Slaunyeh

I like to think so.

I think there's been some out-of-game comments that suggest otherwise, but the door is still wide open.

Then it was presented as the kind of mystery I thought was amazingly clever when I was six. If the reaction they were going for was a collective groan followed by "oh god". Then kudos. Success.

Personally, I don't think they had planned to off two characters at the time of that article, but you're welcome to assume otherwise.

"Hey, remember that time when one of Bruce Wayne's parents was killed?"

"Wait, didn't they both die?"

"Yes. One of them died. And then the other. That's what I said."

While technically true, if that was really what they meant all along, then they are just idiots. I'd rather they changed their minds somewhere between that article, and the release of the SSAs, than think they were being this deliberately obtuse.

For me, the issue isn't so much that it happens, but rather A) how often it happens, and B) how it is presented.

I've only done a few starting missions in DA, but I liked how everyone was freaked out about me being there, and how the missions are worded to suggest that I might be able to tap into Mots power if I can just weaken him enough to make him vulnerable. Thank you for providing a vaguely villainous angle to the overall story arc. The missions are (I assume) all the same so far, but the suggested motivation for doing them is different. It's all in the presentation.

Finally, I don't think anyone have a problem with heroes and villains occasionally teaming up to save the world. Or even villains being roped into saving the world "for the greater good" once or twice. The problem, imho, is that this has been the core theme of practically all new content since the RWZ. Sure, we can choose not to do any new content and just run tip missions from now on, but I don't think that's a good message to red-side players.

The problem isn't that a villain has to save the world. The problem is that a villain has to save the world again. It can be a cool story twist, but you shouldn't overdo it. What worries me is that they are working towards the ultimate reason for heroes and villains to team up for this ultimate showdown against the Battalion, and we're already sick and tired of the gimmick. The final epic confrontation against the Battalion deserves more than being a "urgh, again??" moment.

I thought someone (Dr. Aeon?) had been quoted to say that she would be removed as part of i23, and that they had left her in the trial to not spoil the surprise.

I may misremember though.

It may or may not be a coincidence that both of Jack's creations got offed. Whether this was ultimately the goal of the SSA or not, however, it just comes off as incredible petty.

I can understand the symbolism in killing off Statesman, beyond "just destroying everything Jack created", but Sister Psyche? This isn't Jack's game or Jack's characters. The characters belong to the story, and the story belong to us. Kill whomever you need to kill to tell that story, but don't do it for that reason.

No no. The best possible solution is to shout "Surrender, I have the higher ground! No jedi has ever jumped more than three feet into the air! That would be totally unrealistic!"

As someone who's run several RPG campaigns that way, it really does look like that, to me. Yeah.

Who was the second one? I killed Miss Liberty (okay, not a major hero). Manticore killed Sister Psyche. Darrin-friggin-Wade offed Statesman. I've terrorized a lot more than two cities, too. I don't know what you qualify as "major" world cities, but I guess at least Paragon City counts. And there are several large cities in the Rogue Isles. Grandville for certain (that's two) and, both Cap au Diable and St. Martial are pretty impressive cities as well (so that could go as high as four). I also have that longbow badge, so I've killed at least a thousand of those. I haven't trashed a whole fleet, though I suspect that this is largely because the game has never thrown one at me. I havn't built a floating island in space, nor have I merged with a world-devouring god (though I did beat the crap out of a punk who had merged with a world-devouring god, so I count that as a plus in my favour). Oh, and the world has classified me as a "global threat" since I was level 5.

I don't think anyone's worried about Vaderuu's power level.

I've also saved the world on numerous occasions. from Rikti (I'm not sure why), from an invasion of nazi Statesmen (again, not sure how I got roped into that one, sounds like a job for the Freedom Phalanx) and from invading praetorians (for some reason, that seemed like a better idea than robbing both dimension blind while they were tied up fighting primal earth heroes). I've also fought time-travelling nazis in ancient Rome (still not sure why, though I suspect it was to save the world again. It certainly wasn't to steal their giant robots). Finally, some idiot thought it was a great idea to lend me the keys to his time machine. Sadly, I'm apparently not enough of a villain to abuse the heck out of this.

You heroes should get off the couch once in a while and save the dang world yourselves.

And then just shut down redside while we're at it, right?

Yeah, that's really my issue with newAtlas. It's all kinds of pretty and, I'm sure, a nice introduction to the game, but it lacks replayability imho. oldAtlas had all sorts of issues, but I never hated running through. And boy have I been through it a lot. I've done newAtlas once or twice, and now I'd rather street sweep than do it again.

And I hate street sweeping.

While I can't work up the energy to care about this issue any more, I'll just settle for sitting back and offer a dejected nod to what Sam said.

If you build it, they will come.

Isn't that what the rest of the game is for?

Apparently this is all about beating up the bad guy, which should be so tried and true that not even the heroes can screw it up.

Oh, I could understand the Well allegory. What provoked the jest was this part of what Prometheus said, when he deliberately uses the word 'puddle':

"All you think when you think of the Well is a mere puddle on an island in the middle of the ocean" <snip> "that image is a manifestation of something primal within humanity"

Maybe we yearn to return to our amoebae origins?

Besides, I'm pretty sure primitive humans would have died out long ago if it hadn't been for Orlando Bloom. Maybe he's the well!

Deep down, on a primal level, the most aesthetically pleasing form mankind could ever dream of achieving, is that of a... puddle.

Hey, I'd buy it. As a wise man once said, "I WISH I HAD NO BONES!". This is but the first step on the road to perfection: The road to puddlehood.

Sister who? Oh! You mean Primal Mother Mayhem?

Thank you!

Rularuu-manchu makes me laugh.

"A wizard did it"