Mekkanos

All right, thanks, Red! Glad we got that cleared up. Anyway, I'll keep your offer in mind. I'll talk to Karo about this soon and we'll see how things will go.

Hm, the date it says in your message is....well, tomorrow (September 3). That's why I was a little concerned about it not appearing on the list. I'd be willing to wait another week if you don't have room for it this time around, though.

EDIT: At least this means you can disregard the second submission.

Actually, if Paragon Wiki is correct, all the Axis America enemies are using the wrong models. The enemy pictured is a boss, but their picture in Paragon Wiki for the Axis America bosses is this...



The grey color (Along with the warping pants) is probably a problem with the screenshot that was taken but I think you get the idea.

Anyway, I also definitely appreciate the changes that were done to the TF to make it fit in canonically (And the changes to the SF to make the players look better as well). The AVs that help out Reichsman have much better dialogue and reasons for being there. Nemmy's is particularly great because it's implied that he's there simply to make fun of Reichsman and his plan. Now that is something Nemesis would do, as shown in the Viridian arc.

If the Rikti did have them, I imagine we would have seen them by now. After all, they threw just about everything else at us during the War. Why not their own meta-Rikti? My assumption is that generations of being exposed to the mutagen eventually made most Rikti biologically similar (After all, males and female Rikti look identical), with metas disappearing as a result.

The only Rikti that we've seen with what would be considered super powers besides the Magi would be Dra'Gon, who was a human converted during the War who probably retained his powers similar to Pyriss in the Devouring Earth. Guardians and Priests are also pretty close but it seems that their powers likely have technological roots.

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I suppose that could have been worded better, but I was already extremely short on space. The idea is that the meta-Rikti share physical characteristics of both humans and Rikti. The two species may be biologically similar but they look quite different.

Yeah, this map seems to be the one that causes the most trouble for people. I'm considering replacing it with the other Vanguard base map, which tends to spawn the objectives further away from the defenses. The fact that every single Vanguard in that map yells something that you can't control discourages me from using it, though. I really don't want to take this one indoors, since we don't have any map that would work for a convincing Vanguard interior.

I was considering that but decided against it because it didn't flow right in my mind. I guess I'm a little crazy like that.

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Yes, he's recolored. I actually recolored all the regular Rikti on the map so that most of them had similar colors to the meta-Rikti.

Yes, that's how the Restructurists created their versions of the meta-Rikti. Tk'Lankah, however, was created using a different method that the Restructurists can only attempt to duplicate the end results of by using meta-human DNA. After all, she was intended to be created for something entirely different. It's because of this difference that she is spared from Rhodes' ritual should you allow him to go through with it.

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The thing is that I didn't actually want Rhodes to be that tough, since I wanted the player to have complete control whether he runs or is defeated. Making him much tougher or running much sooner would possibly make people unable to catch him. It's not much of a decision if the choice is made for you, after all.

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Regarding the power of the metas, the bio of the Gammakineticists and the dialogue from the Restructurist scientist in mission 2 hint that this is merely the first stage of the meta-Rikti project. They may not be more powerful than the Magi now, but they will eventually grow stronger. Gameplay wise, I wanted to keep the arc accessible to people of varying skill sets. I used to have the Amplifiers (Sonic users) as minions, for instance, but all the stacking -res isn't very fun.

As for the Hro making his troops insane, he probably was unaware of that particular facet going into the project. If he knows about it now, he probably is egotistical enough to think he can find a way to prevent it from happening.

I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to say regarding the ritual. Only the newly-created meta-Rikti are in the meta-Rikti mental network, so only they'd be affected. The meta-Rikti are, however, connected to the regular Rikti mental network as well but that network is unaffected by the ritual.

There's not much I can do about the lighting in the missions, but I suppose I can slightly brighten the colors of the meta-Rikti. I personally never had much trouble discerning which colors the meta-Rikti had but a little more brightness wouldn't hurt.

I will look at mission 2. It's been ruining a number of playthroughs now with that map.

I'll admit the box is a little contrived. However, I think that C'Kelkah actually would say something different if she knew you were offered such a thing. For one thing, if you let him go, she'd know that you obviously went along with his plan and I imagine your career in Vanguard would be over right then and there for possibly destablizing relationships with the Traditionalists.

You do have a good point about him possibly begging for you to spare him instead of offering to let you in on the plan. However, I wanted to present his point of view a bit more clearly and let the player know of the decision ahead of time and this was the best way I could think of.

I don't personally think there's anything particularly contradictory about the metas... Let's see:

The first meta-Rikti is Tk'Lankah, who was created on accident by her unnamed father. He was attempting to create a Rikti that skips the human stage of development and is born a Rikti but ended up with her instead. The Restructurists used her DNA template to create their own meta-Rikti, presumably using meta-human DNA to substitute whatever they couldn't duplicate from her template (This part was never said in the arc but I'm not sure where I could add it. It sounds like I should, though, to clear this up).

Finally, the meta-Rikti are a part of two mental networks: The overall Rikti one and their own smaller one. Their involvement in the former is what makes C'Kelkah afraid their insanity will corrupt the rest of the Rikti while the latter is what allows Rhodes to target them all at once.

I hope that cleared some things up.

Thank you for playing this arc. Your run is the first real negative review I've gotten for it so I apologize if I seemed overly defensive or anything like that. I guess it's a little unrealistic to expect everyone to like the arc. Still, you brought up a number of good points and although I can't fix everything that you mention, I can still improve the arc from it regardless. Maybe you can take a second look in the future when you have the time.

All right, then! I have submitted my most recent arc and I'm looking forward to hearing what you all have to say about it!

Most people probably know her as a dignitary because she is often used for that purpose when she shows up in the game, perhaps due to her open-minded nature. However, when you meet her in the Division: Line arc (Which is where, canonically, you're supposed to meet her first), she states that her current role is one of six Traditionalist leaders. Presumably, she still has that role even as she later gets her diplomatic roles.

I just tried looking at the Alien helmet and, unfortunately, found the options available for it were way too limited for what I wanted. I'd have something pretty close to the right head shape but the facial features wouldn't look remotely Rikti-like. Anyway, the meta-Rikti aren't really "evolved," just mutated. They only THINK they're the next step in Rikti evolution (If anything, they're a step back considering what the Rikti really are). That's the insanity you've been told about throughout the arc at work there.

I'm glad you liked this aspect. It's something I had in my head ever since I started the arc and it's great that you think I pulled it off.

I hope that I clearly laid out a good number of the pros and cons of each choice in the last two missions, so it may be because of the time gaps that you might not have caught them. Otherwise, I will have to look at how I presented the options again.

Anyway, thank you once again for taking a look at my arc and for the great advice. It's pretty much in a mostly completed state right now, so once I get some extra feedback on it, I'll change it to "Final" status and give you a shout!