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Club Penguin Wiki:Party Ratings/2014/Merry Walrus Party
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Merry Walrus Party
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Not very good | By JucaSLP |
The Christmas Party used to be much better in the past. The decoration is weak comparing to the 2009 or 2008 editions (when almost all the rooms were decorated), and there are few decorated rooms. Why not decorating places such as Pizza Parlor, Dance Club, Ski Hill, Cove, etc? The party name itself is rather ridiculous. Merry Walrus? Seriously? This is silly. Also, the annoying daily quests are back. And to get even worse, another puffle was released. Releasing puffles every party is pretty pointless and an extreme exaggeration. In short, probably one of the weakest Holiday/Christmas Parties in Club Penguin's history. However, Disney is not anti-religious, as some people are claiming. The Holiday Parties from 2009-2013 didn't receive "Christmas" name and were great.
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Is Club Penguin lazy? Because I cancelled my membership because of this! | By Mariocart25 |
Wow CP, What a party! The old Holiday/Christmas parties where better (Yes, even 2013, I think 2013 holiday party was good.) This is why CP is losing so many players. Shurow should of hosted it and decorate EVERY room, and give out free Christmas Scarfs! RIP Good CP, you'll always be the good times. (2005 - 2013)
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..... | By Angryjack |
Bad
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Really?!? | By Dalmation564 |
Wow. What a horrible holiday party. The "traditions" that never existed until 10 years are now created. Really? In addition, everything is blue. I thought Christmas colors were red and green. Am I wrong? The "traditions" took 2 seconds to complete, and then they bring out the daily calender. This was the most disappointing year for Club Penguin. Even worse than the year with all of the Takeovers. And a Merry Walrus? Please. Another puffle? In about five months they unlocked the green raccoon, red bunny, pink bunny, blue deer, ghost, crystal, orange raccoon, snowman, etc. Now puffles are really useless and everyone lived sadly ever after. This party is just like every other party this year and I do not like it at all.
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A Great Party! | By Quackerpingu |
Wow. What a great holiday party. But i didn't find Merry Walrus yet. And the bad walruses (Tusk and the other bad ones) are trying to walrusnap him. Oh, IT IS FOURTH WALRUS! Bye!
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Merry Walrus? | By Chucker321 |
Um, excuse me. As soon as I heard about this, I was like, "Merry Walrus? Umm... Seriously CP, you literally think of the WORST ideas for parties, and names, clearly. Blue and white. Um, last time I checked, candy canes were red and white. Are you people colorblind or something?
The name and theme. Um, I can't even stop saying um because like I just can't even get the words out for how horrible this party just is. It's the worst and last party of 2014. Way to end the year, CP. So, Merry Walrus. What the heck? How did they even come up with that? It's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of in my life. Oh yay another fat mascot to track down. -_- *uses Google to add him and get his background so I don't have to waste my time all day looking for this Merry Walrus, more like Merry Let-Down. Excuse me, I'm a non-member now, and all the items for that scavenger hunt thing or whatever ARE ALL HAT ITEMS LIKE WOW THANKS FOR TAKING US NON-MEMBERS INTO CONSIDERATION! I'll just wear my old CP x-mas stuff so ha.
WHY IS THERE GOING TO BE AN EPISODE ON THIS ON DISNEY CHANNEL LIKE I WANNA BE HAPPY ON CHRISTMAS EVE, OH WAIT, I WILL BE, LAUGHING AT THIS WHILE WATCHING IT BECAUSE OF HOW DUMB IT WILL BE! AHAHAHA! Um, why didn't you make the CP Shorts you made on Youtube like Never Wake a Sleeping Sensei into TV episodes, THOSE WOULD'VE MADE GOOD PUBLICITY FOR CP BUT NOPE I GUESS IT WAS JUST YOUTUBE WORTHY. (sorry for my excessive use of caps, I'm trying to create emphasis on my tone.)
So yup I'll sum this up for ya in one word. Lame. Giving this a big fat 0 just like that Walrus dude. Good night. :)
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What? | By LordMaster96 |
Just when you thought parties (especially the "Holiday Party") couldn't get any worse, this comes. Seriously, trying to be politically correct won't help with anything. The meaning of Christmas goes beyond religious reasons people... come on.
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Horrible! | By Shaymin 28 |
Why did Club Penguin start using ADs? It says (or it used to say) that Club Penguin is an Ad-Free, safe game on its website. Nowadays, CP Parties are INFESTED with ADs, ADs, Ads, and ADs! This party is just an AD for the "Merry Walrus" TV Program on DISNEY Channel! Seriously, I miss the old times when a lot of rooms were decorated, and Parties were just FUN.
Theme-0/5 WHY DID YOU HAVE TO MAKE THIS PARTY AN AD PARTY? THE TITLE IS AN AD!
Rooms-0.5/5 What happened to the Cove? What about the Sky? I loved the starry skies that I saw in previous Christmas Parties.
Free Items-1/5 What, another Puffle? You thought you can get away with this, didn't you? Well, you were WRONG! W-R-O-N-G! Could you stop giving away Puffles? And the Non-Member Items are bad, too. Why do you always give away Head Items? Why not Body Items? It makes me think that the whole purpose of the free items are to promote Membership. Also, the Quests are too easy.
Mascots-0.5/5 What happened to Rockhopper? Oh, I get it. You staged the Pirate Party right before this party to get Rockhopper out of the Island so you can bring "Merry Walrus" to the Island for ADVERTISING.
Overall, the Party wasn't the Holiday Parties that I knew and loved. If they stopped the Advertising, the parties would be ∞times better. I miss the "Uncontaminated" Club Penguin...
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Merry The Worst Party Ever | By Radykiel |
They want to make a new tradition, but very penguiny tradition. It's still very similar to Christmas, and it's not NEW thing. And, the most strange thing - We've got Santa Claus, so why we've got "Merry Walrus" ?
I want to say much things about party - Music is the best like every christmas music, but not the best with rooms Forest and School are very good. But more rooms aren't :/ Items... They didn't draw beautiful item, but some can be weared by me Blizzard on the sky is. Where is the blizzard ? No blizzard ? NO BLIZZARD ??????? :( Puffle is'nt the best puffle I found every crystal in 12 seconds. Puffle is very... Puffle should be for nonmembers, because he does the same things as red and blue puffle -_- It looks like broken disco ball. Merry Walrus looks like Violetta Villas. Results are 2,2/10 But bunch of problems make this only 1/10
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Not the best | By Green N Cool |
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The Merry Walrus Party
Decorations
- The Merry Walrus party lacked decorations. In my opinion, twelve rooms isn't enough, especially when most of them are basically the same as the previous three Holiday parties.
- The rooms that had 'new' decorations were nice because the decorations in them weren't total overhauls. However, Elements of the dock were a copy of the some elements of the forest at the 2013 Holiday party, it's like the Club Penguin Team just copied the things from the forest, coloured them a little and then pasted them onto the Dock.
- The rooms that had 'old' decorations were just coloured differently. It feels like the team put almost no effort into the rooms.
- The rooms didn't really have that jolly, holiday feel. This may have been because there was no night sky.
- I liked how the Mall returned, that was a nice touch.
Coins for Change
- At the Merry Walrus Party 2014 it felt like Coins for Change was a little left out. It was mentioned a few times during the party, but unlike previous years, this party didn't have the community factor were we'd all get together to show our support for the charities. There wasn't even a main Coins for Change room, just donation stations around the island.
- Because coins spent on the December Penguin Style catalog and coins from the Party tasks automatically went to coins for change, it felt like the community didn't have to get others to donate. There wasn't the holiday Club Penguin community spirit.
Items
- The items are okay, they all fit the theme of the party. But, Why did the team release another Puffle? There's already been too much released in 2014 that they don't feel like a Club Penguin pet, just more of an accessory for our outfit. The non-member items were all hats. Why not body, neck, face or feet items for a change?
- The Merry Walrus background isn't that good in my opinion, for Club Penguin's new holiday tradition why did the background have normal 'Christmas' decorations in it, why not the 'Merry Walrus' colour theme of white and blue.
Replay Value
- The Merry Walrus party lacked replay value, all you had to do was go online, do a quick task, get an item and then log-off. The lack of decorated rooms didn't help because it meant there was nothing for players to see. I like to have a good look around the island at all the designs.
Tasks (Traditions)
- Linking back to the Replay Value, the tasks at the party were very quick and easy, there was nothing hard about them. Task one, throw snowballs at a tree. Task two, throw snowballs anywhere in a room. Task four, throw snowballs at (/or simply click) all the bells. Final task, click six large, easy to spot and outlined gems in the most obvious places. Basically all tasks apart from the last one involved throwing snowballs.
- The team managed to have just the tasks on the Club Penguin App and then the whole party on the online version of Club Penguin with the tasks for the Halloween Party 2014. Couldn't they have done that with the Merry Walrus party?
Music
- The music for the party was nice, the tracks fit the theme of the party and it was a nice mix of old and new audio tracks. However, it felt like the music didn't really go well with the rooms. (Again, this may be because there was no night sky).
- I like the two new songs by Cadence, 'A Very Merry Walrus' and 'Puffle Shuffle'.
Mascots
- It was nice to see the new mascot 'Merry Walrus', but I think he introduced himself to us too early. I thought it would have been better if we would have learned more about him from the book Aunt Arctic found in the forest and then he'd have a fantastic entrance a few days into the party.
- Like in the 'We Wish You a Merry Walrus' special, I would have preferred Cadence to be a mascot for December for a change seen as though two new holiday songs by her had been released. Like at the Fair 2014, there could have been a stage were she popped up after so many minutes to perform. That would have got the community together.
Storyline
- The storyline wasn't the best. Why did it start with Aunt Arctic finding a random book in the forest? Where was Herbert? If this party was basically to advertise 'We Wish You a Merry Walrus' then why isn't Herbert trying to stop the festivities like in the episode? Surely that would have given the party the 'wow' factor it needed. Us trying to stop Herbert by coming together as a community in order for the party to go ahead as planned.
Miscellaneous
- The party emotes are alright and fit with the theme of the party.
- To be honest the Merry Walrus Party shown in the 'We Wish You a Merry Walrus' special seemed a lot better than this party.
- I think Club Penguin has been quite creative with the new festive celebration, they can do whatever they like now they have their own Club Penguin holiday celebration.
Conclusion
Overall, I think the Merry Walrus Party 2014 was 'okay'. However, I prefer last years Holiday Party. The party didn't really feel like it was getting the community to come together to donate to coins for change unlike the 2013 Holiday Party. At the Merry Walrus Party, it also didn't feel like a massive festive end-of-year celebration, it should have been big and spectacular. Overall I'm going to rate this party a 1.5 out of 5.
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I Haven't Even Been On, But Wow. | By Atum |
What the heck. Everyone is complaining about the lack of decorations and the items, but most are missing the fact that they got rid of the Christmas Party; a yearly tradition for Club Penguin. We must remember this is the same company whose website said a girl couldn't be thankful for God. Anti-religious views are getting you nowhere, Disney.
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Poor | By Penstubal |
sorry, "Merry Walrus"? is that a new metaphor for a party that will suck? No migrator. I miss the migrator. No bakery. I miss the bakery. It's day. I miss when it was night. Merry Walrus. What happened to Santa. Merry Walrus Party. It's not like people will kill you if you name it "Christmas Party", because some people aren't Christian. Sorry, this party is HO HO HORRIBLE. The only thing that is nice and stayed from last few years is Coins for Change, but because how greedy Disney is getting, they may remove Coins for Change next year. The party is pretty much "sucky decorations, and an easy gem scavenger hunt". And i finished all the activities that are new for this party in less than 5 minutes. Sorry CP, this party doesn't even deserve 2 STARS.
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They soiled it. | By Green Ninja |
SOILED IT! SOILED IT!
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The party that ends the shame that was 2014 | By Enb 11 |
The Merry Walrus party is here, and it's a major letdown. After Garbage Jam 2014, this is, in my opinion, the second worst party of 2014. It had nothing new or fun to offer, and something I thought was promising, was in fact the worst thing of this party. Let's begin then.
- Rooms and Music: The rooms were lazy. They were in their majority a big rehash, of the rooms used in previous Holiday Parties. The difference is, they colored it all blue. And things being blue, was one of the biggest mistakes of this party. Look, I get that things are blue, because of this Merry Walrus theme. But it just doesn't fit with the holidays, which are recognized everywhere by red and green, so this party doesn't feel like a Holiday one at all. The Mall made a reappearance, lightly redecorated, but on it's majority equal to the School party. The music isn't that special, and some rooms reused music from last year. As I said nothing really special. The room I like the most is the Toy Workshop, because it has roleplay value, and because it has the classic Christmas feel. Needless to say, this party had an number of 11 rooms decorated, compared to 20 from last year. I missed the night also.
- Content: This was (like every other party this year) the biggest fail here. This party again uses the concept of "Come tomorrow to do something and get some items". I can't quite say if this concept is good or bad, but the WAY CP does this is definetely bad. I mean, this can work, as long as you put some lasting tasks, that have some degree of difficulty, not these easy things that you have to click and finish in 1 minute. These tasks are named "traditions", and they consist or ornamenting a tree, food fight a.k.a the food waste tradition (let's help poor and starving kids with this though ;D), ringing the bells at Plaza (the Secrets section of this week newspaper teaches how to play Jingle Bells, check it out!), and finally, finding 6 gems (which are REALLY easy to find, as they are badly mixed into the room, generally placed in the middle of it.) to unlock, drumrolls please: *does drumroll sound*... ANOTHER FREAKING PUFFLE. This was the last puffle of 2014, which featured a total of 24 Puffles released in 2014, all of them being Puffle Creatures, the ones that don't have interface and are weird hybrids between puffles and some other animal (dinosaurs, cats, dogs, deers, rabbits and raccoons), supernatural being (ghost and unicorn), Disney characters (snowman a.k.a Olaf) or inanimate stuff (Blue Crystal). This Blue Crystal Puffle has no immediate realtion with the party. It sounds like CP suddenly decided to throw puffles at every party, without the wrooy that it might not be needed, and with that urge, they come up with all kinds of nonsense. What's next, Light Puffle, for the upcoming Star Wars Rebels a.k.a "worst thing to happen to Star Wars since Jar-Jar Binks" Takeover? Like someone I follow on Twitter said, CP now treats puffles as some kind of Happy Meal toy that has a new one coming every once in a while and that you can collect, and not as a pet that you have to care and give love. Now, let's talk about Merry Walrus, shall we? Merry Walrus was a dull move by Club Penguin to try and create a new party, but he is only a Santa Claus in the form of a walrus. He says "hohoho", he is kind, he is fat, he wears winter clothes, he has a sled pulled by living beings. See a padron? CP could easily just make a regular Holiday Party, and make Santa a character in form of a walrus but who knows why they didn't. This whole party is only used to promote that TV Special, and I have no doubts that next year, a normal Holiday Party will take place. But you know who loses the most with this party? The Coins for Change project. You see, this party is abnormally short, ending roughly a week from today, December 21st, and CFC hasn't even reached the SECOND project as of now (let's hope this changes). Last year by the first five days, 16,000,000,000 coins were raised. This year, as of the first four days, only 10.500.000.000, a short of five and a half billions, have been raised. You know why that is? Because there is no prizes for reaching the projects, and the prizes were what motivated the penguin to donate and complete projects. Last year, CFC ended with over 20 billion coins donated, and let's hope situation changes until Thursday, go on and donate a little bit, every coin counts. UPDATE: CP has reached their goals for this year, but I'm pretty sure that some players like me believe that CP boosted their own charity, to reach goals.
- Items: The items were pretty generic, and again non-members got nothing but hats. Remember that last year's Holiday Party presented non-members with an IGLOO? Yeah. All items but one are colored blue, the ugliest color ever for the Holidays. There was a new bell apron which had a special dance but that was all.
Before I end this review, I wish to do something different. As this is my last review of 2014, I'd like to make a list for this years parties, no°1 is best and no°12 is worst.
Enb's Top 12 Parties of 2014!
1. Halloween Party
2. Prehistoric Party
3. Penguin Cup
4. The Fair
5. Future Party
6. Muppets World Tour
7. Puffle Party
8. School and Skate Party
9. Frozen Party
10. Pirate Party
11. Merry Walrus Party
12. The party CP insists to be named a Music Jam
So this is my list! 2014 indeed was a bad year for CP, and let's hope that 2015 will be a better year, a year that CP finally listens to us, the players, and begins to make good parties, tone it down with the puffles and put less focus on mobile, as CP has always been a web game. I wish all the fellow penguins that read this review a Merry Christmas, and a prosper New Year, this is Enb 11, finishing this year's last review. See ya in 2015!
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What is this? | By Yoshi11 |
To be honest, I've never played CP in a few months, so I have no idea what the heck was going on. When I saw an email on the Club Penguin Shops, I immediately logged on to Club Penguin. Then, it became apparent that there was a party.
What is this?
The island is filled with a blue-ish theme, which just seems so generic. Where's the red, green, and gold? The "quests" were way too short, some rooms aren't even decorated, and the ones that are feel generic. Just, why? Oh, and I only now realized that this wasn't a Christmas party. It's a "Merry Walrus" party. What was wrong with the Holiday Party name?
Now, I have some comments on the island itself. What happened to the stage? Why is there a skate park? Sure, these things may please new players, but to me, Club Penguin is going downhill.
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By Gatuti789 |
- Pros
- Good decorations (except for the Beach). - 4/5
- The Christmas music is very good. - 5/5
- Despite the large number of puffles this year, the crystal puffle is very cute. - 4/5
- Cons
- Few decorated rooms. - 1/5
- Few items if you compare with the last year Holiday Party. - 1/5
- Only 4 projects to unlock on Coins for Change this year. - 2/5
- I feel that the dark sky creates a cozy atmosphere... - 0/5
- Ridiculous tasks. - 1/5
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Limited holiday spirit. Even the party's logo isn't high quality. | By Perapin |
Limited holiday spirit. Even the party's logo isn't high quality. ↓
Merry Walrus
The Merry Walrus Party introduced a character who would become Club Penguin's most controversial, Merry Walrus himself (it's his name and catchphrase). If you think about it, the introduction and inclusion of Merry Walrus is treated like a deus ex machina in order to be "accepted" as host of the Merry Walrus Party. It's quite a cheap plot device based on coincidence, and that's why his appearance came out as shocking to players. Also, Merry Walrus somehow has magical powers, supposedly from a magical island unexplored by us. To top it all of, it's not until shortly before the party that Aunt Arctic finds a storybook about him. We might have been more willing to meet Merry Walrus if we had hints of him earlier hidden in the game across time.
Merry Walrus. Why a walrus? Why not a penguin? The answers to this question might be so complex. But it does look like Club Penguin is in favor of big characters. We've had Herbert and Sasquatch introduced in recent years. Is it because they're easier to click on? Maybe if Club Penguin didn't release so many large and/or puffy items to begin with in recent years then this would be less of a problem.
More to the positive side, Merry Walrus' generosity and forgiveness are probably his most well-received characteristics, heavily influenced by Santa Claus. It's quite an original spin for him to give to the naughty in hope to bring some light in their life.
- "Herbert P. Bear? Oh I know him alright! He impersonated me and almost ruined Merry Walrus! But even he deserves a present so I got him some nice earmuffs, the good noise cancelling kind. Then I delivered him to the EPF. That was the Director's present!"
- — Best quote by Merry Walrus in-game
Merry Walrus does seem expected to return next year by the Club Penguin Team. I think he'll eventually transition in well with the players if Club Penguin redefined the character slightly: A little less Santa Claus, a little more charming, with a less sketchy sleigh.
We Wish You A Merry Walrus
The plot is crafted well for a 22 minute special, with Roofhowse as a main character we can identify with, who goes to embark on a fulfilling adventure. The special tries to take on meaningful themes of revenge, good vs evil, and unity of family. All well and good!
Squidy2008 goes on to make a good point:
- Herbert being the main antagonist of the movie was a smart move. He's someone that everyone loves to hate, and so CP decided to play it safe by not messing with the classics. Lucky for them, it worked out. Not much backstory (or monologue with visual aides) was needed. The whole Herbert "Operation" thing has always been a success for CP, and I'm glad they went with it in the movie. I think it is worth mentioning that the animation style change when Herbert reveals the details of his plan (I'll let the specifics of said style remain unspoiled) was refreshingly unique.
As well, Squidy2008 mentions that Merry Walrus' character is established in an "incredibly random" manner that felt "forced", acting as a deus ex machina to "provide transportation for the main characters".
One possible continuity error is that Rockhopper's ship had been rebuilt quite quickly after the sinking of his ship in last month's Pirate Party. Nonetheless, there was a great continuity nod that overshadowed this: Herbert's submarine (hinted previously on his website and on Club Penguin Times) was finally used.
Joe (Executive Producer of the special) and his team were highly successful in elevating the humor in Rockhopper's character. Right even before the real story begins, Rockhopper captivates the audience with a remarkable pun:
- “Oh hello, Captain Rockhopper at your service. What’s that you say? You were off in the bathroom and missed the whole hullabaloo? Well, lucky for you I downloaded it off the internet. I ain’t saying how, but I am a pirate!"
Music
Music was a mixed bag. I wasn't very fond of most of the tracks, but I did appreciate the returning "Santa's Mix", a classic track but with a lasting tune. I also enjoyed the new underrated song, "Puffle Shuffle" as well as its instrumental. It seems to be under influence of contemporary pop music seamlessly mixed with a festive jingle. As a result, it sounds very appealing! Perfect vocal range too. I think this is the best song sung by Cadence so far, even better than "Best Day Ever". Well done Cadence & The Penguin Band! I think the song deserved more promotion.
Gameplay
Gameplay was a factor that let the party down. Much to the players' disappointment, the quest feature returned, which greatly undermined the lasting freshness and fun quality of the party. Tech70 highlighted a good point:
- Is riding in Santa's sleigh fun? YES
- Are train rides around the island fun? YES
- Is throwing snowballs in the room fun? NO
The train rides from last year's party allowed members to do something for non-members. Members could enjoy driving trains or being a passenger of one, but non-members could still enjoy the train experience by being a passenger. It was such a communal, enjoyable, and memorable gameplay experience. In fact, it was a highly successful model that I just had to become a member for the party. Not to mention, the Santa's Sleigh used from even earlier Holiday Parties provided a decent roleplay experience in that players could land and fly the sleigh. But this year's party hardly had great gameplay.
Was the Merry Walrus Parade an attempt to make up for last year's train experience? Who knows? But still, there is no "members doing something for non-members" or memorable "control" of the parade. It's disappointing that vehicle items (e.g. Blue Wheeler) don't drive like a vehicle in front of the Merry Walrus float and instead waddle like a penguin.
Chillin43 commented that: "Something else that was cheap was the lame Forest tree decorating. I found it quite stupid that the ornaments had to clip into place and couldn't be thrown anywhere"
Items were used as incentives for the tasks given to us by Merry Walrus, which overshadowed the social aspect of the party. That's why this system is never going to be praiseworthy. The tasks are quite simple, point-and-click tasks. There was hardly shared communication or engagement coming from this system, unlike in non-item rewarding tasks given in "101 Days of Fun" back in 2009 or collecting coins for donations from train rides in the Holiday Party 2013.
Coins For Change
Additionally, the absence of a Coins For Change counter in decorated rooms was quite disappointing this year. In fact, the whole awareness of Coins For Change this year has downgraded. In 2010 and 2011, donation tubes were attached to the donation stations which all led to the Lighthouse, which progressively filled with coins overtime. This effectively reminded players to check out the progress of the donations and keep on donating. Also in 2009, we had the benefit concert at the Lighthouse, Concert For Change. What's so special about Coins For Change in 2014? Not much compared to previous Holiday Parties.
I also think the newspaper could have done a better job spreading awareness for Coins For Change. Wouldn't it be cool if Aunt Arctic interviewed some players (or even notable players) about Coins For Change and used that for an article? That would be a far better replacement for Cadence's lame Coins For Change motivation article.
Decorations
Decorations were the most controversial aspect of the party. There were significantly less room decorations for the party than last year. What happened to island-wide festive spirit? When most of the island is decorated, then players would be encouraged to celebrate the festive spirit anywhere. Potential rooms that would've been better off decorated include:
- Boiler Room
- Underground Pool
- Mine
- Beacon
- Lighthouse
- Ski Hill
- Ski Lodge
- Lodge Attic
- Everyday Phoning Facility
- EPF Command Room
- Book Room (CP Times Office)
- Dance Club
- Dance Lounge
- Clothes Shop
- Stadium
- Pizza Parlor
- Dojo Courtyard
- Dojo
- Cove
- Iceberg
Like Riyita argued, it was disappointing that the Club Penguin Team didn't bother to reuse a few old room designs instead of "not touching them at all". Chillin43 also opined: "Some rooms (like the Pizza Parlor, Gift Shop, and Ski Lodge) had Christmas music playing with no decorations, which just seemed cheap."
Moving on, the decorative theme for the Merry Walrus Party had that "winter wonderland" type of feel. It brought a surprising change from the aurora filled night sky to a daytime sky. This disappointed some penguins because the cold night sky from previous Holiday Parties allowed for a warmer tone for the decorations which felt a lot more into the holiday season, while this year's Merry Walrus Party was a direct opposite. From red to blue. From warm to cold. I thought the decorations were quite fresh for the Town, Plaza, and the Mine Shack, despite them just being recolorings. However, it did not feel that magical or fantastical.
I could go on and on about decorations. But the general feeling is, the decorations for the party isn't as admirable as previous parties. The party suffers from too many underdecorated rooms AND too many overdecorated/transformed rooms. Why? Polo Field might have an explanation:
- “Some of you were disappointed. Just [k]no[w] parties are more work now because [of] Android and iPhone [compatibility] and [so] more work [is needed] to do everything.
- I hope you understand [that] the team tires like really hard, like [they worked] overtime to get this party [ready] so they deserve a thanks! It’s way more helpful!”
Happyblue128 opines a good suggestion in response:
- I did however give Polo Field a possible solution as to how the team can ensure the web version of the game (ClubPenguin.com) is decorated to the high standards that were met with previous parties from previous years. Simply, do what the Club Penguin team did on the app for the Halloween Party – only release a few decorations on the app and make it clear that if the user wants to play the full version of the party, they’ll have to go to ClubPenguin.com (the web version). This way, everyone’s happy… right? Polo seems to think this is quite a good idea, so hopefully we’ll see more decorations on the web version, and therefore less on the app, soon!
I couldn't have said it better myself.
But there is another issue, that only explains why there are too many underdecorated rooms. So why did Club Penguin choose to overdecorate or completely transform rooms? The Snow Forts has no Snow Forts anymore, the Town/Plaza buildings don't retain their original form, the Forest is completely cleared off, and how did the Mine Shack get so small? I think it makes more sense when decorations DON'T transform Club Penguin's buildings, so that we are reminded that we're in Club Penguin, with Club Penguin buildings. Why the big deal? Let's look at the number of flash items in the Plaza during the Holiday Party 2009 and the number of flash items in the Plaza during the Merry Walrus Party 2014:
The number of flash items for the Plaza during the Merry Walrus Party 2014 is about 13 TIMES the size of the Plaza during the Holiday Party 2009. Now imagine all the work being put into getting those flash items compatible with mobile devices. It doesn't seem like a simple upload due to the poor content from the parties we've been having recently. This proves that it would be better to decorate the original form of the building, but not overdo it by changing the buildings completely. If this is done well, then the Club Penguin Team should be able to spread more decorations across the island using an optimized number of flash items. Wait a minute, do mobile devices use flash? Probably not, but if not, they'd still use individual images, which take up space too.
To conclude:
Substance
I rarely do a "Substance" section, though I think this party deserves one. Club Penguin's TV special, "We Wish You A Merry Walrus", depicted Club Penguin having Cadence sing "Puffle Shuffle". Why don't we get such an awesome performance in-game? It's like as if We Wish You A Merry Walrus TV special itself was way more fun than the Merry Walrus Party.
Also, the Mall is really lacking substance. You can't virtually buy anything from the Mall, so why was it necessary in the first place? It's as if the Stage is useless. In fact, the Stage play for We Wish You A Merry Walrus is set outside of the actual Stage. Could this mean the Stage could discontinue? Revamp? Relocate? I think the Stage needs to be redefined in order for popular usage. It would need a better balance of player control and CP Team control over what happens and goes in the Stage.
The Blue Crystal Puffles suffered a lack of substance too. WHO knew they'd be coming? Also unfortunately, we do a task-oriented quest in order to obtain a Blue Crystal Puffle. This is not quite the same as the memorable expedition-oriented quest in order to obtain the Brown Puffles back in 2011. The Blue Crystal Puffles don't actually do anything special. I haven't seen them fly around even when Club Penguin has affirmed that they're the most "magical" puffle to date. It's also unfortunate that Blue Crystal Puffles were revealed before we were able to obtain them. Spoilers! Enb 11 notes that: "Like someone I follow on Twitter said, CP now treats puffles as some kind of Happy Meal toy that has a new one coming every once in a while and that you can collect, and not as a pet that you have to care and give love."
Catalogs & Items
I appreciated how a cool new concept was brought in to get donations running - making coins used for purchasing items in the Penguin Style be donated for Coins For Change. I thought it worked pretty well and no one has any issues with it.
Clothing items were a mixed bag. Some looked better on mobile because the items looked too puffy on the web. The party items specifically don't look like they'll be making a fashion statement, but you'll never know when you need a monster puffle costume.
The Furniture & Igloo Catalog really didn't need the Train Station igloo. I have never seen much players enjoy the Train Station igloo because the creativity is so limited. My personal favorite furniture items in the catalog are: Candy Cane Lantern, Holiday Lights, Potted Poinsettia, and the Ice Cube Wreath. They'd make neat decorations for igloos.
Verdict
Despite a strongly successful TV special run, the party's weakest points lie in the game, consequentially letting down the rating to below satisfactory. This review is quite heavy so it's hard to tell what weak spots should be mended first. But it seems most players have complained about decorations. Interestingly, at the moment of this review's publication, the user rating for the party is lower than my rating just like with my 9th Anniversary Party review. To me, this usually means that I'm being too generous, or the players were furiously upset from the significant changes from "old traditions". I think we know what's more likely. But perhaps things will get better next year. 4.0 out of 10.
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By Super Miron |
I didn't log in for the sake of my health, but replacing Christmas with some walrus thing is enough for me to give it 0 stars. Seriously, I thought changing "Christmas Party" to "Holiday Party" was enough to satisfy those atheists walrusists...
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Um... | By EmberPrismDX |
I thought this year's Holiday Party would be the best of all, but it was not. In fact this is the lamest one I ever had! Pros:The Mall is back! I like some of the rooms. Cons:Not enough rooms. Merry Walrus as CP's Santa? No thanks. Blue Sky?! I just hate how the items are not that well designed. :( Anyway, this year is the 9th best year of CP. Seriously though, 2015 better have lots of decorations OR ELSE!
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Pretty Disappointing... | By Chriskim98 |
First of all, this is by-far the worst Holiday Party ever. Its not even fully decorated as last year. The music is generic and isn't holiday styled. Overall this is a pretty disappointing holiday party or a walrus party.
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LAZINESS! | By Emmz33 |
This party is rubbish. Log on and see for yourself as it's just another bunch of recycled rooms, earn two prizes and come back tomorrow challenge. End of.
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Have a Merry, Merry |
By Mario Rk |
Now with that out of the way, let's go to decorations. EVERYTHING is blue and white... Not that I have a problem with that, but they aren't Christmas colors... then again this isn't a Christmas party but STILL! Where's all the red and green? Even the Coins for Change donation stand legs are changed to blue. Also where's the Southern Lights? Why is it daytime again? Once again, there's a handful of recolored rooms to match the "Merry Walrus" spirit. Other rooms were modified or completely renovated. Also for some reason Merry Walrus has his creepy sleigh parked right in the center of the Snow Forts... Ugh... Also, why is the Dock so... farmy this year? Were they expecting people to roleplay in it as Reindeer? Also like most of our recent parties, indoor rooms won't be decorated unless you have a pre-decorated room from a previous party like the Coffee Shop or Stage... Also it seems like recently Club Penguin enjoys decorating the Stage as a Mall. I wouldn't really mind if they made that permanent since they never seem to use the stage anymore unless its for a party. Overall, the decorations can be summed up as the colors blue and white. It's just everywhere... Ugh.
Now we can talk about the Merry Walrus quest. It was pretty basic, just find the 5 crystals sitting around the island and you get a free unlimited supply of Crystal Puffles. Throw snowballs everywhere and click these bells 8 times and you win a prize or two. It was just too easy, and kind of boring. The prizes weren't all that great either, but I kind of like Crystal Puffles though. They're just pretty fun to mess with, but like all Puffle Creatures, it gets real boring after you do every trick 2 times. But once again... ALL OF THE PRIZES (except that Fluffy thing that was real weird) WERE BLUE AND WHITE. We might as well call this Blue and White Holiday Party Recolor.
And finally I'll sum this review up! This party isn't really that great, in the past years Club Penguin always managed to end with a bang on the December party, but not this time. Everything was blue/white, the quest wasn't that interesting and ect. Merry Walrus himself doesn't really seem that interesting. He just seems like a Walrus in a wannabe Santa costume. Even his personality seems similar to a wannabe Santa Claus. Crystal Puffles are awesome, but they just get boring after doing their 2nd trick. As much as we can all hope for another Holiday Party next year, based on all this "tradition" stuff, we aren't gonna get our wish.
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One of the worst parties in Club Penguin's history | By Penguin985 |
Decorations - The decorations for the Merry Walrus Party were more then below average in terms of decorations around the island, this has been a clear problem for parties since the Frozen Party, not counting the Halloween Party. Furthermore, I have to admit the distribution of decorations around the island were very poor for one of the year's most important parties. Although the decorations individually in each room were quite detailed, the detail could have been reduced in order to make decorations in other rooms. Another bad point drawn to the decorations is that they seem to be past decorations from previous Holiday parties recolored from red and white to blue and white to fit the theme of the party. In my opinion, this could be seen as quite lazy seen that Club Penguin wanted to make new traditions with old decorations, which didn't really work in my book. Finally, the last and major bad point drawn to the decorations is the blue ordinary sky which was used during this party. This made rooms around the island feel less decorative and the whole event feel less magical and special as Holiday Parties are usually every year. Some penguins may argue that the reason Club Penguin's decorations have been below average recently is Club Penguin's App which allows parties in Club Penguin to be accessed on mobile. However as a result of this, Club Penguin have to resort to using less decoration as coding decorations on the mobile can be quite complex for the Club Penguin Team to do. This means that the online version of Club Penguin is negatively affected result. My tip for Club Penguin in the future is to include less decoration on the mobile version of Club Penguin and include more decoration on the online version of Club Penguin. When Club Penguin start to do this, my score in terms of decoration will be increased.
The Character - Merry Walrus - The character for the Merry Walrus party was the Merry Walrus who had only recently become available to meet in Club Penguin. This character had great promise to be one of Club Penguin's best characters, but the portrayal and idea of this character wasn't very good. My first bad point about this character is the fact he seems to be forced upon us by Club Penguin. It seems that the whole idea of this party was to accept new traditions, many penguins didn't want to accept these new traditions as they believe nothing was wrong with the previous traditions of the Holiday Parties in the past. This meant that much of the hate generated from this party was directed towards the Merry Walrus. One thing which also seem to damage this character is that penguins aren't as interested in meeting characters as they were in the past, this meant that penguins also didn't generate a great interest in this character unlike other Club Penguin characters like Aunt Arctic and Gary. Another bad point about this character is that we know little about him and this made it hard for penguins to relate to him and like him. My tip for the future to improve this character would be to improve the character design to make him more likable, this would be done by including warmer colors like red. I do understand the theme of this part was blue and white, but it's clear that this theme isn't favorable with penguins on the island. I would also like to know more about this character in the future.
The whole idea of the party - The whole idea of the Merry Walrus Party was to introduce new traditions to the penguins of Club Penguin, instead of previous Holiday Parties which had been introduced. In some ways, this party was quite a good idea as it differed from the previous Holiday parties. However, the problem is that changed old traditions for brand new traditions, which penguins weren't ready for. My tip for Club Penguin in the future if they choose to use this party is to change the theme of the party to be warmer or slightly more like the Holiday Party everyone loves.
Tasks - The Merry Walrus Party came with a few tasks which were given to us by Merry Walrus, which weren't that good either (matches the party). The tasks given to us were very simple, involving throwing snowballs and finding crystals. These tasks were very simple and could be done in a matter of seconds, this led penguins to get quite bored and not see the point of logging in everyday to do a simple task. Many penguins were disappointed to find out that getting the elusive Crystal Puffle wasn't as hard as they thought - which was disappointing. These tasks like the decorations were let down because of the party also being available on the mobile, as tasks can be quite complex for the Club Penguin Team to code. A tip like the decorations for the future is to include complex tasks on the online version of Club Penguin and say that they can only be done on the online version on the Club Penguin.
Coins For Change 2014 - This part isn't necessarily reviewing Coins For Change but reviewing how the campaign has been negatively affected as a result of the Merry Walrus Party. The Coins For Change campaign is a campaign which allows penguin to donate coins to worthy causes around the world. However Coins For Change was negatively affected by the Merry Walrus as many elements were removed like the reduction of donation stations around the island and the total board. These removals were proved to be quite devastating in terms of the total amounts of coins as it the record was on track to be broken, until Club Penguin cheated and added coins to the total. To improve for the next Coins For Change campaign, I would insist Club Penguin makes it easier for penguins to donate and really focus on the causes of Coins For Change and not the forced Merry Walrus.
My rating - Finally, it's come to my rating for this party. My rating for the Merry Walrus Party 2014 is 0.5, as you've got to give credit to Club Penguin for trying something new. However for my rating to be improved, I would insist Club Penguin's theme for the Merry Walrus is improved and not portrayed as forced. If this event returns, I would also like more complex tasks and decorations as well as less focus on making the Club Penguin App look pretty. If Club Penguin continues to follow the same theme and structure to parties in 2015, it won't be long until my membership is cancelled with Club Penguin.
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Meh a bad party | By Robloxfan22 |
This needs to be the worst party of this year there ware only like 4 tasks and rooms lookes nice but i still love coins for change!! so i give this a 2 out of 5
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cool name | By Goums |
Merry Walrus is a great name. It's a great name
We wish you a Merry Walrus, We wish you a Merry Walrus, We wish you a Merry Walrus and a Happy New Year
Why don't anyone like Merry Walrus? I got no idea why I said that
1. The title is cool 2. I like the name 3. Blue and white are my fave colors 4. Looks fun. That's it
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At this rate, CP won't make it to 10 years. | By Star kirby12 |
There isn't much to do. I'm also disappointed that there's no EPF party this year. And the walrus? LOLNO. I mean, I understand you have to have a stand-in so it makes more sense for Sensei and Tusk to be friends, but still, having a Santa Penguin makes much more sense. Also, on the last day of CFC, 7 billion coins were suddenly added, which is extremely unlikely to be legitimately possible. I guess since Disney's donating all of the money anyway, they decided to add their own coins? That still makes no excuse to cheat. This also means that the number of CP users are declining, which isn't surprising considering the list of parties this year. Let's have an overview:
The year kicked off nicely with the Prehistoric Party and its well-made dinosaur puffles. The Fair had some nice designs, but the main island was only recolored, nothing else. The only good thing about the Muppets was the funny actions you could do with someone else, which really isn't much; not to mention the fact that Constantine, the main antagonist, hardly did anything at all. Then, with the success of the dino puffles, Club Penguin went overboard and created the hideously disgusting dog and cat puffles. The Future Party had the same problem as The Fair but I'll let it slide due to the amazing Protobot battle. The Penguin Cup minigame was nice, but that's about it. There was literally nothing to do at the Music Jam, but at least it got its name back. Marshmallow and non-member furniture was good in the Frozen Party, but not many people were happy about the crossover. And CP does realize not that many people like going to school, right? The Halloween Party had nice graphics but the Skip battle seems rushed. The Pirate Party had nothing but rock-paper-scissors fighting ala Star Wars Takeover. And then the pointless Christmas Party.
CP will not make it at this rate. This is why we can't get new users at the Fanon wiki.