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Friday, November 28th Design Notes: Book 1 Revisited: Aika Village

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11/28/2025 22:46:13   
Laeon val Observis
Member
 
quote:


Friday, November 28, 2025
Book 1 Revisited: Aika Village
Hey there, heroes!

For this month's Book 1 Revisited release, we're visting the picturesque Aika Village! Also, Black Friday sales and items are here!


Aika Village has been remade, with new art, npcs, and story hints! And, once you're done exploring the village, the Neverglades await...

The Neverglades random dungeons and rewards have been significantly reworked. Rather than drop the Aika Backguards directly, the dungeons will now contain reward pots in dead ends that will allow you to obtain "Enchanted Fronds". These resources can be merged at Lilka to obtain the Aika Backguard of your choice. Completing the random dungeons in Doomed mode will grant you an additional Enchanted Frond at the end. The quest rewards have also been changed from Aika Backguards to valuable items that you can sell for gold, or exchange for an additional Frond from Lilka.

The dungeon size now also scales with how deep you go, although you now must complete at least half of the dungeon before the end room can spawn. Also, Deep, Deeper, and Deepest Neverglades now require at least chaaracter level 30 to access, (to help prevent new players from diving into a deep, deep, optional hole).

This isn't all for Aika Village for the Book 1 Revisit project, though! In future releases, Aika Village will also be the new home of the Beach Invasion War, (Now starring Sir Ano), and a new alkaround path will be added, finally connecting Aika Village to the south gate of Willowshire. We also have some secret plans for Book 4 Aika... Can you can figure out what secret the village is hiding?

Head on over to Aika Village for another visit!


Also this week, new seasonal Black Firday cosmetics are here!


The Obsidian Relic Visor, Wings, and Blade are now available from the Book of Lore! The Visor and Blade can be yours for 300 DCs each, while the wings cost 400 DCs. Last year's Obsidian Black Friday items have also returned.

Not only that, but the annual House Utility Item Black Friday Sale is here! Lasting until next week's release, the Base Armor Closet, Greenscreen Mirror, Armor Portal Closet and Storybook Collection from the House Utility Shop are half off! Also, the Armor Closet from the House Stuff Shop is also half off.

Now is the perfect time to get those big house items you've been looking for!


Also, a bug fix!
  • Fixed an issue where the player could get stuck when loading into Geode Hunting on certain layouts.

And that's all for this week!

DF AQW  Post #: 1
11/29/2025 4:20:01   
TFS
Helpful!


 I'm a bit puzzled by this release.

When the Book 1 revisits first started out, they were just supposed to clean up errors and insert more in-depth gameplay without having to change things like story or art, in order to ensure progress would actually happen. Not even a year later, and the Book 1 revisits are already spending 2+ weeks making a brand-new town in order to insert a single brand-new quest that would replace an old war. And it's not even like the new town in question is fixing an extant problem (like making Battleon more than one screen, as an example), it's a revamp of a 2012 town that was already fully developed and already looked fine (the 2012 art for old Aika was newer than the 2011 art for Falconreach, for example). I don't think this is something that even makes the new player experience better, as the artstyle for the new Aika Village (ie much higher-quality shading and LoD) is a drastic departure from the artstyle of the Dragon Egg saga and early Orb sagas in a way that feels incredibly jarring and out-of-place if you play through the game in order. And an Aika Village revamp definitely isn't something weekly players wanted or were asking for.

The Book 4 teasers are neat and stuff (the bit about the dude transforming into a dragon, NPCs speaking in draconic, and characters not being sure if the dragon was good or evil is probably going to be related to Draco briefly turning into a human during the Black Winter finale if I had to guess), but I can't help but wonder if those plus the new art really make sense being placed right at the beginning of Book 1. New towns and walkarounds are also always cool because they make the game's world feel bigger and more connected, but this just replaces an old one so it's not like the game's world really feels like it's expanding in this instance. Adding the Swordhaven knights is a neat touch though, reminds the player that Alteon actually technically exists in Book 1 even though he never shows up again. Also, are those the 2018 surfboard art contest designs I spy in the background, or is there just a DoomKnight out getting some sun?

Like the new art looks nice and everything but I can't help but look at every level of this release and wonder why multiple releases are being spent on something so unnecessary, especially when spending excessive amounts of time on something unnecessary was the exact opposite of the Book 1 revisits' mission statement.

EDIT: Also, I've seen a lot of talk on the Discords about Lilka's redesign - namely the, uh, less remarkable body type, and the more conservative clothing. That's all well and good, but someone clearly felt strongly enough about this character design to change it - where was this energy for something more important like Wargoth?

< Message edited by TFS -- 11/29/2025 14:23:20 >
DF  Post #: 2
11/29/2025 10:28:47   
GodJank
Member

why does she look like that
Post #: 3
11/29/2025 14:32:55   
Deni3000
Member

I have very vivid memories of Aika village; When Aika was released, I was convinced the riddle in Hunter's Paradise was meant to hint towards some secret in there and spent a whiiiile clicking everywhere (to this day I haven't been able to find what Ketra's riddle refers to despite knowing the typed in answer, if anybody knows please share). This is all to say, I have the original map burned into my brain permanently, and although a part of me misses the old map, I'll try not to let that cloud my feedback too much. Which shouldn't be too hard, the part of me that misses it is overshadowed by the side that's still salty I never found any secret.

The art looks great, of course, and the decision to make it sunset/rise rather than high noon is a good one (though you can't walk to Aika yet, Willowshire has dark skies - it would make for a nice transition this way). I like that the villagers have a bit more variety, character, and fashion choices, with some opting for traditional garb and some in the clothes of the Greenguard hegemony. Lilka's outfit looks better too. The surfer dudes all having stereotypically long surfer dude hair got a chuckle out of me.

I am also a BIG fan of finding draconic speech randomly in the world, very glad that was included. It adds a lot of flavor. Favorite part of this release.

My main point of criticism is similar to TFS': this feels like it should've been a Book 3 or 4 town, rather than replacing an older town. I agree with TFS' point about the jarring contrast in art style. I will disagree on one thing though: Greenguard knights being this far out in book 1 feels strange. In book 3 it made sense to find them everywhere on the mainland, the Kingdom had expanded, and it added to the political drama angle; But book 1 had mostly independent communities entrusted to the protection of their respective guardian towers, with knights remaining close to Swordhaven, Falconreach, and Oaklore. New Aika FEELS like book 3 politically, even setting aside the art style.

I really do feel this would've been outstanding as a Book 3 or 4 release, with relatively minor changes in the original to set up for the new Beach War. And to the devs' credit, the original did need changes, the portrayal of the inhabitants felt a bit tasteless and one dimensional. I just think it could've been an easier fix in Book 1, and this could've been an exciting expansion to the Book 3 world.

Maybe the new Beach War will totally justify the overhaul, I'll reserve further judgement until then. I really don't dislike this release, it just feels out of place.

< Message edited by Deni3000 -- 11/29/2025 14:35:52 >
Post #: 4
11/29/2025 14:44:20   
DMBY
Member
 

 Chiming in to say I'm really not a fan of Lilka's new look either, but more importantly:

quote:

Like the new art looks nice and everything but I can't help but look at every level of this release and wonder why multiple releases are being spent on something so unnecessary, especially when spending excessive amounts of time on something unnecessary was the exact opposite of the Book 1 revisits' mission statement.


This is dead on. This level of change feels way out of scope for the Book 1 cleanup - surely there were easier fixes to the problematic tropes this was meant to address, that would've allowed the team to put more man hours into other projects.

quote:


someone clearly felt strongly enough about this character design to change it - where was this energy for something more important like Wargoth?

REAL, the McDonald's demon still haunts my dreams

< Message edited by DMBY -- 11/29/2025 14:52:19 >
Post #: 5
11/30/2025 7:24:35   
Bluu
Member

I also dislike Lilka's new appearance. She was a very pretty woman and I think that completely changing her identity, appearance, and clothing style was a very wrong choice by Verlyrus and Dracelix. My issues with the redesign are the following:
- She used to be a have a very unique design that still fit within the game's and time period's art style. You could look at her and immediately tell that she was a prominent figure in the village. Now she kind of looks like an average mage.
- I find the breast reduction and the change to modest clothing kind of sexist and inappropriate. Reducing her breast size and then covering her up feels like shaming a woman for naturally having big breasts, which are not inherently sexual. A body is a body and I think it's a bit inappropriate to insinuate that she wasn't clean enough for a kids' flash game because her body naturally looked like that.
- The change in clothing is also a little silly. Her original outfit was not just fine, but very cute and unique. Characters like Toil already wear similar outfits, so what's the issue? She is a woman that lives on the beach and would be expected to wear clothing like that, especially when every man in the village is bare-chested and some only wear leaves for undergarments. Lilka wasn't even in a bikini.
- I don't like the direction the game's art is taking where characters like Katia and Lilka are being made more androgynous/non-binary-looking. I think the idea of wanting to represent various different body types is great! - however, it shouldn't be done to characters that already exist and were already established prior. It feels like a poor Netflix recast for the sake of cheap representation.
- I think the artstyle is too modern for Book 1 anyway, as other users have said.

Overall, not very pleased with what was done to Lilka and I'm sure others agree.
Post #: 6
11/30/2025 7:39:53   
Dratomos
Helpful!


 I am very baffled by this release.

Book 1 revisits have been great so far. But like others have said, this really feels like it missed the mark.

Don't get me wrong, the art style in the area is great! Lilka's change is odd? I don't mind changing her clothing and all that, but it just doesn't fit at all with any other prominent Book 1 NPC. Her old one was really fine. Had this been a Book 3 version, sure, but completely just removing everything Book 1 Aika Village had is perplexing.

To me, Book 1 revisits were smaller releases meant to fix some bugs, typos, add mechanics and rewards, and also make the story more coherent. This feels more like Book 3 reimagining, except it is placed in Book 1 and also seemingly made mandatory for the next Book 1 revisited release.

Making Beach War happen in Aika Village and having Sir Ano be the lead is a great idea. But all these changes to Book 1 Aika Village seems very unnecessary. Why not make this Book 3 Aika Village? All the teases and hints for Book 3 and 4 feel way too distant to starting point of Book 1 where we don't even know what Elemental Orbs are. This feels way too much. And while the new art looks great, it is really jarring. Old Aika Village fit well to Book 1, so it felt consistent with other places and quests we went. This one is way too modern and gives a false illusion that every area in Book 1 would look like this. Jumping from Aika Village now to old Book 1 Osprey Cove is not good. The change in style is way too big. Whereas if this was Book 3 Aika Village, it would fit much better.

But overall, I don't think I have ever said this after a reimagining. But please bring back old Book 1 Aika Village, sure change some NPC, dialogue, rewards, but keep the art style consistent in a Book. Move all this to Book 3 Aika Village where it would fit much better!

And please don't make other Book 1 revisits this big. They don't need to be, experiencing old stuff with old art, but new music, dialogue and mechanics has been enough and a blast at it is. But this is way too big, especially when it doesn't need to be.

< Message edited by Dratomos -- 11/30/2025 7:40:22 >
DF AQW  Post #: 7
11/30/2025 9:37:28   
TFS
Helpful!
quote:

I really do feel this would've been outstanding as a Book 3 or 4 release, with relatively minor changes in the original to set up for the new Beach War. And to the devs' credit, the original did need changes, the portrayal of the inhabitants felt a bit tasteless and one dimensional. I just think it could've been an easier fix in Book 1, and this could've been an exciting expansion to the Book 3 world.

quote:

But overall, I don't think I have ever said this after a reimagining. But please bring back old Book 1 Aika Village, sure change some NPC, dialogue, rewards, but keep the art style consistent in a Book. Move all this to Book 3 Aika Village where it would fit much better!

Oh wait actually that's clever. What if the idea is that Aika only became a commercialized tourist spot over the course of the timeskip? Contributes to the feeling of melancholy you get from seeing how the world has changed at the start of Book 3, and could be a vector for subtle real-world commentary (or at least more subtle than the anthropologist NPC)
DF  Post #: 8
11/30/2025 12:06:54   
  Verlyrus
DragonFable Boxcat
quote:

Oh wait actually that's clever. What if the idea is that Aika only became a commercialized tourist spot over the course of the timeskip? Contributes to the feeling of melancholy you get from seeing how the world has changed at the start of Book 3, and could be a vector for subtle real-world commentary (or at least more subtle than the anthropologist NPC)


I don't think, "It's problematic now, and a product of its time, but if you just get through the whole story, they actually turn it into an interesting commentary in optional stuff much later" would be the best way to deal with it when it's something a first-time player will encounter as part of the main story.

quote:

Greenguard knights being this far out in book 1 feels strange.


It's the main eastern port and a tourist destination. It makes sense for there to be some Swordhaven regulation. The revamped beach war does also go into this slightly more, as well, with Sir Ano.

Redesigning Aika Village was more necessary because of its old tropes that I disliked, and also its greater prominence in the story. I felt it needed to be filled out and explained more, and also set up for future content. So it makes sense to to tackle all of it at once.
Maybe we put too much effort into it, but we always want to do our best and put effort into things. Book 1 Revisit releases have definitely gotten out of hand, which is partially why I want to step back from them once we get to the Orb Saga. The Aika Village redesign was the last and only big redesign planned, again, because of its problematic original design, new current relevance, and future purposes. I guess the new walkaround connecting it to Willowshire would be another new thing, but I think that would be pretty welcome (and shouldn't be on this big of a scale).

Regarding style differences, while I agree we could have done a better job keeping the Book 1 vibe, I don't think it's that crazy of a departure. I'll try to keep that in mind when adding the new walkaround connection.
As for Lilka, her old art was quite out of place with the rest of DragonFable's style. I don't think there was any intent to "censor" her; that certainly wasn't in the plans. It's just a different look.

< Message edited by Verlyrus -- 11/30/2025 12:09:21 >
AQ MQ  Post #: 9
11/30/2025 12:26:14   
GodJank
Member

quote:

"It's problematic now, and a product of its time, but if you just get through the whole story, they actually turn it into an interesting commentary in optional stuff much later"

Wait, what exactly was so problematic with old Aika Village? Lilka's old design was good and there was nothing inherently problematic with the actual zone, imo. It's a tourist resort. The suggestions being given to you is to have Aika Village in BK1 be a normal and secluded island, and then be a commercialized and gentrified tourist spot in BK3 which would fit really well story wise.

quote:

Redesigning Aika Village was more necessary because of its old tropes that I disliked

What about the players? Wasn't BK1 supposed to be preserved and kept largely intact as is? Now it feels like you're starting to backtrack on that promise, which feels misleading.

And as I'm writing this, TFS let me know about ''Mooga Booga Islet'', which came out in 2018. Aika Village is looking a lot less problematic in comparison, because how could you possibly have thought that making a quest where islanders bow down to you was okay?

quote:

As for Lilka, her old art was quite out of place with the rest of DragonFable's style

She looked perfectly fine in relation to the rest of Book 1. Why are you guys designing her with Book 3's more modern art style? And if you are going to make new art, then why is the decision to stray so far away from her original character design?

Also lol at her being ''out of place'' but new Lilka has insane shading and sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest of Book 1 and Book 3.

< Message edited by GodJank -- 11/30/2025 12:34:23 >
Post #: 10
11/30/2025 13:27:47   
  Verlyrus
DragonFable Boxcat
quote:

The suggestions being given to you is to have Aika Village in BK1 be a normal and secluded island, and then be a commercialized and gentrified tourist spot in BK3 which would fit really well story wise.

It's... not an isolated island? It's literally a tourist destination on the mainland, which is why it makes even less sense for it to just be full of leaf-skirt clad people unable to speak in proper grammar and living in primitive huts. And now, with it also being the connection for Sho'Nuff and eastern trading, it makes sense for it to be more gentrified already. It also has its own established history, tying in with future things, so it's exceptionally weird if it's like, a schrodinger's secluded primitives both simultaneously running a tourist spot yet also unable to grasp what a ship is.

quote:

Wasn't BK1 supposed to be preserved and kept largely intact as is? Now it feels like you're starting to backtrack on that promise, which feels misleading.

I can't help but notice you left out the very important rest of the sentence that you quoted. I also acknowledged this in my response. This was a big necessary change not just for the tropes but also for current and future plans regaeding the area. This isn't the start of us redesigning every book 1 town. That would be a nightmare in every way.

quote:

''Mooga Booga Islet'', which came out in 2018. Aika Village is looking a lot less problematic in comparison, because how could you possibly have thought that making a quest where islanders bow down to you was okay?


I dunno what kinda "gotcha" this is suppsoed to be but I think I've explained enough about why I believe Aika was problematic. Moglins bowing down to you is a lot different from Aika's issues. Not the best, sure, but also not as much of a current problem. If you, or anyone feel offended by Mooga Booga Islet, I'd be happy to change it up. EDIT: Actually, yeah, I think it's worth changing. I don't really like it. Thanks for the reminder.

quote:

Why are you guys designing her with Book 3's more modern art style? And if you are going to make new art, then why is the decision to stray so far away from her original character design?

There are some direction and communication issues that I need to work on. I did not ask for a Lilka redesign... but I also didnt see anything wrong with the new one. So you'd have to ask the artist, for answers to that. I also think you are seeing malice where there is none. No one was like, "hahahaha we'll make her more covered up and shaded better! That'll show them!".

< Message edited by Verlyrus -- 11/30/2025 13:36:10 >
AQ MQ  Post #: 11
11/30/2025 13:43:28   
TFS
Helpful!
quote:

I don't think, "It's problematic now, and a product of its time, but if you just get through the whole story, they actually turn it into an interesting commentary in optional stuff much later" would be the best way to deal with it when it's something a first-time player will encounter as part of the main story.

If there were problematic elements in old Aika, why not just tweak NPCs and dialogue instead of rebuilding the whole town from scratch...? That's like noticing a plumbing leak and then deciding to tear down and rebuild the entire house.

Also, unless I'm missing something, I'm not sure what was problematic about old Aika? There was an NPC who spoke in broken English like a cartoon trope, but then the punchline at the end of his dialogue tree was that he was just bad at spelling. Which seems harmless, but again could have been fixed with just a dialogue change if it wasn't.
As a side note, there's a much more recent quest ( Ooga Booga Island, wherein the enemies wear grass skirts, bow down to you in worship when defeated, and offer you sacrifices) that features something much closer to a problematic depiction of Pacific Islanders - and it was made by the current dev team, who clearly thought leaning way into this trope was fine. Again, I could very well be missing something, and I apologize if I am, but old Aika seems like a nothingburger.

quote:

Book 1 Revisit releases have definitely gotten out of hand

I didn't say all that! Maybe just save the resources for where they're warranted. Like I personally was a little disappointed that something as big and iconic as Wrath of Xan was reduced to a single quest, but understood that it would be impractical for the developers to dedicate multiple releases and an entire town to a Book 1 revisit - only for exactly that to happen to something as minor as the Beach Vacation Invasion!

quote:

As for Lilka, her old art was quite out of place with the rest of DragonFable's style.

I'm not an artist, just someone who plays a lot, but I disagree? Though the old art had been a part of the game for 13 years and might have played some role in my conception of what Book 1 art looks like.
I think the new Lilka does feel out of place in Book 1, though - the thin outlines and high level of detail is more consistent with Book 3 NPC art, and the extremely detailed shading - while it does look very good - is unlike anything else in the game (and especially the following questline in Osprey Cove). I think this is inseperable from updating the art at all, though - what are you going to do, ask the artists to do a less good job lol?
I think the same about the town - there's a lot going on on each screen, sprites are highly detailed and shaded, thin outlines, repeated assets like pebbles are the 2.5D AQW ones - hallmarks of Book 3 style that you won't see in Book 1. Like I'm sure a new player won't be able to quantify it as well as an experienced one, but the new Aika just looks better than the content that precedes and follows it, in a very noticeable way.

EDIT: Double sniped, sorry if redundancies

EDIT 2: I was also going to say, Book 1 Aika being isolated and unbothered by greenguard -> Book 3 Aika having the knights and turning into a commercialized/exploited tourist spot where the inhabitants are forced into the background and have to perform for tourists so they don't get priced out of their own home would have been really cool. Would have fit the whole "the world has changed without you, maybe not for the better" early Book 3 timeskip vibe, only put Swordhaven back in the forefront upon being plot relevant to Book 3, would have expanded Book 3's world/walkarounds, and also would have been a subtle metanarrative about the actual injustices pacific islanders face (and not having video game dialogue with bad grammar or whatever). But I think the coversation has moved past that and back to booba

< Message edited by TFS -- 11/30/2025 14:28:53 >
DF  Post #: 12
11/30/2025 14:28:48   
  Verlyrus
DragonFable Boxcat


 I'll try to clarify things one last time.

Why was Aika Village reworked so heavily?

a) I disliked some of the tropes it displayed.
b)it needed major reworks to fit the current revisit story
c) it needed major reworks to fit the future story.

a: The way the characters were represented bothered me. If it didn't bother you, great, that's awesome. Good for you. It bothered me. Mooga Booga Island was brought up. We'll be changing that, as well. That was 7 years ago. That is a long time ago! I can't even remember what I had for breakfast, so I don't remember what the idea behind that quest was. But probably good to rework that when we can.

b: Since it's changing from a random optional town of no significance to a point on the main story, I had to give it some thought as to how it actually fits into the world of DragonFable. It's on the path south from Willowshire, and on the coast. Therefore, it makes sense that it would be a port of importance, being maybe the biggest coastal town you can visit. If it is also a tourist destination, then who are the tourists? Usually the rich. From Swordhaven. So it makes sense that Alteon and the nobles would have an interest in the area hence a Swordhaven presence. This does not get solved by just changing "STORE" guy's dialogue. To me, when I visited the old version in the context of the story, I found myself asking why it would be so anachronistically out of place. Why would the people who live in this tourist destination and main port be living in open, bamboo huts and wearing grass skirts? When you go there now, you don't ask yourself "why aren't these people more stereotypically primitive?"

c: Along with current events, Aika Village has some secrets to uncover in the future. Again, not something that can be properly shown with simple dialogue changes. Those secrets are also tied to the village's past. Another reason for the redesign. This is not a random village on the coast anymore. It's a pretty important place for certain people, who have lived here for quite a while. It is simply not the Aika Village that it used to be.

In summary, the redesign was multifaceted, completely changing Aika Village's place in the story and world from what little it had previously It's not just a random isolated village anymore. That is why it was not a simple "change dialogue and add new npcs" fix. This also is very very VERY unlikely to happen to any other Book 1 towns. I hope this addresses the concerns.

< Message edited by Verlyrus -- 11/30/2025 14:32:23 >
AQ MQ  Post #: 13
11/30/2025 14:39:43   
GodJank
Member

quote:

It's literally a tourist destination on the mainland, which is why it makes even less sense for it to just be full of leaf-skirt clad people unable to speak in proper grammar

Then why don't you change *that* specifically instead? Aika as a whole was fine, and if you wanted to include some actual story telling, you could just have BK1 Aika be a secluded island, largely uninvolved with politics, and then having BK3 Aika be the "tourist resort", which ties in to the whole thing of real life populations having their islands be gentrified and modernized.

If old Aika was genuinely considered to be problematic media, then simple dialogue changes would have been enough.

quote:

I can't help but notice you left out the very important rest of the sentence that you quoted.

No, I didn't. I intentionally brought that up specifically because that's something you promised and not even long after, you're already now starting to backtrack on that. It's seriously annoying, especially when there's already been a pretty lengthy thread not too long ago about the direction of the game so far and concerns people have. This really isn't helping things, but you seem self aware at least.

quote:

I dunno what kinda "gotcha" this is supposed to be

It's not supposed to be a ''gotcha'' moment, it's me wanting to know what specifically was wrong with Aika, and why ''Ooga Booga Island'' was considered okay. At least you're looking into it now, but that's still pretty baffling.

quote:

I also think you are seeing malice where there is none.

No? I just think the decision to make new art for her is pretty weird, considering this looks like a much older Lilka too, and a design that fits way more into BK3. Also I think the "artists" should probably be a bit better at communication too. I don't think I've ever seen Dove or Dracelix type in the forums.

For the record, I don't think the design itself is BAD, just a big removal from old Lilka. Actually, the new one looks a lot more aged up and wiser, which is why I still think BK3 Aika should be remade. I think there's a lot of smart ideas being given by TFS (here and on Discord) and by Dratomos. Why not revert BK1 Aika (or at least just Lilka's design) and then open up BK3 Aika, put in Lilka's new appearance and then just have Aika be bigger, to show how there are Greenguard citizens and other people taking refuge in Aika, moving in and gentrifying the whole place, i.e. what's happening in Hawaii?

Edit: I got sniped, so I'll read your new post.

Re-edit: It's nice that you're trying to give Aika some actual story importance, but it feels like this transition could have been handled a lot more smoothly, and with some consideration for BK3; what has changed in the 8-10 year time skip between BK1 and BK3? How has Rose and the war on magic affected Aika? Are the inhabitants being forced to perform and submit themselves to the Rose so their magical residents are being left to live in peace? Are Aika's resources being used for heavy industrialization? I think there's a lot you could do with a potential revamped Aika.

< Message edited by GodJank -- 11/30/2025 14:49:47 >
Post #: 14
11/30/2025 14:41:50   
Maxtrigon
Member

You know what's crazy as I'm reading through this is it's echoing that FW discussion that happened in Falcon's Nest where people are wondering what is the rationale behind dumping resources behind this and it's just really vague non-answers. Genuinely what was the issue of Aika village that warranted this? Stop just saying "tropes you disliked" because a trope that I'm disliking with these repeated discussions is never getting a clear answer from the lead of the game making the decisions in the first place. Also don't do the same thing you did with Dove and just throw it at Drace. Drace does and continues to do good work, but directing people towards him because of a decision that was ultimately passed by you, the game's lead, was given the okay.

Admittedly I understand why people are upset with the new redesign, although personally I might be the only one who liked it, which while is a shame again I get why people are upset. It's virtually a different character with how different Lilka looks and regardless of how I might feel, I'm not gonna lie to you and say the first impressions weren't jarring when seeing her. But again, while Drace could have drafted up that design, that was ultimately something you had to okay. Just like you had to okay this whole area revamp. This is book 1, this isn't book 3/4. We don't even have a Book 4 intro, I have no clue why *now* was the time you had to start planning for it in the midst of a BK 1 Revisit.

Unfortunately I don't have much else to add that others haven't already said ad nauseam other than this bit

quote:

There are some direction and communication issues that I need to work on. I did not ask for a Lilka redesign...


So how many months, blow ups, frustration, and general irritation from both the playerbase and the devs is it actually going to take to fix the communication issues? Is Dove about to tweet out another FW teaser or is Drace the new dev to whom you didn't bother communicating with before he put time, effort, and energy into a redesign? Is the BTS when you're making releases literally just improv or do you play a game of telephone with string and three cans and things just get lost in translation?

How do you at least not communicate the style that one of the major NPCs should adhere to if you're so disdainful of whatever supposed "tropes" Aika Village had that the entire area essentially had to be re:imagined like we're back in Book 3? Is this why every release is a "flying by the seat of our pants" situation? Because you're incapable of doing something so basic as communicating a design for an NPC that's the representative of the whole area itself?

I'm just so tired man, the least that could have been done is make it make sense.


< Message edited by Maxtrigon -- 11/30/2025 14:50:34 >
Post #: 15
11/30/2025 15:03:55   
Bluu
Member

Yeah I have to gently agree with Maxtrigon here. It feels like this "Book 4" stuff was just tacked on to make the place feel more palatable.

quote:

As for Lilka, her old art was quite out of place with the rest of DragonFable's style. I don't think there was any intent to "censor" her; that certainly wasn't in the plans. It's just a different look.

It was not out of place imo, and even if it was, it certainly wasn't as out of place as the current version of Lilka for sure. It was legitimately just a waste of developer resources for a net negative that no one liked. And given that Fleshweaver would only need two weeks of work to release if D*ve can find the time... are we seriously wasting manpower on stuff like this?

Lilka aside, the revamped version of Aika Village absolutely does not fit the world of Book 1 - the main qualm of mine is the Anthropologist NPC. This kind of character is really never present in Book 1 but is scattered throughout Book 3. The entire map feels like it was made with a Book 3 mentality/mindset and it does not translate well to the more primitive Book 1, especially since this is probably right after Dragon Hatching. There were some good parts like the Pirate and Ninja refusing to fight so as to not sully neutral territory, but overall it felt like a Book 3 map dumped into Book 1. It's jarring and weird.

quote:

I dunno what kinda "gotcha" this is suppsoed to be but I think I've explained enough about why I believe Aika was problematic. Moglins bowing down to you is a lot different from Aika's issues.

If you thought Book 1 Aika Village was racist, Mooga Booga Islet reads like a foreigner entering a pre-established civilization and enslaving the entire population. Now we both obviously know that it's supposed to be a joke because the protagonist would never colonize a bunch of overgrown moglins and that they were bowing down of their own free will, but this is kind of a double standard.

quote:

EDIT: Actually, yeah, I think it's worth changing. I don't really like it. Thanks for the reminder.

I fear that this is the wrong takeaway from the conversation. Aika Village and Mooga Booga Islet don't really need to be changed. They really aren't some horribly racist caricature or whatever. The original Aika Village had its own charm and was appropriate for Book 1, so it should come back. Mooga Booga Islet is a good quest and a nice breath of fresh air during the otherwise tense main storyline. These things are fine.

I was really not a fan of this release and I would like for it to be rolled back and reintroduced as Book 3/4 Aika Village.
Post #: 16
11/30/2025 15:18:44   
  Verlyrus
DragonFable Boxcat
quote:

Genuinely what was the issue of Aika village that warranted this? Stop just saying "tropes you disliked" because a trope that I'm disliking with these repeated discussions is never getting a clear answer from the lead of the game making the decisions in the first place. Also don't do the same thing you did with Dove and just throw it at Drace. Drace does and continues to do good work, but directing people towards him because of a decision that was ultimately passed by you, the game's lead, was given the okay.


Please see my above posts where I outlined that it wasn't "just" because of the tropes.

quote:

This is book 1, this isn't book 3/4. We don't even have a Book 4 intro, I have no clue why *now* was the time you had to start planning for it in the midst of a BK 1 Revisit.

Because it involves the area. So if we are already going there for the book 1 revisit, why would we not incorporate things for the plans we already have? That would be really stupid to revisit it now, and then retcon it in the future.

quote:

So how many months, blow ups, frustration, and general irritation from both the playerbase and the devs is it actually going to take to fix the communication issues?

Might have to wait until we get another dev on the team or something. Believe it or not, when I'm writing multiple major storylines, working on QoL and engine functionality projects, working on designing and balancing multiple classes, and also planning and designing Inn challenges, along with setting up and creating quest rewards and writing Design Notes and all the other little maintenance things that the game requires me to do that add up, sometimes I miss things.
And I'm also directing things with the game. So please excuse me if sometimes things fall through the cracks. In the Fleshweaver case, I didn't think I had to notify Dove to stop trying to hype up Fleshweaver, because I thought he was already aware of how the community was feeling toward it. I was wrong, and as I've mentioend before, I have since discussed things with him. For Lilka, I really don't think there's an issue with how she was handled.

quote:

It's nice that you're trying to give Aika some actual story importance, but it feels like this transition could have been handled a lot more smoothly, and with some consideration for BK3; what has changed in the 8-10 year time skip between BK1 and BK3? How has Rose and the war on magic affected Aika? Are the inhabitants being forced to perform and submit themselves to the Rose so their magical residents are being left to live in peace? Are Aika's resources being used for heavy industrialization? I think there's a lot you could do with a potential revamped Aika.

These are good story questions. And I believe the new Aika Village is better positioned to provide a base on which to answer them, compared to something similar to the old version.

quote:

And given that Fleshweaver would only need two weeks of work to release if D*ve can find the time... are we seriously wasting manpower on stuff like this?

This is not true, this was wrong, Dracelix is also not working on Fleshweaver, so it wouldn't have impacted it anyway, please stop quoting this stupid thing at me, it's incorrect and is not indicative of how much work would be needed to finish Fleshweaver, yes I have spoken to Dove about being more careful about what he says publicly, thank you.

< Message edited by Verlyrus -- 11/30/2025 15:24:49 >
AQ MQ  Post #: 17
11/30/2025 16:18:10   
Jet Silver
Member

Just stepping in to say I personally like the changes a lot.

quote:

It's... not an isolated island? It's literally a tourist destination on the mainland, which is why it makes even less sense for it to just be full of leaf-skirt clad people unable to speak in proper grammar and living in primitive huts. And now, with it also being the connection for Sho'Nuff and eastern trading, it makes sense for it to be more gentrified already. It also has its own established history, tying in with future things, so it's exceptionally weird if it's like, a schrodinger's secluded primitives both simultaneously running a tourist spot yet also unable to grasp what a ship is.


Like... C'mon. Having THIS dialogue below doesn't make sense when the above is true.

quote:

Kraola manage to see around your trick.

Kraola: Hey. Kraola no like your think trick.
<Character>: Almost had you though!
Kraola: Kraola not think funny. Kraola no more talk.


I'm glad we don't have folks running a ocean-side town a few miles from Greenguard talking in third-person anymore.
AQ DF MQ AQW Epic  Post #: 18
11/30/2025 22:26:00   
DragonKeeper
Member

This may be a singular opinion but I like the new Aika Village. It also seems to be set up where new things can be added in the future.
DF  Post #: 19
12/1/2025 0:24:27   
Laeon val Observis
Member
 

 I for one am pretty fine with the release, with the nitpicks being that the labyrinths having low exp caps (Just did the Deeper Neverglades earlier and managed to reach the 100k exp cap imposed on the quest) and the lack of the telepoint savepoint system (Got a little worried that I wouldn't be able to clear the Deepest Neverglades when I just had to remind myself that I partially cleared the largest Timetorn Matrix without a map).

While I will refrain much from participating from the recent grievance postings of the so-called "topsiders" of the DF community, I do find myself in the contrarian position that these voices are starting to be on the petulant side (Yeah, still find the reactions of the endgamers towards the multi-break bar fight that was Your Dragon utterly childish when it was an inevitability) instead of a genuine show of "best interests" that trying to justify having the right to be upset is going to be questionable, most especially if the start to attack the reason of the team being short staffed. Be glad that release contents haven't yet gone to the near-weekly intensive skill balancing that happens in EpicDuel. It would be interesting how the DFtubers would react if their endgame content get (ever so slightly) outdated if such a scenario happens, since that seems to the "big man in a suit of armor" of the elites alongside their crutchless gigs.

< Message edited by Laeon val Observis -- 12/1/2025 0:35:27 >
DF AQW  Post #: 20
12/1/2025 5:55:10   
GodJank
Member

Lol talk about being reductive. ''Topsiders'' ''endgamers'' this has nothing to do with the Inn, and everyone present has given proper critique and specifically told Verlyrus what they disliked, some even gave suggestions for how Aika could be improved.

This is unbelievable amounts of coping + seething.
Post #: 21
12/1/2025 6:17:30   
ProbablyCallum
Member

I really dont mind the changes to the village because what basically came off as an uncontacted civilisation right next door to various "modern" towns and cities was always dumb and made no sense in the setting but why does lilka look like that now. DF art wasnt the best back then but she was clearly designed to be attractive i.e curvy, cute, skin but now if you put a gun to anyone's head and went "name book 1's top 10 hotties" or whatever the new lilka likely wouldnt be considered by anyone. Redesigns should still retain what made the original character what they were and the new lilka is a complete failure in achieving that imo. Was it some weird attempt at subverting the attractive fantasy elves trope by making her into the avatar of rectangles and hiding her belly button? Not all tropes require needless wars waged on them, plenty of them are just there bc they're fun and people like them.

< Message edited by ProbablyCallum -- 12/1/2025 6:23:52 >
DF  Post #: 22
12/1/2025 10:04:05   
Keldor
Member

We were already told why Lilka was changed. Verly was bothered by the way certain characters were represented and while the native villagers are the first thing that comes to mind when you hear that, Lilka is undoubtedly included as well. She was intended to be this cute tanned girl you met at the beach and her original design communicated that intention really well. She was genuinely one of the best looking NPC's in Book 1 which was odd for such an out of the way character but it was the good kind of odd. Lilka's the new design is the exact opposite. More masculine features, her chest has been removed (not just reduced or de-emphasized but pretty much entirely removed) and her stance makes her come across as a very different kind of character. When I first saw the new Lilka, I had trouble telling her gender and had to check to be certain. Contrast that with her old design where there was absolutely no room for confusion.

Now I don't really mind that the developers chose to redesign Aika village over focusing on something like Fleshweaver. I am of the view that artists, writers and other creative sorts work best when they are passionate about their work. Unfortunately, few things get people's passion going like something that offends their sensibilities. That is entirely the wrong motivation to have when doing a redesign/updating old content. It inevitably causes anger and discontent among fans who liked how the old thing used to be. So while I am not in principle against Aika getting revamped (I still have fond memories of the initial release, my character had the Aika Backguard equipped when I came back after a 7 year break in 2022), I do think that the new update does not respect the spirit of the original release. Lilka is just the most obvious example.

As someone who liked the old Lilka, I honestly hate everything about her new design. Both how she looks now and the reason for the change. This whole situation is making me remember when Dragonlord got updated to have a shield and the funny walking animation. I hated that shield so much. I still do, but I used to too.


< Message edited by Keldor -- 12/1/2025 19:39:48 >
Post #: 23
12/1/2025 14:10:31   
Kaizoku
Member

Yeah, I'm not a fan of Lilka's redesign either or the Book 3-ification of the place. In her memory I'll keep her as my avatar from now on.
AQ DF MQ  Post #: 24
12/1/2025 15:50:28   
Bluu
Member

quote:

In her memory I'll keep her as my avatar from now on.


Me too.

It would only take two weeks to bring her back... if D*ve finds the time...

< Message edited by Bluu -- 12/1/2025 16:01:42 >
Post #: 25
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