Scenic Cycle 4 Grand Finale

As soon as the news came out that 7.0 was going to have a graphics update, I knew that Scenic Cycle was going to be the first cycle I wanted to run, and the excitement and enthusiasm from our photographers this cycle shows it was the right decision.

First, I want to thank our new judges Rosemary, Juzelle, and guest judge Chaton for their hard work this cycle. I hope you had fun and learned a lot. I will definitely be inviting you all back to judge again! I started out ENTM as a guest judge and look where I am now (not that I plan on going anywhere.) Also thank you to our most senior and veteran judge Ona, and our rotating judges and previous S rank winners Malkovich and Rymm for stepping in to help out when I was going to be short a judge this cycle. I may continue trying to have a stable of available emergency judges available, although I am not sure I’ll do a permanent rotating judge again….. and I’ll need to remember to ask ahead of time when a regular judge tells me they are on vacation. (My bad.)

And I want to thank all the photographers for participating, especially our two newbies to ENTM, Oudine Aubemarle and Oaken Bookshelf. It’s always a risk to try a new type of contest, and you have been wonderful additions to our ENTM crew. As I mentioned before, since Scenic Cycle is non-character based, you’re both welcome to join us for a Fresh Faces cycle, which we plan to run sometime in early 2025.

One more round of appreciation for the entire photographer cast of Scenic Cycle 4:

  • Alastor Izunia
  • Netizen James
  • Oaken Bookshelf
  • Zukira Phaera
  • Damien Montclair
  • Oudine Aubemarle
  • Escher Strange
  • Hilda Garde
  • Schan Starfall

And now, the winners of Scenic Cycle 4! Scoring is based exclusively on judges scores for this cycle; community votes are not considered (they were just for fun during the weekly rounds.)

Third Place: Hilda Garde

Hilda Garde

With a score of 99! Hilda’s shots didn’t take home a weekly win, but she consistently scored high in the background from the judges, often coming in a close second or tied for third. Her best scoring shot was Bed of Roses with a score of 10. Congratulations!

An FFXIV screenshot of an ARR dungeon. The image is a bedchamber, with a four poster bed that has been tattered with time, dust covered wooden walls, and a visible spider web.
Bed of Roses

Second Place: Oaken Bookshelf

Oaken Bookshelf

A new participant to ENTM, Oaken Bookshelf understood the assignments immediately and started off strong with a tied win in the first week! He also won week five, with his best scoring shot of 11, Peace. His total score for the entire contest is just one point shy of the win, with a 93. Congratulations!

FFXIV Screenshot
Peace

ENTM Scenic Cycle Four Grand Prize Winner

With a score of 92, our final photographer edged ahead by a single point to take home the grand prize. She has been a participant in ENTM contests many times over the years – and actually won the last Scenic Cycle as well.

She came in strong every week, never having a bad shot. Her best score was in Week 2, where she took home the weekly win with her shot Light in the Dark with a nice low score of 9 total.

An FFXIV screenshot of an ARR dungeon. A beam of sunlight filters down through a whole in the wall showing off tree roots.
Light in the Dark

Congratulations to Schan Starfall, ENTM’s newest repeat S-Rank Winner!

Schan Starfall
Schan Starfall

Scenic Cycle 4 Galleries

One of the coolest things about Scenic Cycle 4 is that because we don’t include characters, it allows for completely anonymous judging. This eliminates any potential complains about bias from the judges, reduces drama, and generally makes the contest more fun.

But now that all the rounds are over, it’s time for a big reveal of who submitted what shots each week!

This page will become the archive for the cycle as well. In the future, each round will be linked and I’ll include the critiques for posterity. For now, please enjoy!

Alastor Izunia

A screenshot from FFXIV. The image shows a statue of Nald, acting as the back entrance to Forgotten Springs.
Untitled

Netizen James

FFXIV Screenshot. A classic impressionistic style image of purple water lilies floating above the ruins of an old bridge.
Bridge Under Peaceful Waters

Oaken Bookshelf

A screenshot from the video game FFXIV. This image depicts a fairy tale castle in a lightning storm, with purple clouds and mountains in the distance.
Unseelie Storm

Zukira Phaera

A screenshot from FFXIV.
Dawnsinger

Damien Montclair

A screenshot from FFXIV. A dragon's skeleton teeters on the ledge in front of the mountains of Coerthas Western Highlands.
Dragonsong

Oudine Aubemarle

An FFXIV screenshot of an ARR dungeon. A large hole in the ceiling allows a shaft of sunlight to filter through.
Wanderer’s Oculus

Escher Strange

A screenshot from FFXIV. The image is top down, looking over the Sharlayan Hamlet.
Seconds Before Flying Into a Waterwheel

Hilda Garde

An FFXIV screenshot of an ARR dungeon. The image is a bedchamber, with a four poster bed that has been tattered with time, dust covered wooden walls, and a visible spider web.
Bed of Roses

Schan Starfall

An FFXIV screenshot of an ARR dungeon. A beam of sunlight filters down through a whole in the wall showing off tree roots.
Light in the Dark

Scenic Cycle 4 Round 6

For the final round I asked our photographers to take a shot inspired by Monet. We had shots ranging from his earlier works, to his Impressionist period, to his nearly blind angry years late in his life that were heavy with dark reds and blacks.

The judges all fell in love with the “most Monet” of the shots with the punny title, Bridge Under Peaceful Waters. Congratulations!

FFXIV Screenshot. A classic impressionistic style image of purple water lilies floating above the ruins of an old bridge.
Bridge Under Peaceful Waters

The community had different ideas and with some of the most community votes we had all cycle, the winner by one vote was The Wise Trees Stand Sleeping in the Cold. Congrats to you as well!

FFXIV Screenshot. A single white tree is displayed against a black mountain at night, with a crescent moon in the background.
The Wise Trees Stand Sleeping In the Cold

And that’s it for Scenic Cycle 4! I’ll be putting together a series of galleries to reveal all of the photographers this afternoon, so you can see who contributed each shot, before the final winner is announced!

Scenic Cycle 4 Round 6 – Monet

It’s time for the final week of ENTM Scenic Cycle 6. We always take a cue from classical art for our final week, so I asked the photographers to take a screenshot inspired by Monet and slap it in any picture frame to finish out this contest.

With nine gorgeous shots ranging from classical impressionism to modern avant-garde, we have a feast for the eyes this week! Please look at each image below, and then vote for your favorite using the Google poll below.

Click on the center of each image to open it to full size in a new tab.

If you are having trouble voting on the embedded Google poll, please click on this link to open it in a new tab instead: https://forms.gle/mMxGuP7g66ma5qJs5

Scenic Cycle 4 Round 5 Winner

Coming in a little late today, not because of the judges, but because I’m sick with a fairly nasty cold and I’m been napping and playing Merge Dragons trying to make the headache go away. (COVID test is negative… it’s just that time of year. We’ve got a frost warning for tonight, wooo!)

This week I sent the photographs to go find some COOL RUINS of a fallen civilization, and while our ruins spanned from 25+ years (from the abandoned Sharlayan colony that is now Idyllshire) to five thousand years (with some Alchemical Research Facility representing the Allagan Empire), the winner for the week from the judge’s votes belongs to Peace showing off the Necrohol of Mullonde from The Orbonne Monastary (at least how it looks in the moments before Ultima the High Seraph turns it into a pile of bricks.)

FFXIV Screenshot
Peace

The community preferred Reaching for Greatness as their favorite this week.

FFXIV Screenshot
Reaching to Greatness

Congratulations to you both! There is one more week to go in ENTM Scenic Cycle 4!

Scenic Cycle Four Round 5 – Fall of Civilizations

One of my favorite podcasts (and YouTube channel, and now even a book) is named Fall of Civilizations and it covers the ending of the great ancient empires of antiquity, around the world. From Roman Britain to the Mayans to the Khmer empire, you can learn a lot about each of these lost peoples from the ruins they left behind.

https://www.youtube.com/@FallofCivilizations

So for this round, I asked our photographers to go out and find some ruins and take a picture in “black and white” – which in ENTM Gpose counts as the first four filters, sepia or monochromatic. These filters present special challenges in lighting, but thankfully the new engine allows for better light scattering on far surfaces, letting us see more detail in the shadows.

We have eight entries this week. Please look at each of the photographs below, and then vote for your favorite using the embedded Google poll.

If you are having problems voting in the Google poll, please click on this link to open the poll in a different tab instead: https://forms.gle/bqJRjG1neUwqzhVP6

Scenic Cycle 4 Round 4 Winner

Apologies for the delay! We’re short a judge this week, and another judge had a personal IRL crisis that delayed their votes, but they made it in late last night. We’ve always maintained that real life > video game here at ENTM, so please give them some grace. Our guest judge this week was Malkovich.

(Any criticisms may be lobbed directly at me, for dropping the ball and not making sure I had my substitute judge scheduled liked I was warned I’d need to. My bad.)

The three judges who were able to vote had a LOT of disagreement and votes were all over the place, but after it all shook out, the photograph with the best score for the week was Dawnsinger! Congratulations!

A screenshot from FFXIV.
Dawnsinger

The community had other opinions, and really liked Seconds Before Flying Into a Waterwheel the best this week. Also congratulations!

A screenshot from FFXIV. The image is top down, looking over the Sharlayan Hamlet.
Seconds Before Flying Into a Waterwheel

Scenic Cycle 4 Round Four: Bird’s Eye View

For the week four challenge, I sent our photographers out flying on a mount to capture the view from high above! The round requirements were “any outdoor subject, while flying” and so our photographers dutifully saddled up their chocobos (and beds and brooms and capybaras) and went to try to find an aerial scene of Etheirys using the new engine.

Please look at each of our photographs in the gallery below, and then vote for your favorite in the Google poll. To view each image in a larger size, click on the center and it should open in a new tab. Voting will be open until October 9, 2024.

Bonus Challenge: The photographers are issuing a challenge to everyone not participating – can you take a good aerial screenshot of the Valley of the Fallen Rainbow in Yanxia?

If you are having trouble voting with the embedded Google poll, please open the poll in a new tab and vote there instead by clicking on this link: https://forms.gle/HSTDUzJTTShxuf8L6

Scenic Cycle 4 Week 3 Winner!

The judges all expressed their difficulties with ranking the options this week – every shot was so nicely done.

But in the end, one shot edged ahead by the numbers, and that was our first Untitled shot of the contest. Congratulations!

A screenshot from FFXIV. The image shows a statue of Nald, acting as the back entrance to Forgotten Springs.
Untitlted

But wait! We also have the community votes, even if they’re just for fun, and the community also really liked You Never Said How Many Statues There Could Be and Larger than Life this week – they tied for the community votes!