GlaziusF

The chronicles of the stupid illiterate griefer continue! (Flu fights hard, BUT HEROES FIGHT BACK.)

Today's first stupid illiterate grief victim: Celebrity Kidnapping (1388). Verdict - ****. Review below in this thread. DAMN YOU, great thread defunctening!
Today's next random stupid illiterate grief victim: (random tosses me a repeat) Escalation (6143). Verdict - ****. Review on MA Forums Thread.
Today's next next random stupid illiterate grief victim: Blood For Roses (161399). Verdict - ***. Review below in this thread. Mo' defunct arc threads, mo' problems.

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A few things are fairly clear to me;


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Except none of them are true!

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1. You tried running an arc on a character far too low in level for the villain NPCs contained in it (the devs have designed them for levels 45 to 50 for a reason).

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Yeah. What part of "I didn't die once" escaped your notice? I SK high 20s and 30s up as part of AV stomping teams all the time. Even tanking, they do okay. If I didn't have the EB ally I'd probably just pull out my squishy pal who's rad to be with, but I've taken on an arc with an extreme SS/extreme Inv end boss with this guy. He can (admittedly somewhat laboriously) take down pretty much every AV->EB in the game.

The "reason" they're designed for levels 45-50 is because they're in high-level stories, not because only high-level characters have the powers to confront them.

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2. You are not familiar with and therefore don't know how to critique stories that contain sub-plots.

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Oh _man_. You should say that to Venture, Ferghas, and the Cheshire Cat sometime, they'll HOWL.

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3. Don't seem to have the imagination to expand beyond established canon with the CoX character groups, which at least IMO is one of the best things about the MA system.

4. Overall were expecting this arc to answer some questions that are not meant to be answered within it.

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Man, now I'm getting deja vu. Contradicting canon is not the same as expanding -- the last time "all the villains banded together", Nemesis pulled out his big brass backstabber and laughed all the way to everyone punching him in the face, and then he laughed more back at base because he just sent a roboclone.

Why is this different? Just SAYING it is doesn't fly.

Put a mission in a destroyed map! Maybe the last Arachnos base is ON FIRE and I'm all like "contact, did you do this?" and Torque's like "Contact! YOU did this!" and my contact's like "it was like this when I got here" and my contact's squeeze is all "oh, contact, it was HORRIBLE, here's a clue involving monsters out of space and time!"

Or Vanessa and the Freaks are meeting in an abandoned office with a hole in the floor, and Vanessa's a captive with Carnies trying vainly to calm her down (or Omega Force robots that try to silence her, and then you when you show up) and she babbles about the THING that came for her. And down there in the cave waits a ??? (or perhaps some Malta captured by the minions of ???)

Or there's supposed to be a meeting somewhere outdoors but it turns out to happen in Boomtown, or Flooded Boomtown, or similar, (but not Red Atlas, I have WHITE HOT HATE for Red Atlas) and the place is covered with bodybags and the patrols are paranoid survivors.

Just seeing the in-text reactions to something isn't enough to really sell me that it exists, especially since a lot of the groups those reactions come from are not entirely trustworthy for reasons I have already enumerated. It ain't real until I see more evidence of its passing than just talking heads. Honestly I'm more ticked off that this arc doesn't even have me asking the right questions -- as it is, I'm more like "okay, who's actually faking this whole thing and when are they gonna backstab?" than "what is this monstrosity out of time and place?"

And no matter how much you try to pretend these are just the ravings of a deluded madman trying to justify his very existence and failing miserably, this is all what I honestly think. Sure it contradicts itself in places. Guess what - I'm human, I can believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

I'm not going to pretend everybody's going to doubt what you got going here, or that nobody will ever enjoy this arc, (seriously, if nothing else this little gadfly of mine got people cheering for you, and good for them! People should speak out more about arcs they had fun playing!) but this is what made it one star worth of awful for me.

And a little note to the white knight squad - my saying the sauce at your favorite corner bistro makes me sick to my stomach does not make you a horrible subhuman for liking it, or me a horrible subhuman for disliking it. Sometimes people are just that different, and I'm not going to assume YOU'RE lying when you disagree with my position, so extend me the same courtesy?

Ah, and one last thing I should say. cohmissionreview.com is not my site, as you'd know if you poked around a bit and found its actual creator's global. I just like using it as a third-party tool, and I started the aggregator thread to get more people using it, though that's not exactly been a huge success thus far.

Everybody's got a voice, so make ya voices heard!

(and here's part 2)

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...it's an Arachnos base, intro text, but given that people can't make SG bases in MA I guess I can forgive it.

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And yet earlier you criticize map usage? I agree with you 100% that it is sometimes difficult to find suitable maps that work and add some variety other than "every mission is a plain cave/office/warehouse". However, this is where I think your ability as a reviewer falls down. As I mention earlier, you complain about maps used because they "don't fit", but in this instance it is ok. You contradict your own review.

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Nah, there's a difference between "making do" and "making up". SG bases plainly can't exist, so I can't exactly say what you should and shouldn't use for one, especially since it was built by guys I have no history for. But Covert Arachnos Warehouse and the Fifth Column's Last Stand are both pretty obviously aligned with some specific use, so putting stock villain groups onto them should mean something.

I mean, weren't you complaining about people putting Rikti onto the Fifth Last Stand map for no reason? It's like that. I've seen so many people use iconic maps and just plop something random there that I can't just take the iconic map as meaning anything, I need a little more in-arc acknowledgement that this was a meaningful choice.

But a generic Arachnos base tileset for a custom group that doesn't exactly have a "base tileset" to call its own? (Especially one that's apparently currently WORKING with Arachnos?) Not as much of an issue.

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So. Rescue over... an emp/rad AV? Ooookay. Looks like an ordinary EB out there, and given that she's boosting her boyfriend I decide to just walk away for a drink of water, and the fight's over when I get back.

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I can tell by this you did not do anything and allowed the ally to clear the room. Every time I have run this mission solo or on a team, whomever clears the last minion surrounding her receives her buffs.

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Sure you can.

Look, my ally's "with me" -- we are one unit as far as the MA NPC buff limitations are concerned. She boosted me after the fight was over and the long-recharge Emp buffs recharged longly.

I don't exactly remember who did the last blow to the last mook in the last room -- it was kind of hectic given that it was one of those "high balcony alcove" setups and I had the guards dropping down onto me. And it's not exactly like I can STOP a high-test MA/SR from dealing damage, you know? Especially since he was freakin' one-shotting minions with that broken Shuriken.

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Oh good, I'm doubting someone as a result of all this. It's... the guy from Freedom Corps. Because apparently it was completely impossible for Crey to change their mimic-Rikti virus to bypass existing protections.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT.

With all the dubious links in the chain of events leading up to the final mission, I doubt THE FIRST ONE? That's like marking Charlie Chaplin down in a Charlie Chaplin lookalike contest where the other entries are a broom, a block of gelatin, and a small silver bowl full of pudding!

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Well at least I know you read the final clue. So far you are (sadly) the only person who has not been able to put all the pieces together though. Just about everyone else who has run it (based on feedback received) was able to understand this part quite clearly. In fact, most have enjoyed guessing up to the very end who is involved with what.

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Look. What is the most reasonable out of all these three scenarios? Nemesis tells me something I should trust. (Or even if it's Crey! Crey judoed me into ending up on the wrong side of the law in that one arc about that one OS!) Malta tells me something I should trust. A hacker releases a new version of an old virus that circumvents the old means of neutralizing it.

People do that last one in real life ALL THE TIME. It is not that hard!

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Storyline - *. So... every villain group and perhaps some hero groups are teaming up to... to... Gaw, I don't know, put on the veryest specialest episode of "This is Your Life" for Statesman? I follow quite possibly the least probable chain of clues ever to get to the end of this all... and why was I even here again? My MA/SR ally could probably just solo all of this stuff himself if it wasn't for the persistent ally range issues.

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As I mention in my initial post, this arc is a prelude to a larger story. You are the only person to have run this that has not seen the whole "rescue" storyline as the backdrop to a whole other sub-plot within the story beginning. You are also the only person who does not grasp the concept of what a "prelude" or "prologue" is. Knowing this is intended as a prelude, you should automatically understand that there are some things in the story that are not intended to be answered within it.

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As far as I'm concerned, the non-rescue elements in this 'prelude' can be summed up as "There are rumors about a non-aggression pact circulating the major villain groups; even some heroes are supposed to be signing on. Everyone who's tried to go public about its contents has been silenced."

Which is pretty anemic given how many archvillains I ran over on the way. I mean, if the freakin' archvillains are just speedbumps in Part 0, what do you do to escalate? If Vanessa freaking DaVore is just a minor nuisance, who's an actual threat?

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Gameplay - ***. Even when the Rikti monkey gas wasn't making him cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, my ally still loved to run ahead and slaughter everything. And the "final battle" was over in a handful of seconds without me even having to do anything. Not the fifteen minutes of sweaty-palmed button-mashing action I was expecting.

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I find the highlighted part very hard to believe. I also don't see how not having a "15 minute button mashing-fest" is a requirement for every single mission.

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Aim and Atomic Blast can take down a pretty big chunk of a dude's HP bar, especially since MA NPCs love to open with their tier 9 blasts, and an adrenaline-boosted EB ally isn't exactly going to be doing chip damage either. (Or maybe those were just the SFX from Clear Mind, and Fortitude made the difference?)

"Fifteen minutes of sweaty-palmed button-mashing action" is a little insert from the Wachowski Brothers in the videogame adaptation of the Matrix. They show up before the final boss fight and say, basically, in the movies this is where Neo goes martyr, but "congratulations, you died!" doesn't work so well in video game land, so instead they coded in a Massive Monster MegaSmith and enjoy your 15 minutes of et cetera et cetera.

I'm rather big on player agency, so that little bit of fourth-wall destruction warms the cockles of my heart. But this entire arc I was just a tag-along to my contact rescuing his "it's complicated"-on-Facebook, and aside from moving the AVs 3 feet so he didn't just stand there staring at them, I was a tag-along to the fights too.

The "end boss" was just a particularly egregious example of that.

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Overall - *. As a setup for a larger arc this actually seems completely unnecessary. I mean, I come out the other end knowing pretty much nothing more than when I went in. You've heard of "in medias res", right? Starting a story in the middle?

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This is where I believe you failed to put all the necessary pieces together. The story does not start in the middle. It starts at the beginning.

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"In medias res" is a technique that's often used to good effect. While this story started at the beginning of the events, for one guy at least, it doesn't necessarily hurt to start a story in the middle of an action sequence and summarize or reveal details from what would otherwise have been a prelude.

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1. Who was in the Longbow base during the invasion? - The report from the Longbow Lt. provides you this clue. Since one of the heroes who responded has disappeared, that leaves only one other person.

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Man, how can you say I missed it when RIGHT up there you were all "oh, yes, that's supposed to be disturbing, I'm glad you noticed".

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2. The dialogue of every villain in the arc - they are all speaking of banding together, someone granting them "amnesty" etc.

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Because the last time the major villain groups sat down together at a table it wasn't all just a Nemesis plot to weed out anybody who the incoming overwhelming Longbow forces would take out. (Well, okay, it didn't start OFF as a Nemesis plot, but the dude turned it into one. See Viridian's arc redside)

Look, I HEARD them all saying that stuff. What I'm not doing is BELIEVING a whit of it. Crey built the Crey Corporation on lies and has duped me before. Nemesis has plans within plans, and those plans have plans in them. The Carnies and the Freakshow just do whatever feels good, at the whims of the, uh, let's say "mercurial" people in charge. The Council and Arachnos have so many splinter factions within themselves that their left hand does not know what their right hand is doing, and in both cases have used heroes as part of their internal power games.

What I'm wondering here is less "who are they all so afraid of" and more "which one of these guys is planning everything, and when are the knives going to come out". Maybe they're all gonna quintuple-cross each other, who knows. It's going to take more than some incidental detail to change my perception of anybody.

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3. Who besides the Malta show up to help you when Vanessa starts to talk? - it should also be fairly clear that the Malta while involved, do not necessarily agree with the other villain factions.

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Well, they certainly agree with the other faction who showed up to help. I realize that if said other faction shows up as "rogue alignment" then there's no guarantee there'll be any Malta survivors to dispense clues. Not that there are guaranteed to be any as it is, given the pain output of V de V's death scream.

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4. The Longbow Scientists report and your assessment of it - if the Longbow defense grid was designed against viruses of this kind, then how did it get taken down? WHO was there to do it?

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Because it's... not possible for Crey to re-engineer viruses to get around old defenses? You know what would actually work here?

"It's not something you noticed at first, because the entries are on different pages and buried in the appendix, but the base records its defenses starting to fail some time before the Crey virus enters the system."

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Or, y'know, whatever you had planned for the future of all of this. I've got no idea what the shape is of things to come. And if this is a prequel of sorts, shouldn't I?

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As I have said previously, it has been fairly evident to everyone else who has run this so far that the story is essentially the villain factions banding together with "someone" for an unknown reason and that the perhaps the Omega Force group of heroes are not what they appear to be. The rescue/romance part is just a backdrop for this one in particular although it will lead to more in the future arcs that continue the underlying story.

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Or the Malta are being opportunists here and burned a spy within Omega Force to discredit them/start to "turn" my contact. One dude and a robot is not outside the scope of this.

Or this is all a Nemesis plot and the Malta and an unknown fraction of everything else are automatons.

Or my contact is the creepiest stalker who ever creeped and he leaned on everything involved to put his princess in another castle.

Or my contact actually rescued the Praetorian version of his sweetie, who knows that saying "I love you" at strategic moments will get her alone in a room with the History Eraser Button or whatever.

Look, through the entire thing you sow distrust in me. Dudes are betraying their notional allies and trusting their notional enemies. Nothing is what it seems!

I'll say the same thing to you that I say to the contact kicking off mission 4 - I can't just selectively take some parts to be evidence of a conspiracy while assuming other parts are the unvarnished truth.

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Overall, I feel you were a bit too harsh with your review and nitpicks of areas that are in most cases outside a creators control.

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Only thing that was outside your control was that Nosfy was hiding, and even then that was a map you chose.

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The overall rating of 1 star is not appropriate either.

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Sure it is! I think it would be better off if this grand story started off in the next movement and you presented the facts of this arc as a fait accompli from the contact's perspective. "You're invited to our wedding! Man, it was some trial getting up to here, let me tell you." "Yeah, that was Crey working with the Carnies. I've been hearing rumors about some non-aggression pact, guess they were true." "I know it doesn't feel right to go save the Malta, but they helped me find her before. If they're up to something nasty I'll kick 'em in the face myself." "Omega Force robots? Fighting us? But they helped me mow down the opposition before. Nobody even had a chance to say... anything... um. Okay, in hindsight, that IS rather suspicious, but I was desperate."

Yeah, I'd actually believe it more coming second-hand from somebody else than I do seeing it myself.

Not all one-stars are one-stars because they're blatant farms where the only dialogue is "u go kil now". I don't believe I've ever had the displeasure of playing one those as part of this project. This one-star is a one-star because it tried to do grand things and, from where I'm standing, failed spectacularly. (The other arc I've one-starred as part of the aggregator project is a prelude to a similar sweeping arc where you're trying to prevent a conjunction between this Earth and Praetoria and end up screwing it up THREE TIMES. To be fair I believe this is being corrected.)

Now, you and everybody else riding to your rescue in this thread are free to disagree with that. And lord knows I didn't spend the five hours it's taken me to write this post (and rewrite, and consider word choice, and reorder old points) going through this the first time.

But what I promised in the thread that you posted this arc in FOR review, was stream-of-consciousness commentary -- quick li'l notes that may not even be critical in nature and can be tangential or not as the mood strikes me -- with a summary at the end. Pretty much the opposite of this "objective" stuff I keep hearing about, though however much anybody wants to pretend they can give it, nobody can stop being human.

Besides, I have no idea how much somebody even cares or not about what the review has to say, so I'm not going to just spend five hours talking about one of the hundreds of thousands of player-created parts of an internet superhero game a priori. So here's your posteriori. Hope it helps.

(Gotta split this up, I think I'm bumping up against the character limit on posts.)

Recovering from what I thought was a scratchy throat but turned out to be knock-you-on-your-tail flu. Fortunately I'm sufficiently un-knocked to type coherently again.

Not cool with the white-knighting, dude who decided to go to bat for me.

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Ice/axe tanker. High 30s. Diff 2 for ~goodfights~.

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I'm curious how you were able to complete a level 45-50 content arc on a "High 30s Ice/axe tanker"?

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1) The MA does auto-SK. 2) Conserve Your Inspirations. 3) Even with the ally range bug, tanks are good at position control, which mitigates the ally range bug, and the dude is a wreckin' machine. 4) 40-50 gives you powers that are pretty much orthogonal to the ones you already have, especially for tanks. 5) But really, you can take "high-level" content a variable amount of time after you get your SOs, depending on the specific AT and power combinations, assuming you're SKed up to the appropriate level. See 1.

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Y'know, if every second counts shouldn't there be a timer?

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Possibly, but what would be the point of it? How would that improve the mission? The Rikti are invading, not just stopping by to shoot a few Longbow and then head back to their ship.

Just to add to this; timers (at least IMO) add an unneccessary means for failing a mission and breaking the immersion of a story. As a "reviewer", you should be knowledgeable of how the MA works and the limitations it has in the potential immersion problems with mission failures.

Should a timer expire before completion and the mission fails, you are shown the "Mission Fail Text". And yet when you receive the next mission from the contact, it would seem like you haven't failed and saved the day afterall.

When the MA allows for alternate story threads based on completion succesess or failure, then I might agree. This is something I personally take into consideration when running other player arcs. I do not hold the limitations of the MA against anyone.

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Fail text: Contact gives you after-action report. Mentions a "black box" from the Longbow defense computer that recorded the Crey virus. Maybe talks about the other hero group on the scene after the Longbow soldiers medicom out. Next mission proceeds with investigation of Crey, just like it would if you'd saved everyone and heard everything.

This isn't to say that you should impose ACTUAL time pressure. The timer could be long enough (like, hour or so is plenty of time) to get everything done in the mission, just to give the illusion of actual time pressure.

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Wow. That's a crowded objective bar. How much of that is actually mandatory?

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Why yes it is and all of it is mandatory. Again, the Rikti are invading the place. Would you not expect to see some wounded that needed tending to? Bombs that needed to be destroyed?

Second, you are the first to comment on this being "too much" to do. Other feedback I have received on this arc have all said they enjoyed these types of missions. The overwhelming majority of standard content is either defeat boss, defeat all, click objects etc. Most all people I know who either run player created arcs or create their own stories like the "flavor" the MA provides in this area. You can create/run content that is something different for a change.

I guess it is just a preference thing here. I don't feel that the amount of objectives is overdone in this mission.

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Oh, I don't mind there being a lot to do. But the mission is basically, what, spring 7 dudes break 4 bombs click 1 glowie? Giving half (round down) those 7 dudes their own little entry in the HUD just clutters it up. And by this I mean TINY TEXT RUNS TOGETHER. "4 bombs to destroy, restart defence grid, 7 captives to rescue". Or "6 captives to rescue, find Turbo Starr". 1/3 to 1/2 of the tiny text gone.

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Okay. I would like you to think about this:

Focused Senses boosts perception.

Quickness boosts run speed.

Rikti monkey gas makes allies flip out and run the hell away.

Put them all together and it's the amazing Two Rooms Away Man!


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First, I will clarify the ally is not a character of my own creation. He is the main character of a friend of mine on Triumph server. His powersets are exactly the same as my friends character.

Second, I understand fully how powers work and their effect in the MA when faced with things such as caltrops, mudpots, Rikti gas etc. I also see here that you do not understand how allies in the MA work. Focused Senses and Quickness have nothing to do with characters running off due to Rikti gas. Any ally of any powerset combination would do the same. Again, this is a limitation within the MA system itself. Personally, I find it immersive in other player created arcs I have tried to have allies that "run off" and do their own thing. It makes them more "real".

Third, I've run this arc on my tankers, scrappers, defender and blaster and had no real issues with him running "two rooms away". Sure, he may run out of range of the monkey gas (if any at all), but there is not much I can do about that... any custom character will do that. Again, as a "reviewer" of MA created content, you should be knowledgeable enough to understand it is a limitation of the MA system in general and outside the creator control.

Lastly, if as a tanker you are unable to control aggro sufficiently to keep all enemies focused on you (and thereby keeping allies within range), I don't know what to tell you. I invite you to either roll a toon or transfer one to Triumph server where I would be happy to run this again with you on one of my tankers. Perhaps you can learn how to properly and effectively manage aggro on a tanker.

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Well, they were small rooms, and I was near the exit of one of them. The gas panic makes NPCs bolt off in a non-player-controllable direction for X seconds, which is really a pain on fliers but also results in higher "flee range" on characters with buffed movement, and with his perception giving him more targets to lock onto he could (and did) bolt through a small room and see things in the room after it to DETH KICK.

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Guy, it's okay. Heroes can help heroes for no reason at all. I am not your damn relationship counselor, nor does this seem like an appropriate time.

This is going to end up being somebody else who thinks an appropriate memorial for a lost loved one is destroying everything else they ever loved, isn't it? I only ask because I've seen it twice and something's rubbing me the wrong way now.

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First, this whole part makes no sense to me. The title of the arc itself should give anyone a pretty clear indication there is something of a romantic aspect in the story. I question your ability to be an "objective" reviewer of any story content where you are already forming opinions on a given story based on others you have run before. It sounds to me here like you had already made your mind up at this point and did not pay any real attention to the remainder of the story. I'll come back to this again as you mentioned it later on in your review.

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Hahaha! "Objective"! That's a good one. Man, I triple-DOG dare you to go through life and not form opinions about things based on other things you've seen before. Can't be done.

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Second, the storyline required an introduction that these two characters have a history together. As the writer, I know these two characters, their story and history (and so do my friends on Triumph) but others don't. If I did not introduce this, the player who does not know these characters has no way of finding this out. He also does not ask for any kind of "relationship counseling", so I've no idea where that tangent thought comes from. The contact provides you with some backstory and history for these characters. This is not an uncommon thing in CoX (ie. Maticore and Sister Psyche) or in comics in general. I can cite you numerous examples from the various comic universes if you like.

Lastly, I wanted to have a reason why the contact seems to overlook some key things within the story. My intent was to have him somewhat blinded by his feelings as to not pay attention to certain things fully. I did not want him to come across as some idiot and leave the deciphering of clues and such to the player. Just my opinion here, but I do have a brain and do not find it necessary to have contacts for every mission spoon feed me everything.

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Because that's what love does, make you less capable as a person?

Look, I'm aware of comic romances in all their "my wife is either dead, all-powerful, or pure evil" glory. But the dude doesn't need to dump the entire sordid story on me, or even an abridged version. Just say "she's my... it's complicated. But I'm not going to let Crey use her as a lab animal. Are you with me?"

If the entire story is about a conspiracy blindsiding the contact, you can't expect the player to be aware of things the entire time and somehow not have it bleed over. Players don't have the option of saying "no" when a contact asks them to do something. They have to play along. Or if they're supposed to be clued-in while the contact is oblivious (say, they have no better way of figuring out what's going on than to follow the contact and see what happens to him) then a little internal monologue in the contact briefing can clear that up.

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As far as the map, at first glance it may seem odd and not appropriate, but as this is only the second mission and Arachnos do appear later in the 4th mission, I do not agree with the criticism of the map. I would understand it if Arachnos never appeared in the story at all, but since they do and Nemeis/Countess Crey are mentioning "alliances", I don't believe the map needs changing. At most, I may update the mission entry pop-up for this one to make mention of that "you find it curious that there is Arachnos tech here".

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If there was a patrol of Arachnos on the bottom floor wondering why (Recluse/a Patron/Dr. Aeon/Arbiter Somebody) was asking them to train Crey employees to use the monitoring gear, a lot would be forgiven.

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It should be fairly obvious to anyone who can read why the Crey may be in an Arachnos warehouse. Were you to paying attention to the dialogue of Nemesis and Countess Crey in this mission, you would have an idea why.

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Uh, the fourth mission posits that Arachnos are reluctant participants in this thing, having to be convinced to come over by Nosfy and some of the other boys from the old neighborhood. I mean, okay, maybe that's a different internal faction of Arachnos or something? But the time to worry about whether you should form an alliance with other people is BEFORE they've been in your covert base, not after.

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Yyyyyep. Look, man, three rules of heroing: Shoot Straight. Conserve Your Inspirations. Never, Never Take A Lead From Lord Nemesis.

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Again, Nemesis himself reveals nothing. It was a clue you found on him, and as I have said I will change this to something more suitable.

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Nemesis doesn't deal in coincidences, man. Anything you find a Nemesis duplicate carrying around, it WANTS to be carrying around.

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Carnies now. I guess we haven't gotten all the irritating psychic AVs out of the way.

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AVs are meant to be tough. It is just a preference, but I prefer a challenge as do most others I team with on a regular basis. Just as a suggestion, but when you read the mission details at the MA terminal and saw that each mission contains a Boss, perhaps you might consider teaming? I can solo this arc with no real difficulties on my tank. If the EBs/AVs are too much for you alone, find a team.

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"Irritating" and "hard" aren't the same thing. Diabolique is irritating because you can't hit her half the time and she likes to run away. Liberty Belt Miss Liberty when you don't have the Orestes Rifle is hard. (Custom EBs with the tier 9s in their respective defense sets are irritating - there is nothing I can productively do to them when Unstoppable/Instant Healing/Elude/Kuji-in-Whatever/Overload is up, so I just nip off and stare at a wall until I see 'em drop.)

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...okay, Lady Borgia would never say "yucky". More like "uncouth", and I don't believe there's a Freak who's ever couthed in his eventful little life.

Okay, look. Vanessa may be a party girl living in a party world, but that party world is Renaissance-era Italy. Even if she has her mind back at this point, and I have no idea if that's true or not, Giovanna Scaldi has been talking through her mouth for years now and that's not something you just give up.

[/ QUOTE ]

Again, more convoluted thought tangents that ignore the (very important) dialogue of the AV.

[/ QUOTE ]

"You broke a nail!" is not very important dialogue, I'm sorry. It dumps a load of bathos on whatever serious conspiracy stuff she was talking about before.

[ QUOTE ]
I am curious if you were able to understand that "something" was going on here and that it is clear enough through dialogue that it was important for Vanessa to be "shut up"? Also, did it not strike you as odd that the Omega Force Bots show up as well and they are of the same group from the "hero reinforcement" of the first mission?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not really. Given the noises of conspiracy I'd heard up until now it wouldn't seem odd to see Statesman and Baphomet high-fiving back at the entrance. I mean, you were riding the "everything you know is wrong" line pretty hard.

But if it was important to shut up Vanessa, why didn't any "cleaners" show up after I broke into the Crey/Nemesis meeting that gave me a lead to Vanessa? Or in the next two missions, come to think of it? I mean, I was there at the time too, they all saw me. How do they know I'm not a risk?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Suuuuure there are worse things than all the villains out there, Mr. Malta guy. Brainwashingparamilitaryorganizationthattriedtodes troyParagonCitywithagiantrobotsaysWHAT?

Malta are on the scale of "dudes you should trust" somewhere just very slightly above Nemesis. Their modus operandi is brainwashing and information warfare.

But we're going to trust them as well, aren't we? Yes, yes we are.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, you are. While the Malta are noted for secrets within secrets, brainwashing and all that other stuff, they did come to your aid.

[/ QUOTE ]

Like that means anything. How many heroes have the Malta started brainwashing by "coming to their aid in a moment of need" that they themselves created? I mean, Indigo (or was it Crimson? I talk to the other one so much I get confused) has you stop them from setting up one of those -- laying in wait to KO a rising star heroine and pinning her defeat and the subsequent loss of innocent life on some Skull patsies, then showing up to trust her once everyone else writes her off as a blowhard who can't help anyone.

And it doesn't exactly help the Malta's trustworthiness that they're on the same side as the silencer robots.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Look, my contact, you can't just throw half the Malta statement out as bull and take the other half of the statement at face value!

[/ QUOTE ]

Why not? At this point, it is the only lead you have. Also, this kind of thing happens numerous times throughout the game when you have dealt with traitors and turncoats. I personally have also seen this in many player created story arcs. It should not be alien to you.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just because a lot of people do it doesn't make it a good idea.

Especially in this case. I mean, this is a contact who had some random guy drop him a tip that led to arresting the HEADS of Nemesis and the Crey Corporation. I do not doubt his ability to procure worthy leads.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Arachnos... and the Council... in a 5th column base. This is turning into like MA Mad Libs at a distressing rate.

[/ QUOTE ]

The only piece here that I can agree with is it being a 5th column base. I suppose I do not need remind you of CoX lore in that the 5th Column was overthrown by the Council, so it is within the realm of possibility to anyone with knowledge of the game history that they have access to old 5th Column bases. I will not change the map, but I will update the text from the contact to make note that it is an old 5th facility the Council is still using.

[/ QUOTE ]

As far as I know the Council is still using ALL the old 5th column bases. They've just given everything a fresh coat of paint and replaced the banners.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Oh, it's THAT 5th column base. You should be advised, one of the boss locations is up a dozen flights of stairs on the catwalk overlooking the little "parade ground".

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I do understand how the map works. Again, while the spawn locations are unfortunate, this is something outside player control. I opted for a better story map than a standard warehouse or cave for this one. Not every Council map will work in terms of location spawns for what I wanted to happen in the story.

I will also add I've seen this base used by everything from Hellions to Rikti in other MA arcs.

[ QUOTE ]
GUESS WHERE NOSFY SPAWNS.

[/ QUOTE ]

When we as story arc creators are granted the ability to control where things spawn (other than Front, Middle or Back), I will agree with this. It should also be noted this is a random thing as 9 times out of 10 that I have run this arc with others, he spawns in other locations.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, look. The first time I ran an arc on this map ("Welcome to Architect Entertainment") it took me about 15 minutes of trying to find the boss on that map. I saw his dialogue balloon show up somewhere on the screen where there wasn't an obvious little pointy bit to denote his location, and figured he was somewhere stealthed or something.

The thing about that balcony boss position is that it's at a sufficiently restricted angle that TAB won't target anything up there if you're looking from the ground and your camera's in a neutral position. Maybe not even if you spin it up high, but I've never tested.

Now that I know where it is I can spin the camera to confirm that floating dialogue is coming from up there, but everybody who puts a boss fight in that room risks it being somebody's 15 minutes of fumbling around.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
...Bonedog. BONEDOG. That's a level 0 Skull functionary name. ...his description is his name. That's, uh, that's real helpful there.

[/ QUOTE ]

As with Turbo Starr, this is not a character I came up with. He is one of my friends villains. Also, he does have a bio which explains where he comes from. Did you not see it? If not, then he may be bugged. I will take a look at it this evening.

[ QUOTE ]
He's Thugs/Rad. I have no clue why.

[/ QUOTE ]

First, these are the sets my friend chose when making his villain. Second, why not?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I'd say his bio was bugged. It was, in its entirety, "Bonedog".

But I mean, this guy is supposed to be an important player in a giant conspiracy among high-test villains, but all I have to associate with him is his name.

And his name is Bonedog.

You can see where this might dump another flask of bathos on the waning embers of my give-a-care. (His powerset would probably make more sense if he actually had a bio.)

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Why hello there, Gang War. Or should I call you ENERGY ABSORB MAX.

Almost makes up for the rad debuff.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds to me that you had some trouble dealing with a difficult AV solo. This should not surprise you in the least as they are meant to be team content.

[/ QUOTE ]

What? Man, you're complaining about me going off on little details and you expect me to keep quiet when I've been curbstomped? As it is, there are these wonderful things called "inspirations", also this wonderful thing called "Hibernate". I did not die even once fighting anything in this arc.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So, alright. The guys coordinating every freakin' high-stakes villain group in possibly the world and planning something unknown, but probably evil, are named TORQUE and BONEDOG.

Those are names that you might expect to have some trouble breaking into a modestly well reinforced pawn shop.

[/ QUOTE ]

I disagree with you entirely on the naming.

[/ QUOTE ]

"Torque and Bonedog Destroy the Universe." Gripping sci-fi epic, or stoner film? Me, I say "stoner film".

I mean, okay, you've got a history with these guys that you've developed, and in that context those are dreadful words. But all I have to go on are their names, and I just can't take them seriously.

[ QUOTE ]
I also see that you completely missed Nosferatu's dialogue just before you defeated him. You pretty clearly get the indiciation that Torque Starr and the Red Hand are not the ones "pulling the strings"... they are joining up with the other villain factions just like everyone else.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nosfy says something about how Bonedog's, what, a messenger back to somebody else? I generally assume that subordinates are reporting to their superiors, so even if the Red Hand isn't alpha in this conspiramajig they're at least higher in the food chain than everyone else, who have been loosely laterally connected so far.

Tonight's arc - The Hero Who Loved Me (232417). Verdict - *. Review on MA Forums Thread.

@GlaziusF

Ice/axe tanker. High 30s. Diff 2 for ~goodfights~.

---

Us, huh? Okay, buddy, let's see if you actually show on the ground.

Y'know, if every second counts shouldn't there be a timer?

Wow. That's a crowded objective bar. How much of that is actually mandatory?

Well, what do you know, he actually showed up. Alright, let's kick some -- oh man. Ohhhhh man. Okay. I would like you to think about this:

Focused Senses boosts perception.

Quickness boosts run speed.

Rikti monkey gas makes allies flip out and run the hell away.

Put them all together and it's the amazing Two Rooms Away Man!

I hope I can fly solo for a bit later on.

Also, the Longbow in charge of the base is an ordinary minigunner. Was that intended?

Wow, looks like they were all required. I'm not really sure what you can do to collapse everything - maybe lump all the rescues together?

---

Make up your mind whether the contact spells out his contractions or not. "I have" -> "she has not" -> "I've" -> me going "whuh?"

Guy, it's okay. Heroes can help heroes for no reason at all. I am not your damn relationship counselor, nor does this seem like an appropriate time.

This is going to end up being somebody else who thinks an appropriate memorial for a lost loved one is destroying everything else they ever loved, isn't it? I only ask because I've seen it twice and something's rubbing me the wrong way now.

...wow, if this was actually a Crey plan, there are just so many ways for it to fail. In the middle of a Rikti invasion, deliberately take out one base's defenses and hope that out of all the chaos one particular hero shows up?

Nothing really interesting on the top floor, wonder what's through the secret elevator...

Oh, peachy. He Who Must Be Blamed?

So Countess Crey and Nemesis walk into a covert Arachnos base. Countess Crey says "Is that a USB drive in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"

Nemesis isn't some Republic serial villain. He'll only tell you what his plan is if he's pulled it off sometime in the past three dozen minutes or so. So why do I have a feeling that the anachronistic clue Big Brass dropped is going to turn into a lead?

Yyyyyep. Look, man, three rules of heroing: Shoot Straight. Conserve Your Inspirations. Never, Never Take A Lead From Lord Nemesis.

---

Carnies now. I guess we haven't gotten all the irritating psychic AVs out of the way.

...okay, Lady Borgia would never say "yucky". More like "uncouth", and I don't believe there's a Freak who's ever couthed in his eventful little life.

Okay, look. Vanessa may be a party girl living in a party world, but that party world is Renaissance-era Italy. Even if she has her mind back at this point, and I have no idea if that's true or not, Giovanna Scaldi has been talking through her mouth for years now and that's not something you just give up.

Agh Malta! Agh Sappers! Agh... they're not firing at me. Um...

Okay, random run-in from the defense force of... the same supergroup Fanboy in the first mission was from. That's not disturbing at all.

Suuuuure there are worse things than all the villains out there, Mr. Malta guy. Brainwashingparamilitaryorganizationthattriedtodes troyParagonCitywithagiantrobotsaysWHAT?

Malta are on the scale of "dudes you should trust" somewhere just very slightly above Nemesis. Their modus operandi is brainwashing and information warfare.

But we're going to trust them as well, aren't we? Yes, yes we are.

---

Look, my contact, you can't just throw half the Malta statement out as bull and take the other half of the statement at face value!

Arachnos... and the Council... in a 5th column base. This is turning into like MA Mad Libs at a distressing rate.

Oh, it's THAT 5th column base. You should be advised, one of the boss locations is up a dozen flights of stairs on the catwalk overlooking the little "parade ground".

GUESS WHERE NOSFY SPAWNS.

...Bonedog. BONEDOG. That's a level 0 Skull functionary name. ...his description is his name. That's, uh, that's real helpful there.

He's Thugs/Rad. I have no clue why.

Why hello there, Gang War. Or should I call you ENERGY ABSORB MAX.

Almost makes up for the rad debuff.

So, alright. The guys coordinating every freakin' high-stakes villain group in possibly the world and planning something unknown, but probably evil, are named TORQUE and BONEDOG.

Those are names that you might expect to have some trouble breaking into a modestly well reinforced pawn shop.

---

Yeah, uh, mind cluing me in on your relationship to this guy, my contact? This guy who shares your last name? Is he like your evil duplicate from another dimension or a clone that got all uppity or perhaps your former auto mechanic grandfather?

No timer on the mission. It's probably already too late.

...it's an Arachnos base, intro text, but given that people can't make SG bases in MA I guess I can forgive it. But... how is this a heroic rescue? It's some guy's girlfriend from another guy who hates him. This is like, 80's teen movie rescue at best.

Okay, descriptive text, I can guess they're loyal minions of the faction they're described as being from. Anything else you want to tell me? No? Okay then.

So. Rescue over... an emp/rad AV? Ooookay. Looks like an ordinary EB out there, and given that she's boosting her boyfriend I decide to just walk away for a drink of water, and the fight's over when I get back.

I check the guy's info before he fades away, and yep, Praetorian Contact.

Oh good, I'm doubting someone as a result of all this. It's... the guy from Freedom Corps. Because apparently it was completely impossible for Crey to change their mimic-Rikti virus to bypass existing protections.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT.

With all the dubious links in the chain of events leading up to the final mission, I doubt THE FIRST ONE? That's like marking Charlie Chaplin down in a Charlie Chaplin lookalike contest where the other entries are a broom, a block of gelatin, and a small silver bowl full of pudding!

Oh, and my contact's getting married. THIS won't end horribly.

----

Storyline - *. So... every villain group and perhaps some hero groups are teaming up to... to... Gaw, I don't know, put on the veryest specialest episode of "This is Your Life" for Statesman? I follow quite possibly the least probable chain of clues ever to get to the end of this all... and why was I even here again? My MA/SR ally could probably just solo all of this stuff himself if it wasn't for the persistent ally range issues.

Design - *. The secret Arachnos warehouse and the 5th Column's Last Stand maps don't really fit the groups you put on them much, if at all. Vanessa for some reason shows up not very far into the abandoned warehouse map, leaving about half of it completely pointless.

Gameplay - ***. Even when the Rikti monkey gas wasn't making him cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, my ally still loved to run ahead and slaughter everything. And the "final battle" was over in a handful of seconds without me even having to do anything. Not the fifteen minutes of sweaty-palmed button-mashing action I was expecting.

Detail - **. I have real trouble believing Torque and Bonedog as global-level threats, if that wasn't already clear. The rather anemic descriptions on the enemy group minions and lieutenants seem rather out of place, compared to the lavish bios that my contact and his Praetorian self manage.

Overall - *. As a setup for a larger arc this actually seems completely unnecessary. I mean, I come out the other end knowing pretty much nothing more than when I went in. You've heard of "in medias res", right? Starting a story in the middle? Really I think there'd be a lot to gain from like a hero getting a wedding invitation and showing up to find the place a mess and the "bride" hovering in the air surrounded by a malevolent energy aura saying "FOOL! How could you not recognize I, the malificent Rats E. Daj? My weakling reflection from your world is nothing more than a battery for our Omnivoid Ripper now, and there's nothing you can do to stop us from DESTROYING TIME AND/OR SPACE!"

Or, y'know, whatever you had planned for the future of all of this. I've got no idea what the shape is of things to come. And if this is a prequel of sorts, shouldn't I?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Some of the high-level bosses (though not ones that generally show up in spawns) are actually spirits themselves, the It's-Pronounced-Banshees.

Contradicting the game canon for purposes of extending it is kinda like extending a space station by ramming a cruiser into it. The stability of the "new construction" is, to say the least, compromised, and the old construction isn't exactly reinforced in the process either.


[/ QUOTE ]
I haven't seen any reference to MacComber or any of the others being referred to as Spirits or banshees. Sorry, but I haven't violated any canon, at least not by my interpretation of what I've played.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bean Sidhe (sp?) are actual Cabal bosses. I don't believe they're in the random spawner, so they don't show up in the big throwdown with Mary MacComber, but if you play Gordon Bower's arc one or two show up as optional named bosses. They're transparent, have all the powers you'd expect from a banshee, and are to all appearances full members of the Cabal.

[ QUOTE ]
[W]hile you're entitled to your point of view about game canon, 2 starring an arc because it doesnt suit your interpretation is a bit overkill. I'll make a few text changes per your feedback, but major changes to the plot - not happening.

[/ QUOTE ]

This thing called an objective review, I've only seen drawings of it in some of the less reputable newspapers. I try and outline the thought process behind the ratings. You're free to agree or not, call them unreasonable or not, but I honestly believe that you hung the entire story on something that just couldn't happen, and that ruined the arc for me. I can't just say, "well, what if I didn't care about how well this part of the story worked", any more than I can say "well, what if I didn't care about how well the maps fit the story" or "well, what if I didn't care about running back from the hospital teleporter four times per spawn" or "well, what if I didn't care about the entire thing being written in something more suggestive of a cat walking across the keyboard than actual English".

The arc's yours to do with as you will, and it seems to be a proud member of the Four-Star Club of Not Complete Horribleness. It may even go to 5 stars once they peel off all the zeroes. Obviously it's working for a lot of people. I'm just not one of them.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

The wisps are really just kind of annoying since they do that swarm thing where they tag you for 5 seconds then run far away.


[/ QUOTE ]
There for atmosphere... I'd set them to neutral if that was an option. Unless you have a taunt aura, they will usually leave you alone after a few seconds if you bypass them.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have TWO taunt auras!

But seriously, I did just ignore them after a while since unlike the DE swarms they don't actually do anything other than piddly damage. It wasn't a serious complaint.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

I can buy the weird splinter sect breaking the treaty, but, uh...
The Cabal want a next generation.
Like, really want.
Like, there's exactly one member of it right now and they keep her dead center in a sacred grove.


[/ QUOTE ]
No clue what you're talking about. Katie H is not the sole member of the Cabal.


[/ QUOTE ]

"It" referring to the next generation, not the Cabal. She is the only child.

Not in the way that the two Pennys are the only children in Paragon City, the actual only child. That's why springing her spirit at the end of the KHTF is so vitally important, she's all the Cabal have in the way of hope for the future.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

...the many holes? The many holes in what? Though the graveyard is definitely henged out from the rest of reality, so there's that for it.


[/ QUOTE ]
You lost me.


[/ QUOTE ]

Something about "placing the amulet into one of the many holes" and that this would be a safe place for it. I thought it meant, like, holes in some monument in the graveyard, but it was actually the teddy, wasn't it? Except leaving it in the care of the ghost child isn't a safe place since the Red Caps already made off with the dang thing once.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Storyline - *. This is a solid, internally consistent story that is entirely, entirely wrong. The Cabal are immortal prisoners of Croatoa, much as the Fir Bolg, Tuatha, and Croatoa Ghosts are. They were just powerful enough for the Red Caps not to twist their bodies into something monstrous. If somebody "left the Cabal" to live a normal life, raise a family, bear a child, the Cabal might be hunting her down, but only so they could ask "HOW DID YOU DO THIS THING AND WHEN CAN I".


[/ QUOTE ]
Edit: Given their long war with the Red Caps, I could see them getting angry with someone leaving.


[/ QUOTE ]

Given that the Red Caps have no particular aversion to tormenting the civilian populace of Salamanca, and that their aggression against the Cabal is by all appearances entirely voluntary, "leaving the Cabal" is tantamount to "leaving the pirates" when you're on a ship in the middle of shark-infested waters.

That's secondary to the whole "actually living a normal life" objection, but I let it pass mostly because the Red Caps are in it for the lulz and a year is like "guys I took a long nap how many years was I out" to them.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Overall - **. Not an average in this case. It's an arc that uses the imagery of Croatoa extensively but doesn't have much regard for the history of it as presented in-game.


[/ QUOTE ]
Guess you're not one for extending the game canon. The possibility of part of the Cabal becomine corrupt is very possible IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, yeah. We've seen a mystic group under siege by a relentless enemy turn to darker arts and strike a Faustian bargain for their survival. Or rather, we see the aftermath all the dang quicksand-lobbing lethal-resisting Chill-of-the-Night-running Behemoth-summoning time.

But their actual process is something we can't get a window into, at least not one that allows for intervention. Exploring the Cabal's progress down that path is certainly a worthwhile effort.

The particular flavor of necromancy you use is just kinda doing it wrong, though, because the Cabal are as physically immortal as the Tuatha and Fir Bolg -- they're only in danger if someone takes a sledge to their spirits. Some of the high-level bosses (though not ones that generally show up in spawns) are actually spirits themselves, the It's-Pronounced-Banshees.

Contradicting the game canon for purposes of extending it is kinda like extending a space station by ramming a cruiser into it. The stability of the "new construction" is, to say the least, compromised, and the old construction isn't exactly reinforced in the process either.

Tonight's arc - Tales of Croatoa: A Rose by Any Other Name (178774). Verdict - **. Review in MA Forums Thread.

@GlaziusF

Running this on a high 30s ice/axe tanker, diff 2 so I get real boss fights.

---

...yeah, thanks for looking innocent, briefing. I'm probably going to get torn in half by a giant mutated monster-man, or maybe that's too much Lovecraft.

ANYWAY. Spelunking.

Thanks, intro text. For a second I thought it was those other guys in Croatoa with pointy hats that like messing with people.

Hmm. Those opening caves seemed awfully empty. Surely that doesn't foreshadow any crazy consequences from opening this chest.

Huh. Actually it doesn't.

The wisps are really just kind of annoying since they do that swarm thing where they tag you for 5 seconds then run far away.

The boss and the destructible would both benefit from some custom descriptions, I think.

---

Still waiting for the other shoe to drop. I've read wayyyyyy too much horror. Well, let's see what's up in this new place.

Yep, dead warehouse.

I guess Croatoa Ghosts don't go high enough? (bet you're looking forward to editing enemy descriptions, huh?)

Kind of annoying to fight these guys on a melee character since they don't close to combat, but whatever.

Amusing bit of randomness: the corkboard containing the last words of a dying someone was parked on top of a three-tier cargo shelf. I can just imagine what that must have been like.

---

...yeah, showing up to visit an old friend of a family that got massacred and bringing a former memento that stinks of Red Cap. THAT's not going to put the wrong face on things.

Oh my god! This is the first blue/red cave map I have ever seen since I started playing AE!

No, seriously.

...uh, okay, custom mobs. I guess that's an alternate to a Baen Sidhe, maybe.

...what the heck you saying, pumpkin heads? You WERE all human once. The Redcaps turned you into pumpkin-men. I see you topside trying to remember and lamenting your fate all the ding-dang time.

I can buy the weird splinter sect breaking the treaty, but, uh...

The Cabal want a next generation.

Like, really want.

Like, there's exactly one member of it right now and they keep her dead center in a sacred grove.

This had better be some damn important motivation to cut the next generation in half. Unless the ghost kid was like adopted or something.

...the many holes? The many holes in what? Though the graveyard is definitely henged out from the rest of reality, so there's that for it.

---

Callous disregard for life. Okay, now I know I've stepped into some weird alternate universe. Mayor Bower doesn't even think they're a major problem, aside from the whole "really want a next generation" thing, and the one time you seriously go up against them it's because someone better than them at magic knows about the side effects of a spell they're going to try.

Last destructible needs some particle effects around it to pick it out from the rest.

Yeah, okay, enhanced interrogation, whatever.

---

So. Custom boss or stock fight?

Wow. Abandoned office. Not the arena I was expecting.

You know what's hilarious? Imagining a Streng trying to use an elevator.

Ah, now this is something of an arena, at least.

Custom! Darkity/dark dark. With, judging by the defeat clue, Doggerel Mastery.

---

Storyline - *. This is a solid, internally consistent story that is entirely, entirely wrong. The Cabal are immortal prisoners of Croatoa, much as the Fir Bolg, Tuatha, and Croatoa Ghosts are. They were just powerful enough for the Red Caps not to twist their bodies into something monstrous. If somebody "left the Cabal" to live a normal life, raise a family, bear a child, the Cabal might be hunting her down, but only so they could ask "HOW DID YOU DO THIS THING AND WHEN CAN I".

Design - ****. When I think of the customs pretty much the only thing that comes to mind is "black blob with glowing eyes". The Cabal rank and file wear black already. Maybe you could get by with a nice storm grey or something, which the occasional bit of black detailing?

Gameplay - ****. With an EB and a boss in tow the final boss was hardly a challenge. I hardly did any damage to her because of DN and the occasional blast that landed, but the bosses staying at range and blasting mowed her down right quick. Bit of an anticlimax really. Also the second and third maps had a lot of empty space to them.

Detail - ****. Decent effort to making everything fit together as a whole. Most things that take a custom description have descriptive, if modest, infoboxes.

Overall - **. Not an average in this case. It's an arc that uses the imagery of Croatoa extensively but doesn't have much regard for the history of it as presented in-game.

@GlaziusF

Reviewing on a high-30s ice/axe tank, diff 2 so bosses is bosses.

DISCLAIMER - seriously, check out this guy's other stuff, it's top tier.

---

...yeah. Right from the start I can tell we're in for one hell of a ride. Go go pop history!

In the 28th century, has Fishcake Ninja And Friends even finished yet? Signs point to no.

Oh. So this is canonically messed up. Alright, let's have a look around.

My, that's convenient. Okay, let's see what's inside this thing.

Oh, it's that guy who broke that rock.

And then I see the captive, and the enemy faction.

Oh dear god.

The last room is about four separate kinds of hilariously wrong.

Okay Laz. I'm on board. This is gonna rock.

---

...yeah. I really really want to hear what the boss of this next mission says as he's whittled down.

Wow. What are these things I have to destroy? I don't think I've ever seen them before.

Also, all these lesser dictators look like Mikes to me. Do they look like Mikes to you, or more like Vegas?

Aw. No sendup of the final speech of The Great Dictator? I guess you're going to be really tight on space here, but even so.

These transmissions from Lazarus are completely hilarious. Nice lampshade hanging there. No, seriously, I love it.

---

I... I just...

My mouth has been frozen open in a big grin.

THERE ARE NO WORDS.

And then I see the boss of this custom faction. I think I'm going to choke laughing.

...the debrief just makes it. It just makes it.

---

But all good things must come to an end. And so must this.

I want to get to the end of one of these glowies just to see what happens.

Aw. I was hoping for like a crappy souvenir from the future or something. for actually participating in this interactive fundutainment.

Ah well, no big loss.

A genuine description? Wait, this can't really be--

Yes. Yes, it can. It's actually kind of sad. Sad touching and sad pathetic.

---

Storyline - *****. Never before have so many things been so wrong, yet been so funny.

Design - *****. If you don't laugh at at least one of the custom mobs in this thing then you are tired of life.

Gameplay - *****. Even on the maps where it'd ordinarily be a pain to find something, bright colorful particle effects light the way.

Detail - *****. Read the descriptions. Seriously. Read them all. The more you know already, the funnier they'll get.

Overall - *****. All it really needs is the ninja'storm mastermind who founded the museum writing himself into history to cause asphyxiation-related fatalities.

Tonight's leadoff was going to be the Trifecta Task Force, but it's not up on CoHMR yet. Read the first post, people!

Tonight's actual leadoff is The History Of Statesman (219484). Verdict - *****. Review in MA Forums Thread.

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To pull one major serious classic out, I'm surprised no one has mentioned The Ballad of Lost C'Mell (1962) yet.
...
When comic books latched onto the "person with the proportional abilities of an animal" meme, cats were immediately obvious. Catwoman appeared in Batman #1 (1940)

[/ QUOTE ]Neko Musume appeared in GeGeGe no Kitaro, which was first printed in 1959


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They're just a bit older than that.

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Last I heard, they tried and ended up making it WORSE.

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They hit some bugs initially (could not place objects on certain walls,) but AFAIK the problems have generally been dealt with. Having a little more freedom to place things can be useful...

That said, the base editor needs a revamp, badly. A storage area so you can temporarily move items without deleting them (in the case of storage and crafted items like teleporters) for one. I've got a bit of a list as far as what I'd like to see for bases.

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Yeah, there's a whole ton more freedom with where stuff can be placed. There are some problems with stuff hanging on walls and extending into "empty space" but it boils down to there having to be SOME kind of attach point on an actual wall.

Plots are so much cheaper and there's so much that can be done I get kinda paralyzed by the possibilities at times.

I'd like to see your list, see if it's the same as mine. (as far as storage I just stick a room in an unused part of the plot and cram everything into there)

@GlaziusF

Running on a high 30s ice/axe brute, diff 2 so bosses is bosses.

---

Look, we both know the only thing sensei's worried about is not getting cut in on this.

Or, yes, okay, she's got a loan out from the "shoot out your kneecaps" type of creditors.

Hmm. Okay, you know what, I'm just going to jump to the statblock here, that's where the discussion's going to happen.

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Storyline - **. And here's why. If I take this at face value, there's apparently some Mad Hatter out there who's sending kids into the line of fire and playing with their minds, and I want to feed him my axe, plasma end first. This is probably exactly the wrong thing that you want me to think.

Y'know what'd work better for me as a framing device? "Yeah, uh... they're my class from Ziggursky Reform School. I probably should have mentioned that, huh?"

Design - ****. Yep, that was definitely a bank. It's kinda hard to make out details on min-height customs but I guess everything was alright? (maybe I shouldn't have run on a max height tanker)

Gameplay - *****. Customs not wreckin' hard. Total Focus was the only thing that brought me low on HP but coincidentally I was going into Hibernate at the time so it just healed up.

Detail - ***. Most of this is for how the storyline basically took this terrible dark turn because of a few incidental lines.

Overall - ***. I won't say something as simple as "there was an obvious way to do this well and you didn't do it". AzuDai is at least two-thirds about how its cast play off each other, which is something that just isn't available to you in the tools MA has to offer.

Today's leadoff mission: Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day, Kids! (2019). Verdict: ***. Review in MA Forums Thread.
Today's random mission: Enter the Father Hat Gang (21391). Verdict: ***. Review below in this thread.

@GlaziusF

Running on a level 39 ice/axe brute, diff 2 so boss is boss is boss is eatin' some dang sunflower seeds.

—

Hmm. Okay, according to the thread you were going for more of a villainside TV contact, but the thing with TV is that it keeps the illusion up through the sendoff text.

Looks like Nemesis is trying to live forever on the tiny screen, again. And I found a DVD! …and somehow I can read DVDs well enough to see what’s on it.

Hey, Mr. Boss. Can’t you be carrying around a Nemesis rifle?

So uh, for a mission where I was supposed to be investigating, that was remarkably light on clues. Just a DVD and a little “you’re too late” rant from the boss.

—

TV doesn’t care! TV has its script!

TV really needs to keep up the current mission’s framing device whenever you interact with it!

Heh. Nice replacement.

Hey lan-lan-lancer, it's spelled "government".

...well, hello steampunk maceman robot. What are you doing here?

Seriously, what are you doing here? No dialogue from you.

Also no dialogue from the sidekick when you show up and the freaks have her.

And... no dialogue that matters from the boss. Why exactly was I breaking his face again?

Also aside from the maceman robot that I could have just ignored, the big bad was his own villain group and never mentioned anything like an "injustice legion".

Oh, the clue. Alright. That's fair.

---

Another interesting setup from our friend the TV, but no followup with the accept or bug text.

Well, no wonder the kid got captured by Freakshow, she's got hardcore ice powers.

Kind of a grody place for a villain base, but I guess personal hygeine is optional.

I appreciate the swarming customs. Makes firing off EA easier. It'd be nice if there were like patrolling robots or boss fights set up to be defenses or something.

...it'd also be nice if the boss didn't spawn in right the heck on top of me, but that's probably just the random being random.

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Well! Seems like the sidekick snapped. I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when she went back to the studio and tried to report on this whole mess.

Maybe she could rant about it.

...unless she was like a TV duplicate or something in that base. I don't know why the question mark was there.

Not sure what kind of order you wanted people to show up in, but I fought the boss that spawned Blappy in a little comms room and had to backtrack.

Okay, so this was actually a weird mutant power at work and not just TV being the creepy idol-worshipper it tends to be. I... honestly I would like to have seen more of that.

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Storyline - ***. You know, it doesn't really seem like there WAS much of one, up until the last mission. TV is canonically some weird paranormal force that can project "as seen on TV" personalities into the real world, and Blappy is apparently attempting to do evil but wackily thwarted by entirely too much trust. "Stick 'em up!" "Oh, Blappy, you're so funny! What charity are you collecting for now? Here you go, dear." But there are three missions of basically go-here-click-this-fight-this padding that don't say anything about any of this. I'm not even sure I'm not making up As Seen On TV Bright Angel.

...you know what'd be awesome? If TV wanted to replace Blappy with a helpful, laughing As Seen On TV Blappy (since there's such a thing as too much bad publicity) and manipulated things so you acted as its hit man or something.

Design - ***. The customs are great, but I'd like a little lip-service paid as to why I'm running around an abandoned warehouse and an old 5th Column base. Maybe some incidental base details, file cabinets to wreck, security bot patrols, SOMETHING.

Gameplay - *****. Now that I'm not getting chain-ganked by purple snake assassins, it plays pretty smooth.

Detail - ***. "The voice of TV" only shows up in the initial briefings and one debriefing. It needs a little more air-time. And the player-style personal bios on the Injustice Legion are a little out of place with the objective bios on their lower ranks.

Overall - ***. There's an interesting idea here. I just wish the arc had sold it a little more.

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Getting pounded by six copies of the same identical battle dialogue, all of which also assumes I'm there to kick things off, kinda gets repetitive when I zone in or go up a floor.

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As far as I can tell, that's a bug- I have occasionally had the triggers work correctly, although it's the exception, not the rule. I'm a bit reluctant to rewrite all the dialogue to suit a glitch.


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The triggers have never worked "correctly" for me. Not once. There's nothing wrong with coding for the system as it is, instead of the system as you wish it was.

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and I think they even manage to push the boss fights in the last two missions out of the rooms where they "should" happen. I fought all four bosses inside the little twisty tunnels in the last map, not the big open rooms.

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That's... well, not 'working as intended', really, but it doesn't seem to be a bug or anything, that's just where their spawn points seem to show up. Not sure why. ("You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike")

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I think you can give the boss fights priority by ordering them higher in the list of objectives. 's why I said that.

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The main "challenge" here is keeping up enough endurance to fire off the attacks to whittle down EB hit points. I don't see why you can't just make 'em bosses, with maybe just the Bonemason as an EB. Running out of gas in general is something that does happen a lot before 20, but the giant walls of hit points make it a little worse.

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Thus "Challenge Level 1 Recommended" in the intro text. I didn't really intend for anybody but the named guys to be bosses in this, and the majority of people (at least, that *I've* dealt with) don't seem to play on higher difficulties until later-game, so I designed towards that.

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I can actually usually handle diff 2 or 3 pretty early on, depending on whether the AT suits itself to locking down a small number or blowing up a large number. Making them bosses will ensure you don't get a giant unexpected meatwall when a friend tags along to play, among other things.

@GlaziusF

Playing on an ice/axe tanker, getting exed down, diff 2 so bosses is bosses.

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The battles are raging as soon as I enter the door.

Standard Battle Disclaimer - heroes don't actually have to be present for any given battle to start. Using text that assumes they're there doesn't fit.

Plenty of superadine labs to wreck, but the cops can take care of that. (also for whatever weird reason, only one is actually glowing and buffing end)

Hmm. Identical battles show up on the second floor. Really I'd only want one battle saying a thing on a map and silent ones for the rest of them.

Ah, and there's what I'm looking for. It's kinda odd how I'm supposed to go in to break up a battle but all I do is frob a glowie and the mission completes?

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Briefing for mission 2, "addresses" should have two Ds.

More battles assuming a hero is in there to break things up.

...ha! Man, these battles are so close to each other the Trolls are juts hauling off and wrecking each other. Don't know how exactly or if you can code things to fix that.

Oh. Hey, foggy man. You're an Elite Boss. I think I'll just let you keep wailing on those Trolls. Interesting description, but I wonder how the Skulls keep him from wrecking THEM too.

Oh. So I DO have to fight you.

Y'know, in the first mission with the Envoy of Shadows heroes didn't have to fight him. Just tossing that out there.

Maybe you could obfuscate this guy's description the first fight with him? The debriefing makes it sound like you're supposed to have Babs tell you who the guy was.

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Ah, a solo ally. They'll say their "you found me" text as soon as you walk in the door, which doesn't make a lot of sense given that this guy was down a giant winding stretch of tunnel when I found him.

Hmm! Sounds like the Circle are also terrified of this ghost.

...igneous? What? Wonder what they're doing here.

Ah. They're attendants. No clue who this yahoo is supposed to be. Guess the Circle actually weren't worried about getting ghostpunked.

Also since the mage said "he's coming for you" I was kinda expecting the boss fight toward the beginning of the map rather than at the end. Ah well, only a little wandering.

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You know, Babsy. If Numina actually created anti-undead wards maybe they'd be useful against the terrible undead things I'm fighting right the hell now.

AGH! Beseiged by dialogue as soon as I enter. Let me see if I can make some SENSE out of this...

Okay, head back to the graveyard and...

Oh.

Hello, boss fight two blocks from the graveyard.

Yeah, confuse is a pain, isn't it? Fortunately I manage to take her down with a minimum of effort.

Though again, the boss seems like somebody who Babs should have to introduce to me and therefore should lack a bio.

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You know, given that I've been fighting Skull bosses when the battles get large enough these past couple of missions, I think I can handle a few more. Why the warning shot, Babs?

It's kind of a shame that the bosses get tripped by the occasional battle, it seems like their opening rants might be pretty interesting.

Oh. Seems like it's not just Skull bosses. Alright then!

Hmm. Bonemason is really just like Baron von Germanoff, Round 2. Same power selections and everything. I'd expect him to be at least a little different. Have dark armor or something.

Ah, and you've run into the old singular/plural bug. When collecting a bunch of singular objectives under a plural umbrella, the one that shows up when you're down to the last one is... man, I can't remember if it's the first one or the last one or a random one, but most of the time it's not going to be the actual last thing the player has to do.

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Storyline - ****. That little throwaway line about Numina making anti-undead devices gets under the skin like a burr, as does BAB's little bit where he takes himself out of the action. I mean, why NOT have him in to prevent part of the city from getting totally wrecked? Heck, in I15 you can even get him to auto-scale down to a mission level but right now you could make a mockup of him and explain away the differences as limiters to prevent the caves from collapsing.

Design - ***. Getting pounded by six copies of the same identical battle dialogue, all of which also assumes I'm there to kick things off, kinda gets repetitive when I zone in or go up a floor. A lot of the boss encounters also get set off early when the battles range too close to them, and I think they even manage to push the boss fights in the last two missions out of the rooms where they "should" happen. I fought all four bosses inside the little twisty tunnels in the last map, not the big open rooms.

Gameplay - ****. The main "challenge" here is keeping up enough endurance to fire off the attacks to whittle down EB hit points. I don't see why you can't just make 'em bosses, with maybe just the Bonemason as an EB. Running out of gas in general is something that does happen a lot before 20, but the giant walls of hit points make it a little worse.

Detail - *****. No complaints here. Everything's in its place and working fine.

Overall - ****. A pretty worthy lowbie Skull-to-Troll transition arc, brought down a bit by Babs bending over backwards to not show up and way too many battles crowding out other objectives and filling up the NPC dialogue window.

Today's leadoff mission: Trollbane (106553). Verdict: ****. Review below in this thread.

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Thanks for the review!
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Storyline - ***. Germany stomps on people despite having its leader absent most of the time? I wonder if it might work better the other way 'round - showing up at key battles to swing them for the Germans, then when Herr Painter is at the victory celebration, clout him in the back of the head and lead the resulting amalgamation as the legendary heroes of the war.

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I'm not really sure I understand your objection to the story? Are you saying the player should be more involved in the day-to-day management of the Third Reich? Germany actually had excellent generals overall, and it's a common belief that Hitler's erratic micromanagement was a contributor to losing the war.

I'm not sure your suggestion of moving the assassination of Hitler to be the last mission makes as much dramatic sense as finishing with the invasion of America. I feel like giving the player ownership of the war early on gives them more motivation to actually win the battles, while being Hitler's lackey probably would be demotivating.

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I can see I didn't get that across well, probably because of the late hour. Okay, here's the revised version: SF plans to paint you as "the mysterious savior of the Reich", you pull the German Army out of the scrapes Hitler's cranial-rectal inversions get them into, and then when he's celebrating the victory, you storm in, chop him into Hilterwurst, and use that reputation to seize the reins of the global German empire.

It doesn't seem quite right that leaving a giant power vacuum at the top because the new guy in charge spends all his time in the future actually results in a _more_ stable organization. The current sequence of events might work well enough if SF said she was staying behind as your adjutant representative or whatever.

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Design - ****. The russian soldiers need something obvious to distinguish them from the commissars. They all looked like a bunch of dudes in shoulderpads. Similarly the Frenchies looked like a bunch of dudes in blue coveralls. And... Red Atlas. I do hate Red Atlas so very much.

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While all Russians share the same color scheme, they actually do have different costumes; commissars actually have dress shirts and officer hats, while the regular troopers have long coats and a sorta cylindrical cap. Likewise the French lieutenants have dress shirts and slacks while the regular soldiers have combat vests and fatigues.

I kinda think each nationality should use the color scheme of their national uniform, so I'm hesitant to change their colors to make them stand out. I'm kinda hoping that the different name, different rank, and different costume pieces will be sufficient to distinguish them. Is there something else you'd suggest adding?

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Officers get epaulets. Soldiers don't. I don't fight with the camera close enough to make out differences in a texture pattern that starts out with solid colors, but I can definitely tell who has things on their shoulders and who doesn't at a glance.

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Regarding Red Atlas, I'd love to use a normal colored Atlas Park, but there are only three Atlas Park maps: the one that doesnt let you author any mission details of note, the one that has a gigantic meteorite impact on it, and the ruined Atlas Park map with Council war machines and broken tanks on it. I agree that the lack of a map and the broken terrain are not ideal, but the other two Atlas maps seem even worse to me. Is there another map you think would be more suitable for the Invasion America mission?

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Maybe we could fight out on the beaches? (Eleusis map)

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Gameplay - ***. So ally-losing blindly-wandering frantic-tabbing objective-hunt-and-pecking much. It's a huge buzzkill trying to find the, what, four things on that map I have to do and leading allies around to fight the same dudes over and over again.

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What do you think I can do to improve this? Happy to entertain suggestions. I don't think players would accept making them "Defeat All" but reducing the number of objectives still leaves people stealthing around looking for just the objectives they need. I kinda feel that the battle scenes need to be on an outdoor map, so I am not sure I can make the maps smaller and have the missions still make sense.

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Change the map. That's it, really. It's near impossible to find stuff on Red Atlas because it likes to spawn inside ruined buildings and you have no way of easily figuring out where you've been.

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Detail - ****. It's good, but sparse. Probably because of text limitations, but sparse is sparse.

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In what area would you like to see more detail? I'm hoping I will have more space to play with in I15, so would be glad to add more material.

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Army descriptions. If you decide to tweak the plot text, longer briefings. "boss fights" with minions and lieutenants from the custom groups which are basically just setpiece battles. Maybe a recurring war reporter character or something. Glowies to pick up that might indicate you're not alone in the timestream.

I don't know how much more space you're going to have free or how much you can put into it, but put in as much as you can.

So here's a re-review as part of my CoHMR projective.

@GlaziusF

Playing on a level 39 ice/axe tanker, diff 2 so boss fights are bossily fighting.

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You know, apropos of nothing, it would be hilarious if you succeeded in every mission but didn't change history one bit. Just to schadenfreude Schadenfreude.

So technically, the "5th Column" is supposed to be some kind of infiltration wing. Like there are four columns of troops outside the city and the fifth column will arise from within the city itself.

Having Supreme Leader there be a member is like making FDR a CIA operative or something. I wonder if you can call him like a "national socialist" or something.

Though actually he was more of a "flopping ragdoll". Go go axe knockdown.

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I dunno, wouldn't like morale suffer or something if the new Supreme Leader only popped back to take charge of things every couple of years or so?

Well, best not to think about time travel too much.

Map's still decent, the rebalance to actually put lieutenants in is definitely worthwhile, and the little spice of munitions dumps to blow up and send soldiers flying is at least a little fun diversion.

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Troop transports!

...are those anything like mole machines? They better not be anything like mole machines.

You know what would be hilarious? If General Winter and General Mud were actual super-powered dudes and everyone just thought that they were being hammered by Mother Nature this whole time.

Fortunately, troop transports are trucks.

Unfortunately there are a crapton of wrecked trucks on this map, leading to a lot of false positives. When the recticle doesn't pick up on them it's a pretty nice clue though.

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The president is defended by bad dudes. Am I a ninja enough dude to kidnap the president?

Still don't like Red Atlas. No minimap and terrible terrain.

Ouch. No "you lost me" text? I don't fancy taking on a hero without backup here.

I think I backtrack about four/five times just trying to figure out where I parked my allies and how to get them to keep up with me.

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Storyline - ***. Germany stomps on people despite having its leader absent most of the time? I wonder if it might work better the other way 'round - showing up at key battles to swing them for the Germans, then when Herr Painter is at the victory celebration, clout him in the back of the head and lead the resulting amalgamation as the legendary heroes of the war.

Design - ****. The russian soldiers need something obvious to distinguish them from the commissars. They all looked like a bunch of dudes in shoulderpads. Similarly the Frenchies looked like a bunch of dudes in blue coveralls. And... Red Atlas. I do hate Red Atlas so very much.

Gameplay - ***. So ally-losing blindly-wandering frantic-tabbing objective-hunt-and-pecking much. It's a huge buzzkill trying to find the, what, four things on that map I have to do and leading allies around to fight the same dudes over and over again.

Detail - ****. It's good, but sparse. Probably because of text limitations, but sparse is sparse.

Overall - ***. It's what every villain wants to do, but the plot is a little weird even for time travel, and RED ATLAS RED ATLAS RED ATLAS RAAAAAAAAAGH.

Hey WN, get back to me when you take the Snake patrols out of mission 2, alright? I've got level 46 assassins camping the door now, and I'm level 39.

Well, I guess I'll be doing one of yours Saturday, PW.

The last of the queue... is going to hang around a little longer. It would have been Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day Kids! (2019), but given the way Snakes work I can't exactly fight the level 45 viper assassins that spawned for my level 39 tanker. WN, can ya get back to me once that's taken care of?

So PW gets her time in the sun tonight, with Axis and Allies (1379). Verdict - ***. Review on MA Forums Thread.

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The 'Fake Citadel' (controlled by Memory-X), enlisted your help to stop the 5th Column from creating a second identical A.I. to (they hope) regain control of the original Memory-X A.I. (And I have the Memoy-X computer modules you're destroying in Mission 5 revealing this fact in the dialog they spout). By the end of the second mission, you're completed this task for Memory-X; and thus on the third mission, it's sending you to a place where it has some of its own forces (and it knows the 5th Column is searching there too); and Memory-X expects you will die at the hands of the 5th Column or it's own minions (hence the ambush too); or you'll be captured and he can substitute a controlled copy of you as well, thus tying up all loose ends.

Again, I realize this is a game and your character should survive the trap, defeat the lackeys 99.99% of the time, (and even if you fail mission 3, I have dialogue in place that allows the story to continue with your character still the 'lead'); but imo, storywise the overconfident Memory-X does believe its lackeys will indeed capture or kill you when you go on that particular misson.


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Well, it doesn't feel particularly trap-like. Ambushes happen in pretty much any normal rescue mission. Maybe you could fight the fake Citadel before the real one shows up or something, but that's a matter for I15 and the great arc resizing.