Arc 2019 Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day Kids!

Wrong_Number · 04-10-2009 07:35 AM

Arc Name: Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day Kids!
Arc ID: 2019
Creator Global Name: @Wrong Number
Difficulty Level: Medium
Synopsis: Beloved kids TV show host Blappy is missing and the police are assuming the worse. Should anything happen to Blappy the kids of Paragon City will be heartbroken. You need to find her as quickly as possible before words leaks out that she is missing.
Mission Count: 4
Estimated Time to Play: 30-60 minutes

Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story

Wrong_Number · 05-07-2009 09:45 AM

I spent the better part of a day rewriting all of The TV's (your contact) dialog to be in line with the TV contact in game. So, I would appreciate feedback on it. Thanks.

WN

Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story

MrCaptainMan · 05-24-2009 07:31 AM

Has this been republished under a new Arc ID number, WN?

Eco.

MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow

[The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."

Wrong_Number · 05-24-2009 08:08 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Has this been republished under a new Arc ID number, WN?

Eco.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, it is still arc 2019. I just did a search and it came up fine.

WN

Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story

ridiculous_girl · 06-10-2009 04:20 AM

"have blap, blap, blappy day" arc #2019

i played this with tired of it ALL, my level 36 AR/DEV blaster, on rugged.

observations and typos as i ran this arc...
mission 1
pretty quiet, no dialogue...
what is that boss? he could see through my stealth from a good ways... and he was extremely tough.

mission 2
the nemesis patrol says "more failed plans then..." it should be than
the snakes are -2-3 to the rest of the mobs, maybe a hero/villain level bug like the carnival and family?
in bright angel's description shouldn't it be "blappy's"? no hostage diologue, other than BA's? in her dialogue is needs to be "it's"
man, your bosses are tough! what are they set on?

mission 3
mission intro... maybe it should read "that police, aided by Tired of it ALL, raided..." just add the comma.
BA's found text says "about time sidekick,"
BA's lost text amatuer is spelled wrong
in SBB's final death text it should say "what's that..."

mission 4
in WNs description it says "hero insurance?". "No I don't..." notice the extra period
in SSs description who is "Bally?" and it says "Who the Monster rEaLy Is!!" do you want "really" spelled wrong?
no EB warning for blappy?

ok i finished your blappy arc. i enjoyed some aspects of the arc. i like the custom toons and the story line. i like the set up with the tv and how it addresses you. that is a difficult contact to pull off and think you do fairly well. the text was fairly well edited, though i found some typos and extraneous details. unfortunately, i also have some serious problems with the story too.

first of all... i know i played this on rugged, and it is more difficult to solo, but your bosses were very very difficult. what are their setting levels? with the first two i died once before getting into a long running slug fest. the next two were not so bad. but then, surprise, there is an elite boss. this is becoming a pet peeve for me. especially in a timed mission where i can possibly fail the whole arc. set on rugged this is a nightmare to deal with especially when i have no warning that i am going to be facing one. i also understand the rationale for a timed mission, but that is a large map and with three bosses, including one elite, this would be a horrible mission for a team. either you need to remove the timer or make it a little longer. i have failed mission arcs with timers and i hate it. i almost let it go just because of the elite boss.

now a lot of your missions were empty of dialogue. if this is a humor based arc more humor can be inserted, with patrols, hostage repartee, boss dialogue. but the first mission, only the final boss says a couple of things. in the next mission you have couple of patrols with dialogue, but another problem appears. the patrol bad guys have no reason to be there other than have one liners, otherwise they make no sense to the greater story. due to your number of custom toons i am willing to be that you have no room left. this leads to another problem. too many toons. while wrong number is amusing, she has no relation to the story whatsoever, it appears to me, other than to add another amusing element. was she really necessary? just getting rid of her, since she is basically good for a few throwaway lines and description, would free up about 7% of memory. with that you could fill out your story an enormous amount.

personally i think this story is filled with a bunch of different jokes, all thrown in to get a humor gumbo. but it does not really gel into a coherent story. you have a solid story in there, but it is kind of lost and muddied. what does junkyard dog have to do with the story line? and wrong number? freaks? snakes? they seem to be thrown in not for story purposes, but one liner joke purposes. these elements subtract from the story more than it adds to the humor. the custom group, the injustice league, does not really fit in anywhere. how do they tie to the story, really? i am not even really sure if bright angel was a free agent, a co-conspirator or what... were they working together or against each other? what was her ultimate role in all of this? was it her revenge or blappy's true nature coming out party? both? neither? i missed something along the way and reviewing all the text does not help me.

i know that this sounds entirely too negative... i do not mean it to be, i hate giving negative reviews. i feel that there is a really good story in there. but it is obscured by a whole bunch of random elements thrown in for humor purposes. unfortunately, it does not work very well for me...

global: ridiculous girl
Hero Therapy! (TM) - 119228
welcome to donut world - 1233

Wrong_Number · 06-10-2009 06:44 AM

]RG,

Thanks much for the review! I want to try to adress a few of your comments.

[ QUOTE ]
"have blap, blap, blappy day" arc #2019

i played this with tired of it ALL, my level 36 AR/DEV blaster, on rugged.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the difficulty you had through out with the bosses has to do with your choice of character you played. Pretty much any boss will be hard for a Assault rifle/Device blaster.

[ QUOTE ]

mission 1
pretty quiet, no dialogue...
what is that boss? he could see through my stealth from a good ways... and he was extremely tough.

[/ QUOTE ]

See above. He is an assault rifle/iwillpower both on the lowest settings (standard). The first mish is intended as a simple set up.

[ QUOTE ]

mission 2
man, your bosses are tough! what are they set on?

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for catching those typos. The boss is set on Hard/Hard.

[ QUOTE ]

ok i finished your blappy arc. i enjoyed some aspects of the arc. i like the custom toons and the story line. i like the set up with the tv and how it addresses you. that is a difficult contact to pull off and think you do fairly well. the text was fairly well edited, though i found some typos and extraneous details. unfortunately, i also have some serious problems with the story too.

first of all... i know i played this on rugged, and it is more difficult to solo, but your bosses were very very difficult. what are their setting levels?

[/ QUOTE ]

SBB is Hard/Hard
WN is Hard/Standard
SSS is Hard/Stardard
The EB is Extreme/Hard

So all the bosses are standard or hard except the only EB which has one extreme setting (that is the final fight of the arc). Again, it has more to do with your choice of toon.

[ QUOTE ]
.... but that is a large map

[/ QUOTE ]

It is a medium map with a grand total of 4 rooms. I have never failed the final mission and can normally complete it in under ten minutes and I have played though that mission on at least a dozen different ATs (I will give you that blaster is probably the hardest).

[ QUOTE ]

now a lot of your missions were empty of dialogue. if this is a humor based arc more humor can be inserted, with patrols, hostage repartee, boss dialogue. but the first mission, only the final boss says a couple of things. in the next mission you have couple of patrols with dialogue, but another problem appears. the patrol bad guys have no reason to be there other than have one liners, otherwise they make no sense to the greater story. due to your number of custom toons i am willing to be that you have no room left.

[/ QUOTE ]

You need to replay this arc with a different toon because every single patrol, captive, boss, etc. has dialog. I can only guess you played this with a cloaking device on which messed up a lot of the unaware dialog so you missed it.

[ QUOTE ]

this leads to another problem. too many toons. while wrong number is amusing, she has no relation to the story whatsoever....

[/ QUOTE ]

She is the leader of the Injustice Legion the group that drives the entire store.

[ QUOTE ]

...but it does not really gel into a coherent story. you have a solid story in there, but it is kind of lost and muddied. what does junkyard dog have to do with the story line? and wrong number? freaks? snakes? they seem to be thrown in not for story purposes, but one liner joke purposes. these elements subtract from the story more than it adds to the humor. the custom group, the injustice league, does not really fit in anywhere. how do they tie to the story, really?

[/ QUOTE ]

WN, JD, SBB and BA all are members of the Injustice Legion the villain group through ot the arc. What may have confused you is that they all need to be in separate villain groups because due to the current limitations (this will be fixable I15). If they are all in the Injustice Legion as they should be they will spawn in other places through out the arc ruining the story. The Freaks, Snakes, etc. appear in the mission that takes place at the villain recruitment hot spot, so they make perfect sense.

[ QUOTE ]

i am not even really sure if bright angel was a free agent, a co-conspirator or what... were they working together or against each other? what was her ultimate role in all of this? was it her revenge or blappy's true nature coming out party? both? neither? i missed something along the way and reviewing all the text does not help me.

[/ QUOTE ]

You are SUPPOSED to have these sort of questions. Who was the real villain? Was BA just a victim of circumstance? Can no one see Blappy's true nature?

WN

Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story

Venture · 06-10-2009 11:05 AM

Pretty much any boss will be hard for a Assault rifle/Device blaster.

*gigglesnortchokespittake* no. Beanbag + Taser = Boss never gets to attack, unless the Architect was a jerkass and gave it status protection. The only Bosses my AR/Dev fears in the regular game I can think of offhand are Master Illusionists because of the total cheatmode phase power.

See above. He is an assault rifle/iwillpower both on the lowest settings (standard).

WP, SR and Nin all come with a mandatory +perception power -- something to keep in mind when using them.

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"

Wrong_Number · 06-10-2009 11:56 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Pretty much any boss will be hard for a Assault rifle/Device blaster.

*gigglesnortchokespittake* no. Beanbag + Taser = Boss never gets to attack, unless the Architect was a jerkass and gave it status protection. The only Bosses my AR/Dev fears in the regular game I can think of offhand are Master Illusionists because of the total cheatmode phase power.

See above. He is an assault rifle/iwillpower both on the lowest settings (standard).

WP, SR and Nin all come with a mandatory +perception power -- something to keep in mind when using them.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, it could well be play style. My son has a level 50 AR/TR blaster and I asked him to run through it. He thought all the bosses were pretty easy and only almost dies once with the final EB.

WN

Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story

ridiculous_girl · 06-10-2009 12:41 PM

i ran this mission arc again with obvious girl, my level 36 MA/SR scrapper, on heroic.

mission 1
there is no patrol and therefore no more dialogue than 3 lines from the boss. i do not even think there was an unaware dialogue, other than "too late hero!"

mission 2
ok now i see in the opening pop up that this is a villain recruiting hotspot.
on the hostage rescue there is no dialogue except what BA says upon rescue.
why are there freaks?
the snakes are still -2 or 3 than the rest of the crowd. this is a bug...
nemesis is spelled wrong in junkyard dog's repartee...
there are three patrols with dialogue... one has more than one comment.

mission 3
BA has two lines... her captors do not say anything...
ok your judicators are set on at least hard. therefore they have not only build up butshatter combined with jawbreaker . it is not hard two hit almost anyone...
the only other dialogue in this mission was from SBB...

mission 4
only the bosses have 4 lines apiece.

ok, i did as you asked. i normally would never do this, but you seemed to want me to see how wrong i was. i am afraid my opinion, and almost all that i said before, remains the same. i will probably never indulge anyone that way again. it puts me in a bad position. it is a difficult position to do a QPQ review. if the person that you are reviewing does not like how you reviewed them, they may seek to give you a bad review in return. someone that you ask, just reviewing your arc, is not put directly in such a situation. though anything but glowing reviews are not helpful either. so i shoot for honest. my own honest opinion. i try to be as positive as possible, but when some thing does not work with me i am honest as to why it does not work with me. i always try to find the good points first before i point out the problems. but if i go back then i am focusing on all the bad points, the ones that i criticized to look at them again. if i find them still problematic after your explanations it only forces me to get more negative than my original feedback. this is not helpful to both parties. but since you asked and i indulged, here is what i think...

you asked me to play a different toon on a different setting. i did. the problem is that if you play it on heroic you cannot see what the authors original intentions were with powers. bosses become LTs, elite bosses become bosses, etc... so yes, things were much easier when i played through with heroic, but it was missing the original feel. but since i went through looking harder at some things, i did notice a couple more things... you LTs are mace/shield set on at least hard. with build up i got 2 shotted at least twice by them, alone. your other bosses were no problem at all. as bosses they went down fast to my scrapper, but i was only on heroic. i am not going to play a third time just to see how they would play out on rugged or something. i got a good feel for them. the difference in play is due to differences in ATs. it was much faster for my scapper, but with my blaster i did not have too many problems though it was much slower.

i saw no difference in dialogue. i thought it might have been exactly what you said about the cloaking suppressing dialogue, though i had never heard of the bug before. but running through it again i saw no difference in the amount. i even counted it. there is very little dialogue in general. i still think you you sacrificed dialogue for more toons. i tried to look, but forgot until too late, but how many costumes does BA have? 3? or am i mistaken and there are only two? you did explain who the league of injustice are, but there is no real explanation as to who they are or what they are doing there. i guess i could surmise that all the bosses belong to them, but why is your toon, wrong number, in there? other than having a couple lines and being the trigger for the boss? they really seem to be just thrown in there. usually with a group there is some unifying theme, but this is just a group of characters.

i don't know... i feel this second run was an exercise in futility. the only thing i will have to acknowlege is that i now understand why the snakes, etc, are in that one mission. though the snakes are still bugged at this level. what i saw for the first run was pretty much spot on, in my opinion. i saw pretty much the same thing this time. though because it was set on heroic it was much easier and it was much faster, yes. i even did the final mission in about 5 minutes. but there was no real difference in quality and my opinion above is pretty much staying the way it is. sorry...

global: ridiculous girl
Hero Therapy! (TM) - 119228
welcome to donut world - 1233

Wrong_Number · 06-10-2009 01:37 PM

Thanks for running it again and sorry, your experience was not a great one. I really had no expectation at all of you writing another review. There is no reason to feel bad, your opinion is your opinion. I did suggest you try a different toon, but not that you lower your difficulty. A scrapper should be able to do this arc easily. As for dialog, I really think it has plenty (far more than most non-MA missions). You are the only person to feel that way and you are entitled to feel that way. Other people, at least so far, have not had the issues you did, but thats fine. Heck, even Venture gave this arc 4 stars (once I got the TV in line canon wise). So this arc did not resonate with you, no biggies. Thanks again.

WN

Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story

ridiculous_girl · 06-11-2009 03:28 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Well, it could well be play style.

[/ QUOTE ]

actually i think a lot of the problem was that he was in his 'britney spears" level 36 phase...

global: ridiculous girl
Hero Therapy! (TM) - 119228
welcome to donut world - 1233

Wrong_Number · 06-11-2009 05:41 AM

I corrected all the typos RG found (thanks RG!) and lowered the Injusticators to Standard/Standard (which I had thought I had done long ago). I definitely plan on revisiting all the character's power sets once I15 hits live.

WN

Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story

twelfth · 06-11-2009 11:30 AM

2019 Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day Kids!

Ran solo on Celine Dioscura, 36 claw/WP stalker. Sure, she's a villain, but she's also tinked out of her skull and loves kids TV. So, I felt she had a reasonable rationale to actually want to go and rescue a kids TV show host(ess). Diff was set at 3, which is her usual.

[u]Mission 1[u]

Nice briefing, like the use of Television. I favor the Radio, but TV is an easier "voice" for authors to grab on to. I quickly envision Celine snapping to attention and vowing to save Blap Blap Blappy!

Nemesis, huh. Okay, they get stabbed a lot and its all pretty standard & ho hum until we get to that boss.

Da-hamn, that was not fun. One Death down, hosp'd ('cause I forgot I have this handy self-rez I just got at lvl 35...er...), and came back. Stabbracabra, some insps, and the Corrupt TV Executive goes down.

No further clues, though. Don't really understand why Nemesis was involved. BUT ISN'T THAT ALWAYS THE WAY WITH HIM, huh?

The Debriefing text got an honest lol.

[u]Mission 2[u]

Well, this wasn't a bad set up - and not bad logically speaking from the comic book trope book. Need info? Go to the Villain Job Fair and see who knows more about the kidnapping. A few logical inconsistencies - a fortunata suggesting she wants to change employers (I don't think Arachnos lets you do that), although it seemed reasonable for the Nemesis thugs and some of the other mobs. Again, all seemed reasonable until you got to the end and the Injustice league and junkyard dog. Lightning doesn't strike twice, right?

Oh, poo. SS/what? Invul? Maybe...not sure. I think I faceplanted three times, including two self-rezzes. Celine can do a fair amount of stalkrapping when she wants to, but this turned into an old fashioned stalker strike-and-fade fight. Take out minions, TP away, repeat until boss alone. Bu+AS, TP away, knockup with Focus, move in, hit some usual combos, placate, BU+AS, repeat. Rough.

I know after the first faceplant I noticed I had a hostage to rescue and slapped myself for not getting the obvious ally first. Oh wait, she's not an ally. Great, well, back to getting punched in the face by a doggeh.

At this point, Celine starts to wonder if she really likes this show enough to continue.

[u]Mission 3[u]

Okay! Back to rescuing a hostage! And I know this girl! Yay! Sure, they have doggehs nearby, but at least I know I can take them out quickly. I will stabby them. Bad doggeh.

Ow, crap. Those robots hit hard. I don't remember if I faceplanted trying to get Bright Angel(?) free, but I know I was chewing insps pretty frantically when I had two robots on me - even with Angel's holds. Angel ended up taking a lot of the aggro, and I lost her about three or five mobs later. Couldn't pull the robots off of her fast enough. The defense on the robots were making me really think about reworking my enhancements as I was whiffing all over the place on +2s.

At this point, Celine is really doubting whether she actually likes Blappy enough to take on this kind of challenge. Celine's more martial personality decided it would be better just to focus on the objective and not play around with her food any more. Ghosted most of the rest of the mish.

And of course, I have to go back and fight another boss. A cheerleader of some sort. Of course, after two other boss fights and knowing that I was supposed to have an ally here, I just pulled the stops out. Nailed one minions, placated Sis Boom Bah, TP'd away, drew the other minion over, took them out and waited until the bosses' regen? faded and she used up another randomly fired BU. Popped a lot of insps, BU+AS, stock combo, placate, AS again and "hit it like you mean it" and got business done. I think she did drop me once, but I hit resurgence (which gave another damage buff) and tore her up.

Still not much in the way of clues of what exactly is going on or why Blappy needs to be "brought to justice". Just some plot coupons that allow me to move on to the next mish.

[u]Mission 4[u]

I miss Siskel. Anyway.

30 MINUTES? TWO bosses? Plus Blappy? Ugh. Time to make like Coast to Coast and GHOOOOOOOOOST this Shizzle.

No messing around this time, I sprinted to the bosses, popped two reds each, pumped BU+AS and placated every time it came up. Just as a comparison, I almost never use my placate in normal play- I just scrap the hell out of things until they are dead. It's a great panic button and gets me out of trouble when I need it but I rarely use it for the damage purposes it is more commonly used in traditional stalkin'. On this it was necessary to catch a breather (figuratively) from incoming damage.

Blappy was just more of the same. Pull off the minions, placate the EB, then go back in for the kill. One death on the EB, since (mercifully) she didn't have a defense set, and that was countered by resurgence so I could BUAS with the buff. She went down relatively quickly compared to some of the other bosses, but had me down in the redline for most of the fight.

The bosses were sort of funny when you read their flavor text, although I was wondering about the changing text cases in the former Bright Angel's flavor text - wasn't sure if it was intentional to suggest that her mental state was deteriorating. I even checked to see if there was a hidden message in the random capitals. Er..wait.

Now that I'm looking at Ridiculous Girl's review, I have to agree with what is being said there. I had the same disconnection with "Bally", I assumed she meant "Blappy". I just now realized that WN was an author insert (yes, I am slow).

There's no real follow up in the debriefing. Did I save her? Did I bring her to justice? And for what? She kidnapped herself. Contract violations, maybe? I checked the souvenir and didn't have any more detail.

[u]Overview.[u]

Okay, this is a humor arc - which has some good amusing moments. There is a general story going on here, but it isn't really fleshed out - the player really doesn't quite understand what is going on or why they are involved. Why are the Nemesis involved in the first mission? Something to do with the executive, but even then it's never really followed up on. Well, that's Nemesis plots for you.

As best as I can tell, Blappy & Bright Angel are actually doing community service for some prior crimes. Only problem is that Blappy hates kids but is immensely popular for her antics anyway. Bright Angel is in a similar position, but playing second string to Blappy for years has made her cynical (and her merch sales still suck, so she doesn't even get to be disgrunted and rich). I'm still confused on why BA thinks that Blappy needs to be brought to justice, we never really understand what Blappy is doing off screen that needs to be stopped. I guess its just the player's fanaticism that drives them to pursue Blappy although she's just trying to go out on her own (sure, as a villain, but whatever!). I don't exactly understand how Sis Boom Bah enters this other than maybe a lackey for the Injustice League. We don't really find out Blappys motives until the end - and that's only in her flavor text - she's tired of being a role model and wants to do whatever it takes to become really depised.

I generally don't count the critter text as clues, since the players can't always be relied upon to click on them. I'd say that the arc in general would need a lot more fleshing out in clues as to what is going on. These don't have to be required objectives, and they could provide more opportunities to slip in more jokes. For example:

If Blappy really hates kids, I could see that the hero might run across some file cabinets stuffed full of complaints from parents or lawsuits for Blappy using the kids in her "live studio audience" in her "wacky antics" (involving explosives, poisoned pie fights, putting a kid into a "portable hole" and then forgetting they were in there for, oh, weeks, etc). I think you could really play up the Mr. Wizard meets Mickey Mouse club on dangerous amounts of crack in order to lampoon kid variety shows. And if Blappy is trying to make a WORSE name for herself, you could slip in some evidence or camera footage of Blappy trying to rob a bank or kidnap a movie star - but no one takes her seriously or something, causing more consternation. I think we could also use a little more amping up of the rivalry between BA and Blappy. Let's see the sales figures of Blappy's toys against BA's - or maybe a mildewed box of remaindered BA dolls that even the player thinks are "pretty lame" (alternatively a box of Blappy & BA dolls in which all the Blappy dolls have been open and stolen while the BA dolls are untouched - or something).

Wish I had something better to say, I think it's a good arc and its a good start to a story, I just think it needs to be fleshed out a little more. There's a lot of information just is sort of hinted at or that the player has to infer. A proper conclusion at the end of the arc would do a lot - right now it's pretty much A Winner Is You! I'd like to know what the result of your efforts here are. Does Blappy go back to her show, ever trapped by her own fame? Does she finally get what she wanted, notoriety and infamy before the public eye? I see that you wanted some questions at the end of this arc, but without a follow up or some conclusion they're just dangling plot threads.

Just as an aside, have you ever seen Death To Smoochy?

"...his madness keeps him sane.": My Profile on VirtueVerse
Can You WIN the Internet? MA Arc #85544
Inhuman Resources - At Work with IE #298132
Task Force Mutternacht #349522 <-- 1st AE Challenge

Wrong_Number · 06-11-2009 04:54 PM

[ QUOTE ]

[u]Mission 2[u]
....a fortunata suggesting she wants to change employers (I don't think Arachnos lets you do that), although it seemed reasonable for the Nemesis thugs and some of the other mobs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Warburg is exactly that. Marshal Blitz left Arachnos and founded his own group (hence the Rogue in front of the baddies names there).

[ QUOTE ]

[u]Mission 4[u]

The bosses were sort of funny when you read their flavor text, although I was wondering about the changing text cases in the former Bright Angel's flavor text - wasn't sure if it was intentional to suggest that her mental state was deteriorating

[/ QUOTE ]

That is exactly why it was written that way.

[ QUOTE ]
There's no real follow up in the debriefing. Did I save her? Did I bring her to justice? And for what? She kidnapped herself. Contract violations, maybe?

[/ QUOTE ]

Could be

[ QUOTE ]

[u]Overview.[u]

Okay, this is a humor arc - which has some good amusing moments. There is a general story going on here, but it isn't really fleshed out - the player really doesn't quite understand what is going on or why they are involved. Why are the Nemesis involved in the first mission? Something to do with the executive, but even then it's never really followed up on. Well, that's Nemesis plots for you.

[/ QUOTE ]

BINGO!

[ QUOTE ]

I generally don't count the critter text as clues, since the players can't always be relied upon to click on them. I'd say that the arc in general would need a lot more fleshing out in clues as to what is going on. These don't have to be required objectives, and they could provide more opportunities to slip in more jokes. For example: .......

.....Wish I had something better to say, I think it's a good arc and its a good start to a story, I just think it needs to be fleshed out a little more. There's a lot of information just is sort of hinted at or that the player has to infer. A proper conclusion at the end of the arc would do a lot - right now it's pretty much A Winner Is You! I'd like to know what the result of your efforts here are. Does Blappy go back to her show, ever trapped by her own fame? Does she finally get what she wanted, notoriety and infamy before the public eye? I see that you wanted some questions at the end of this arc, but without a follow up or some conclusion they're just dangling plot threads.

[/ QUOTE ]

Some people don't bother to read clues either. I don't see any problem with imparting information via clues, dialog, bios, whatever. You are missing the point I feel. I really don't want to spell it out or spoon feed the plot to the players. There is more than enough information to have a very solid idea as to what is going on. If you really need a hand shoot me a tell.

[ QUOTE ]

Just as an aside, have you ever seen Death To Smoochy?

[/ QUOTE ]

No, but I know Jon Stewart is in it.

WN

Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story

Hercules · 06-11-2009 05:48 PM

I just ran Blappy with my level 50 Plant/Storm controller:

Mission 1:

There wasn't much humor. The map felt very... silent. No patrol dialog to be heard. The quotable text from this mission: "Geek Alert!" and "Not another Nemesis plot...". It could use a bit more.

Mission 2:

Text correction: If you find Bright Angel... ( missing a comma )

The TV personality was talking about the rogue island police, then sent me somewhere where a guy in an orange suit was talking. Am I being sent to the rogue isles, to the zig? Where am I going?

The npcs were talking about switching VGs, which left me wondering - why? The only clue to this was text about "Nemesis failed plans outnumbering even the government's". What about the other villains?

Junkyard Dog and Puppies: Very cool custom designs. Reminded me of "Scrappy Doo".

Text correction (JYD description): Junkyard dog is very inteligent now ( missing an L )

I received a clue about an Access Card. Where did it come from? Did JYD drop it?

At this point, I'm wondering why didn't JYD mention the injustice league even once? He talked about Blappy joining "his team". Is he the head of this injustice league?

There was zero npc dialog while I was fighting the guys holding Bright Angel, which felt very odd. No "Help me!" or "Stop the hero from rescuing Bright Angel!".

I felt a clue upon her rescue would have been appropriate, especially when the next chapter says something like "Bright Angel had mentioned....".

Mission 3:
Mission Text: " .... away from the Nemesis." Nemesis used alone usually refers to the big guy. I'd say "Nemesis troops".

Mission Text: " ... when the reporter ask its " (missing apostrophe).

The lost and found text for B.A. is insulting to the player. I had just rescued her and she's calling me an "amateur" and "her sidekick". What did I do to her to merit this attitude?

B.A. is calling Blappy a villain and that she wants to bring her to justice. Ok, you've spent years on a TV show as her sidekick. Why this change of heart? Why did you stick around someone you consider to be a villain? This is never really explained.

Why am I breaking into "Sis Boom Ba"'s email when I'm trying to rescue Blappy? Who is she and why am I fighting her?

Sis Boom Ba's description is: "No data available." I think I'd expand on that a little.

Mission popup: Your "Q" rating is going up! Maybe I'm too old to know what a Q rating is, shrug.

Mission 4
Wrong Number: Very amusing villain origin story in her description. "villian" should be "villain".

Need custom objective text for both defeat villains.

Mission Text: " Why don't you go play in traffiic". Double "i" in traffic.

Why isn't B.A. in this arc?

Blappy now turns out to be an overbearing, arrogant person, which explains why people love the TV show. That didn't make much sense to me. I defeat Blappy and this other villain/hero who wants to be the new sidekick?

Overall

Mild humor throughout, although nothing side splitting. I think it could use a bit more.

The custom mobs appeared to be well balanced, although my troller tends to lock most things down before they get a chance to show their stuff - guess I should start playing arcs on a blaster.

I was a little concerned about the name "Junkyard Dog" early on for possible copyright violation, since it used to be the name of a famous pro wrestler. You should be ok, since the npc is a dog and doesnt appear anything like a human wrestler.

Use of the TV set and the announcer somehow supernaturally knowing I'm watching is a nice touch.

Summary: Interesting arc and premise for the story. Could use a bit of polish though. I didnt rate in-game - if I had, I was wavering between 3 and 4 stars.

131430 Starfare: First Contact
178774 Tales of Croatoa: A Rose By Any Other Name ( 2009 MA Best In-Canon Arc ) ( 2009 Player Awards - Best Serious Arc )

twelfth · 06-11-2009 08:57 PM

[ QUOTE ]
You are missing the point I feel. I really don't want to spell it out or spoon feed the plot to the players. There is more than enough information to have a very solid idea as to what is going on. If you really need a hand shoot me a tell.

[/ QUOTE ]

You know, that's really not necessary. I mean, I like to think of myself as a fairly reasonable reader - I understand that you want the player to draw their own conclusions. I can appreciate it, 'cause I read plenty of books like that. Not every one does, and instead of demanding that you cater to those who don't, I guess I would just caution that some folks will not feel satisfied with the conclusion. It might be reflected in comments or in ratings, but *shrug* that's the gamble ya take.

Anyway, *thumbsup*

"...his madness keeps him sane.": My Profile on VirtueVerse
Can You WIN the Internet? MA Arc #85544
Inhuman Resources - At Work with IE #298132
Task Force Mutternacht #349522 <-- 1st AE Challenge

Wrong_Number · 06-12-2009 04:39 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Mission 1:

There wasn't much humor. The map felt very... silent. No patrol dialog to be heard. The quotable text from this mission: "Geek Alert!" and "Not another Nemesis plot...". It could use a bit more.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would love to add more and will post I15

[ QUOTE ]
Mission 2:
The TV personality was talking about the rogue island police, then sent me somewhere where a guy in an orange suit was talking. Am I being sent to the rogue isles, to the zig? Where am I going?

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you really need an address? It is just not that important of a detail.

[ QUOTE ]
The npcs were talking about switching VGs, which left me wondering - why? The only clue to this was text about "Nemesis failed plans outnumbering even the government's". What about the other villains?

[/ QUOTE ]

The pop up when you enter explains it all. Maybe you missed it or clicked it by accident before reading?

[ QUOTE ]

At this point, I'm wondering why didn't JYD mention the injustice league even once? He talked about Blappy joining "his team". Is he the head of this injustice league?

[/ QUOTE ]

That is what we call JD speak. JD, SIS and WN are all in the IL, but due to MA limitations can not all be placed in that group as they should be.

[ QUOTE ]
Mission 3:

The lost and found text for B.A. is insulting to the player. I had just rescued her and she's calling me an "amateur" and "her sidekick". What did I do to her to merit this attitude?

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL....she is a major DIVA! Also, she suffers from a superiority complex and is well, a little unbalanced mentally.

[ QUOTE ]
Sis Boom Ba's description is: "No data available." I think I'd expand on that a little.

[/ QUOTE ]

You must have hit a bug (rare in MA I know ) because she has a bio as does every custom I make in every arc. I just checked and it is there.

[ QUOTE ]
Mission popup: Your "Q" rating is going up! Maybe I'm too old to know what a Q rating is, shrug.

[/ QUOTE ]

It is a media term for how well a person is known by the general public.

[ QUOTE ]
Mission 4

Need custom objective text for both defeat villains.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not sure exactly what you mean, but they all have "defeated" text, bios and are named in the nav bar text.

[ QUOTE ]
Why isn't B.A. in this arc?

[/ QUOTE ]

This question means either you did not read all the bosses bios and/or missed dialog. Because you missed key information about the arc that has to taint your view if it.

[ QUOTE ]
Summary: Interesting arc and premise for the story. Could use a bit of polish though. I didnt rate in-game - if I had, I was wavering between 3 and 4 stars.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why not rate it? Send me PM or tell, because you missed either due to some MA bug or otherwise some big important pieces of information that are clearly spelled out in the last mission. Without that information, your view of the arc has to be tainted.

WN

Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story

GlaziusF · 06-18-2009 08:09 PM

Hey WN, get back to me when you take the Snake patrols out of mission 2, alright? I've got level 46 assassins camping the door now, and I'm level 39.

Wrong_Number · 06-19-2009 03:16 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Hey WN, get back to me when you take the Snake patrols out of mission 2, alright? I've got level 46 assassins camping the door now, and I'm level 39.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am assuming this is a known bug because I know there are a few with Snakes spawning? correctly.

WN

Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story

Venture · 06-19-2009 09:04 AM

The Snakes faction has a huge level jump in it. It doesn't actually cover the entire range. Anyone entering that mission over about level 20 is going to run into level 45+ Snakes. I didn't note that in my reviews and probably should have.

You could fix this now by including a faction or mob that only spawns at 45+, or by flooring the mission at level 45 in i15. If you intend to preserve the current level range the Snakes have to go.

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"

Wrong_Number · 06-19-2009 09:37 AM

[ QUOTE ]
You could fix this now by including a faction or mob that only spawns at 45+, or by flooring the mission at level 45 in i15. If you intend to preserve the current level range the Snakes have to go.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am surprised this has never been an issue since I have close to 100 plays on live and a bunch on test. In any case, I reluctantly changed it to another oddball faction and rewrote the dialog.

WN

Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story

GlaziusF · 06-22-2009 08:53 PM

@GlaziusF

Running on a level 39 ice/axe brute, diff 2 so boss is boss is boss is eatin' some dang sunflower seeds.

Hmm. Okay, according to the thread you were going for more of a villainside TV contact, but the thing with TV is that it keeps the illusion up through the sendoff text.

Looks like Nemesis is trying to live forever on the tiny screen, again. And I found a DVD! and somehow I can read DVDs well enough to see whats on it.

Hey, Mr. Boss. Cant you be carrying around a Nemesis rifle?

So uh, for a mission where I was supposed to be investigating, that was remarkably light on clues. Just a DVD and a little youre too late rant from the boss.

TV doesnt care! TV has its script!

TV really needs to keep up the current missions framing device whenever you interact with it!

Heh. Nice replacement.

Hey lan-lan-lancer, it's spelled "government".

...well, hello steampunk maceman robot. What are you doing here?

Seriously, what are you doing here? No dialogue from you.

Also no dialogue from the sidekick when you show up and the freaks have her.

And... no dialogue that matters from the boss. Why exactly was I breaking his face again?

Also aside from the maceman robot that I could have just ignored, the big bad was his own villain group and never mentioned anything like an "injustice legion".

Oh, the clue. Alright. That's fair.

---

Another interesting setup from our friend the TV, but no followup with the accept or bug text.

Well, no wonder the kid got captured by Freakshow, she's got hardcore ice powers.

Kind of a grody place for a villain base, but I guess personal hygeine is optional.

I appreciate the swarming customs. Makes firing off EA easier. It'd be nice if there were like patrolling robots or boss fights set up to be defenses or something.

...it'd also be nice if the boss didn't spawn in right the heck on top of me, but that's probably just the random being random.

---

Well! Seems like the sidekick snapped. I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when she went back to the studio and tried to report on this whole mess.

Maybe she could rant about it.

...unless she was like a TV duplicate or something in that base. I don't know why the question mark was there.

Not sure what kind of order you wanted people to show up in, but I fought the boss that spawned Blappy in a little comms room and had to backtrack.

Okay, so this was actually a weird mutant power at work and not just TV being the creepy idol-worshipper it tends to be. I... honestly I would like to have seen more of that.

---

Storyline - ***. You know, it doesn't really seem like there WAS much of one, up until the last mission. TV is canonically some weird paranormal force that can project "as seen on TV" personalities into the real world, and Blappy is apparently attempting to do evil but wackily thwarted by entirely too much trust. "Stick 'em up!" "Oh, Blappy, you're so funny! What charity are you collecting for now? Here you go, dear." But there are three missions of basically go-here-click-this-fight-this padding that don't say anything about any of this. I'm not even sure I'm not making up As Seen On TV Bright Angel.

...you know what'd be awesome? If TV wanted to replace Blappy with a helpful, laughing As Seen On TV Blappy (since there's such a thing as too much bad publicity) and manipulated things so you acted as its hit man or something.

Design - ***. The customs are great, but I'd like a little lip-service paid as to why I'm running around an abandoned warehouse and an old 5th Column base. Maybe some incidental base details, file cabinets to wreck, security bot patrols, SOMETHING.

Gameplay - *****. Now that I'm not getting chain-ganked by purple snake assassins, it plays pretty smooth.

Detail - ***. "The voice of TV" only shows up in the initial briefings and one debriefing. It needs a little more air-time. And the player-style personal bios on the Injustice Legion are a little out of place with the objective bios on their lower ranks.

Overall - ***. There's an interesting idea here. I just wish the arc had sold it a little more.

Wrong_Number · 06-23-2009 03:59 AM

Thanks much for the review.

The reason the other leaders are not in the Injustice Legion as they should be is the current limitation of MA. If I put them all in the IL Bright Angel or anyone could show up in mish two if a larger group played the arc which would ruin the story. This can be fixed, I think, in I15.

I am happy you were able to fully appreciate and understand the story. The story seems to go over some people's heads or maybe they just don't connect the dots with the clues, but I hate spoon feeding.

WN

Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story

FoundBoy · 06-28-2009 08:32 PM

I played this one a short while ago, and overall enjoyed it fine, but like a lot of people, I was unsure what was going on in the story.

Part of my confusion was over the role of Blappy in the story. For most of the story, she's out of sight, and yet everyone's making such a huge fuss over her for reasons that aren't entirely clear. Blappy almost felt like Godot, mysterious and invisible, enough that I half expected her never to put in an appearance at all, and was actually a bit disappointed when she did show up in the final mission.

But unlike Waiting for Godot, I wasn't watching the fruitless antics of Vladimir and Estragon. I was the feckless protagonist, uncertain of why I was also making such a fuss over this unseen character even as I was desperately trying to find her. This is a comedy arc, sure, but it actually feels closer to an existentialist tragicomic style than slapstick or "dramedy".

This is a pretentious post, so I'll end it quick with this: I don't know what was going on in this arc, but it feels like something was going on, even if I'm still scratching my head over what.

Wrong_Number · 06-29-2009 04:11 AM

You may have missed this which is from Blappy's origin:

"Beloved by millions of kids and adults alike Blappy hates everyone. Her problem and constant irritation is that no matter how rotten she is or no matter what she does, people still think that she is adorable. Boy does that make her angry! Her goal is to have everyone see her for what she is, a low down, mean, cruel, uncaring SOB! Now that would make her happy!"

Does that help and shed some light on Bright Angel's frustration/motivation?

WN

Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story