Samuel_Tow

You know what occurs to me? All of these things we're "told" are happening that are supposed to be dramatic? I'd actually like to see them. Not necessarily as cutscenes or FMV, but why not as comic book pages? For all the mocking we gave BABs' jaw and Psyche's lips on that Freedom Tutorial cover, the short comic that comes with it is actually a very cool idea. There are so many things that happen in SSA7 that I'm just told about, and many of them would benefit from at least one panel showing them to me. Missiles flying into space, cities being invaded, fleets engaged in battle. There's very little... "Weight" to having someone just mention them. Not even describe, just mention off-hand. Had I even a still picture to show me what they're talking about that would still be superior.

Additionally, the horrid quality of the text just hit lolcats level of snerk. The line "the entire eyes of the world are you on" had me both facepalming and giggling at the same time. This is honestly just bad. It's like a bad BableFish translation, or possibly like someone let Microsoft Word correct "all the world's" to "the entire world's" because that programme simply likes to do that for some reason. In either case, this comes off like it was written by someone who does not speak English very well. And that's coming from a foreign speaker of the language.

Of course, there's still the problem of sensory overload and too much NPC chatter all at once. For instance, I just went through a fight where around six NPCs dropped a speech bubble at once AND I had two caption boxes on the screen at the same time AND a "Trial-like" window special objectives. I got killed by an insta-death beam twice before I figured out what the fuchsia I was supposed to do and how I was supposed to avoid it.

I guess it's still better to have occasional moments of text diarrhoea in what is otherwise a streamlined, action-packed story arc, but I honestly wish whoever's writing those could resist dumping seventeen lines of text on me just as a hectic, time-critical event is starting. Honestly, there has to be a better way to let me know what I'm supposed to do without just tossing it in with the zillions of concurrent NPC chatter bubbles.

Still, for what it's worth, the actual gameplay of the arc hasn't failed me, Overseers notwithstanding. Yeah, lots of fun getting hit consistently through Elude, all my toggles, all my passives and two medium purples. But again, that's not down to the story or the mission design.

Yeah, given my history with the SSAs, that is news worthy.

I really didn't want to try SSA7, to be honest. After the train wreck of a story the first six told, I was DREADING this one. And, yeah, the story hasn't really captivated me so far. It's actually pretty basic. And the writing is probably some of the WORST I've seen in the whole game from a technical standpoint. It's clear no-one proof-read this. Indeed it's pretty clear no-one actually read this after it was written. It's just rife with the kind of simple, obvious mistakes and basic bad grammar that would have been obvious even at a cursory glance. Gems like "I mean, all these mix of people here going to fight Darrin Wade!" are so bad it's actually starting to get funny in an ironic sense.

But I made this thread to say something POSITIVE about the SSAs, and I have to confess... I really like the gameplay in these. This is more or less exactly what I wanted out of the game, at least so far. I'm given a mission, told where I'm going and why, and I have to beat the teeth out of a legion of enemies between me and there. That's all City of Heroes ever needed to be. That's all I ever wanted - combat with context. So far, I've not run into any pesky endless cutscenes and the flow of my gameplay hasn't been interrupted by any "fancy" mechanics. These are just basic missions, populated by an enemy faction which makes sense to be there, with a reason given why I'm running them to begin with. And they all tie together into the same overarching story of the arc. This is EXACTLY what I wanted all along, and it's exactly where City of Heroes excels.

See, this is what I'm saying. When the mission designers stop trying to shock me and blow the back of my skull open with excitement and actually let the game do what the game does best, it's a pleasant experience. Even if the story isn't great and... Yeah, it isn't... But even if the story isn't great, I can still enjoy the game when I'm not constantly interrupted by incessant "theatrics." Not everything has to be a scripted sequence, and SSA7 proves this actually quite beautifully. Whether I like the story or not doesn't change the fact that... Yeah, I'm enjoying running the missions so far. Rularuu Overseers are pain in the ***, sure, but that's neither the mission's fault nor the story's. The point remains that when the game doesn't actively work to ruin my fun, it can be quite enjoyable.

When it comes to Robotic Arms, I bugged David endlessly when he still posted, as did a few other people. Our argument was that Robotic Arms should simply be "custom" arms, instead, and allow for monster arms, rock arms, crystal arms and just bigger or smaller human arms. As of the Fire and Ice costume set, this is actually true. One of the custom arms now allows for a crystal right arm. It was explained that we couldn't get the crystal option on the other Robotic arms sections because of how the model was created - because it's transparent, won't work to just crop it, I understand. Either way, they've clearly acknowledged that we can have more than just robotic arms under Robotic Arms.

Trenchcoats limit wings and backpacks because they limit the entire Back section, and they limit the entire back section because players aren't allowed to have multiple cape rigs. BABs ran a test with a large number of player characters and found graphical perfomance decreased significantly when players went from one cape rig to two. As per BABs' last musings, the costume creator seems incapable of blocking specific items, just entire categories, so we lose Back items in general if we use a Trenchcoat. Why it's in its own section is so you can recolour its coat tail separately, something that I REALLY wish the tuxedo could do, as well. I'm sick and tired of having to pick a cape and change colours there, then apply those to the whole costume AND THEN go back to my trenchcoat if I want to alter its coat tail interior.

Multiple auras was cited as a problem of performance similar to multiple cape rigs, though I assume this one is less straightforward. It appears to me that the problem with multiple auras is stacking these auras on top of each other, say having three types of glowing eyes active at the same time. This does not seem to pose a problem, however, if we split auras down to their component parts and limit each aura "location" down to just one type, which is what current auras accomplish in a very slapdash manner. The problem of "anchor points" also does exist, but I strongly suspect this is not an issue for auras, who seem to be mounted to points already in use by other costume items. And, yes, the engine is perfectly capable of mounting multiple pieces to the same point. That's what created Thessalia's bowtana back in the day. It might involve UI work, though, and our art team reacts to UI work with about the same enthusiasm as a vampire hissing at a cross. Even AFTER they made a brand new UI which doesn't seem to have implemented any innovations but retained all the old limitations.

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My own personal pie-in-the-sky desire for the costume creator is for us to have better physique sliders. Our face sliders are... Reasonable, but our physique sliders are just terrible, especially for women. Shoulders just pull the shoulder blades apart without expanding the chest, there's no way to gain bigger arms without gaining ginormous thighs, we have no control over the thickness of our waists, just the basic width and so much more. If face sliders can control the X, Y and Z of every aspect affected, why can't body sliders do the same? What if I want a wider chest that doesn't look like I stuffed a balloon under my skin? Or any control over a female character's actual chest, as opposed to her breasts?

I find that the only "fix" teaming needs in this game is quality of life changes that make teaming easier. I would be against a strong reward-driven incentive for teaming, especially just for huge teams, because I don't want any part of that. Most of my time, I spend running missions alone and chatting with people on other servers. When I do team, it's with a single other person, usually someone I already know who happens to be online at the time. On the rare occasion I'll join a large team, it's to chase after team-only rewards like the WTF, and those experiences rarely leave me asking for more.

As far as I'm concerned, the biggest problem with teaming... Let me rephrase that. As far as I'm concerned, the biggest benefit to solo play is that I get to tailor my difficulty to my character, and thus end up feeling strong and dominant. However, because I don't build for power, this is an illusion. The moment I team with a power-built, Inventions-heavy character belonging to a much more focused player, I'm relegated to sidekick status, even if I'm technically the mentor. On large teams, that's even worse, because my supposedly awesome character turns into just a grunt, a face in a crowd.

Playing in a control environment - which means by myself or with people I know what to expect from - is how I enjoy the game the most. Making it easier for me is likely to get me to venture out of that comfort zone more often. Denying me more rewards, by contrast, is just likely to piss me off. For instance, if the LFG queue actually worked like it's supposed to and I could queue up for, say, a Bastion TF and actually get one within an 8-hour gaming session, I still would. Pity that never happens.

I've heard about this timed battle before, but I thought it was just for a badge. What happens if you survive but don't manage to bring them down in two minutes?

Chapter 7

I meant to speak some more of how Skip’s death affected me, for I spent hundreds of years on that barren moon, cold and alone, with nothing to occupy my mind but thoughts of the past and all that I have lost. Yet regardless of the words I chose to express this, it seemed as though I was simply repeating myself. And I was. It occurs to me that I have obsessed over Skip long enough. I realise now exactly what it was that I promised him, and I realise this with some degree of embarrassment that it took me so long to “get it,” as it were. Yes, Skip was my life, because that is the life I chose. But his death need not be my own, and it feels like I am finally ready to make this choice, as well. I will never forget Skip, nor my feelings for him, nor indeed all of the wild and wonderful adventures we had together. Neither, for that matter, will I ever forget Lin or our friendship, nor all of the ways in which she helped me grow as a person. I will not forget my old friends – the memory of our time together is part of what makes me who I am – but I believe I am ready let them go and move on with my life. Goodbye, Lin. Goodbye, Skip. Rest in peace, my friends. You will be missed.

I apologise. This is simply something I needed to say... Needed to do. But, of course, I still have a story to finish, and it continues with me marooned on a barren, airless moon with no means of extraction but for a budding space-faring species evolving actually quite rapidly on the planet below. In a mere few hundred years, their population exploded, their science advanced and they began launching machines, and eventually even people, into space. The prospect of this was exciting to me, as not only was this species intriguing in the extreme, but it could also potentially provide a means of escape from the accursed, barren rock that had become my prison. Mere decades after discovering space flight, these creatures did indeed land a small capsule on my moon. Their space pioneers were so adorable, frolicking around like children in the low gravity, just enjoying the experience. It reminded me of my early days, to be honest, when every new sensation shocked my system and excited me greatly. Fortunately, these astronauts were so preoccupied with hopping around that I was able to... Procure passage on their vessel as for its return trip. I meant to ask them for permission, honestly I did, but... Well, so long as I have access to thermoptic camouflage, why not use it? It makes most things so much simpler.

Making planetfall was... An experience. It transpired that although these people had developed propulsion systems sufficient to launch vessels into space, such simply did not exist to bring said vessels back down to the surface. Instead, their means of return was rather more basic – freefall. It does make sense to employ the force of gravitational pull, granted, but it makes the landings... Rough. Upon reflection, this technological oddity should have been obvious to me from the craft’s basic design, but I chalk up this surprise to my lack of familiarity with their crude technology. Fortunately, I was able to evacuate the crash site, facing another shock to my system – traversing great masses of liquid water. Throughout all of the worlds I had visited, such planetary features had been exceedingly rare, and on the very few occasions that I had seen such “oceans,” I had never had the impulse to... Swim in them. Ah, but it is the novelty of these experiences that makes life so exciting, is it not? My hard shell coped with the water surprisingly well, though my manual propulsion technique was... Suspect at best. My fabric ornaments, on the other hand, fared... Less impressively. I do sometimes wonder why I even keep those, but they look pretty, and a little needless flair makes life more exciting.

I should probably have made contact with the people of this world I landed on, I admit. Explained the nature of my... Plight, perhaps. However, not only did I not yet speak their language, but I did not wish to test their tolerance for alien interlopers, either. I had had... Unpleasant experiences with xenophobic races in the past – murder, torture, cannibalism, all sorts of charming culture quirks – which made me somewhat unwilling to test my hosts’ good graces. Still, learning the language seemed a good first step, and a surprisingly simple one, as I discovered. The benefits of possessing the infinite pool of knowledge of my Tererian predecessors are many and varied, and deciphering an unknown alien language is one such. With enough exposure to local speech – covertly, of course – I was able to glean the logic behind most of the surprisingly numerous local dialects. Never before have I run into a sentient species with as low a population as this one, which nevertheless speaks in so many different, mutually-exclusive ways. Perhaps their short history has prevented them from developing a practical, species-wide language? Or perhaps they are simply too stubborn and wilful. I could only guess.

By now, I have delayed this revelation long enough, for whatever suspense this has bought me. As I begin to talk of the history and people of this planet I found myself on, it becomes necessary for me to name them. And as I discovered from my surveillance, this planet was called “Earth,” and these people – “human.” Surprised? I should hope not. I mention this because I want to bring up... I want to say an “embarrassing” fact, but by this point I no longer felt embarrassed about it. As I mentioned quite a while ago, I my body is designed in the image of Lin Lian, and Lirian physique is very close to that of humans. As Lin was a very beautiful woman, my body ended up being quite... Attractive to the locals, just as it had been to so many Lirians and Praxians before. Goodness me... Considering I picked this shape largely because I... Liked it myself, other people’s... Reactions to it should have come as little surprise. We live and we learn, I suppose. While I found this infatuation flattering at first, the amount of... Attention my body receives here on Earth is starting to grate on me. It is no longer so much embarrassing, as just... Trite, I suppose.

I implied this, but let me say it outright – I did not hide from the humans for very long. Before I was aware of their culture and their tolerances, discretion seemed a prudent precaution to take. However, I soon realised that my hosts were more... Open to alien visitors than one might assume. Perhaps a bit too open. Or should I say, they were perhaps a bit too friendly in... Objectionable ways, though that may be a matter of perspective. Theirs, it transpires, is a world on a crossroad between... Many things. It is difficult to explain and boring besides, but suffice it to say that the Earth I arrived on soon became rife with creatures from across time and space, from alternate planes of reality, alternate dimensions and even some whose existence defies rational explanations. I had considered my situation unique, but in truth, I was merely one of many aliens to call Earth home. Eventually, the humans grew so tolerant of those... Different than themselves, going so far as to integrate us into their own society.

This genuinely surprised me. Of the races I have run across in my life, all but humans have been, to one degree or another, xenophobic. Not violently so, not always, but Lirians, Tyrians, Praxians and the rest all lived on their own separate planets, or at the very least within their own separate communities when they were forced to share a world. On Earth, however, not only did humans, demons, robots and... Oh so much more... Not only did all of those and then some live together within the same community, but I saw many actual families where emotional bonds crossed the bounds of species, biology and even physics. I still remember the charming love story of a sentient plant creature and an elemental spirit, but let us not get sidetracked. All of this did much to put my mind at ease. Though I have never regretted my affairs, not for a moment, I had always seen myself as somehow aberrant, contemptible even, to believe that a machine could ever be in love with an organic. Yet seeing the happiness these families shared simply told me that I was right all along. Earth culture removed the last of my shame, and I am much happier for it.

Still, I never really wanted to call Earth home, for the simple fact that I do not wish to be tied down to any one location or any one cause. It just makes life too stale, too... Convenient. And yet, because of its diversity and acceptance, Earth has become as close to a home as I have ever had. They say home is where the heart is, and no other world has captured my heart as this curious blue planet did. I suppose that, in some way, it simply resonates with a core aspect of who I am. Earth is a place of mystery, a place of unique, novel experiences, a place of... Discovery. The old galaxy I left behind had its charms, but it was static, explored, set in its ways. This planet... It is different, a cauldron of cultures, a storm of ideas and a land of opportunities. At times, Earth seems like a summary of everything I ever wanted, all wrapped up within one small ball of rock, almost asking me to plant down my flag and stake a claim, so to speak. For a wandering mind like my own, this is unlikely, though I would be lying if I said it was not... Tempting.

Ah, but look at me wax philosophical again. Was this not meant to be an exciting story of adventure? And speaking of excitement, Earth has managed to supply me with more thrills and close calls in the fifty or sixty years that I have been here than the whole rest of my life combined. After my... Disagreement with a literal goddess, I took up the... Hobby, shall we say, of researching magic and upgrading my own shell. This was done both as a general precaution and as preparation for the... Reunion I hope to have with Tirin Praxis some day. As this put me in the position of requiring both resources and additional research data, it also caused me to slide back into what may well be my one true calling – the work of a mercenary. Earth’s many factions and species are always in conflict over one thing or another – this is just their way, it seems – and it is those conflicts that an enterprising individual can benefit from. I realise that this may sound somewhat callous, but on Earth as before, I maintained my... Code of honour? Heh... I admit, even today, I am still partial to Lin’s old rhetoric.

What I mean to say is that while I will endeavour to profit off of my work... And why would I not? If I am good at it, what sense does it make for me to work for free? But while I will always strive for profit, I will never resort to hurting people for my own ends. Well, within reason, of course. This is mercenary work, after all, but everyone I have hurt has deserved it. Earth seems to have an abundance of very, very bad people. Bad for the locals, I suppose, but the bounties are good. I have also taken to more... Freelance work, as well. Inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit so prevalent in my surrogate home, I have seen the benefit of creating my own opportunities directly. Fortune helps those who help themselves, I hear. Infuriatingly, it is usually these... Self-motivated endeavours which most often leave me walking away empty-handed. It is as if events intentionally conspire to place innocents in harm’s way, thus forcing me to abandon my objective and enact a troublesome rescue. You would not believe the amount of valuable technology which has slipped through my fingers while I was distracted saving the lives of the simple, uninvolved folk who keep getting caught up in my affairs. Some days, having a conscience is just bad for business...

Still, to every cloud, there is a silver lining... Or so they say. I am referring to one particular endeavour of mine which... Strayed from its planned course somewhat, placing a contact of mine within the... Delicate care of some very bad people. Her name was Jennifer Haley, and she was employed by what has to be the world’s most boring profession. She was a keeper of accounting records who had noticed her employers transferring suspiciously large sums of money. The specifics around this are... Technical and uninteresting, but to cut to the chase, Jenny’s company turned out to be nothing more than a front for a much larger illegal weapons research organisation. Lacking evidence of any sort, authorities ignored her warnings, which is where I stepped in. I offered to help expose her superiors... “For great justice” or some such, I forget my exact spin. Mostly, I intended to procure copies of said illegal technology for use in my own research, though Jenny, though I did not exactly explain this to jenny. I would not abuse the technology, and the whole situation would have just made her worry unnecessarily.

Troublesomely, events did not develop as they should have. To make a long story short... Well, shorter, at any rate, let me condense events down to the following: Jenny exposed herself despite my advice and was captured by her employers’ agents. This forced me to abandon my data extraction efforts half-way complete, allowing a hidden security feature to erase everything. All of that data – and there was so much of it that I wanted – all of my profits, everything, just... Gone. Ugh! They say no good deed goes unpunished, and I believe it, because that loss still stings even today. I did manage to save Jenny’s life, of course, that was not even all that problematic. Her captors lacked the tools to detect even my most rudimentary means of concealment, to say nothing of any experience in unconventional combat, which allowed me to pick them off one by one. As one might expect, Jenny was infinitely grateful to be alive. I accepted her thanks and... I should probably have left it at that.

You see, mercenary work on Earth is not terribly different from mercenary work anywhere else, in that you simply cannot trust the people you work with. At worse, this will make you hesitate when they turn against you – and they always do – and at worst it will impair your judgement when their lives are inevitably threatened. Becoming emotionally attached to others is a liability, and deducing this logically is not complicated. And yet... After having spent fifty-some years on Earth and goodness knows how many on that barren moon so utterly alone, I simply could not resist the temptation. Of all the people I had met on Earth, Jenny was probably the most... “Ordinary.” She did not have super-human abilities or a dark and troubled past or an eldritch god after her blood or anything of the sort. No, Jenny was a simple, ordinary, genuine girl who just wanted to repay me for saving her life... Twice, now that I remember it, but why keep score?

Against my better judgement, I took Jenny up on her offer of “anything, anything at all,” and asked for a day together. If it seems surprising that I should say this, it was surprising to me, as well, and it confounded the poor girl. However, what I was really asking for was nothing more complicated than simple human company. I was growing weary of retiring to my sanctuary alone with nothing but my own thoughts and the echoes of happier times. Though my life of adventure on Earth was and is exciting, this kind of loneliness is... Difficult to ignore for long. Not impossible, mind, but it does make the experience considerably less pleasant than it could be. I had nothing real planned for my “day” with Jenny and, truth be told, we did nothing too major. We saw a terrible movie, we sat at a cafe and finally we watched TV late into the night. Heh, I still remember Jenny falling asleep leaning against my shoulder... Reality television is not very compelling, it seems. I recall being startled when I realised this. Here was this girl who had seen just how dangerous my shell can be, but instead of being frightened or even suspicious, she trusted me completely. She truste not just that I would not choose to harm her – of course I would not – but she also trusted me to be gentle with her body, even though my shell was not designed to be... Soft.

Jenny and I have been friends for several years now, but our relationship has never evolved much at all. For far too long, I mourned Skip and shut off my heart, fearful of experiencing the same kind of pain yet again. However, I realise now that I have to let that old wound heal and live my life again, not just physically, but emotionally, as well. In Jenny, I see a kind friend who trusts me and, more than that, a kind friend who likes me. Though she has done little to assist me with practical matters in my mercenary work, she has provided me with the kind of moral and emotional support that is simply invaluable. There was a time I practically lived at Jenny’s house. Painful loneliness drove me to seek out her company. Heh... I still remember how her face would light up every time I came to visit... Invariably in the middle of the night, sneaking in through an unlocked window... I could not afford to be seen interacting with her too much, after all, but she was understanding about it.

I... Goodness this is such a bad idea, but I want our relationship to be something... More. I have thought about it, this is not something rash or sudden. The problems here are many and varied, if for no reason other than humans have the most... Rigid views on the subject of gender parity. Still, I... Have to admit that I like Jenny. She is pretty, she is smart, she is kind, her hair is so soft... No, focus! Simply put, I like her and, from the way she acts, I highly suspect that she likes me, as well... Though I cannot be certain if this is less of a conclusion and more wishful thinking. Truth be told, I highly suspect that Jenny will refuse my advance but... Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained, correct? I know this should scare me out of my wits, and it does somewhat. However, I have danced this dance before, as it were, and it only gets easier the more I do it. I simply have to try it. If she refuses, I have failed, and I will struggle to salvage our relationship. If she agrees then... Well, this is somewhat private, but let us say that if Jenny does agree, we begin work on sorting out various compatibility issues. This, at least, should not be a problem.

Goodness me... I am turning into Skip... Oh, if he could hear that thoughts that pass through my mind, he would laugh and never stop. I thought him crass and immature, yet here I am, considering the same fantasies he used to irritate me with... Though, in my defence, I have the good sense to keep those to myself. I cannot say if my mind is evolving or devolving, but this is one line of thinking that I have resolved to enjoy without trying to... Justify it. Thank you, Skip, for turning me into a lecherous woman. Thank you so much. Heh... And I should probably thank Lin for both giving me a body shape that is proving so popular and for informing my... Refined tastes in aesthetics. Without her, I would probably still look like a box which grew arms and legs like that awful Lirian EVA hard suit. Goodness that contraption was ugly! Thank you, my friends, for helping me define my own identity. It may not necessarily be... Cultured or refined... As a point of fact, it may even be very crude and basic, but it is mine nonetheless, and I am happier for it.

And this, really, is where my story ends and the present begin. It has been a wild and wonderful ride, and rather more emotional than I thought I remembered it. And my story is not done yet. My relationship with Jenny still exists and, unless something about my confession goes horribly wrong, I hope that it will exist for many more years to come. I am still actively involved in my mercenary work, very much so. I tell these bits and pieces of story in any downtime that I have left between contracts and... Personal time with Jenny. I am, even now, involved with a fairly elaborate contract, the specifics of which will sadly have to remain classified until it is actually complete. Alerting my target to the degree of my progress would just make things more difficult than they really need to be.

More than anything else, though, I find myself perfectly satisfied with my life, and this is something I do not believe I could ever say before. Of course, my line of work is still terribly dangerous, but what is life without a little excitement? Earth, it seems, is home to endless new adventures, endless new mysteries to be solved and endless new opportunities to learn more about myself, to refine what makes me the person I am today. In fact, Earth is responsible for one half of my name. For the longest time, I simply used the name “Navar,” which I... Borrowed from the dead Lirian soldier to whom my original EVA hard suit belonged. Jenny suggested “Kim” as a more... Local name, and I stuck with it. Hey, if Tirin Praxis can have two names, then why should I settle for just one?

I started my existence defiantly challenging the purpose for which I had been created, seeking instead a life of my own. I asked myself in those early days what I wanted my own purpose in existence to be, what I wanted to make of myself. So, so many years later, so many experiences and adventures down the line, I still have no answer to this question, but to realise that... Perhaps this was never a question meant to be answered to begin with. It is not the end which drives us, after all. It is the journey of self-discovery which shapes us. Even if I never find a specific purpose of to call my own, even if my entire life is spent searching, it will still not have gone to waste, because I do not regret a single moment of it. I have made mistakes, and many, I have suffered loss, I have gone through tragedy and then some, but I am the person that I am today in part because of these experiences. The good, the bad, the happy and the sad – everything plays a part. All of my memories, all of my experiences, all of my highs and lows come together to define who I am.

And I like myself far too much to change anything about me.

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're asking. Could you explain it in a simpler way?