airhead

Arc 340454 (latest number): The Long Road Back... stabbin'.

I'll just quickly say, this arc is planets apart from what anyone might expect from the earlier review. Maps are changed, dialogue has changed. I didn't play the earlier version, but it's possible your motivation and the contact's motivation has changed too.

I'm enjoying playing this, particularly the contact. I got through mission 3 so far before my NaNoWriMo guilt got me. Not sure when I'll get to continue this, but when I do I'll post a review.

This arc tries to remain consistent with canon, which isn't my strength, so I'll let others comment on that. But what I did like was how it puts you in the grey area between good and evil, without having to create a whole 'nother dimension to do it. Your own motives are still assumed to be villainous, it is a villainous arc.

Fantastic work Bubbawheat! Very professionally run.

Since you've asked the forum, some trivial comments from me below.

Re: nominations thinned to only be represented in one category each
I thought this was good. I felt my own arc was as a drama with added comedy, but heck, this is the Player's Choice, not Author's Choice, and players put it where they felt it belonged. Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me, I never imagined it'd do so well!

Re: eliminating arcs that already have other front-page awards
I agree with Eva Destruction, leave out those already awarded. We were lucky to have this competition run coincident with Dr. Aeon's awards, so those arcs got included, and got plays they deserved as well. Perhaps this decision can wait til the next Player Awards is about to begin.

Re: nominating arcs - stretching beyond this forum
I agree the process did lean towards MA forum regulars. But I don't think self-nominating alone will solve this. Hopefully Bubbawheat might be able to work with Dr. Aeon to get this competition some in-game attention? Probably just guiding players to the forum from one of those pop-up ads during login.

Re: nominating arcs - how to ensure the author is still around?
Authors might go, but they might come back too, so if their stuff is really awesome, it should still win. I don't think anything needs to change here. With the changes to each release of the game, neglected arcs get buggy and that can rule them out during the semi-finals. By that process, most arcs that get through will have recently active authors.

Re: players voting instead of a panel
I would hate to have to be that panel. It was hard enough trying to cut the categories to five, so that voter-players would only have to play 5 arcs to cast a vote. I say let the players continue to vote. It would be great if there was a mechanism that ensured voters played all finalist arcs in that category. Even if players do vote for their buddy instead of the 'best' arc, its the plays that count when you don't win. And 80% of finalist arcs don't win Also, while it has elements of a popularity contest, it is not the same as Hall of Fame. In this process, there is no "unpopular vote" (griefing) so a love-it-or-hate-it arc could win, since there's only the love

Re: Is 'Epic' really epic?
As I said in the "behind the scenes" notes, I think an arc written for the biggest heroes needs to be appropriate for their status. That doesn't mean it has to 'save the world' every time. Even little things can require major heroes, such as mentoring a protege. So, no, epic arcs don't have to be grandiose at all. But they do have to be appropriate for that stage of a hero's career (this is true of every category -- AVs are usually a bad idea in TO arcs). I like the name 'epic'. It's for players with epic powers. It's not a movie, it's an arc.

Re: Authors voting for themselves?
Is good. But those authors should know they have to be sure, and play the other arcs in the category before voting! Again, a matter of trust between players and organizers, but if it ever did get out of hand, organizers could call abusive players/authors to check opinions of other arcs. The threat of the snap audit! Might never happen. But... it... just... might.

Re: More time for voting?
Perhaps. The schedule was staggered as the category finalists were released, not sure how much that helped/hindered. I wouldn't want this to drag on too long, but I'd like to see categories be played thoroughly. Maybe even 4 finalists in each category?

(new topic) Are 'SO', 'TO', 'DO' good names?
These are a bit technical for my liking. I agree with how the level ranges were determined. The Arena uses wrestling/boxing terms to split this up. Ideally, something could be sourced from other composition awards here. Or elements of a story: Chapter 1/2/3/4, Prologue/Introductory/... but whatever is chosen needs to avoid leading players to expect any particular kind of story, other than the level range.

Re: MCM's best custom critter
Great idea. It could be a contact, it might not even be a custom (such as Becky in Becky's Revenge). Just a great actor. It would be impossible to expect a player to play ALL arcs to pick this 'objectively' so it'd need to have nominations just like other categories, and might even be a secondary award, selecting from just the finalist arcs (again to avoid making the voter's effort ridiculously big).

Pardon ramble, airhead

An excellent review, Galth, and my own experiences were similar, although not identical. This review is one day late, so I may have had the help described.

I agree that Captain Mako could be a more vicious contact than how he's written. I understand the subject matter might even make Mako a bit philosophical (millions of years of anthropomorphic fish history) but, from the start, when a player hasn't learned that much, it's hard to swallow.
There's a level switch in the last mission, intended to make you feel "boosted". If you'd exemplared in the first place it will do just that, but then you get to take on opponents who are even tougher still. I played a L50 controller with accolades and lots of purples, and still found mission 4 very hard, and mission 5 impossible. Someone like Galth who played within the original level range would really suffer.
All that said, the first four missions add up to a darn good story. I can see why you're proud of this one. The map choices and plot tie together very well, and do a great job of making the player feel vaguely messianic. I rated it 4-star. It'd be 5-star if you find a way to conclude the story after 4 missions, or try something different in the fifth. Messiahs, historically, are solo, and the background suggests a solo messiah, so the mission would be great if it could be soloed.

Mission 1
The mission has a nice, solid purpose. I'm a lackey to Mako, but at level 25-31 that's fine.
Intriguing entry pop-up. It seems a horrible map to navigate, but after a few times through it's actually not that bad at all. It's one I've rarely seen, so I enjoyed it.
Surprisingly my escort only got stuck on the map three times (in three plays) on the way out.
The escort isn't at the end of the map, in the really cool rooms, but we'll get to see this map again.
Question though - the virtea don't seem very magical, yet they use magical holds. Perhaps their description could bridge this gap.
In the return message, Mako says, “Only the Strike Force leader survived?” – that’s not true, as most of the arachnos seem to survive their battles; they even win some of them without me. You’d could force the arachnos to con as grey (use a custom group of standard low level arachnos) if you want this to be true.

Mission 2:
Nav says 9 bookshelves to search, which might cause some people to give up. Just list the 2 required objectives (as described by Mako), even though there's irrelevant bookshelves as well. Less onerous-sounding...
The Prophecy of the Descender Clue is very cool, and is perhaps what Galth missed, regarding your luck.
On my return, Mako says, "No luck huh?" - but I did have luck. If I am holding something back from Mako then my exit pop-up could indicate that.

Mission 3:
Nice mission introduction. The busy text could suggest that prophecies don't go away, so no rush. The generalising pot-shot at religion doesn't help much.
The allies look very cool. I collected them for fun, but it wasn't much fun trying to get them to negotiate the map. Such is life. The challenge was trivial (perhaps since I had holds) but it gets better.
Okay, so I figured I had a lot of allies, and Confuse, so I could just confuse the villain's pets and let my allies finish him off. It didn't work (good, I shouldn't get credit for being stupid) and I should have finished him off earlier. But now, a problem. Once I lose my allies, I cannot touch this guy. So many pets! I decide to quit the game, come back in, and restart the mission. This is a problem with arcs that rely on allies.
I beat the big boss, and another one appears! It's entirely within the storyline, but boy, was that a scare. Luckily, my allies were still there to bail me out, and we defeat the pretender to my destiny. WAY cool.

Mission 4:
This is a villain arc extraordinaire - destiny fulfilled, I get to go splat stuff. It's not really an anticlimax, since I enjoyed playing fish-god and just bashing lots of stuff. I swung heaps of battles in favor of MY fish. It's a little bit of a stretch to still have Mako as my contact at this point, but I think I let it slide.

Mission 5:
Okay, so now I go bash Mako (and friends) for my contact, Mako. At this point, I felt it was a gratuitous multiple-signature-villains arc. These were legion back in the earliest days of Architect Entertainment, and I know this arc dates back that far, so it's almost excusable. Except that it doesn't quite fit with the storyline (the contact) and ultimately, is unbeatable, solo. That's fine, I think it's meant to highlight I'm not quite ready for that level of invincibility - but there's no way to end the mission without winning, and even if I could it'd be the crappiest way to end an arc where I got to feel SO cool.
Incidentally, this mission would at least do better if the allies would shout out when they get left behind. For reference (determining which version I played) I had 3 lieutenant allies and an EB ally. I was on level 1 difficulty, that may have reduced them from Boss/AV status.

Overall, I think this arc is on the verge of greatness. I really loved the first 4 missions.

Typos:
M1 intro: Sharkhead isle -> Sharkhead Isle
Description of Virtea Mako: missing a period on the end
Description of Virtea Hammerhead: inteligence -> intelligence Also, perhaps "compensated" is not the word you're looking for here - maybe "balanced" or "offset".
Prophecy of the Descender Clue: need period on end of second paragraph.
M3 intro: Is -> is
M3 Nav info says '3 Chieftans' -> Chieftains?
[NPC] Redjaw: Why do you leave me Descender! -> ? on end
M3 return: Sharkhead 'isle' again
M4 return: bothers -> brothers

-- Why is it so?
Don't know where you might get a pocket protector + calculator + three pens insignia. But the short sleeves and hairy arms, yeah!

Sorry, hadn't meant to confuse.

Congratulations Cheshire Cat! That ought to put some body back into your grin.

As a month of spam kicks off over the next 24 hours around the globe, I know some arc writers will be otherwise indisposed.

Unless they're being a Rebel NaNo and writing arcs instead... that's my backup plan.

But I will initially try to resist the CoH urge through November, although it will be strong. Good luck to anyone else trying to write a novel this month!

If an arc is constantly improving, to the point where it's a much different contender, then it could be republished, or published with a new name ("Director's Cut") to have it eligible within the next award period. Republishing would lose the ratings the arc had before, but it's not the arc you had before, is it?

As Dalghryn's (wannabe) peer, I... re-holster my taser. Who's next?

There's different approaches here, everyone is from different cultures and has different priorities. There's no wrong answer as far as the contestants are concerned. It's a trivial, if interesting phenomenon. Heck, they even made a movie out of it... which was nominated for an Oscar. Art imitating life imitating arc...

Oh, look, Tangler's got an elephant!

*gives taser to a shocked Dalghryn, points at elephant, runs and hides*

[now back to voting guys. I'm trying to finish Turg part 2.]

Aye. I expect the Devs wanted everyone's files so they could load the arcs up on a dedicated server in a little room with lockable cubicles and a pizza-sized slot in the door. They would have had to get through a huge amount of material, and they only have one Dr. Aeon. Or maybe there's quite a few Dr. Aeons. But he might still only have one opinion. Anyway, that would explain not leaving votes on the live servers.

But I'm just conjecturing wildly, and probably should be shot.

Reese Witherspoon's movie, "The Election", captured this dilemma perfectly. Reese votes for herself in the school election; Chris Klein votes for Reese, and then loses the election by one vote. Chris doesn't seem to care about this, and he is likeable regardless. Matthew Broderick, a teacher, finds Reese's attitude so repulsive he goes so far as to try to rig the election against her, which is a far more despicable option. Reese wins, but doesn't particularly enjoy it. Matthew Broderick loses his job. All three get their just-desserts. So really, however people might vote in this process, Matthew Broderick could do it worse.

There's a deadline not yet passed, so vote changes might make sense, I don't know. If voters want to leave hanging chads (non-votes, partial votes, double votes or changed votes) then it's up to Bubbawheat to decide whether to toss them out. I trust Bubbawheat to hold to the spirit of the event, and ignore anything Broderick-y.

I like this review format a lot, it captures the big picture as well as the details in various ways, and provides useful generalized suggestions for me to consider when writing my own arcs. Nice work!

A great arc! Memorable, too. Congratulations Shadow-Rush!

Categories I've finished playing (prequalified and shortlisted) so far:

Serious
1st: The Storyteller: Sabrina's Tale #1237 @Redbone1
2nd: Tales of Croatoa: A Rose By Any Other Name #178774 @Silvers1

Mechanics
1st: Speeding Through Time # 51728 @Geek_Boy
2nd: The Next War on Drugs #245042 @arachnodragon

Comedy
1st: In Poor Taste #259920 @Wrong Number
2nd: Seeking Men #169114 @Fatare

As noted often by others, arcs that missed the shortlists are still 5-star quality! Try: Constantinople Jones' Family Secret #91838 @Hero2 for its ingenious mechanics in a single mission; Aeon's Nemesis #161865 @Darkonne for its exceptional plot, and subtle humour; and LOST DOG #9882 @6x, for spacey, kid-friendly humour. There's lots more I'm forgetting - link to the original nominations post here.

There's another comedy nomination that I recommend very highly too. But I've been taught not to laugh at my own jokes. Don't let it stop you .

No, Twoflower did not name names, only "reviewers". Painting them all with the same brush, despite recommending friends and strangers check out your arc. Perhaps concise to a fault?

Anyway. It is nice if a stranger's review comes in a PM, but an interesting review might also garner the arc a few extra plays if it's posted. That doesn't always work as intended, even for those reviewers who aren't vicious by default. We can only hope to improve.

This is a good point. I think it's because of the physical nature of the contest's prizes that the awards were limited to US residents and annexed Canadians. They're decent prizes too. I'd be happy with what I got if it was me.

Thinking further, the player can mention their award in their arc description. I hope the arcs don't get locked in place, some could use further fine-tuning (even though they are very good).

Congratulations to the eligible winners!!

I've played most of these arcs, and all of those are worthy of the praise they've received. I look forward to playing the rest.

Hi Dr. Aeon!

I'd be very grateful if your lottery happens to pick my arc, "Captain Dynamic, the Great, Faces the Great Face", arc id 190069, by @Aehaed. It ties into the Rooster Teeth pantheon. As well as improving the arc, I'm curious to know whether I've used this source material appropriately.

Cheers, airhead

Re: Trick or Treat? - this arc was created by @Werpan, forum name Gryfyn. Arc number changed due to accidental unpublish at least once - current number appears to be 323332. I wonder why Gryfyn isn't watching your thread though. He was very responsive when I was helping him, a week or so ago.