The Lily Knight project - Anachronism in CoH

Time for another review! (Had to have a break in there somewhere so I could avoid burnout hehe <@_@&gt

Arc ID: 98754

Name: War Against the Undying One, Part 2/3: Drawing on the South

This arc continues your mission, at the behest of the strange dwarf Sidus, to rally the world's armies against the Undying One.

In this case - your objective is to rally the major southern powers to your cause; largely the Eisenreich; a technomagical society that uses rune-engraved firearms and brass golems - and the scattered tribes of the Dun Uidoc.

The first mission sets you against the Dun Uidoc, a tribe driven from their homes in the north by the Undying One's growing power. They've sought refuge in the south, but many nations have simply turned them away, or worse - made them slaves.

So it is you are sent to quell a slave rebellion in one of the Eisenreich's territories. The goal is to capture the leaders of the rebellion and convince them to follow your plan - a plan that should draw the Eisenreich into the conflict against the Undying One.

The mission is straightforward, and you get an oddball surprise in the first mission: some of the mobs have stolen 'technomagical rifles' - which translates into giving them the Nemesis Blunderbuss as a weapon. It works out surprisingly well.

As a warning: Engage the Choppers first however - the Militia (the gun users) are tougher, and the Choppers have a Hold power, although it's rarely used if you're in melee right away. (They fight with an axe, hence the name)

This mission is, largely, a bit tedius. It's not horrible and it makes sense, but finding all 3 leaders and the 2 crates you must destroy is a bit difficult. Most missions are substantially better than this, thankfully.

Sidus now informs you that the slaves you captured/now freed armed with your information were in the path of the Screyan Red Army, and now the Eisenreich force headed to subdue the slaves should run right into them. The goal, according to Sidus, is for you to save the Eisenreich commander so -

A) He'll be impressed with the danger posed by the Undying One's forces

B) In saving him you'll earn some respect and thus perhaps actually be listened to

C) The Dun Uidoc will also step in to help smooth over the slave rebellion situation - the goal being that although neither they nor Eisenreich will trust each other, they must stand together if we're to succeed.

This map is very very active - lots of patrols. You'll commonly find yourself fighting 2 or 3 patrols at once; so you're going to have to be willing to do some hit and run - especially if you're lower level. Thankfully most of the enemies are melee'ers, so squishies have a good chance of just kiting them (aside from the throwing knives; which hurt, but can generally be lived with.)

Other than that it's very straightforward: Grab the commander, who'll help you fight if you save him first; and then defeat the enemy commander (or vice versa).

Surprisingly, I had a lot of fun with this mission even though it was very simple - I think because all the patrols and battles kept things feeling lively.

A side note: Very good use of Nemesis troops here - the Eisenreich troops are all represented by Nemesis soldiers, and it fits quite well.

As for the Screyans, they seem to be a combination of Medieval Russia and Lord of the Rings fallen humans They look pretty decent overall; and you get a real feel in this mission that you're facing a horde, since as I said, you'll commonly be outnumbered by more than you're used to.

I will note that this mission, for me, spawned only Minions, barring one exception. Don't think the enemy group is all minions though - the patrols and Battles just seem to spawn nothing but Minions is all; but several Lts. do exist, you'll see them later.

Once you've defeated the enemy commander and secured the Eisenreich commander, you're done; though you may feel like sticking around to bash some more baddies, as it's quite entertaining (at least it was for me).

When you return, Sidus informs you that although you defeated that group; now that the Screyans are on the trail, they've just sort of barged into the Eisenreich proper. They appear to be a very aggressive group.

At any rate, they've attacked a supply depot within the Eisenreich, and to further drive the point home, you need to save the Eisenreich commander here and defeat the Screyan commander once more. The choice of map here is... odd. The Midnighter Club makes some sense, and a little explanation for the seemingly electric lights are given, but it feels a bit odd.

Nevertheless, I couldn't think of a better choice either, so I didn't bother mentioning it ultimately.

This is a very fast mission so I won't go any further with it, suffice to say, it's short and sweet and you're likely to encounter a few of those Lts. I mentioned at last.

You return, and Sidus is both thrilled with your success... and extremely annoyed.

While you were gone, one of the Dun Uidoc druids; Keelin, ran off into some local caves to commune with a fungas-man druid. Apparently they get along quite well. Sidus however is quite irritated, as the druid in question is one of the few things keeping the Dun Uidoc working with the Eisenreich; and she hasn't returned.

This mission is pretty much the set up for Mission 5; and I don't want to spoil the surprise there, suffice to say the mission is a simple Brown Caves mission with 2 rescues and a destructable object. Simple and fast, though the last bit may require backtracking. (It didn't for me; but knowing the spawn system... it could.)

Mission 5 makes the entire arc. If it wasn't necessary to give you the other missions to lead up to this point, I'd just say "Make this the whole arc" - but they are, and the other missions aren't really bad at all; it's just that the 5th mission grossly overshadows them.

I won't give away the surprise, but there's an optional Ally here guarded by Trolls (Bedrock of the Devouring Earth) that will turn the entire thing on it's head.

(Though I will say you may as well consider you have it; because nothing is going to stay alive long except the final boss)

Speaking of the final boss - unless you're 35+ I would recommend against facing him alone. He is TOUGH - not a custom mob; but a COT mage I've never faced before. It's an EB with enough damage reduction that I'd never have been able to kill him before; and the aforementioned ally even took some time to kill him.

Still, it makes sense given that the individual in question is supposed to be extremely powerful, and you are given an immensely strong ally to make it doable; so that's mostly just a warning.

Overall:

I won't recommend this quite as highly as the first, though I still think it's a great deal of fun. The big problems here are that CoH doesn't handle large scale field-battles between two armies particularly well; and so they can feel a twinge stale at times. There's also less atmosphere than in the first arc.

However - on the upside it has a very clever use of Nemesis troops; some other mobs you won't expect to see; and serves as a capable lead in to Part III; which is going to be the final showdown.

As always, I haven't finished all 3 parts yet, so while I recommend doing this; I can't say if Part III will be worth a darn or not (though at this point I'm pretty sure it will be quite good!)

All told - This is what I'd consider a slightly above average D&D adventure. If it were left on it's own it would be rather flat and dull, but because of the tie in to the previous arc, it works well. It's the "Middle Film" in the trilogy I guess you'd say, so it's expected to be a little less than the first and third.

Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be ready to review part III!

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A Warrior's Friend: ID 335212 - Help Infernal save Valkyrie from Battle Maiden.
Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.

WillT here. Nice reviews, thanks! And I suppose the dwarves DO have kinda tiny feet. Hrm. (Sort of stuck between tiny feet or big honking flappers).

Minor note:
I've changed the Choppers to be /willpower. While I really enjoyed their minor hold ability, it has the potential to stack in a very nasty manner, particularly against players lacking mez protection. Come I15, I'll probably give them back their original secondary, assuming I can avoid picking mez.

Oh, and if it wasn't clear... part 3 is up \/

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Yeah >_< I've been lazy of late and been leveling another character rather than Lily Knight! I will definitely review the 3rd one soon though!

<^_^> thanks or making em, it's been a good time so far; and something I hope to see more players try.

Twisting the AE into something totally non-CoH based is fun <,<

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A Warrior's Friend: ID 335212 - Help Infernal save Valkyrie from Battle Maiden.
Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.

Took alot longer than intended to get around to this; but I *finally* got through the 3rd arc in the Undying One series! It's review time! <,<

Arc Id: 139463

War Against the Undying One: Part 3/3 - Striking at the Heart


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This review is going to include more critique than usual, because this arc, I felt, had a lot of good points, but enough negative points that need addressed, that I think I should mention them and give suggestions.

I still think that the overall story is enjoyable, and with work, it'd be an excellent end to a good series; right now, I consider it to be a mixed bag; enjoyable, but at times confusing or even frustrating.

The arc begins with Sidus telling you that the armies of Men, Dwarfs, and Fae (presumably he gathered the Fae himself while you were gathering the other two) are all ready to confront the Undying One's armies in the field. The battle is going well, and your secret weapon: the Vengeance of The Earth from Part II, is ready to be unleashed against the Undying Army.

Your job: Retrieve the Vengeance of the Earth and infuse it with additional magics before it engages the enemy in the field. Right now it's in a weakened state from the previous battle (in part II), hence the need for more magic.

Oh, I also want to mention - this arc is a bit tougher than the previous ones in the series - I couldn't win with Lily Knight, so I switched to Yumii, my level 50 Katana/SR (it was quite easy on her). I imagine most level 30ish characters could handle the arc, maybe even mid-20s; but pre-SOs it's a bit rough.

Mission 1:

Sounds easy enough right? Go grab a Quarry and help it plow through some mobs; that's what it sounds like.

Unfortunately it's not so simple - The Vengeance of the Earth is not a Giant Monster or Elite Boss in this case - it's a lowly Lieutenant. Kind of understandable I guess, being as it's supposed to be drastically weakened, which is after all why you've gone to fetch it.

Unfortunately, this mission is designed to be failed. The instant you rescue the Vengeance of the Earth from its guardian Trolls, several Adamastors spawn (labeled Necromantic Golems). Predictably the Vengeance of the Earth dies in short order.

The story is predicated off this failure; but because it all happens so fast, and is pretty much out of your control, it can leave a bad taste in your mouth. This is unfortunate, because the rest of the arc is quite good; but when your first mission is an auto-fail... I imagine this is why the arc's current ratings are not what they could be.

As I said, I'm going to be giving some recommendations, unlike on a normal review, because I think the arc would benefit from a few changes.

This mission - I honestly recommend re-writing it.

Either A) Remove the mission, and start the arc on Mission 2, with Sidus frantic over the Vengeance of the Earth having been destroyed, or B) Revamp it so that the Vengeance can survive mission 1; but is destroyed or warded away "off camera" (with an appropriate description.

As it is, the mission functions as something akin to a kick in the teeth to the player - wasting some time while not actually letting them accomplish anything.

If we had cinema scene capabilities this might be different - a cinematic with the Vengeance being destroyed could be cool, and properly channel the player's thoughts against the enemy - but as it stands; it doesn't work that way.

Mission 2

This is where the arc starts to pick up; though it does have its flaws.

Without the Vengeance of the Earth available to close the trap on the Undying One's forces, you are forced to rescue the now encircled generals of your army. You must also engage and destroy 5 Necromantic Golems (Adamastor Elite Bosses).

Battles rage across the entire map; unfortunately through what I can only guess is author error, there are a couple creature mixups.

Namely:

The Infantry Army of Kor (Your infantry) does not contain any Eisenreich troops other than the Jaeger bots. It also DOES contain (rather strangely) both Storm Elementals and CoT Ice Thorns the former of which also exists within the Undying One's army, and the latter doesn't really make a whole lot of sense.

Also - there are, for some inexplicable reason, no dwarfs present at all. We're told they are a part of the battle, but I didn't see a single dwarf in the entire engagement. It's possible they were killed early; but I also didn't see any dialogue for them; which makes me a bit doubtful.

However Mission 2 does have something absolutely *fantastic*; and really shows off one of WillTs strengths as an author.

The use of ordinary non-custom critters to create a unique faction.

This is the Undying One's Army, a truly magnificent horde of different beasties from throughout CoH; and a few custom critters to liven things up as well. I won't bother to list them all, but on the whole it's a very neat looking force that fits together surprisingly well, despite having been drawn from all over the map. It's a shame we aren't able to rename/re-description default creatures, because that was the only thing hurting the overall feel.

The use of Adamastor as an EB as a "Necromantic Golem" was also I think a fantastic choice. He's huge, scary, and packs a wallup, but he's also puny enough that he can be taken with a mid-level character and some inspirations.

Having 3 allies on this map also helps - and having a Warhulk as one of them is particularly enjoyable. There's just something I personally love about them.

The only real bad part about this mission is the creature mixup (fixable) and the way CoH handles massive battles (not fixable by the author) which is unfortunately poor.

Mission 3:

Mission 3 is... odd. I think the problem is that Sidus glosses a couple points that could use elaboration.

He sends you to retrieve the Undying One's soul, which he has removed. (If you're a D&D nerd like myself, think "Liche's Phylactery")

The problem is, you aren't given much explanation as to how you can go after this if the Undying One won the last battle. Clearly it's a desperate gamble, but an explanation that at least says that your forces have re-grouped and are holding the enemy off would go a long way I think.

The mission itself is straightforward, a glowy hunt in Orenbega, but the glowies are all close to the door, and if you get lucky like I did you'll get it on the first one. Very short.

Mission 4:

I'd say this is the peak of the arc right here. Normally I HATE the Ruladak caves - but WillT's use of non-custom mobs actually made them interesting. Thorn Vines, Will O Wisps, Storm Elementals and Shadows all exist within the cave network while you head for the Well of the Stars.

The Well incidentally, is a tear in the fabric of the universe, which is how the Undying One (named Koschei) achieved his practical invulnerability. There's a key story element here but I won't give it away (though it's not a huge surprise if you've been paying attention)

Overall I liked this mission a lot - the atmosphere feels just right.

Really if I had to give any negatives, it would be that there aren't a few more Thorn Tree vines (I only saw a single spawn of them); but that may not be fixable as I'm not familiar with using that map. There may not be enough spawn points for it.

Mission 5:

Once again we're missing a little exposition: Somehow while you were un-lichifying the Undying One, leaving him mortal once more... your armies have made it to his Capital; and it is up to you, Sidus, the druid from Part II, and a fae (A red cap actually) to put an end to Koschei.

Unfortunately, you're left scratching your head as to how you went from losing a battle and your secret weapon, to the enemy's capital in what appears to be short order.

Some of this may be due to text limitations, but a couple lines tossed in as "While you do that we..." earlier in the arc or a "While you were busy with that, our forces won decisively at..." etc...

Still, fighting the crazy menagerie that is the Undying One's army is still a load of fun, and Orenbega makes a good setting, though it's a shame we couldn't use something more palatial. (No fault of the author's there of course)

The Undying One went down fairly quick; but I was fighting him with 3 allies and a level 50 scrapper.

Still, he appears to be pretty well designed - a sort of Rasputin looking character; which I approve of most heartily.

The dwarfs also finally made an appearance in this mission - 2 of them off to one side, presumably they'd been part of a battle event. I didn't see any text for them though, which might have helped some.

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Overall:

Good -

When this arc is "on it" - it's really ON it. It can be quite immersive, and the creative use of existent mobs allows for much greater enemy variety than a purely custom group would allow.

The overall story, while not particularly original, is solid - a classic "Evil Overlord" fantasy scenario; which I feel is as good a base plot as anyone could have. (Then again I'm quite fond of such scenarios so...)

Also the character of Sidus is interesting; though there's not much way to go deeper into his story unfortunately. (Not without adding clues or something I guess, but maybe I'm the only one who'd be interested in that anyway)


Bad -

The big problem with this story is it feels rushed. The mob mixup in mission 2, the lack of dialogue on some mobs, and especially the gaps in overall story... they all lead to a feeling like this was dumped out before it was ready.

Which is unfortunate, as it hurts what is overall a solid design, barring that first mission.

Overall - Overall I recommend a playthrough if you've played and liked the previous two arcs, so that you have "The End"; however this is with the warning that the ending is a bit marred in places, and I probably wouldn't recommend it just yet if it stood on it's own.

If taken wholly by itself, I'd probably rather PM the author with suggestions - but since this does have the strength of the previous offerings to stand on, I can give it a cautious recommendation - one that acknowledges the flaws and celebrates the positives.

Sorry again for taking so long to do this >.< I intended to be done much sooner but I needed to get away from fantasy stuff so I wouldn't overload.

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A Warrior's Friend: ID 335212 - Help Infernal save Valkyrie from Battle Maiden.
Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.

I made a tribute to Edgar Rice Burroughs Mars series.

Arc 175675 - A Princess of Mars.

Custom Green warriors - Auto level 50 for the first 2 missions.

The last mission I used Romans as another custom group of Zodangan warriors made it too large.

So you can help John Carter save Dejah Thoris.

Warning - Green Jeddaks hit HARD.

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I'd been looking for this thread for a while, but I couldn't find it until today. You might consider trying my first arc, "The Love Talker," #20242. Despite being a "modern" Croatoa story, the only really "modern" element is the use of Skipper LeGrange as a contact. The story structure and maps are a pretty standard "rescue from Faerie" story, although there's a twist involving the main villain's identity that I hope mythology mavens will enjoy.

At higher levels, you might try my other arc, "The Heart of Talos," #175660, which extensively features the creations and servants of Hephaestus. However, it's set pretty firmly in the canonical universe; it deals with the Warriors and their artifact smuggling. Also, the custom faction hits very, very hard. I'd call them comparable to Cimeroran Traitors with a couple of extra tricks. Bring friends.

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"Bombarding the CoH/V fora with verbosity since January, 2006"

Djinniman, level 50 inv/fire tanker, on Victory
-and 40 others on various servers

A CoH Comic: Kid Eros in "One Light"

Feybound Arc 183101 Auto 50

Mab Queen of Winter asks you if you want to find out more about the Fey. To do so you accept her errand. After you have a rare book - she tells you you are too far involved now to stop.

She "asks" you to do her a favor and she will owe you one in exchange.

You have to find the Silver hand of Nuada and free him. Once he is free he challenges Logh for the right to be King of the Tuatha De Danaan.

With your help he wins and you find that Aurora Summer's Queen is behind the whole plot and she was seeking to weaken Winter enough to extend Summer thru the year.

Now you face Aurora and her minions along with the help of Nuada - who now owes Mab a favor.

If you succeed - Mab owes you a favor in Paragon and you can ask for her help sending a message to Mab Queen of Winter or to @Iron for help - once

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(QR)

Did you ever do The Tannhäuser Gate? I know we talked about it.

I recommend 22+ even though the enemy group technically starts at 10. It bumps you into the 44-45 area for one mission, so you may decide you want the stam and SOs. It's definitely fantasy/magic themed, though it takes place in modern Paragon.

Search keyword Emralis if you're interested, or just search for Aisynia.

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Doh >< sorry Aisynia >< I keep getting busy.

I *will* get around to it though, promise!

And thank you everyone who's posted arcs to try <^_^> I don't have any sort of schedule so I apologize if I don't get to them rapidly - but I will get to them!

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A Warrior's Friend: ID 335212 - Help Infernal save Valkyrie from Battle Maiden.
Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.

There are dwarves in the Infantry of Kor, but the random generation can be very streaky. Also, there are Eisenreich other than the Jaeger bots; the inclusion is 'random Eisenreich minions, lt.s, and Warhulks.'

One of the (many) things that would be nice is if you could specify exactly what complement of mobs appear in various groups. I had to struggle a lot with getting things to appear how I wanted, because of the weird random element.

The other criticisms are definitely food for thought, and thanks for them!

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What I saw -

Jaegers, Air Thorns, Storm Elementals >< Those were all that showed up in any of the spawns labeled <Infantry Army of Kor>.

<;_;>

I don't know the "why" for that though, just that that's what was showing up.

A possible suggestion: Remove the Dwarves from the Infantry Army of Kor group and put them in their own group and add a few patrols/battles specifically with the dwarfs. It'd get them in there in a much more obvious fashion and not rely on pure luck!

I'd also consider dropping the "Random Minion" and instead adding them by hand - I've had bad luck with the Random Mob selections myself; though it could be just that - luck. I've personally switched entirely over to adding mobs by hand though.

I think my biggest ?! were the mages and Storm Elementals though; I didn't recall running across friendly versions of either in the previous arcs (my brain could of course be glossing them - but I'm not recalling any friendlies) - they seem much more like the Undying One's kind of troops >.> though that might just be me.

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A Warrior's Friend: ID 335212 - Help Infernal save Valkyrie from Battle Maiden.
Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.

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)

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A Warrior's Friend: ID 335212 - Help Infernal save Valkyrie from Battle Maiden.
Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.

Arc ID 96322
The Tannhauser Gate

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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.

<@_@>

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A Warrior's Friend: ID 335212 - Help Infernal save Valkyrie from Battle Maiden.
Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.

Thank you for the review

I agree with basically everything you said, so you nailed it. I wanna cover a couple things. Just put out my thoughts behind them...

The Aisynia as a contact in this story and the Aisynia my main character who I roleplay are not quite the same. The contact here is more arrogant and more powerful (not that she doesn't try her hardest to be nice despite knowing she's scary powerful). She's really not the same person. I wanted the Keepers to be those big scary godlike archmages that .. scare the crap out of you. When she says she needs someone weaker than them, yeah it is insulting.. and then she immediately asks you to NOT be insulted. She explains that there are problems that being so power hungry causes, and that this is one of the more benign. It's heavily implied that all that power comes with terrible prices, and she admires you for not having taken it as far as her and the other Keepers. It's intended to say "Yeah, we're more powerful than you, but in gaining that power, we kinda screwed ourselves in some ways..."

The video is essentially the opening dialogue of the arc

I agree with the problems with map choice, I didn't have much choice... very limited... I woulda done this a lot more elegantly if I could.

As for the Hall of Echoes... I originally had a VERY small map, but my objectives just wouldn't spawn. It's still a pretty small map, but not nearly as small. I still might change it. I at LEAST put the 2 you have to actually ESCORT right at the front, so it's a short run to escort them.

There ARE indeed a lot of linked objectives and backtracking here... This arc is meant as primarily a story, an investigation, and the linked objectives.. while not ideal.. were really the only way to maintain the narrative :| I would certainly love a more elegant solution.

Not much else to say, appreciate the review, I'm glad you enjoyed yourself overall.

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As promised, I am back and reviving this thread! <^_^>

Sorry it took so long all; I just had to get away from the game for awhile <x_x> (Lotsa reasons, some personal, many of them simply being "I played way too damn much!") - But now I'm back and ready to get back to reviewing your fantasy-themed arcs!

I'm going to check over the list for arcs that haven't been reviewed yet; but I imagine given the time frame the list is fairly out of date; so I'm just going to start a new queue if anyone has something new to submit.

As per always in this thread:

1) If I don't like the arc enough to give it at least a mild recommendation, I won't post a review here (instead I'll send you a PM with suggestions) - I'm not a particularly harsh person though <,< this doesn't really happen much (In fact I'm not sure it's happened at all yet)

2) This thread is specifically for fantasy-themed arcs. That means swords and sorcery (or just swords, or just sorcery) - mostly set in alternate worlds; though history is fine, as is modern fantasy if it goes far enough.

3) I'm playing this all with my lowbie scrapper, who is at present level 18. I'll be cautious about judging 'too difficult' given that I don't even have SO's yet; but just be aware of what I'm playing when you read my comments.

4) I make absolutely no promises on how fast I'll get through these. Life just doesn't allow for a clockwork schedule, and really I want this to stay fun for all involved - so basically I may do 3 reviews in one day, or I may not do any for a week. Don't feel like I'm leaving you out if it takes awhile to get to your arc <^_^> It *will* get done; eventually.

Anyway, with that out of the way -

Kerpow! The Lily Knight Project is back in action >.>m

(I'm hoping this isn't considered Thread Necromancy, since I actually just continuing on with something; but if it is I'll start a new thread. Hopefully not though!)

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A Warrior's Friend: ID 335212 - Help Infernal save Valkyrie from Battle Maiden.
Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.

Welcome back! This thread has a cool, walking-corpse feel to it.

I don't know if you've played "Into the Dwarven Halls", by @Harimau Garang. It's not mine, but I enjoyed it when I played it, some time ago. Quite a while ago, actually. Perhaps when this thread was still alive. I hope I15 and I16 changes have not been unkind to it.

Cheers, airhead

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I'll see if that one is still up <^-^>b thanks for the recommendation!

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A Warrior's Friend: ID 335212 - Help Infernal save Valkyrie from Battle Maiden.
Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.

New Review!

Arc ID 68903
Title: Into the Dwarven Halls

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Alrighty, so on Airheads recommendation I took a shot at this arc. It's a short one, so the review is going to be equally short:


First and foremost - the story is not great. It's not that the plot in itself is horrible (it's actually kinda an interesting idea) - From what I gathered, there are several clans of extra-dimensional dwarves who were formerly enslaved by the Circle of Thorns. You, apparently, have saved them at some point.

This is where the first problem comes in: I did? When? Understandably I was a little confused at first, and even went hunting to see if this was a sequel... but if it is, the original work is long gone. That's unfortunate because saving a society of enslaved dwarves would be a fantastic romp if done right! <^_^>

Still, it's a reasonable, if awkward backdrop.

The leader of one clan of the newly freed dwarves has come to you with dire news; that one of the clans you saved is so enraged at the Circle that they will do anything to obliterate them once and for all. So blind by rage are they that they have comitted to summoning a mighty demon with which to crush the Circle. Unfortunately the ensuing battle would probably destroy Paragon too.

Again, the plot itself is decent... but the writing leaves much to be desired. It doesn't feel like a great deal of effort was put into composing the text itself. Dialogue isn't bad; but the actual narrative is often questionable. It's possible that the author isn't a native English speaker; but I can't really award extra points for that.

So you end up with a work where, the plot is fun - not perhaps hugely original, but enjoyable - but the writing itself makes that... bland.

On the upshot the enemy designs are fun. Not perfect; but they fit the "Evil Dwarves with Black Magic" theme quite well. I wish they'd have varied their hair colors a bit though, as just going with red hair on top of red and black clothes and armor was a bit much. (Then again, your contect has blue hair on top of blue and black armor, so maybe that's actually a plot point that simply isn't explained? Or maybe someone just liked the "Copy Colors" function >.>)

Now that the negative is out of the way:

I still had fun. I'm not sure I can give you an entirely rational reason for this, because there's a lot to not like in this arc... but the costume designs are just good enough, and the premise is just "Typical Fantasy" enough...

Hrmm... Perhaps the best explanation is to steal and rephrase something from Howard Taylor:

"I wanted mindless, barely-edited action with a side of high-fantasy, and Into the Dwarven Halls delivered it all in a greasy cardboard box."

That's pretty much what this arc boils down to - a decent but not stellar execution of a reasonable but not great idea that still can be a lot of fun if you feel like a good Diablo hack-and-slash outing.

So I recommend it, but only for those who don't mind putting their brains in the "off" position for an hour or so.

Oh, and watch for the Necros <o.@> Those guys are jerks.

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A Warrior's Friend: ID 335212 - Help Infernal save Valkyrie from Battle Maiden.
Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.

I can't find any of the Dungeoneering arcs

Could you post the authors names too, so we know who to look for/contact about the arcs?

Eco.

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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)

Sure sure! I'll post up a list of ID/Name/Number today!

The Dungeoneering arcs may have been pulled down in the meantime though, sadly - those arcs were from the dawn of the Architect system; and it's possible the author decided they wanted to use the slots for something else.

Still, I'll do my best hunting for them and the others. (I'll list "Still Up" or "Down" next to each arc when I put the list up - so people can know what's actually still playable.)

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A Warrior's Friend: ID 335212 - Help Infernal save Valkyrie from Battle Maiden.
Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.

Arcs reviewed in this thread so far (in no particular order):

*Note - Author names aren't going to be easy to find for arcs that have been pulled down in the meantime; so arcs I can't find anymore will be listed along with "Down" without an author name unless I remember that name. (Only applicable to reviews I pulled straight out of the MA with no input in this thread. People in this thread, if I can't remember their in-game name, I'll just PM)

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The Battle for Happily Ever After - 42241 - Status: Up - Author: @Celtic Cupcake

Dungeoneering I, II and III - 26173, 50500, 92401 - Status: All Down - Author: <;_;> Don't Remember; started with an N (Yah, like that helps)

Dungeoncleaners - 125715 - Status: Up - Author: @Pep Cat

Tale of the Feywarden - 98286 - Status: Up - Author: @Iron General

War Against the Undying One Part 1-3 - 91044, 98754, 139463 - Status: Up - Author @WillT

The Tanhauser Gate - 96322 - Status: Up - Author: @Aisynia

Into the Dwarven Halls - 68903 - Status: Up - Author: @Harimau Garang



Heh, it's not as long a list as I'd thought! But then the's 2 big 3-parters in there, so that accounts for a lot <^_^>

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A Warrior's Friend: ID 335212 - Help Infernal save Valkyrie from Battle Maiden.
Above Mars Part 1: The Wellington: ID 159769 - Save Mars by destroying a monstrous battleship from the inside!
>.> My DA page, where I attempt to art.