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So here we are with a new chapter in the magical Land of Snow (or a ‘fragment of Renmark’), two years after the release of ‘Violet is Blue’. I still think back fondly to that first quest, even if some of the ice sliding puzzles were a bit difficult now and then. But in general, the entire feel of that quest and Yeti Town were something to remember for me. With the massive potential of an ‘ever expanding Land of Snow’ to explore, with Yeti Town being the center… I had high hopes for what ‘Violet is Blue Too’ could offer. Story-wise, the quest was adorable just like the first, and I was happy to return to the Land of Snow and go on another adventure with Violet. It was nothing too serious, but just a great deal of fun. There unfortunately were no puzzles ‘at all’ this time around, and it all resorted to a simple ‘go here and click this’ adventure.
But even though the quest was great fun (and I had a smile plastered on my face for a large portion of it), I’m afraid that in the end I’m a bit disappointed with some of the design choices.
For starters… The reason why I enjoyed the first quest so much was that it offered a place for people to return to all throughout the year to get that Christmas feeling. Yeti Town was always open, and even though there wasn’t much to do (There was only that bonfire in the middle of the town which FYI is also the ‘only’ bonfire available for F2p’ers from what I remember) the feeling was still there. Because of the potential of this little piece of the Land of Snow, I was really hoping to see Violet is Blue Too ‘expand’ on what was available. Think about the explore-able space being increased around Yeti Town, and with small skilling activities being possible like building snowmen, or have a fight against the Snowverload boss from the past. During the quest, for a small moment, that hope was solidified once I saw the tree farm... and I hoped that this new building which was not present in the first quest, signified that there would be ‘more’ to do at the end of all this.
The hopes were dashed however when at the end of the quest I saw that activating the ‘land of snow portal’ offered the player the choice to either go to the yeti Town instance of the first quest, the yeti Town instance from the second quest, and Violet’s House. Instead of ‘connecting and expanding’ things, everything was left as little pocket-worlds with no further interactions. The only thing that Yeti Town has in regards to ‘return-value’ is still that bonfire from the first quest’s town. I mean… when returning to that ‘second town version’ there isn’t even anyone there! No NPC’s, just the decorations and the new tree. Even the bonfire from the first town has been removed, so there truly is nothing left to do. It’s true.. you can just choose to go to the old town-version, and you now have the option to go back to Violet’s house and the second Yeti-town version, but it just feels ‘lacking’.
So here I am, wondering… Why were these choices made? Is there a reason why the first town wasn’t expanded upon, but rather separated from the rest? Is there a reason why design-wise everything just feels disjointed and ‘without purpose’ currently? This world of Renmark has so many possibilities for pvm’ing and skilling activities of all different kinds, but as of right now it remains as untapped potential.
Around 5 months ago I made a post about the potential future of Holiday events, to move them from temporarily content towards more permanent stuff. An event ‘inside’ of yeti town, paired with a new quest every year that would slowly expand things inside the land of snow. If you want to give it a read, here’s the link: https://www.reddit.com/r/runescape/comments/ho1n2j/the_future_of_holiday_eventscontent_a_new/
Personally I hope to see that perhaps 'next year', with a third Violet Quest (or a different quest inside of the Land of Snow), we can see some permanent content additions which give us a reason to return back to the Land of Snow. In general.. Violet is Blue Too was pretty fun and a heartwarming quest, but in the end I had hoped for a bit ‘more’.
TL;DR
Although the new Violet is Blue Too quest is fun enough (subjective), I feel like the end result is a bit lacking in regards to a 'lasting experience' for the Land of Snow. The new Yeti-town is a separate location compared to the one from the first quest, and lacks any and all kinds of additional activities (whereas the first town only had a bonfire... but it still had 'something').
The land of snow is filled with untapped potential, and a yearly Christmas quest taking place around Yeti-town (with or without Violet) could be the perfect catalyst for the introduction of permanent skilling or pvm activities with the winter/Christmas theme without feeling out of place, and will give players a reason to return.
Violet is Blue Too does not deliver in this aspect at all, and I feel like more could have been done... and hopefully more 'will' be done in the future.
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