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I think the main question is how do you know that the mask and goggles have been sufficiently cleaned since the last person used it. I know they designed the masks to be cleaned after each use, but what about the goggles themselves?
 
I would say this is a little harsh. I personally like it and think it’s the best use of VR in a park to date.

I agree that it is conceptually the best use of VR I’ve experienced other than the Void. For me, the implementation was the problem.
 
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Corkscrew Hill but in VR and interactive.

Good Lord PLEASE make this a thing, SeaWorld. I'm begging you.

I vote a solid nope to that - not unless they make the massively expensive upgrade to the existing BfE setup for hyper-realistic graphics instead of what I could expect from old Sega Genesis cut scenes.

Corkscrew Hill round 2 with better graphics is a maybe - but honestly another new Irish themed story that isn't mostly 'follow the dragon then kill a bastardized Mike from Monsters Inc with mind-bullets' wouldn't be a bad thing either.
 
I agree that it is conceptually the best use of VR I’ve experienced other than the Void. For me, the implementation was the problem.

To be fair, the park was trying to be innovative, and they spent some decent time and money into the tech. Things just sadly didn't work they way they were supposed to.
 
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I vote a solid nope to that - not unless they make the massively expensive upgrade to the existing BfE setup for hyper-realistic graphics instead of what I could expect from old Sega Genesis cut scenes.

Corkscrew Hill round 2 with better graphics is a maybe - but honestly another new Irish themed story that isn't mostly 'follow the dragon then kill a bastardized Mike from Monsters Inc with mind-bullets' wouldn't be a bad thing either.
Why does it need to be hyper realistic? The show was meant to be stylized. If they were to update it, and made it hyper realistic, chances are it'd dip heavily into uncanny valley.

You can have updated cgi, without the use of hyper realism. Stylization isn't a bad thing. :/
 
He may be more sensitive to the low screen resolution of the HTC Vives they used. I've owned many headsets and the Vive was by far my least favorite, in many ways that hamper the Eire experience.

I'm also of a mind to say that a successful version of this system needs real-time graphics, the 3-D pre-rendered video technique they used has many disadvantages and is more nauseating.

A ride of this system could be done much more technically soundly to produce a better VR experience.

Having said all this I have seen theaters go bonkers for Eire as is..
 
Why does it need to be hyper realistic? The show was meant to be stylized. If they were to update it, and made it hyper realistic, chances are it'd dip heavily into uncanny valley.

You can have updated cgi, without the use of hyper realism. Stylization isn't a bad thing. :/

Maybe I wasn't using the right words - by hyper-realistic, I was meaning modern looking graphics that could be comparable to current gaming systems on the market vs. something that looked like it crawled out of the late 90's/early 2000's.

Not necessarily trying to make it look like actual reality, but seeing textures and patterns that are a little more intracate than the BfE ones.

But to do so would likely require higher rendering capabilities to produce for VR than their system may be able to reliably handle and/or they're willing to have afforded.
 
Yeah updated cgi is absolutely not the same thing as hyper realism lmao. Hyper realism is making things look... Well realistic. It only dictates how the final product looks to the audience, rather than the specs under it. The "live action" Lion King is hyper realism. Spyro Reignited is a remake using modern graphics, it's still heavily stylized though.

But, I'm following you now. ☺️
 
To get this thread back on track, I do believe that if Eire sticks around long enough, it'll be the next generations Corkscrew Hill. But also think that the VR will be it's downfall.

To be honest, I don't ride Eire with the VR. (Helmets don't fit, they're either too big or too small) and ignoring the stick hanging from the ceiling for the VR, I don't think the video quality is honestly all that bad. The story is thin, but so was Corkscrew Hill's. You only need a surface level story to make a 5 minute ride work. It's weak spot is clearly the chase sequence. Most of that you're looking at a bunch of nothing. Even with VR, there's nothing happening. Which y'know... Defeats the purpose of it being a VR ride. But I mean... Most of Corkscrew Hill's... Violent... Horse ride, was also uneventful. Yeah we got Banshees and the little goblin guy, but the rest of that rough ride was blue-green through forests. I think since Eire the things you see are so similar in what's happening prior, that it's easy to care less about it. Something like dialogue between Addie and the riders that's more than "quick they're getting away! After them!!" Would add to it.

Overall though, if they just ditched the VR all together it'd make for a solid enough ride, that in the future kids who rode it will be wishing it came back like people do with Corkscrew Hill.
 
To get this thread back on track, I do believe that if Eire sticks around long enough, it'll be the next generations Corkscrew Hill. But also think that the VR will be it's downfall.

To be honest, I don't ride Eire with the VR. (Helmets don't fit, they're either too big or too small) and ignoring the stick hanging from the ceiling for the VR, I don't think the video quality is honestly all that bad. The story is thin, but so was Corkscrew Hill's. You only need a surface level story to make a 5 minute ride work. It's weak spot is clearly the chase sequence. Most of that you're looking at a bunch of nothing. Even with VR, there's nothing happening. Which y'know... Defeats the purpose of it being a VR ride. But I mean... Most of Corkscrew Hill's... Violent... Horse ride, was also uneventful. Yeah we got Banshees and the little goblin guy, but the rest of that rough ride was blue-green through forests. I think since Eire the things you see are so similar in what's happening prior, that it's easy to care less about it. Something like dialogue between Addie and the riders that's more than "quick they're getting away! After them!!" Would add to it.

Overall though, if they just ditched the VR all together it'd make for a solid enough ride, that in the future kids who rode it will be wishing it came back like people do with Corkscrew Hill.

I tend to agree with this assessment, though I felt CH had less story time dedicated to the horse ride and more to the witch and fall from the Pookah than we have flying the dragon in BfE.

If they could make Addie a much stronger hero somehow (could be dialogue during flight, maybe a small skirmish somewhere in-flight involving a mystical figure of some sort that appears in one of the portal dimensions), then she'd be that much better of a IP character kids and others could look up to kind of how they originally marketed it.
 
I still will never forgive the change from the concept of the exit hallway to the execution of it.
Leaked Battle For Eire Exit Hallway Concept Art
 
To get this thread back on track, I do believe that if Eire sticks around long enough, it'll be the next generations Corkscrew Hill. But also think that the VR will be it's downfall.

Overall though, if they just ditched the VR all together it'd make for a solid enough ride, that in the future kids who rode it will be wishing it came back like people do with Corkscrew Hill.
Agreed! The VR is the worst part, and I think I would like this ride a bit more without it. I truly am not a fan of the story, but the fact that the “big draw” is the VR, which I don’t use, and that there’s usually a long line, makes me always avoid it. I know it’ll be a while before we get a new ride there, but is it too early to look forward to what will come next?
 
Does anyone think this ride will return next season? Or ever?

SEAS has now closed both Wild Arctic simulators in Orlando and San Diego, and the only other simulator in the chain at BGT has been closed for years and since removed entirely. This is the last operating simulator in the chain and in more recent years it's been a common tactic for the corporate overlords to shutter attractions that are hidden off the path and easy to hide. We've seen this with DarKastle in Williamsburg, Tidal Wave in Tampa, and most recently Antartica in Orlando. All suddenly closing without any rhyme or reason and then sitting vacant for an extended period of time.

With BfE being hidden behind the hamlet, and besides the ride sign and entry facade, the ride has no presence in the hamlet. If the chain is hurting financially, it would be a super easy move to shutter this archaic simulator, especially since the VR component is probably a major no-go with the pandemic going on. If Drachen Spire does happen, the park will also be losing another permanent haunted house location, and they could easily build a house in the ride building and queue of BfE and leave it up year round to open during HOS as a replacement for this new hole in the line up.

Alternatively, they could run the ride without the VR and just operate as a normal simulator, but it seems like based on past trends throughout the chain this ride may be on borrowed time. While I'm not the biggest fan of this ride, the storyline is painfully dull and the actual VR element is rather uninspired and bland, this is technically the only "dark ride" in the park ever since the unexpected DK departure, and it would be a shame to have essentially none in the park.
 
I agree, even though I do like this ride quite a bit it would be a shame if this closed and the park has 0 dark rides.
 
I think the pandemic has essentially reshuffled the cards as to what they're gonna do, but it's conceivable that either years 4 or 5 of their major CapEx plan were going to bring another dark ride experience to the park.

And, guessing based on their reluctance of doing anything major with the CoDK show building, that'd mean it's either a replacement to BfE or stick it in Castle O'Sullivan... And my bet would be that it's far easier and cheaper to update the simulator.

However, with the pandemic, all bets are off.
 
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