Eraserdog

Looks like that short queue didn't last, but if you should get into the mood for a total screwball comedy, I've been doing some major revisions to "Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of DOOM!" - #335926 - in response to some other feedback, and I'm always looking for more. I just started up Papers and Paychecks - I'm using Molly Monochrome, my 47 Blaster, but there's nobody who can't enjoy a good inexplicable heel turn.

Thanks for the feedback - admittedly, I'm the only one who's played this mission, so I didn't have much insight into the balance issues. With this arc, if you don't like the central joke - that once again popular music is threatening the world's youth, a threat which always ends up looking ridiculous in retrospect but that the media never fails to leap all over, playing it up as a global threat. If you don't find the idea of pirate rappers somehow taking over the world funny in and of itself, the jokes are largely going to flop for you. That part's a matter of taste.

Unfortunately, the sprite for the Big Ant isn't recolorable, so it's that color or new guy. I'm considering new guy, since that doesn't appear to be working. Since it's not a canon story, I am asking people to read the character descriptions and use their imaginations, which does put a lot of the load on the player. The size increase in Going Rogue is going to do wonders for this mission.

As for the boss difficulty levels, point well taken. All of the bosses except the last one are being bumped down, and that should help matters. I didn't realize the Rularuu would be so problematic for players, but there ARE plenty of ghosty lookin' sprites to choose from, and it won't be hard to come up with a new pirate pun for the name. As for not wanting to be defeated, that might be a taste thing, and being surprised by what you come up against does factor in a pretty big way in the story, as things begin to get much weirder and the story gets moving. As for the level 15s, those are decorations. Decorations you can beat up for kicks. They make the place look more pirate-haunted, and it's the only passable ghost-pirate sprite in the game.

The justification for Sangrenel having ghosts, etc. around him - and for the haunted freighter in the first place - is that Sangrenel actually DOES have supernatural powers, as the next encounter, and reveals in chapters 3 and 4 flesh out. He's not just some rapper, he's a GHOST PIRATE rapper (Sangrenel being a particularly nasty type of cannon ammunition, as well as a cool gothy sounding word).
Also, holy crap, I had no idea he was so broken. My test toon is a 46 stacked with stun, hold, etc. protection, so I didn't catch that. Would you believe I was just trying to make him not utterly squishy? He's bumped down to boss, and those stuns are gone - yipe. Time to start playtesting with a few other toons.

Your legal justification for crashing the ship is standard ghostbusting, plus the fact that it's an unliscenced and unidentified ship coming into port (a no-no in these times of heightened national security) - I thought the Ant's dialogue did get this across, but maybe without such a distracting sprite it'll be easier to get into it. Also, to spoil a minor joke, the worst crime is the fact that the freighter is full of not just pirate rap, but PIRATED copies of pirate rap.

Perutt keeps coming back because he manages to cower and snivel away after each encounter, something I hoped I was getting across in the dialogue. That's nothing a few more lines can't clarify. With regards to boss names, I'm trying to spoof concepts and take broadside shots here, so I hate to go as far as tying a character down a single joke/parody with a straight-up parody name.

The dialogue definitely wasn't written in haste - the rhymes in some of the clues were painstaking - but again, I think this is probably a case of not being into the central conceit of the story, meaning none of the jokes are really going to work for you. Admittedly, it's a pretty small overlap in that particular Venn diagram, people who find both pirate puns and parody rap funny. Also, there's a build going on, with big reveals in missions 3 and 4, so you didn't see the majority of the writing in this one.

Thanks for the feedback, and constructive criticism is definitely appreciated. That's why it's a 'Work in Progress' - I can't wait for the 200k limit with the expansion, but for now, I'm going to put a lot of these suggestions in to action in the limited fashion space allows.

Thanks
Eraserdog

I started playing this game for the character creator, and with the dawn of AE most of my PC gaming time goes to it. It's going to be really nice to have one or two custom mobs that actually LOOK right, not filled out with stock enemies and heartfelt pleas to imagine they look good in the character descriptions. I have little desire to write canon stories, so I've had to reach pretty far to fill out enemy rosters, and I'm never 100% satisfied with the results.
For that matter, I'm going to greatly enjoy having room to write the descriptions and especially dialogue that I've wanted to from the beginning. It's going to mean pulling and rewriting every arc I've got up, but man, actual pirates in the pirate crew in Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Doom, not recolored Ocelots and Crazed Slicers! No-good punk teenagers that don't look suspiciously like Freakshow in Weep Day! Original robots! More exclamation marks!
Whether or not the mission cap changes really doesn't matter to me, what I'm excited about is being able to make one or two custom mobs per arc that actually look and read something like what I had in my imagination when I started. Hopefully, more people approach this in the same way - putting the extra space into honing a balanced, coherently designed custom group - rather than Venture's scenario. I can definitely see potential improvements in mob balance, not having to pick and choose from stock enemies, but it is going to require considerable thought and effort on the architects' part.
With another 100k, architects can at least make a mob that's as diverse and thematically consistent as the in-game ones and still have it fit in a mission. I have to echo Policewoman's concern, though, that people are generally going to focus less on editing with more space to work with. I know I'm going to have to revise constantly to keep from forcing waaaaay too much reading on the players :P I like to think, stretching the metaphor, this means I can now have the soup, coffee and dessert along with what can be kind of a spartan first plate, without having to take all kinds of unappealing substitutions.

Looks like you've already got a pretty serious queue going, but I hates to miss a chance for a plug. All my missions are level 45-54, soloable (but bring purples) and around the 1 hour range. A review of any of them would be awesome - especially if you were to, say, be the FIRST PERSON OTHER THAN ME TO PLAY "Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Doom"! :P

#280412 - The Terrible Plan of Dr. Kannoenfutter
#310702 - Weep Day
#323184 - Nobody Loves Toilet Otter
#335926 - Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of DOOM!

Tired of angst and fury? Square-jawed smashmouth action got you down? Really like jokes about pee? Well, why not check out an Eraserdog mission tonight? Seriously, I'm dying out here. Four to choose from, each completable in the hour-or-less range solo, and each with their own distinct flavour...

#280412 - The Terrible Plan of Dr. Kannoenfutter
A console game parody intended for soloing or small teams. Completable in under 45 minutes, lots of bosses to fight, plenty of clues.

#310702 - Weep Day
A dark, occasionally philosophical, often nonsensical comedy. Allies make this one soloable, but watch out for the end boss if you go it alone. Recent edits have sped up the pace of this one significantly.

#323184 - Nobody Loves Toilet Otter
Puns and gross-out comedy abound in this groaner of a mission (see, there I go already) as you clash with Paragon City's newest and worst costumed avenger, Toilet Otter! Lots to do (much of it optional), suitable for small to medium teams, and ideal for heroes or villains.

#335926 - Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of DOOM!
Absurdity reigns on the high seas as you investigate the highly destructive Planksta Rap trend that has taken hold of Paragon City's youth! Ideal for solo or small teams, NPC text window definitely recommended for this one.

Anyone who wants to recommend a mission that can make me laugh and not want to huck the mouse at anything, please reply with it.

Hi. Just finished The Most Important Thing, Best Hero Arc' 09 Edition.
I usually steer clear of drama arcs, but this one was a really good experience. My only gripe is the abundance of glowy hunting, but anyone playing for the writing - which they should, it's what makes this truly outstanding - couldn't be bugged too much by it, given the reward the story is. *****, and thoroughly deserving of its merits.

- Eraserdog

I normally just write and play comedy arcs, so we're probably going to have kind of a style clash, but if you wanted to review one of my arcs in return, I've got three that I'm particularly proud of that you can choose from...

"Weep Day" (#310702) is a dark comedy, but it's at least thoughtful in places, and generally is built more around characterization than jokes.

"Nobody Loves Toilet Otter" (#323184) is an over-the-top violent action comedy with more than a few gross-out moments. It's also my only really villain-appropriate arc, designed with morally neutral and/or optional objectives to make it sensible and fun to RP as a Villain.

"Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of DOOM!" (#335926) is a truly ludicrous screwball comedy with a good chunk of reading, but probably has the strongest gameplay out of the three.

Thanks:
Eraserdog
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This sounds really cool, and I'd like to get in on it. I cooked up a toon on Triumph - The Homeless Ronin - just for the occasion, and have been pushing for level 8-10 soloing low-level AE classics. I'll be around on Saturday, I'll try and hit someone up for an invite.

This exact same thing started happening with all of my mishes as of yesterday, and I'm clueless. I'm not even sure if this is a feature or a bug, but it made all 3 of my arcs either pointless or impossible depending on level.

"Weep Day" has undergone some serious revisions, and if I could talk you (or anyone reading this, super-please ) into a replay, it'd be much appreciated. Thanks again for the feedback - the infamous Mission 4 is an entirely different animal now, taking about half the time to complete, with NO backtracking except maybe one room right at the end, but no real content was removed.

The boss in question (thanks for not spoiling that any more than the title does ) now has tons more dialogue. If there's one thing I got a million jokes about, dating back to like the first day I could talk...

"Weep Day" now contains more merciful objectives, two more clues (that should help explain a plot development a little more to team members who won't see the contact dialogues), a lot more boss dialogue, and another horrible little poemy thing :P. Arc number and vitals are the same, and it's actually more soloable now, I think.

Ran through "Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day, Kids" today. Five solid stars, although I'd recommend a build more durable than mine for anyone who's going to solo it. Review's below. Thanks again.

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Eraserdog's Stream-of-Consciousness Reviews
"Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day, Kids!"
Ran solo with Molly Monochrome, Lv. 45 Ice/Eng Blaster
Anti-social *******, I know

- The contact is a hideous pile. I'm liking this already - already sensing signature Wrong Number comedy.

- Great map choice for mission 1. You found a stock map that actually makes a convincing TV studio - impressive.

- I finally caught what I was deja-vuing on - Scooby Doo! It must be all the doors. Once again, props for map choice, something that you seem to have a good handle on in all your missions.

- I didn't garbage-pick that clue, I "freecycled" it - saving the Earth right ways all the time, it's Molly Monochrome!

- Really like the first boss. He killed me, by the way, so I saw the player defeat text. Nice one :P

- Got to say, you've already made what's often misused as the stock twist of all stock twists into something interesting, and funny on a few different levels. Now, keeping in mind that I'm swearing that I've ONLY ever seen the pirate song, never a complete episode or anything, am I seeing a Lazy Town reference with Bright Angel's design? :P

- Nice, balanced challenge level. The patrols really liven up mission 2 - and if that one patrol is the subtle music reference I think it is, nice one.

- Dead again, but that one was really my fault - fleeing blind, as a blaster has been known to do, I smacked into the boss.

- More really good boss dialogue in this arc. Just triggered a quote that promises an interesting development. When I wasn't railing into him, good character, nice fair fight.

- Nice use of character descriptions to flesh out the story. Curious to see where things are going with Jail Bird's quote.

- Like the transition into act 3. Now, things are really starting to move along.

- Really getting the full impact of your custom mob, now that it's in a closed space and my monitor's not solid glare. The cats like the shade up, and I'm a complete freaking sucker. Anyway, really like the custom mooks, especially the Jail Bird and Pep Squad.

- Okay, now I'm really intrigued. Especially for a comedy arc, this is a cool mystery going down.

- Now THAT was a boss fight. The cheerleader enemies are really well done.

- I waited all arc for my Simpsons reference (unless we're counting "Jail Bird"), and I finally got it. Much obliged.

- Yet another great boss fight. You've really got a knack for these.

- Ow. Heh, time for the big finish. As soon as I get back from the hospital.

- Holy crap I just got one-hit killed with my toggles up. Getting slaughtered, but it's nothing some strategy can't overcome. I'm getting annihilated, but not unfairly annihilated.

- D'oh. Failed the last mission - that one boss is a pain to solo with my build. Not counting it for or against, but team advised, ouch. One minor point - the teaser description for Jail Bird never seems to get fully paid off, unless I missed something.

- Great gameplay, better story. *****

Thanks much for the feedback. That's something that comes up a lot with my missions, and the help editing is much obliged. Awesome to know someone thinks there's a five-star pigeon in there.

Mission 4 is getting trimmed down as we speak - I'm nixing three of the four glowies, so you just have to find one, most likely right where you find the person who tells you about it. The Escort is becoming a Captive. Boom, done, no effect to the plot or anything. He even still yacks. This is the kind of thing you don't see until someone else points it out.

As for the size of the mission 1 map, have you tried to find a working payphone these days? :P I threw in some gritty realism there, heh heh. Also, once you finish the mission, if you stick around to fight the severe spamorama that spawns, suddenly the map feels a lot fuller.

Thanks again, and the cuts have left room for a couple new clues and jokes if you're interested in a replay. The earlier jokes were me taking kind-of sort-of good natured jabs at the inhabitants of my baffling little world, these new ones just smell like mean spirit :P

Hey hey. Just played, and thoroughly enjoyed, "Death to Disco" and "In Poor Taste". My attempts at reviews are below, with anything that seemed like a major spoiler excised. If you get the chance to run my current opus, "Weep Day", I'd greatly appreciate it. Having played "In Poor Taste", I think you'll at least appreciate the tone of the humour. Every enemy and objective has some kind of description, so click Info lots please .

"Weep Day" is inspired by the They Might Be Giants song of the same name, and if you're familiar with the tune, the lyrics quite effectively spoil the first twist. That's where I got the idea, after all. There are a couple other surprises (I hope), but they're completely pulled out of my - hey hey! - so ideally they're not so telegraphed.

Title: Weep Day
Arc ID: 310702
Creator’s Global Name: @Eraserdog
Mission Count: 5
Notes: Designed for heroes between 35-50. Soloable, but pack a couple of medium purples if you do. A couple of the boss encounters can be nasty alone even just on difficulty level 3.

Description (as seen on AE): An old (okay, ancient) friend, the legendary Mr. Tambo, hasn't been himself lately. He barely curses the very name of evil anymore, and has even lost interest in war stories. His grandson Tyson, himself an aspiring hero, has been contacting all of the old man's super acquaintances for advice...


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Eraserdog's Stream-of-Concsiousness Reviews

"Death to Disco!"
Ran solo with Molly Monochrome, lv. 45 Ice/Eng Blaster

- Really like the intro. If there are two American presidents who are always comic gold, it's Lincoln and Carter. Maybe Clinton to a lesser extent. See David X. Cohen's reference to "the comedy writers' obsession with Lincoln" in the Futurama DVD commentaries (I forget which one).

- Okay, I'm saving a crey-brainwashed Jimmy Carter. Heh. I like this a lot already.

- Very nice, short but intensely violent first level.

- I'm always a sucker for the park maps. Liked the ref to the real Disco Demolition Night.

- Major bonus points for the Kung Fu Fightin' enemies - great design. Everything about Dr. Disco Fever works - description, moveset, look. The joke is starting to feel a little one-note, but I'm expecting a twist.

- Huh, mission over. Got to admit, that was kind of a sudden halt, but I am used to running my own greviously long missions, so I might not have started this mish with the right expectations. Well-written for sure, and a good time for a short mish. Extra recommendation to anyone looking for a fast but worthwhile solo run.

****


"In Poor Taste"
Ran solo with Molly Monochrome, lv. 45 Ice/Eng Blaster

- On what turns out to be a semi-related note, Boogerman was one of my favorite games of the 16 bit era. He can fart-fly! Such a heater!

- Okay, seriously, this is brilliant. Ms. Manners recruits me to wipe inappropriately named villains off the streets because kids are picking up too much cuss language from crime reports. Definitely one of the most original AE concepts I've seen, and a huge laugh right off the bat.

- I agree with one of the other reviews I saw in that Manhandle is my favorite of the bosses, but I think he works fine in the first mish.

- "Pump Manhandle for Information" Hah. And again I say hah.

- Manhandle's dialogue is joyfully awful. Never change any of it please.

- Ha ha. Fart level. I'm no longer responsible if you're squicked by any part of Weep Day.

- You've got a major talent with boss dialog, I just wish they weren't so easy to murder...er...arrest. Call it murdarrest. Maybe one could possibly be a custom if memory allows?

- Okay, unless this mish explodes my computer, "slap the [small mammal]" just netted you an automatic 5 stars.

- It's awesome how the bosses mentioned in one early clue actually show up IN the arc - I totally thought that would just be a throwaway gag.

- Wow, [ally], massacre machine. Gotta admit, saved my glass hammer of a blapper a few times on the last mish. Great decision making the ally optional, too.

- Despite having nowhere near as awesome a name,[fire boss in last level], actually gets nasty points over Manhandle.

- Took out [small animal] last, so the last line of in-mish dialogue I saw was "you didn't beat me, it's just shrinkage". Hah.

- LOVED the ending dialogue. Great closer to a great balance of comedy and really fun gameplay. Full stars, natch.

*****

"The Terrible Plan of Doktor Kanoenfutter", Arc #280412, tells the story of the titular Doktor's conceptually unsound robot invasion of Paragon City. Solo-friendly, and in case this wasn't already obvious, it's a Mega Man parody.

Hey hey. Thanks much for the thorough attention. Glad you enjoyed the theme, the mechanics I can tweak.

Muchly appreciate the comments on the character design and bios. I was really proud of the dead contact ;P As for the tone of the story, it's supposed to be funny in an occasionally-goes-too-far dark way. I didn't expect that anyone would consider that there was a possibility the story of a dead hamster cult could be serious until maybe the sneak aesop at the end, but I guess there is what could be interpreted as a lot of death and mayhem .

Point well taken about the backtracking - I've got a couple ideas for boss battles I wouldn't mind developing, if the objective-hunting's as overkill as it sounds like I can easily make room. The last thing I wanted to do is make an unintentional tribute to Donkey Kong 64. I've spent a couple powers of ten more time in the character designer than I have playing anyone else's arcs (boo, I know), so I gotta admit I'm not entirely sure what works in this regard. As for the playtesting, I did the majority of it before the tweaks to the editor in 15, which is to say I played bits and pieces in test mode. I definitely appreciate having someone else take a close playthrough.

I had no idea about the mez stacking or the ghostly enemies - thanks for the heads-up on that. I saw guys in hoods, and was hella baffled by the min-max level rules, so I chucked in what I could. I'm going to fix both of those, and seriously nerf the PPR Rangers (the PPR Animal Control may, sadly, lose their stealth). Would you believe I actually thought I was choosing moderately easy power combos for the first group?

Much appreciate the advice re: the goal triggers. This, Team Fortress 2 and Nethack are basically the only PC games I play, so I'm really coming at this from a more linear console game mentality. Three years and counting playing City, but it's the only MMO I've played so far.

The Warped Wheel is kind of explained in a vague fashion, but I'm thinking maybe adding some stuff when you're reviewing the books from the compound or something. Thoughts? The story stuff seems to be this mission's hook, I want to make sure it all gets across.

Also, I should probably point out in case you didn't catch it, everything is a hamster pun. Tscherski, Eversmann, Gansu, like everything.

Thanks again for the review - anyone who's interested in checking out the first set of revisions, I'll be pulling HFHH down for the weekend, but it'll be back under the same name on Monday, hopefully along with my even weirder new arc "Weep Day". I'm always looking for more feedback. Now that my slots are full, I'll even play other peoples' arcs in exchange!

- Eraserdog
Watch for "Molly Monochrome" on Champion, usually in the AE in Atlas Park. If I'm lying dead by the contact hologram, chuck me a rez and say hi! :P

If you wanted to check out my latest mish - #246464 "Hooray for Hamster Hell!" - it sounds like the kind of style you're looking for. There is a clear all, but it's a little one, and not the whole map.

Things we'd prefer:

1. Something that can be finished in a reasonable amount of time. I won't limit it to number of missions as we've all seen the giant uber map one mission arc that takes three hours or the thirty minute 5 mission arc. Something in the hour range, give or take.

The arc can be finished by a small team in about an hour to an hour and a quarter, and should offer a pretty decent challenge.

2. No defeat alls! Ugh, I can't tell you how much I/we hate defeat alls. [sidebar- if and only IF it makes sense in the story and it isn't on a very big map I may be able to shake it off, but if its a large lab map or outdoor it's a no go for us]

D'oh. There is a minor one here, but you don't have to clear all the enemies, ONLY the boss room of a small-sized map. Solo, it amounts to a couple of mobs - shouldn't be much worse with a team.

3. Something fun! No that doesn't mean it has to be light hearted or a comedy arc, just a fun engaging story. (Serious/Horror/Thriller/Noir/Mystery will work as well) Something with a little effort. And no I won't be insulted if its an orgin arc or if you try and get me my character to do something "they would never do". It's a game within a game for godsake! We'll run heroic we'll run villain.....pffft we don't care, just be fun!

If "Hooray for Hamster Hell!" doesn't sound fun, then I have already failed.

4. We love a good challenge. As long as its not ree-diculously impossible, we do like a tough mission. So we won't shy away from AVs or EBs. (If you would please just point it out if it is a challenging mission because we do have times when there are fewer of us on and might not have the firepower for a big challenge)

Mission 3, the last one of the arc, has a boss rush of all original characters that I'm kinda proud of.

5. I'm not doing this as for review or QPQ, just looking for stuff to play. But I always try to give good feedback and you better believe I will come back here and praise the really good ones!

No probalo, but if you wanted to send me a comment after you finished the arc, it would be much appreciated.

6. We aren't fond of Oranbega maps, but will tolerate the smaller/middle sized ones if the story is worth it. We're also a little tired of the cargo ship map as well. But as I stated earlier if it fits the story, I think we can handle it. Although I'm a little worried if one of my SG mates sees another defeat all in the cargo ship his head will asplode.

Oranwhazza? Also, no boat. I got stuck on that stupid stealth mission on the cargo ship in Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas and never finished the game (at least I got past that stupid flight school after like two weeks, but I digress...) and have been soured on cargo ship missions of any kind since then.

7. We are currently floating around lvl 40 so arcs there or higher would be great. [Note: we will not exemp down for an arc. As much as I love a good story, we play to level up]

Level range 40-51, and 40s are going to encounter some challenge for sure. So, that's #246464, "Hooray for Hamster Hell!".

If you felt like checking out #246464, "Hooray for Hamster Hell!", any feedback would be greatly appreciated. An in-thread review is fine with me.

President Evil sounds like the likely best choice re: characters. It's not hard to imagine why a villain - particularly, **spoiler spoiler**, one who has already dealt with oni - would want to investigate the source of this interesting new destructive power for his own selfish reasons. Even though this mission is technically Hero-aligned, I can see it fitting Prez' character and offering a fighting chance solo. Ultimo Girl's specialization in world-saving missions would be a good fit, too.

Thanks
- Eraserdog

Hi, PoliceWoman. I just played through "Teen Phalanx Forever", and would like to offer my stream-of-consciousness review (in which I try to avoid any major spoilers, just in case).
In exchange, if you had the chance to play #246464, "Hooray for Hamster Hell", any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

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Teen Phalanx Forever review

Played through with Molly Monochrome, Level 43 (reduced by level cap) Ice/Energy Blaster.

- Really interesting hook right off the bat, playing the teen version of your toon. I liked the cheap shots the allies took at you when rescued them.

- Coyote's dialog in the intro is really well done. You started at the start and kept the sentences lean, lean like a submachine. Effective lead-in for the arc.

- Got to admit I was a little nonplussed to start the arc and immediately end up on a sewer map, but it fits the story.

- Really good character design with the Teen versions of the canon characters, especially Kid Valkyrie. Once you've got the allies together, the combination of different styles/powersets makes for cool, visually interesting battles even when soloing. And "Back Alley Boy" sounds kinda dirty. Heh.

- Awesome reveal of the Vahzilok scheme with the clue from the hostage and the appearance of the first custom enemies Having that play out in the "Frankenstein"-looking room with the electricity makes it worth going through another sewer map.

- Great balancing job on the first boss battle. Three of the four allies plus dropping a couple of Purples = exciting elite boss battle, still winnable without team.

- LOTS of people to find in Mission 1. Probably not an issue with some PC teammates, but started to feel like too much hunting by the last hostage.

- Really solid first mission, definitely grabbed my interest for the second. Once again, really liked that first clue/twist. Definitely enjoying your sense of humour.

- In the mission intros/text, it seems like there are a lot of repetitions of my toon's name. I know it's largely impossible so have always-appropriate pronouns when the gender of the toons involved can vary, but a couple of write-arounds could ease the repetition without making any grammar enthusiasts wince too bad.

- The structure and content of the missions have a cool, authentic comic book feel, and the brief but intense dialog sections contribute a lot to this.

- Ouch - real gutshot of a pun with BABy. Congrats on the nice burn on the all-to-common Extremely Egregious Laborious Acronym Saturation Syndrome (or EEL [censored])

- Really enjoying the custom enemies. You've also got a real talent for dialogue - several of the rescue clips were laugh-out-loud funny. Laugh-out-loud SOBER funny. "Patrol looking for healer! PST!" was my favorite. Also, you really get across the cliquish nature of the Teen Phalanx well.

- I see how it's thematically necessary, but I've been rescuing a lot of hostages. Do the first two missions both need NPC hostages on top of the allies?

- Mission 2's end dialog was great. The writing is what really brings this whole mission together, and it's exceptionally well-edited. I haven't even caught a typo yet. Although, when you talk to the contact after mission 2, there are a lot of repetitions of the word "Cora", with a couple in places where a "she" would fit and sound more natural.

- Brilliant design for Mission 3. All the clues really add a lot to this arc. Nice little reference with C4TS, too. Nyuk nyuk.

- So, Clam-Or is female, eh? That could be one interesting Masters of the Universe character. Either I'm a sexist monster for thinking this or you nasty for tossing it in. Before everyone assumes the former, keep in mind I also laugh to myself every time a guy is named "Dick" or "Johnson" or "Testiclodon".

- Just noticed after Ch. 3 how the level cap goes up as you become more of a full-fledged part of the team and gain more experience. Really nice touch. Liking the setting for mission 4. "Assemble the team -> boss battle" is starting to seem a little repetitive by this point, but the dialog and enemies are more than entertaining enough to not make this bog the mission down. Heh, and an enemy makes basically the same joke as I did about Back Alley Boy ;P.

- Things wrap up with an impressive last boss, with a particularly cool suprise midway through the battle, and it all leads into a mildly bittersweet ending that really capped everything off well. I don't want to spoil anything here, but the last level (the whole arc, actually) fit the "action teens spinoff comic" vibe to a T.

- My few minor nitpicks largely boil down to stylistic preferences - like how the last two map choices seem more unique and inspired than the first two - there's no way I could give this any less than a 5. Perfect balance of parody, snark, good solid narrative and action, supported by great writing, with only a few issues re: pacing when soloing. The battles are paced really well, but the hostage-hunting does occasionally get overwhelming. Outstanding dialogue and the very unique mission 3 (especially the optional objectives/clues!) really made this one for me. *****

Cancer: Keeping your feelings inside may strain relationships with friends and family. Take an hour of "me time" with Arc #185425 - "The Terrible Plan of Doktor Kannoenfutter" to vent your frustrations by destroying Doktor Kannoenfutter and his eight elite robot bosses, then approach things with a fresh perspective tomorrow.

Your lucky numbers this week: 185425