The BIG Reveal -- WOW!

[Marianne Little]

11 hours ago, Gwin LeShelle said:

I was like WEEEEE when I saw the giant mushrooms, the perfect bridges and the overgrown paths...until I saw the houses!
They are way to huge for this kinda setting T^T I would love so many rooms in Traditionals or such, I do not know why but for me such magical foresty huts should be...small...cramped and cozy, just like Radagasts hut in the forest or such x3 
But the landscaping is truly magical and was instant love T^T 

I do not think LL can please us all, but I must say I agree 100% with the house size. I also think the houses and landscaping does not fit together. The landscaping is magical and the houses look a bit out of place. The houses could be more "old" looking.

But I am not the best to judge fantasy, I have wanted a modern theme in 2 years and I am not very interested in fantasy.

[Gwin LeShelle]

1 hour ago, Marianne Little said:

I do not think LL can please us all, but I must say I agree 100% with the house size. I also think the houses and landscaping does not fit together. The landscaping is magical and the houses look a bit out of place. The houses could be more "old" looking.

But I am not the best to judge fantasy, I have wanted a modern theme in 2 years and I am not very interested in fantasy.

 

 

This is exactly what I said to my hubby when we looked at it! And we both looove fantasy, we both started to play AD&D in our early teens, we love reading fantasy books and so on I said that I can not put my finger on it but that the houses for some reason don't even fit in the theme for me! 

They truly have outdone themselves with the landscape, I would love to have such a setting but I got a super lovely stilt home and will keep it x3

I totally feel like an ungrateful little bugger that I think about those houses like that because the moles put so much love in the landscaping and houses tho (｡ﾉω＼｡)

 

 

[Marianne Little]

5 minutes ago, Gwin LeShelle said:

 

 

This is exactly what I said to my hubby when we looked at it! And we both looove fantasy, we both started to play AD&D in our early teens, we love reading fantasy books and so on I said that I can not put my finger on it but that the houses for some reason don't even fit in the theme for me! 

They truly have outdone themselves with the landscape, I would love to have such a setting but I got a super lovely stilt home and will keep it x3

I totally feel like an ungrateful little bugger that I think about those houses like that because the moles put so much love in the landscaping and houses tho (｡ﾉω＼｡)

 

 

Somewhere in the thread or the other thread, I think it was said that the landscape is a 100% model of a region as it will look when the theme is released, but the houses may not be 100% the same. I think it was @Patch Linden, but as I said... not sure.

Maybe somebody else remember just what was written/said. Since I am not totally exited about fantasy, I read the posts really fast. So have we seen all the house models yet? Maybe/maybe not.

 

[Gwin LeShelle]

Just now, Marianne Little said:

Somewhere in the thread or the other thread, I think it was said that the landscape is a 100% model of a region as it will look when the theme is released, but the houses may not be 100% the same. I think it was @Patch Linden, but as I said... not sure.

Maybe somebody else remember just what was written/said. Since I am not totally exited about fantasy, I read the posts really fast. So have we seen all the house models yet? Maybe/maybe not.

 

Oooh True! There was also only one color of facade sooo that would be totally unlikely when you think of the houses for the themes so far! So there is still hope of living in a giant mushroom forest (*ﾉ・ω・)ﾉ♫

[SarahThe Wanderer]

I like the idea of "a portal" it's fantasy after all and really refreshing idea, or they can have it connected to the chalets regions, it's has similar vibe as the fantasy theme so it would be like a transition to the fantasy world, i draw a professional sketch for it 🤓 :

 

and that's it : b 

[Marianne Little]

I am sure it will be made wall shells for these too, and they can be textured with more uneven stone and shaded stone. Like this, just an example:

[Nika Talaj]

I find myself wishing, particularly after wandering around SL18B Enchant, for a version of this fantasy theme that just allowed us to rez landscape to live in, not houses.  The rezzed items would have had to be large enough to preclude people adding weirdo structures to their parcels.  But to have a more hilly version of this landscape with the options to rez, say,

1. Large waterfall with pond, or
2. Grove of trees with small hut, or
3. Rockfall with cave, or
4. Ruin

 would have knocked this theme WAAAY out of the park, for me.  Maybe Premium Plus?

Incidentally, SL18B Enchant (a mole build), also demonstrated for me that you don't need to make your decor totally cutesy mushroomy to fit in this theme.  Yes,@Chronos Mole's huge strange beast is fabulous, but non-fantasy landscape elements like a duck pond, rock walls and outcrops, birdbath, rabbits, banks of normal flowers, etc. can also be used effectively.  The fantasy decor in which they exist just added a whimsical twist to them.

And I love the idea of a mist barrier (that you can travel through) separating GlimmerBelle from the rest of Bellisseria. 

ETA: I hope the moles can interpret this post as a tribute to the overall beauty of the theme, and not a dis of the houses.  I think the houses are also very nice, and if one could have a subcontinent where some of the regions are 'housed' regions like the demo region, and some are 'landscape' as described above, it would be dreamy.

Edited June 23, 2021 by Nika Talaj

[Marisa Starbrook]

I watched Patch’s interview live in its entirety. He mentioned that there would be 8 models for this new theme. I only found four at the demo site. The other four must have room dividers. He also mentioned that Premium Plus was way on the back burner, because we’re not out of the pandemic yet. Considering financial concerns for residents, the Lab didn’t want to promote a luxury item. I think the modern homes are in the works, @Nika Talaj Crosses my fingers

[Lillie Noelle]

Waiting for this dream to come true 😍

[Cinnamon Mistwood]

I love this new theme. (consider my socks knocked off.)  It has the feel of what I tried to make my chalet - rustic, no electricity, wild landscaping - as opposed to manicured lawns and trees, electric street lights.  I will be abandoning the chalet as soon as these are available, so if you want a chalet right next to the airstrip, let me know.

I do agree that the houses are too big, but I don't actually have to use all the rooms, do I?  I like the one with a balcony.  I can simply put up a fake wall to block the doors of the 2 side rooms and make it look like they are not even there.  In the other 2 story house I could cover the stairs completely with a well-textured prim and pretend the upstairs doesn't exist.  I hope the other 4 versions have fewer walls or that a smaller house is available to choose, but I can work with what I'm given to spread my 351LI how I want.

[Mercedes Avon]

I think the houses are meant to be more like a blank slate where a resident can come in and add walls where they like and modify. I did not like the chalets because the rooms are so large until I rolled one and added walls and seen how people made the outside look amazing with their climbing vines, flowers and hedges. With the talented people I’ve seen in this forum, I have little doubt that many will make the homes as magical as the landscaping.

[MoiraKathleen]

I like this new theme very much - not just the landscaping, but also the houses. I've tried all the existing themes, and lasted several months at some of them before completely retreating to mainland, but this fantasy theme might be the one that ends up capturing me.  

I can't wait for them to be released

 

 

[Polenth Yue]

17 hours ago, arabellajones said:

Essentially, the scenery dial gets turned up to 11 (and you can see where the scenery items came from for SL18B as a whole) and it lurches into being silly. I just can't believe in giant mushrooms, they'd collapse under their own weight, and that's only the most obvious flaw.

The fruiting bodies of fungi are smaller today, but it wasn't always like that. Prototaxites was eight meters tall. Not that I'm really looking for a fantasy house for the realism, but I have to stand up for my giant prehistoric fungi/lichen friends. There are going to be many more things in this area that are far less realistic.

[MoiraKathleen]

4 hours ago, Polenth Yue said:

21 hours ago, arabellajones said:

Essentially, the scenery dial gets turned up to 11 (and you can see where the scenery items came from for SL18B as a whole) and it lurches into being silly. I just can't believe in giant mushrooms, they'd collapse under their own weight, and that's only the most obvious flaw.

The fruiting bodies of fungi are smaller today, but it wasn't always like that. Prototaxites was eight meters tall. Not that I'm really looking for a fantasy house for the realism, but I have to stand up for my giant prehistoric fungi/lichen friends. There are going to be many more things in this area that are far less realistic.

I don't expect everything to be realistic in a Fantasy theme, so 8 feet tall mushrooms growing in the forest is fine with me.  I like having pockets of the fantastical in SL.  I don't come here to find only the same realism and logic present in the real world.  I come here for relaxation, enjoyment and a touch of the fantastical to remind me there is still beauty and wonder and unexplained magical things to ponder and wonder about, in spite of all the stuff going on in the real world (where anymore it often seems society has lost its mind, and not in a good way).  

[arabellajones]

6 hours ago, Polenth Yue said:

The fruiting bodies of fungi are smaller today, but it wasn't always like that. Prototaxites was eight meters tall. Not that I'm really looking for a fantasy house for the realism, but I have to stand up for my giant prehistoric fungi/lichen friends. There are going to be many more things in this area that are far less realistic.

So I had to look up Prototaxites. To get the 8m height, the trunk has to be about 1m across. And the general shape was more like the Saguaro, neither anything like the giant mushrooms scattered across SL18B.

[Sister Nova]

fantasy

/ˈfantəsi,ˈfantəzi/

 

1. 1. 

   the faculty or activity of imagining impossible or improbable things.

[Malayaa Morningstar]

I think the new theme is beautiful and magical,  and have started squirreling things away in a Fantasy folder to decorate with (the Enchanted Forest hunt and some of the stores at the ShopNHop have wonderful fantasy bargains, especially LOVE who offered a whole slew of sparkly garden items for 50L).  Might even get some wings and a unicorn lol    The houses are spacious, but just like the log homes and chalets, what seems like a mysterious blank slate impossible to furnish  -  will become a beautiful interior!  Especially once everyone posts their home pix on the forum, it is like "ah ha THAT will work for that room layout". ..

[Ellie McGregor]

6 minutes ago, Malayaa said:

I think the new theme is beautiful and magical,  and have started squirreling things away in a Fantasy folder to decorate with (the Enchanted Forest hunt and some of the stores at the ShopNHop have wonderful fantasy bargains, especially LOVE who offered a whole slew of sparkly garden items for 50L).  Might even get some wings and a unicorn lol    The houses are spacious, but just like the log homes and chalets, what seems like a mysterious blank slate impossible to furnish  -  will become a beautiful interior!  Especially once everyone posts their home pix on the forum, it is like "ah ha THAT will work for that room layout". ..

I've been doing the same. I have a lot of fantasy stuff from way back but it's so outdated and primmy but I'm enjoying finding new stuff while I wait for the release.

[Polenth Yue]

10 hours ago, arabellajones said:

So I had to look up Prototaxites. To get the 8m height, the trunk has to be about 1m across. And the general shape was more like the Saguaro, neither anything like the giant mushrooms scattered across SL18B.

They don't look like modern mushrooms. Land plants at the time looked nothing like trees either. The point is that there's nothing to stop fungi evolving large sizes and there's no scientific reason why they wouldn't have developed new shapes if they'd survived (much as the fungi that did survive have done). The glowing of the plants/fungi isn't scientifically implausible either. You could use those landscape items in a science fiction setting. Like I said, fantasy isn't realism, so you're going to hate it if everything has to be realistic for you. But it doesn't hurt to realise that what we feel is possible/impossible isn't always based on what's really possible/impossible.

[Inara Pey]

On 6/23/2021 at 12:40 AM, Nika Talaj said:

Yes.  I have been avoiding EEP, but just recently dipped my toes into it.  It seems needlessly complex to me, and I am still smarting from losing my time-of-day slider in Firestorm's quick prefs, but in some ways it is pretty cool.  I've found these two posts from@Inara Peyto be helpful.

https://modemworld.me/2020/04/21/tutorial-environment-enhancements-project-eep/2/    [this is a pretty long tutorial, which I have to admit I've only absorbed parts of]

https://modemworld.me/2020/12/10/firestorm-6-4-12-the-eep-and-more-release/

Note that, as Inara mentions, Firestorm has a setting to persist your personal EEP settings across logins, which has allowed me to so far avoid having to figure out how to save a slightly modified shared EEP setting   I do not know if the SL viewer has added that  to its EEP implementation.

 

Oh, and I too would very much prefer that the fantasy regions be reachable by water from current Belli, as opposed to requiring a teleport to access.

 

The tutorial is lengthy,  apologies for that! - but there is also a primer - https://modemworld.me/2020/04/21/environment-enhancement-project-a-primer/ . 

When I can get it back to a manageable length, I will publish my Day Cycles tutorial (which also covers using phases of the Moon for night-time). Unfortunately, Day Cycles are a part of EEP that are really easy to grasp, but have so many permutations, it's hard to determine where to draw the line on a meaningful tutorial. 

AFAIK, the ability for EEP settings to persist across log-in session wasn't adopted by the official viewer - presumably due to the shared experience. 

[Adrieynne DeCuir]

Sorry if I overlooked this, as I tried to read each post in this thread, but are the fantasy homes out yet?  Is there a release date if not?  I've been googling my little fae heart out for hours and can only find SLURLs to the SL18B preview.  I've also been map-hopping on Bellisseria to no avail.  😂  I was just hoping to see a preview in-world if they are not out yet.  

But....as for me...  I AM ECSTATIC ABOUT THIS UPCOMING BUILD!  From the pictures I've seen, I'm not sure how much I love the houses themselves yet, but that's mainly because all of the linden homes are really too big for my personal taste as it is.  I'm more of an exterior decorator/landscaper than I am interior/home decorator so big homes elude me.  Butttttttttt I can't wait to landscape the crapolies out of my plot when I get one!  I'm a fantasy fanatic so this is right up my alley.  😅

[Claireschen Hesten]

42 minutes ago, Adrieynne DeCuir said:

are the fantasy homes out yet?  Is there a release date if not?

What we know so far the fantasy theme isn't out yet, there's been no word on release date, and the fantasy homes aren't expected to be directly connected to Bellisseria 

45 minutes ago, Adrieynne DeCuir said:

From the pictures I've seen, I'm not sure how much I love the houses themselves yet, but that's mainly because all of the linden homes are really too big for my personal taste as it is.

If you think the current Bellisseria properties are too big you won't be overly keen on fantasy, those homes interior wise are quite possibly the largest of all the themes 

 

[Adrieynne DeCuir]

1 hour ago, Claireschen Hesten said:

What we know so far the fantasy theme isn't out yet, there's been no word on release date, and the fantasy homes aren't expected to be directly connected to Bellisseria 

If you think the current Bellisseria properties are too big you won't be overly keen on fantasy, those homes interior wise are quite possibly the largest of all the themes 

 

Thank you for the info!   At least now I can stop sim hopping for absolutely no reason  😄  

I imagine I will not love the size of the homes but from what I've seen of the SL18B preview (on residents' blogs), if the sims are landscaped similarly, that will fit right along with what's in my inventory to decorate my yard!

[Nika Talaj]

1 hour ago, Adrieynne DeCuir said:

I imagine I will not love the size of the homes but from what I've seen of the SL18B preview (on residents' blogs), if the sims are landscaped similarly, that will fit right along with what's in my inventory to decorate my yard!

pssst!

/me takes Adrieynne aside, looks out for lurking Moles, and whispers.

Sooo ... about these big houses  😈

They all have multiple entrances, easy access to the rear of the property as well as the front.  And they're fantasy.

Why not get a big mesh hill and bury half the house in it?  Then add a shell to the outside of the house, texture it with some stained old stucco, and add a bunch of vines and ivy.  Inside, either make the hill part of the house, or simply wall it off.  

Voila! Small house built into the side of a doubtless impeccably landscaped hill, big garden.  Worth a shot, hmm?

[Lewis Luminos]

I rather like this fantasy theme, but not enough to want to live in it, I think.

They should have included some 512m plots with tiny houses, for petite fairies.