airhead

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  1. Wow. I was away just a weekend, and this arc has done well! My review above might still be cute, but now bears little resemblance to the arc. Parkin (whose reviews I enjoy) reviewed this part 1 arc today, and loved it. I have little to add, since I agree with parkin. Well done.

    Some minor comments as I played through again:

    The second web reference is very well done. It also gives away much of what happens in this arc, perhaps it would make a better souvenir. But then people might not get to the end of the arc simply because it's long, and they'd be missing out. Not sure what's best here.
    M1 Send-off: The SOLUS Collective and... -> Our supergroup, the SOLUS Collective, and... [since Lazon hadn't mentioned SOLUS mentioned yet, this just puts it into context].

    Mission one reads very well. The SOLUS folks have unique, heroic, personalities. So much has changed. The atmosphere of war is still there. Great.

    Mission 2 - I see I have a few allies now. Just lieutenants, so doesn't worry me. I know you turned off some allies as you got feedback there was too many - if that happens again, you might consider one of these guys being "exhausted" or having "solar recharge problems" or something.

    Mission 3 - I'm a very proud coffee boy this time! Soon to graduate to chaiwallah.
    Mission sendoff still has typo: rime -> time
    Even the things I didn't comment on seem to have improved, such as the entry popup. This is great! It's like you had a close relative helping edit! And woah. Rebecca sure is happy to see me!

    Back for mission 4. My whole attitude to SOLUS is utterly different this time around. It's amazing what a little dialog can do. I sincerely hope I can help the SOLUS, as bases everywhere are under attack.
    The lobby is crazy. Lazon's yelling orders, patrols everywhere, mez and blast, mez and blast... woo! Lazon runs off as before, but I know this time he's doing the right thing.
    Nav: 5 Hero's Bodies -> 5 Hero Bodies (or) 5 Heroes' Bodies [I'm not sure of this one]
    Unfortunately Lazon runs on a bit, then stalls, but gets going again when I catch up. Perhaps that's what is called a waypoint, if that provides an option to add some dialog (I don't know).
    Could New York Gentry look a bit beat up? Tattered sleeves, blood on face, worn cape, perhaps? He's described as being a bit beat up, but looks... spiffy.

    And on to mission 5 - hopefully to complete this for the first time! Popups clarify the tall-building factor, that's great.
    Oh dear. I still have the support staff following me en masse - oh, they're escorts! That's a lot of escorts, at least they're all near the entrance. The nav should indicate escort, rather than rescue. I only figured it out from the red dot at the entrance.
    Ahh. Found most of everything, but then the AV is just too tough for me to solo in this tiny little space. Still, good arc. Needs an AV warning. Or perhaps put a time-limit, so I can at least wait out the time and complete the arc with a fail message. Or perhaps make Hro'Dath optional, with focus on retrieving the bodies - that's hard enough, considering 4 of them showed up in Hro'Dath's little set of rooms. The time to pick-up the bodies would need to be shorter for that scenario to work...

    Great rework on this. Thanks! //airhead
  2. Hi Dalghryn,

    Actually, I didn't vote, I needed to think on this. What you've got so far is a 4, for sheer scale of adventure, and could be a 5 if I could get some joy from it. The combats are actually all fair, the only issue I really have is with the attitude of everyone. You could simply say SOLUS is one of Paragon's larger hero groups, that's all I needed to know.

    Remember that your player is a non-SOLUS, and perhaps each of these SOLUS people could recognize how the player is trying to help. And if the SOLUS people aren't going to help, they should acknowledge the player is perhaps better able for the task at hand. There could always be an occasional grump - like Deitrich in the Longbow arcs, heroside. But I kinda felt nobody appreciated me, and while even Spiderman gets some of that, there's always the little scene where the "everyman" shows his appreciation for Spiderman's heroic ideal.

    It'll still be a miserable plot (I mean 'sad') involving massacre and all, but these poor peoples' last words should be something heroic and memorable, just not petty.

    And of course, this is just opinion. I'm not asking you to change whether anyone is an actual ally, but if they're not, they should apologize, that's all

    Cheers, airhead
  3. Arc Name: The Consequences of War - Parts 1 and 2
    Arc ID: 212069 and 212073
    Faction: Primarily Rikti
    Creator Global/Forum Name: @dalghryn

    Summary: this one is about something called SOLUS, a group of people that treat you like the coffee boy. It does tie in nicely to historical events, where, historically, you were a coffee boy in a fancy costume. Needs work to center it on the player. My frazzled attitude grew throughout this arc, details below.


    This one has been overlooked a little while, so I gave it a shot. I'm not too excited by a dour war story. Perhaps you could highlight that some good comes of this. A strength that shone through during the darkest hour, that sort of thing. Yes, it was a sacrifice (sounds like a massacre at this point) but, I assume, it helped? That, and some kind of mechanism for involving the player, may get it more attention. Your introduction makes it sound like a history lesson.

    Actually, the Description in the MA is better, a little more personal, and doesn't mention "SOLUS" about which I have no clue yet. That's all good. Strange to see your Part 2 has more plays, but I presume that's because Part 1 got republished from scratch.
    8:17pm: Start arc
    The SOLUS Collective is mentioned. I better go check out the reference mentioned. Hmm. No mention there of SOLUS Collective. It could be the mages that were incinerated, but no, that happened at the beginning, not 6 months later. I guess I have to pretend I know that SOLUS are some subset of the good guys. Perhaps its an author supergroup insert.

    Nice that the Rikti don't speak in Engish (yet). Good use of patrols and bosses to provide atmosphere ("squiggly dialog").

    I save Billy. His description suggests he's useful, but he's not. Better just let him be "worth saving simply because he's human". He's now just wandering around.

    At least there's Captain Superior. A higher-ranking person from SOLUS, there's someone I can count on. Uh, what? He ran off to "report directly to Lazon what he'd found". He says I can handle this mission with Billy. Billy the truant? Billy, the wandering around not following me guy? Okay, I accept that must be a bug then. Or I have to wonder if these humans are worth saving.

    For the Rikti bomb, the Singular form could be "Defeat the last Rikti Plasma Bomb", since singular form will only appear when one is left. Likewise, Plural form could be "Rikti Plasma Bombs to destroy" (and the number will be placed in front).

    And then I defeated Tro'Naht. Strange that I knew his name, perhaps call him "Rikti operation leader" or somesuch, since at this stage of the war we're not on personal terms. And I let one of his subordinates live, perhaps set it to kill boss only required for completion. After beating him I was ambushed, but the ambush text was gibberish, so I wasn't very prepared for it. I guess that's fair. When I finally beat the leader's last henchman, I'm told I beat Tro'Naht - perhaps "..and his henchmen/inner circle/command team".
    8:54pm: Return to contact.
    The popup on exit is a bit of a downer. Be nice if I could feel just a teensy bit proud.

    I like the psuedo-tech behind my second mission. Makes me feel like the good guys know what they're doing.

    8:57pm: Enter second mission.
    I'm finding it messier than usual to clear these guys. Seems to be a good mix of patrols.

    Another potential ally figures she's "done enough" and goes wandering. What is WITH these SOLUS people?? They do know this isn't a day at the office, right? Hope she meets a patrol.

    Cute to see Rikti computers in the offices. Oh oh, ambush. Double-ambush. Should have brought more green inspirations, that was messy, but cool, running battle caused by the tight spaces.

    More computers underground! But the one I found indoors got me what I needed. At least no more ambushes. And there's my last "ally" - he and Nicole will cover my back. While he wanders around aimlessly. Surely not this many bugs - perhaps something just broke in AE? If they're meant to wander, let them acknowledge they're exhausted, and they should leave it to someone like $name to save the day. Unless they're intentionally annoying.

    9:15pm: Return to contact.
    "Rendezvous at the SOLUS HQ (the what?) and we'll come up with a more advanced strategy..." *mumbleteamworkmumblemumble*

    Okay, so the big guns (who wander a lot) are off to fight Rikti, while I do the equally-important job of running an errand. Two errands, messenger both ways. Doing this will help if my colleagues doing the grunt work fail! *mumblewhydontIjusthelpthosedarnSOLUSwanderersmumb le*
    M3 sendoff: rime -> time
    At least the send-off message makes it all sound more important. I'm still the messenger boy. I don't think SOLUS really needs me at all, I think I'll go bake a cake.
    9:22pm: Enter mission 3.
    Wow, that was short, and sweet. Found the data quickly, then did the rescue, involving Vanguard patrols regularly. Felt like a proper assault. I wonder if I could get a transfer from SOLUS to Vanguard?
    9:29pm: Return to contact.
    Return pop-up - "The bad part... the Rikti attacked the SOLUS base". Woo. My transfer is looking up.
    So I'm to rendezvous with Penthouse and Commissioner G - I presume at the SOLUS base? With names like that for their minor heroes, I wonder if there's a Hugh Hefner character in this somewhere.
    For consistency in Mission 4 intro, I'd put "Lazon out" also in orange, to complete his text spoken to me.
    Ahh! So this now ties to canon - this is where supergroup bases were attacked all at once. The history doesn't tell me how this one goes, good, I get to make some history. And save these sorry SOLUS sausages in the process.
    9:34pm: Enter mission 4.
    Pop-up says I can hear Penthouse somewhere in here. But the first person I meet is Lazon, not sure if you have any control over that.

    Okay, I saved Lazon. At least he's moving with more urgency, and flees off into the battle zone. From my nav, I see the folks he's gone to save are "bodies", I wonder if one of them will be his.

    The Clues are solid though, plenty to read. I seem to have overlooked some, so taking a pause in the middle of a hectic battle to browse...

    Clue Lazon's Orders: no sign Flash whoever -> no sign of Flash whatsoever
    On the first body I find the Clue (as it happens with collections) but the clue says I've found 5 bodies. Perhaps need to make it more vague.

    I find Penthouse. She asks me to help her take these guys down (but like any hostage, doesn't get involved). Then she runs off to help the corpses. "No time for a mutual admiration society"?? Where's my Vanguard card.

    It said earlier that the 'kids' (corpses) were in the residential section, but I found most of the body bags in an area of laboratories.

    And on to the top floor! There's my last hostage, and there, right inside the door, is... oh dear RUN. Nice little surprise that. I guess I will have a worthy battle at the end, awesome.

    Just on the off chance, a long shot, on a prayer, I rescue Commissioner "Hugh" G, and he runs off to save the corpses too. Given what I knew from my nav at the very beginning, I'd imagine someone might listen to me. Just once. Perhaps. So the big bad's all mine.

    And there's an ambush. I guess every EB/AV in every arc ever has to have an ambush. So I get to start all over again. I'm nearly done, so I guess I will. Some of the Rikti come through the elevators, speeding up my trip back to the inspiration vendor (and the hospital).

    I'm all equipped again, although I've used up some accolades, so this time around is going to be even more tedious. The saving grace of all this - the big bad heals very slowly when not in combat. I defeat him, then I have to hunt down the Infantry that is also considered part of the boss.
    10:14pm: Return to contact.
    And after all that, it wasn't the last mission, there's one more to clear the upper floors of the same building (so more than the several floors I just cleared). Must be something like the Baxter Building.

    So I'll have an AV in this. I struggled with the EB, so this isn't looking good. It's a Hro-something, so probably another Hro'Dtoz, who I barely beat in Venture's arc when I had the benefit of a wide-open space. This is going to be tedious I'm sure.
    10:20pm: Enter last mission.
    And now I have 9 bodies to collect, 4 support staff, a rescue (another lazy SOLUS), an AV, "plus anything else of value" (that would be the partridge in a pear tree). Can't the bodies, at least, wait? They could be non-required (side) objectives.

    There's a popup full of atmosphere, but I'm already in a battle, so its hard to read.

    Oh. The support staff are newscasters, and they're going to follow me throughout. I sense my frustration is intentional! They're captives too, not minions, so they're invulnerable.

    There's the third newsreader. I'm going to hope she's not a required rescue. It's already a crowd here.

    Actually, I'm going to give up at this point. I doubt my graphics is going to last through all that is yet to come (it does crash regularly), and I'd hate to be 70% through the AV when I crash. It's getting late too. I don't feel very heroic, I'm beset by silent newsreaders, and I still have a Christmas list from hell to go. Sorry for my attitude on this one, I hope I might get to feel a bit more valuable next time through this.

    Cheers, airhead
  4. I'll be a heretic and suggest this might actually be close to the right price. Making it a "stretch" purchase hopefully means most people will concentrate instead on refining their three published arcs.

    However I'd rather promote people buying 1 or 2 extra slots, not 5! As Talen Lee highlights, the packaging is silly. I'd reverse this, make 5 slots cost more than five times the price of one. Hah!

    I have not felt the need to purchase some of CoX's expansion options, yet hundreds of others have done. I imagine we are heading for seven-digit arc numbers, and heptilogies, and farms from storytellers with too many arcs...
  5. I've been doing feedback posts now for a little while, tacked onto threads as they appear from time to time in this part of the forum. Some involve arcs in their earliest stages, and might be described as editorials. Some are for arcs that have already had comprehensive editing, where hopefully I focus more on my experience of the plot.

    I do edit/review according to my preferences (stories only!), and I'll abandon an arc rather than play something I don't like, or can't get through. If an arc can't score a 4+ from me (considering where I see its "potential"), then I give up, without voting. Imagine an amateur publisher, not an amateur critic. If I have any advice up to that point, I PM the author. Some of my previous feedback examples (that weren't purged) are listed below. My style does vary, but where appropriate I now tend to put typos in orange and timestamps in yellow. Other than that I hope I can keep it simple. Starting with my oldest efforts:

    Arc 49801: The Prism: @Sooner (4)
    Arc 3326: The Portal Service: @Lazarus (4)
    Arc 58376: Dark Astoria Unleashed: @Midnight Rider (4)
    Arc 4643: Blowback: @Venture (repeated later)
    Arc 64859: The Calling of the Cult: @Misho (unrated heading to 4)
    Arc 69088: Last Caress pt.1: @Fukushu (5)
    Arc 195202: A Bad Hand from a Worse Dechs: @Dechskaison (repeated later)
    Arc 209473: Standing Within the Mists: @Liberal Conspiracy (5)
    Arc 123675: The Lost Choir: @MrSquid (unrated, 4)
    Arc 136959 / 141011: The Lost Choir: @MrSquid (not shown, 4 & 4)
    Arc 1709: The Amulet of J'gara: @Lazarus (5)
    Arc 195202: A Bad Hand from a Worse Dechs: @DechsKaison (repeat) (5)
    Arc 182874: Time's Maelstrom: @Armory1 (5)
    Arc 191775: How the Other Half Lives: @JKCarrier (not shown, 4)
    Arc 92364: The Shattered Sapphire: @Sapphire Keeper (not shown, 4)
    Arc 210267: To Serve Crey: @SDragon (5)
    Arc 221240: The Audition Part One: @MrCaptainMan (5)
    Arc 124319: The Shadow Rune of the Warlocks: @RedWarlock (5)
    Arc 4643: Blowback: @Venture (repeat) (5)
    Arc 4384: The Double-Edged Sword: @theHedoren (not shown, 4)

    I'm currently looking for arcs that are "finished" to the best of the author's ability, and ready for initial editing ("looking for feedback", not "work in progress", not "final"). In most cases this means less than 20 votes so far. PM me with your arc number if you'd like me to take a look. You don't have to play my arcs, particularly if they don't interest you, but I also appreciate feedback. And if this post doesn't keep me utterly busy, then I'll continue to review ad hoc, as before.

    Cheers, airhead
  6. #4384: Double-Edged Sword: gave it a shot with Aehaed the level 50 mind/forcefield

    Mission title in indigo - Somehow I didn't even see the title until I came out of the mission. A bit hard to read. Perhaps a lighter shade of indigo.

    Mission 1: good to see false glowie targets. The difference between false and real seems a bit obvious - perhaps vary the false types a bit.
    Not much dialog in this mission.

    Mission 2 intro: Mynx assumes some unknown device or artifact - how do we know that much?
    Accept should be easy as cake, er pie (not pie, er, cake) else I wouldn't have corrected myself...
    One nice patrol dialog.
    I sneak through doing glowies, until I find what I'm looking for.
    Will's description is very brief. Perhaps explain that his karate outfit is pyjamas.
    2nd mission return, Mynx finishes with "let me know what else you've found", but there was nothing else, it becomes a dropped topic.

    Mission 3 - and the plot is still pretty lightweight. As the send-off says, we still don't know what Crey is up to. Nothing seems to have been deduced from the kid I rescued, despite suggestions that it might.
    I persuaded the guard to tell me the names of 5 test subjects - could I have tried to find out the purpose of the lab too? Or perhaps I grilled the guard, he didn't know, but he met the five when he was on feeding duty or something.
    Johhny's description: Abilites -> Abilities
    Nina: Abilites -> Abilities

    The sidekicks are making the tediously identical Crey less of a problem.
    Josephine was invisible when I found her. Her powers in her description don't seem to cover this.
    And I'm done. Hopefully the 5 I've rescued will shed more light on this than the guy on the boat. Their descriptions suggest they're being enhanced.

    Mission 4: Josephine's behaviour at the end of the last mission dovetails nicely into this mission.
    Pop-up on entry says "something is very wrong here". This isn't helpful at all, I have no reason to think that. All I know is there is a raid leader to defeat - what kind of raid?
    First hostage does a great job of clarifying though: I think they're looking for something.
    So I took out Mireille - didn't get a chance to check her description, still utterly in the dark. But after a while I decided to take out her Phantasm as well, and then got the information. So kid is valuable, and Carnies want her too.
    Exit pop-up states the obvious...

    Mission 5 - timed! Great to see that warning, as I was otherwise going to start this with dinner approaching. Continuing (now well fed) I spot Sister Psyche as a potential ally, but figure I'll check out the big bad first. It's an Elite Boss on level 1 difficulty, so I take her out. Rather easily - I imagine with Numina, Swan or Sister Psyche it would be overkill. More than 1, a massacre. Incidentally, why are those three imprisoned? I free Numina in case she can tell me, but she's more concerned about the poor widdle Carnies!

    Overall, the feeling of the first 4 missions is not really "save the world", more just "save a couple of kids". Perhaps it makes more sense for lower level folks. This would also result in more variety in the Crey personnel appearing. The last mission is much more grandiose, but to get there was a rather low level path.

    Perhaps something in my earlier adventures might subject me to powers that permit me to resist Josephine - then I'd have a reason for being the "big good" despite the presence of Freedom Phalanx members. Early exposure to a weaker Josephine provides, uh, neural antibodies? Or something a little less ludicrous...

    I don't know Mynx much, whether her blase dialog ties to canon. If not, perhaps she could be a little more thorough with following up after mission 2.

    And I guess I missed the gist of the story title. A double-edged sword often refers to one that might bite back, but I don't see the risk to Crey.

    Overall, a nice, simple arc, with a storyline that develops slowly then turns huge in mission 5.

    Cheers, airhead
  7. Ah yes, the gag is clear enough, the picture does the trick there. It explains the weird message on entering the mission, which at that point just seemed like it could have been just a melodramatic personality (but it wasn't).

    The ally/captive behaviour was the weird thing. Perhaps they're captives, set to "follow" instead of standing still? Still doesn't explain why they only start following a little later on. Very weird.
  8. Blockback version 061209 on Test

    I never did finish this, but since then I've learned a bit more about soloing, and maxed out my purples. Here we go again, on level 1 difficulty. The arc has definitely been fine-tuned a lot since I last played it, it's now one of the best I've seen.

    Mission 1
    For the new breed Malta, perhaps they could use a blue-green to more closely match the old breed Malta. Or perhaps that is intentional.
    Woah. All 4 device glowies appeared within 8 yards of each other.

    Mission 2-5
    One of the exit clues has a boss make the effort to reply to his recalcitrant employee... a tip-off that Malta probably wouldn't do. Still, it's a typical villain soliloquy, and the guy probably sees his assassination as inevitable at this point.

    Mission 5
    I love the pop-up message on entry. You're outnumbered! Come out with your hands up!
    Outdoor guys' chatter is a little repetitive, if you have any file or objective space left you might break em up.
    Last time I played this, the main floor of the Malta Base was a spectacular war zone. Now the patrols seem to be ignoring each other. No sign of Ja'dar either, he's moved outside. Perhaps you need to set patrols to rogue or something now - I found my groups were also less likely to engage in my test mission.
    Well, can't find two of the instigators (turned out to be outside somewhere) so I took out 6-3. That was a great battle. Confusing the robots produced few hits, but swayed the battle just a little in my favour. Had to use my Geas; managed to save my Eye of the Magus, since I (thought) I still two folks to go, (presumably) each of higher rank than 6-3!
    But there's 2-0. Not more powerful (I guess he lacks that R&D edge). Easy target.
    And there's Ja'dar. He's had an I15 makeover. From the roof here, he looks like a pokemon.
    Oh dear. I can get him (eventually) into chain holds, but I ran out of endurance. I exit (taking the handy-dandy Arachnos flyer) to get some more. I hope my graphics doesn't crash before I'm done!
    Now I'm without Eye of the Magus, I will have to jump around to avoid getting hit. This probably won't work.
    It worked for a while, then he took me out. Gradually, jousting along the dock, I'd hit him twice, put up the personal force field, jump over him, hit him twice again... and scratched him slowly down to about 30% over about 15 minutes. One death occured, when lag seemed to miss my force field toggle, but instead it toggled it on-off. Then the Eye returned, and I hit him with everything I had left. Eventually I won.

    Great battles, perhaps not solo-able on some builds. But it's advertised as a Challenge in I15, so I think that's fine. Thanks for making this.

    //airhead
  9. Shadow Rune of the Warlocks

    I enjoyed this arc. The history lesson was a little confusing, between what had happened before and what was happening in the present. But I might have forgotten to check my clues when the second mission finished - my graphics crashed during the second mission, confusing me a bit.

    It's a nice little story. The ally is like having a Shivan all the time - which does increase the requirements of the enemies, to make it fair. First time I met Red, he almost beat my ally (Red has good resistance to mez) but the second time, he was lame. Not sure what happened there. The other bosses may be more of a challenge above level 1 difficulty.

    Overall, a nice story for just two missions, and a very cool looking contact. My comments as I played below.

    Cheers, airhead


    Perhaps put the large teams warning in another color (yellow if it's supposed to be loud, orange is more subtle).
    So... very brief introduction. The contact already knew I wanted to find out the history of Moth Cemetary, so I guess I did.
    2:45pm: Enter 1st mission
    M1 entry pop-up: wandrered -> wandered
    Moth Mole description: the -> them

    Moth Mole, blind, has a laser eyes attack. Unusual.
    I got the shadow rune of the Warlocks, but no Clue to explain it.
    The Dead Horsemen guarding Adamastor have only the default lieutenant description. Same with the Earth Warlock.
    Nice explanation why Adamastor can travel through these caves given when he gets lost.
    Good map choice.
    2:58pm: return to contact
    I'm told twice to ally with Adamastor, perhaps only need one reminder.
    2:59pm: Enter mission 2.
    Found my ally already!
    3:01pm: Return from hospital.
    Siren of the Moth: Cemeterery -> Cemetary
    Earth Warlock: I shall defeate you -> defeat
    Shadow Warlock's soliloquy: througout -> throughout

    3:27 return to contact.
    Return message: Souveneir -> Souvenir
  10. Hi Eco,

    This arc took me a couple of hours. I often get lag, which made the missions with lots of travel particularly tedious. Which was 2 out of 3. This travel involved retracing my steps, which I do in my own arcs, but these maps are bigger.

    Despite the frustration level, I gradually found myself getting into this story.

    Mission 1:
    The concept of "this is real even though it feels fake" is necessary, I guess, but it is also complicated.
    The mission is very long. The serial objectives on this map mean there is a lot of covering ground multiple times. The ambushes at the end, with mezzes, are just annoying. Perhaps each node could announce its arrival to speed up the endless searching. The atmosphere, with the increasing presence, is well written.

    Mission 2:
    Synapse's intro doesn't sound very Synapse. He's usually morose. I'd thought he might be a fake, but that didn't prove out.
    The mismatched intro/in-mish is interesting but my response to Synapse for mission 2 is not very heroic. I'd either quit the mission or go along willingly rather than go along begrudgingly.
    A lazy Recluse. Again, at odds with what I know of him.
    He doesn't help, but with my lag I cannot outrun him. Annoying.
    Finally lost him. At least that process provided the first clue why I'm here, for some reason Recluse thinks I'm in the middle of an escape attempt (although that's not what the Nav says).
    I put up my defences and run through to the end. Yet another destructible. It happens I can't hit this one, often a bug with destructibles. This then requires luring another creature near the destructible and using an area-effect attack to toggle the object to destructible. Given its placement high on some containers this was difficult, and I killed quite a few Arachnos before I finally got one that went near the target.
    Synapse's attitude on my return doesn't have me interested in continuing this arc. Perhaps if he'd listen to me a little and have some doubt.

    Mission 3:
    The introduction is interesting, but I already expect I will have a completely different task to the introduction.
    With the help of two accolades, I took out Chimera. Didn't know I could do that.
    Unusual to have the big bad on the first floor. Level 2 had a destructible. Now level 3 is just a glowie hunt. And then floor 4. Eventually find glowies, all were in same room... and then more objectives arrive. Weary, I plough on. Floor 4 was quite vacant so no doubt my new targets spawned there.
    On the way I found a destructible, and BaB/Marauder. I defeated BaB/Marauder by defeating his guards, then he goes into a strange magic hold animation, I don't understand. Perhaps it is the object I found being used, but text should indicate this.
    Mother Mayhem says something appropriate, but then doesn't go into the magic hold animation.
    Ahh, but she's an ally. I leave her, she doesn't follow, but makes a comment, so I return, and she follows. Maybe she was in some sort of long animation that didn't show.
    Neuron's comments are clear about the Immobilizer.
    But when Mother Mayhem meets Neuron, he's freed, and becomes an ally! This is weird behaviour, very interesting. Is it deliberate?
    It's making more and more sense (aside from the behaviour of my non-combat "allies"). I finally get someone I can take on, Tyrant.
    So glad you didn't make all the reinforcements into ambushes. They're pretty cool creations too. But now I have another pass of this 4-floor map to find and slay them all.
    I do that, and eventually I'm done! My lag has strangely gone away, so this becomes a lot less tedious.

    Hopefully in Part 2, Synapse will be more on my side and make it feel more worthwhile. 5-starred - perhaps not quite, but nobody deserves the childish 1-starring (on both parts of the arc!). This happens usually when an arc makes the first search page, not before it's even been voted. So immature.
  11. A quick run-through of this was well worth it. I enjoyed the premise, and the crey. The final mission had quite a different flavour, not as subtle as the earlier ones (dialog-wise).

    My thoughts as I went through below. I usually vote rounding-up, since I assume things will be fixed, but in this case there's very little that needs fixing. 5-starred. My train of thought below.

    Cheers, airhead

    I'm not sure I understand the title and subtitle of the first arc. But a regular person in need is always welcome.
    Although some clarity about where I'm going is also welcome... why do I trust this guy? He's from Crey! But then someone on a board somewhere mentioned that breaking and entering is de rigeur for heroes, so I guess I should go do my stuff.
    11:42pm: Enter mission 1
    Pop-up on entry suggests Crey is known for evil acts - they're suspected (known by the player if he's 30+ levels).
    Nice to have Crey that are not power tanks.
    The clue in the filing cabinet has a title that runs off the right side of the Clues window (cannot read).
    My godness, baddies with (tm) in the name! I don't know why, but that is so cool. Now why would they trademark the guy intended to dispose of evidence... I really like that guy.
    Incidentally, the desks were not labelled as 'optional' (the other things were) and when I took out the cleaner, I no longer had to get the last desk (mission completed). Found it anyway.
    Okay, I didn't imagine this. You beat all my expectations with that clue.
    12:04: exit mission, bio break (unrelated to Clue)
    12:13pm: enter mission 2.

    Entry pop-up: pad-locked -> padlocked
    Great map choice. Nice running story and dialog.
    12:24pm: return to contact.
    Return message: though -> through
    Mission title/subtitle... unh.
    12:29pm: enter mission 3
    Popup this time acknowledges Crey's evils are not so widely known.
    Regarding level limiting in I14 (expected to be a short-lived problem) you could put a destructible object in there (as you have), set it "Single" (so it has no defenders) and assign a group to it that is level limited as you'd like. This then limits the whole mission.
    And a wonderful finish. Unh.
    Clocked out at 12:57am. Generally ran slow as I was chatting with someone doing one of my arcs.
  12. The Shattered Sapphire, Arc ID: #92364, by @Sapphire Keeper

    It's never been voted on!


    ------------------------------------------------

    Summary

    The synopsis above, different to the Arc Description, suggests disruptions that are seemingly normal, yet (?) are no interest to the press. Not sure what you meant to say there.

    Since it has so many EB/AVs, I'll play it on level 1 difficulty and hope for the best with my mind/ff controller, Aehaed. The level range for this jumps around a lot. You can lock this down in i15 release to, say, 35-41, which exists for all missions. Unless there's a reason for jumping around (eg. Ouro travel, some form of powers loss, simulated 'bug').

    Making the first mission the hardest is unusual, usually there's an escalation of difficulty. It's an origin story. Some people avoid these, expecting it to have little to do with them. But good origin stories are driven by the player hero, and I'm hoping for that here. Unfortunately I feel increasingly irrelevant mission by mission.

    I'm not sure what direction you want to take this, to find a way to engage the player more, to make it a team challenge, or a solo challenge, to balance the mission difficulty more, to develop the Contact into a unique personality... so I can't really give clear suggestions on improving. Instead, I'll just post my stream-of-consciousness as I went through the arc.

    Remarkably accurate grammar and spelling, for an arc that's never been voted on. I've never seen anything like that. Nice work getting it this far!

    Cheers, //airhead

    ------------------------------------------------

    The contact looks like a Crey. Her synopsis is that she's been investigating Crey, so she's presumably some sort of auditor or internal affairs. If that was clearer I'd feel more comfortable as a hero.

    Samantha's send-off comments are quite aggressive - I hope I don't need her to teach me to be prepared for anything!
    11:29pm: enter first mission
    I'm to "Remove Crey presence" - perhaps Samantha is part of some sort of Crey clean-up operation? It didn't sound like Crey Arcana was something that needed eradicating. Remove the presence from who - Circle of Thorns?
    Why am I annihilating Crey at the bequest of a Crey?
    And then I find the EB. He is indeed very tough - -must be an AV at other difficulty levels.
    I use my last Shivan to take him out. I hope the warning on the can is correct, that this was the hardest mission![check of Alchyn is a standard AV]
    11:51pm: return to contact
    Return message is suitably short - since only the leader of a team will see it, and I already suspect this is a team-oriented arc.
    M2 intro: second sentence grammar is confusing at the beginning. Also: arising -> arousing
    11:56pm: enter second mission
    M2 entry pop-up: definately -> definitely
    I find a file labeled...etc. But it doesn't provide a Clue - not that it has to, but glowies often do.
    I really like this ally. Perhaps a bit strong but at least she's doing a great job of buffing.
    There's an unecessary apostrophe in Chris' description.
    This mission is definitely much easier for having the ally. Solo-able, unlike the last mission (for me at least).
    Ahh, the need for a Clue is satisfied at the end of the mission. Strange file, particularly the Satou family references. Intrigue.
    12:14am: return to contact.
    M2 return msg: Contact repeats herself, not sure if intentional (relation...relation)
    I'm not entirely sure why I am visiting another site of the Crey Arcana. Still searching for basic clues? Perhaps another item like the sapphire?
    12:16am: enter mission 3
    Mission pop-up - why must there be something here, perhaps it is gone now?
    Another very powerful ally.
    It's a complex (although not big) map - but hopefully my clue is this EB, and not a glowie.
    Oh dear. Even with my sidekick, I've managed to get beaten up - time for hospital.
    I come back - we win! Fairly convincingly. I just stalled him a bit. It would be interesting to see what would happen if I wasn't even there. I definitely felt a bit incidental that time.
    Comprehensive clue. Definitely a back-story for your hero. Not sure how it impacts me.
    12:36am: return to contact.
    I am asked to "Accept" - but it's not entirely clear what I'm to do.
    12:39am: into mission 4.
    Sapphire Blade has an interesting backstory, short and quirky.
    And her AI is the melee one - she stands up to the bad guy, and just watches as I take him down. Sometimes she draws her sword, but just for show. Kind of her to give me the xp. Perhaps she'd be more interactive if she had gotten hit.
    12:48am: return to contact
    Okay, we're to beat down the bad guy 'to maintain balance'. Doesn't define evil, but that's okay, I'll do it. He's been messing with souls, so I'll use that reason instead.
    12:51am: enter last mission
    It's a lot of sidekicks this time! Wipe out the Crey Arcana - so what on earth was Samantha's mandate, being Crey??
    I'm rescuing extremely powerful beings held captive by weedy Circle of Thorns types. Perhaps they could be animated to be in some kind of magical hold.
    Okay... everything we meet lasts less than 2 seconds, as my posse nukes it.
    Healer gets left behind a lot, strange as she's the flying one.
    So for kicks, I decide to leave the big bad to the sidekicks. They splatter him even before him ambush comes to the rescue. Healer is almost taken down before the villain foolishly switches to Gunner. Ah, but that EB wasn't the big bad! There's still Phylos to go. He's nearby, and I leave him to the sidekicks. He's doing better than his number 2. Lots of knock-up.
    Blade is going down. I chip in a little bit, Blade finally gets the heals she needs from Healer, and they do eventually win.
    1:14am: return to contact
  13. The introduction is solid enough, although the premise is laughable - I hope I don't have to take this arc seriously. Would it be possible to find a more plausible reason for an exchange - even a simple hostage exchange, or some mother wanting to try to rehab her Arachnos'ed daughter? But that's okay, I won't be so serious from here on.

    Her name is Becky. Any relation to Becky the Tarantula Mistress? Seems a little confusing, but admittedly my villain canon is weak. She's also level 50 (like me), whereas the mission subtitle mentioned a level 1 arachnos... again, I'm probably taking this too seriously.

    Your New Sidekick Clue: entusiastic -> enthusiastic

    Becky's been doing some filing, in a high security place (albeit RWZ, which is joint hero-villain). Interesting.

    Good choice of medium sized maps - not overlarge, a good change from the small maps that start to become very familiar.

    And, hah - Becky was as trustworthy as I expected. Becky's AWOL, and now the plot seems serious. I'm using evidence from Rikti security tapes that perhaps they didn't check themselves - sounds like pretty low-tech security, like an ATM machine or a 7-11...

    So now the Vanguard are my enemy too? Did they get Berserkified? I see the gadget is "all-purpose". But I manage to sleep them, clear the Rikti, and move on. At one point the Vanguard fled, but wasn't attacked by other Rikti he passed. I think this is a weakness in the Battles of AE, that you can't have a Rogue faction in a battle. Not a big deal here.

    I clear out the objectives, and I'm done!

    So I just need to clear up the other half of the student exchange. Whoever thought this was going to work? And indeed, it worked out particularly bad. But I get to take out Becky and Miss F in the same arc.

    Becky says thanks for letting her play sidekick - wasn't aware she was a good-guy in that last mish, since I ran by her. But it did make sense in the end.

    I guess I figured tarantulas were cyborgs, not just suits, and so the original Becky fortunata confused me.

    Overall, an interesting story and characters. Becky was more capable than expected, Levantera was a lot more foolish than expected, and the hero-hostage was fairly much on target as the ally that causes too much knockback. I think I had to suspend a lot of belief to get through this, which would be fine if it was a bit sillier overall. It weaves a winding path between drama and farce. But solidly written, almost no typos that I found, and a great poster.

    Thanks! //airhead
  14. * Updated some text to make it clearer that emails are real (G.F. acknowledges this)

    * Run through in about 20 mins, quite short

    This is a story arc involving architects, any humour is subjective and incidental to the personalities involved. Still looking for constructive feedback.
  15. What a great story! Searching the hospital was the only painful part. I soloed it on level 1 difficulty with a controller, other types might need plenty of break-frees.

    I chose to let millions live (even if they're not in my future). The technology could show up in any timeline that I'm not in, better to learn to live with it, I say. It gets even wrigglier to think it perhaps already did, and there's an Ouro above Ouro that's keeping things under control on another level. Nevermind that I clobbered Manticore and Posi, to well, kill time. I guess it had to be me dressed as Manticore back there in the Main. Wow. Cool.

    The story holds together as a very enjoyable whole. Thank you! *^5.
  16. This is a re-review - so much has changed since the post above. Greatly improved! I hope others might also try this, and let you know what they thought.

    I played this with the same toon. He made it through the last time...

    The contact is much friendlier than I knew him last, sure I'll help him out. He suggests he can't go himself since he's a lone defender - it'd be curious if I was too!

    The first mission has enemies I'm familiar with, but with some additional interesting banter. I think I'll try stealthing this one. The objective was just out of the elevator on the second floor. Very short mission! The cavalry arrives, providing a host of clues about my tormentor. He's playing games with me! An interesting and new twist for me in this arc.

    The contact lets me continue my quest for his artifact. It's back into the woods! The patrol bots give away their purpose this time, but I won't let them stall me. I bounce around looking for the big bad and pick him off before more cavalry arrive. I do wonder why the Devouring Earth comprises only Boulders and Granites, perhaps it's because I'm level 50.

    Okay, so the plot is getting clearer, and I'm off on the third mission. I bounce past the first spawn, meet a spawn guarding a bookcase. I hit them with a mass sleep attack, and... Mission Completed! Hey wait, what about the Brute Squad? I haven't really done anything, just put some folks to sleep. I haven't even rescued the book case... but it says I stopped the Brute Squad. Did they fall victim to a battle? Or become an inconsequential objective?

    That last mission has me utterly stumped, but the mission introduction for the last mission has me back on track. I remember this one, it should be great.

    Last mission still has a purple title, hard to read.

    And on we go, to the better-designed bad guy base. After some clobbering, Tut and I win.

    Thanks for running through my arc, The Amazing Rat Race. You could try my other arc if you don't have issues with the topic

    Cheers, airhead
  17. Twelfth, I have to wonder, why did you bother?

    You ran a Heroic arc with a villain, with a theme that you already hated, complained about every unusual twist of its architecture, and did not even read the story. The entire plot has Great Face building his own suit of Rikti armor, that is not a hack.

    The tutorial map, the unguarded escort, the odd reference to Snakes in the MA summary, the indestructible destructible, the group names for customs that match actual groups, the Rikti boss at low levels, they're all just existing features. Others saw this as inventive, not issues.

    Unsurprisingly, you missed the key theme of 'bullying' that takes this odd couple story into new territory. But then content is 'superfluous'.

    Jophiel seems to have hit the nail on the head, suggesting this is a niche story. If you have such serious issues with the videos, then you shouldn't play this arc. From my perspective, I didn't find them hilarious, just amusing. But I liked the characters that were starting to develop, and there's far less 'canon' involved in them. So I built on their personalities to create this arc.

    If anyone would like to approach this arc with an open mind, I'm still looking for feedback.
  18. airhead

    The Lazarus Arcs

    I'm giving 1709 a shot: The Amulet of J'gara

    I like how the contact seems genuinely interested in getting my help. Contacts are often a foregone conclusion.
    So I'm off to find two folks.
    4:33pm: enter mission 1.
    4:43pm: return to contact.

    M1 return: second paragraph ends with '?.' Third paragraph, first sentence should be 2 sentences.
    Second mission - the Squad have a lock on their member, which I am to believe (from last meeting with the contact) that it means they can get him out. But they still need me to go in there? Is there something I'm not being told here? Should I trust my contact? The send-off says a little differently, that he is still hidden.
    Nice, colorful mission titles!
    4:47pm: enter mission 2.
    Aaah! Circle of Thorns map. I've hit several big ones today. From the map resolution, this is hopefully very small. (Phew, it is)
    Polentes is a bit different for a CoT name, but it works well. A bit of a mixture, really. Cooked on a skillet...
    Nicely written clues in this. I better get back fast to the contact, the Midnighters are already under attack!
    4:57pm: return to contact.
    And I get that annoying bug where the cursor disappears and every mouse move causes a toon move. The only way out I know is /quit, back in a minute...
    5:03pm: enter mission 3.
    And the Nav objective was for more than I needed to do. Very curious! I think there was one baddie left.
    5:07pm: return to contact.
    It was a curiously easy finish to the main plot. I am left wondering what I missed. Indeed, turns out I should be wondering...
    5:09pm: enter mission 4.
    Bookshop looks really beat-up, like from a children's book.
    Escape! The Nav seemed like a concealed 'escort' goal, that would capture my return to the entrance if I took my ally. But no, it was a concealed... kill guard? Or kill-all? Strange. But in line with the strangeness of where I am now.
    5:19pm: return to contact.
    M5 intro: were you stand -> where you stand
    5:21pm: and into the final mission!
    Working through, found my allies, oh dear! Ran into big-bad. Lost one ally, but scraped back after fleeing briefly, two allies lived to see us win.
    5:32pm: and I'm out!
    Slightly slower than the advertised 30-45 minutes, but if I hadn't been taking notes that estimate would be spot-on.

    Overall, I enjoyed this a lot. Good story progression, well written, very good attention to detail. My confusion (apparent in places above) was always short-lived. I didn't get emotionally attached to any characters, just a bit of build-up of aggro towards the bad guy. But I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a mid-level heroic arc.

    Cheers, airhead
  19. airhead

    Death to Disco!

    How about just one more mission on this arc, so we can know that all those grannies and kids who've lost their (temporary) culture and source of happiness to a muscular bunch of rockers and a violent superbeing do actually end up in a better place afterwards?

    The grannies could become Tina Turner. Kids could go on to perhaps survive breakdancing. And as all the rockers come back out of hiding, there'd still be... Rick Astley. Seems like a mission to me.
  20. American drops consonants, not just vowels? Weird. Unfortunately I've been using an English dictionary (Chambers English).

    Anyway, here's the play-by-play for parts 2 and 3.

    THE LOST CHOIR
    Part two: ID 136959

    6:07pm: Collect new arc, part 2.
    M1 intro: city hall -> City Hall
    What a strange beginning!
    6:12pm: Enter mission 1.
    Wow, tricky glowie to find. But enough evidence was given in the introduction for where to look.
    That's a huge map, with lots of interesting critters, for just one glowie.
    Melakh Elohim: offset -> is offset
    B'nai Elohim: radience -> radiance
    Melakh Adonai: Litterally -> Literally

    6:21pm: Return to contact.
    6:23pm: Into mission 2.

    I find the 'clue' - so happy to find the glowie fairly easily in this monster map.
    Guard of Sadu'sii: persistant -> persistent
    Woah! Very cool ally. Heh. Mission was short from that point on... judging from the level of the boss, it was meant to be.
    6:41pm: Return to contact.
    Interesting premise, for where the contact actually is. Be nicer if the arc was in 'real' Paragon of course.
    6:43pm: Start mission 3.
    Just a thought about the critters - Oraphim is fun, he has some resistance to my mezzes, and lots of knockback on his attacks. When I attack an Oraphim, I best keep my back to a wall (and not a ravine).
    Lots of running around, some of it with my ally (although he eventually just slows me down) eventually leads to all the objectives. Thankfully, two very close together.
    7:04pm: Return to contact.
    More surreal contact commentary. It will be great when more variety is given to the contact process in MA.
    7:06pm: into mission 4!
    It's a long one. Find an object that triggers another objective! But thankfully that appears in the same room.
    Thellos: diety -> deity
    Thellos looks more human than Rikti. Perhaps that's how Rikti started out, I don't know. Perhaps an alien head helmet (with the vanguard mask used) would give a more exotic look.
    7:35pm: Return to contact.
    M4 Return text: Godess -> Goddess
    Heading for another good climax within the arc!
    7:37pm: Enter mission 5
    This map looks familiar. I've been here before.
    Woah, my ally is tough. I put up my shields and let it do the work.
    Ooh, it flies. It glows. It does 945 points of damage in a hit... for a deity, it does seem kinda godlike.
    Nav says "Defeat the Aspect of Xhantranos", critter is Mind of Xhantranos.
    Mind of Xhantranos: efficency -> efficiency

    I really like the exclamation, "countless ravaged stars!" I'll have to start using that.
    Xhantranos is going to devour this world - I'm not sure which world this is, I think it's the spirit realm, but I'd feel more scared if he said "your (my) world".
    7:56pm: Returned to contact!
    And with that, we come to the final battle, the final arc, the Finale.

    THE LOST CHOIR
    Part three: ID 141011

    8:05pm: collect new arc.
    Ooh! My contact is a deity! I deserve no less Perhaps this deity needs an aura, but then what do I really know about how deities look.
    M1 intro: insticts -> instincts
    Time to bust god! Sounds like I'm gonna have a LOT of allies...
    8:07pm: enter finale.
    Okay, that's weird. I'm beating on humans, and Rikti come to my aid. I think I might have compromised my principles.
    Way cool! Many of the little cherubby thingies have joined Xhantranos.
    Okay, now I find Rikti not on my side, and Vanguard that are. I guess I have to trust to my 'instincts' (aka target selector).
    I set my target selector to find Thellos, he's likely going to be a great help here. But I bump into my old (and ominous-looking) friend Luther! Got to love the religious references in this thing.
    And there's my godly friend, with a slight name change. Now it really needs an aura! At least it has a bubble. Oh wait! God is a lieutenant now. Perhaps Sadu will be more useful to me.
    Nope, another lieutenant.
    But there's the big X! He definitely hits hard. With the aid of a Shivan, we take him down, moments before the vast ambush takes out the Shivan. We win! Yay!
    Hatred of Xhantranos: burst -> bursts; formidible -> formidable
    Existance is saved -> Existence is saved

    8:31pm: Return to contact.
    M1 return msg: Existance -> Existence; likey -> likely; to vast -> too vast
    Weird. I got two copies of the Souvenir.

    Overall:

    The concept is great, and very heroic. I see how it clashes with CoH canon at times, but mostly it doesn't, as it is stuff not covered by canon yet. A canon guru may be able to identify all of these situations, and perhaps this could even be a completely valid extension of canon. The only area that confused me was the priest/magician. I sensed the author's style in this, it let me accept that the story would find its own direction.

    There's definitely a place for really long arcs, but only if the whole is done with care like this one. I think some of the mishes are a bit dull (sparse) for the map size, most are fun, and seeing friends again at the end was cool. None of the big maps were tedious - even targets in dense fog were made to glow, with good attention to the animations selected.

    Religion-wise, I can't see what the fuss is about. The only clear link to the bible was in the entry pop-ups, which provided a nice flavour reference to a religion I already know, a different religion to the ones floundering in the story.

    I want a Keeping the Faith badge!

    Cheers, airhead
  21. Okay, I have a half-day free, so I decide to take on the mother of all arcs, the Mister Squid Task Force (MSTF).

    I suspect it will be great: it's huge, and has had some time to mature as an arc. I did not like Da Vinci Code or its sequel, but then this sounds like something completely different.

    There's rumour of EBs and AVs, so first I'll get get some equipment. For fun, white is observation, orange is suggested changes, and yellow is the Clock.
    3:57pm: heading to Bloody Bay.
    4:32pm: exiting Bloody Bay with a Shivan stick.
    4:34pm: enter Skyway AE center. Utterly quiet.


    THE LOST CHOIR Part one: ID 123675
    4:37pm: enter part 1, mission 1.
    Arc description: convieved -> conceived
    Construction workers dialog gets a bit repetitive.

    Excellent animation with the pick.
    Clue: Something about a choir?: wierd -> weird
    4:46pm: Return to contact.
    4:49pm: enter second mission.

    M2 intro: defering -> deferring; convievably -> conceivably

    Into mish, searching for clues - the Rikti altar is right there at the entrance (in the cave?!) so I just now need to defeat the base leader.
    High Priest Fara'sii - is a magician, with CoT powers? I thought Rikti priests were not like that. Understandably the model is not an actual Rikti priest (was blue not red), perhaps you decided that would be too tough for just a second mission.
    4:56pm: Return to contact.
    Mish 3 intro: worshiping -> worshipping
    Nav info: Rescue the High Preist. -> Priest.

    4:59pm: enter third mission.
    Cool, I got Rikti mates! First time I ever healed a Rikti. Felt strange.
    My Vanguard sidekick looks ominous. His colours are.. darker than usual. I suspect him already. But he holds true.
    The Rikti-speak does seem kind of broken. Although it's not hard and fast, they often seem to me to speak in Statement: Command/Question, where Statement may describe how they're feeling, or what they're doing. Both statement and command start with a capital letter, and each could be spoken alone and still make sense. You have instead broken your sentences up with colons, which is quite different.
    5:12pm: Take a bio break.
    5:14pm: Return from bio break. Yes, I can be that fast AND wash my hands.

    I decide not to take my escort straight out, as I can see the big-bad nearby. We defeat Nii'roh! With gallant disregard for the life of my escort, I let him join in and he does well.
    It tells me "You have defeated Nii'Roh" twice.
    It's a really long escort. So far, and nothing happening. Perhaps spawn some patrols upon rescue, that would then waylay my path back to the exit. Otherwise, it's very dull.
    5:24pm: Return to contact.
    M4 send-off: wont -> won't

    5:28pm: Enter mission 4.
    Lots of dimensional-tendril looking objects on this map. It takes a while to find all the targets on this large map.
    5:38pm: Return to contact.
    M5 intro: slaugtering -> slaughtering
    5:40pm: Enter mission 5.
    Found Nephelim, when rescuing some cops. So he clobbered me. Came back, clobbered him!
    Final return message might be more appropriate to a pop-up box upon exiting the mission. But then there'd be no need to return to the contact... it's a nice story tactic, but logic is difficult within the MA system.
    5:53pm: Return to contact.

    Overall, a nice story developing here, I look forward to playing the next two parts.

    Cheers, airhead
  22. Thanks Jophiel for the first written review of this arc (and to @Cwth for a detailed review-by-tells).

    Jophiel's review

    A largely positive result, scoring a five by the skin of its teeth, owing to some considerable confusion in the third mission. I've made some changes:

    [ QUOTE ]
    The ally (initially captive) originally did ask you to return to him with the collection. But another reviewer also found the scattered emails confusing (again, were they fake?), so I'd changed the tiny dialog box to try to show they were real. That meant taking out the critical information that you should return; and you still weren't convinced it wasn't a hoax (fair enough, so much "uniqueness" going on).
    I hope I've fixed this now using another text field ("Completed objective") which gives me another 100 characters to make sure I cover both pieces of information.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    Hopefully it'll run much smoother now. As Jophiel highlights, the story does require that you know about Captain Dynamic, which can be accomplished through 12 minutes of video at www.captaindynamic.com.
  23. Thanks Jophiel!

    I'd hoped by framing a story around Captain Dynamic, it'd receive a wider audience than The Amazing Rat Race. But likely there are many more people like yourself who hadn't seen his videos, making it a small niche. At least your review will help players get the most from the arc if they do try it, since it does rely on the movies.

    The ally (initially captive) originally did ask you to return to him with the collection. But another reviewer also found the scattered emails confusing (again, were they fake?), so I'd changed the tiny dialog box to try to show they were real. That meant taking out the critical information that you should return; and you still weren't convinced it wasn't a hoax (fair enough, so much "uniqueness" going on).

    I hope I've fixed this now using another text field ("Completed objective") which gives me another 100 characters to make sure I cover both pieces of information. Thanks again for playing it through!
  24. I gave this arc a go. The atmosphere in most missions is very Arabian Nights, and the writing is florid and fun.

    I ran it on level 1 difficulty with a fully purpled mind/forcefield controller. I had no problem with any of the custom toons except for the AV at the end, who I could barely damage. Once my accolade defenses ran out I lasted a very short time.

    After five missions, that makes it pretty frustrating. I won't rate this, but it started very well.
  25. The Captain Dynamic arc below works from level 5 (to 50...), and I've done it with a level 4 dominator (although it's a heroic arc). It does have a boss at the end, if that's too hard you could do it on Heroic to face him as a lieutenant.

    I haven't had much feedback on it yet, hope the humour works at low levels