mistformsquirrel

Hahahahaha... wow.

I didn't have sound when these came out (no headphones) and I forgot to go back and watch them until now <,< <3

Love the end. "Is the tech guy married?"

... that is very clever <O.@>

It really is Mr. Awesome <. .> The character I ran it on got an honorary panda costume because it was so awesome.

<.< Seriously.

Thunder Valkyrie - PANDA MODE <o_@>

Panda Mode 2

Panda Mode 3


<x_x> yeah... I'm weird.

Blah, not gonna argue - I ddon't want to derail a potentially fun thread; I'm just saying it strikes me as decidedly jerky to say "Hey come into this thread that's probably incredibly embarassing so we can bother you over how hot you are."

I mean maybe it's just me, but if someone did that to me I'd be likely to tell em to shove it in no uncertain terms. (I'm just lucky enough to be a guy so that doesn't happen.

But I'll shutup,

[ QUOTE ]
It doesn't, but it makes for a fun thread.

[/ QUOTE ]

And the thread was fun so long as it was tongue in cheek with no real expectation of a response.

Calling someone out like that though is just a jerk move flat out.

[ QUOTE ]
I mean no disrespect. But yeah, if I got called out I would set people strait

And, i'm not afraid to show my beautiful wiz of a wife I wont show the *good* pictures I have of her though

[/ QUOTE ]

Why should she give a crap?

I mean seriously - precisely what relevance does whether or not she's 'hawt' have to this forum?

It doesn't.

<. .> If it can be proliferated, it should be. That really is all there is to it in my mind; just from a logic standpoint.

There's no reasons an artificial construct (AT) that no one in the game world itself is aware of in the way we are should determine what powers you can or can't have. (Doubly true for weapon sets.)

<^_^> Nyo~

<,< (I love this arc entirely too much lol)

Okay, better shots uploaded >.>

*sorry for triple*

Okay, here we go <@_@>

Now clearly this isn't the same character as yours - it's one of my older ones re-created just for SS. (With the Valkyrie pieces used largely because they're good for showing off armor)

Mithral Armor 1

Mithral Armor 2

Mithral Armor 3

This as opposed to the way I do steel -

Steel 1 (Lily Knight)

Steel 2 (Lily Knight)

Theoretically you could go for a lighter variation on the steel (I'd say about 3 from the right on the top row); but that becomes easy to mistake for steel, as not everyone follows the same conventions <@_@> Then again blue armor might just seem to be dyed blue - sooooooooooooooooo...

Really it's just the way I do it <@,@> hope it helps though

*edit*

Hrmm... those aren't coming out well, let me go inside City Hall and try to get some better ones ><

I'll have to log in and take one, gimme just a sec and I'll see if I've got a character with a set. (If I don't, I can recreate an old one from memory)

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If all you want is a generic, lowest-common-denominator keyboard, you can find them for ten dollars or less

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup. Why would I want something fancy when the cheap stuff gets the job done just fine and doesn't cost tons of cash to replace? I've been using cheap keyboards for over 10 years and never had a problem.

[/ QUOTE ]Unfortunately, not everyone has that option. Due to m'Hunny's wrist problems (not Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, but similar), the cheapest keyboard that didn't exacerbate the condition was almost $150. If that had ever gotten spilled on, you can bet we would have tried everything we could to rescue it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ugh <;_;>

My sympathies too, I have a wrist condition as well (tendonitus, from an old tree climbing injury), but I'm lucky that it flares up quite infrequently. When it does though I have to quit using the comp, sometimes for as long as a week. Sucks <;_;>

Hehe <^_^> I do similar things Sam <,< Self Destruct is SO handy, not just in it's damage component (which can be nice); but just because sometimes being dead sans-debt is useful <@_@>

(This is especially true in architect, where the hospital is 10 feet away; so this "cold restart" as Sam puts it, doesn't even require an awaken if you don't have one)

I usually make mithral a light sky blue; not because it's accurate, but it helps distinguish it from steel >.>

That's just me of course <@_@>

Excellent addition BackFire <^_^> thanks for that. (I've never written a guide before lol, I think it shows <X_X&gt

[ QUOTE ]
Hmmm so Tabula Rasa was around 70,000 subs (at first view) when it went under.

Say we were around 125,000 subs around the end of 2008.
Let's be generous and say we lost 1,000 accounts from PvP and lose another 3,000 to the recent events. That would put us around 110,000 or at worst 100,000 subs.

Still not enough to shut down any servers, I'd think.

[/ QUOTE ]

One thing to note here too - TR was never going to clear it's initial investment costs with that level of subscribers.

In other words - it's not that they weren't outpacing maintenance costs (which is a killer - you can't maintain your servers you're done.) - but that the budget was so high it pretty much NEEDED to be a WoW killer.

Even with 100k+ it might have died.

CoH on the other hand, has been profitable for a long time - the investment has already been repaid and then some. So we'll survive down to a relatively small number of players.

Look at some of the other pre-WoW MMOs for an idea of just how low a game can actually go before dying for good.

Just wanted to clear that up; in case anyone was actually concerned. It takes a *lot* to actually kill a profitable MMO; but not so much to crash one that's way overbudget and isn't performing at expectation. That's why a big launch is so important - it's a chance to make up for all the cash you spent making the game. I mean great if you can keep the players a long time, that's obviously the goal; but as long as you make back that initial investment, the game will at least live for fair while.

This of course is with the caveat that executive stupidity can cancel anything, profitable or otherwise. I'm not sure we have to worry about that though.

(Apologies if someone already said this in the thread, but I'm about to go to bed and just saw this on the first page)

Part II:

Giving Feedback as a member of the audience

--------------

So you just played an arc, and you've got some mixed feelings.

Maybe the gameplay side was fine, but the story felt muddled - or, perhaps it's the other way around. Maybe a specific custom critter was way overpowered.

Maybe you even had to go as far as to quit mid-arc because a given boss was too powerful.

What do you do?

Unfortunately, giving good feedback is actually a fair bit of work; and it also exposes you to the author, where an anonymous rate does not.

Most people just rate and move on.

However this doesn't tell the author anything of value - an author who's arc is 3 starred but does not know why because they have received no feedback is unlikely to make the changes to the arc that are necessary for it to shine.

----

So how do we give feedback that's useful and may even get thing's changed to what we want them to be?

Well there's a few simple rules:

1st - Be polite. Even if you loathed the arc, heaping scorn on the author will change nothing. This is doubly true if it's something you find 'icky' but is in no way against the EULA.

EX: Some people aren't fond of furries - assuming it's not violating the EULA the best response to an arc you find 'gross' in this way is to simply move along. If it is violating the EULA in some way, report it. In no circumstance should you abuse the author however.

Being polite is also helpful for other reasons than the obvious: It's not just nice - it's more likely to get your opinion heard. Being honest - even though an author *should* weigh each piece of criticism on it's merits; a polite bit of feedback is much easier to digest.

2nd - Understand your limitation - The author has a story they want to tell. If the story in question is fundamentally different than the story you want to hear - you probably are playing the wrong arc.

EX: If you're looking for a deep story - I recommend against running something labeled "Captain L33tx0rs Chalange Arc: R U Tuff ENuff!?!"

Complaining about the lack of plot will be unlikely to change anything at all, because the author in question has a goal in mind with their work, and a target audience - in this case, one you are not a part of.

This doesn't mean don't suggest changes to - sometimes the plot has holes that need filled; other times you feel it'd be stronger if it goes in another direction. That said - don't try to suggest the arc be what it is not. (Super Rabbitqueen's Rainbow Adventure is probably not a good place to suggest the addition of a goth-horror element. Generally speaking of course.)

3rd - Be reasonable - Understand that your opinion is exactly that; your opinion. Someone else may very well be telling the author the exact opposite of what you are; and depending on several factors, the may or may not feel your opinion is correct. It may just be that you're the outlier - the one person who isn't fond of X element in Y story.

It happens - nothing wrong with it at all; but understand that it's a possiblity.

4th - Know your genre preferences -

Namely - don't deliver an annoyed diatribe or low rate just because someone had the temerity to write an arc in a genre you are not fond of.

EX: You hate fantasy works; and run across a fantasy arc. Keep on going. The author isn't going to change to suit your preferences on this broad a scale, and you shouldn't waste either of your time trying to make them.

5th - Spelling and punctuation:

Although not as critical as it is for the author; it is useful to leave feedback in a legible format. Avoid shorthand - feedback should be left when you have time to write it out in a decent format so that it's understandable. A typo or two isn't that bad (I mean try to get them; but it's not a huge problem)...

But a whole feedback paragraph made up of misspelled words and shorthand will probably not get you taken very seriously. Punctuation is also useful.

(And irony of ironies - I had to at least a half dozen typos in this blurb. Hah!)

6th - Some authors are not good at taking criticism.

Sad truth: There will be authors out there who simply cannot take criticism - even when delivered politely and without rancor. You may end up getting some flak for leaving criticism. Note - I'm not talking about simple disagreement - that's to be expected.

Sometimes folks will even disagree with you and then later decide you were right and go ahead and make the changes.

I'm talking about: "How dare you! *insert rant*" kind of behavior. Ignore is handy; and depending on what is said, petition may be necessary too.

This is one of the biggest reasons people don't leave feedback; though I find most authors are quite reasonable.

7th - Keep your own mind open -

Essentially, keep in mind that what you saw in your play through may very well have been due to an architect bug (there are still a fair few), or a weird spawn placement that isn't common - or even you simply missing something due to your own error. (Ex: running past a glowy that's in full view - it happens.)

Basically, be willing to chalk things up as aberrant if the author provides an adequate explanation.


--

Ultimately these are just some basic guidelines for people who feel like leaving feedback. You don't have to be verbose, you don't have to flatter people - just be polite, be honest, be reasonable, and know that the author may or may not be possessed by demons (or ghosts... or pirate-ninjas - that one is nasty).

The reward of course, is better arcs for all. But it's a lot of work, and I don't blame anyone who doesn't want to do so. If you do though, hopefully this helps a little bit.

=====================================


And as with the previous post <X_X> I'm tired, so if you feel I missed something, please let me know!

<@_@> Well after reading Awesomus Prime's guide to Criticism, which I think is a solid look at the reviwer/reviewee relationship; and some good notes for both groups... I decided something else that might aid our community here would be a guide to audience feedback.

*Note* After I got to writing this, it became quite long and involved. I just want you to be aware this is going to be large, and I'm trying to encompass as much as I can with it. The TL;DR version is simply "Criticism is very useful; don't let jerks get to ya, remember you aren't perfect". There's more to it than that, but that's the basics.

I also want to mention that this guide is intended primarily for those who are relatively new to creative writing/creative pursuits in general - so a lot of this will be "Duh" material for those who've taken classes or even just written fanfic for awhile. I just want you to be aware that it might just be stuff you already know <@_@> I'm no genius; I'm not re-inventing anything; I'm just offering some reference to newbie writers who aren't used to getting feedback.

====

On to the guide!

First and foremost, I will state up front the Squirrel's cardinal rule of creative endeavor. (Which has probably been said before by someone else; but I don't have a handy quote)

It does not matter how much work you've put in; it does not matter how many other people love it, it does not matter how in love with your own work you are - someone, somewhere, will hate it.

It's important to understand this right up front because as a writer in Architect (or for that matter, any creative thing you do anywhere, ever, for any reason) you will run into negative feedback. It's just going to happen, so make sure you can handle that.

Another way of saying it is "You can't please everyone."

So before we go any further - understand this - because it's a foundation of begin able to take criticism without feeling insulted. (Or brushing off abuse (ie - insults you receive via feedback)

Second - I'd go as far as to call it Squirrel's second cardinal rule of creative endeavor. (Likewise, this has almost assuredly been said by someone else, and probably more elegantly too; but meh, I'm doing the work here!)

The rule is as follows:

- No matter how much you love your work - no matter what you've wrapped up in it; no matter how much success you enjoy with it - you are not perfect, and neither is your work.

Note that this goes for even the best loved authors and painters throughout history. Perfection is something that a creative person has to strive for... but understand likewise they won't reach. The goal is to get as close as possible.

Ultimately the purpose of both of these statements is simply this:

You aren't perfect, neither are your players. Take your feedback with a grain of salt, but likewise keep an open mind so that your work can improve. (As an example of someone who does not learn from criticism - Uwe Boll. Don't be that guy. >.&gt

---

Alright - so we know what we need to be; but how to do we actually do this filtering thing?

First off - understand that you can't filter based just on what you want to hear. You have to weigh each component of feedback and see if it has merit.

Sometimes it's obvious - "Typo in Mission 3" for example is self explanatory; and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who'd say *not* to fix that.

Other times it's not so straightforward.

What do you do, for example, if your arc as currently written uses (purely as an example) a number of chaining objectives; and you get a complaint about having to backtrack?

Well first you ask yourself: "Self, what should we get for lunch?" err... I mean "Is this component of the arc actually necessary to telling the story? Can I do this another way? Will the arc fundamentally be different if I change this; and if so, is it for the better or worse?"

It can get more complicated however - in the above situation you might have several pieces of feedback telling you the backtracking is annoying; but then you've got a couple telling you that the chaining objectives are neat and add great atmosphere.

Making the call on what to do is difficult, and is going to depend on a lot of things.

- How much positive and negative feedback are we seeing? If 10 people are saying "Keep it" and 1 is saying "get rid of it"; I'd usually suggest keeping it; as that one person is likely to be an outlier. On the other hand if the numbers are reversed, you'll probably want to take a strong look at it, and even if you don't remove it altogether, consider toning it down.

- Again, is this going to impact the story you're telling? If so, can the story be altered to fit the change? Sometimes a few minor alterations in story can make an arc drastically more playable.. Othertimes it's completely impossible to change such a thing without a heavy rewrite. In those cases you may have to accept that your arc as written has niche appeal only. (This isn't necessarily a bad thing; so long as you can accept you likely won't be receiving a lot of 5-star rates and can avoid letting that bug you.)

----

I want to take a moment to focus on the numbers real fast:

This is part of knowing your target audience - which is fundamental in any sort of entertainment work (which is exactly what this is).

Whatever demographic your after, when you get feedback from those people, you need to weigh that a bit more heavily.

That said (I did mention this was tricky didn't I?) you need to likewise not ignore the other. Sometimes you need that outside perspective. It's going to be up to you to know when to implement what advice; or sometimes not implement either. Depending on the arc, if the gripe is minor enough, or comes up rarely enough, it may be safer to leave it be.

Still, you want to make sure that you take care of your target audience above those who are strictly outside of it. Otherwise you might find both groups unhappy, as the former feels abandoned and the latter wasn't really likely to enjoy what you created to begin with.

So ultimately, be mindful of the amount of feedback you're getting on each side when a divisive issue comes up; and also be mindful of who that feedback is from; though do not discount anything entirely. (Well okay, maybe discount the person who wants you to add 10 AVs to the last mission - there are reasonable requests, and then there are unreasonable requests. No, you don't get to consider all requests unreasonable.)

---

Understanding the mind of your audience - or rather "A word about opinion".

A big thing to remember is that when you're dealing with creative work, you are dealing largely with opinion. That's largely why implementing changes based on feedback can be a little complicated at times.

A simple way to explain it is based off a couple instances of feedback I got in the same day from two different people on the same arc:

1 - "Very creative. Hilarious and neat!"

2 - "Uncreative. Boring."

Now neither is particularly helpful to me as to WHY either is true; but let's face it - you're going to see a lot of that kind of commentary. The important thing here is to note that the two opinions are 180 degrees apart; despite being about the same work, and quite possibly the same feature of that work.

It sounds like a "duh" statement, but I find a lot of people tend to state their opinions as facts. This is a reminder to you, the author, that both yourself and your critics are dealing in subjective matters - and for that matter, fictional ones.

In short - keep your perspective. It's too easy to let yourself be drawn into an argument by someone who hasn't yet learned this lesson - and likewise it's easy enough to fall into the trap yourself, even if you know better.

---
So, what if someone is abusive?

I hesitate to mention it, but I think it's important for those who haven't had much experience with critique - both giving and receiving..

Occasionally you will get feedback that isn't criticism in the sense we're talking here. It's unhelpful, rude, and designed not to help you make your work better, but rather to tear you down. Sometimes the person in question is just a bully; other times they're someone who's lost perspective on exactly what they're talking about.

Some examples:

"Typo in mission 4, might want to tone down <Mob>, they hit ridiculously hard, Ill/Thugs MM EB is kinda over the top" - This is criticism. Treasure it; for it is your greatest ally. (As long as you know how to sift it anyway)

"What are you some kind of idiot? You misspelled "their" in mission 4, your <Mob> are freaking ridiculously overpowered, and your end boss is utterly unbeatable! FAIL!" - Absue

Actually my abuse example is probably one of the nicest versions I can think of. More often it'll come in the form of garbled swears, the questioning of your masculinity (even if you're female) or sexual orientation. Thankfully, this behavior isn't too common - but it happens, and you should be aware of it. I personally find a quick ignore good enough, though sometimes it's also worthy of a petition as well (specifically in the case of racism and other derogatory language.)

Do not engage someone like this via /tells. If they're immature enough to react like this over a videogame arc, then they aren't going to listen to you no matter how correct you may be. In short: Don't feed the trolls.

---

The second post is going to deal with how to give useful feedback as a member of the audience.

Please let me know if you've got ideas for improvements to this guide >.> I'm a bit tired right now so I may have left a few things out; but this is the basics.

Hrmm...

Overall I'd say this is a solid guide, but I'm not sure I'd call it a guide to criticism so much as a guide on "How to be reviewed/give reviews"; as it doesn't deal with audience criticism; which is vital - and can be every bit as difficult to deal with <@_@>

That said, now that I'm in the mood, I'ma go ahead and write a post on exactly that.

Good post other than that minor addendum <^_^>b

Arc ID 96322
The Tannhauser Gate

---

First off, a thank you to Aisynia for putting up with the delays <'x'> She's been asking me to play this arc since what... just after Beta? Sorry it's taken so long >.<m

Alright let's get down to it <^_^>

First off - this is an arc that's going to cater to a specific type of player I think. Basically - if you're OK with a lot of backtracking for story reasons, then you'll probably like it a fair bit; if backtracking makes you nautious on the other hand >.>; I wouldn't recommend it.

I personally enjoyed it, despite the backtracking, but I wanted to put that out there right away so people would be aware that this is not an arc designed for you to just rampage through. There's a story here, and a fair bit of reading.

Mission 1 -

A mage named Aisynia contacts you on behalf of a group called The Keepers. She explains that they are a group of mages of immense power who by and large have lost their homes on other worlds and other dimensions.

She then describes the problem: An enormous, invisible floating fortress - a tower - has appeared in the skies above Paragon City.

The tower itself is incredibly difficult to penetrate with scrying magic - and understandably the city's magical community is very concerned.

The one problem I have here is the character Aisynia's attitude. - She mentions that the Keepers are asking you for help because they would be 'too powerful' and might set off alarms. Understandable, but it seemed a bit insulting. I suspect it's the wording as much as anything however.

There's also a small blurb about an apprentice named Reen going into the tower alone, against the wishes of her higher ups. Although not your primary goal, you're supposed to look for her if you can find her.

That said, the plot is set up fairly nicely.

Upon entering the tower you come across 2 things that may immediately turn you off of playing - I highly recommend you continue despite the initial surprise however.

First off, you're in the Ruladak caverns map - I'm personally not a fan of it, but it works here. The second is a Boss (I can only assume EB because I was on Heroic) right near the entrance.

However this boss is not particularly difficult - even as an EB I'm not certain he'd be too hard if you're careful. The reason being that he lacks any defensive sets whatsoever - meaning that although he's capable of hurting you badly... he is rather vulnerable. Unless you're a pre-pet controller or Dominator, I imagine you'll do fine.

Pressing on through the caverns you'll encounter the rather well conceived enemy group that you'll fight throughout the arc - the Guardians of the Gate. Much like a couple other arcs I've reviewed here, they are a clever amalgamation of standard critters from throughout CoH.

Shivans, CoT Ghosts, and Bat'zul demons were all present, and I'm sure higher levels (I played at 18) might find other surprises.

The one oddity with this group is the presence of Vahzilok - Particularly the Embalmed. Normal Vahzilok zombies I can understand - after all, the undead are a common side effect of heavy magic use; and this area is positively drenched in magery... But the Embalmed are clearly technological, with their huge explosive backpacks. Still, it's a minor quibble as they don't crop up too much, and they aren't particularly deadly.

You're goal in this first mission is to destroy a device interfering with communication inside the tower; which is how they lost track of Reen; and presumably this is to avoid the same happening to you. You also need to see if you can find any evidence of Reen while you're there.

Because it's a glowy hunt on a Ruladak map with an EB right at the start - I feel a lot of people will start off annoyed... which is highly unfortunate, as the actual rest of the arc is quite good, and even this mission doesn't feel as onerous as it initially sounds.

Mission 2 -

This is where things start to get interesting: First, to explain you coming back to the AE room even though you're actually in the tower; the destruction of the Astral Disruption Field now allows one of the Keepers (who is off camera throughout the arc) to bring your spirit out of the tower, even if they can't physically bring you out. It's a nice choice of cover for what might otherwise be rather jarring.

Secondly, you're starting to piece things together a bit. Mostly this is just a brief glowy collection with a lot of reading - but it's a chance to give you some background on the story.

Mission 3 -

Mission 3 is where I think you'll find yourself faced with the decision to press on and finish, or quit in frustration. The mission itself is (at least to me) interesting.

You enter the Hall of Memories - a chamber where those who have previously passed through are copied as "Echoes". To explain better -

Imagine walking into a room, then back out. However anyone else who enters that room will encounter a version of yourself from that period of time. The BBEG, who you now know as a former Knight named Tannhauser, has been through this room many times - and you'll find yourself essentially rescuing versions of him throughout this map. This gives you a chance to piece together his story and understand him - all the while you aren't actually dealing with the man himself.

This is where the frustration can come in - because spawns are not controllable by the author, when you rescue one version of Tannhauser; another version could pop anywhere on the map. This is going to mean a LOT of backtracking. If you find the story interesting, you'll probably push on anyway, but if not it might just drive you a bit nutty.

Unfortunately I can't think of a good way to make this work - either you leave it as is, causing the backtracking problem - or you allow all the versions to be present at once, meaning you could easily get them out of order, and thus not see what the author is wanting you to see about Tannhauser.

Personally I chose to accept the device for what it was and push on; but I want to warn people because if you aren't particularly interested in story, you'll find yourself more annoyed than intrigued.

Anyway, success here grants you access to two very important bits of info:

First - Tannhauser is nuts. This is not uncommon among BBEGs, but confirmation is nice.

Second - Tannhauser is performing a ritual that, if successful, could destroy the city in it's entirety. Not to mention having other consequences. (I'm trying to avoid spoiling the entire story here >.&lt

Clearly you need to stop him; but doing so is a bit more complicated than it sounds.

*BBEG - Big Bad Evil Guy; essentially the Villain of the story.

Mission 4 -

It's time to confront Tannhauser directly and prevent him from completing his ritual. The map chosen (I don't know the name) is quite good at conveying just how mad Tannhauser really is.

The final room is covered in blood and mystic sigils; making it clear that his sacrifices are particularly brutal. In other words... to show you just how low he'll go.

This mission unfortunately suffers from the same problems as the previous - namely, backtracking. It's a glowy/hostage hunt on a pretty good size Orenbegan map. (Almost the entire arc is on Orenbegan maps though, so that last bit is no surprise.)

Still, as long as you explore carefully you should be alright. Just remember to check upper ledges.

Defeating Tannhauser here is not the end however - once you've ended his ritual and freed the sacrifices, and of course, defeated the man himself - he teleports back to his inner sanctuary.

Mission 5 -

Again, more backtracking, though not as bad this time.

I want to mention that I personally didn't mind it that much by this point. It IS annoying at times; but ultimately it serves the story. I only mention it so often to make it very clear that if you play this arc, you've got to be after the story, because it uses some annoying mechanics in service of that story, and you'll not enjoy yourself if you're here just because you want to bust some heads.

I want to mention the map specifically here - I've never seen this map before. I'm going to take a guess and say it's from Scirroco's Patron arc, but I don't know.

The lighting is a strange ethereal purple - and where there's water it just... shines.

Honestly the capstone to the arc almost feels like a hallucination. The fighting is quite easy because you'll be fighting with Aisynia at this point, and with the weird purple colors... it's just easy to kind of slide through the mission.

I'm not sure if that's good or bad. It makes the final encounter with Tannhauser feel anti-climactic... but there are other ways it works well (the part of the story I'm specifically not revealing); and makes a lot of sense.


Overall Rundown -

Good - Good map choices. On the surface they seem irritating (ZOMG ORENBEGA! RULADAK! AUGH!) but they fit quite well. The story, while nothing that will blow you away, is well handled overall - I consider it "standard fantasy novel" fare - which means you'll probably enjoy it; you just won't be hugely surprised and might find a few points corny.

Character design is solid throughout, the final hostage in the arc being particularly good imo.

I think the best part of the arc is the atmosphere - it does as best it can to transport you into Tannhauser's tower - and while not perfect, it does it pretty well. It's a shame the area transitions force you back to the AE room, but that's nothing the author can help.

Bad - Backtracking - this annoys a fair number of players; and myself as well to an extent. It's not really fixable in this particular story, but it's still a bit of a problem.

I'd also say it has a weak start - not storywise so much; but rather gameplay wise. Ruladak caverns with an EB at the start will probably turn away a fair few players.

Overall -

I recommend it with the caveat that you've got to be playing for story rather than just "Busting heads".

It's a niche arc - a good one though. Basically - if you want a dungeon crawl with a little mystery, a reasonable story and generally good fun; I recommend it.

If you want a Diablo style hack-and-slash that's vaguely fantasy flavored... probably best to look elsewhere, as the backtracking and map choices will probably drive you to blow up the city yourself.

<@_@>

Alrighty! Finally finished another arc <^_^> Sorry for being so sluggish all.

Before I get to this review I think it's fair I offer an explanation of WHY I'm so slow <x_X> because there's a fairly good reason; but I don't want anyone worrying about it or anything; it's just one of those "There really is a good reason the squirrel is not particularly quick" type things.

I have some mental illness issues that I'm in the process of having diagnosed/treated - I'm hardly crazed or anything <^.^> well more than a forumite normally is - but sometimes I just need to be away from everything and chill. So sometimes that means I go days or even weeks without playing/reviewing anything.

I just want people to understand that I'm not putting ya off <^,~> I'm going to get to every arc that gets posted (and probably a few that don't); it's just a matter of time.

I also feel now is a good time to establish a "negative review" policy - since people are posting review requests, and I don't want my silence to seem like an "ohgodit'shorrible" kind of thing.

So *if* I run across an arc that's posted here that I do not feel I can recommend, I will PM you with a review and critique. So far though I've been well pleased, I've not run across any arcs that I felt negatively toward overall.

I'm also not doing these in order any more - so no one assume that an arc that hasn't been mentioned by me has been negatively reviewed ok? A lot of the time it's going to be me deciding kinda at random what I want to play. I may do several arcs in a day, and I may go a few weeks without a word <@_@>; so... just be aware of these things <^_^>m

And as always, I don't give star ratings in this thread - I feel they're too inaccurate a gauge as to whether someone will or won't enjoy a given arc. So we'll avoid that and just stick to the reviews as I've done them.

<@,@> now that the policy stuff is out of the way (Sorry for having to do that, I just felt that since the thread is growing; it'd be the smart thing to do, so I don't run myself into trouble later!) - on to a review! (next post will have it)

Signed again <. .>

Seriously - I have characters both male and female that fall on parts of the spectrum that simply cannot be adequately represented right now.

<^_^> haha, that's awesome! <^,^>

[ QUOTE ]
here is Dr. Clockwork, I have 2 versions in mind for him, a assault rife blaster with devices, or a robotic mm. the assualt rife will be powered by steam, with all the bells and whistles . the robotic mm, just fits
here is his look http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/f...rClockwork.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

Bravo! I like that one <^_^>


I'm finding Steampunk to be kind of a challenge here <;_;> But I think my biggest reason for that is that I can't add big pipes and the like (as I tend to want to play a clockwork robot of some kind).

I did make a steampunk gnome version of Nemesis; but I'm not really happy with his design yet so I won't post pics.

Lord Gnomesis will not allow himself to be seen until all can gaze upon is true magnificence!

I was sad to see this go too <_ _>

I saw it used very creatively a couple times, most notably during a fantasy arc I was playing where a custom "Kobold" critter was trying to get a chicken into a stewpot <,<

It was priceless <;_;>