City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

need ritual to work when hero stops it

Aliana Blue

By Aliana Blue,
Posted on: 2009-04-27 22:07 in Mission Architect

 

Posted

standard - hostages being held, dark altar for sacrificing them.

You have to destroy the altar to stop the ritual. But the next mission requires that the ritual succeeded.

So how do I set up this mission so that you can get a mission complete but explain that the ritual succeeded?

 

Posted

Does the mission have to complete? You can always make it a timed mission that's nearly impossible to complete in time.

 

Posted

I hate forcing players to fail - and I think they hate it too

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
standard - hostages being held, dark altar for sacrificing them.

You have to destroy the altar to stop the ritual. But the next mission requires that the ritual succeeded.

So how do I set up this mission so that you can get a mission complete but explain that the ritual succeeded?

[/ QUOTE ]

Success pop-up dialog and contact return dialog saying that the ritual was successful, despite the best efforts of the hero(es). Could be that there was more than one ritual, and even though they may have stopped that one, another one somewhere else succeeded. Could be that the ritual was "done" by the time the player(s) got there and they just witnessed the aftermath. Could be that the ritual the player(s) stopped was just a diversion. Could be explained in any number of ways.

 

Posted

yeah, I just hate to advance the plot of a mission in the conclusion. I think I have to. I can just force so much - I have to accept the limits of the system.

 

Posted

The thing is, suceeding and then telling you that you failed doesn't set well either. If they destroyed the altar, they succeeded, better to give the baddies a backup plan and maybe have the contact blame himself a bit for not realizing there would be a backup.

So what about (totally made up since I have no idea what your ritual's supposed to do)...

Return text from contact:

"Great job! With the ritual stopped, there is no way these mystics will be able to abduct the Damsel!

I'lll... Wait, what is that? I'm sensing... something...

Oh no, no no NO!

$Name, the ritual has just completed! I sensed its magical pulse just now, they must have had a second one going!

This is terrible <insert something depending on how you want to play it, the contact failing to detect the two rituals or whatever>"

Something like that maybe?

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Posted

simply have the altar be a glowie instead of a destructible object. Attach a clue to it that says that upon examining the altar, some clue was found that indicates that it was already completed or spawns a boss who tells you that before trying to kill you.

You can do practically anything with creative use of flavor text. Just think about what you want to happen and then think about which goal is closest to that happening. Just because your contact tells you to destroy an object doesn't mean there actually has to be a destructible object in the mission.

 

Posted

...Or keep the destructible object, and somehow make use of the chat fields attached to that object.

I have a detail where you have to destroy a transmitter before it contacts the enemy. At each stage of damage, I put 'radio' text, and each chat bubble was more and more of the message getting through. The last chat bubble, on 'BOOM' is the final part of the message-- it blows up at the exact moment that it is TOO LATE!

The thing I like about this method is it makes the player actually responsible for the object doing what the player is supposed to be preventing.

If you're doing a mystical thing, an altar (IIRC?), you could do 'voices from beyond' or somesuch.

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Posted

[ QUOTE ]
...Or keep the destructible object, and somehow make use of the chat fields attached to that object.

I have a detail where you have to destroy a transmitter before it contacts the enemy. At each stage of damage, I put 'radio' text, and each chat bubble was more and more of the message getting through. The last chat bubble, on 'BOOM' is the final part of the message-- it blows up at the exact moment that it is TOO LATE!

The thing I like about this method is it makes the player actually responsible for the object doing what the player is supposed to be preventing.

If you're doing a mystical thing, an altar (IIRC?), you could do 'voices from beyond' or somesuch.

[/ QUOTE ]

that is a great idea - I'll have to see what text I can come up with

 

Posted

As another option, you could include a "main" captive that must be rescued before the altar spawns. That captive's rescue clue/dialogue could read something like "$name! I overheard them talking: this ritual is just a diversion designed to draw you away from the real one. There's nothing you can do to stop it now, but you can save these people!"

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Posted

that's also a good idea.

 

Posted

Some good ideas already, but I'll add my two cents. If you don't want the ritual to be stopped, then don't make stopping the ritual the mission goal. Maybe send the hero in with the goal of finding out when the ritual will be held, only to find out that it's already been held. Or have the goal of defeating a boss, but in his dialog have him announce that it's too late, because the ritual is complete. Or have the goal be to rescue three people, and as you rescue two of them they tell you that the fifth was sacrificed and the ritual was already done.

(And I love the talking transmitter)

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