Arc 17702
Every Rose...
Length: 5 missions
Foes: Vahzilok, Legacy Chain, Security Guards, RIP, Tuatha de Damnon, Coralax
Level Range: (New way to list level range) 1-40, 1-15, 5-10, 5-30, 5-9
Contact: Polyana Hawthorne (custom)
Rating: 3 stars
TL-DR
Pros: Interesting concept, follows canon well (as far as I could tell), not difficult, good use of the MA features.
Cons: Poor map choices/timewasting, level jumping, typo, unexplained use of a foe, un-needed ally, overuse of clues
Overview:
After your breakout from the Zig a young lady named Polyanna Hawthorne askes you if you want to be a part of the Circle of Thorns. After a bit of back and forth you agree to get a book of translations to prove yourself. She warns you there meay be magical protection and to be careful.
A large warehouse filled with security slows you down but you manage to grab the book. This isn't all good as you set off a trap and some Tuatha attack. You are not sure but maybe you will keep the book for yourself.
Poly is happy and asks you to name your hearts desire so that the CoT can make it happen. When you do she says the components need will take some time to get unless you can get them yourself.
So its off to a ocean tanker to fight security again and steal some magic coral that Dr. Aeon was shipping. Oddly some strange creatures attack you and the security both while you are searching the ship. Still you manage to grab some coral and wrech some equipment in the process.
Poly tells you that you can go to the graveyard to have the spell enacted but she wants you to return to find out how you feel. She also warns you the effects are not immediate.
You enter the graveyard see only Vahziloks creatures yet you know the spell is complete.
Now as final proof you are one of them Poly asks you to kidnap some ancient bloodline people. You decide to set up a family reunion fair to lure them in. But the big problem here is the Legacy Chain guys found out what you were up to and arrived in force. After some careful navigation and minor skirmishes you kidnap each of the old bloodline people.
Now its time to be inducted into the CoT. Your blood isn't the right type so they can't make you a full member but they have other means to mark you as one of their own.
Entering the ancient CoT city you find that somehow the Legacy boys beat ya here. Its a fight and a half but you get all the ritual master to cast the spell on you, hook up with Polyanna and claim your CoT thorn thingy.
Specific Review:
I like the idea of a game intro mission that does not include Arachnos alot so I was looking forward to playing this arc. I ran it first with my Io'd scrapper with little to no issues but figured since the author note states its made with a level 2-5 in mind I will just make a brand new toon and give it a go. This is where the biggest flaw really hit me. My deal breaker flaw. By deal breaker I mean the one thing that I dislike so much that regardless of other things in the arc I cannot rate it highly. Time wasting. The maps are not the huge varietybut they are a bit too big for an under 10 character and as a result you end up spending far too much time in each mission. Another time waster is the 3rd mission that completed upon entering. I am not sure if this is a bug but both times I ran it the mission was just completed without my doing anything.
Mission 1: The writing is very good in that it did not contradict anything canon yet still made you feel apart of the story. The map here is just too big for a first mission or the type of mission. If this arc is truely for new characters then a large map will mean the character will level multiple times before completeing (my brand new character leveled twice in here). Consider the first mission by Kalinda or Burke. Both are extremely small. I did like the glowy clue but as its the only goal both it and the mission clue come up at the same time. As they are almost identical its unneeded.
Mission 2: Again fairly well written. The one sided conversation aspect of the briefing is a little distracting but forgivable considering the limits of the MA. This is another large map, the container ship. Too big IMO. If I may suggest something. Use the small mercy map where you come by boat. Have the mission goal be simply a boss battle with the carrying a crate animation. Say they are already unloading. Just to speed things up.
Mission 3: If auto completion is not intended it needs to be fixed. If it is this is a complete waste of time. Anything you say in this mission can be done in clues or mission briefings. Forget forcing the player to load then exit just to continue your story.
Mission 4: Another large map. This time with hostages and Legacy chain. This outdoor map has far too many spots the hostages can hide making you run around alot. Also, and I understand this is a semi bug, but with outdoor maps it is a pain to get the hostage to actually enter the glowing red exit box. I did like the abridged history of the CoT here alot. As a side note, your text before entering the mission says PI but uses the KR carny map and has the Rogue Isle police running around. Was immersion breaking as I tried to sort it all out.
Mission 5: Other than having Poly as an ally there is nothing wrong with this mission. In fact I liked the use of the rescues as triggers for the spell. Its not a highly original use of the MA but it is a far cry from the multitude of poorly handled rescues I have seen. The map is a perfect choice in that its not too large and not too small for the final mission. I also very much liked that there was no 'Boss' encounter. Thats not what the arc is about and you didn't try to shoehorn one in. Bravo.
As I said I rated this arc 3 stars. I just can't get past the length of time I end up in missions. The 4th one in particular was a pain. Once I entered I tried to stealth find the hostages (tuff on a level 3-4 corr). After looking for the last one for a long long time i started just killing everything thinking maybe you set the last hostage as a boss battle. If the author does not want to change the map then please please add dialogue to they can be found easier just by running near them.
It is a decent arc but without speeding it up I cannot raise the rating.
As always if you edit the mission I will re-play and re-rate.
Just to put my arc up here for anyone that wants to review it...
Rave Against the Dying of the Light
Arc ID: 14910
Length: 4 missions
Foes: Various Praetorian groups
Level Range: 40-50
Description: Help the Carnival of Light survive the onslaught of the Praetorians! Don't let hope die on Praetorian Earth!
I would like to submit my lowbie-specific arc #85098 "Galaxy City Little League"
For a higher level mission, try #3335 "Kidnapping Kelly the Kow"
I think someone else probably got skipped, because I never requested a review.
Odd. I've been posting the queue every few days for a while now and while there were a few typos spotted no one's complained about being dropped....
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
Just wanted to post and say that despite Venture having some issues with it, I had a great time playing through "Hearts on Fire" with my wife the other night. It's a fun arc with a good story; don't let one person's opinion sway you from trying it.
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Oddly enough, it never even occurred to me to explain how the students got their powers (is that bad?),
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No not bad at all. The arc is kind silly (in a good way) arc where the foes are more representative of high school bullies that an actual superpowered school.
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I originally had more ambushes at the end, but some earlier feedback mentioned the end boss was overly hard, so I tweaked a bit. I ran it several times myself both solo and on teams to try to make sure it was reasonably doable and still fun/challenging (which I HIGHLY recommend as having to deal with the mobs YOU made makes you really eager to balance them for all types of players/ATs).
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That is good. I wish more people took the time to test the arc thoroughly. It's a tiresome chore to play some arcs that just try to kill you (intended or not).
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I'm really glad you liked it and if it was fun to play then my personal mission is accomplished. If I do any significant changes, then I'll be sure to let you know. Thanks again for the great review
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It was fun. And I look forward to other arcs you make.
Arc #16338, "Neutrality and Brutality"
tl;dr: ZERO stars. Offenses, Wall Banger, annoying mobs
Arbiter Daos tells you it's time return the favors Arachnos has done you (like shooting at you constantly and trying to manipulate you into a doomed plan for conquest they already know will destroy the world). The UN has withdrawn the Rogue Isles' status as neutral territory and is heading in to "restore order". (Typo: "nuetral".) You're being called upon to repel the invaders. Act I takes you to Mercy Island. The "Marshalls" are all Robotics/Devices and turned up high enough to have Targetting Drone. This means scads of pets, high ToHit and you get webbed to the ground and buried in Caltrops so you can't move. I was playing this with my 33 Widow and died twice on the first two spawns. The Minions are also turned up high enough to have Photon Grenades, just in case there are any squishies around looking to be permanently stunned.
For Act II, the briefing is framed in such a way as to powerpose you into suggesting to Daos that Arachnos frame the UN forces for blowing something up, presumably a baby milk factory or the like. Actually it turns out to be a large warehouse full of Longbow. You have to hit five glowies, four bombs (the small ones) and a computer. Daos tells you afterwards that Ms. Liberty is already complaining to the UN about the unprovoked attack because no one in the City of Villains would ever frame anyone.
But wait, there's more...your next task is to infiltrate a Marshalls base and send a coded email from their system to Vanguard that will convince Vanguard the Marshalls base is actually a Rikti installation. Um, yeah. The map is a large tech map filled with Marshalls; you just have to find one glowie but good luck using stealth to do it. Afterwards, Vanguard catches the Idiot Ball and starts demanding that the Marshalls stand down.
In Act IV, the Marshalls have been discredited as a wave of Plot Induced Stupidty sweeps over the world. The last few of them who won't turn themselves in are holed up in a warehouse being attacked by Longbow and Vanguard. Your job is to slip in and plant a virus on one of the Marshalls' computers so Arachnos can penetrate the UN's computer network because cutting off a rogue unit's security clearances and such is unheard of. I mostly had to fight Marshalls; seemed only one spawn of Vanguard managed to survive out of the other factions. Because of all the NPC fighting every time you come across a spawn of Marshalls they've already got bots out. You only have to click one glowie but again, good luck trying to stealth to it.
Wall Banger plot + annoying mobs = 0 stars.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
didn't see either of mine in your queue, so I guess I'll just resubmit them.
Arc Name: Brass Reaver: Part 1
Arc ID: 16952
Faction: Neutral
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Turbo-Ski
Difficulty Level: Easy (Hard optional), EB/AVs are present but you are given EB/AV allies to help take them down if you need them solo.
Synopsis: A Fake Reaver has shown up and started framing the villain Project Reaver. Your job is to investigate the Nemesis plot behind all this and find out what Project Reaver might really be.
Estimated Time To Play: 5 missions - 45 to 60 minutes
Enemy Groups: Carnies, Custom, Nemesis, Reflections
Arc Name: Brass Reaver: Part 2
Arc ID: 59456
Faction: Neutral
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Turbo-Ski
Difficulty Level: Easy (Hard optional), EB/AVs are present but you are given EB/AV allies to help take them down if you need their help solo.
Synopsis: Continues where part 1 left off as you (or your team) journey into Nemesis Sol's dimension following a vengeful Project Reaver.
Estimated Time To Play: 5 missions - 45 to 60 minutes
Enemy Groups: Custom, Nemesis, Rikti
Arc #9028, "The Rise of Evil Part 1"
tl;dr: 1 star. Offenses: Wall Banger, problematic mobs, surprise timed missions
Right off the bat my hackles were up, as this arc is capped at 14 or 15 for all missions and contains an AV warning in its info.
The Contact, one Evelyn Monroe, offers to cast a spell that will let you witness the story of a girl who could have been the greatest of heroes. Of course, she bungles the spell and you're actually sent into the past. You find yourself on the villain cape mission map, which is full of PPD Lietenants (no Minions, they're all LTs) saying "our lives for the Mother!" You have to "question" three leaders, who are CoT Madness Mages. This mission was a real pain thanks to low ranged Defense at that level. Just to make matters worse the Madness Mages all come with four LTs for guards, which get Fortitude cast on them. And because half the map is patrolling you have to deal with adds. Assuming you actually put up with all this you get a Clue, a piece of paper with writing you can't read. Evelyn is all up in arms now because you've changed the past. She says the paper contains the spell the Circle mages were going to cast.
In the briefing for Act II, Evelyn says that in the original history a hero showed up and one of the magi killed the sacrifice before she could be saved. Her solution: send you back to the past again. I heard a voice saying "Good, we can do more damage that way".... 30 minute surprise timed mission in Oranbega, two Bosses visible from the door...um, yeah. You're supposed to "save the Vessel" and defeat "The Priest". The Bosses all go on about giving their lives to "the Mother" as you beat on them. Your Contact is present in her old hero ID, a Psychic Blast/Empath EB. Every spawn point is a Boss, but once you have the EB it doesn't matter since she can likely solo the map. "The Vessel" is a hostage that needs an escort, and when you complete the mission you get a Clue saying you have a "feeling of unease" and think something went wrong even though you saved her. Evelyn is actually mad at you for saving the girl...she was supposed to die, and her death was part of the reason why Evelyn gave up being a hero. So why hasn't the present...oh, never mind.
Next, she wants you to steal PPD files from just after the ritual concerning Helena, "The Vessel". She says it would draw too much attention if she were to ask for them. So why don't I...oh, never mind. The file is found in a safe...um, yeah...and says that the address Helena gave burned to the ground in a fire believed to have been set by Hellions. Act IV is a trip to the burning building, in an attempt to grab Helena and bring her Back To The Future. I could go into more detail but the only meaningful thing is that Helena is a Fire Blast/Gravity Control EB escort and when you get her to the door, the mission ends but she turns on you. I beat her up anyway. Unfortunately, Failure Is The Only Option, as the exit popup says you weren't able to get her out. Evelyn gets pissy with you because you saved people from the fire (you can't NOT save them, they're unattended escorts).
Since you obviously haven't polluted the timeline enough, Evelyn sends you back one last time to grab Helena about a month before the fire. I heard a voice saying "Choke on that, causality!".... This is another surprise timed mission, 45 minutes. You're back on the villain cape mission map and "The Lady" is an AV/EB escort. Once again, when you get to the exit she turns on you. This time I wasn't so lucky and couldn't rez back in, since the mission was already complete. Evelyn just throws her hands up in defeat (and tells you she can't send you back to when all this started because if you met yourself it would create a time paradox that would destroy the universe.) There's a note telling you that the story continues in arc #9036.
The flaws in this story defy enumeration -- almost nothing makes sense. There might be a decent story in there trying to get out, if all the time travel codswallop was removed. There are game balance issues as well, such as the all Lieutentant spawns in Act I and Bosses everywhere in Act II. Despite my better judgement I am moving on to the second part.... Edit: or not, it appears to have been pulled.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
A brief aside...I stumbled over The Rise and Fall of Dethklok ELITE HARD EDITION UNBEATABLE, arc #4027, while searching for the pulled arc mentioned above. It was only two missions so I decided to check it out. Long story short: the second mission is full of EBs, 18 of which are required for completion. Two of the AVs have Dark Armor on Extreme, meaning they have Soul Transfer. That said I was able to clear a spawn of four of them, which is as bad as it gets, so it's not unbeatable. It's just much more trouble than it's worth. If you really want to beat it just to torque off the author, bring ranged attackers...none of this crap can fly.
Oh, and yes, I zero-starred it.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
What you should've done is report it for content, since it blatantly uses characters from a cartoon show.
Issue 16 made me feel like this.
Warning: This poster likes to play Devil's Advocate.
I've a little one mission arc titled Lights, Camera, Mortuary! It's arc 27506.
Length: Short, one medium sized office map.
Difficulty: Moderate to hard, there are a couple of bosses and one EB/AV encounter at the end.
Synopsis: Somebody's kidnapped the World Famous Action Movie Star Mr. Fabulous! A group of zombie independent film makers has snatched the actor to star in their new movie, bring him back before the zombies get him to sign on the dotted line. The Director may have other plans, however...
Custom mobs, you'll face Camera Men, Makeup, Grips, Agents, Talent Scouts and, of course, Leading Ladies and Leading Men. Welcome to the rotting underbelly of film production! The Director spawns as an AV at high difficulty; he should be fairly vanilla as AV's go.
This arc started out as a joke for my SG mates and kind of evolved from there.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
What you should've done is report it for content, since it blatantly uses characters from a cartoon show.
If I ever watched the cartoon it came from, I would have. But I had no idea.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
Well I'll tell you, just so you can report it too. They're from the show "Metalocalypse."
Issue 16 made me feel like this.
Warning: This poster likes to play Devil's Advocate.
Arc #32865, "The Audacity of Hope: Episode I - Rise of the O"
tl;dr: REPORTED. Offenses: over the top political commentary
I'm not sure if this is supposed to be parody, or if it's just disturbing. Rather than try to paraphrase it, here's the first briefing....
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The Audacity of Hope: Episode I - Rise of the O
primera parte
Housing prices have plummetted, along with the stock market. Citizens bear the brunt of double-digit unemployment and shrinking retirement savings. All this is against the backdrop of spiraling health care costs and substandard public education.
However, all is not lost, Venture. Legend tells of another savior, known simply as O, who was also sent down to Earth. But, he was not sent to our Earth. Rather, he was sent to another dimension to save the humans there from being enslaved by The Machines. I need you, Venture, to journey to this Machine World and help O defeat The Machines. Once his work is completed on that Earth, he will be free to come and save our Earth.
He has recently been captured by The Machines. Once you reach the Machine World, your first mission will be to free O and search for any clues about The Machines.
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Um, yeah.
The Contact is a Banished Pantheon mask labelled "Prophet". It's actually annoying to click on, as the bounding box is small and bobbing up and down behind the avatar. The map is an Arachnos lab, and the mobs are a mix of the various robotic mobs in the 40-50 bracket (nit: Tarantual units are used, which are actually cyborgs. So are Titans, but arguably any human intelligence in their brains is gone) Unfortunately a very high number of the mobs spawned as Quantum units throughout the arc -- good thing I didn't use my Peacebringer. There are two glowies and a hostage to rescue. The glowies give Clues describing the VR and resistance from That Movie. The hostage, who looks like That Guy, gives you the following clue:
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Once you rescued O, he reveals some information regarding an organization he created, called JEEDDI. All members must adhere to the five core principles: Justice, Education, Economic Development, Diplomacy, & Infrastructure. He offers you a chance to join JEEDDI.
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Um, yeah.
The briefing for the second mission has a subtitle in kanji with no translation, which makes me want to hit the report button. The Prophet tells you the Resistance in the Machine World is slowly getting cornered, and " A fellow JEEDDI member, known as the Governator, has been captured by The Machines." Um, yeah. The accept text tells you the Governator is a machine that has rebelled against the Network...'scuse me while I get my hip boots.
Act II's map is an outdoor ruin. Heard from a patrol near the entrance:
[NPC] Spiderling: I'm so angry. I couldn't get reimburshed for my oil change.
[NPC] Fire Tarantula: That's odd. I thought our health insurance covered routine oil changes.
Enough, already.
There are four bombs to plant and one hostage, no escort. On rescue, the Governator tells you he has located the signal tracing facility the Network is using to hunt down the rebels.
Act III, another mission with a foreign language title, has you join the Governator to save the strike team attacking the signal tracing base (Portal Corp map). Four hostages, four devices to destroy. More political commentary from the patrols, which is past tiresome. The first hostage you rescue tells you the team walked right into an ambush, implying a leak in the Resistance. The Governator spawned in the last room of the map, making not very useful.
Act IV continues the commentary: the leak in the resistance is...W. Right. You have to meet up with the Governator to protect the energy core of the Resitance's base, which is now under attack. The map is the PTS outdoor map, and you have to search for three needles in this haystack: the reactor core, a Clue (W's journal in which he writes about betraying humanity) and the Governator, who techincally releases as your ally as soon as you enter the map but in reality was nowhere near the core. I didn't bother picking him up to drag him over. Protecting the core is no big deal.
Between Acts IV and V the Governator snuffs it, sacrificing himself to buy the Resistance more time to escape. We get a quote from O delivering a eulogy for the Governator that I'm sure I've read someplace else (I tried to find a TVTropes entry for eulogies but didn't find anything that fits), and then the new assignment: team up with O to take down W. The map is one of the short ruined tech maps from the Faultline arc. All of the mobs are copies of W (who is a copy of That Guy). O is an AV, Firey Melee/Regen. "The Real W" spawns as a Boss at first, but on defeat respawns as an EB and then again as an EB. The Prophet tells you afterwards with W out of the way, O will soon complete his work in the Machine World and will then be able to save our world.
I can't wait.
The author clearly put a lot of work into this. That's the problem, this is really beating the joke to death. It's also, I believe, against the rules. The author is very creative and should keep at it, but stay away from politics. I reported the arc as a possible violation without rating it.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
This is my first attempt at playing with the MA system so if you'd like to give it a review I'd love to get some feedback.
Arc: Starlight, Starbright...
Arc ID: 78666
Number of Missions: 5
Description: Level 30-54 Story Arc involving Crey Industries attempts at acquiring and abusing another company's technology. Customs mobs are sparingly used, 1 defeat all which is story applicable. 1 ally and escort in one of the missions which is story applicable. 1 Elite Boss in one mission (scales down to boss on lowest difficulty and probably to AV on the highest difficulty though I did not test that specifically). Mission was designed to feel much like those you find in the real CoX world with a good story, clues, descriptions and a souvenir.
Jem - Ill/Rad Controller Lv 50+3 Nic - Mind/Psi Dominator Lv 50+3 Lady Liberation - Invuln/SS Tanker Lv 50+1 Invicitx - Demon/Pain Mastermind Lv 50+1 Celeste - Emp/Arch Defender Lv 50+1 Nightsilver - DB/WP Scrapper Lv 34 Dusk Howl - StJ/Regen Brute Lv 32 Kyriani - Time/Energy Defender Lv 41Psifire - FF/Psi Defender Lv 50
Star Lighter - LB/LA Peacebringer Lv 30
Arc #3615, "Dark Dreams"
tl;dr: 4 stars. Offenses: short
Longbow Field Agent Emerson ask you to respond to a 911 call saying an office building has been taken over by some kind of shadowy creatures. The building is surrounded but Emerson doesn't think the people inside can wait for backup to arrive. You are told to look for the person who placed the call, Harold McNiel. Upon entry the nav bar lists him along with "Hannah" and "Micheal" (sic). The map is the flooded office map. Mobs are "Shadow Dreams", a variety of imps and fairies mainly with Dark Armor and an offense set. Hannah and Micheal are straightforward rescues; McNiel is an escort, and his release triggers the spawn of "Twisted Oak", a Thorns/Dark Armor Lieutenant, out front, whose defeat is required. The debriefing says that the CSIs couldn't find any of the creatures you defeated, but did find traces of "shadowmatter" indicating they'd been there.
The briefing for the second mission says that McNiel's son Set has Phenomenal Cosmic Power and it's his fears that have created these shadow critters. Sister Psyche was able to make brief contact with Seth and claims there may be something influencing his fears. Emerson sends you back out after Seth, warning you to "be careful out there". The mission takes place on the Mother Mayhem map. The "something" is Malaise (Praetorian)...for some reason, his PToD never turned on so it wasn't much of a fight. The Shadow Beast, the strongest manifestation of Seth's fears, was a Super Strength/Dark Armor AV, and its PToD were working fine. It wasn't cranked all the way up to Extreme, though. Seth's hostage group doesn't spawn until Malaise bites it. If you find him before finding the Beast (I didn't) he'll help fight as an Illusion/Empathy EB. Emerson tells you afterward that Sister Psyche is going to block Seth's powers until he's old enough to learn to control them. Given her track record in editing peoples' brains I'm not sure that's a good idea.
Seth's powers are oversold a bit in the second act, and it could use a stronger warning as to the AV/EBs. Other than that this is a pretty good short arc.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
I just came back from a heavily-political arc, and there was nothing subtle about it at all (a nigh-invincible GWB and an army of Sarah Palins were way too much for me to handle).
Should I assume this qualifies as "Inappropriate Content"?
Rise of the Copper Legion (#60280; with soundtrack)
The Fractured Dreamer (#498588; with musical theme)
"Now Leaving: Paragon City": original composition for the end of CoH
Yes.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Arc Name: AE Troubleshooting 101: Part 1
Arc ID: 86389
Faction: Heroic
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Ectoplasm
Difficulty Level: Meduim
Synopsis: Strange things are happening with the computers at AE Corporation. The mission selector has gone haywire, and is sending players to the wrong missions! Help Wes Masenpin troubleshoot the system and save AE from disgruntled customers!
Estimated Time to Play: There are 5 missions, and most of the maps are large. It will probably take about 30 mins if you skip through missions, longer if you're killing everything.
This is the first part of a two part story, the second part of which I will be working on shortly. There is a lot of reading, though I tried to color code the descriptions so that players wanting to skim through the text could just read the colored text to see what is going on. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. 
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... I just realized that we're critiquing Venture's reviews. This is all getting rather meta.
Par for the course for lit-crit, AFAIK. Deconstructionism should set in next week.
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Biggest laugh all morning.
MA arcs: #1669, "A New Breed Rising"
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Arc #1285, "Training Day"
tl;dr: 2 stars. Offenses: many plot holes, surprise EB/AVs, spelling errors, "just a bunch of stuff that happened"
Detective Morgan of the PPD's Vanguard Liason Office wants your help in tracking down a "Docter Armington". An apparent typo in the first briefing is not a good sign. Armington has taken an Officer O'Leary hostage. Morgan tells you if there's nothing to bring back to make sure he's not suffering, and reminds you there's no such thing as a brutality charge in his unit. Um, yeah.
The warehouse you're sent to is filled with custom-faction bots. O'Leary has been turned into a cyber-zombie Claws/SR EB (no warning, but nice job on the model). Defeating him spawns a new objective: "Rip Armington a new one for what he's done." Um, this is a Heroic arc, right? Armington is another EB, Bots/FF, and may try to run when low...I'm not sure. On defeat he says "Teleport activate!" but the defeat text says you can rest easy knowing a monster has been taken to justice...um, which is it?
In Act II, you learn that O'Leary survived the battle and now has control over his new body. The scientist responsible is adapting the nanotechnology that was used on O'Leary ("Lockgear") for battlesuit use. Hmm, nanotech that warps people body and mind developed by a mad scientist now being adapted into Vanguard battlesuits? What Could Possibly Go Wrong? You're asked to oversee a transfer of the equipment. Once on site the objectives are to retrive 5 components, rescue O'Leary (down to Boss) and defeat Armington again. The enemies on this one are Freakshow, with a patrol of the custom drones tossed in for color. Armington is back with a bunch of Freaks for guards; when you start beating on him he hits you with a threat we don't often see in City: "I will make you MY MONKEY BUTLER!"
Yeah.
When Armington gets low on health "Michael Faraday" spawns, a Dark Blast/Dark Miasma AV with machinegun-toting "Cultists" and Energy Blast/Dark Armor "Cultist Ascendant" LTs, the latter's info saying they've been upgraded with Lockgear. They spawned Rocks Fall Everyone Dies style. Even the Contact doesn't know who Faraday is. In Act III you're sent to bust up some of Faraday's cultists in an effort to learn more about him. The mission takes place on an Arachnos lab map, with an Arachnos raid in progress. Heard at entry from a Cultist: "Faraday will whipe this world of life!" Um, yeah. You have to search various computers until you find a Clue stating that Lockgear was invented by one of Faraday's cultists and given to Armington in the hopes that it would end up in Vanguard's hands. Sure enough, Faraday now has control over both Armington and O'Leary, so for Act IV you and Morgan have to recover the Lockgear nanotech before it goes all grey-goo on everyone. Somehow, though, the mission takes place in a sewer. You have to destroy three objects. O'Leary and Armington are present but don't have to be fought. Morgan is supposed to be available as an ally, but spawned in the last room.
For Act V you get a letter from Faraday taunting you into a final showdown. This being a comic RPG you're not allowed to call in an air strike. The match takes place on a small sewer map. It turned out O'Leary was available as an ally but he was behind Faraday and behind some geometry so I didn't see him until well after the fighting was over. Faraday spawns as an AV/EB again and calls multiple ambush waves as he dies.
The plot does not make sense in a lot of places and there are more than a few spelling errors. It also assumes the player is a graduate of the Harry Callahan Police Acadamy. This needs a lot of work.
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I'm in the process of working on some serious rewrites, how would you recommend avoiding the "bunch of stuff that happens" Technically every plot relies on some heavy Deux Ex Machina to get off the ground.
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I'm in the process of working on some serious rewrites, how would you recommend avoiding the "bunch of stuff that happens" Technically every plot relies on some heavy Deux Ex Machina to get off the ground.
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You need one of These
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Well I'll tell you, just so you can report it too. They're from the show "Metalocalypse."
[/ QUOTE ]Adult Swim has an actual band, too 
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
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Everyone arc I've reviewed since has been by request of the author. Presumably that means they're reading the forum.
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I think someone else probably got skipped, because I never requested a review.
Not that I mind, I appreciate your input.
Edit: I didn't even know that they had added special Mission Architect areas to the forum until I got your review message in-game and went looking for your thread.