who think it's a rollercoaster should not be considered when it comes to gauging opinion.
They are important because the casual visitor is the most important person to the park's financial health and credibility.

I've never been talking about the ride experience with these posts, or what I or people here think of it.

I'm making the point that if the public are largely negative about it, that isn't a good thing. I only mentioned the rollercoaster thing because I feel it is enhancing- but far from the sole basis for - people's disappointment.

They need to be making investments that impress your average Joe and I've just been talking about his thought process, nothing more.

I literally cannot be any clearer than that.
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From the POV it seems that the ride takes some time to rise back up to the top floor. Does anyone know why? If this can be overcome this is a prime opportunity to throw in an extra jolt, combined with some effects.

I feel that the ride does urgency and panic really well, but after the drop there is a dead period where just a bit of a kick would finish it off. What do you all think?  :D
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