minimalist_NA
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Posts
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Quote:Have you even played the trials? Can you be more specific about what you don't like about them? Because that certainly is NOT all that there is to them.Originally Posted by Capa_Devans
Making all the mobs +4 and purple doesn't mean it's 'challenging'. It means someone was too lazy to think of a better idea.
Specifically, the issue is the incredible time consumption and planning that needed to go into the large-scale WoW raids, as well as the low chance of personal reward. This is what the devs deliberately set out to avoid, and I think they've succeeded. Incarnate trials can be (and from what I saw, have been even in the limited time they've been up for previewing) done in about an hour with a minimum of planning (most of which can be done in-mission). Boiling it all down to "team size" is an oversimplification, to say the least.Quote:Originally Posted by Zombie Man
Well, it's a good thing then that the Incarnate Trials are nothing like the WoW Raids that were toned down. That means we're on the right track! -
Quote:Tyrant's just a prop, almost. You learn more about the motivations of ground-level people in Praetoria than you do about Tyrant's. And unfortunately, while the trials do as good a job as can be expected with in advancing the plot (given the limitations of the format), I'm not sure we'll ever get to explore Tyrant's motivations in any depth.Originally Posted by Golden Girl
Like Tyrant
I'm still kind of hoping that the devs implement parallel single-player story arcs to flesh out the trials (and high-end implications) of Praetoria a bit more.
Failing that, I think a neat idea to give Tyrant more depth is to have his trial be one that time-travels through the various stages of his life -- each phase is a different point in his life where he made choices to become what he is. (Plus, you're attacking and weakening him where he's most vulnerable.) Given that Ouroboros is involved with this, time travel could be playing a bigger role here, after all.
edit: And the best villain is obviously Requiem. He's disrespected by his troops, by his fellow Nicti, constantly in danger of being usurped by various people, and wants desperately to escape his role and his fate. Hence it's not so much that he's thoroughly evil as that he's utterly irrational and (self-)destructive and driven to perpetually make bad decisions, leading to the destruction of at least one parallel universe. -
It's been explicitly stated by the devs that the Praetorian arc isn't the end of the Incarnate content -- it's just the beginning.
Cole still has big secrets hidden. Personally I hope that once players get to topple the Tyrant, and sifting through all of his secrets, we get to board Anti-Matter's space station. Upon which we discover the Terrible Secret of Space.
Which segues nicely into the next series of trials, which will take place in the new space zones.
And then we get to do Cosmic Space Incarnate stiff.
Yes, it will happen. Believe it. -
Quote:There are already 3 zones that are thick with them. Place called Praetoria. You might have heard of it.Originally Posted by Eiko-chan
No, sweetie, I'm not. i15 put Nazis on the streets for me to run up to and punch. i20 is not putting Loyalists on the streets for me to run up to and punch.
True! Who hasn't read in their history books about the exciting Allied battles against the vampires, werewolves, and giant robots of Nazi Germany (which, oddly, never called themselves Nazis). And I very much enjoy their subtly-shaded,non-cardboard-evil plotlines in CoH. Like that time they wanted to kill people. And that time they wanted to kill more people AND take over the worldQuote:Also, Loyalists aren't Nazis. Punching electronic representations of real-life evil people is far more enjoyable and satisfying than punching electronic representations of made-up cardboard evil people. -
Quote:Oh, man, those would be sweet.Originally Posted by StratoNexus
On the one hand, yay!
I am sure I will enjoy the new task forces, but I'd rather see new named AVs or EBs from the Midnight Squad, the Circle of Thorns or the Warriors. Please, no more stories featuring Freedom Phalanx as enemies EVER again after I20.
Don't give up hope, dude. That's all I can say.
Hey, the devs work fast, maybe someone's implementing your suggestions as we speak... be sure to take credit for it if they do! -
Quote:I guess "well" and "profitable" are subjective terms, but I got 300+ VMerits, GM/bomb credit, and 3-4 shards. By that standard I think it was a success, if not exactly a smooth one.Originally Posted by Stone Daemon
No offense, but your friends were either exaggerating, or were one of the people that Hyper was talking about.
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Hey everybody. I'm the one who commissioned the Solipsist piece. The character concept is pretty much exactly as ChristopherRobin and airhead described it, and it still tickles me after all this time.
(Illusion/FF, by the way: creates his own reality, shuts out anything he denies.)
Anyway, back to the REAL topic here, Geekboy's art. I'm overjoyed with the work he did on that piece, and look forward to receiving it in the mail. Even the rough spec sketches he sent me were amazing; he has a real grasp of form and composition, and I'm happy to see justice done to my favorite character.
(Kicking myself for not asking for the Solipsist's emblem -- the eye symbol -- as a lapel pin or something, but oh well.)
Of course, I shelled out a little more than the price he's quoting here (as did the other commission, I believe), but I guarantee that you won't be disappointed in the work.
Thanks again, Geekboy. -
Quote:Nobody's perfect, nobody catches everything, a group of 600+ is going to catch more things than a group of 60 (especially when many individuals within that group will be actively seeking exploits). That's just a fact, and no indictment of anyone's competence.Originally Posted by Steampunkette
Not none. Not "Tap Tap woo!" but little comparatively. And if anything I'm selling the Devs -LONG- not short, since I seem to be overestimating a 60 person team's ability to bug-hunt an issue release, by your opinion.
-Rachel-
Testing is rarely routine and rarely predictable. If it weren't, we wouldn't need betas. QE-mother****in'-D. This is how we end up with things like the Alpha slot being pulled for an entire issue.
Short. Memories.
but feel free to keep thinking the first-ever pair of 50-only TFs, designed to be extra-challenging, won't try anything new, won't need to be adjusted for difficulty/exploits, and will just boil down to "spawn points and geometry", keep tap-tap-tappin away at that -
Quote:yeah man, and all they need to do is type some code, pfft, i can type things on my computer, TAP TAP TAP, there, i just wrote a vidya game!Originally Posted by Steampunkette
Seriously, it's pretty silly to dismiss all those things as trivial when we don't know any specifics, and the history of the game has shown us that there's been a trend toward making the high level TFs more complicated/challenging and advancing the tech; players enjoy breaking things in ways the devs don't anticipate; animation issues rarely work out smoothly on first pass (especially given one of the recent layoff casualties); etc. etc.
Awful lot of short memories, wishful thinking, and/or selling the devs short here, is what I'm saying. -
Quote:Well, that and the two new task forces.Originally Posted by Unknown_User
Incarnates and Alpha slots did go through some beta testing during the GR beta. So there's not much to test, other than the new version.
And the (presumed) story arc to unlock the slot.
And alternate blast animations.
And the Praetoria zone events.
And the additional tip/morality missions.
And inherent Fitness.
And the various other QoL fixes.
So yeah, not a whole lot to test at all! -
Beautiful screenshots, and great map selections. Dr. Aeon is the best.
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Quote:This idea is much better anyway. Really, who WASN'T going to make their first Incarnate just an "advanced" version of their favorite character?Originally Posted by Psyte
Likewise, I think the Incarnates were going to be an EAT, not something for all characters (whose players buy GR
). -
Just relax. In the past, Issue closed betas were sometimes open only to devs and their closest friends/family for the first few days, just to be sure everything was running smoothly.
Just because you're not in the closed beta yet doesn't mean you've been unfairly snubbed; chances are, everyone under the loyalty program (and/or have been subscribers since day one) will get their invites all at once, and soon. -
Quote:"Universal slots" was a part of that customer survey that made the rounds a couple years back, which was assessing levels of player interest in things like side-switching (the "going Rogue system" was used by name), power customization, and the Architect, long before they were ever announced.Originally Posted by Judgement_Dave
IIRC Early talk about GR mentioned it bringing in post-50 advancement. I can't remember offhand if the long-discussed idea of universal slots was mentioned by name.
I operate on the assumption that we're likely to see most, if not everything on that list, and the survey was more a matter of prioritization. -
He was also taken hostage by Reichsman during the Dr. Kahn TF.
Plus he's beholden to meaningless treaties when the fate of the world is at stake (STF). For the world's A-1 premier hero, he's kind of useless. -
Quote:I have a sneaking suspicion that if you walk into that marketing department, the only thing you'll find is a Magic Eight-Ball that's perpetually stuck on "TIME NOT YET RIGHT."Originally Posted by Tiny Bolt
Or I could probably walk into the marketing department and within days do more than they have in years.
Or, like, one of those drinky-birds that's constantly pecking the "N" key. -
Quote:I didn't think the Airlia and Daedalus arcs were all that bad; they just came off worse in comparison to some really superb recent arcs/TFs. Players had become accustomed to much better content.Originally Posted by Bionic_Flea
Pardon me for saying this, but thank God! Horatio seemed like a nice enough guy, but he was a mediocre mission writer and had no background knowledge of this game. Feargas' arcs were far better than the Daedalus and Sister Airlia arcs. And he did those as a player, for free, with the limited tools available to players.
I voted for TV over Aeon, but I would vote more than a Chicago cemetery for Aeon over Horatio!
For me, Harlick was the guy who made a complete hash out of the return of the 5th Column. So yeah, I agree: I'm relieved he's gone.
(An SG-mate once remarked to me that my "Project Parallel" arc "should make that guy resign in shame." Perhaps that's how it happened after all...) -
Hi ArrowRose,
Just got your comment in-game. I'd been occupied the last couple of days getting out of town before the snow hit, then digging out my parents' house up north.
Anyway, in terms of making non-combat "flavor" encounters, there are three main ways to go about it:
1.) Which you did, was to have an ally/captive surrounded by a friendly group. The downside is that they stay 'silent' -- their dialog only triggers if under attack by an enemy group (which happened when I ran through it).
2.) A solo Ally. Make sure to set the enemy group to "single", and set the NPC to "Non Combat" and "Do Nothing" when freed (bug: the NPC may sometimes end up following you anyway, nothing you can do) and fill in the dialogue brackets for:
Ally Rescued Dialog: This is the one that triggers only when the player gets near the NPC.
Ally Stranded Dialog
Ally Reacquired Dialog
This gives you a chance to make the NPCs' dialog more complex, and has been used to great effect in some arcs (Blight, etc.). In the context of this arc, you might assume that the players will only return to some NPCs (like the ones at the very front of the mission) when they're setting the bombs, so you could set the Reacquired dialog to something like "No! You can't do this to us!", or creepy postmortem taunts from Goodman.
The Ally Inactive or Ally Active Dialog will trigger as soon as you enter the mission, which might be useful in limited circumstances ("Find me quickly, hero!")
3.) A Boss. The surrounding group is going to be more scattered and facing away from the boss, though. Still, it works for things like zombie drumming, etc. Set everything to Ally, etc. Fill in the Boss Unaware Dialog. You'll be able to see that dialog when you get close enough to the boss.
As a final note about the progression of the missions, I do agree with the others that it's probably best to ease the player into the criminal activity -- too many players see "mind control" as a cop-out, but it's easier to accept that their hero is getting involved if the players themselves find the scenario plausible.
So a more gradual progression might be to make the first mission be the "kidnapping" mission... only the contact assures you that it's to "investigate" Richman and "rescue" anyone he's holding there against their will. Drop in some clues about illegal activities that Richman is profiting from, and leave the daughter un-named (so the player only really suspects that he/she is being involved in a kidnapping from subtle hints in the dialog). With all that, and when the player sees that Richman is working with the Family, they'll be slightly more inclined to trust the contact and go further down the rabbit hole.
The second mission could be the bank robbery, with the justification that it's to confiscate some dirty money and trace its origins, then re-distribute it to the poor. You might wish to change the enemies here to PPD rather than Longbow, so you can justify it to the player by suggesting that those particular cops are bought off. Same goes for the prison break in M3.
Finally, unfortunately I missed the last mission debriefing somehow; did it reveal who wrote the notes? Making an encounter with the author more explicit within the mission itself might have more visceral impact as a "snap-back-to-reality" moment, combined with the list of assassination targets,
Hope this helps!
(As an aside, sorry you still got hit by the last mission bug on OoP. Going by the comments I'm getting and my own experience, it's rarer than it used to be, but still there.) -
Earlier today I reduced the number of battles and 'Grandville Citizen' rescues by 1 each, and that seems to have done the trick. Everything spawned properly eight times in a row.
Hopefully that takes care of it. -
Happy Holidays to you too, Doc. I'm glad you're on board and look forward to seeing what's in store for MA -- I know it's going to be big.
Have a restful time! -
'A Tangle in Time' ID# 2622
The author, @jjac, is an SG-mate of mine, and this one goes way back. It's still one of my favorites, too. -
Yeah, that was definitely the problem with the first map for a long time until I figured that out. The counter at the top would continue to list plenty of allowed boss objectives (close to 20!), and yet the Interlopers would never spawn.
It pretty much goes down your list, I think, since when I moved the Interlopers to the top of my objective list, they'd spawn, but they'd push off another 'flavor' boss or two.
I believe that was a problem with both the Carnival of Shadows - Commercial map (which I'm using now) and City Map 02, which I previously used.
edit:
\/\/\/\/\/\/ Yeah, but at least once, Neutrina failed to spawn (rescue). I'm removing one of the Grandville citizen rescues as well, to see if that helps too. -
Nuts. Yeah, that might be it, Eva -- I originally had the same problem with the first map (considering all the stuff I had going on in it!), except that the problem was consistent there, rather than occasional/random in this case.
I'll remove two battles and see if that helps. At the very least it may reduce the frequency of the bug (by freeing up 2 more non-broken spawns).
Thanks! -
Okay, I played through it 6 times (once on the published version, 5 with a local, identical version of mission 4 alone).
First two times (including the published version) completed just fine.
Second two runs were, indeed, broken. The first one didn't even spawn Neutrina, as far as I could tell.
Last two runs were fine.
It may be that there are a few broken spawn points on the Grandville map -- I'll /bugreport it, and mention it directly to Dr. Aeon when I meet with him.
This is so frustrating. It worked just fine on all my playthroughs before publishing, though I did add a couple of things after publication (the battles). For the time being, I may switch to a less buggy map. Shame, because the Grandville map was so appropriately apocalyptic. -
Okay, I'm playing through the published version now, I'm really concerned about this.
I'm not sure how up-to-date my latest local version is, but I'll use that to run through the last mission a few more times afterward.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention.