Lycantropus

I just got back from it myself. Not bad. It's a good, solid, story with believeable charcters. It's a good 'origin' story, however, I hope they don't make a sequel as a cash-grab. I really liked it, but I think the story's told with the one. More movies should take a clue from that though so it wouldn't surprise me if they did make another.

All in all, it's one I'll add to my collection when it comes out on DVD.

Nah, I hope they become more of a presense in terms of the game, and they're forced to help you, or choose to hinder you. Remember, by the end of the arc, 'you' are on even keel with the rest of them, as far as Arachnos, and Recluse, is concerned. I would like to see them 'assisting you' if you do Arachnos involved missions, or working against you, when not.

I've said it before and I'll say it now, I want to see Hero Patrons of the Freedom Phalanx. We have learned the most and empathized with Recluse's Lieutenants more than we have with Paragon's premire heroes for no other reason that we've been exposed to them more. Their stories are interesting, and we wind up betraying each in turn, but only for our own aggrandizement. I'd like to see hero arcs that represent a similiar take, however, we do it rising above the hero's particular personality flaw and gaining their respect, instead of betraying them and gaining a promotion to being their equal. For Positron, it's moral over logic, Manticore, it's compassion over cynicism, etc. They see the merit of your position and either willingly, or begrudgingly, acknowledge your value and point of view over their own in a particular instance (instead of betrayal heroside, you have a virtue that goes above theirs, at least for that one instance).

The ultimate point being, I have no problem rising above a particular NPC in the game, particularly a "mentor" style NPC, but it has to make sense in context along a 'broad stroke' view that doesn't alienate most players. Villains would see us as rivals (which so far, has worked) heroes would earn their trust and respect to the point they would defer to them (which, with a little bit of effort, can be done). In both cases, a 'work smart, not hard' approach to the development of those traits would go a long way.

I've been playing on Exalted a bit lately 'cause my SG wants to have some 50's over there, but my home is Champion. I'm not super-active in the 'community' on Champ per-se, but I can vouch that there are a LOT of great folks in it.

The global channels are the way to go. Champion BMT, Champions United, and the Darkguard Network are all good resources with lots of players on them (there are a few other good ones, but those are off the top of my head, so forgive me if they didn't get named).

The thing I like about Champion is that it has enough folks to find teams, but small enough that you get to know names on it. I usually run with my SG and/or I lurk a lot, but I know and have run with a lot of people that are regulars on the global channels, and there are a lot of good folks.

I've heard some say the way folks play on Champion make SG's supurflous for a lot of the players, so it sounds like something you might be interested in for your wayward characters.

I voted for C on the cotume because of the rings (though I hope they add B's glowy parts to it)

However I went with A on the Rocket Pack, because we currently have no jetpack back options, and I think it would be the most versatile. If we had more jetpack options, I would have gone with B as well.

C, with B's glowy parts (or at least the option)

Oh, also, if what I said was a good estimation; Statesman wasn't killed in SSA-5. He was weakened and kidnapped by Emperor Cole.

And that is the end of my show. Donk.

The thing is, to actually fix the problem would reqire a total overhaul of all the missions and stories over the levels (or at least add a whole slew of new ones) to incorporate the system that would make it workable.

The relationships that would be built up over levels based on the 'guest appearance' of this NPC or that (which to be fair, they're starting to try and implement) would give the players more information, and background, on the characters they're working with- so that when they do story arcs like these, the rapid changes make more sense based on where they are in the framework of the timeline (assuming levels=time) giving more clues, and queues, on what to expect for characters.

I'm going to pull some things out of the air and let's say SSA episode 4 happens to occur shortly after the assumed 'timeline' of Issue-6 (Along Came A Spider) when it's revealed in the comics that Recluse has weakened the heroes of Paragon using their own War Walls against them. These new Story Arcs in the 25-30 range (since SSA-4 is at level 30-35, and we'll use that as the first benchmarker to base all previous and future 'history' off of) introduce the Rogue Isles and Recluse to the heroes, letting them know that something is going on and Statesman's old foe has big plans for Paragon.

In game terms, ED and I-6 made big changes to characters, reducing a lot of how damage, resistance and defense... well anything really... worked. They were making a comic series at the time and tried to explain it as a bold move by Recluse to use the War-Walls themsevels to magically weaken the Heroes of Paragon... in the comics. During that time, a weakend Sister Psyche could barely hold on to that little bit of Shalice Tillman inside her struggling to get out. In fact, the comic opened with her just holding on to her sanity. What if, through normal story arcs in the 25-30 range, it's revealed that Sister Psyche is having problems... maybe even give an arc attempting to help her (even one doing so- this would also give precidence to her trusting 'you' in that mental asylum Malaise put her in during the story).

Then in the 30-35 range, the SSA has her assaulted by Malaise. She's recently (assuming a few months to a year later time-wise) has only just managed to bottle up that part of Shalice in her brain that she feels like she can safely choose to tie her life to another (marry Manticore), then all this happens. (Coincidentally, that'd explain why the Sister Psyche TF ends at 25-since she's dealing with her 'inner Shalice problems, and the Manticore TF is 30-35 since he just got married, and needs help covering things he'd rather do himself, but is learning to open up)

That makes the events make more sense, right? I really think somewhere that's the kinds of events the Dev's see tying together. The problem is, there's no single source to tie it all together in the way the Dev's see it. There's the game, the comics, the novels... and then there's the big story bible that only the Dev's themselves have access to. Most players who are familiar with only the game have no clue.

The Oroborus arc that covers it is too... sideways to tie it together. They need to make it part of Canon so that it would make sense compared to everything else, and add the player to it, tying them into the story so they actually care what happens to these people. The Oroborous arc is just basically "Don't let them screw it up and make sure it happens the ways it's supposed to" so we can experience the comic... That's not the same thing.

EDIT: Basically, it needs to be done over the course of a character's carreer. At least one line of story arcs around the Phalanx from 1-50 (starting with the Shining Stars and ending with a Hero Patron arc). Exposition only goes so far, but when done over the course of a character's timeline it's a different story. For those that choose to powerlevel past it, it wouldn't mean anything to them anyway. For those that want the story... it means a LOT more.

Also, if I just helped the Dev's answer questions they hadn't thought about, I want the Bug Hunter badge. Better yet, I want it if I got it right. Either way you win, and I get a spiffy badge

Now how all that applies to Wade's plot is as follows.

The only 'suspension of disbelief' I really had to get past in the SSA's was the whole ordeal with Blitz and sending Alexis as a diplomat. The events once she's there makes sense, but the whole setup was a little strained. Other than that though.

Alexis' death, and his estranged relationship with his granddaughter put Statesman right back into that mindset he'd had, one he hadn't really shaken except for his sense of responsibility.

Manticore, who's a... focused individual, finds out about Malaise. I'm sure he and Sister Psyche had an argument about this before she even went to interrogate him. Having the argument with Ms. Liberty didn't help. He was too focused on his quarry to really think of anyone's feelings. In the cowl, he's not a warm person anyway. He was really just a distraction though.

Malaise can't control people directly but can subtly affect them. I'm sure he'd been in touch with the 'inner Shalice' at some point prior. In the comics she started out having trouble holding her in check, so time-wise, it hasn't been that long (however long after the Rikti War in 2004 it took to get back into her own body, and though the comic book explaination of I-5 and ED being a plot of Arachnos really weakened her control over the 'inner Shalice' even more).

Playing the villain arc, it's pretty clear the 'inner Shalice was anticipating this, and may have even subtly prompted Sister Psyche in that moment of annoyance and weakness to do exactly what they wanted. Rookie mistake, yes, but we need to keep in mind all the factors at play. She's powerful, but she's like a tower of glass, and like I said, I'm betting Malaise had already commmunicated the plan to inner-Shalice before or during the mission. Remember he considered himself an artist setting the stage. How subtle was he in doing it? How long had he been setting this up? With the external and internal prompting, how hard could it have been to shatter that tower?

At no point was it clear that there was an overwhelming menace. Having nothing to focus on they pretty much acted individually, or stayed out of the plot alltogether. Wade anticipated this, and took full advantage of it. That's why subtlety was so important. Our villains were just another patsy to spread the idea of a plot even thinner and to distract from what he was really doing in the background.

Wade had no doubt that once Statesman found out who was responsible for Alexis' death, he wouldn't bother with gathering the rest of the Plalanx. In fact, he figured Statesman would come to kill him, breaking his role as hero with the goal of leaving the world afterward. He even said as much. However, regardless of Statesman's goals in the encounter, he had no doubt Statesman would come alone. What reason would he have had to bring anyone else?

As players, we see a bigger picture, and can run the arc over for things we may have missed, but the rest of the heroes can't. For those of us that have played both hero and villain arcs, we see more of the plot (including the cutscenes at the end) the Freedom Phalanx has no clue about. It wasn't until the last live SSA that the Phalanx actually started getting organized about it, because there was nothing they were aware of that they needed to organize against per-se.

While I agree that it could have been presented better, there are some things that I think are getting missed from lack of information. Wade did research on each of them, and apparently read the same books I did

He played up to each of their weaknesses, and used his resources (Malaise, and our villains) well.

The role of 'hero' never fit Marcus Cole very well. Before being empowered, he was a big-time thief and mercenary with a very flexible morality. If it wasn't for Monica Richter, who later became his wife, needing help against Nemesis (yes, it all started from a Nemesis plot- read up on Brass Monday) he would probably have just used his powers to benefit himself. In fact, he considered that, but his love of Monica was his driving force. He chose to be a hero for her, and the city, out of a sense of responsibility, not out of the goodness of his heart. His resolve was hardened by learning what his former best friend was up to, and what he had become (Lord Recluse). The book also introduces the original members of the Plalanx and gets into their story a bit.

That's all from the "Web of Arachnos" book. Macus is brash, a bit self-centered, and doesn't come from the most noble of backgrounds.

Fast forward to a few decades later, the novel "The Freedom Phalanx" starts us off in a now dilapidated and crime-ridden Paragon City. The origial Phalanx had long been disbanded and a hopeful young scientist (Positron) and his friend and roomate (Synapse) decide to set out to try and bring the city back to its former glory. Well, more Positron. Synapse didn't really want to get involved, but wasn't going to let his friend go out there alone.

Monica is on her deathbed, and Marcus Cole no longer guards Paragon, focused more on world-shaping crimes and criminals (even making a reference to going to other planets). He wasn't really concerned about the fate of Paragon itself. In fact, He was pretty much ready to fly off into the sunset the moment she passed, leaving the world and his now grown up daughter and young granddaughter to go on without him (the "grandpa can you fly to heaven" was a reference from a conversation he had with his granddaughter in this book). He was tired of always having to be the hero.

We get introduced to the other heroes, Manticore, the mysterious, driven, Batman type character who really wants nothing to do with anyone else and has his own agendas. Sister Psyche, amazing and aloof (you find out she's 'aloof' because of all the 'noise' people make in her mind and has to work hard to shut it out sometimes).

Anyway, Positron and Synapse discover a plot going on that would drive the city into chaos, and they need help. The villains of the story weaken Sister Psyche before he can even talk to her (they damage her ability to block out the voices so she ends up in her apartment in the fetal position just trying to shut the city out). Manticore is on the trail of his villain, Protean (who is also part of the conspiracy, but he doesn't know it) and doesn't care about anything else (to be fair, he'd been hunting Protean for years now, and he'd just resurfaced, so he didn't want to lose the opportunity before he disappeard again).

Positron decides to talk to Statesman, in the hospital. He appeals to Marcus' strong sense of responsibility and in the end convinces him to re-form the Phalanx. After that I don't want to give away the plot. Stuff happens, Sister Psyche works her stuff out, they come together and wind up stopping the plot (obviously). The lesson here, however, is how disparate they really are at the core. They're all powerful and capable of fantastic stuff as a team, but there really has to be something tying them together to work against (instead of each other, really). This is also illuminated in the comics as well. Without something to focus on as a force, they don't really work together well, and often work alone in the day to day (except Positron and Synapse).

That said, I'm going to point out how this ties in, in another post, just to help prevent the 'wall of text' reaction.

Well I think other people have covered it. It's not like the two big comic book representatives of our niche are doing a better job, currently.

But I'm the stupid pancake that keeps buying them hoping they get better, so who am I to judge?



Still love my Co* though!

Even with the plothole issues. I can't argue with that, Sam, but I think that's ultimately the point. The new goal is to make "US" the new big heroes that can see solutions they can't, to be the savioirs they haven't been able to... etc, etc. Same for villainside. I wouldn't be at all surprised that the loss of Statesman diminishes Recluse's power, and is the springboard for the next SSA, or the villain finish of the current one. Either way.

I'm not saying that we become the leaders of the Freedom Phalanx or Arachnos, but that their power and influence wanes, needing us to do what they can't. This has already been hinted at with the balance of power obviously being changed in the new villain starting content.

Villainside, you used to be told how 'grateful' you should be to serve Arachnos and Recluse's 'Project Destiny'. Now it's more 'It's us against them, we'll let you do what you want, they'll put you back in jail... what sounds better?' Linerally you find out about "Project Destiny" later, but that's not the focus.

It's more about putting the power into the hands of the player(s). That's how I'm reading it anyway. Because of that, I'm willing to see where they're taking it.

Basically, I don't think they're incompetent because of bad writing, I think they're incompetent by design.

I could be wrong though, but my storyteller's gut says otherwise.