Bubbawheat

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And another ten minutes later, I’ve cleared the entire map and still – no boss.

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It's things like these that really make me angry. Whether it's bad mission design, or dishonest mission design (like having the nav bar say "defeat the boss" when it's actually a glowie), or the super-random bug where something random doesn't spawn (and frustratingly often a required objective on the last map of a multi-mission arc, as I'm an uber alt-a-holic, I tend to just logoff and switch to a different character and come back to it).

Whatever the reason, the ire tends to be reflected on the architect themself, whether or not it was through any fault of theirs. Which reminds me, I have a mission I need to re-do that I had to logoff on the other day.

Mine - I have graphics turned waaay down though.

This is when I turn my graphics a bit more to the side

And this is when I turn my graphics waaay up

>.>

<.<

>.>

what?

This round's turning out really great so far. I'm really loving what everyone is doing with the themes.

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I've played a lot of good arcs, for this thread, I'll list all the ones I've given 5 stars to:

37636: The Missing by ShadowRush
Great mystery of a story.

110723: Females for Hire by @suedenim
great customs, interesting and funny story.

143017: Digital Transition by @Heroic
Great contact with The Computer and a great story.

1388: Celebrity Kidnapping by @PW
Funny arc with excellent use of AE features.

159672: The Omega Reports: Scavenger by @Luminara
Excellent mystery with unique mob groups.

2622: A Tangle in Time by @jjac
Great writing for a time loop mystery.

156389: Kiss Hello Goodbye! by @kitsune9tails
Awesome film noir detective saga.


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Time to add some more to the list, and thanks to all of the Time Loop mentions, which is now called Ctrl + Alt + Reset! I really appreciate it. (all 7 of them...not that anyone's counting or anything... >.> ... <.< ... >.> )

67335: Teen Phalanx Forever! by @PW
Awesome teen hero arc that's fun to play.

118690: Sibling Rivalry by @Sister Flame
Shows what kind of great mission an 8 year old can dream up, even if it's polished by her father.

1567: MacGuffin Delivery Service by @Lazarus
The parrot came back, the very next day...

189439: Fireside Poet by @MutaJenn
A dark detective saga following a serial killer mystery.

This is so much easier with the new search features, now I know I'm not skipping any. I'm sure there will be more to come...

Arc Name: Ouroboros Chronicles: Evolution of a Hero, Part one.
Author: @Neon Flash
ID# 23284
Moraility: Heroic
Level Range: 5-40
Description: Join Mender Cassandra on a foray into Ouroboros temporal archives, and behold the first big adventure of the mutant supergroup known as the Evolution Club- and in so doing, the origins of the hero Neon Flash
Played at: level 19
How I found it: Searched my level for "temporal", this was the fourth mission. The first two had AVs and the third was the Jamie Salladon Task Force (see above)


Neon Flash

My contact today is Mender Cassandra. Apparently one of the overlooked menders hiding in the ne'er talked about Ouroboros archives. And today I must have hit the lucky jackpot because I get the opportunity to check out one of these time archives. As she explains it - many times through the course of her three discussions with me - since this is only an archive, I can interact with everyone there, but it will have no effect on the actual timestream. And this important event that I get to see is the origin of Neon Flash and a couple other members of the mutant supergroup: The Evolution Club. Well, not exactly the origin, but one of their early missions where they got in a little over their heads dealing with the Family, and a couple of their more unique bosses.


Whiz Kid

It seems a little odd calling this an "archive" that I can interact with since my interactions completely invalidate what actually happened as I go through and rescue Neon Flash, Whiz Kid, and another one whose name wasn't very memorable. Together we defeated Stanley "Mo' Bucks" Monella and his henchman. Afterwards, Mender Cassandra thanks me for helping the Evolution Club though this confuses me as I wasn't really helping if this was all merely an archive. Until next time!


Ally whose name I forgot.

Three Stars: Good.


Henchman whose name I also forgot.

Thanks, that's a good point Airhead, I think I will try and remember to list how I found the arc. Typically, it's been by searching with "my level" checked (since i15 went live) and either "temporal", "time travel", or occasionally "mender" or "Ouroboros", and the oft misspellings "Oroboros" and "Orobouros", etc. Once I searched for "Excel" for a different reason and found a few "X and Y's excellent adventure" arcs which I intend to come back to.

As for which arcs I choose, it's often more of a case of which arcs I skip over. Often it just comes down to personal preference: five defeat all missions? No thanks. Extreme minions, extreme lieutenants, extreme bosses, and extreme archvillains? No thanks. I check over the description and if it sounds interesting, that's the one I play.

And as for what information I use for the reviews: I occasionally take some notes, though most mechanical notes I only write in the /tell box, and most of the rest I write from memory. This is why I tend to forget a lot of character and contact names here and there. If I forgot it between the time I played and the time I write the review, you didn't do a good job of making that character memorable. Although I do occasionally go back to pick up a name if I liked the character but forgot for other reasons, as long as the name is easy to get back to.

Getting closer to the mid levels, ever so slowly getting close to level 20 where I will take a short break and do the two faultline arcs that will get me "Entrusted with the Secret" and official access to Ouroboros. (with reviews to accompany) I've done a few unofficial missions already, though one of them was unsuccessful. Also, I'd appreciate any comments here, as I've been doing a lot of unsolicited reviews it's feeling awfully lonely in this thread, and while I enjoy writing these for myself, it's always nice to know there's others enjoying them as well. Then, I'll be ready to take on some more full custom arcs, as long as there's no difficult AVs without helpful allies. Until next time!

Arc Name: Land Before Time-and-a-Half
Author: @Karl Rove Man
ID# 114776
Moraility: Villainous (Though it feels more Neutral)
Level Range: 1-54
Description: Somehow it's not very surprising when you're favorite portal jockey, Technician Naylor, appears as a hologram in the AE building. Take a trip back in time (and then over in time) as you test his latest form of inter-dimensional travel!
Played at: level 18-19
How I found it: Searched for "time travel" at my level, saw the completed checkmark and realized I had reviewed it on my other thread before and was curious if any changes had been made. Only minor dialog changes if any.


Cavesman, though a little hard to see. I have stealth now so I should be able to get some better shots without needing my holds.

My contact today is Technician Naylor being extremely excited about discovering a way to tap into the AE hologram interface and use his portal to send you to another time and dimension at the Architect Entertainment building. In this prehistoric era, there is an ancient version of our Statesman referred to as Cavesman who is surrounded by a large number of reptilian humanoids.


Paper jam this!!

After defeating Cavesman I return to Naylor who informs me that defeating the greatest mammalian humanoid in that era caused a large shift in their dimension's timeline. Now he would like me to check out the other dimension in the current timeline to see what sort of havoc I had wrought. And pick up a computer virus that should create a bit of trouble in this dimension as well. It seems that instead of the mammalian humanoids evolving, the reptilian humanoids evolved instead and are busy recreating a scene from Office Space about the printer. I find the computer and grab the virus, and even though I'm finished here, I stop by to take out the office boss, hey I'm sure they could use a bit of time off. At least the ones not recouperating in the hospital.


Pip pip, cheer-i-o, now get back to work or I'll eat you!

After getting a little useful virus from this dimension, Naylor decides to go a little soft and wants to help these reptilians. He finds that they are being paid unfairly by a bunch of 5th Cavemen Troglodytes. It's time to introduce the concept of a union to them and get them their time-and-a-half. So, I free several of the reptilians, tell them about the wonders of unions, and send them on their way to a better tomorrow. Their tomorrow at least. I return to Naylor and leave him with his virus and sense of accomplishment.


5th Cavemen

Four Stars: Recommended!


Now smile for the camera!

Nice! Now I just have to get that half a level to my second costume slot.

But first, I went into the MA to return the favor for your Pratorian version of Hercules.

I drew my inspiration from the part of the myth where he wears the lion's pelt that he defeated when he was a baby. Here's Heracles
second view
side view

One of mine for my mastermind with inspirations in the typical spot. Would have posted my fire/fire brute which is a bit mroe interesting, but I've deleted it since the last time a thread like this popped up.

Just a quick note, if you do want to write a horoscope style description for your arc, please use this format to make things easier:

(sign optional): (Horoscope goes here without any references to arc name or number). You will find (insert something here) in (Arc name) #(Arc ID) by (Author's name, either forum or global)

Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked it. Personally, I'm a big fan of Joss Whedon. I really love his sense of humor and have found that some early writing gigs where he mostly just added some jokes ended up being my favorite parts of those movies (see: Titan A.E. - the smart guard scene, and planet "Bob") So by you saying that this is like a really good Buffy episode, I take it as a great compliment, and I do have a reference to a Buffy episode in mission 3 as well.

I've gotten one complaint about Foreshadow being under-used, and while that may be true I feel that having Foreshadow be under-used by comparison places more importance on the player character's role in solving the time loop on their own.

I just recently changed Agent Steve's final dialog slightly which really made that impact. Before he was less sympathetic and more of a simple plot device/comic relief. Though that isn't his only appearance, just his only notable appearance.

Again, thanks for the kind words, and for the more grammatical advice given through PM (something that I do as well, as it doesn't help anyone's feeling of the arc and in theory should be gone by the next edit)

Not an official request, but my other arc Matchstick Women might catch your interest if you have some free time between reviews.

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I think Eclipse Over Paragon (64609) can qualify. Feel free to try that out.

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Played as a level 40 fire/fire brute on challenge level 4, solo. Haven't completed yet as I think I ran into the spawning bug on mission 3. Will finish in the next couple days or so. This arc contracts me to check up on the Council who are close to finding a new source to create their Warwolves. It seems that they have a warehouse full of these pseudo-warwolves who aren't nearly as powerful as their fully realized cousins. There's also crates of some liquid, a scientist hostage named Burke (I think) who wants to help me, and a Council boss. The next mission is a trap, which for a player-obvious trap (empty map with one glowie, even though you can have empty maps now) was relatively well done.

The third mission is a wide open map with fully custom enemies. They looked really well done, especially the Longbow, and were pretty well balanced. They were a challenge, but not overly difficult for my brute. There were also a lot of stuff going on. A lot of varied animations and non-required elements that gave a really good feel to this map. The "bosses" were also well designed to be able to spot easily as well. Unfortunately, I could only find two of the three bosses. I'm not entirely sure if the third didn't spawn, as occasionally happens, or if I just overlooked it before getting logged off. The story is pretty interesting so far, and I'm looking forward to how it ends. I will get back to it soon.

Hmm... oh yeah, I do have a website. I don't think it's Geocities, unless 4t.com is under the Geocities family. http://asahina.4t.com been a loooong time since I've done anything with that one though. Tons more ads than when I first got it too.

I'd still appreciate a review. I don't get uppity over constuctive criticism either. And I'd like a fair opinion on how my recent changes have affected my arc. Hey, at least you get replies in your review thread. The one I've been updating the most has gotten the fewest replies.

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Huh. Gender swap doesn't leave much to work with. Just recreate the costume with a body type of the opposite gender? Lame. :/

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The only requirement in gender swap is exactly that: swap the gender. The rest of the costume is still fair game to re-imagine how you would like.

Arc Name: Time and Time Again
Author: @Terman8or
ID# 30138
Moraility: Neutral
Level Range: 1-54
Description: A time-travelling mad scientist? Or just a misunderstood time-looping kid with a cool suit?
be warned this is not for the timid. A group would be nice.
Played at: level 18
**Time Loop #4**

My contact today is an Ouroboros Caretaker with a major case of the stutters. My initial curiosity is how one can pull off the concept of a time loop when my information lists this as a one mission contract. I enter the base and find a group of unique robotic enemies with a variety of powers. Nothing too out of the ordinary, so I take them out. My nav bar is a little confusing, I'm supposed to rescue Temporal Ascended, do who knows what with another temporal ascended, and defeat all enemies. Nothing in the mission mentioned anything about rescuing any Temporal Ascended, but I believe it did mention defeating a Temporal Ascended.

So, after a while I first find the Temporal Ascended that needs to be rescued. He mentions explaining what's going on, but then decides he doesn't have time for it so we just move on. Shortly afterwards we find another Temporal Ascended, though this one is hostile. After a short while of beating on this second Temporal Ascended, he summons an ambush full of... Temporal Ascendeds. Even though they are lieutenants, they are quite powerful by themselves and I have a hard time even taking them out one at a time. A few trips to the hospital and they are mostly cleared out. I decide to inspire myself to take out the lead Temporal Ascended as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, my luck is not with me and I am taken out a hair's breadth from victory. And with a room filled with overpowered lieutenants, there is no way I am able to take them out on my own.

Next, I finally take the original advice to bring a team with me. I am only able to recruit a couple willing victi-err, associates to join me in this task. Unfortunately, when attempting a difficult mission, bringing a couple friends raises the difficulty just as much as you are raising your firepower. It's not until you get a larger team, or an optimal team, that the team's accumulated power increases more than the increasing difficulty of the mission. So, I have to leave this mission uncompleted. Pity, it was rather amusing aside from the ambushes that were more difficult than the boss itself.

Uncompleted = Unrated.

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I assume Praetorian swap means make an "Evil" version of your hero? ( or good if you have a villain )

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Correct

Ladies & Gentlemen. And Foo. Welcome to the Second Cappucino Maker Edition of Picture This, the forum game where you get to re-imagine a fellow player’s character! This edition comes with random themes. I tried to have the themes be as vague as possible so as to not be limiting too much. Pair ups and themes generated through random.org. Here’s how it works.

1) Prepare 1-3 Screenshots of your character and a short biography of your character.

2) Exchange these screenshots and description with the player you have been matched up with. Let’s try to keep this thread clear; exchange information through PMs.

3) “Reimagine” your buddy’s character using your randomly picked theme as loose guidance. Like Ancient could mean medieval or ancient alien race, Futuristic could be sleek sci-fi or neo steampunk, the only one that's pretty cut and dry is Swap gender. Your final creation should be recognizable as the original character.

4) Post the original reference shots and the screenshots of your creation one this thread along with a concise biography. Feel free to include commentary too about your process, especially how your creation relates to the theme you were given.

Here's what it looked like last time.

And now on to the pair-ups!

Electagonist + EnnVee = Ancient
VexXxa + Yogurt = Swap Gender
Turkey Lurkey + Mariner = Ancient
TremDei + Flame Enchantress = Praetorian/alignment swap
Larissa Rasputin + Gray Huntress = Praetorian/alignment swap
Bayani + Clobbertime = Classic
Hericane + Cauda = Ancient
Juggertha + Nightmyst = Parody
Suichiro + tuter king = Swap Gender
Bubbawheat + Hercules = Praetorian/alignment swap
PeteyCat + Red Valkyrja = Modern
ddgryphon + BlackJackDavy = No theme
Xzero45 + Barron = Animalistic
mousedroid + RedFirefox = Futuristic
Fukushu + The Foo = Ancient
Blackberry Thorn + Johnnykat = Futuristic
Power Stream + The Masked Shrike = No theme
General Knowledge + John Printemps = Modern

Edit: Forgot to add a deadline. Let's put it for two weeks from now, which would be July 20.

I'd love to get a critical review of my Matchstick Women arc, I feel the need to show it some attention and would be nice to have a little extra direction.

Arc ID: 3369
Arc Title: Matchstick Women
Author: @Bubbawheat
Morality: Heroic
Number of Missions: 3
Description: Follow the flame to discover a group of women arsonists. Uncover their secrets which lead to a mysterious cult leader.

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I went more for the high tech bit, rather than the medevil path.

Also, I figure that since he went on a rampage, he was not likely a grunt, so probably a bit up in the ranks at least .. perhaps an officer?

So, I used Tech Bot as a base, changed the face to a full tech helmet, which holds about the only color on the armor(apart from the Jewel on the chest and the cape), thus being the distinguishing feature of possibly his whole unit.
Changed the shoulders too, to some tech ones.

Oh .. and added a cape to show off rank, and a fire axe ... which, I for some reason really like. Maybe he simply grabbed the nearest fireaxe, if he was denied his nice plasma rifle ?

On to the pictures!

posing in the sunset
Front
Front - roar
Front - Axe out
From the side, cape flaring out

I think it's a relatively clean design, and you could probably both use it as a heroic character, and as a villain.
(he's likely a cold 'n' clinical [censored], no wonder he made officer)

Basically, a normally unimpressed and ruthlessly calculating character ... which the odd rampage thrown in.

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Nice look, and welcome to the forums!

here you go.

I made the BG years ago, wife found it recently. The other two MMOs are inactive, was very tempted to pick up the one that had a huge discount: 4 months for $30. But short on cash, and too big into AE for others.

1412 was what they actually typed. Your guess is as good as mine to figure out what they meant by it.

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I sadly don't have the arc number, but try out 'The Secret Origin of: Lil' Red Hood' by searching @Crasical. The arc is open to a wide level range, but it's mostly been tested near the upper end of the scale. Villainous arc.

Be most grateful if you played it.

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Arc Name: The Secret Origin of: Lil' Red Hood
ID# 183480
Keywords: Custom Characters, Origin Story, Magic (I think custom characters generally refers to enemy groups and not hostages/allies which are the only customs in this arc)
Moraility: Villainous
Level Range: 5-40 (though Family currently have some spawning issues for heroes)
Description: Go back in time and help ensure that the villian known as Lil' Red Hood comes to be!
Played at: level 17-18

My contact is the Origin of Villains inside the pillar of Fire and Ice. It seems as if it is passing itself off as a villainous offshoot of Ouroboros, though Ouroboros is neither heroic or villainous as far as I know. But, the Origin of Villains tasks me to restore the correct origin of a specific villain named Lil' Red Hood. My first goal is to rescue a Family boss named Antonio. Unfortunately, when we get to the door, he doesn't want to leave without his second in command. We go to rescue him as well, but he doesn't appear to happy with me there and when we get to the exit he appears ready to attack. The origin informs me that he was so upset at what he felt was Antonio's betrayal that he kills him for the slight. For a villainous task, I'm surprised I wasn't told upfront that the eventual goal was Antonio's betrayal and death.



Anyway, next I am sent to a university basement where I am supposed to place an artifact of PURE UNADULTERATED EEEEVIL... sorry about that, I don't know what came over me. That is, to place an evil artifact in the university basement which is intended to corrupt the guardian of a young girl which will cause her to escape. The young girl that is, though pronoun confusion can be hard to understand sometimes. I'm warned that this escape will be quite dangerous and I should watch over the young girl, but she will eventually be safe. Unfortunately, I never did see the young girl in this mission, though I was visited by Twilight's Son. Apparently it is actually Ouroboros itself who was trying to alter this timeline in the first place. He warns me that I don't know what I'm doing by restoring a dangerous villain to power. But I know exactly what I'm doing, it's not like I'm doing this as a hero. I'm doing this on a villain's contract and am fully aware of the consequences. For some reason, Twilight's Son is surrounded by Hydra minions.



Now, after two missions worth of setup without any explanation, the pieces finally come together in this mission. Though I don't really see any reason why this information is kept from me until now. I would understand if this is done to try and trick me into completing this task, but from the beginning, I am fully aware that I'm trying to restore the origin of this villain, and I feel that the contact should be upfront from the very beginning. But that's just me. Anyway, the way the pieces fit together is Antonio is now a ghost - piece A, and the young girl - piece B - has run away into a Circle of Thorns ritual involving soul possession - piece C. So (Piece A + Piece B) x Piece C = Lil' Red Hood.



Finally, it's time for my payment. And that payment is in the form of a favor I will get by helping the newly restored Lil' Red Hood with a Family problem. Unfortunately, I was also having some problems with the Family who brought in their higher leveled muscle instead of the appropriate mobsters, but I prevailed in the end and even ended up getting revenge for Antonio from the beginning, even though it isn't really mentioned that way. But I am quickly thanked and sent on my way.

Three Stars: Good.

"First Published" is not very useful information, and it's somewhat redundant based on the Arc ID#. A much more important date is "Last edited"

Keywords are a good start, but not a good selection. Heartfelt? There's Magic, Sci-Fi, Mystery, but no Fantasy?

The front page is ruled by Dev Choice, the same ones every time. The front page is a very powerful advertising tool more than anything else. They have the random feature available, so I think the front page should be: 3 random Dev Choice, 3 random Hall of Fame, 3 random 5-star, 3 random 4-star, and 3 total random arcs. This would give everyone a shot at being on the front page, and would be a great service to spread more plays around.

I would love to see the option to place objectives on a specific spawn point. It feels like we're getting closer with the ability to see where all the spawn points are, but choosing the spawn point would be ideal for event chains on larger maps to avoid extra backtracking.