SuperOz

My take on Recluse's whole shtick (pardon the word) was that he believed in survival of the fittest.

Someone's just taken down Statesman, the closest thing he had to the other 'Alpha Male'. He's either taking that as an outright challenge or a threat. His possible borderline turn to a hero would be a great story (I did note we are getting both Statesman and Recluse helms at the end of the loyalty period....) and put the big man back on the front page. Someone without the moral restrictions of Statesman but just as powerful?

I suggest Emperor Cole step aside because the ruler of Tartarus is back.


S.

I can only say peeking back in on this thread and seeing the new revelations about being an Incarnate only make me think of Rocky Horror when it comes to writing it:

'And it's just a jump to the left....'



S.

The article points out he wants to do much smaller personal arthouse style films, where he basically started out in his career.

And it's a bit of a shame, because THX1138 and American Graffiti are actually pretty good films. It showed there was more to him than just Star Wars.

But can I blame him for retiring? In his position where so many fans find him to be answerable, it has to weigh on you eventually with all the negative comments.

However.

I have a good friend who's cousin (I know this sounds like a made-up thing, I assure you it's not) works in CGI animation and has met Lucas. To say that he's eccentric is an understatement and he has incredibly isolated and removed views on moviemaking and well....a lot of things.

But he's insanely rich and to him a home movie can cost a hundred million. Heck, I'd do it too in his position.



S.

Spot on, Zemblanity.

But then we've known which side the Devs are on for a while since Praetoria and particularly First Ward, where killing is not only justified, it's mandatory. Just look at the ending to First Ward and I'm pretty sure there's more than a few heroes feeling like they just got their hands soaked in blood against their wishes.


S.

Forgive my lateness to the discussion, but the issues about the Well didn't bother me too much (because I just chose to ignore them mostly and embrace them on just one occasion only because the character concept was that he was a god already and just had to regain his lost abilities) until the last few SSA's and writing generally.

And I have to agree about the Well; the instant you declare that your 'Origin of Power' trumps all others is really powergaming/writing of the worst order. It's like saying in the most childish way that 'my hero beats up your hero' and the kid saying that is fact shouting it until the other kid shrugs their shoulders and goes home bored. It's a sort of 'winning' (oh the irony of that phrase after Charlie Sheen) that isn't electing to incorporate a character's story or concept, but one that is railroading not only said concept but all subsequent stories and decisions afterwards.

It's a form of pre-determinism. The presumption that your power comes form this source means in turn you'll 'automatically' be interested in gaining more, listening to those who supposedly have knowledge about it, and oppose those who are using it for ends that you have 'decided' are misguided/evil. There's no room for even an illusion of free will at this point, which to me is a staple of any game to be enjoyable and invested in.

We've had branching dialogue for a while, but no options to challenge the notions of the Well being the source of 'my' power, or even find a player-driven alternative that yields the same result. It's not difficult writing at all; all you have to say is talk about the many things the Well can represent but not actually be. Let the player fill in the gaps there and suggest that the Well is a conduit for that. Denying that illusion of choice and interpretation really is bad writing, no matter how you cut it. It's as if doing so would encourage you to look behind the curtain and find the Wizard there, all bells and whistles and nothing more.

To then have the Well be sentient and apparently somewhat insane? So the player influence so heavily touted as our achieving Incarnate power is in the hands of a sentient being that can forcibly control others? Why do we not challenge or even question this? For heroes, surely this must be reminiscent of Praetoria's mind control at the very least? It's skipping basic story logic let alone continuity. It's also the beginning of many, many plotholes that revolve around those two elements that we see playing out in other stories where NPC's either act drastically out of character or simply not act at all, dispensing with either common sense or caution or even both.

There's an implicit suggestion on the part of the story writers here to essentially 'hand-hold' the characters and then railroad them on courses of action they may not wish to take. And by that I don't mean players have a hissy fit and refuse to do the mission, I mean that the incentive and positive engagement with the story is missing to do this. The player cannot help if they see the logic gaps and question why they are serving an essentially insane sentient power source that they have seen in the Alpha Slot story possess the most powerful beings in Paragon City. Consent and obedience are considered a given until very late in the story, as we have discovered.

Why should we question at this point? Surely the Well has been able to control us, as we are further down the proverbial food chain than Lady Grey or Statesman? But the story tells us we do without first querying why we haven't done so already.

The Well is far better served in being something like The Force, which is something everyone can tap into in some form or another, regardless of belief or intent, with both good and bad consequences for doing so, and is also a living entity. The instant sentience is given to this concept turns the notion of Incarnatedom from self-achievement to a partnership and at worst a indentured servitude. It takes away from a sense of achievement a player has done and becomes something given to a player, but with strings attached, which goes against the very psychology of playing for reward.

When you have fundamental errors in storytelling at this level, it's not hard to then start looking around and seeing it in other aspects of the story connected to the Well.




S.

If the point is to have us be the heroes to look up to, we're all in a lot of trouble. How many of us go out of our ways to design flaws in our characters? Or to give them self-serving or vigilante motivations or things that aren't really even part of the Paragon theme of heroism?

Leaders and icons are really rare individuals and they're paragons of virtue for a reason; they act in ways others wish to emulate but still look to for inspiration. Now take a moment and not only look around the playerbase but also look at the Phalanx and tell me who fits that bill if not Statesman.

Yes, Statesman can be seen as a chariacture or two-dimensional, but he still embodies the paragon of virtue ideal better than any other heroic character. Arnabas said it best, if things are really dire, and you're looking for the hero who can turn it around when noone else can, you won't be looking to Manticore or Positron. You'll be looking to Statesman.

Now given that a)a lot of people hate Statesman for that apparently self-pious characterisation and b) A lot of people will just seek to emulate him and finally c)Some people will outrightly reject the notion to be a 'better' hero, you wind up with an incredibly small number of people who could theoretically step forward.

And you can't have an army of leaders; that dooms any chance of success outright. And will the City of Heroes accept a player character that steps forward?

No. I expect the story will foist one upon us (most likely Positron in a non-too-ironic twist of fate) and the only ball we'll be carrying is the one we fancy ourselves capable of carrying whilst never being acknowledged as such.

I know that's a harsh assessment, but the notion of the players being in the spotlight is kind of ludicrous. We're not permanent fixtures in the story, we're only being told that we can handle something the Phalanx cannot, which happens in every single Task Force with their name attached.

The status quo remains.



S.

Surely you jest?

Your name is surely, right?



S.