Isilme [8.5/10]

http://isilme.acornrack.com/

Another Tuesday and it's time for another review! Today I'll be reviewing a site called Isilme, and just for those who actually check the AD and such often I had it written down as "Islime" for a few days before I realized it. One of my random thoughts wondering why a horse RP would be called "I Slime" ... but I suppose that's a story you'd rather I'd not tell.

While I'm not exactly the the biggest fan of horse RP's and the like I actually found the AD very intriguing. It has a nice backstory and it's written well enough to interest even someone like me. (That's intended as a compliment, though it may not really sound like it... )

Anyway, blink and nod or twitch that nose of yours to magically move out of the way before I SLIME YOU! (I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched references, High five!)

First Impression:
For some reason that picture makes me think of The Neverending Story, except there is a flying horse instead of a flying dragon. The green color scheme is half and half for me, I don't mind the dark green background but the lighter green in the center is not my cup of tea.

The Public Area:
The Index page has some of the text transplanted from the AD, which works fine for me. There is also a bit of music and the only thing I have about music is that I really prefer them to not be on autoplay because some people may not be in a music friendly environment (Like a library or supposed to be working...) or slower connections and would hinder their experience.

The Rules page, has quite a bit of writing although the larger portion are guidelines. But even though you only have to read the rules to join, I will stampede through the text and give my comments! (Extra points for using a "horse-y word?") I really only have one comment on rule 3, I think the word count your aiming for is too low. But I don't have experience in these types of RPs so I don't know if that would make it too difficult for admins to enforce or whatever.

On Challenging Guideline 1: You say you have a point system rubric, but since it's based on writing I'm not sure how it would work in terms of fairness. So I guess my general comment is be careful with the system. I'm personally interested on how the system works, since I create new battle systems for every RP I create.

On Invasions: I'd like to see a more detailed example in the forums on how this works. (I've not seen the forums at this point if there is one in there)

On Stealth: I like this idea, it's very interesting!

I'm generally against cursing in the rules page even though you've established this as a more mature RP. This is the public area where you are still responsible for content, save the language for private area.

On Breeding #7: You state stats are settled with random dice, and I'd like to offer an idea for you to ponder. While those foals are born in different seasons, perhaps the chance of being born healthy weighs the risk of a strong offspring like such. Foal A is born in spring and gets a combat stat of: 3. Foal B is born in winter (and remains healthy) and due to harsh conditions Foal B is more suited for battle and gains +2 to combat stats due to weather conditioning. Different seasons could yield different bonuses to help the herd.

On Dragons: I'm not a huge fan of this idea although I understand the need to level the magic playing field with Equines. It all seems a bit too Eragon-y to me though.

Finally, you have hotlinks down to sections but none that go back up. My general rule is what goes down must come up! I call it the Law of Resonant Hotlinks! Okay, not really but it IS my general rule...

The FAQ Page, overall fine the item page links to the AR1 site so that should be replaced with a more current link. Also I'd also suggest to make the links in this area target separate windows for convenience for the YouTube links or those external to the site.

The Application:
Your standard application, NO ROLEPLAY SAMPLE REQUIRED.



The Private Area:
Layout Change! More or less though it's just a navigation bar extension so, don't fret!

Herd pages are overall nicely formatted and looks neat.

Another small comment, since you are an AD driven site you can afford to post private layout oriented rules and FAQ pages. By that I mean simply make a new rules page with the header, footer blocks for the private layout.

History is fine, perhaps some neater formatting would be nice though.

Adoptables and Affilates are self-explanitory. No comments here.

Contact page is fine, would like to see which characters are played by the admins though. Makes it easier for guests to pop in and ask things on the cbox/tagboard for clarification on things.

Items, Magic, Record, Magic in Battle and God Titles page link is not viewable to the guest account.

Points pages are fine for their purpose.

Forums:
Good amount of forums and description. No hotlinks but I think here is a rare balance of forums and space taken up that works without them.

Other:
Memberlist is a basic listing of users by userlevel, the profiles are generally filled out well and are organized fine.

Roleplaying:
From what I read on the forums, I categorize the roleplaying on this site to be Intermediate to Advanced.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 Points.

To be perfectly honest I wasn't thrilled to review a horse RP, however this site has given me some hope for the genre! The site is executed very well in my opinion and is something other should try to emulate. Small improvements here and there can be made but other than that I have not much else to say.

Final Note: I'll record myself trying to speak Swedish for that contest thingy as a Dark Horse entrant! (Get it!?! Dark Horse!?!? Horses... and the RP... Oh and I'm serious, I'll be in contact with the admin probably with my entry.)

Here is my entry!


Or you can download the file here:
http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/8/1803698/JelloSwede.mp3

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Reviewed by: The Jello Emperor