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Survivor 39: Island of the Idols |OT| tHe iDOlz aRe fORmEr WiNNerZ
- Thread starter SoleSurvivor
- Start date
- OT
The puzzles are there so that it's not just a physical game (they tried removing them in season 26 at Dalton Ross's suggestion and it was super bad.)
The big issue is that they only film in one location to save money, and they don't seem to either have the budget and/or filming space there to build out a more creative number of challenges. This is a gigantic issue with the first half of the postmerge ICs now, which are basically all endurance/balance challenges.
Challenges are generally more physically brutal in the first 15 or so seasons. The first All-stars had a few tough ones, there are a few injuries just in the first couple episodes
Feels like puzzles got ridiculous in the last 10ish season.
It extremely hurts the series imo because it has made pure strength nearly irrelevant.
Same for the constant tribe swaps or early merges, just makes certain elements irrelevant anymore.
I mean, when they go heavily physical it makes other things irrelevant too. Everything is relevant, being physically dominant is LESS relevant than it once could be, that's all.
Nah I mean when they have physical challenges but lately always end it with a puzzle.
I just think they need to be more separate.
That with the swaps lately means people don't care about trying to keep the tribe strong and balanced and its basically everyone for themselves from day 1.
There definitely needs to be more variety in the challenges, it's exciting whenever we do get something that's just a little different.
Watching the older seasons shows how creative they could get with them. The constant physical/endurance/balance challenges now are tiring.
Watching the older seasons shows how creative they could get with them. The constant physical/endurance/balance challenges now are tiring.
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A really useful graphic found on Reddit for those who want to try and catch up for season 40:
Pretty much. And, of those seasons, only David vs. Goliath was particularly entertaining.
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Yeah the only really interesting season out of that bunch is David vs. Goliath. You're not missing a lot if you don't watch them.
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Maybe consider spoiler tagging this response? Once the new season is out, I'm going to try to figure out a way to preface the OT with STOP HERE OR YOU WILL BE SPOILED ON OLD SEASONS kind of a warning.
Are spoiler tags really pertinent here, though? I mean, all of the Winners at War cast has been divulged through official channels and it's not exactly a secret which players won which seasons. The very nature of the season's core concept kind of portends this kind of thing. Newbies shouldn't be watching Season 40... and, if they do, they should be doing so under the auspices that the outcomes of earlier seasons are going to be spoiled by doing so. Just like watching the new Star Wars films is going to spoiler the outcome of the original trilogy.
I know all the winners but I might try and binge watch a couple of the earlier seasons I've missed anyway before season 40.
Season 39 was so bad that I feel like I need a palate cleanser before season 40. Thank god they've got the GOAT cast to wash away all the unsavouriness of last season.
Season 39 was so bad that I feel like I need a palate cleanser before season 40. Thank god they've got the GOAT cast to wash away all the unsavouriness of last season.
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Definitely valid points I considered when responding. Like I said, maybe just something to consider. Whether we like it or not, you see all the time in these season threads responses like "I haven't watched in years, I'll jump back in for this one" or "been watching this season and never watched before, what seasons should I watch next?" Several posters in the past few pages have been talking about their catching up journey. One two posts above the response in question.
While I wait for S40, I'll try to watch the Australian Version that is so high praised. Here are my impressions of the first Season:
I'm on the last episode (final three) of Survivor Australia and I must say... I kinda hate it.
Don't get me wrong, it oozes with oldschool Survivor, with a lot less twists for the sake of twists, tribe swaps every episode and twenty eight HI in play and so on. It was a pleasure to see real demanding physical challenges back (it was kinda funny seeing the challenge where people had to jump in a mud pit then scrub it to fill a bucket and some challenge with physical contact after all the controversy at Season 39 of Survivor), I didn't realized how I missed the intro song (even though it got really old after 10 episodes or so), and the longer season and episodes allows the game to breath, the players to shine and the day to day moments to be shown.
But ow boy, did it sound like amateur islands. Almost no one was there to play, saying bull crap like "honor" and "loyalty", self righteously calling people actually trying to strategize snakes, acting like they haven't lied once. And because of that the gameplay aspect, something that I love, suffered hard. You had people using the Sean's (Borneo) voting "name in a hat" tactic, people floating and being happy to be pawns until their demises, you had people who wouldn't bulge or do the smart decision for their game even when everything and everyone were pointing the obvious. With such high "morality" and idiotic moves, the few people that were trying to play, with different levels of success (Phoebe, Flick, Craig, Nick, Brooke...), suffered and ended being sent home earlier with absolutely nothing to be done, only to see people on the top of the totem pole stay there from start to finish thanks to people who were happy to be third, fourth, fifth... place, with Kristin single handedly destroying the season from a strategic point of view.
Those people who can't get off their high horses that try to manipulate things like their way of thinking is the only right way get on my nerves and, for that, I'm not really looking forward to watch the last episode. I will, and then I'll watch the next season, because I love the game and love the fact that S:AU isn't infested with production decisions that got the game so far from what it once was, but this first season certainly left me with a sour taste in my mouth.
Don't get me wrong, it oozes with oldschool Survivor, with a lot less twists for the sake of twists, tribe swaps every episode and twenty eight HI in play and so on. It was a pleasure to see real demanding physical challenges back (it was kinda funny seeing the challenge where people had to jump in a mud pit then scrub it to fill a bucket and some challenge with physical contact after all the controversy at Season 39 of Survivor), I didn't realized how I missed the intro song (even though it got really old after 10 episodes or so), and the longer season and episodes allows the game to breath, the players to shine and the day to day moments to be shown.
But ow boy, did it sound like amateur islands. Almost no one was there to play, saying bull crap like "honor" and "loyalty", self righteously calling people actually trying to strategize snakes, acting like they haven't lied once. And because of that the gameplay aspect, something that I love, suffered hard. You had people using the Sean's (Borneo) voting "name in a hat" tactic, people floating and being happy to be pawns until their demises, you had people who wouldn't bulge or do the smart decision for their game even when everything and everyone were pointing the obvious. With such high "morality" and idiotic moves, the few people that were trying to play, with different levels of success (Phoebe, Flick, Craig, Nick, Brooke...), suffered and ended being sent home earlier with absolutely nothing to be done, only to see people on the top of the totem pole stay there from start to finish thanks to people who were happy to be third, fourth, fifth... place, with Kristin single handedly destroying the season from a strategic point of view.
Those people who can't get off their high horses that try to manipulate things like their way of thinking is the only right way get on my nerves and, for that, I'm not really looking forward to watch the last episode. I will, and then I'll watch the next season, because I love the game and love the fact that S:AU isn't infested with production decisions that got the game so far from what it once was, but this first season certainly left me with a sour taste in my mouth.
A really useful graphic found on Reddit for those who want to try and catch up for season 40:
Awesome infographic. (Except for "Hereos vs Villians," yikes!)
My personal recommendations would be to watch these, if you haven't seen them before, according to how much time you have to spend:
03 - Africa (very old, but a solid game in a fascinating location)
07 - Pearl Islands
*10 - Palau (fairly important character backstory, especially before watching season 11, but also just an incredible season)
11 - Guatemala
*12 - Survivor: Panama — Exile Island (very important for both character backstory and game evolution)
13 - Cook Islands
*15 - China (very important, and also very high quality season)
16 - Micronesia
20 - Heroes vs Villains
24 - One World (controversial but hilarious clusterfuck of a season, topped off with an impressive winning game, and some important backstory)
27 - Blood vs Water (IMHO it's not worth particularly seeking out the linked seasons to this one not mentioned above, but if you feel so inclined, also watch S2 and S18 before you watch S20)
28 - Cagayan
29 - San Juan del Sur
Then as many of the following as possible, in this order of quality/importance:
32 - Kaoh Rong
33 - Millennials vs Gen X
37 - David vs Goliath
36 - Ghost Island
35 - Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers
And then, if you still have time, try to watch:
31 - Cambodia
34 - Game Changers
... including as many of the other seasons linked to them as possible, the best suggestions for which are:
S18 - Tocantins
S25 - Philippines... AND before that, preferably S2 - The Australian Outback, and S19 - Samoa, all in release order if possible
S30 - Worlds Apart
Note that I would normally recommend Philippines as a definite watch, considering the winner does return for season 40, but the fact is there's so much other required or important viewing it kinda naturally falls to the wayside.
Season 2 is an all-time Survivor season, it'll be well worth it.
Agraavan, I pretty much share every objection you raised about the 1st season of rebooted Australian Survivor.
I'm here nodding my head at just about every point you raised.
The fundamentals were there but the casting was problematic and the game script post-merge made it excruciating to watch at times.
Now, with that perspective in mind and the fact that I share all of the criticisms you raised, I'll reinforce that I came away from Season 2 considering it as an all-time Top 3 season in the franchise.
I almost don't even like to recommend that people watch that first season... because outside of that final immunity challenge, I've largely done everything in my power to wipe the experience of watching it from my memory.
I'm here nodding my head at just about every point you raised.
The fundamentals were there but the casting was problematic and the game script post-merge made it excruciating to watch at times.
Now, with that perspective in mind and the fact that I share all of the criticisms you raised, I'll reinforce that I came away from Season 2 considering it as an all-time Top 3 season in the franchise.
I almost don't even like to recommend that people watch that first season... because outside of that final immunity challenge, I've largely done everything in my power to wipe the experience of watching it from my memory.
I'm not sure that's necessarily the case. While the season boasts returnees, I'm not so sure it's imperative that one has a familiarity with who they are and how they played the game before. Survivor Philippines can be enjoyed just fine without the pre-requisite hoop jumping.
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Season 1 is okay. The other three are really good. 2 is excellent.
I'm glad to hear that. I'll most definitely keep watching. Although I still enjoy the hell out of the latter seasons from Survivor, there is just something about those earlier Seasons that S:AU is vert reminiscent of.
The next few seasons of Australian Survivor provide an appetizing blend of new school Survivor gameplay with all of the subtle survival-living and social dynamics that largely get glossed over due to editing in modern US Survivor. So yeah, it's like the best of old and new Survivor all rolled into one amazing package. Heck, I even recommend scoping out the Jury Villa content in the post-merge for these upcoming seasons.
We're watching S1 of AU Survivor (2016) with my bf and we're enjoying the hell out of it. There are a couple of challenges we don't remember seeing before and it's refreshing that idols are scarcer and harder to find.
The only problem is that it's a long season... 26 1-hour episodes. And since my bf doesn't speak English, I have to translate. And that Aussie accent can be hard to understand at times (I'm looking at Des). And we're not a big fan of non-elimination episodes.
Looking forward to the next season, which we'll probably watch alongside S40.
The only problem is that it's a long season... 26 1-hour episodes. And since my bf doesn't speak English, I have to translate. And that Aussie accent can be hard to understand at times (I'm looking at Des). And we're not a big fan of non-elimination episodes.
Looking forward to the next season, which we'll probably watch alongside S40.
Not exactly what I wanted, ended up finding them elsewhere so I could add them to my Media Server.
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I feel like the twist is so half assed and not thought out other than them wanting to put more advantages in the game when they have all the big players they want to keep around.
It sounds like it's not even an option to do or not do it. It's a forced thing that you get and then have to offer knowing nothing.
I hate this twist.
I watched that 3 minute video of Jeff explaining it and it all seems pretty convoluted and confusing.
cast interviews were cool. Are there videos I can watch to remind me who some of these people are?
Sounds interesting to me! We're 40 seasons deep. Mix it up! Try something new. If it flops, oh well. You know the season is going to still be good regardless just because of the cast. So it's a good time to experiment.
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I don't think there is yet. Surprised we even got all of this with still a month to go. I'm pretty on top of Survivor news, so I'll post any other pre-season stuff as it drops. :)
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For such a "boring" contestant, Sarah's long-winded answer to the pet peeves question is incredible:
Surprised that a cop would advocate for people not to back into parking spaces. It's in the driver's handbook as the "right way" to do it.
Surprised that a cop would advocate for people not to back into parking spaces. It's in the driver's handbook as the "right way" to do it.
I'm all for introducing new stuff to the game. The problem is this doesn't seem like anything really new, it just seems like a different way to get more advantages in the game. It doesn't change really anything about the function of the game, it's just adding more things to be aware of throughout the season. It's like they're trying to create another Ciri moment and have everyone at tribal pulling out an advantage.
I kinda like the Fire Tokens as a new experiment to try. I like the Garnets in The Genius, so maybe they will lead to some shenanigans. Edge of Extinction sucks but I'd rather they try something to integrate it than repeat the old version.
From a game balance perspective, they're a decent way to give the minority alliance some power. People will be more likely to will their tokens to their allies and, when they go to Edge, will be more likely to hit them up to trade for an advantage. It's much less likely the advantages will be offered up to the dominant alliance.
From a game balance perspective, they're a decent way to give the minority alliance some power. People will be more likely to will their tokens to their allies and, when they go to Edge, will be more likely to hit them up to trade for an advantage. It's much less likely the advantages will be offered up to the dominant alliance.
I'm actually now wondering if the sole reason of these tokens are to give Edge of Extenction a reason to look for advantages and to stick around. They're the only ones that get the money and before they had no value and hope going into looking for stuff just to hand it over to players in the game.
It just seems like it's a bad implementation on paper.
It seems like they saw the garnets but instead of thinking of them as incentive to gain through game means, they saw them more as a way to get advantages.
The idea that there is seemingly no real way to lose them other than to spend them is in and of itself against the premise. That you just will them to another player when voted out. The Genius has you potentially losing them and the group as a whole losing that money if you leave unless you entrust them to someone and hope they give them back.
It just seems like it's a bad implementation on paper.
It seems like they saw the garnets but instead of thinking of them as incentive to gain through game means, they saw them more as a way to get advantages.
The idea that there is seemingly no real way to lose them other than to spend them is in and of itself against the premise. That you just will them to another player when voted out. The Genius has you potentially losing them and the group as a whole losing that money if you leave unless you entrust them to someone and hope they give them back.
Fire Tokens are the least of my worries for this season tbh. I just hope the epic nature of this season gives them a budget to make some challenges that aren't all balancing or endurance. The challenges over the past few years have gotten sooooo boring to watch (with a few exceptions, obviously), it's night and day when you look at seasons 10-20, when even reward challenges can have full obstacle courses.
Not sure how the fire tokens work, but it should require at least 2 people to purchase said item. This way only one person can use the item and you will have to strategize on when and who to use it on. Also it would then require some loyalty among the two people and the potential if there was a break up that your game might blow up because the other person could ruin your game.
Unless its public knowledge on when someone buys an advantage or whatever.
Unless its public knowledge on when someone buys an advantage or whatever.
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I hate how dead set they are on matching characters to their previous styles and looks.
People change and grow, it's ok to show a difference in appearance with characters.
Seems like Parvati and Wendell are a bit different, but that's about it.
People change and grow, it's ok to show a difference in appearance with characters.
Seems like Parvati and Wendell are a bit different, but that's about it.
Great. I'd also watch a good fan-made recap if you happen upon one.
Having a currency doesn't say anything about the abundance of advantages on the market. I'm hoping the threat of unknown value outweighs the currency's actual tangible value.
I've been rewatching all of the S40 cast's seasons with my partner. We're currently on Guatemala (Danni's season), and it's pretty decent. First season with the hidden idol, but you have to wonder how production didn't automatically think for the idol to be used after the vote. It currently needs to be used before votes are cast, which negates approximately 100% of its strategy.
Also, my memory of this season is foggy, and all I have to say is three episodes from the finale I am incredibly curious to see that happens to let Danni win, because she might as well have not existed this whole season.
Also, my memory of this season is foggy, and all I have to say is three episodes from the finale I am incredibly curious to see that happens to let Danni win, because she might as well have not existed this whole season.