MrCaptainMan
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Posts
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Joined
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I'm sorry, Laz, I have you on ignore too, so there's no point responding to any of my posts.
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OP, despite what your title erroneously (or dishonestly) implies, "positive threads" are indeed allowed. They simply aren't entitled to be free of dissenting opinion. Nor should they be.
Negative =/= non-constructive
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No, but needlessly sarcastic, rude, insulting vitriol (such as, for example "I wish it could be erased from the database") is.
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I have dumped the timed mission... twice, actually.. but apparently both times I forgot about the MA bug that requires you to reset the interface before making more changes to the same arc. Result - Timer's still set, and I'm borked.
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What bug is this? Do you mean if you make some changes, then republish, then edit again without exiting the MA interface, then republish, the second lot of changes won't stick?
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I've never been the victim of the second bug before now (that I'm aware of) but I've run into it playing. Apparently, you can free a rescue or escort and, once he/she has turned a corner, he/she can be killed - thus causing a mission fail. I almost blew a gasket the other day playing an arc under the exact circumstances. Fortunately, the architect was on and we figured out what was going on. I need to find out if he fixed it, or just rewrote the escort. Now that I'm on the receiving end, it's danged frustrating.
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Yikes! That must be teeth-grindingly annoying lol.
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I've already gone back and tweaked some of the NPCs to hang around a little more. You're right, I have listened to the people that complained that the NPCs spoiled their heroics, and it's simply come to me making one of my trademarked Editorial Conflict Decisions (ECD).
Decision made.
[/ QUOTE ]
I agree that nobody wants to just sit there whilst the NPCs do all the work (although Speeding Through Time, I think it's called, has a wonderfully executed mission that does exactly this, proving that there are almost ALWAYS exceptions to a rule), but I think that sometimes, the best advice an Author can have is: Tell Your Story.
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QR - And you lot lol? What is this, a game of 'No, You!'?
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QR - I'll be cherry-picking some of these for my review thread. If anyone wishes me to not use them, or has any specific suggestions (AT suggestions, challenge levels, etc) that would enable me to get the most out of them, please let me know.
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QR - People, IGNORE Venture, do not feed the troll! He will never be 'gracious' or offer 'a somewhat softer touch'. Other people's feelings mean nothing to him, and he's said as much on numerous occasions.
Eco.
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Actually, I agree. Maybe if all the people who call him a troll at every opportunity ignore him then we can stop having so many arguments around here.
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Absolutely. And if he could stop trolling in threads like this, then everybody would be happy
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QR - People, IGNORE Venture, do not feed the troll! He will never be 'gracious' or offer 'a somewhat softer touch'. Other people's feelings mean nothing to him, and he's said as much on numerous occasions.
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My queue:
The Fracturing of Time 171031
The Doctor Returns 1152
City of Ho Ho Help: A Prequel 267125
Web of Deception 75310
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The Consequences of War, Arc IDs 212069 and 212073, by @dalghryn
Its in two parts:
Part 1 is Very Long (2 small, 2 unique, 1 medium map)
Part 2 is also Very Long (5 unique maps)
Lvl range for both parts is 40-54
The warnings for both contain AVs and EBs, with Part 1 also having Extreme settings (not on the AVs, I must point out)
The descriptions explain that this is a story of some of the hundreds of heroes who fought and died in the Rikti War.
Im taking my lvl 37 Kin/Rad Defender The Accelerated Man into this, even though hes a bit low possibly. He just sort of spoke to me Take me in for this one.
The Consequences of War Part 1
good evening Gavin, its me, Alain yes, Im sorry its late. I just wanted to ask you to pick up some alka-seltzer, orange juice, bananas, Greek yogurt and some plums on your way over to the lab tomorrow morning because Ill have a terrible hangover, Gavin because Im getting drunk. Actually, I think Im already drunk. Ive had one shot of Zoladkowa its a Polish flavored vodka, Gavin, its really very nice, and easy to drink in shots if you chase it with a sliver of orange just one yes, I can get drunk on one shot how many times have I told you, Gavin, everythings physics. Walking is physics, laughing is physics, and getting drunk is also physics. You know how much wastage there is in the alcohol metabolizing process of a normal human? Its quite shockingly inefficient. Im working with the normal amount of alcohol molecules as you would be, Gavin, Im just getting them to work harder.
Why? Just something that happened today I was out on patrol you know, I dress all this heroing business up in saying its just test runs for new modifications to my systems and discoveries, but I think I like the fighting part of it too much and thats terrible, Gavin, for me Im a man of science any way, I was in Perez Park and I bumped into this girl, a teenager, barely. She was being pushed around by some Hellions they were little more than children, themselves I transferred some of their energy to her, let her do the pushing, for a bit afterwards, she thanked me, and she was looking at me strangely. I asked what was the matter, and she said My dad was a superhero too he died in the War poor thing she must have been very young then I asked her what his name was, and she said Dennis Stockwell I meant his hero name, Gavin how often we simply see the mask, and not the man, eh?
I asked her what his hero name was, and she looked like she was going to cry. She said I cant remember, I was only little I called him Dad
so I told her that her dad was a hero, and because of him Paragon City was safer for everyone. She said that her Dad was in a supergoup in the war, her mother told her I asked her what the name of the group was, and she said The Alpha Team
Alpha Team four out of five died, Gavin 8 out of 10 why does 8 out of 10 sound like so much more than 4 out of 5
what? No, Ive never told you what I did during the war, Gavin are you sure? you think? maybe I do yes well its not a happy story, Gavin .what about your lady friend? Its late OK thank you Gavin, it would be good to talk, I think
my first combat experience I found myself in contact with a group called the SOLUS Collective. A ha a person called Lazon acted as my I guess you could call it my superior we were at war, after all Lazon was an energy being from the Sun it would have been fascinating to examine him but of course
Anyway, he asked me to go into the sewers in Atlas Park to investigate. Two of his associates, Captain Superior and Billy Bad Boy, had already been in, but theyd lost contact. Lazon would try to figure out how the Rikti were jamming our radio whilst I was down there and he told me to make sure I didnt leave any high-rank Rikti alive. Being asked to murder sentient beings but it was a war. We did what we had to.
Mission 1: Help Battle the Rikti
[Im level 37, and Ive seen the Warning!: Archvillains! message on the description. If I cant take them, its entirely my fault, Ill say that now. Im sure something will come up if they are a handful
Im taking a good few Break Frees into this, in anticipation of the Mentalists.]
Inside the sewers proper, I could hear the sounds of battle in the distance what? to be honest, Gavin, I was terrified. Frightened of the aliens, frightened of killing I still thought of myself as a scientist, not a soldier.
I came across me first Rikti after about 30 seconds. He it was guarding an ugly device you know, up until that moment Id been worrying about what Id do when I actually had to kill one of the Rikti, whether or not Id freeze, or falter. Now, then, presented with one, I just did it. I didnt think, I didnt falter, I just sapped him, slowed him, enfeebled him and killed him. I didnt even think about him afterwards, I had to investigate this machine. It was a bomb, obviously, and quite advanced. Some kind of high-yield plasma loadout, easily enough to take out a cityblock. Luckily, Im a genius. I disarmed it carefully, while that dead Rikti just lay there, quietly judging me, it seemed . I wonder what its name was
[The entry popup is good, and the mission start clue gives wonderful background info on the War, with a pointer to the official page on the war too. The first bomb is just around the corner, guarded by a single guardian. The bio and clue for the bomb are well-written. Liking it a lot so far]
There were probably going to be more of these, I surmised I moved deeper into the sewers the second Rikti was easier to kill than the first, and after that I just stopped seeing them as living things it was easier that way. I discovered another 2 bombs, and then encountered Captain Superior. He was engaged with the enemy oh, listen to me I helped him defeat the Rikti he was fighting, and then he told me to carry on while he reported to Lazon
[Captain Superior, after his rescue, ran off to the other side of the room he was in and then stayed there, hovering at the bottom of a slope back up to the surface.]
Before he left, he told me that a Rikti by the name of TroNaht was down here overseeing the bomb plantings Gavin, I hated to see him go I didnt know if I was strong enough for a Rikti Commander and his entourage
But I carried on into the sewers anyway I wasnt being brave, Gavin I thought that I could find Billy Bad Boy, he could help maybe
I found him down another level and met my first Rikti drone. I hate those things, although knowing they werent alive made them easier to kill. Billys colloquialisms were a bit abrasive at first, but he was a decent sort
[lol BBBs dialogue is great, and I love the last line he gives in his briefing clue]
A little further on, we found the last bomb, in a large chamber with too many Rikti. You know, Gavin, Id half thought we could sneak into TroNahts base camp chamber, or something, scout out a bit, maybe take out his outriders or whatever they call them in the movies ah war is nothing like that, Gavin. Its horrible and messy. We spotted the bomb, headed for it, and then it was like Chaos was with us, blind and laughing. There were Rikti everywhere. I sped up Billys metabolism, and then it was mayhem. I had a hard time keeping up with him, to be honest, he was like a man possessed. I guess I could have left him to his own devices and dealt with my own Rikti, there were certainly were certainly enough of them there Gavin, afterwards he thanked me for keeping his back but the real reason I stayed with him was because I was terrified of dying, and staying with him gave me a better chance
[Billy, once SBed, was AWESOME. He was zipping all over that last room. Keeping up with him was indeed quite hard, cos he was using all the staircases and gantries etc. Here we have an Ally whos looking to Aggro the World, and it was actually FUN because even though he was abandoning targets in favor of new ones every other attack, he was staying in one room while he did it. It was very good madness of war stuff]
I was by his side, siphoning energy from some drones, when I felt a tremendous blow, and realized that I was standing toe-to-toe with the Rikti Commander! I dont know if I froze or not, but then everything went crazy. There were hundreds of Rikti, Gavin, teleporting in, running up the stairs, intent on killing us, us two, back to back at the center of this mad whirlwind of alien rage. Then, just before TroNaht fell, he spoke in English! I didnt have time to realize what that meant, because more waves of them kept coming it was incredible
But we fought, and eventually the tide turned, and at the end, we won we survived I survived
[That was edge-of-defeat stuff, the waves of Rikti storming in, and because we were up on a gantry at the time, I could see them running into the room below, so I had a marvelous tense warning of more to come as we were fighting the ones we were already engaged with]
Lazon contacted us on a short-range communicator about then, very faint through the Rikti jamming. The bombs were all placed under important tactical points throughout the City, especially ones connected to the citys heroes. The Rikti were upping their activity. I confess I didnt pay too much attention to him, Gavin I was far too concerned with the fact that I was alive, after that orgy of death. I was standing on a pile of dead aliens, stinking, ozzing alien blood God, the smell
We examined the wreckage of TroNahts battle suit, and I thought again about that speech. Billy heard it too, so it wasnt just me. I decided that he must have had a translator in his suit, so I collected some likely looking components for later study.
Heh, Gavin, dyou know, part of me thought that that was it. Id done my bit for the war, now, surely I could go home and have lunch and get back to my laboratory except another part knew my lab was gone, destroyed and that there was much more to do Lazon had another task for me shortly after. Hed isolated a possible lead on the Rikti jamming problem. He wanted me to take a decryption key into an office he suspected might lead to a Rikti underground bunker, and use it to hack into any Rikti computer systems I might find. I could find two more of the SOLUS Collective at the coordinates, Energy Blastion and Empathy
Mission 2: Hack the Rikti Computer System
[Im not a great fan of the Office/Rikti bunker maps generally. They tend to strike me as too big. Lets see what AM thinks]
The building was infested with Rikti, Gavin. I could hear the sounds of combat in the distance, probably Energy Blastion and Empathy
[The entry popup contains You hear the coordinated sounds of energy blasts and healing auras in the distance. nice way of letting me know Ive got some damage and healing support to look forward to]
I had no time to think about what was happening, I had to get to the two heroes already inside. I fought my way through the corridors it was tough I found a Rikti portable computer hoverpod in one of the rooms, guarded by one of those awful psychic Rikti and a squad of force field users. That was awful I came close to dying, there, I think, Gavin but luck was with me, maybe I rested for a long while in that room, letting my powers rebuild my wounded limbs or maybe I was just too frightened to go on. I eventually started looking at the computer. The key was easy enough to apply, but the Rikti systems repelled it. Lazon had said it was Heuristic, so maybe it would have better success with a fresh system. I pushed on
I found some patrols, dealt with them, then tried the key on a few more computers. It lasted longer each time, but still got shut down. Hopefully it was learning
After some time, I found a hole in the buildings floor, leading to a Rikti warren under the City. I thought the building was bad I hated going down into that place, Gavin I didnt want to die in an alien dungeon away from the sky and the light and the world I was fighting for
[Just inside the hole, I meet an orange-conning mentalist, a drone, a guardian and a conscript. Its a tricky fight. I wish I had acrobatics lol]
I pushed deeper, and hear the sounds of combat around a corner. Empathy was there, engaged. I assisted her, and she joined me I felt much better with her by my side, Gavin she had some sort of dark energy exudations, and an energy field which healed my wounds plus she was human, Gavin
[Empathys clue debriefing suggests shes going to stay behind, at least thats how I initially read it (it is I guess open-ended), but Im glad she followed me.]
We fought on into the caverns, and after more fighting, a new computer system yielded to the decryption key barely. I retrieved a data file of some sort, and then the key shut down. A little further ahead we heard energy blasts, and then found Energy Blastion in combat. The three of us made short work of the Rikti, Im happy to say. After that, it was a relief to retreat back to our own lines
[Hm...In terms of objective spawning, I think I found three computers up in the building, then two or three down in the tunnels. Empathy spawned not far into the tunnels, then I found the correct (or last) computer, and then, another corner and Energy Blastion was there. Freeing him ended the mission. Im not complaining, but finding the allies before the last computer would maybe have been more dramatic]
We returned to the SOLUS Collectives HQ but war doesnt stop for lunch, mores the pity the jamming problem was being investigated by Captain Superior and Blastion. Lazon wanted me to take the components Id found on TroNaht to the scientist Rebecca Brinell in Galaxy; but the Vanguard with her had sent word that they were under attack from a Rikti assault. I had to go help immediately. Lazon also wanted all they had on the Rikti
Mission 3: Rescue Rebecca Brinell and Exchange Information
I arrived at the bunker that Rebecca and the Vanguard were entrenched in. The Rikti were in force. Id have to fight my way to Rebecca the first floor wasnt too difficult, I was learning how to fight them now speed was the key, I had to keep them off-guard, sapped, slow them, especially the ones with the short-range portal devices if I could drain their power packs before they had a chance to use them I significantly improved my odds
[Glory be, am I using tactics? Unheard of!]
Down a floor, however God, Gavin, it was hellish I met up with some Vanguard who were under heavy attack. I helped them fight off their attackers, but they wouldnt come with me when I had to go on I dont blame them, I didnt want to either. Deeper into the bunker, I found a computer access terminal, retrieved the files Lazon needed, and then all hell broke loose. It was like a bloody swarm of the damn things arrived. It was too much for me I fell.
[wow, that was tough. I died. Looking at where the spawns returned to, I think it was the ambush from the computer combined with an unlucky patrol containing a comms officer. Luckily, I didnt die in a spawn idle position ]
I lay face down, tasting my own blood, listening to the hopeless whine of my prosthetics as they failed to cope with the trauma, and I closed my eyes and waited for the final blow of a Rikti sword and they just walked away I have no idea why maybe they thought I was dead maybe they didnt care theyre aliens, who knows what the damn things were thinking? War is a lot of things, Gavin, its horror and pain and loss and sometimes, war is luck. I just lay there and let my systems rebuild themselves. Then I moved ever so slightly, to see what was around. God, there were dozens of them, so close. I waited for my chance, and then activated very boost I had and ran. I ran back to where the Vanguard were, and the Rikti chased me. When I reached the vanguard, there was only one left God help me, Gavin, I left him there I kept running. I heard him die Im sorry Gavin, I think Im going to be sick excuse me for a moment [click]
its me Im back yes, yes, Im alright after Id shook them off, I calmed myself down and made some adjustments, did some yoga exercises, and carefully went back in. Theyd left some of their forces out front; they were easier to pick off, one and two at a time Using a hit-and-run approach, I whittled them down
[lol. Its taking me ages, but its great fun. The knockdown is really annoying me, though. Must get Acro next time I level]
I battled my way to a large chamber, where I saw Dr Brinell, surrounded by Rikti. There was no way to lure them individually. I was, I confess, getting a bit tired of these alien thugs by now, I felt anger building up. I went a little mad, I think, Gavin I strolled into the center of the chamber, looked around at the Rikti encircling me, and let my powers run wild.
I know weve talked about my powers before, Gavin, and I find it difficult to explain in laymens terms the exact nature of the kinetic transference flux strings that I can unconsciously manipulate. My powers wax and wane, Gavin on this occasion, I felt the alien energy, the power, the potential encased in all those alien bodies I let their officer use his stupid portal to draw more of them into the room...they were simply batteries, to me, then, Gavin. I drained them dry and killed them with their own power
[Fulcrum Shift FTW!]
After the remnants had been mopped up, I gave the components to Dr Brinell. Before I could help her to the exit, however, I received a message from Lazon. The SOLUS base was under attack
[Hm, I received this message from Lazon in the mission complete clue to this mission. I wonder how youll deal with Lazon being the contact once Im out ]
[Ah, you dont. Im not sure it matters, tbh. Im not having any kind of Forehead-Wrinkling Moment, anyway]
I made my way to the SOLUS Base as fast as I could on the way, Lazon got through to me. The Base was under attack. I had to find two more SOLUS members, Commissioner G and Penthouse. There was also a Rikti Sub-Commander leading the assault Lazon wanted me to assassinate him
[Lazon says Accelerated Man, get with Penthouse and Commissioner G.. that get with sounds slightly off to me, in terms of Lazons Voice so far.]
Mission 4: Help Stop the Rikti Attack
The City was on fire, Gavin the intensity of the Rikti attacks had increased horrifically. it was incredible
The SOLUS Base was under attack. Soon after entering, I met up with Lazon. He was fighting a group of Rikti. After I arrived and engaged them too, he told me to deal with it myself, and disappeared into the depths of the base looking for the rookie heroes who were inside
[Lazon was spawned in sight of the entrance door. His clue says there's no sign of Flash whoever, or any heroes but the ones you've already met, but hes the first person Ive met so far in this mission, so it seems odd.]
I wasnt entirely happy to be left on my own to deal with the Rikti there, but needs must, Gavin After that, I followed his route
[Lazon flew off into the base, not out of it. As I turn the corner, I find him hovering near the elevators. I actually thought it was quite cool youd managed to find a way to make a rescued ally fly deeper into a map, not to the exit; Im thinking its a bug maybe now, though I remember a similar thing happened in the first mission with Captain Superior.]
I next found a darkly glowing woman fighting off a few Rikti over the body of a dead hero. I assisted her, and she introduced herself as Penthouse, supermodel turned centerfold turned hero. The dead hero was Flash Macintosh, she said Id never heard of him I still dont know anything else, Gavin I never asked, afterwards we should remember the dead, shouldnt we ?
We moved into the base, looking for survivors, finding only death. We killed Rikti and their bodies fell to lie next to the corpses of the heroes theyd slaughtered
[I find a second body, but it has no clue. The system message says You've found this hero's I.D. card but I dont know who it is, which seems incongruous. Im not suggesting you need a clue drop for each body, but adding the name to the ID card reference in the system message would be nice]
[Same for the next one ]
So many dead we saved some, though. One had a broken leg; I left Penthouse at a staging point whilst I helped him to the exit
[lol cant SB escorts very slightly annoying having to backtrack at this point, but its a short distance and Im immersed, so its not a big deal. The FWM, however, comes when we reach the door, and Prince Nigel IV (lol what a name!) then says his thanks dialogue and turns around and runs back into the base!]
Back in the depths of the SOLUS base, we cleared room after room, methodically culling the infestation. We found more bodies, heroes once, meat now. I pocketed their ID cards for later archiving without looking at them what use were their names to me now?
The final floor the final room we worked our way around the edge, to a hero called Commissioner G. He appeared to be a little confused by the mayhem all around, and rushed odd, shouting about getting help. We could have used his help then, to be honest maybe he was afraid
[Commissioner Gs clue says hes going to help Penthouse whilst Lazon and I hold the fort, but Lazons not with me, Penthouse is]
At the far end of the chamber, the Rikti Commander and his group waited. Penthouse and I were the only ones healthy enough to attempt to take him down. He it, was wearing a Heavy Assault Suit. Id never fought one of these things before you know the things Im talking about, Gavin? monstrous hard to kill, and the weapons I knew Id probably be burning soon, Gavin and let me tell you, burning plasma is not at all nice
[gulp. here we go, can AM and Penthouse take on a lvl 40 EB? Theres only one way to find out!
I decided to send Penthouse back to see if Commissioner G or someone was available to help
[lol Im going to pull DroVidts attendants away one by one first, and I dont want Penthouse getting in the way or aggroing and dying. Ill come back for her after the Commanders on his own]
Whilst she was gone, I tried to extract the Commanders attendants from his vicinity it was a tricky business too tricky
[Then I realize Im probably going to need Fulcrum Shift lol ah, the fun of a kin]
Penthouse returned alone, so we moved to a position where we could hopefully surprise the Commander
[Cross your fingers.]
We attacked from behind that gave us maybe a second before we were into it it started off OK, but then Penthouse flew up to get a better position, and we lost any synergy. My powers only affect those who are close to me, Gavin Poor Penthouse either didnt know that or, I dont know the heat of battle. Dro Vidt turned all his attacks onto her, and before I could do anything so help or save her, she fell
[ AMs more forgiving than me I was shouting You stupid tart, get your skanky [censored] down here in range of my heals! lol]
When I saw her hit the floor and crumple, my first thought, Im ashamed to say, was about my own safety. Now there was only me, Gavin just me and that thing it was oh my god, it was terrible But I fought on, gritting whats left of my teeth against the burning pain, overloading my systems with transferal of energy and dodging, running, blasting Using my radiation attacks makes me feel horribly ill, you know that, dont you? Its nausea hah, its laughable to say that its from the radiation, I really think its psychosomatic but that day, God, I was throwing up whilst I was fighting, Gavin. It was a mess.
I died, you know I got hit by a fusion explosion of some sort, and thrown against the wall. I felt my heart stop. Believe me, Gavin, thats not an experiment I wish to repeat. I made it start again didnt know I could do that until then but anyway, I had to get out, it was hopeless I initiated an Emergency Temporal Shift which shunted me to temporary safety. I caught my breath, knowing that the thing was no doubt re-ordering its systems, healing itself, recharging its depleted energy cells I had no time!
[aw, my first death that requires a trip to the hospital. I stock up on inspires and rush back in]
I went back for it, attacked it again. There was no-one else, it had to be me I hated it, I loathed it, I wanted it dead do you know why? Not because it was attacking my world, not because it had killed dozens of heroes, I hated it simply because it was responsible for putting me in this position, this kill-or-be-killed situation thats ridiculous, isnt it, Gavin
I attacked it again, and I think I was prevailing, it was definitely flagging, I could see the damage when the blasted thing called out for reinforcements. In English! I was suddenly swamped. I had to use the ETS again
The next time was harder. I had more bodies to sap, but God, it was slow going. I was concentrating on the Commander, but he must have been drawing energy reserves from somewhere, because it took an absolute age to drain his suits systems to the point where my radiation blasts would damage the thing inside
But I won .I won, Gavin. It exploded, and I exulted, screamed out, and felt my strength flood back with the victory, and I slaughtered the rest of them like [censored] animals pardon my language, Gavin
As I caught my breath, I saw through a hole in the wall masses of Rikti dropping down from attack ships heroes moving up to fight them on the upper floors it wasnt over yet
[The mission complete clue seemed slightly strange to me until I read the exit popup]
I received a brief communiqué from Lazon, telling me to get up to the higher floors of the base; things were not going well, it seemed the worst thing about what I had to look forward to up on those floors was that HroDath was there a Rikti General suicide, Gavin no chance but what could I do? Fight till the last erg
Mission 5: Protect the SOLUS Collective Base
[lol the briefing contains this in red: Hro'Dath is a powerful Arch-villain, and he'll have help. Plan accordingly. Oh dear after my experience with Dro Vidt, Im not looking forward to this at all I dont mean in terms of fun, I mean I may not be able to finish it If there are some allies, I can hopefully be careful with them and maybe AM can think of something clever He is a genius, after all ]
On the burning upper floors of the SOLUS Base, I find more dead. I rescue a young hero called the Translucent Girl from a squad of Rikti, and lead her to safety
[TG spawns really close to the entrance. The mobs appear to be conning blue to me for some reason. Im not complaining lol]
The smoke filled the air, the stench of the fires and the dead and the aliens filling my lungs. I hated it all
[Loving this arc]
The dead were everywhere I silently picked their ID cards out of bloodied pockets
[This time, the system message remarks that I dont look at them]
I fought on. Wearily, almost dead myself through fire and swords I found Lazon but he was no help he was an energy being, and his efforts had sapped his ability to remain corporeal with my help he was able to escape into the air, and a moment later a distant explosion signaled his end there was no-one left, it seemed but me
In a small chamber on the top floor I heard Rikti voices half hidden in the smoke, I peered round a corner and saw the General He must have been 11 feet tall, Gavin, bristling in his amour. What the hell could I do against such a monster?
[Rikti Commander Hro Drath is a lvl 40 EB..so not an AV, thankfully
hmm
hes got some guardians and infantry with him, but I cant see too far inside the room, so I dont know if hes got Comms officers too
What to do? Got anything up your sleeve, AM?]
I moved back and considered my options just me against him and his entourage would be suicide. But I had no allies what to do no allies I decided Id have to make some
Gavin, my lab had been destroyed, of course, but I had a storage cache in an underground garage in Skyway City. You know how lazy I am, Gavin? Ah yes, of course you do Moving stuff to my lab and back to storage by car or what have you always seemed inefficient to me, so I had developed a short-range teleport system for my equipment storage cases. The communicator that Lazon had given me was useless now, but if I could modify it slightly, by reversing the polarity of the neutron flow, for example, and remember the precise teleport node signature of a certain canister stored in that cache, and then rejig my own personal teleport retrieval wormhole emitter to accept the new signature
[man, I should so move to Virtue lol]
think of it, Gavin there I was, in the middle of an alien invasion, literally feet away from an extremely powerful malignant entity bent on destroying me and all like me, and I actually invented something! In the field! Under fire! Its stuff like that which got me on the cover of Man Of Science Quarterly three quarters running in 2001, you know
Anyway, my new device worked perfectly theoretically, I mean. I wouldnt know if it worked in practice until I could test it in the field which would be soon .what would it do? Well, inside the canister I needed were two objects. One was a Clockwork drone, modified to act as a portable shield generator. It was really little more than a toy, itd probably be blown up in seconds, but it did have a nanotech re-engineering capability, so it could repair itself periodically. That would just add a small distraction to the enemy, really. The other object in the canister was kept within a containment field, which would collapse upon teleport. What was it? A lot of people know about the Shiva meteor shards strike in Bloody Bay now, Gavin, but back in the war it hadnt happened yet. Some strange fragments of something weird from space did hit the Earth in some places before then, though. I, in fact, had five of them in my possession. The shard in this canister was what I was going to attempt to teleport. I didnt know exactly what its properties were, but the experiments Id done suggested that it had wormhole characteristics of its own. Some archaeological investigations done by my good friend Digger Malone implied that similar shards had been used in ancient times to summon forth powerful entities yes, Gavin, I knew it was a long shot, but I wasnt exactly able to hold auditions for my secret super army, was I?
I had just two chances this chance, or no chance. I slid round the corner, inched as close as I dared, then leapt into the group, activated my device and shouted Science dont fail me now!
The results were a huge surprise to me, but more so to the unfortunate Rikti, I think. The beast that morphed itself out of the ether was, well, it was a Shivan Decimator, youve seen them in my lab Back then I didnt know what on Earth Id done, if Id brought forth a savior or a threat even worse than the Rikti.
It went berserk! The radioactive plasma coming off it was incredible in that small space. I immediately vomited and collapsed, Im afraid. I was useless. I sank to my knees as it raged, and I clapped my hands to my ears and waited for the screaming and explosions and high-pitched whine of its eye-blasts to stop. It was worse than the fight with the Rikti Commander earlier. Ive never felt less heroic in my life, Gavin.
After a while, I stopped retching somewhat, and wiped my eyes, and found that the creature and I were the only things left alive. Its frenzy had subsided, and it just stood there, swaying, looking at me. It was disgusting, but I owed it my life. I approached it, but before I could speak, it shook, and then slowly crumpled to the ground and turned to a revolting viscous sludge before that too evaporated
[wow. I didnt expect that lol. The Shivan absolutely trounced him! Wicked. Full marks for using your noggin, AM
honestly, I didnt do anything. I think I got one or two hits in with my debuffs and buffs, but before I knew it the Mission Complete message was up, total surprise. Excellent.]
When I met up with Captain Superior, he treated me like some sort of hero a hero I was kneeling in my own puke during the last fight, Gavin, whilst 2 aliens fought for no explainable reason madness
[The SOLUS base is in ruins, but a small personal victory has been won. I loved that arc.]
The base was destroyed, but we managed to get some heroes out a lot died., Gavin too many
The Consequences of War Part 2
War doesnt stop for lunch, Gavin, and it doesnt stop for supper, either we had barely 2 hours respite to regroup, and then we had another job to do. Captain Superior, the de facto new leader of SOLUS, told me that they suspected a Vanguard traitor was feeding the Rikti information they were using to coordinate their attacks. We knew they could understand our language now. I was to infiltrate the place the traitor was working from, an old pawn shop in Overbrook, capture the traitor, and feed false info to the Rikti using the computers there. 72 hours, Gavin, and I[d become veteran enough to be sent on stealth missions me, can you imagine? Still, when the call comes
Mission 1: Capture the Rikti Collaborator
The pawn shop interior was cool and quiet, at least the entrance lobby. It was good after the chaos of the war-torn city. I rested a moment no, no, I didnt. I was there to apprehend a vanguard traitor, Gavin. I would quite possibly be fighting other human beings shortly, and I was reluctant to go on because I couldnt stop thinking about the fact that I might have to kill them the Rikti were one thing but men?
I moved slowly into the main room; there was just a drone and a single Rikti. I scrambled the drone, and then took out the Rikti. Killing aliens was becoming second nature I found a working computer, and uploaded the files using it then I moved into the shop storage area looking for the traitorous Vanguard
I found them, two of them, in a back room. I made the mistake of trying to talk to them, and they immediately attacked with a ferocity to rival the Rikti Gavin, Id fought a Rikti Heavy Assault Suit to a standstill, but this one man I was no match for him. He was a force field user, and he drove me back into the main room, throwing me around as if I was a doll. Finally he hit me a good one and I went flying back almost to the stairs. I was knocked out, I think, and again luck kissed me, because he must have though I was dead. He went back to his partner
[Ouch. ForceField EB. He was MUCH harder than the Rikti SubCommander. How
s AM gonna deal with this?]
I ached, Gavin. I was so tired of all the fighting and angry at him for turning. I couldnt reason with him, I couldnt fight him I decided that since he liked dealing with aliens so much, Id introduce him to another one. My gizmo was still with me; it was but a moment to adjust it to lock on to the signature of another canister in my storage cache. I readied it whilst my systems recuperated, and then made my careful, silent way back to the room where the traitor schemed.
I activated my device and aimed the focal antenna into the room. The creature erupted from the ground in a rage. They were astounded. The traitors guard died screaming, his face melting in radioactive fire. The main traitor fought for his life, but the monster was a destructive force far greater than his fields could contain. it was like a shambling nuclear explosion, Gavin the noise of its fury was horrific. It terrified me, and I knew that for some reason I was safe from it
I hung back, tentatively using my powers to boost its assault now and then, fearful that the traitor would turn on me but he didnt, he was too busy fighting for his life he tried to run at the end; it was no good. I saw his desperation, and my eyes blew a hole in his back as he reached the door. He span, and the pleading look on his dying face was not aimed at the behemoth bearing down on him, but at me. I dont think he saw any pity in my eyes as he coughed his lifes blood up
[The Shivan even took a little longer to down the EB that time. It was really cool watching the fight, though, and buffing Gizmo, as I call him]
At the last, before he could die, I stayed the monster, and healed the traitor slightly, keeping him on the threshold of death I smiled at him, but it wasnt a nice smile he told me the coordinates of the location of the jamming equipment that was causing the heroes so much trouble
I dropped him then, Gavin and I did a terrible thing. I motioned to the monster to take him, to finish him. He shrieked as it advanced and then, as it raised its arms to pulverize the man, it shuddered and groaned, and collapsed as before. I was angry, I wanted him dead, Gavin, but as I marched towards him, ready to stop his black heart, the doors opened and SOLUS forces swept in to secure the site and relieve me of my prisoner.
Ive never told anyone that before, Gavin Im not proud of it
Captain Superior called me objective at the debriefing for that mission, Gavin what would he know? Man of science, me, eh? No cold-blooded killer Well, the coordinates were accurate, anyway. Superior said that we were going to assault a staging area on the edge of town., near an old circus. The jammers in the area had to be shut down. I was to head out to rendezvous with Billy Bad Boy and Penthouse, and hed join us as well shortly
Mission 2: Destroy the Rikti Jamming Devices
At the area of the Rikti buildup, I found an outlying patrol, and used them to power up. I decided that a guerrilla approach was possibly sensible, accelerated my metabolism to incredible levels and punched through their lines looking for the other SOLUS members. I found Captain Superior in a firefight, and helped him thin the numbers a little. We were set to continue as a team, but he got a message from Empathy; she needed him at the hospital. He was going to leave this to me I couldnt believe it, Gavin these people thought I was some kind of of hero
[lol I hope some of these allies hag around to help!]
I spotted one of the Rikti Jamming devices, stunned its guards and destroyed it. That must have activated some kind of distress signal, because a Rikti assault team showed up almost immediately. I panicked, Gavin I reduced my own inertia by a factor of 200, bent at the knees and flexed, leaping thirty, forty stories. I jumped three blocks to escape them but they must have hit me with a homing bug or something, because when I landed, they were onto me within minutes. I had to fight them off
[Jeez, the ambush code blows. It makes no sense that they home in on you no matter where in an outdoor map you are; If I was quick at blowing up the jammers, I could be in real trouble at the end fight Im assuming theres an ambush for every jammer? This isnt your fault, its the games]
I discovered Penthouse in a spot of bother. There were too many Rikti around. I had to land right in the center of them, and fight like a madman to make some space for her. Once there were less of them, she could do her stuff. But she didnt, Gavin she just left me there said that the hospital needed her what about me? Right there, she could surely see she was leaving me in trouble? I didnt understand, thought she was abandoning me I faltered in the fight, lost my focus had to use my Emergency Temporal Shift to escape
[Bah. There were two spawns too close to her guard spawn, AND one of the jammers right next to her too. I concentrated on her guards, figuring shed help once she was able, but the silly bint just spouted her lines and stood there. I died. I guess youve been listening to the MY character is the hero of the story, dont have allies stealing MY limelight crowd, but this was a downer, really. If Billy leaves me and runs off to the hospital, then IMO theres no point to them being here.]
There were Rikti swarming like locusts Gavin, it was mayhem out on the streets. I searched, ran, dodged patrols, trying to find my objectives, cursing Superior and Penthouse for leaving my on my own I spotted Billy Bad Boy, and joined him with relief, remembering our last duo combat experience in the sewers; but he just left with a casual bon mot. I felt a hatred for him sweep over me. Didnt they understand THIS WAS IMPORTANT TOO! They needed all three of them at the hospital? What about this?
[Why do you have all three of them abandon the Player here, out of interest? Maybe Ill find out in the next mission, but at the moment it seems wrong for the story. This is an important strategic objective; its vital, in fact. Yet Superior takes three out of SOLUS four main heroes away to another task?]
I kept away from Rikti as much as I could, and found more jamming devices I destroyed them from a distance if possible, increasing the range on my radiation blasts two, three more And then I saw the Rikti Chief and his troops surveying their territory ha I just lost it, Gavin. I ran at him head on; so fast I was on him before he could react. I unleashed everything I had at him, Gavin and he was an easy kill I was getting better at murder
[OK, so theres the reason why I dont need any help the Boss was a lieut. It still feels slightly wrong in terms of story, I think because it happens three times. Perhaps my feeling that I was going to have a hard fight at the end contributed - After the first mission, I was expecting an EB here isnt this an important strategic point for the Rikti?]
I think I went a bit mad then, Gavin I remember sort of stopping, finding myself kneeling in what was left of it I looked around The Rikti were staying away from me they were afraid of me, Gavin then I got a call from Captain Superior
He was at the hospital. The Rikti were on their way, in massive numbers. Blastion, Commissioner G and Empathy were on the scene too. Now that Id finished here, I was needed too. I made my way as quickly as I could to the hospital
Mission 3: Evacuate the Lower Floors of the Hospital
[Im definitely noticing the hands-off approach of Captain Superior and the other SOLUS gang in Part 2 more than in Part 1. CSs sendoff starts with I am leaving the evacuation of the hospital in your hands, and Im sort of starting to feel a bit like everything is in my hands. I know Lazon didnt ally with me at all in Part 1, but, well, I hope I get some help in this mission.]
The hospital was a run-down MASH unit, basically. Cluttered medical equipment was everywhere, gurneys in corridors, the smell of blood and fear filled the air I met Rikti in the first corridor I was becoming an old hand at this, now After a few squads, I rescued a young nurse I led her to the exit and she told me that Dr Lexis, the hospital director, was on a higher floor and needed help Id discovered a way to prevent their officers from teleporting any more reinforcements in it was a simple matter to drain the energy from their suits and portal generators actually provided a handy source of power for me, to tell the truth I even began to look forward to meeting the bastards I liked seeing their panic when the frantically tapped at their wrist comms units then theyd look up to see me, glowing with power, my eyes blazing with atomic fury, sort of thing Im afraid I felt quite vindictive
[The mother mayhem (I think) map doubles up very nicely for a warzone field hospital, doesnt it?]
I cleared the alien threat as I went, came to the elevators, and went up a floor, where I soon met up with Blastion. He was just finishing off a couple of Rikti when I arrived. I helped him put them down, and then he said he wanted to go help Empathy on a higher floor. Just then a surprise Rikti ambush teleported in, right there next to us, and he ran left me there to fight them on my own! I took my anger at him out on them, Im afraid I remember chasing down the last one as it ran from me it didnt escape
[lol Freeing Blastion presumably triggers an ambush, but unfortunately it spawned in the exact same spot as Blastion, so as soon as hes freed he says his lines and flies off at the same time as the ambush arrives. No wonder AMs annoyed; hes turning into quite the bitter war veteran!]
I moved on I think you could describe my mood as grim, by now, Gavin the violence, the setting, the actions of my allies I wasnt the happy-go-lucky Man of Science you know today, Gavin I helped a Vanguard soldier who was in difficulty had to lead him all the way back to the entrance, the poor man was done it
[Now heres a thing The Vanguard soldiers an Escort, and Im on the third floor by now. So Ive got to escort him back three floors to the start, and then of course continue. I guess I could just let him tag along, and thatll save me time, but that doesnt make sense in the story, does it? AM, a man alone, in a warzone, with an invulnerable soldier (and a nurse, too, if I hadnt been bothered to take her out earlier lol) sidekick? Nah, Ive got to take him out now and I was just thinking, weve all heard it, Escorts suck, No escorts, etc. Ive been guilty of it myself; I hated the escort mission from hell, as I dubbed it, in the Revenge of Hro'Dtohz by DeviousMe (that one was on a massive map, though, and I didnt clear as I went. I have actually been thinking during this arc of trying that one again with AM; AMs war memoirs could be an interesting sub-review strain). My point is, Ive just trawled back through the map to the start and then again back to where I found the Escort. A previous me might have complained at this, but what did it take me, 5 minutes tops? And it was right for the story. No complaints, essentially. If anyone tells you off for putting this escort in, tell them to go jump.]
Finally, I arrived at the main ward. Commissioner G was there, surrounded. I waded through Rikti to get to him, and together we finished them off Wed secured the lower floors
[Hm, lol, from Gs clue, Im thinking hes not long for this world
I enjoyed that mission a lot, apart from the Blastion event. Ironically, Commissioner G offered to stay with me to help, but freeing him was the last objective so it was a bit late. I did in fact stay there after that for the ambush that spawned, and then to finish of the room]
[Gah can you put a warning that a timed mission is starting? If I have to take a break for lunch or whatever, I sometimes like to read whats coming next before I log
]
Mission 4: Evacuate the Upper Floors
I had no time, I still needed to get to Dr. Lexis and Empathy on the upper floors Captain Superior contacted me briefly, but it was madness, I couldnt make out much I left G to meet up with him and moved up
Just inside from the stairwell, I spotted a Vanguard soldier, injured, being prodded by some Rikti lie a cat paws a wounded mouse before killing it. I attacked them mercilessly they attempted to fight back, but there were too many of them I absorbed their energy and fed it back right into their stinking alien faces.
When they were all dead, I helped the Soldier to his feet, and he thanked me and assured me he could make it out to his unit on his own as he disappeared down the stairs, I turned, and suddenly felt a tremendous blow. Evberything went white and then very, very black
[Excuse my mood, now, but WTF? Just after the Vanguard soldiers thank you line, I got dumped out of the mission with a mission failed message. I didnt die, I didnt see any Rikti apart from the ones I just killed, I rescued the soldier, and then bang mission failed. What a downer. You need to fix that. Another unfortunate thing is that now, Im not sure exactly where AM is. The failure exit popup says I was forced back back to where? The lower floors? Outside? Forced back to [somewhere] maybe would be clearer.]
Mission 5: Find the SOLUS Heroes and Defeat the Rikti
When I came to, Gavin, I was lying in a pile of something wet, uncomfortable, and steaming there was something on my chest, and something underneath me when I realized what the things around me were, I woke up fast. It was a pile of corpses heroes, civilians, soldiers. The Rikti must have piled them up out of the way I was obviously taken for dead, and not for the first time Sometimes, having metal skin is a blessing, eh? no little twitches, no tics to give yourself away I staggered through the upper floors, cleared now, to the roof it was clear, but the Coty was shrouded in smoke, fires, and the hum of Rikti assault ships the Rikti were advancing on City Hall and in the way there was me.
[The briefing could be clearer as to locations here. Ive cleared the roof; it mentions the other side. The other side of the roof? Am I looking out over the City (as AM seems to think) at the smoke and fires? The briefing mentions finding the SOLUS and stiopping the advance, but it doesnt say where exactly this is going to happen. Im also confused about what the SOLUS suicide mission is. Presentation: *Hro'Dath is an Arch-villain with lots of help. Plan accordingly. is in white the similar message in Part 1 was in red, I seem to remember]
The City was in ruins, Gavin I jogged through the smoke, across the rubble, through the insanity fighting Rikti sometimes just leaving them and coming back out of the fog or finding them wounded, and finishing them off hearing half screams, explosions, the stink of charred flesh I cant explain what it was like horrible senseless it was the apotheosis of chaos.
[Good map for this, the ruined Atlas one of course. I run about a bit, fighting groups of Rikti. There are a few Vanguard patrols wandering about, but they look like theyre on a casual stroll rather than in a warzone. Also, one walks right past me whilst Im in a firefight with some Rikti, and doesnt help, which seems strange]
I kept looking for the SOLUS members as I fought the invaders, thinning the aliens wherever I could and I found them Penthouse first dead, almost in the arms of the Rikti shed taken out with her. Superiors brooch was what alerted me to his body I took it, it was connected to a battlefield vid-unit, if I survived I could take it for posterity Billy was dead too and Erik Energy Blastion all I found was his wedding ring. He was married to Empathy, you know she was there too, dead. They all died, Gavin. Commissioner G, too. There was only me left
The fog of war cleared momentarily, and I saw the hard spiky armor of a Rikti War Chief standing, arrogant, amidst the battlefield it was Hro Drath.
[lvl 40 Orange EB. You know whats coming, Im sure]
I was going to die, or he was. I felt totally calm, objective. I started to walk towards him steadily. He was alone except for a single Rikti conscript. Not enough potential energy in the two of them for a full drain. I pulled my device from my inside pocket and without taking my eyes off Hro Drath punched in a new signature from memory. As I neared within 10 meters of him a Rikti monkey darted out of some rubble; I sapped every joule from it in an instant and left it lifeless. At 5 meters Hro Drath saw me. I smiled a rictus grin as his suit powered up. I activated the device and cast it towards him, to land between his feet. As the Monster broiled up from the cursed earth beneath him, I leapt at him, snarling Get off my planet, you sonofabitch!
I should have hung back, like the last time I should have let the monster do all the work, been careful but I was mad, Gavin, mad with rage, I wanted to kill it, make it suffer, I wanted to eat its still-beating heart in front of its eyes. I actually made it direct its attacks at me for a while, instead of the creature
It didnt try to run, but it did call for help ah, we treated its reinforcements like fodder. In the end, its translator was crushed, so I dont know what its last word to me were. I didnt care. Cry moar, noob! I said, and I stamped on its throat I dont know why I said that, I think I must have heard it on the television or something
[Excellent fight! The Shivan is a little too hard, if anything, but with me attacking too, Hro put some agro on me so it was tense enough to be exciting.]
I helped some wounded to a safer place, and we waited for an evac team the war wasnt over, but wed put a little dent in the Rikti forces and, well, we won the war, didnt we?
Thank you for listening to all that, Gavin goodness, its light outside no, no, thats it well maybe some other time well its good of you to say so, Gavin .no, I dont need the alka-seltzer, but the rest of it you can still get for me its all healthy, isnt it? Haha, yes, thats true. Yes, about five will be perfect. Thank you again goodbye, Gavin
[End]
Wow. OK, that worked out a little bit longer than I envisaged. Overall, awesome. One of the best arcs (I mean the whole thing) Ive played. With just a little tidying (mainly on the Failed Mission), Id be plenty happy to see this in canon. Its much better than a lot of canon arcs IMO
Some individual points:
I started Part 1 with 2 Shivans. I thought that maybe that would be enough. When I needed more, however, I went to BB (I think that was after my first defeat by the Traitor) to get some more. Getting those Shivans took me an hour, and the eventual kind help of ZZMann from the RF2009 channel, and Spydah, who was in the area. Thanks very much to those two. I decided to go get them instead of reporting a cant complete, didnt rate sorry because of my new approach to arcs, which is Try Moar not Cry Moar and my perseverance paid off in spades here.
Allies. Id like to see a little more help from the allies, personally. I think the lieut in the carnie map mission could be beefed up a little, and one of the SOLUS could be an optional ally.
Rewards: I got 3 bars of lvl 37, and 1165 tickets for doing both arcs at heroic difficulty, clearing about 70-80% of the mobs, Id say. Lovely jubbly.
Maps. Your map choice was sterling. I especially liked the two hospital maps in Part 2 (although I didnt get to see the second one for more than a few minutes) and the final Atlas map, but they were all very well chosen for their respective missions. Thank you for not choosing any huge Rikti underground cave system ones. Im not a great fan of those.
The Timed Mission. This is what dropped Part 2 a star. Im guessing that theres a running Boss in it maybe, and perhaps he spawned really close to the start or something? Take it as good news that the main reason I was miffed at failing it was because I didnt get to play the mission and experience more of the story.
Rating: I rated Part 1 at 5-stars and Part 2 at 4-stars. Well done and thank you.
I hope that AMs take on what happened was entertaining
Eco -
I was just looking at your avatar, fascinated by its hypnotic back-and-forth, and I suddenly thought what a weird hell it would be to be trapped in his mind for all eternity as he skidded in and out, over and over, never stopping...
It makes me want to find the episode its from, tbh. Any idea which one it is?
Oh, and I agree.
Eco. -
Im currently running through The Consequences of War, and its a bit exhausting (in a good way, Im liking it very much) at times, so I thought Id have a short break before breakfast this morning and run something light and short on another toon. The CoW run should be up this evening.
Heres a mini-review for Wrong Number, whos asked me to avoid spoilers if possible. No problem. This arc apparently relies on a lot of innuendo humor, so Ill not mention the names or quote specifics.
In Poor Taste, Arc ID 259920, by @Wrong Number
Long (3 unique maps - it's not very long at all, in actuality), lvl 30-40, comedy arc. The description references the radio missions and the sometimes questionable names that the Bosses can have.
I took Tommy Atkins in for this, my lvl 31 MA/SR Scrapper.
Mission 1: Get Information from Freak Boss
Alright? Sometimes, this ero lark gets me some funny jobs. This last one, I got contacted by this tall bird, legs up ter ere, know what I mean? Calls erself Ms Manners. Says she wants me ter track down some villains and yer know why? Cos some people as a problem with their names! You gorra laugh in this business, eh? Still, I know what she means Ive met some right dodgy-monickered goons in my time Lord Manantler, The Minky Grinder Gush so I agrees
[lol Im hoping for innuendo-saturation from this arc]
The Freak boss Im ere to grill puts up a handy fist of it, but I beat him off no problem - hes no match fer Tommy. He spills his guts about the locations of the other villains
[Nice short little mission, Blackbeards casino map, a straight fight against a Freak Boss. His bio and dialogue are indeed full of innuendo, and, well, that form of humor isnt exactly Mark Twain wit, but it doesnt claim to be, and Im British, we are the titans of Double-Entendre, so Im well into it]
Mission 2: Destroy Protection Ring and Arrest Boss
Gordon Bennet! What a whiff! The Faultline Dam works ave always had a bit of a pong about em, but this is taking the McVities, this is! Me ears are bleedin, the smells so bad! Id better find the boffer an put a plug in im! I olds me nose an pegs it into the chamber. Gawd strewth, theres crates of cheese lyin about in this humidity? I can taste metal, its so strong! I smash em up sharpish Blimey, spreadin cheese all about the place Im not sure thats elpin, to be honest
[typo on one crate title smellest should be smelliest]
I find the geezer behind the godawful nose-squirts, an e gives me no trouble apart from the need fer a nasal irrigation. Es got a message on is cellphone tellin of a meet comin up soon I reckon I should be there ter take the minutes, eh?
[Another short fun mission. Using Martial Arts to somehow stop the horrendous smell of the cheese strikes me as bizarre, but referencing it in the mission as Tommy just did, although funny, wouldnt work if the Player had, say, fire attacks. I liked the different cheeses mentioned Im not sure how many spawn points this map has, you could put more destructibles with various foodstuffs in them I was expecting to find foods that produce wind (truffles, 14-Bean humus, molasses and peanut curry, etc), stuff for the Bosses diet. V enjoyable even so]
Mission 3: Arrest All Questionable Bosses
[Briefing: Welcome back Tommy Atkins. needs comma after back]
So the rest of the gang are oled up in an old Council lair. Ms Manners is goin ter join me on this one, so we can go twos up on anyone we find
[typo in Eagle Blue Ink Man patrol: stinken should be stinking or maybe stinkin]
I basically clear the decks of all these bad sorts its a nice little workout fer Tommy, all in. I fink Ms Manners is suitably impressed. I ope shes appy with my services, I spect Ill find out when she debriefs me, eh?
[The villains dialogue is sometimes individually groan-worthy, but the cumulative effect has me guffawing by the end. Weasel And Bone Shakers final lines especially have me hooting. End]
Great fun. Just right for a lunchtime arc or to fill a gap whilst waiting for SG mates or whatever. Adding more objects in mission 2 might up the humor content, but then itd be longer, so I dont know. I cant see any reason not to like this one as it stands. My view on humor is: If it's funny when you're 9, it's funny when you're 39!
4-stars.
Eco. -
I'll give it a shot, Ozzie.
Eco. -
I just played Blight, Arc ID 140423, and though I haven't written a review of it, I'd like to say that I enjoyed it immensely, and I thoroughly recommend it. It's a little unusual in comparison to 'straight' arcs, but the customs are great, the story is interesting and the ending is 'hmmm...', in a good way, IMO.
Eco. -
QR - I just played Blight, and i enjoyed it very much.
That's all
Eco. -
My queue is now:
The Consequences of War 227331 and 241496
The Fracturing of Time 171031
The Doctor Returns 1152
City of Ho Ho Help: A Prequel 267125
5 more slots available for submissions, if anyone wants it.
I'm half way through the CoW two-parter at present. My decision to have more fun has meant me taking longer over my runs. So it's not like there's any rush.
Eco. -
You can pick Adamastor, I think, for the AE. He's quite tall.
Eco. -
QR
There's too much running all over the place in WoW, but not enough in CoH. They should increase the size of every zone by a factor of eight.
Eco. -
[ QUOTE ]
Couldn't you find even one topic about AE to post in? Nope I guess this topic has unique ideas that nobody has ever thought of. Some ideas might be <a href="" target="_blank">good, </a>some might be bad, but at this point I think every possible idea has been covered.
Each word is a link to a different thread about issues with AE. I bet that if you read through each and every one of threads you would:
1) Need to smash somebody's face in
2) Realize arguing this topic is pointless
3) Find a corner to cry in
4) Wish you hadn't even bothered posting
5) Be stunned that there are that many threads on AE.
*Note: some threads are older than others, so be careful not to necropost.
edit: added another sentence.
[/ QUOTE ]
lol did you include the other thread you put this into as well? That's like...recursive...something...
Eco. -
QR
Both the arc is my Sig are designed specifically with solo players in mind. Make sure you play The Audition at Heroic Difficulty, however.
Eco. -
[ QUOTE ]
I could write an arc in which the AE treated you as a sentient crystal-wielding megapony from the planet Squee
[/ QUOTE ]
I'd love to see a Venture review of that!
Eco. -
ThNk you for the kind words. My ratings wont be 'less than 3' though, not 4 or 5. In my other thread, i hadnt to date given less than 3 anyway, so this is just being open about my liberalness of rating.
CoW run should be up by the end of the weekend. Its taking me a while.
eco -
Thanks for the review, PW.
I have a few responses, but nothing major really.
[ QUOTE ]
My mission accept statement, "Uh..." sounds rather less decisive and go-getting than I'd like to present to the premier CoH supergroup.
Second part of briefing: the contact overlooks the grunting noise I make in response to his offer. He wants to send me to defeat one hundred Frownobots from some previously unknown group called the Grumpehemoth Legion. With the Freedom Phalanx being the epitome of a CoH canon supergroup, I think it's a little odd for me to be sent against a non-canon villain group. We'll see how it goes.
[/ QUOTE ]
I sort of took it as read that the supervillains and villain groups in the CoH universe werent just limited to those actually found or mentioned in game. Commander Curmudgeon and the Grumpehemoth Legion are a throwaway funny line.
Keywords: Solo Friendly, Complex Mechanics, Comedy
[ QUOTE ]
I like the mission title, "Succeed Against Overwhelming Odds". This does sound appropriately heroic.
Inside the mission: huh? I thought Synapse said he was sending me to Skyway City? The mission popup tells me I'm not in Kansas any more. I mean, not on Earth. Hmmm. My objective is now "Discover what's going on".
The mission seems to be an outdoor map resembling Eden, populated exclusively by a large number of blue-skinned alien women who are grav/empathy controllers. No Frownobots are apparent. Having all the aliens heal each other seems pretty annoying, but I'm not sure if I actually need to fight them. I'm glad I didn't play a squishy, this seems like a lot of mez.
I found and destroyed an "Arachnos Lifepod", which contained a dead person and the last page of his journal, which babbles about the hive mind occupying this planet and something about "focus nodes", which are now my new objective.
After some searching, I found a "Focus Node" right near the helicopter I emerged from; it's sufficiently large that I think I would've noticed it before, so I guess it appeared only after the lifepod was opened. Destroying the Focus Node results in Destiny uttering a few disturbingly obsessive sounding lines, which I thought were pretty good, but does not change my "Destroy Focus Nodes" objective.
Found another Focus Node and destroyed it. I'm starting to think that instead of triggering 4 Focus Nodes upon breaking the Lifepod, it's actually only generating one Focus Node each time, and destroying that Focus Node triggers the next one, in a daisy-chain like arrangement. This is kind of annoying from a gameplay standpoint, since I have to comb most of Eden each time to find the new "focus node" but I'm thinking you may have done this because you wanted the dialog to occur in a certain order.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes. As you note, the dialogue from Destiny becomes more and more desperate and poignant as each Focus Node is destroyed. I agree that having all 4 spawn at once would be slightly easier, but I believe the Destructibles used (rikti portal generator) are large and noticeable enough to allow this.
[ QUOTE ]
Nevertheless, this is forcing me to do a lot of backtracking across a largish outdoor map, which some players may find to be too annoying.
Some of Destiny's later dialog where she's begging you to stay with her is rather sad. I'm starting to feel bad for not wanting to stay on her bizarre hive mind prison planet. Though I'm not sure how to reconcile her dialog with the fact that her various component mobs keep attacking me with grav powers. Wouldn't this eventually kill her plaything?
[/ QUOTE ]
Shes not trying to kill you, shes trying to subdue you so that she can hold you there indefinitely.
[ QUOTE ]
The final ambush at the end is pretty huge, but kinda works for the story. Fortunately I can just punch out since the mission is complete.
Debriefing: Synapse chews me out for not stopping Commander Curmudgeon and the Frownobots. What, this is my fault that he couldn't correctly polarize the neutrons in his stupid teleporter? Harrumph. He claims I failed and I don't get an opportunity to explain.
I wonder if Mynx or Synapse himself might've been more appropriate to clean up the Skyway City mess? Since they live in Skyway City and Blue Steel does not.
[/ QUOTE ]
quote]Keywords: Solo Friendly, Complex Mechanics, Comedy
[ QUOTE ]
Mission 2
Briefing: The player eavesdrops on Synapse's side of a telephone conversation with Swan, but the way it is presented sounds stilted, as all of Synapse's lines to Swan are obviously exposition. Apparently Statesman and Citadel are exhausted and demoralized and need cheering up, and my second task is to go give them a pep talk.
I'm not sure it makes sense for Citadel to be "demoralized", since he's an android.
My "mission accept" message is "No", which is the opposite of accepting the mission. I guess this is intended to be a joke, but seems rather unheroic.
Second part of mission: Synapse ignores my "No" and treats it as a yes. "Marvellous" should be "Marvelous".
I like the "Inspire Another to Greatness" mission title. Though if I'm really inspiring Statesman AND Citadel, shouldn't it be "Inspire Others" rather than "Another"? (I foresee another switcheroo, though.)
Inside the mission: Yep, teleported somewhere random again. The first encounter I find in this cave is... an AV level Lord Recluse with some Arachnos. Weirdly, Lord Recluse appears to be their hostage.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ah, was he kneeling with his hands in the air? Hes an Ally objective, and sometimes he does this. Its an AE bug I guess. His animation is supposed to be arms crossed.
[ QUOTE ]
Lord Recluse has rather humorous dialog. Apparently, he is depressed because Statesman keeps beating him up and needs a morale booster.... after his minions fail to destroy me, he attaches himself to me as a (non-combat) follower and challenges me to break his computer system or something.
I run past his various minions and destroy his computer. For some reason this impresses Lord Recluse and he feels inspired by my example. I'm not quite sure I buy this (kicking a computer is inspiring?), but it's kinda funny.
[/ QUOTE ]
Youre supposed to fight your way through. I thought you were an overconfident scrapper? Got too many reviews to get through tonight to dawdle, eh? Im joshing, PW, typing that with a big cheesy grin on my face, please dont take offense. Actually, I think your points at the end about this mission are awesome and I will be implementing them.
[ QUOTE ]
Debriefing: Synapse continues to yell at me for failing his various tests. I kinda think I should get an opportunity at some point to say that he's not teleporting me to the right place, but oh well.
Mission 3
Briefing: Well, I was thinking that having "failed" two tests, he should totally flunk me on this whole application thing, but he actually does a good job of explaining that I still have a good shot at it.
I like his explanation of Praetorian Earth and his landlady's evil duplicate and MY evil duplicate, it's quite fun.
There's this HUGE warning to play only at difficulty 1, but being generally contrary (and too lazy to go find the Hero Corps Analyst), I try it at difficulty 4 anyway.
"Defeat Your Evil Twin" is another fun mission title.
Rather peculiar mission entry popup, with a PA system expositioning something about an Evil Plan and a Cato Initiative.
"Defeat Chimera" is in my mission objectives, but I have no idea why. I'm pretty sure he's not my character's evil twin. Needs some motivation for why this is necessary.
[/ QUOTE ] Good point. Ill have a think.
[ QUOTE ]
I ran into a Stooge and a Lackey from "My Evil Empire", perhaps henchmen of either Chimera or My Evil Twin. "Marvellous" should be "Marvelous" in Stooge's description. Their costumes are very peculiar, I hope it gets explained later why Stooge is a matador and Lackey is in pajamas.
I found Chimera. I like his dialog, seems pretty fun. He's convinced I'm my evil twin and I'm betraying him. Weirdly, during the fight with him, his katana vanished and he simply was miming various attack moves with an air katana; he looked like the standard Chimera model, so this might not be anything you've done. Possibly an animation error.
[NPC] Chimera: -Ow! That was a bit over the top!
I think that hyphen before Ow might be unintentional? Not sure.
I got the "Stuffed into Chimera's pants is a letter" clue, which strongly implies that this isn't the first time "I" have gotten into Chimera's pants. Ack! My evil twin apparently gets around.
I like the "Photo of Tyrant and...you?" clue; I totally demand to know what the comedic caption is on Tyrant's "cooking apron" though.
"Wall Safe" has a progress bar of "Scanning", which seems weird for a safe; maybe "Cracking" or "Opening" would be more appropriate.
[/ QUOTE ]
This safe is unlocked by the biometric wossname of your evil twin, so it needed to scan you to unlock. I loathe the cracking rubbish. Every superhero and villain in CoH/V is an expert safecracker?
[ QUOTE ]
Gah, opening the Wall Safe triggers 6 Praetorians to subdue as an objective. I think this needs to be better motivated; why do I need to defeat 6 AVs now exactly? I guess I have the means and opportunity, just need a motive. Perhaps include something in the Superhuman Immobilizer Ray clue explaining why I want to do this now.
I find an EB Marauder and I pop Focus Chi and rush to attack him only to find ... he's a hostage? OK, that was surprising. Defeating the guards surrounding him seems to count as subduing him.
Marauder's dialog is like this:
[NPC] Marauder: Me like big gloves! Me like big shoes!
[NPC] Lackey: Boss! The other base is now having a Dark Olivia Q theme party! haha..? -agh, OK, not funny!
[NPC] Marauder: Dark Olivia Q! You need big bag for face, haha!
[NPC] Marauder: Haha! You got hit with ugly stick in time loop for seven centuries, yes? - Hey! me not like!
[NPC] Marauder: Me smash Dark Olivia Q! ...when me get out!
[NPC] Marauder: Uh-oh...me need big potty soon!
This really doesn't sound like something the canonical Marauder would say.
[/ QUOTE ]
Keywords: Solo Friendly, Complex Mechanics, Comedy
[ QUOTE ]
Perhaps this is an homage to Bizarro or something. Marauder followed me around for awhile, but didn't seem to help in fights; not sure what the point of him following is. I eventually lost him.
[/ QUOTE ]
This is unfortunate. I note that you dont mention the immobilization animation anywhere. Perhaps none of them worked? Defeating his guards didnt subdue him, the ray did. Each of the Praetorians has a piece of dialogue commenting on the ray immpbilizing them. Sometimes the animations dont work. Its a shame
[ QUOTE ]
Someone does finally explain why my evil twin's minions are dressed so strangely:
[NPC] Stooge: The Boss is gonna be SO not happy that special costumes for the Presentation aren't here.
[NPC] Stooge: Dark Olivia Q! It's not our fault! The costume suppliers sent us the wrong costumes!
....which is a little silly, but at least it's an explanation.
[NPC] Lackey: Citadel - robot. Evil plan - CLONES? ...Hello? Anything not seem right, here?
[NPC] Stooge: Citadel - robot. Evil plan - CLONES? ...Hello? Anything not seem right, here?
[NPC] Lackey: I guess that's why they call it SUPERscience! But I digress - Initiate Cato Initiative! Attack!
[NPC] Stooge: I guess that's why they call it SUPERscience! But I digress - Initiate Cato Initiative! Attack!
This dialog from the guards of the Citadel Clone Vat seems doubled; this might be a bug with the MA system though.
[/ QUOTE ]
Remember in the description, when it says to run it at Heroic Difficulty? If you do, as I asked you to, this doubling does not appear.
[ QUOTE ]
I have to agree with the minions, what's up with cloning an android? Evil Me should know better!
More doubled dialog at the Back Alley Brawler Clone Vat:
[NPC] Lackey: I wish I'd pulled duty at the other base today - I bet the party rocks!
[NPC] Stooge: I wish I'd pulled duty at the other base today - I bet the party rocks!
[NPC] Lackey: Boss!, I'm sorry, oh mighty, malevolent, Dark Olivia Q
[NPC] Stooge: Boss!, I'm sorry, oh mighty, malevolent, Dark Olivia Q
Also the last line should have a period after the hero's name.
[NPC] Stooge: I've been practising my Suprise Ambush Manoever for months - the boss won't know what's coming!
[NPC] Lackey: I've been practising my Suprise Ambush Manoever for months - the boss won't know what's coming!
I think this should be "Surprise Ambush Maneuver" or perhaps "Surprise Ambush Maneouvre".
[NPC] Siege: ...When a man.s an empty kettle, he should be on his mettle, and yet I'm torn apart.
"man.s" should be "man's". It seemed a little surreal to have Siege singing lines from The Wizard of Oz.
[/ QUOTE ]
Maybe as well as comedy, there should be a farce keyword
[ QUOTE ]
Flunky's description: "a chefs outfit" should be "a chef's outfit".
Neuron's clue explaining the Evil Plan is both enlightening (as to what all these clone vats are for) and funny. The "Send clones to Primal earth" part of the clan has a space between the hyphen and "Send" while the other steps do not; for consistency, should make them all have a space or none of them.
[NPC] Diabolique: I fear nothing! I await your leader's rumoured frighteningly ugly countenance with interest
...should have a period at the end.
[NPC] Stooge: The bullfighters and chef's outifits I can deal with, but JAMMIES? What if a hero crashes?
"outifits" should be "outfits".
Haha, Mother Mayhem is doing product placement for other story arcs. I hope you're getting kickbacks from the other author!
[/ QUOTE ] lol [ QUOTE ]
Several of the Praetorians seem to want to follow me, despite being "Immobilized". Not sure if that is intentional.
[/ QUOTE ]
No, this is the animations being borked. Makes me Grrr. Sometimes they all work perfectly, sometimes they dont. Its life that they dont when theres a review I guess.
[ QUOTE ]
Found and fought Tyrant, who was an EB that wasn't a hostage.
The cloned mash-ups of the Freedom Phalanx are amusing.
[NPC] Sister Posinapse: You! my fashion disaster is all your fault!
[NPC] Sister Posinapse: -well, I've got to blame someone...
"my" should be "My" and "-well" should be "Well".
I think the "2 Protoclones to defeat - at least" and the "Defeat the last Protoclone" objectives are a bit misleading, since each of these is actually a *group* of protoclones, not just one.
[NPC] Neuron: Deciever! When this wears off...
"Deciever" should be "Deceiver"
[NPC] Lackey: Bob attacked once while the Boss was on the job! Got a commendation - postumously.
"postumously" should be "posthumously"
Overall
Neat premise, though kind of a bummer that I am "failing" every test. Mission 3 was an excellent finale for this "part", though it seemed much more zany than the first two missions. I mean, they are all humorous, but the humor in mission 1 (the sitcom humor of the horrible girlfriend you can't get rid of) was a very different style than the humor in mission 3 (the madcap humor of fighting people dressed up as matadors and chefs). This caused the arc to feel rather uneven. I did like all the references to the stuff my evil twin was up to, though.
This felt more like a series of vignettes loosely connected by the framing story; nothing that happens in the earlier missions seems to affect the later missions.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, this is exactly what I wanted. Its more like one of those anthology movies than a normal arc.
[ QUOTE ]
It would be nice if there were some recurring characters or events that connected the individual missions more closely together, but this might be hard considering each of the missions is basically in a different dimension.
The middle mission felt weakest to me; I'm still not convinced that breaking a computer should be enough to demonstrate your resolve and cheer up Lord Recluse. In fact I was able to largely avoid combat after freeing LR, by just running past all of the mobs (with capped defense) and attacking the computer directly. You might have Lord Recluse present the player with a series of cascading challenges after being freed: like releasing the hounds to slay the player, then if the player beats the hounds, the killer robots are sent in to dispose of the player. After the killer robots, a team of crack Arachnos operatives. Between each encounter, perhaps award a new "Transmission from Lord Recluse" clue, each one written slightly different so he starts off sounding somewhat apathetic, but becomes more and more animated as he becomes interested in orchestrating the player's demise. When the player finally beats the last challenge, then Lord Recluse thanks her for reinvigorating his spirit and goes off to plot further against Statesman.
[/ QUOTE ] This is fantastic. I love it, and Im a bit gutted I didnt think of it myself. My only caution is that it might make the arc too long (I mean the 6-mission single arc The Audition, not this 3-mission section of it). The idea here is so cool though, Im going to do it anyway. Thanks v much, PW.
[ QUOTE ]
I very quickly got tired of having Synapse berate me for things that were really his fault. It was mildly funny in the first debriefing, but it got old quickly. It would be nice to get some recognition after the final mission, where I basically defeat all the Praetorians.
Anyway, with all that in mind, I rated it 4 stars.
The Audition [Missions 4-6] review
Arc ID: 221242
Keywords: Solo Friendly, Complex Mechanics, Comedy
Morality: Heroic
Level range: 40-54
This is a sequel to The Audition (Part 1), which has since been renamed to The Audition [Missions 1-3].
The premise is that you are doing tryouts for the Freedom Phalanx. Synapse is the contact.
I played a 50 MA/SR scrapper on Unyielding (difficulty 4). The arc warns to only play at difficulty 1, but, well, I'm a scrapper, and therefore overconfident.
Mission 1
Briefing: Synapse basically tells me I'm doing poorly. He decides to test me by teleporting me into a bank vault full of money and seeing if I steal it.
This seems a rather implausible test, though; I mean, I know Synapse is testing me, so if I were REALLY a supervillain infiltrating the Freedom Phalanx, I would know not to steal it? A more believable "Resist Temptation" test should not make it quite so obvious that it IS a test, because everyone is "good" when they know people are watching. Sure, the monitoring devices are disabled, but the way this is presented, you KNOW Synapse will know.
The caption for the briefing and the subtitle should probably be in a larger font, boldfaced or otherwise made to stand out from the rest of the briefing.
I do like the "Resist Temptation" mission title though.
"First National bank" should be "First National Bank" (note capitalization).
Second part of briefing: Synapse emphasizes no one will know what happens except me. This seems flawed logic - the bank clearly will know their money is gone, and Synapse will know I did it, because he sent me there.
Once I arrive in the bank, it turns out someone is ALREADY robbing the bank. I guess removing all the security devices wasn't such a good idea after all! Who would've thought!
I like the concept of the bank robbing nuns; fighting them is lots of fun. I found Mother Superior, who spawned as a 52 EB for me; her dialog suggests she's sent some of the gold in the bank to "the future" already. That seems bad.
Olivia versus the Katana-wielding Nuns from the Future!
Mother Superior's background story says she uses the "Mace o' Hearts" but the graphic for her weapon is a hammer, not a mace. Seems inconsistent. She has pretty good dialog; though I can see that I'm being set up to take the fall for this bank robbery.
Counting the "Vault Bullion" with my super-speed counting powers I find that only one bar of gold is missing, which I'm kind of glad about; the way Mother Superior talked, I figured they would've teleported ALL the gold out of the bank, which would've made me very annoyed.
Found the Temporal Transferotron; I kinda expected a device from the 26th century to look a little more futuristic. The person guarding this object maybe should've had some dialog.
Aha, found the "Bullion Manifest" AFTER the "Vault Bullion", which seems to be opposite of the order the mission expected; since the "Vault Bullion" says that I "count off against the manifest", but I hadn't actually found the manifest yet at that point. Consider rewording them so they make sense regardless of the order they are found.
[/ QUOTE ]
Hm, youre the first person whos cvlicked the safe glowie after the wall maniferst glowie. Ill alter both clues to avoid this. Cheers g=for the head;s up. Did you notice that its not just this bank theyre planning to rob its ALL the wealth of the world?
[ QUOTE ]
Unlike the missions of the first arc, in this mission you never actually "Resist Temptation" (while in the first arc, you DO perform the stated goal, just in an unexpected way).
Debriefing: Synapse yells at me for stealing the 1 missing bar. I'm quite annoyed that he doesn't believe my story of what happened. But, if we accept that he really doesn't believe my story, shouldn't he fail me out of the Freedom Phalanx tryout at this point? If he really thinks I'm a bank robber, there is no way I should be allowed to continue trying out for the team. Seems a logic problem with the story.
On top of that he is chalking me up for a "fail" on his little clipboard. He had already told me that my previous record meant I *had* to succeed at this point, why would he let me continue on with a fourth "fail"?
Mission 2
Briefing: Synapse is getting kind of rude in his briefings. He's basically saying I've already failed and we're just going through the motions; as a result, I question why my character would put up with any more of this nonsense with him. Maybe if this mission were to kick Synapse's butt, it would make sense.
The mission, however, appears to be to go talk with a prisoner in the Zig. The contact says I should "let him know society's forgiven him his sins", but also says he won't get out of prison for "700 years", two statements which seem logically inconsistent. Also, I find it a little hard to believe that "standard Zig procedure is to give the repentant villain a little pep talk" as described here. Maybe it would make more sense if this were some sort of parole hearing where you can see if he is truly "reformed" as the counselor says?
Second part of the briefing: "the Zig,where" is missing a space after "Zig,"
"Forgive Someone Of Their Misdeeds" IS a cool mission title though.
As I enter the mission, I seem to be on a ship instead of in the Zig, and the mission entry popup and dialog in here are full of musical notes, indicating that .. it's now time for a musical number?
The ship seems unusually empty, with just a few patrols of "mummers", who look like campy (but fun) villain henchmen.
The mission objective is "Meet them and beat them" which sounds fun...not sure if this is a Defeat boss or Defeat All.
I searched around and couldn't find a boss, unless maybe Wah Wah is a boss (he spawned as a lieutenant for me).
[/ QUOTE ]
The boss in a defeat boss objective doesnt have to be an actual Boss level mob. I think they should have named the objective defeat enemy instead, to avoid confusion such as this. Isnt it obvious enough that the bosses are Named, and everything else isnt?
[ QUOTE ]
Wah Wah had dialog, so I figured he must be the boss. He sang a little song for me, that I think meant that his villain group's ultimate goal was to silence the noise in the world, but defeating him didn't update my objective.
It did appear to spawn another character, Boom Boom, who wasn't there on my previous search. I'm guessing there must be a bunch of linked objectives that eventually spawn the boss of this mission. You might consider having the "Meet them and beat them" objective update each time you complete one of the objectives in the daisy chain, to help show the player she's making forward progress. To fit with the theme, maybe each objective could be a line from a song, that when put together is the theme song of the Humming Mummers.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ill definitely address the Nav instructions here, it is too vague, I agree. As for the liitle song, Im wondering if you have NPC chat up in a separate window or were taking any notice of it. The bosses are chained because their dialogue needs to arriove in a certain order., If you read their dialogue in the order it comes, and read all of it, theres quite a lot of it, and it tells the whole story of Silencio Shanty, his plan, your part in its downfall, etc.
[ QUOTE ]
Defeating Boom Boom spawned another boss, Chikka Chikka. He spawned behind me rather than ahead (probably luck of the draw, but required searching).
Aha, defeating Chikka Chikka finally changed the objective, to "Mechanism Wreckanism". Still think the objective should change for EACH boss though.
A guard near the Amplifier objective said:
[NPC] Mummer: Anti-noise, comin' soon | Like a sonic poison to stop all the
....I think he is missing the last word of that line.
[/ QUOTE ]
the Krokenburg amplifiers clue repeqats the lines that his guard sang.
[ QUOTE ]
Destroying the amplifier switched the objective back to "Meet them and beat them", so I started looking for another boss.
Continued down the daisy chain of objectives, defeating Bow Wow and Badabing, then finally finding Silencio Shanty. This was a LOT of chained objectives; consider reducing their number slightly, or else make them all NON-chained so as to reduce the amount of searching.
Silencio's description is just his name repeated about 8 times, which I guess is his theme song. It would've been nice to know what his story really is, though. Also, if he's dedicated to silence, should he really have a theme song?
[/ QUOTE ]
Im not really sure what to say here lol. Sorry I didnt explain it clearly enough for you.
[ QUOTE ]
I beat up Silencio, which was a little difficult as there were sonic and thermal buffs all over the place, but I managed. A squishier character might've had problems.
Initially it felt like I never actually got to Forgive Someone of Their Misdeeds, as it seemed like all I did was beat everyone up, in a predetermined order defined by the chained objectives. A bit later I found the "Silencio Redemptcio" clue, which I think was the mission complete clue (so I didn't notice it right away)
[/ QUOTE ]
Why not? Dont you check your mission complete clues when the mission completes?
[ QUOTE ]
. It did explain the idea a little better, though I think it would be a little more effective if you could see the forgiveness and redemption "in game", perhaps via dialog (you can't force the player to say stuff, but Silencio could perhaps ask for forgiveness with his dying line).
[/ QUOTE ]
Good point, but I think that would then make most of the mission complete clue pointless. Ill have a look at it, though.
[ QUOTE ]
A possible logic problem with this clue: it says Silencio is deaf, but he nods and responds to your dialog in this clue as if he can understand it. I guess he COULD be a lip reader, too, but it's a bit of a strain.
Debriefing: Synapse is really being nasty now. I don't see why I am working for him any more. I really don't like having the contact yell at me for "failing" when I am actually succeeding at every objective the story arc presents me. The temptation to quit the arc is strong.
Mission 3
Briefing: So now Synapse has a "serious situation" on his hands and he wants to chicken out and send me. I'm afraid this does not make sense. Synapse, a hero of the Freedom Phalanx, veteran of countless superheroic battles, wants to call in sick, because ... well I don't even understand why he refuses to go. Instead he wants to send me, who he has heaped immense amounts of disdain upon after giving 5 black marks for his various "tests". I don't see how this can possibly make sense.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ihate to keep harping on about this, but
Solo Friendly, Complex Mechanics, Comedy
[ QUOTE ]
With how rude Synapse has been to me so far, I'm tempted to tell him to go to hell. But I'm curious as to how this ends, and I *do* claim to be a hero, so I take the mission. Turns out it's something to do with Lord Recluse and some superweapon he's built.
I think it would add a little if you were mention here that Recluse has strangely been a lot more motivated; even ... inspired, you might say. (Referencing the events of The Audition part 1.)
[/ QUOTE ]
Er, like when Synapse says something seems to have spurred him into action, and he's come up with a truly fiendish plan! in the briefing?
[ QUOTE ]
I like the "Save the World" mission title.
Inside the mission: Ack, it's full of storm elementals. What happened to Lord Recluse's plot? I'm in space .. I guess Synapse teleported me to the wrong place again?
Found and defeated Ninoricous, a custom elite boss. He said some dialog that didn't make any sense to me. Same for Eukracious, another elite boss.
They both talk about someone or something named "Lem", though.
Found and clicked a Datanode. The progress bar for this glowy is currently blank, should have something on it like "Accessing". (Note: all the Datanodes I checked had this problem)
[/ QUOTE ]
The system messages explain what is happening. Ill add sth to the bar, though, for folks who dont have their system messages up.
[ QUOTE ]
It does give me a clue explaining who Lem is.
Beat up two more custom EBs; I'm getting the idea they're some sort of cosmic entities come to repossess something from the Earth, and accidentally cause an ice age as a side effect. After clicking a couple glowies that resulted in some clues with snarky dialog from the ship's computer, I have some triggered objectives to face Primis and to seek and destroy a Pod. The Pod is explained in the "Lem is irritated" clue, but "Primis" doesn't seem to be mentioned in any of the clues; maybe should say who he is, or else not use his name.
[/ QUOTE ]
The order you did this is bizarre. The two last datanodes are supposed to spawn after you defeat Primis. Sorry about that. The objectives are borked it seems.
[ QUOTE ]
You might want to make "Seek and Destroy Pod" into "Seek and Destroy Movement Pod" ... I kept looking at "Pod" and thinking "iPod". (Very minor gripe.)
Perhaps "Defeat Primis" could be "Defeat 1AU Tall Cosmic Being" to be especially foreboding.
[/ QUOTE ] The 1 AU tall Primis is not the Primis you encounter but an earlier clue explains that the Constructors are shadows of their normally cosmically powerful selves because of t=your polluting presence. It looks like I failed to make that clear to you too
[ QUOTE ]
Found and fought Primis. He summoned a Singularity, which I was able to shrug off, but might be nasty for squishies. I love this line:
[NPC] Primis: You won't even notice it's gone! Plenty of systems do just fine without a Sun.
Destroying the Movement Pod seemed a little less dramatic a finish than I'd hoped;
[/ QUOTE ]
Where did it spawn? What was the timing like? Its a timed mission, and the pods supposed to spawn at the front, so you dash back.
[ QUOTE ]
the description of the Movement Pod doesn't really say what it does, just says it's the thing I was told about, and when I actually destroy it, all I get is a clue where the ship's computer complains that I saved the world and it's sending me back.
[/ QUOTE ] Lem tells you what destroying the pod will do earlier, that;s why you look for the pod.
[ QUOTE ]
Maybe needs some description of huge cosmic forces at work in the background as I prevent the aliens from stealing the sun.
Debriefing: Filled with sarcasm and insults. This is the reward for completing the story arc? The last line mentioning "deeds of massive heroism that go completely unrecognised" is maybe meant to hint that the player should derive their own self-satisfaction for what they've done, but I'm afraid the vitriol Synapse pours on me here makes the ending feel pretty bitter.
Also in this debriefing, "venus" should be "Venus", "Wierd" should be "Weird", "i don't know" should be "I don't know".
No souvenir? A 6-mission epic really oughta have one, I think?
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Yeah, lol, I keep meaning to make one, but heres the funny thing I cant think of what actual object the souvenir should be lol
[ QUOTE ]
Overall
I like the basic premise, and had a good time fighting the bank robbing nuns. The musicians and the star stealers were interesting but not quite as charming as enemies go, though they did have some nice dialog. The ideas behind the sun thieves and the futuristic bank robbers were fairly clever. I do like that you fulfill the stated mission title in unexpected ways; I thought that was a neat idea. In this arc, I felt the first mission was strongest (I could see how I was being set up for failure and it all sorta made sense); the middle mission felt weakest (felt like I was repeatedly searching the ship for the next mime to kill).
[/ QUOTE ]
Its a shame the The Accapellaclypse found you like that. A good few players have said that they felt like they were searching the ship for the next piece of the song. In a good way. One piece of particularly lovely feedback explained that the player had killed her husbands scrapper because she was too busy singing along
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One problem I have with how this is presented is the individuals missions really don't have much to do with each other; the arc is basically 3 (amusing) vignettes that are only very loosely connected by the framing story. There are no recurring characters or plotlines across the missions of this arc (or across the greater 6-mission arc as a whole). I think having some additional continuity between the individual missions would make this feel more cohesive.
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I appreciate your viewpoint, but this isnt that type of arc. I really cant think of any way to shoehorn another common element (apart from the player) into all 6 missions.
[ QUOTE ]
The things that WERE common to all the arcs were Synapse's inability to teleport me to the correct place, and Synapse gradually becoming more and more offensive as he blames me for it -- both elements that I felt were negative. I think this was funny the first time, maybe even the second time .... but after FIVE instances of teleporting me the wrong place, and blaming me for the failure, it had gotten really old. Surely he would've either listened to me about him not teleporting me to the right place, or else I would've stopped trying to help this crazy person, long before it got that far? The individual missions were mostly individually charming, but Synapse yelling at me at the start and at the end of each mission really made it less fun.
[/ QUOTE ]
Some people react like this, some catch on and laugh it off.
[ QUOTE ]
I was kind of hoping the final mission would let you get recognized for Saving the World and would change Synapse's opinion as he realizes you've been doing the heroic tasks successfully all along. The ending where Synapse feels you're a hopeless failure is something of a downer.
[/ QUOTE ]
This is a good point, Im not sure how I can reverse the You Fail! Bye! sort of ending, but I agree it would be nice to have at least some vindication for the poor beleaguered Player, whos just performed 6 deeds of massive heroism.
[ QUOTE ]
I might suggest you rephrase the debriefings so that maybe Synapse eventually realizes the teleporter isn't working right, and grudgingly acknowledges that you actually accomplished the task he set for you, just in a different way than he expected. As it stands now, after you flunk out on 3 or 4 missions it just doesn't make sense for him to keep asking you to do more -- whereas if he gives you a few passing grades with great reluctance, you can still make him seem unsure that you're the right stuff, but you can also let the player feel like she's doing something right.
Gameplay-wise, I think you went a bit overboard with the linked objectives; missions 2 and 3 involved a substantial amount of backtracking to find the new spawned objective. You might consider either reducing the number of links, making some of the objectives spawn at mission start (instead of being triggered), and/or making the maps a bit smaller so that there's less searching involved.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ill look into this, I do like my complex mechanics, I agree. Maybe too much
[ QUOTE ]
Anyway, I like the ideas represented by each of the individual missions, but felt the framing story didn't quite work for me. With all that in mind, I gave this arc 3 stars. Hope you think that is fair!
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3 stars is fine, Ill add it to the 4 you gave me for missions 1-3 of the arc and tell myself I got SEVEN stars for The Audition! (hmm, maybe Ill use this in ads for it rated SEVEN stars by Policewoman!)
Thanks very much for the feedback. All the typos you noticed Thank you so much, Ill sort them out.
Im glad you liked the arc overall, and your positive comments are appreciated. its especially nice to hear you liked the titles I spent a while honing them lol.
I loved the screenshot too
The only negative overall comment I have on your review is that I felt that in some parts, you missed the point of what was happening or why it was. At the end of the day this falls at my feet for making such a complicated arc, I guess. If you are by any chance interested in a long and in-depth commentary on The Audition, please check out my thread on it here
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat....=2#Post13766354
Thanks very much again, PW.
Eco. -
Dont change your map again, this time i didnt have any troubles finding the frost giants.
i didnt notice a vahz ambush i'm sorry, but that might have been because i was in a bit of a blast frenzy.
Eco -
The Wolfpack Chronicles (Part 1), Arc ID 242869, by @Citizen Razor, Long (4 small, 1 unique maps), Villainous, lvl 10-14.
Looking back, part of the problem I had was that Topsy is a Brute, and so the stop-start nature of my write as I go style here interrupts Rage buildup, making the combat more difficult. Coupled with the fact that Topsys quite low, too, this meant that I wasnt allowing myself to experience the fun of a Brutes SMAAAAASHWAAAAARGH! playstyle. To rectify that, Im playing it again, straight through, with Atomicide, my lvl19 Dark/Dark Brute. Atromicide should be able to steam-roller this, and though I wont get any XP of course, hopefully itll be a nice fun Smash-fest.
Ill give a brief comment on the experience at the end of every mission. I notice that Omega is still cited as being a member of the Horsemen in his bio, BTW.
Mission 1: Get the Bowler Hat from the Mooks.
This was much better. I cleared everything. The mooks were no trouble this time. I found the bowler hat in the last crate, I dont know if thats just random or you changed it sonce my first run. Alpha conned orange, he had 3 mobs with him, they killed me once (my fault, I was impatient) but no complaints about the Smash factor here this time.
Mission 2: Steal the skin of Midas.
This was awesome fun. The Rocketmen dont have the annoying KD of the Mooks, so I just Got Mad and powered through them all. After the fight with Alpha (nice little anim on him waiting btw), I Supersped through the map to Midas whilst my Rage was at full, and wasted him easily.
Mission 3: Retrieve the Lock of Pyriss hair
This was the snake poo cave mission
Im still not overly enamoured with the sifting the=rough the snake poo, but with my Rage up this was another fun storm through the snakes. I missed a few patches of snake dirt on my way, so after Id cleared all, I had to backtrack a ways, and then of course Alpha spawns in that back room. Id advise lowering the number of snake dirt patches to 4-6 or so.
Mission 4: Gather the Final Artifacts for the Portal
This is my least favorite mission of all. The map is a bit fiddly for the amount of crates to search, and the fact that the items you find in the fourteen crates are almost all pointless in terms of your mission makes them aggravating. One of them also spawns on top of a cargo canister thats a little difficult to get to without Fly. The fighting, however, was fun with full Rage.
Mission 5: Send the Artifacts to Praetoria.
The portal components were all in the same room at the start as last time. I Supersped through the map to the Mainframe, and the spawn of guards with it was enough to get my Rage up nicely for Alphas teleport in when the mainframe was done. I still dont like the possibility of a heroic victory in this villainous arc, but its part 1, so I guess that maybe the bad guys win in further parts.
So in terms of fun factor, I had a much better time of it this time. Im still not too crazy about the story, but the maps, mechanics and mobs were much better suited to Atomicide than to Topsy. As was the pace at which I went through it. Keeping Rage up is important for a Brute, obviously, and so Im going to be careful in using Brutes for my reviews in future. There are two ways of reviewing, with a Brute. Play it through as youd play normally, then write notes afterwards, in which case you may forget things or see clue drops etc not in the manner in which the author wants them delivered, or stop and write notes as you go, and interrupt Rage, which can lead to a more difficult time of it and a more critical review in general. Theres always the option to do both of course, and then combine the two into one review, or use a mic to record your thoughts as you play and then transcribe them lol.
Id personally be wary of reviews written using a Brute TBH. I dont think they easily lend themselves to a measured review. Thats just my opinion.
I hope that this offered some constructive criticism, Razor.
Eco. -
BE Prologue: Gangs United, Arc ID 250480, by @Ozzie Arcane Medium length (4 small maps). Heroic, lvl range 10-20. An underground organization is attempting to unite several gangs into one.
An important sentence in my first run of this arc was this:
So, hm, this arc was a bit underwhelming, TBH. With the slow pace of low-level Controller combat, especially Ill
Right off, Im not putting enough effort in, am I? A slow-paced toon isnt fun? So how about I take a faster-hitting character in? And just to take some of my own fun in, Ill use a toon whose concept cracks me up and whose first outing pleasantly surprised me. The Psystem
Theyre a lvl 13 Psi/Psi Blaster.
Im not going to comment on typos etc, I pointed them out in my first run
The rerun will be fairly short, I think. It's not going to be in much detail, either.
HEY YOU / WHO US / HUMAN NEEDS HELP / HUMAN CRAZY / SHUT UP, YOU / SCOTHEW LARBERS / GESUNDHEIT / NO / SCOTHEW LARBERS NAME OF HUMAN SEEKING ASSISTANCE / SECRET ORGANISATION PLOTTING / PLOTTING / PLOTTING COURSE FOR ALDEBARAAN / 548876.00988K{DD<(IIOU00.7)}Cos[hic] / IMPOSSIBLE / DIRECTIONS INVALID / TO THE NORTH POLE!!! / SHUT UP., YOU / ACCEPT MISSION / OOOH WHERE AM I GOING I DONT KNOW
Mission : Stop the Hellion Meeting
SCREAMS / SCREAMS IN THE NIGHT / NO / WE CAN HEAR SCREAMING / CARRY ON SCREAMING / OOH YOU ARE AWFUL / SHUT UP YOU / ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS SYUGGESTS TRANSFORMATION WAIL OF LARGE MONSTER / PROBABLY CROSS BETWEEN SQUIRREL, ANT AND ELEPHANT / PROBABLY? / PROBABILITY ESTIMATED AT 0.0076% / WE ARE DAMAGED / YES
[This run goes much smoother. The Psystem can handle the customs and the Hellions, Im enjoying myself. The custom hellions look very nice with their horns and fiery eyes]
AARGH / UGLY MONSTER / MONSTER RAVING / RAVING LOONY / DOING THE LAMBETH WALK / OI / SHUT UP, YOU / ATTACK / WADING THROUGH BODIES / AND STILL HE DIDNT THINK IT TOO MANY / WHATS THAT / FIERY MONSTER / BIG HAT / HORNS ON HAT / OW / OW / OW / WE ARE ON FIRE / OW / INITIATE EMERGENCY THERMORESISTANCE PLAN ALPHA BRAVO FOXTROT TANGO WALTZING MATILDA / NO TIME / PLAN B / PLAN B? / YES / FIND BUCKET OF WATER / SIT IN BUCKET / EMIT COMEDY STEAM FROM BOTTOM / BOTTOM OBJECTS / NO TIME / ATTACK / OW / OW / BRAIN SUGGESTS LESS HYPERBOLE / SENTIENT HYPERSOLID EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL METAL FIREPROOF / OH
[end of mission. Much more fun all round.]
Mission 2: Stop the Troll Meeting
SMELLY CAVE / SHUT UP, NOSE / DONT LIKE SMELLY CAVE / SLIMY CAVE / LIKE HIPPOPOTAMUS BOTTOM / STOP IMMEDIATELY / SEARCH FOR MISCREANTS / LOOK, OVER THERE / ICE ICE BABY / ATTACK / BRRR / ONE / TWO / THREE / ACHTUNG / UWAGA / LOOK, ANOTHER HAT-WEARERE / YES / OW / NO PROBLEM / ATTACK / AND OUR WORK HERE IS DONE
[still not a huge fan of this arqachnoid cave, but with my jump pack, I was able to quickly find the three custom Ice armored Trolls, and then Lord Kuma. Again, the AT made it much better. I notice that the bosses are only needed this time, which is nice as sometimes their guards spawn a bit far away.]
Mission 3: Stop Raid on Family Base
THIS IS IT BOYS / THIS IS WAR / WHAT / NINETY NINE RED BALLOONS / NO / NO BALLOONS IN HERE / OH / TEAR DUCTS ACTIVATE / WE HAVE NO TEAR DUCTS / WHAT IS WET SUBSTANCE ON FACE? / NASAL MUCUS / INVESTIGATE / YES / AGGRESSIVE ATTACKS INCOMING / FIGHT / >>>><<<>><><&g t;< / MAFIOSO / YOU GOT NOTHING! / WALKING CORPSES / YUCK / FREE HUMAN / HUMAN OFFERS ASSISTANCE / ACCEPT / USE HUMAN AS HUMAN SHIELD / NEGATIVE / VOTE? / NEGATIVE / CONTINUE / ATTACK / LARGE ROOM AHEAD / INITIATE MEGASELFDESTRUCT PROTOCOL ECSEMA SIGMA SEVEN / NEGATIVE / AW, PLEASE / YOU PROMISED / NO /
[Nice. obviously, lowbie controllers are not the toons to solo reviews on. My bad. This run was much more fun. I notice youve renamed the Contact too, and I think you've done a fair bit of dialogue rewrites, too?]
Mission 4: Shut Down Big Evil Base
INTO THE BASE / INSIDE / INITITIATE STEALTH MODE / CLOMP / CLOMP / CLOMP / HA/ FEET, DONT FAIL ME NOW / WOAH / DID YOU FEEL THAT / SUDDEN AWESOME SENSATION OF EXPONENTIAL INCREASE IN SYSTEM PARAMETERS / LIKE WICKED RUSH, MAN / BRAIN SUGGESTS POWER-UP OCCURRING / TOOO MUCH X-BOX / INITIATE ULTRA-VIOLENT FRENZY / BRAIN CONCURS / FEET CONCUR / HANDS CONCUR / EARS CONCUR / GROIN CONCURS / NIPPLES CONCUR / TRUNK CONCURS / TRUNK? ATTACK! / ATTACK / ATTACK / VICTOIRE IS OURS!
[I level with the first patrol, and then cut a swathe through the base, destroying the various destructibles and mopping up the mobs.]
BIG BAD DETECTED / HOW YOU DOIN / NOT TIME FOR ROMANCE / TIME FOR VIOLENCE / OW / OW / STOP HER DOING THAT / ATACK /<<>><>> / <<><>< / SHES DOWN / LAST CACHE TO DESTROY / MAGICAL WEAPONS / LEFT SHIN SUGGESTS APPROPRIATING MAGICAL WEAPONS AND BECOMING DARK OVERLORD OF CROATOA / NEGATIVE / CROATOA TOO FOGGY / THERE IT IS / OVER THERE / YES WE SEE IT / KABOOM / JOB DONE / EXIT TO LARGE CROWD WAVING AND CRYING WITH JOY / POSSIBLY GRATEFUL BABES / NO / SINGLE FAT BEARDIE MALE / HELL DO / NEGATIVE
[End]
And thats it. I noticed that After she was defeat is still a typo in the Human Succubus clue, but I didnt focus too closely on the text this time, more on the blastyness. Ive got no more suggestions, and its still a 3-starrer for me, but I hope you at least appreciate that I had a lot more fun this time round.
Eco