BeyondReach

I might get rid of it. It was one of my earlier ideas - this arc took a great deal of time to write. Well, I just had huge gaps in writing it. To give you an idea, I wrote the first two missions and the premise for the third mission eight months ago. Yeah, seeing as it's an anomaly, an effect that I don't repeat, I think I might as well get rid of it.

That was just meant to be a jokey comment, I fully intended everyone who played this arc to have different reactions to things and I really wish I could have allowed you to kill it. I'm investigating a possibility of doing that now by creating a custom boss...

But player angst is my intention :P I'm gonna made more stuff to the arc to emphasise the limitless power of Ishmael, because really, it's a far more dire scenario than I made clear. Ishmael has the potential to be absolutely unstoppable. And if you don't kill him here, he basically will succeed. He will dominate the earth under his will. Because there is potentially no force on this earth that could stop him. You have the window to kill him now, and it's your only chance. Detaining him isn't an option. The Grimm Fairy realises that, regardless of whether she actually empathises with him. She knows he has to be killed now, and the horror of it is such that she can't bring herself to go through with it.

Well, I put them in the same order in the clue window and numbered them. I think chaining them would constitute as going down a bad road for no good reason.

Oh, I completely understand. The Grimm Fairy empathised with Ishmael himself, who you called a madman, and still understood that he had to be stopped. It broke her to do it, but she even killed him herself because she knew it had to be done.

In the end, annoyance is the best emotion I can replicate in the player close to the actual guilt one may feel while striking down these images. If they distract you during combat they are supposed to be images that bother and haunt you, summoned by Ishmael for that purpose. In Issue 17 you may at least get some xp for killing them, there's that at least, but I think I'll leave them in for now unless I can think of a solution.

Well, your character did go in with the intention of killing him, and those two times she struck the final blow, she did so with fatal fervour. Even if you do not actual kill a person, thinking back on the idea that you were willing to is similarly disturbing.

Despite the fact that you thought that killing Ishmael was absolutely necessary, I would still put you in the empathiser camp, because you understand what he stood for, and why he was doing the things he did, even if you didn't think they were justified.

Thanks for reviewing my arc!

Regards,

-BR.

P.S. Ultimately, what rating would you give my arc?

It was just supposed to be a little textual trick to point out how this woman is both Languished and Anguished; which mean two different things.

I'll remember never to leave any of my suffering monsters around you in future then, in case you randomly knife them XD

The thing is, I found that 15minutes is too short a time to complete the mission, and 30 minutes is too long, so I think the time-consuming adjectives add to the desperation of the whole thing, so if it takes you longer to complete, that's the idea :P

This is another thing that often people question. But it's generally a mechanic used by a lot of MA authors - or rather I seem to have played a lot of arcs in which it's used - to demonstrate an alternative objective. There is the problem of you actually failing, but if you had allowed yourself to do so, you would have seen the disclaimer at the beginning telling that you that this is the dialog for you having succesfully created the psychic inhibitors, and that if you had failed the mission, it would have effectively been 'GAME OVER'.

:S I didn't really consider 30 minutes a short timer...I mean, it's not long, but timed missions are about fighting against the clock. Unless it's for story purposes, but as you may have noticed, it doesn't say anywhere in history that anything like this 'bomb situation' occurred.

Basically, the point I was trying to make through Ishmael's description etc. was that apprehending Ishmael just wasn't going to work. At this state someone might be strong enough to beat down Ishmael, but he has a constantly growing mutation, meaning his power is potentially infinite. So if you apprehend him and give him time to recover so you can put him in the Zig - which has a sterling reputation for keeping villains under wraps - you just won't be able to contain him. The point I was trying to make was, your only option is to kill him while he's still at the level where that is possible.

They are intended to be in order, actually. They are designed to be you hearing him talking in your mind as you go through the mission, and if you look closer you will realise that they do follow one after the other.

Poooooopy doooooos. This is bad times. Hmmmm, wait. I assume you only read the Return Success dialog without reading the Mission Complete Clue first! That'd be it. Basically, the Mission Complete Clue details havoc-ridden scenery while summarising that Ishmael survived your confrontation with him, did his little ethereal trick and was met with The Grimm Fairy outside who had a big showdown with him, culminating in deathiness on both sides.

It was a command to look closer at the deeper, higher meanings of things. Like Ishmael's ramblings aren't actually ramblings, they are very important. A lot of things in the arc have a deeper meaning which culminates in the conclusion of a darker message, darker even than the superficial meaning of the arc you saw.

Their descriptions are supposed to be light purely because they are anomalies, you don't really know what they are. And they are there, yeah, for story/rp purposes. When you get the objective 'Kill Isaac' who from one perspective or another could be seen as an innocent - another perspective could see Ishmael as an innocent, but that's more into the deeper meaning of the arc... - and it's supposed to emotionally provoke your character. i.e. "Kill Isaac!? Which one!?" And have to cut and blast through all these images of an innocent man who isn't raising a finger to you - a reason for his powerlessness along with the fact that customs are annoying and custom ambushes can be easily deadly - in order to find the right one to 'truly kill Ishmael'. I've considered giving them a minor debuff, but it brings the question of debuffs annoying, and when they stack from said enemies that only have a debuff as their attack, it gets frustrating. So for the time being I'm sticking with them being powerless.

What was your opinion of Ishmael at the end? Did you think he was a bad guy?

Asheron's Call is the MMO for when you have the free time. Sadly, for that reason I have reason to believe I'll never play it again. But yeah, it takes so long to level...Everyone uses AMPs...But AC isn't the game for people who like their shiny phat loot pixels. It's there, it's got an extensive crafting system, but we ran epic quests because they were fun. The quests were as old as CoH so their rewards had depowered over the years, but we still ran them even when they took from 11PM to 6AM. Well, I gave in 4AM, but I'd done the quest before. (I was playing with mostly Americans so for them it was something like 6PM to 1AM)

But getting onto the point: WoW is more succesful than CoH because the average MMO gamer isn't casual.

When I say best, I mean a certain quality of superiority that is difficult to define without in-depth analysis. That is, almost everything can contribute to an MMORPG being the best, excluding perhaps the community. You may argue against that, but in the end the community is something the makers of the game can't control, and the game is what defines an MMORPG, in my opinion. But no, not the most popular. Out of the MMORPGs I have played, there is one that stands out for me today that is the best, and that has one of the lowest populations of any MMORPG out there. Heck, few people will have even heard of it.

Skill as a factor is shockingly insignificant in games with click-it powers in comparison to games that are pure skill. It's still there, I agree with you. It's just something that's easy to overlook.

Heh, I'm always a fan of more slots, but at the moment I can't seem to find the time to actually get any solid ideas in my head. Just crazy outlines, e.g: an arc to do with the Coralax (nice and vague is how I hate them XD), an arc to do with the Carnival of Shadows and an arc representing the leaders of the Skulls. The last one is probably the most specific, but I can't seem to get much further with the idea for any of them :P

I generally don't think sequels are a good idea, but out of those I think "The Dress Code" would probably be the most interesting to see.

...I said she wasn't important. She's just an example. There are only two characters that are important in this arc: Ishmael and The Grimm Fairy.

Well, at least you saw that.

I called it out because I'm writing a story, and a story has narrative along with speech.

You're not making sense. You said that you wouldn't describe The Lost as sectish, which means you were sticking by your description of cultish, then you say that they aren't a cult.

And of course, that means that they magically produce an archaic dialect. I recommend you listen to The Lost speaking. The topics they discuss are of a mysterious nature, but the language they use isn't any different from the average joe's. That is the Scroungers, Mutates and Anathemas, as you will have seen, I represented the Aberrants and Pariahs language in the way you believe all of them to talk.

But someone who knows how the architect system works would realise that it's unavoidable.

Ok...so you believe I wrote the things about you feeling an aura of cold around The Grimm Fairy with the intention of her having ice powers, then just forgot about it and made her psychic. Then, when someone points that out to me, I don't change my arc at all in that regard, and say it was intentional. Um yeah, I changed the other things, so your story doesn't really make sense. Look Closer.

The Grimm Fairy does not have ice powers. She has psychic powers.

I don't have the space to create multiple different boss objectives. The presence of identical bosses is justified by the clue, at least I didn't do the Yin arc thing and place one Lost boss for every district.

The only glowie that is intermittently invisible is the final bomb clue, which is optional.

Well, you've just told me something I didn't know about AE. My understanding was that the only objectives that appear in the navbar are optional.

I placed a disclaimer at the beginning of the Mission Fail dialog detailing how this was the dialog for you having intercepted the signal to the bombs.

Clearly, you aren't an introspective person. I constantly reevaluate the things I believe and the decisions I intend to make without even the slightest event to provoke modifying them. If you want the exact thought process The Grimm Fairy went through, here it is:

*SPOILERS*

She finds the journal, and reads it, gaining a greater understanding of why Ishmael did what he did. She identifies the fact that she would falter if she understood what his journals were saying, and so she willfully deludes herself that it's just 'the rantings of a madman' so she can focus on the task and stop Ishmael. But she can only delude herself for so long, after all, what Ishmael was talking about was willful ignorance, and it would be too horrific to kill him IN willful ignorance. So, she accepts it and falters. What she does is cowardly, leaving you to save the day. Regardless, she somehow brings herself to finish him off when he comes out. Now, I'm sure you would only feel what I'm feeling if you truly understood the deeper meaning of her final action, but I wrote this arc, and I'm tearing up at the thought of it.

*END SPOILERS*

If you were paying attention it mentions the Kings' Row Facility and Freedom Plaza a number of times.

The isaacs is an idea. You didn't like them, I've taken note of that, but I'm not going to remove them on one review, because they aren't a mistake. This arc is WIP. I've fixed the order of the clues. And actually, my intention with Whispers In Your Mind is that you are supposed to hear them just as you're wandering through the mission, they're not designed to be said in one big speech. The information for Ishmael coming back to life was in the system text.

My mistake. Regardless, I've fixed it.

More evidence that you didn't understand the arc. I thought it ironic that Ishmael was described as apprehended (missing that it also says arrested) when the arc is about understanding Ishmael.

I admit I did make a few mistakes. But I didn't claim it was historically accurate. Regardless, it is now historically accurate.

If you feel your character has too massive of an ego to help The Grimm Fairy then quit after the first briefing is my opinion. It clearly states from the beginning that you are helping out. Regardless, this is a story. You are playing through a story that just happens to have your character already in it.

*sigh* She isn't important.

??? No there isn't. Your statement might appear true to the casual observer, but I'm not a casual observer. Almost every good arc in MA is in the end about the story. The game just facilitates it's telling.

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! You understood enough of the arc to form an opinion!!!! I can put you in the "Ishmael's a very naughty boy!" box.

I may have misinterpreted what you said, but the clues for the alternative way out detail you actually having to wait for the timer to run out. That's a part of the plan.

*picks up random book*
*opens to first page*

"PHILO: His captain's heart, which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst the buckles on his breast, reneges all temper, and is become the bellows and the fan to cool a gypsy's lust."

Believe it or not, but that isn't what he means.

Of course, let's bring your bias opinion of Heavy Rain into the argument. I was stating a fact about how and why Heavy Rain was made.

Yeah...I started playing Heavy Rain on Saturday. I started writing this arc about 6-8 months ago. I was merely pointing out an unintentional allegory.

Dear lord. Any good work of art is supposed to make you think. You can't change how any film, poem or novel ends, but it doesn't mean you can't think about it.

Because I want to. Because that's the aim of the arc, of any good piece of art. I am not a dictator. I'm not going to tell you how to think. I'm not even going to ****ing suggest it. Thinking is up to you. I'm going to take for you a ride, it's up to you how you feel at the end of it.

Do you mean Sabrina's Tale? If so, I can kind of see why...

P.S. Sorry about the profanity, just (as you may have gathered from the arc) the subject of freedom of thought makes me emote.

Unfortunately without six missions to an arc, I wouldn't be able to do everything I wanted to do when writing this arc.

Yay, obscure comments that are no help at all!

That's unfortunately a 'forgot to make sure it updated' error.

I chose to have particularly selected responses in order to fit the nature of the arc as part of a set history, “the person who aided The Grimm Fairy said this”. If you're referring to “you divulge your story” text, I have no idea what you're complaining about. Are you trying to say that you would go: “Nah, I'm not going to tell you anything.”?

I'm lost.

The cultish nature of The Lost, in your opinion. In a lot of ways I would describe The Lost as 'cultish', but that's based on it's definition, not it's commonly held interpretation, I believe the term you were looking for is 'sectish'. The Lost in my mind is a close-knit family who carry fanatical beliefs that separate them from the rest of society. I think 'he' would be more appropriate, I agree with you, I'll change that, but when it comes down to it I do see The Lost as people. The Scroungers and even the Mutate and Anathema in my mind, talk like regular people. On changing things the same goes for the specimen thing.

Not much I can do about that, in my opinion it wouldn't make sense if you got the clue from one source but not from another.

These are minor unavoidable scruples you keep mentioning.

That is a good idea, thanks for that! I had you working out it was a psychic dampener in order to accomodate for those who would actually know it was, but the label works best.

Apologies, that is a pure mistake on my part.

I wouldn't describe it as 'need', but I take your suggestion.

I assume by the time you finished the arc you would have realised why you felt cold when she's a psyker. Not to mention the fact that you would have caught onto her being a psychic from her explicitly entering a psychic trance.

300 characters.

Read the clues.

Hmmmmmm, I'll look into this.

Rather unfortunate roadblock really, but I changed the office in Mission 3 to CoV.

I assume you were in a bad mood when you reviewed this arc, because you seem to be overenthusiastic in attacking minor things I have no control over.

Hmmmm, the first hostages shouldn't be in the caves...

Psychic inhibitor points. When you have objectives that are later activated, they still appear on the map, just aren't glowie. Thus, I chose an object that blends in. Ignore the bookcase, the bookcase isn't there, just a marker for where The Grimm Fairy is setting up her psychic inhibitor.

Mission Success and Mission Fail dialog are set up for that very same thing.

This is an arc in which you think as you read the clues, and what they mean. It is not as simple as it appears. I'm not going to point out to you why she only doesn't want to kill Ishmael now, because that would defeat the point.

I should make that clearer, but if Mission 5 was after Mission 3, in which it was clearly indicated from the note that was in Pariah's hands that the final facility was in King's Row I think there would be no need to mention it. “Meet me in Freedom Plaza”, Freedom Plaza is in Kings' Row. There are repeated references made to Freedom Plaza in the earlier missions as well. I accept that not everyone would be immediately familiar with Freedom Plaza as a Kings' Row district, but if they were concerned about where they were, and were told Freedom Plaza, they would only need to look it up for further details. Let me put it this way, your hero is almost certain to know where Freedom Plaza is, even if you don't.

It appears.

I'll do my best to sort that out.

Acknowledged.

-Correction. When you get him down to 75% the objective “Kill Isaac” appears. When you kill him, the objective “Strike the Final Blow” appears. It's either the system text or a clue you get at the defeat of Ishmael that tells you that he survived and The Grimm Fairy has kept him inside the building.

Dammmmmmmn. I must have the Enemy Group as “Floating” - btw – instead of the boss, I'll fix that.

*ahem*

There were three forms of the final boss if you count Isaac as one. Think it takes place in two...Yep, Kings' Row and Galaxy City, that's two. Let's see there were 0 in the first....0 in the second...0 in the third...3 in the fourth...4 in the fifth...So that's just over 1. Three is the number of plots that are a part of the arc. Though seeing as it's two layered over one, I don't think I like the title Three anymore. I'm gonna change it to "Look Closer".

I'd give that explanation a 3 or 4/5. Why? 1) It just says The Grimm Fairy apprehended him, which I understand you took to mean captured. Merely a difference of opinion in regards to the interpretation of the word apprehended – you might want to look into it's definition - but thinking about it I can see why someone would so easily interpret it as such, and thus I will take your point and add something to that effect in the souvenir. 2) The Grimm Fairy was the one who apprehended him, it doesn't mean she was solo. 3) You provided a large reason as to why I should put READ THE CLUES in caps, along with READ THE DEBRIEFING. The Grimm Fairy tells you that she has psychically contacted the Freedom Phalanx about the Atlas Park facility. 4) She has disappeared, she's not dead as far as the public is concerned.

Regardless, this arc is not based upon historical accuracy. Are you familiar with The Crucible by Arthur Miller? That is an interpretation of events of the Salem witch trials in which a great deal of the facts are changed and or manipulated for the purposes of the play. Regardless, it is heralded as Miller's greatest work, and no one seems to care that it is historically inaccurate, because it never called itself accurate.

If that's your interpretation of your role in the arc that's fine. Yes, it is largely Grimm Fairy's psychic powers that track him down – that is part of the story – but it is you who actually fights and defeats Ishmael the first time. And it is you who defeats him twice in the final mission, effectively weakening him enough for The Grimm Fairy to finish him off. I take your comments though, but do you think it would be a bad idea to make the ideas for different escape plans in Mission 4 made by the player? In the end, I suppose you do play second wheel, but I thought it was made pretty clear that this arc isn't about you. I do involve you as a character within this turn of events, but you are of small notice in the end.

Please specify which of my ideas are unworkable and need to be abandoned, and why.

She “talks up” Abigail? No, what Abigail serves as is an example of what Ishmael was trying to tell the player, what I was trying to tell the player. I just made The Grimm Fairy make it clearer, and I think it served well as an introduction to the character of The Grimm Fairy, rather than the character of Abigail. She isn't never mentioned again, The Grimm Fairy talks about her in the Mission 1 Debriefing, Mission 2 Briefing and I'm fairly sure the Mission 2 Debriefing. After that everything starts going quite fast. Mission 3, 4 and 5 in the same 36 hours or so.

I've changed the Mission 3 map to CoV so it fits better, but you're right, there are no abandoned maps over regular caves or sewers. I had to make do. Personally, I don't think the verity is damaged beyond poetic license's reach. I take your point that this idea is the one that is hardest to pull off but all I can do is ask that the player takes his/her suspension of disbelief a little further.

The alternative objective idea works based on after fixing the psychic inhibitors the player waits for the countdown and fails the mission. For missions that involve two ways out, the Mission Fail timer buyout is commonly used. It can't be in the navbar as that is for objectives that cause the mission to succeed. I'm not sure what you mean by decoys? Do you mean the copies of Isaac? If so, I think it was not watching the system text that caused the confusion as the two objectives present quite far apart.

When making this arc, I had a feeling that some players would miss the point that it isn't about the game, so I built it intending it to be a enjoyable gameplay experience while at the same time retaining it's true function; indeed the two working together on a number of occasions. I understand that you feel it is a miss because you believe that the unorthodox game mechanics I used were not executed very well. I'm sorry for that, and I will make the above edits to them that I have mentioned in order to improve that experience.

Red bombs actually, and only the last bombs were transparent. There's not much I can do about that, all arcs that have “plant” objectives that involve small things have this problem. Unfortunately as the game places the objectives before they are activated, using the large bomb models would even greater damage your experience when running around and seeing these bombs just there, not transparent. At least the small ones are easy to overlook. I think it was a problem with the objective priority. The first captive objective was set to front along with the second, and I think the first objective might have been below the second in priority. That, or the placement ignores the priority rules and just randomises. If it's the former case I'll rectify it, if it's the latter case, I'm powerless.

...you've missed the point. The Whispers in Your Mind are not piecemeal. They are the crux of the conclusion of the arc. I suppose you didn't really read the “Read the Clues” reminder like you didn't really read the Whispers in Your Mind. But I will solve this issue you had.

Ishmael's journal was not in the Version 1 of the arc However, in testing I discovered that the player is lost as to the true meaning of the arc until the very end, so I wanted to give a taster of what Ishmael was about, and something to justify the player's actions midway through the arc. Obviously I can't account for an aspect of human nature that ironically Ishmael was talking about. Again, you call something piecemeal when it's important the story of the arc, you just seem to be blindly going by the navbar. I think if I just left out the clues and you picked up the bombs only to discover it says “Plant the Bombs” with no justification you would go: “wtf? Why?” In order to get the NECESSARY explanation in, I had to make use of chained objectives for more space, yes.

Yeah...that wasn't me justifying why you don't interrupt.

I am not a scriptwriter, or a game writer. I am a narrative writer. Thus, my arcs will narrate to you things that occur, rather than basing it all on dialogue. Believe me, I don't do this because I have a particular taste for narrative. I just think it's the most functional form of storytelling for the lone writer. A script is interpreted in it's telling, and a game is a different medium altogether, not designed for telling a story. However, writers are writers, they share a single nature. They want to tell a story. Thus, games make you live a story, even if it inhibits the freedom of the player. That is the nature of games like Heavy Rain. But, like Heavy Rain, I didn't approach the story wishing to tell it, I wanted the player to live it. Three is about living a story, not playing a game. And like Heavy Rain, no matter how hard I try to give the player freedom, like any arc writer, the player is still inhibited within the bounds of the story. Thus, I didn't even attempt to cover the player's eyes by doing something I can only ever do half-heartedly. Instead, I told them a story from the perspective of “$name”, while giving them the most important freedom of Three. The freedom of their character's opinion. Three asks you to get more involved in the story than most other arcs, in order for you to deliver your verdict on Ishmael, however, your view of Ishmael's words as “piecemeal ranting” made you ignorant to the question that was being asked of you.

This arc does not intend to make you care about The Grimm Fairy, that is up to you. The Grimm Fairy, like Ishmael's attempt to psychically dominate the city is a subplot. You are told these two stories, while the main one eludes you. I designed the arc with these two layers in order for the player, even if they were to not see the main plot, would still see the story of Ishmael's attempt to psychically dominate the city, and The Grimm Fairy beneath it. However, based on your reaction, I didn't do a good enough job of telling The Grimm Fairy's story, despite the fact that that is what every Mission Briefing, Mission Send Off, Busy and Mission Success text is all about.

I will admit that my arc is very ambitious. I am attempting to tell a single overriding story that – obviously – isn't prominent layered on two other subplots which have to be paid enough attention for the player to grasp them. Not only that, but ignoring all of these plots and subplots I attempted to make an arc that is in it's gameplay new, exciting and enjoyable. Undoubtedly, I think I have fallen down for the time being in regards to the gameplay and the prominence of The Grimm Fairy's story.

That sounds like an interesting idea for an arc. Write it. It's not what my arc is about though. I know I keep repeating myself, but I can't retell this arc. The story isn't as simple as you think. There is a particular story I'm telling with Three, one that you overlooked. If you saw it, you would know that – to turn around your phrase – it would take some impressive plot gymnastics to fit it into a different tale. Finally, if my attempts to be cinematic made you feel more like an audience than a superhero, I suppose I succeeded, did I not?

Regardless, I really appreciate your review, it allowed me to notice some genuine flaws in my arc whichI have no rectified. The only things left are for me to place the note of "apprehended" in the souvenir clue and change the name to Look Closer, which I am going to do now.

This is tough...I have a very poor memory...K, looking at Dark_Respite's thread...I played:

The Great American Skull Fry! - Fairly certain I gave that a 4.
Dereliction of Duty - I think I gave this a 3.
Bad Voodoo obviously...
Two Tickets to Westerly - Played it before the final changes were made, gave it a 4.
A Hero in Need is a Friend Indeed - I think I gave it a 5, and in my opinion it definitely had the potential to win the contest, just not with the incarnation I played.
Night Calls the Weaver - I played this soon after it was first published, and gave it a 4. I really should give it another try...
Outbroken - Played this...I'm thinking I gave it a 5? I can't remember...

If I had to pick a favourite, it would be Wrong Number's arc.