Zemblanity

Hero One will probably turn out to be Patrick Duncan (her father and Alexis' husband), and he gave her the sword because "she reminded him of himself when he was that age", meaning rash and impulsive and eager to fix the world by punching bad guys in the face.

I'd say the fact that she employs a paramilitary group armed with flame-throwers and machine guns kinda hints at her bee-yotch side ^_^

All of which could be explained with creative use of cloning and brainwashing, which is something we've already seen Emperor Cole do, Col. Duray and Calvin Scott being prime examples of it. But you're absolutely right, it's a really wacky idea...

... Unless you consider two more facts, Ouroboros (the snake that eats itself) and the old, retconned Praetoria (with goatee Tyrant sitting on a throne of skulls).

Let's make a mental exercise, and assume that Primal Earth will eventually coalesce into pre-retcon Praetoria, meaning Tyrant ruling with an iron fist and essentially wiping out all life in the planet. In that future, an unknown time-traveller will come into the conclusion that this terrible outcome is all Nemesis' fault, and proceeds to go back in time and kill Gerhardt Eisenstadt in the 19th century. A new reality is instantly created, and all evidence of the old Primal reality ceases to exist, except in the fading memories of Montague Castanella.

The butterfly effect ripples through the past, settling down as a very different world where Marcus Cole was never adopted by Stefan and Monica Ritcher's father, and thus never adquired his adopted father's strong sense of morality. Instead, Cole relied on his street smarts to survive on the streets, being forced to witness, and perform, countless questionable deeds that hardened his personality. After WWI, when he drank from the Well of Furies, instead of a champion a vigilante arose, one just as committed to bringing about a better world as Primal Statesman, only willing to use methods the former would never have considered. Nukes, Hami, and Nova Praetoria is born.

Eventually, a group of Praetorian metahumans lead by the ramblings of Montague Castanella will come to the conclusion that someone is messing around with time, and track down the focal point in the 19th century, where they prevent some hapless civilian named Gerhardt Eisenstadt from being killed by an unknown time-traveller. With the Prussian Prince left alive to grow up and becoming Nemesis, Praetorian reality collapses again, and Primal reality takes over once more.

We're back at the beginning, however, and Primal Earth's future will inevitably lead to goatee Tyrant, which will cause the unknown time-traveller to go back to the 19th century and murder Nemesis, which will recreate Emperor Cole's Nova Praetoria, and so forth. Ouroboros, the snake that eats itself.

Only one thing can save us from this endless time-loop, and that is figuring out who exactly it is that is making sure we remain trapped inside the loop. Do we trust Mender Silos? Do we trust the mysterious letter writer?

Just saying ^_^

I was thinking more along the lines of what is suggested at the end of Twinshot's storyline, that Praetoria is actually Primal Earth's future rather than an alternate dimension.

- Berry temporarily losing his powers (SSA #1) could cause untold damage to his sanity.
- Tammy Arcanus being forced to make a deal with villains to save her father (SSA #2) could make her realize that such deals can actually be profitable.
- A nuke going off on Primal Earth (SSA #3) could unleash Hamidon's wrath.
- Miss Liberty's murder (SSA #3) is at least partially attributed to Duncan due to her involvement with Malaise.
- Malaise harming Tilman's body (SSA #4) might force her to take over Aurora.
- Sinclair's paranoia (SSA #4) is getting out of hand.
- Marcus Cole killing Lord Recluse (SSA #5?) could make him decide to throw away the burden of his ideals.
- Calvin Scott's story being partially retconned (Ouroboros flashback) could mean his marriage to Aurora might be ficticious.

I'm sensing a pattern, that's all ^_^

They'll likely revamp their costumes like they did with the Circle of Thorns. Maybe add katanas, dual blades and titan swords to their repertoire.

And I like the idea of a secret female assassin society operating in modern times. Explains alot, actually

There are several problems with this approach, starting with the fact that many badges are gender-specific - simply changing your body type won't help unless it's meant only as a disguise.

OP - there's a Rogue Tip Morality mission involving Silent Blade and a group that apparently splintered off the KoA, and this group actually includes males (using the Tsoo models). Maybe you should check that out, it might work for your blade-wielding toon.

Plus you can't compare Kinetics to Devices. Kinetics is awesome.

Devices is balanced around blaster secondaries = it must suck or the world will end.

I say they need to look at each individual Blaster set, i.e., their primaries and secondaries. An Elec/Pain corruptor has alot more trouble handling the game's content while soloing than an Archery/EM blaster (or, for that matter, a Dark/Pain corr). It'll be hell to fix, but the solution lies in minimizing the disparities between the good sets and the bad.

What's the standard performance of a blaster, Elecric/Devices or Fire/Mental? I honestly don't know. Add to that a bunch of weird quality of life issues - Arcana suggested the 40ft range thing on Power Burst and Nova's crash, I'll add the 50ft range on Fire Ring and Webnade, plus the lack of damage in blaster mezzes like Tesla Cage and Taser - and you'll come to the conclusion that ALL blasters need help, but some do alot more than others.

It's not really an Archetype problem, me says, it's some of the old set designs that are slowing blasters down, and to a lesser extent, also corruptors and defenders. The devs already fixed Dark blast recently, maybe they'll fix the other primaries in time.

And drawing from that movie, Megan is about to go "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my grandfather! Prepare to die!"

Anyway, merry xmas everyone

I think he's got a point, tho. Once you stack up enough recharge from the sets + Hasten to get perma-lightform, you're probably better off getting the musculature alpha for the damage bonus.

Alright.

None of that poorly written villain content involves PC heroes actually beating PC villains. You were getting crap from NPCs, which sucked as much back then as it sucks now. Perhaps it's just the consequence of playing in a static, persistent world prior to the introduction of Phasing Technology. And you have as much right to criticize that type of storytelling as heroes do to what's happening in the SSAs. But you know what? We DO have phasing tech now! You have your gore-filled victory, I'll keep my immaculate status quo. Right? Wrong. For some reason, we're still getting crap from NPCs...

I admit my toon wasn't psychic but, from playing the arc twice, I got the distinct impression that beating Malaise's major manifestation in the final part ended the immediate threat. Future threat? Maybe not. But I imagine by that point the severely weakened Malaise wouldn't have been able to prevent Sister Psyche from kicking him out of her mind. And Malaise specifically states that he was trying to lock Tilman inside her own mind, not kill her.

Had Tilman expressed it calmy, fully in control, after warning Jean one last time to get out of her head, with no conceivable option to excise him, I'd still call for an official investigation as standard protocol, during which I'd offer my sincere testimony that she should be cleared of all charges. But Tilman didn't act like that, did she? We're just assuming it's self defense because God-forbid one of ours turns out to be a psychopath after all...

At this point, I'm forced to watch as the authorities blatantly ignore the fact that a celebrity "hero" killed a suspect in custody with no repercussions at all, just like Praetoria. That, or be forced to lie to get her off jail, in essence "vouch" for her the same way she once did for Malaise. Considering we're potentially talking about Mother Mayhem, none of those prospects reassure me.

A lot of posters are. All heroes can do is watch as villains keep killing their friends and families, and people are rightfully saying that the only way to get even is by striking back, going Clint Eastwood on the Rogue Isles and get even with the villains, eye for an eye. That's the definition of City of Vigilantes. Again, I'm not saying City of Vigilantes shouldn't exist, I'm saying it shouldn't have to take Paragon City's place. Multiple realities, multiple outcomes in single player content.

So many wrong assumptions here...

- Malaise didn't kill Miss Liberty, Darrin Wade did (or a PC villain). The PCs are aware of this by arc #4, and even if they weren't, they didn't witness Malaise doing it either;
- The immediate threat appeared dealt with, and we've got no way of knowing if by that point Tilman would have been able to kick Malaise out of her head without killing him;
- Heroes get a licence to arrest criminals, not kill them. You're not allowed to carry out executions without serious repercussions;
- You don't know that Aurora-Psyche is evil, you're only assuming she is. In Praetoria, Mother Mayhem's persona was the evil one, despite all the propaganda from Cole and the rest of the Praetorian Guard;
- Had PCs stopped Tilman from doing something she'll probably regret for the rest of her life, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

No, he was in Tilman's mind trying to put a different personality in charge. Wicked, certainly, but no physical harm was ever intended or perpectuated by him that I could see. Redside, it could be argued that it was self defense. Blueside, however, Malaise was beaten by the PC and apparently subdued. There was no need to kill him, and if there was, I completely missed it.

That's not how it works, heroes don't get to say "I'll vouch for you, but if you even think about crossing me, I'll put a bullet in your head!" Psyche did something wrong, and if she remains true to her character in the comics, she's probably feeling it first hand.

Or those who still believe heroes should be better than this. Heroes don't kill people. The difference between Paragon City and Praetoria is that everyone's accountable for their actions, even legendary signature heroes. Arbitrarily looking the other way means good versus evil degenerating into us versus them.

Whatever. I'm done preaching, if this game becomes City of Vigilantes, so be it.

Acknowledged, and properly quoted for you.

I believe he was subdued. Other posters seem to disagree. If that's what we're arguing, I'll step away. But if the argument drifts into "Malaise had it coming," I'll be baaack.

Name one instance where PC heroes get to win over PC villains in a co-op story...

No one's saying villains should lose in their single player content. What heroes are asking is equal treatment, either by not looking like moronic losers shouting OHNOES in their story-arcs or *gasp* actually accomplishing something worthwhile post Issue 12!!

Right...

Player characters use their own bodies as a shield, taking everything Malaise threw at them and survived. Malaise is beaten.

- Malaise: "how could you beat me, heroes, it's an injustice, it is, it is..."

- Sister Psycho: "I gave you everything, you $#%&ing loser, and this is how you pay me back?! Never again!! You're finished, Jean! You hear me, finished!!!"

And then she kills him.

This is NOT self defense. A policeman is entitled to shoot back at a civilian trying to kill him. He is not entitled to empty his clip as the perp lies squirming on the ground just to make sure he's dead.

I'm not saying there aren't mitigating circumstances or that she should go to jail. I'm saying she has no business arresting bad guys until she realises how serious this is. Simply saying "I'm sorry, I lost control. It won't happen again," would clear her in my book. "Malaise had it coming," will not.

Heores don't execute people just because they deserve it, Vigilantes do. Malaise was already defeated, and Sister Psyche went too far. All this bloodthirst is messing with our heads, and everyone seems to be either pretending nothing happened or shrugging their shoulders while muttering Malaise got what was coming to him, as if the rules don't apply to heroes. That's typical vigilante justice, and the reason so few people trust the police nowadays. There are more pressing matters at the moment (like finding the missing nuke), but I sincerely hope Tilman gets a serious reprimand in future arcs, because my character won't let this go.

BTW, anyone else felt weird that Ms. Liberty totally went ballistic on Manticore but completely ignored the fact that our characters were teaming with him when her mom died? I was kinda expecting her to throw a tantrum at us, leading to some sort of confrontational or remorseful response that would end with her running away in rage or tears.

Players have repeatedly shot down this type of writing in the past. Cut scenes are ok, but nothing relevant can happen in them, it's not enjoyable to watch in the sidelines. A player wants his character's actions to matter, to make a difference, so it makes absolutely no sense for storylines to devolve back into prehistory just because villain storyarcs used to be like that too.

This won't happen here. Heroes can't win, because it's not one of those situations where the bad guys get the upper hand for awhile. Alexis Cole is dead. Sister Psyche just murdered Malaise in cold blood. Manticore went mad. A nuke was fired at Paragon City. Statesman's about to die. There's nothing to do but accept it, heroes already lost so much, and they'll continue losing at least until the end of arc five. And by losing, I mean people getting hurt, people dying, and people descending into darkness.

At this point, the writers are hoping to get heroes horrified, one step away from roaring FATALITY before ripping Darren Wade's head off with his spine still attached. Like what happened to Sister Psyche. She lost control and killed Malaise, essentially throwing away everything that made her a hero.

This is usually where Statesman steps in like in the comics, "Enough! Psyche, Manticore, to the bench, now! Everyone else stop sulking and follow me!" He won't do it this time, though. No one to prevent Samuel from returning his hero card and retiring. No one to stop Issen from descending into vigilantism and going on a murdering rampage. No one to restore passion to EvilGeko's routine and make it all more than just one big farm.

Which leaves us the last two arcs, where Positron (as suggested in #4 inside Tilman's head) will attempt to reassemble the Phalanx and put a stop to all the killings. Maybe with a message of hope, by restoring Hero One's sanity. What's left to see is whether that is enough, whether the players will follow him as they followed Statesman, whether he can prove to be as charismatic and successful as his predecessor. Paragon City used to be a wonderful place, and perhaps it can be once again.

For my part, I merely mourn Alexis' death, and I'm hoping against hope that at least this one wrong can be corrected.

You don't remember correctly, all that Miss Liberty (Alex) lost was the Girdle of Hera (which she gave to her daughter), a temp power that Ms. Liberty (Meg) uses in LRST to boost up her resistances.

As the daughter of an incarnate, Alexis had her own measure of superhuman strenght, resilience and heightened reflexes, plus the inherent ability to fly, not to mention she learned martial arts from one of the best scrappers in Paragon City's history, Maiden Justice. Add to that about 60 years of combat experience and you'd think she'd be able to handle the likes of Darren Wade and Malaise, or at the very least put up a fight.

Even Megan (Statesman's granddaughter and 3rd generation incarnate) was shown lifting up cars above her head at the age of seven in the FP novel, so I just find it illogical for Alexis to simply shiver with shaking knees as she's being kidnapped.

Not to say I wasn't tempted, but that's for a court of law to decide. I'd certainly do everything within my power to see Malaise convicted for accessory to murder and hope to see him locked up in a dark cell for a very long time, but as a hero I can't just execute him on the spot, I'm not Judge Dread.

Sister Psyche didn't kill him in self defense, she did it in a mad fit. I sympathise (Alexis was her friend, after all), but at the very least, she should have her hero licence suspended until she gets her head back together. And my hero was there, he should have stopped Tilman from doing something rash.

On another note, Vigilante toons would have liked the chance to kill Malaise themselves and, again, the game didn't allow it. I keep seeing the SSAs horribly biased towards redside... whoever's writing the blueside part of the SSAs needs to get his act together.

My guess is that he felt like the only person who was acknowleging Aurora-Psyche's existence, and felt the need to "rescue" her. A reasonable person would find those concerns valid, had Jean voiced them in an articulate manner rather than bad word poetry, and might even find a solution to the mind-entity's dilemma - maybe get it a synthesized clockwork body or a clone of Aurora. Of course, letting Aurora-Psyche take over Tilman's body is out of the question, but locking it up inside Tilman's mind is no solution either.

I do want that feature, and if you couldn't tell I was joking you need a virtual beer. Here, drink up