Mychyl

Six arcs. Not bad for one session, and my first session at this besides.

I'm done with reviews until after school and sleep (in that order); feel free to continue submitting, and I'll update the queue when I return from slumber.

Also, the info was updated to include a rundown on how the queue works. (I didn't have any rules about multiple submissions at once; I added one now.)

Reviewing:: To Dream of Nothing (374644, @Celestial Nemesis)

@Mychyl

Playing as L15 Fire/Fire scrapper

-- or rather, as L10 Fire/Fire scrapper, due to level cap

~*~

So some mysterious occurrence has started messing up the powers of seasoned heroes, hm? Well, since this character got his power (ostensibly) at the hands of the mad Dr. Brainstorm, it seems sorta up his alley to look into weirdness like this anyways.

Besides, as a fledgling hero, could he really turn down Positron in his hour of need? Of course not. So, let's begin.

~*~

Intruders at a sealed-off lab? Maybe they're here to offer punch and pie to investigators.

Nope. It's the Council, and they're not here for punch and pie.

An assistant that doesn't blink doesn't sound that weird. I guess. But the fact that it's a new lab assistant, right before all this went down (presumably)... that's a little odder.

Aha, so the lab assistant was a Council agent! That explains them being here, and wanting to destroy the lab... take out evidence that one of theirs was here.

And apparently the anomaly also affects normal technology. I'm assuming this is a side effect of it being "designed" (I think) to affect tech-based heroes along with the rest.

Then my character finds a strange blueprint, and gets an indepth briefing on the lowbie end of the Council spectrum from the raid leader's PDA. All in all, a basic run, but let's get this intel back to Positron and see what he makes of it all, hm?

~*~

Huh? The Council was badly affected too? Why would they unleash something that they have no defenses for?

Unless it didn't do what it was supposed to... or there were supposed to be protections in place that weren't there. Curiouser and curiouser...

The sudden info provided about his power-net theories has me thinking in a direction... but perhaps it's better to face the Council vault and find out what's there. And apparently I'll have backup, from a squid and a Freakshow-sounding kid.

~*~

The Council's been out of here... what, a week?... and the Family are calling the shots down here now? (Not that my character's ever faced them before, but that's OK, a quick call to the Brotherhood gives him all the info he needs on that group.)

So, the metal kid looks like a young (and vaguely demonic, appropriately enough) Jack Black, and the squid is actually an energy blaster. (Wasn't sure, but somehow I thought it was possible to use actual Kheldians. Guess not.) And there were Nictus here... not shocking, given that it was a Council base.

The broken machine is N-3? But I thought N-3 was missing? Or is it N-3 is both the machine and its Nictus? I guess there's a Nictus on the lam somewhere out there.

And now the Family want another piece of me before we can leave. Too bad for them.

He was confused by the fact I could take him... apparently, he didn't hear the full story about what's going on. But enough of that, time to find out what Posi has lined up for me (and my little sidekicks) next.

~*~

Yup, looks like the Nictus, the agent/spy, the Professor and his students, and the incident are all tightly interrelated. Time to find out what the Nictus is trying to accomplish, but more importantly, stop it.

~*~

An abandoned warehouse with tons of optional objectives. Let's go for the gusto, shall we?

I find myself finding a liberal scattering of memory cards, ostensibly for a handheld dictation machine, with some very interesting information. It's like slowly watching someone fall into madness, except they're not in order, which makes it even weirder. (Thankfully, they're all dated, or this'd be a bit confusing.)

Apparently our little Nictus friend wants to destroy existence, hm? Sounds like a party... too bad I'm gonna crash it. Once I get all these memory cards back to Posi, that is... give him something to feel useful with until I can destroy the machine.

~*~

So yeah. Nihil hijacked a ship, and is heading out into international waters to carry out Nothing. And has some "paramilitary freaks" with it.

Apparently, no one can find the ship. Except me and my allies. Because we're still heroes, even when the entire rest of the world is effectively shut down. OK. No pressure.

~*~

I find a squidform Nictus. Kill it. My struggling becomes a little less so. Hm... looks like we have some additional hidden objectives to face too.

The "song" references keep making me think of Xenosaga. Not that that matters anymore, since there apparently won't be more, with that Archon down.

Oh ye Gods... is that really...

Yeah. That's a Shadow Cyst crystal. Time to eat every insp I've got and pray I'll survive this one.

It... didn't summon anything? Weird. All those wasted inspirations, and now it's boss time. Oops.

Ouchies. Time to grab some fresh insps and try again.

There, that did the trick. Looks like I've saved the day... time to go have Positron reward me for saving all of existence, never mind restoring the superpowers of Paragon City's capes.

~*~

I get a brief thank-you, a general spiel that sounds more like the usual about power and responsibility, and shuffled off to the general world of lowbie heroes. Yup, life's back to normal in Paragon City. Lucky us, right?

~*~

Storyline:: * * * * *

It gets a bit farfetched at times (although, in Paragon City, what isn't farfetched to some degree?), but overall, it's a very good, compelling story that touches on a lot of existing concepts in the Co* universe that never really got tied all the way together. (At least not that I've seen.) It also works well as a beginner's introduction to the Council, to squiddies (so long as they forget the powers they saw Sunbeam using), and ideally to what a hero's role really entails in this game.

Design:: * * * *

I didn't see any significant flaws in any way with design (custom enemies, custom allies, text, grammar, etc), but there wasn't anything outside of the story which really and truly grabbed my attention. Consider this a B grade... it was good, it just wasn't riveting. (Before you ask, I can't really pinpoint anything specific which would improve this... it's more of a holistic reaction than an analytic one.)

Gameplay:: * * * *

There were a couple of minor things I didn't care so much for in gameplay. First was the crystal... I don't know if that's anything you can control or not, for sure, but it was basically a generic destructible in the form of a shadow cyst crystal, and not the genuine article. This threw me for a loop... which ended up, eventually, costing me my life.

The other is the boss... as boss rank, with the two allies, a couple green insps, and my self-heal from fire, I wasn't even close to going toe to toe with him. I ended up having to fill half my bar with purples and keep them stacked 3 high to not die instantly to him, and he still hit me twice (one I soaked with my self-heal, the other I used a green... both did about 70% of my health). That seems a little overpowered for a boss/EB for single-digit heroes, when they normally don't face anything nastier than a lieutenant unless they're practically 8-manning. It was doable, it just was a bit harder than the "bring what you've got" style of difficulty I prefer to think by.

Detail:: * * * *

Time and effort were clearly put into making this the best arc you could with what was available. Given the option to have a *real* squid for Sunbeam, I think it would've been better, but I'm not grading you off on that. Your detail (and attention to detail) was very good, but as I said under design, the details didn't really bring anything truly riveting to life. There were also a couple minor discrepancies (like the Nictus still being at full power -- by feeding off the students' life force -- even with the device operational, or the fact that, somehow, having completely non-mental superpowers protected my character from a psionic "attack", when most superheroes do not, in fact, have any such defenses) that made the arc a little less than stable for me.

I definitely loved all the little clues in the safehouse, piecing all the myriad memory card clues together to create a single story. That's kinda both story (it tells you what really happened... from the professor's standpoint, that is) and details (because there were SO MANY in there).

Overall:: * * * *

A very, very strong arc, and one which I definitely liked. It flowed well, it read well, and even when I found myself cursing the circumstances, I still liked it.

Thanks... like I said above, this is kinda abnormal for my average day.

Pretty spot-on for "weekend" play though. XD

Reviewing:: Salvage Rights (366579, @Big Game)

@Mychyl

Playing as L36/37 Dark/Regen scrapper, old Heroic setting

~*~

Couple of minor nitpicks, as I start in...

* Borea doesn't have any description. This isn't a HUGE thing, since most people will know who she is -- unless they're brand new and haven't done any RWZ, or they've been out of the game since back when it was still RCS -- but it's a nit I had to pick.

* I found a couple of grammatical errors in the initial sendoff, and the first sendoff response was left to just "Accept".

They're both little things, but sometimes, the little things matter.

Anyways, moving on. Enemies are salvaging Rikti and Vanguard gear out of the Warzone? Including UXBs? Surely it must be Crey... if we've told them once, we've told them a thousand times, stay outta the Warzone! Off to bash some heads, back in a few, Borea.

~*~

I thought they'd added some RWZ maps to the list. No? Well, Baumton works in a pinch, anyways. Just was expecting RWZ when I zoned in.

And of course, what would the Warzone be without Rikti everywhere and patrolling Vanguard?

Aha! Finally found something... a group called Humanity First is staging this raid. According to their very in-depth descriptions, it looks like they're not just anti-Rikti, but sort of a half-planned Malta. As opposed to Malta's "our metahumans or not at all" approach, they prefer a more purist look: no metas at all. My character is a bit offended by this approach, but whatever.

Oh, and they have pamphlets with this sort of vitriolic rhetoric. The Luddites would be proud. Except for the vaguely steampunk approach the Blackshirts appear to employ, which smacks of evil technology.

And apparently some of Vanguard is falling for the rhetoric. Interesting. Steampunk and silver tongues... we're one coincidence too many away from being another Nemesis Plot. Perhaps.

~*~

Oh no. No no no. Borea is giving the bad guys guns... and then I have to rescue the Queen Of All Hussies, Fusionette?

.............*facepalm*

OK, bright side, I can probably get her stuck admiring her nail polish or checking out the various physical assets of some of the downed villains. I can abandon her. I've done it before a million times.

~*~

Enter the army of greens. Gotta love it when the missions send me a bunch of nothings to start a mission.

Interesting note: The Burner, while blue to me (-2 Lt), was worth nothing.

More grammatical errors are cropping up; notably, in this case, the text surrounding freeing 'Nette.

Interesting... I'm getting a lead-out waypoint. Might the game actually *allow* me to ditch 'Nette?

Yup, it let me lead her out. Success! Now, on with the actual mission...

...destroying the ammo we just dumped here. Well, better than letting them have it.

OK, that's three crates, what... ... else? Mission complete? That was it?

It's ironic that the cave leads partway onto the Mothership. But that's it. There's nothing else to see... I guess someone more important than lil ole me is gonna clean up this mess. Time to head back.

~*~

Ah yes, popup, thank you. The goal was saving 'Nette, not actually dealing with the problem.

Oho, I see your move, Borea. That was just a supply depot... you want me to save my effort for the real base of operations. OK, we'll play your twisted game, Dark Wat... erm... Borea.

And it worked. She thinks she found the base. I take out Humanity First; she takes out the rogue operatives. Sounds like a plan.

~*~

Minor quibble: I'm not a huge fan of using player acronyms in the popups. We (the players) call the Warzone RWZ, just like we (the players) used to call it RCS. I don't think I've ever seen the NPCs use those terms though; I'm pretty sure they always call it the Warzone (or Rikti War Zone) and the Crash Site.

I love the choice of maps for this, given the popup text. You don't get much more patched-up-looking than the old Freakshow warehouse.

Hm... was there an EB/AV warning? I must've missed it. *checks* Not in the actual briefing, but I'm sure the system has the generic warning at least. Ah well... I just prefer heads-up on an individual mission of some form, whether explicit ("[NOTE: Contains AVs/EBs]") or implicit ("This could be quite dangerous, given what they've salvaged. I'd advise bringing allies for the fight.").

Taking out the commander, I get a shipping manifesto. Looks like there's more work to do, after taking this place out.

And then it's done. The second salvaged bit of tech was a pushover (the only thing that worried me even remotely was the Heavy, and it went down pretty easy), so now it's time to tell Borea what I found. And hope she was able to pull off her end.

~*~

Timer.

~*~

Bombs. Next to an oil tanker. Thought I was a hero?

Loot's hard to find. Where is it?

...NPC, not where, who.

OK, there, mission complete. Now to flesh out a bit.

I could see a villain setting bombs on a ship to prevent them getting away... the whole "If I can't have it, no one can" mentality. Heroes are above that. It's at dock inside Paragon City, and further, you place it next to an oil tanker? And I'm supposed to blow it up? How does that even work?

Second, I have a justifiable hatred for enemies that start in stealth. I get it, he's a stalker. He sure hit like one. But it made him hard to find. There was also some weird delay tied to his caltrops, of all things, despawning. I pity the person who takes his time to get to the back, only to fail because his caltrops wouldn't despawn fast enough.

The caltrops isn't your fault -- necessarily, although you can take steps like removing them from Loot -- so I'm not holding it against you per se. However, it's like back when /Ninjutsu stalkers were buggy in the beginning: If you use something potentially buggy, since you know it's potentially buggy, it's worth a quick mention in the briefing (set off using red/orange text, below the actual briefing).

As the bombs go... not much I can say about the morality, but for visibility, you could try using barrels instead. It's canon to use either, but traditionally the dynamite one is used when the path is relatively linear, and thus, they're harder to miss. They all spawned in pretty obvious places for me, but this ship has some wonky interact spawn points.

Anywho, back to the story at hand. With a combination of villain-smiting and morally questionable bomb usage, I kept the ship from going anywhere. (And, for my own sake, I'm gonna pretend I disarmed them on the way out, once the threat on board was dealt with.) Let's see if that's all she wrote.

~*~

Yup, that's it. The government is pleased to take it from here, the bombs are defused and returned where they came from (per my moral decision, even on this character), and the city can sleep easier for a bit.

Oh, and I totally jacked a faceplate off one of the drones that Humanity First "repossessed" for personal use.

~*~

Storyline:: * * *

A decent story that stays fairly true to canon. I saw little bits and pieces coming from here and there to form Humanity First (Malta and Rogue Vanguard primarily), and it parallels the existing Rogue Vanguard arc decently well. (Aside from the whole running afoul of Longbow thing.) The main thing that really weighed against my decision to rate this higher on story is the fact that, as a hero, I was asked to bomb a ship currently in port in Independence Port, right next to an oil tanker, where lots of lives could be lost. I get that it's billed as primarily neutral, but on closer inspection, you actually say it's "neutral with heroic leanings"... causing massive loss of civilian life is by no means heroic. Even my morally ambiguous hero was horrified at the prospect.

Design:: * * * *

You have some very good ideas with design, and as a unit, the Humanity First group was very well built. In fact, the only reason this wasn't a 5 is because the grammar concerns became more than a one-off issue... they started showing up everywhere in the second half of the arc. I strongly advise to have someone go over all the text, bit by bit, and search for capitalization and punctuation errors. Normally I won't grade off for something like this, but when it becomes glaringly obvious and detracts from enjoying the actual story, it needs to be said.

Gameplay:: * * *

Two issues. One, the bombs. (No, I won't stop harping on that, actually.) Two, Fusionette.

OK, it was mostly the bombs. But everyone hates 'Nette, I'm pretty sure. I think even Faultline hates her from time to time. She causes great amounts of rage. No love for her. (The redemption there, of course, is that you can lead her out ASAP, and not look at her again.)

Detail:: * * *

You have some strong detail, especially in your initial focus on the Humanity First villain group description, but it starts fading during the actual play. It almost feels like establishing Humanity First was the important part, and everything else that occurs in the arc was an afterthought.

Overall:: * * *

Honestly, with some polish (and, please, a different modus operandi once on board the ship), I can easily see this becoming a 5. It has very strong elements, but they're just... not... quite... aligned.

[EDIT] Upon further discussion, which led to the discovery that I overreacted to the bombs (as the ship was out to sea when they went off, and they were designed to cripple the ship, not destroy it), I've bumped the stats accordingly::

Storyline:: * * * * *

Design:: * * * *

Gameplay:: * * * *

Detail:: * * *

Overall:: * * * *
[/EDIT]

Reviewing:: Against the WickerWork Khan! (346904, @Clave Dark 5)

@Mychyl

Playing as L36 Dark/Regen scrapper, old Heroic setting

~*~

Apparently, evolving from apes and evolving from pandas result in two different concepts of language. (I'm positive, given the surrounding text, that this is in fact intentional.) The panda-woman in question is a princess, and in danger from the titular villain, the WickerWork Khan. (An interesting obvious parody on Clockwork King... I'm interested to see how he looks, and how his parallel powers stack against the original.)

I feel like I'm about to step into a game of T00N, but eh, here we go...

~*~

Firstly... LOVE the Wickerwork concept already. Nice design, good descriptions. And they're not so much clones as... distant, similarly named parallels.

Second, the Pandan forces... how was it that I assumed the Pandan forces are part of the WickerWork Khan's army based on them defending their princess from me? And second, if they talk "normally", why doesn't the princess / if she doesn't, why do they? If these are related, perhaps she should be explaining this in the debriefing, not necessarily me just assuming this off the bat.

OK, now it makes more sense, since I stumble upon the Princess, being "guarded" by two Pandan Soldiers. So now she's safe. Right?

~*~

The popup agrees with my assessment: she's safe.

And now we jump right into it: defeat the Khan, restore safety to her world, the usual. The fact that it includes a warning about an AV means this really is it... perhaps I wasn't paying attention, I thought there were more missions than 2.

Down the rabbit hole... chopstick... whatever, again. Time to send this basketwoven reject back to Pottery Barn.

~*~

As a sidenote, it didn't affect me (obviously, given my above statement), but people usually set AV/EB warnings off with red or a similar color, to make them stand out a bit more. Not gonna mark you off for it by any means, just an fyi.

I work my way in, and see WWK (as an EB, due to my settings), accompanied by a couple of his Pandan goonies. Time to clean house.

Hm... not certain if this was supposed to have an ambush (he called for guards), but one didn't come.

Found a minor typo in WWK's text. FYI.

It was a decently complex fight, though I did expect an ambush. His parting line about seeing his YinYin one last time makes me wonder if it's really over though...

~*~

Twist. Oh Ye Plot Gods, a twist. I love this arc a little more now.

Time to head back to Pandan Earth... and to explain to a certain little hussy why you don't fool with Primal Earth's heroes.

~*~

Timer. Notes will be short.

Nemesis guns? Really? Are they this world's Nemesis plot?

Wow, the princess packs a bigger punch than WWK did. Who'd have thought it?

OK, timer's over (as the princess lies defeated), so time for a quick recap.

Confuse and Terrorize are by no means my best friends. Wasn't expecting those debuffs, so I died once. Quick and easy to fight my way back over... I can definitely believe she's the most powerful of the Pandans. Very vicious power combo you've got with her.

Anyways, that's over. Her power scheme is thwarted, and now perhaps all is well on Pandan Earth.

Or... is it? *dundundun~*

~*~

Nope. My actions will bring civil war upon her world. So basically my character did something bad. But then again... can I really trust her? She lied once already. Maybe all will be well, under leadership other than her own.

And perhaps we will never know. Unless the author makes a part 2.

~*~

Storyline:: * * * *

I debated for a couple minutes whether to make this a 4-star or a 5. I ended up deciding on 4 because I feel there could have been so much more; in this case, 4 stars was grabbing onto the brass ring, but 5 would've been pulling yourself up and reaching a little further still. Strong story in its own right though, especially with the unexpected twist!

Design:: * * * * *

I positively loved the designs for the characters, and am still in awe of how well everything came out. The character looks, their powers, their descriptions, the maps you chose, everything about the arc meshed very well together.

Gameplay:: * * * * *

The arc was very fun to play, from start to finish. I'm still a little in shock that the end boss (who was only a boss with my difficulty setting) was able to KO me, something the AV (EB on my settings) couldn't. The twist in the story really added a wonderful layer to the gameplay, and everything tied together so well.

Detail:: * * * * *

Like I said under design, everything meshed together wonderfully. It shows that you put a lot of time and effort into it, both in planning and in actual creation, to get something this detailed and interesting into experience. I only wish it were somehow longer... but to be honest, adding content might only cheapen its impact.

Overall:: * * * * *

I'm impressed, I only just start my thread and I find 2 different arcs which are definitely 5-star quality. If you ever come up with a reason to return to Pandan Earth, let me know... I have a heroine who's itching for a rematch with the princess now.

I have apparently elected to do a lot of these tonight.

I'm going down the queue in order -- 3 down, we'll see where I get to before I have to stop. (Got class in the morning.)

Reviewing:: In Pursuit of Liberty (344916, @Gypsy Rose)

@Mychyl

Playing as L36 Dark/Regen scrapper, old Heroic setting

-- or rather, as L45 Dark/Regen, due to level cap

~*~

A rambling Mender asks for my assistance in saving a little girl who was kidnapped 7 years ago. Sure, why not... by this time, I've done enough different stuff during time travel, saving a little girl should be cake. Right?

Oh, and it's possible there's someone else with her too. Save her too. Got it. Liberty and Liberty... hmm...

Minor typo: In the contact info, it says "Ourobos". (No, I'm not usually quite that nitpicky, but it stands out to me for some reason.)

~*~

The mission popup says that it's quiet. This is clearly because these Family don't believe in small talk. Or talk of any kind.

Aha, conversation. Apparently Agent Liberty, of the Liberty League, was foiled by a couple members of the Anti Liberty League. (Oh, those silly SG/VG showdowns. Not that I can say much... I've got one of those on constant brew as well.) Not too bad on the eyes, and the flavor text for the ALL members is pretty interesting.

But now Agent Liberty is following me around. She looks like she enjoys stealing kills. I don't like kill stealers. Super Speed to the rescue, I abandon her out of the way and continue with the mission... after reading her secret mission briefing, which she hands me without much comment. So much for it being secret.

A random safe gives up a family tree showing the kidnapped girl's parents and grandparents. I'm sure this will make sense in my debriefing.

Vito's fairly reticent himself, but mentions MAL... a quick check of my newest clue says that kidnapping this little girl will help fight Marcus Cole, and is signed "Your cousin MAL". How this little girl is supposed to overthrow Statesman is anyone's guess, although my next thought is the congruence between Liberty Rose Jones and Ms. Liberty. (Probably a reach.)

When I go to save Liberty Jones, she says she knew I'd come. Is she a psychic type? Because if so, that would make the connection between her and Ms. Liberty a little closer. (I don't remember Ms. Liberty's build, but her Praetorian double, Dominatrix, is psychic, as I recall.) Otherwise this makes no sense, since my character would've been about 13... and by no means a hero... back when this happened.

~*~

Treasure hunting? Must be important. I think.

~*~

Thought I'd mention something. Anarchy isn't precisely the opposite of liberty... after all, both are types of freedom. Given that, using the Anarchy symbol for the Anti Liberty League might be a little... off? Just my 2 cents on that.

So, Little Liberty has dreams that tell her to do things. In the real world, there's a few choice terms in the DSM-II for that. (In Paragon City, it's accepted as either being psychic, or being controlled by someone who is. Let's settle for the former.)

I save Little Liberty... who promptly drops all pretense of treasure hunting to run home for dinner. Leaving me alone in a cave full of her personal enemies, for some not-fully-established reason. Aside from she can destroy Statesman.

The treasure was a costume left behind by her grandma. Which happens to sound a lot like Ms. Liberty's costume. I hate it when I spoil storylines for myself.

~*~

As I exit, the popup demands that I do not put it on. Which didn't even cross my mind until then. Should it have? Probably not... most superheroes (and supervillains) define themselves by their look... it's like telling me that I want to be someone else, but that I can't. That's a bit of a bleh moment in the arc.

Little Liberty is all grown up now, and Liberty (I'll just drop the Little, thank you) is now in search of a book. Something the contact makes sound faintly shameful... why bother with a book when there's treasure in the world? That bothers me more than a little bit.

Anyways, off to an enchanted garden to find Liberty and curb her evil desire for reading... or something.

Maybe she just heard about Twilight and wants to read that series? There's something scary.

~*~

Enchanted garden suddenly becomes Shadowhunter's forest, and is overrun by Devouring Earth. Everything about this says "bestselling author" to me. Really. This has to be the best place for a book signing ever.

OK, enough snark, let's find the girl and the book and get back to Paragon.

Oh ho, we have a (slightly) different villain group... I'm assuming due to difficulties with keeping the named ones from popping up all over the place. It works.

Again with the reference to MAL. Whoever MAL is, he definitely doesn't want Liberty to actually take up her costume.

Why Wisps? Must we inject Rularuu into missions? -- But then I remember I'm not on my /SR, and so I don't care.

OK, I've now had two Deathblossoms refuse to give me my shinies for killing them. I'm officially switching to skate mode.

"You again? This is starting to be a habit!" is *not* what I expect to hear when I save a grateful (soon to be) hero from her possible doom. I mean, if I was a villain, and this was my third attempt at kidnapping her, I can see that. But... yea. >.>

Aha, and there is my prize, a reliquary in the middle of the woods. It's an enchanted garden, so why not? I saw more of the ALL around, patrolling... but I got what I came for, I so left the scene and went back for more info.

~*~

So, I stop and read the journal before talking to Mender Wells, and... well, it appears I was a bit off in my assumptions. But I know why: because Mender Wells suffers from Lazarus Syndrome; to wit, she doesn't realize where in the real timestream she's interacting with. In our timestream, Ms. Liberty is by no means a grandmother. She's just off by... oh, 50 years or so.

That or there's some canon I missed somewhere, where Ms. Liberty is a hand-me-down name. Whatever.

This incarnation apparently will go on to use some magic swords. Which must be retrieved from a Dark, Dismal Future (TM). One so bad that Statesman himself went in first, and I'm expected to save him. (If I have to save him from a couple of ALL minions, I'm gonna be depressed.)

~*~

And of course, what would a Dark, Dismal Future (TM) be without the ruined Atlas Park map?

Council Empire... Praetorian bots... yea, looks like we're gonna have a fun party. This mission might take a while, just because it'll be fun to vent my spleen on all the different enemy groups in one mission. (If I see any Master Illusionists though, all bets are off.)

Seriously... Statesman walked into a magical glyph trap? Mary Sue alert.

But apparently, according to Statesman's note, I'm still off on where we really are in the canon. His great-granddaughter is the same Ms. Liberty that is the hero trainer in Atlas Park (in our present). So it clearly is a hand-me-down name. But more interestingly, the timeline is still off from our present, since the "7 years later" is still before she actually took up her costume....

My head hurts.

And now I'm stuck with Statesman, who I know from experience is a horrid kill stealer. Whatever, time to head for the swords and press on.

A coffin, with swords made by Myrrdin. Not as impressive as a lake, but I'll take what I can get. These are clearly the hand-me-downs that I'm supposed to take to the future (as opposed to the past) Ms. Liberty. Back to the present I go.

Now I get why Lazarus has so many temporal weirdnesses.

Sidenote: When I manage to outrun Statesman, he says "Come back. I am cold." I think this concerns me a bit, especially as I left him at a large fire right outside the ruins of City Hall.

~*~

So now we come to the finale. It's apparently time to put MAL, or Master Al, to bed.

I know this map, so I rescue Ms. Liberty (again) and head to the center to find...

...that it's empty. Apparently, this is the only time that an AV/EB has decided against the island piece in the center as the best place to gloat over his imminent victory. I'm a bit confused, but we'll go with this.

The Talsorian DB (in red and blue) makes me feel a little less hatred towards Ms. Liberty. It's just pretty to watch.

True story about MM bosses/EBs/AVs: they die really really fast. I didn't even bother with any optionals, just took Ms. Liberty and spanked him quickly.

~*~

In the end, I feel like it was less Liberty Rose's story, and more the story of how I force-fed her destiny to her. The souvenir, in keeping with the arc, was minimalist in its use of text... which, to me, felt like there was a lot of blank space that could've been used to flesh out the story a bit more. I can certainly understand, until we get more space (which I think we were promised in i17), we're a bit cramped -- doubly so when you use a lot of custom groups/enemies, as you do -- but there has to be a median.

~*~

Storyline:: * * *

I feel that there's a great story here waiting to be told, but I don't know that it's fully making it across. There were some serious issues I felt with continuity, and while some of that is the modus operandi of Ouroboros, a lot of that could've been helped with a bit more text-heavy clues or briefings/debriefings.

If you wanted a lot of my supposition to occur throughout, only for it to really hit the player upside the head later, you can try tying it all together through Wells, once you have "enough of the story to have figured it out" (like, say, mission 3 debriefing/mission 4 briefing).

Design:: * * * *

I loved the choice of Talsorian weapons for her -- they don't quite fit (for me) the concept of "magic swords", but they looked awesome (what little she got to use them). I also liked the followers quite a bit. MAL and the Evil Garden Menagerie could've used a bit of spit and polish -- especially the issue with some of the DE not giving any rewards on death. (I seem to remember something about a bug with certain DE models... might want to look into that, if you can.)

Gameplay:: * * *

There were a couple times where I got ticked off and just skated the mission, just to get it over with. One of my biggest pet peeves is having too many cooks in the kitchen -- that is to say, having more sidekicks than I possibly could need. Agent Liberty was... tolerable, though I ditched her quickly. But Statesman, in a map full of common mobs, was overkill.

Detail:: * * *

The descriptions for the Followers were well thought out. The missions, however, were fairly dry to play (not much dialogue in them), and "Little" Liberty came off a bit... I'm not sure, off... in a couple places. (I'm still peeved about her getting snooty at me when I keep rescuing her. I think I'll call that Fusionette syndrome.) Pretty much every mission was skateable, which can be OK if you want it done in a hurry, but if you want to develop a real story behind this, it might be better to throw some reason for the hero(es) to do more than just run, click, exit every mission.

Overall:: * * *

As I said above, I feel like there's a wonderful, involved story in there... but I feel that the general lack of text and the jumpiness of the story tend to hide the story. Please remember, also, if you used anything not in the absolute basic canon, not everyone has played every arc in the game. (I've been here since i6, and I still find things I wasn't aware of from time to time.) Make sure you reference anything oblique, in one way or another.

Reviewing:: Two Households Alike (126582, @Venture)

@Mychyl

Playing as L36 Dark/Regen scrapper, old Heroic setting

-- or rather, as L29 Dark/Regen, due to level cap

~*~

Romeo and Juliet with Family undertones, it seems, is the fare of the mission.

Two rival families are blowing each other to bits, and it's my job to go in and protect the innocents? Fairly standard idea... let's get on it.

~*~

I like the fact that, even though they're obviously reskinned Family, they have unique group descriptions. Might do well with a little variation, but that's more nitpicky than anything.

Oh wait, this is new. Female Family? I like the idea. Psychic? Meh, Fortunatas did it. But it's still a move in an interesting equal-opportunity direction, something you don't expect much of, with the Family the way it is.

Come around a corner, and see one of the goons hitting on his captive. OK, maybe not THAT much progress.

Just noticed, only one of the Families is actually a reskin. The Polettis are custom appearance as well, just... highly similar. The women, of course, are completely unique but fit in well.

Hm... OK, I understand the Bianchi women having psychic powers (it's explained in their descriptions, so I get that), but why MA? Especially when a group of three of them start tossing shuriken my way... a bit odd. >.>

And then, at the end, this was... just clearing the air, so that the Bianchi and Poletti families can play nice afterwards? That's a good thing, right? I mean, aside from the killing to clear the air part.

~*~

Aha. Arranged marriage with a possibly runaway bride. Leo and Nicia, two starcrossed lovers in fair Paragon... I guess. Let's see what's going on, as we take to the streets to prevent (too much) bloodshed over the missing bride-to-be.

Oh, how nice. Don't bother killing everyone, just get the 4 underbosses and SWAT will handle the rest.

~*~

Wait, what? Freakshow? Are things so boring around Paragon that they needed to crash this little Family dispute?

AND Tsoo? This is becoming a Talos Island who's-who... just need some Warriors and Circle of Thorns.

Never mind. There's the Warriors now. o.o;;;

No Circle, thankfully, but it got to the point that I had to skate the remainder of the mission and just find the bosses, before the silliness of all the different groups in such a small space overwhelmed me. No sign of the girl, though.

~*~

OK, maybe there was a slight clue, which I missed in the silliness and comments about half-cooked burgers. Apparently she's shacking up over in Kings' Row with some other guy... and some Diablo enforcer is gonna wipe out everyone that moves to make the fighting stop. Sounds like a win-win situation. I think.

Meanwhile, I'm off to pick up the hussy and her boytoy, and bring them in.

~*~

Looks like I'm not the only one here to pick her up. Go figure.

Found the boyfriend first. Assault, robbery, B&E, GTA? If only he was related to the Polettis, maybe this kid wouldn't be so bad. But as it is, his little affair with Nicia is part of the problem.

Oh well, he's safe, he can go scamper off while I try to find her. Right?

No, he wants to follow me. But not to be led out. I... I don't get it. Is he some kind of sidekick now?

Heh, the kid's got spirit. Not much damage output, but bless his heart, he's trying.

Found her, but she's not having the truce... she's in love with Mr. Pistol, not the Poletti boy. Not exactly Romeo and Juliet anymore, but eh, it's Paragon City, what's the worst that can happen?

~*~

Aha, act 4, and now we come to the true heart of battle, the leaders of the Families crashing over true lo... ok, not really, but over arranged marriage.

I almost wonder if Leo is even wanting to go through with all this? It would be ironic if he wasn't interested in the marriage either. (Bonus points if he's secretly gay and waiting for the right time to tell his father.)

Time to go rescue the Bianchi princess from the tower... erm, hotel... before she gets hurt. (I'm feeling a quick flash of deja vu.)

~*~

Again with the Freakshow. At least this time they serve a purpose... as weapons dealers. Seriously, who buys Freakshow weapons?

Aww, how sweet, Nicia's father joins me to help save his daughter. Let's just hope he doesn't try to steal all my fun.

Never mind, he stops to admire his shiny new shoes too often. Next time he does it, he's getting left behind.

Hmm, a bots mastermind? Somehow that seems way outta standing with the Family... I guess those're the toys that j0u13z brought him. But alas, Mario, our princess is in another castle. Back to the contact to get more info.

On the plus side, Nicia's daddy doesn't care who she marries, so long as she's happy. That's good to hear, after all this.

~*~

And now I get to go arrest what sounds very suspiciously like a personal-villain-in-arc plug. But whatever, personal villains fall down too.

~*~

The office is on fire; from what the contact's told me, that's this Diablo guy's MO. Time to fry a supervillain.

The addition of a Knives sister to the madness is... interesting, to say the least. Apparently, they really ARE for hire to more than just Malta. We just... never get to see that?

Round the corner, and I see Flame Devils and Flame Imps. I can only assume these were originally supposed to be the old fire imps (before they changed it in AE, due to people abusing them). Once DS goes live, using those henchmen might work, if you're not too attached to the current ideal; what you have now works quite well, as well.

A LOT of bodies in this place. Thankfully, it's an optional goal; unfortunately, I'm not the sort of person who can leave any goal unturned. Click, click, click.

...This clue makes me very unhappy. Very very much so. That's it, Nevarra, time to die.

And die he did. Just glad I'm /Regen... he was hitting kinda hard until I flipped my regen rate through the roof. Then it was just elementary.

With a heavy heart, I return to the contact. This did become fairly Romeo and Juliet. Only less poison and more ash.

~*~

Wait, what? Letter? *reads and tears up*

I refuse to spoil this one. But yea, nice twist.

And, in retrospect, I'd like to add that I CALLED IT. Back at the beginning of mission 4.

~*~

Storyline:: * * * * *

There were a couple minutes when I wondered what you were trying to do (especially mission 2, where every villain group in the mid-level range decided to make a cameo)... but overall, the story was very strong, and kept me guessing past the last mission.

Design:: * * * *

Wonderful job on the unique mobs (the Strega, Diablo and his minions); very good job on the similar-but-unique mobs (the Polettis); possibly could've done more with the rest of the Bianchis, and the descriptions for the Bianchis men and the Polettis felt a bit canned.

Gameplay:: * * * * *

I laughed, I cried, I wanted more. This arc really felt like it belonged to the world, and the world was richer for it. There were a couple squeaks (*cough*mission2paragonidol*cough*), but overall, very worth the time and effort spent.

Detail:: * * * * *

Speaking of time and effort spent... this was clearly the labor of love over some time. It shows you put a lot of work in... everything meshed well, and you hit every little detail that I could think of, from making the maps work with the story to making the backgrounds plausible and fit well together. The entire thing played out very well, and that shows the attention to detail therein.

Overall:: * * * * *

As I said before, there were a couple things I *might* change, were I you, but overall? This is quite possibly one of the best arcs I've ever seen in MA.

Freaks and Geeks (55715, @El Condor)

@Mychyl

Playing as L36 Dark/Regen scrapper, old Heroic setting.

We're off to save the geeks of Paragon City. This is fairly amusing; the contact's got one thing right for sure, if it weren't for them, the superheroes would be clueless.

One note, the contact doesn't have any description. Possibly due to this being an older arc, not sure.

~*~

No clue what to expect as the map loads... the members of NERD couldn't describe who attacked them. So I show up... in a CoV office building. OK. Let's do this.

Freakshow... they're my version of Indiana Jones's snakes. They're everywhere. And I really do hate them... so this outta be fun.

Neil is busy offering his lunch money in exchange for his life. Looks like I should be in a more slapstick mood for this arc. Got it.

Not entirely certain why we're in the office-to-sewer map for this, however. Hopefully, this'll be resolved soon.

Nope, it wasn't. One of life's mysteries. Kinda like why it says I'm escorting Luther to safety when, y'know, he's a bit dead. Of repeated stabbity with various needles. >.>

~*~

OK, so apparently they're trying to turn the geeks of Paragon City into pseudo-Freaks? Sounds... a bit implausible, but hey, at least it's not a Nemesis plot. I think.

Off to try to rescue more (adult, this time?) geeks.

~*~

And suddenly I'm in Praetoria. Why is it every mad scientist in Paragon City wants to steal Mother Mayhem's interior decorating "skills" these days?

Crey. Which are also green. I'm almost wishing it was a Nemesis plot, if they'd come in whites and yellows and reds. Sometimes I hate the old "front loaded" pacing option... this is about to be one of those times, I think.

Orderly angry, Orderly smash? Orderly was -2 also, so Orderly fall down pretty easy.

Ah, there we go, turn a couple corners and the difficulty picked right up. Yup, it's definitely "front loaded".

Hm, Crey Gen-Ex minions. Looks like Operation: Revenant Hero got sidelined a bit.

Hm, one of the doctors is oblivious to the fact that Crey is evil. It's funny how Crey can commit so much villainy, then issue a PR release and come out looking like the good guys. It's their secret villain power, good press.

Dr. Hu has contracted Final Fantasy syndrome, also known as Plot Amnesia. She doesn't seem to remember her own name (until, I guess, I said it) or what's been done. But she feels more powerful. That's gotta be good. Right? I hope so... I just led her out and left her to her own devices.

...Geeks, with Excelsior, and some sort of super Cyber-Fiber? *peeks at the clues again* Are we sure Old Man Nemesis isn't hiding somewhere in this plot too?

~*~

Oh, OK. The doctor is uniquely mentally capable of holding out and won't succumb to the reprogramming. Sure, that'll work for now.

Now, off to save the city from a fate worse than death: all the geeks becoming Freakgeek pawns.

~*~

And now the good Doctor is my ally. Sure, why not.

Who is a MA/?? scrapper that puts my dmg output to shame. And I can't even get her stuck anywhere. I'd cry, but there's crime left to fight.

And then, there's the boss. t3h Ub3r-d0rk. (I saw EB warnings, but I guess with my settings, MA defaulted all EBs to regular bosses somehow. I guess that works.) About the only thing he was missing to be a true Freakshow was the self-rez -- his minions, however, all did so. (There's a bit of irony in that, since they died in 1-2 hits, from me or the Doctor.) I can see how he lost to Dreck, though... he's missing about 200 pounds of metal to be able to compete with Dreck.

The souvenir makes the entire arc seem to end on a downer, which is weird since the first mission (up until finding the body) felt like a running gag... and then it got serious and broody all of a sudden. It's almost like there were 2 writers, one with a corny sense of humor and the other wanting to make a dark, sinister arc. In the end, the arc had a bit of bipolar disorder, but it worked out pretty well.

Storyline:: * * * *

Overall, I liked the story quite a bit, but I felt like there was something missing, some ingredient that would've tied it all together a bit tighter. The MA contact, also, could really use to have some detail behind him... he feels like a faceless nobody, without some background text.

Design:: * * * *

The custom characters were an interesting design; the ally was a bit overpowered though, especially since the final boss ended up being only a boss.

Also, not to harp, but really wasn't feeling the use of the CoV office-to-sewers map. Especially since this was from a meeting of NERD... did they need to nip off to the Rogue Isles for this meeting? Were all the offices in Paragon City booked on that day?

Gameplay:: * * * * *

The arc was definitely fun, and the challenge level was right where I expected, not too hard but not TOO easy. Got a little confused when we went from light-hearted quips about lunch money to dead students and sinister alliances, but overall, I went with it, and was glad I did.

Detail:: * * * *

Good attention to detail overall (as I mentioned above, the one real exception was the contact's info missing); each of the customs had something in the way of description, and it showed that you put time and effort into the arc.

Overall:: * * * *

I definitely liked this arc, and may end up replaying this at a later time on a higher difficulty, just to see how it plays when (if) I get some actual EBs to up the challenge a bit. (Though next time, I'm skipping Doctor Hu. Not a huge fan of KS, especially when it's my own allies.)

Review Quicklist::

5 STARS
Against The WickerWork Khan! (346904)
Arena (390921)
Duplicity (85847) 2nd review
Matchstick Women (3369)
The Casualities of War (241496)
The Consequences of War (227331)
The Galactic Protectorate - 02 (117281)
The Warburg Connection (364832)
Two Households Alike (126582)

4 STARS
Challenge of the Dwarves (91044)
Ctrl + Alt + Reset! (137561)
Freaks and Geeks (55715)
Salvage Rights (366579)
Suppression (374481)
The Coldest of Wars (299972)
The Galactic Protectorate - 01 (47143)
The Galactic Protectorate - 03 (174352)
To Dream of Nothing (374644)

3 STARS
In Pursuit of Liberty (344916)
The Greater Good (350877)

2 STARS
Whack a Mole (2711)

Review Queue::

The Galactic Protectorate - 04 (269714) @Unknown Hero
.....................

Secondary Queue::

The Galactic Protectorate - 05 (304290) @Unknown Hero

OK, after having some fun with others reviewing a couple of my MA arcs, I've decided to get in the habit myself, so to speak.

So, I will now accept MA arcs for review. A couple of guidelines, for those interested in applying:

First and foremost, I want three pieces of information from you, at minimum, when you apply. The Arc ID (a must, even if you just point out which one in your sig), the Arc Name (same), and the global which is attached to the arc (also same). I will begin to get cranky if I have to look this up in game. I didn't ask for this before, and have been cross-referencing the Arc ID before adding the arcs to my queue.

1a) I don't care if it's in-progress, completed, or what have you. If you submit it to me for review, I'm gonna review it like it's complete. If you're not sure how you feel about that... >.>

1b) The corollary to that is, if you want an ungraded/holistic/what needs work response, let me know and I'll leave off the stars and just give you my honest feedback.

2) You'll get the full 5 stars in game. Tickets are a valuable tool, and represent the time and effort (hopefully) you put into the arc. I take this from the same place I've gotten my last couple reviews; it's respectful, and it's just generally good business.

3) If you have a thread on the forums (and would prefer your review there), link it in (or mention that it's in your sig, if that's the case). If the arc is on http://www.cohmissionreview.com, link it so I can cross-post. (This gives the vote a little better visibility.)

4) If you don't like my vote (because I knocked off too many points based on style, grammar, or weird madcap issues), I'll re-review an arc once. Just ask, and I'll stick it back in my queue for further review. (Depending on how popular this thread becomes, this might be a long queue... I'll try to get to any re-reviews within a week, but no promises.)

5) I'll try to do at least 1-2 arcs a night. No promises. If I have homework (college tends to be a timesink), or if other general madcap annoyances ensue, I'll post something to let everyone know there's a delay. (Generally, I'm playing -- at least for a bit -- every day of the week. Usually at odd hours. See below about what constitutes "on average" for me.)

6) I will likely be soloing your arc. (Preferred ATs can be requested, but no guarantees... I have limited availability. If nothing is requested, it'll likely be a scrapper, hero or villain.) While I won't grade down an arc with an AV/EB... I might start grading down if I end up facing several of them a mission. Buyer beware. :P

7a) Your arc will be graded on story/rp, design, gameplay, and detail, as well as overall, on a system of 1-5 stars. (Just like on the MA review website, linked above.)

7b) As a result of 7a, I do not accept farm-type missions for review. I won't say anything against use of farming in MA (so long as it's not by exploit), but this is for serious RP arcs, not to get publicity for creating the next great demon/imp/RCS/Lt/MM minion/whatever else you kids come up with farm. It's not what I'm here for, and it's not what I created this thread for.

8) The way my queue works is simple. You submit one arc, it's entered at the bottom, I get to it in order of submission. You submit two (maximum I will accept at once is two), the first goes in the main queue and the second goes in a second queue. The arc stays in this queue as long as you still have an arc in the main queue... once your arc has been reviewed, I'll move the one in the second queue up to the bottom of the main queue. (This is to give more people the chance to be reviewed.)

8b) If it's an arc series, and you absolutely cannot bear the possibility of it being split up so, I'll see what I can do. This may mean a week or more of delays before I get to them, no matter what the queue looks like, so it's not advisable unless you think your storyline is horrid on the merits of the individual arcs.

9) I reserve the right to temporarily suspend accepting new arcs if at any time either:
9a) My life gets out of control, to the point where I cannot honestly promise to review even one arc per day on any real basis;
9b) The review queue becomes overly blocked up (at this point, I'm thinking 15 a week is quite ambitious for me).

10) I reserve the right to amend these as necessary, if anything is unclear or if I left anything out.

OK, that being said, until such time as I start getting requests, I'll do arcs from the MA review website. Start sending 'em in... I'll be here. ^^b

[EDIT] So that people have a fair understanding of my 'normal' schedule (since this started on a very not-normal day), my "weekend" is Monday and Tuesday overnights. On average, I'll do 1-2 arcs per Thursday-Monday morning (unless I'm way due on homework, but I'll still try to do at least one arc if there's any in the queue). On my weekends... anything goes.

Also, I notice that I keep adding to my rules. I'm gonna have to start pulling out legalese soon, at the rate this semi-EULA is going. XD[/EDIT]

Honestly, it's standard practice to try and roll-up the existing game in the new expac when one is released. (We did this in GvE, and now again in Going Rogue... FFXI, as comparison, does this in every expac, as does WoW.) It's not to slight the existing fanbase, it's done to make it more accessible for new players, so they don't have to go buy (in current case, 3) different versions of the game to get it running at full force.

And remember, a lot of the numbers people're throwing around right now includes perks (which new players WILL have to buy separately) and subscription fees (which are charged for the pleasure of playing the game; of course the new players haven't paid those -- yet). $5k in 5 years also seems a bit high... but meh, I won't judge anyone's individual math skills. I know I've been playing since i6, and I'm pretty sure I haven't even hit the $1k mark in total costs (game, perks, upgrades, subscriptions) -- and yes, when I started, you had to buy CoH and CoV separately. I actually initially did it just so that I could work on my SG's base. Remember those days? >.>

So again, it comes down to exactly what I've said before (in this same thread, I think): If you feel that you want the opportunity to play DP and DS before July, go for the prepurchase. If you think several months advance play of DP and DS isn't worth that $15 (value of one month, at per-month pricing), then hold out for the complete edition, which will be in stores in July. Last I heard, those are the only perks in contention.

Sidenote: Alt, I got the prepurchase, and did not get any character slots. If this is an error or oversight, or if they go in when the game goes live still, I do not know. All I know is I currently do not have them. Does this answer your question? Possibly not. But empiric answers are all I can provide.

I refuse to say goodbye.

Because Niv will always be with us, in spirit at least. And in non-redname flavor as well.

So, it's not goodbye, it's see you later, all right Niv? <3

I don't see how hard it would be to implement. I mean, they made powertinting work, and that was hardcoded, and a lot more code than it would be to tweak the voices, I would expect.

Granted, I've never picked at the actual codebase, so I dunno for sure. I'm just going on my experience as someone training for exactly that job. ^^;

We have all sorts of wonderful character customization. We can change characters' genders (even after creation, provided we have the Science pack), we have umpteen trillion costume combos, we can even tint 90% (possible exaggeration) of the powers in the game!

But we still have one default voice for each male/female/huge.

Would it be possible to include more voice options? Possible adding more over time, but at least a couple basic different ones (ie. a younger and an older) for each of the "three genders"? Ideally, this would end up snowballing into dozens of voice options for each "gender", but at least a little variation to start.

It's a bit distracting and confusing to be playing what's supposed to be a 10 year old hero, and hear some way-past-puberty voice issue from his mouth every time he jumps, for example. ^^;;;;;

Thanks in advance! I think you'll be more pleased overall. ^^;;;

I admit readily that I haven't really tinkered around with this arc since *early* MA... so a lot of things are rather basic, back when there were a few less options. (Some of the stuff, like dialogue, was due to this being my first arc and my not thinking about having patrol dialogue.)

The idea about adding bosses/captives to the earlier missions to give them a bit more flesh isn't a bad one. I'd originally had a fairly linear idea on this mission, but doing that would add some interesting options for extrapolation, so that's definitely worth looking into.

The zero-interaction was actually due to the glowie's bad habit of spawning directly on top of red crystals in my initial testing.

Looks like I've got some serious revamping to do. If it's all right with you, once I put some hefty reworking into it, might I ask you to see what you think of the changes? ^^;

[Editnote] I updated the arc along the lines of your comments. I also ended up changing it to 30-54... not sure what my original motivation was in making all my arcs 50-54 (I think it was before team SK/EX, so that people of all levels could play it together). Overall, I'm much more pleased with it now, to be honest... it *was* lacking, for certain, and I feel in retesting it (on a mid-level DP, so YMMV) that it's a stronger arc for the changes. I stand by my earlier request if you'll give it a second look; if you don't have the time to, though, I certainly understand.