Sorry it has been a while since my last review, I've had a lot of work to do and not much time to play.
Arc Name: The Lost Choir: Chapter One: The Old Testament.
Arc ID: 123675
I played this arc a few days back but didn't get chance to post a review, so speaking from memory, apologies for that. :/
General: I found the arc was pretty good, but I found it difficult to follow the story and exactly what was going on after the first mission. The two elite bosses were a bit of a suprise and I didn't feel they were necessary. The elite boss in the final mission prevented me from being able to solo this arc, which I consider bad.
Mission 1: Was a good mission. The hostages could be improved through using several captives and linking them together. Also you could consider using unkempt males, PTS workers or even scrapyarders instead of the customs.
Mission 2: I enjoyed this mission and didn't find anything very wrong with it :-)
Mission 3: Again I thought this mission was good, though I wasn't quite sure why we should be rescuing the Rikti, if we wanted information it would make more sense to grab clues in my opinion. The elite boss was a nasty suprise, but the vanguards helped me defeat it.
Mission 4: I'm not a huge fan of outdoor missions. The customs were a bit odd as well! However the Tuartha speaking seemed most out of place, when in the first mission they didn't say anything coherent.
Mission 5: Again I don't like outdoor missions that much, but this one seemed to work better. The customs seemed a bit odd, why were they all so tiny? My big concern here was the archvillain or elite boss, with fire blast he would just unload everything on me and I just couldn't defeat him despite 3 trips to the hospital.
I couldn't finish the arc but my instinct says I would rate it between 3 or 4.
Romulo and Juliette (arc id 45146, by Peacemoon)
Another Romeo and Juliette inspired story of star-cross'd lovers. Stated level range is 26-30 blue side. I played a 26 SS/will brute.
Mission 1
Briefing: "Two gangs, alike in dignity, in fair Paragon City..." Closely follows the introduction of the play, so far. Then a dream sequence begins.
Mission entry popup: "you here the feint noise" should be "you hear the faint noise".
Whoa, what happened to all the stuff about Skulls and Hellions? This mission is full of custom "Darkfire" gang members, who seem to be amped up Hellions. Oddly, some of them have dark blast.
[NPC] Darkfire Smiter: A Hero, how did he get in here, the entrance was sealed!
My character is female, so this is wrong; "he" should be "$heshe".
OK, inside the mission we're not so much following the script, as now I'm helping the police try to arrest Romulo and Juliette.
There's lots of non-required glowies with interesting clues.
"Desk: Kidnap Plan" - "would be to try kidnap Azuria" should be "would be to try kidnapping Azuria".
Midnight Flamer's description: "Midnight Flamer's are the mystical leaders" should be "Midnight Flamers are the mystical leaders".
"Bulletin Board: Newspaper Articles" - "commited" should be "committed". "civilions" should be "civilians". It seems our star-cross'd lovers are not nice people.
I like rescuing the various cops, that's a nice touch.
Shadow Daddy's description: I think "Formally known as Bone Daddy's, these are among the most feared of Darkfires villains" should maybe be "Formerly Bone Daddies, these are among the most feared members of the Darkfire gang". Also "heros" should be "heroes".
Romulo Skull has a lot of plot-important info in his background story that I haven't seen anywhere else yet; but not everyone reads those, so it might be a good idea to put some of that info into briefings or clues. In his background, "Darkfires became" should be "The Darkfires became", and "campeign" should be "campaign".
Upon defeating Romulo, I got a clue saying that he "died trying to resist arrest"; this is a little surprising as arresting villains is normally nonlethal (even when using broadswords or full auto). I assume it's required for the plot though.
Same comments for Juliette's background and death while resisting arrest. I kind of think some heroes may be distressed to be scripted into killing two (possibly innocent) people in this story.
Trash Can: Agreement of Allignment - "Allignment" should be "Alignment". "thankyou" should be "thank you".
Mission exit popup: "check your clues" is somewhat immersion breaking.
Debriefing: "infront" should be "in front". "heroe's" should be "hero's".
Mission 2
Briefing: Romulo and Juliette are already dead, what more story could there be? Nevertheless, there's another mission. "infront" should be "in front". Now the stone that is the contact wants me to rescue Azuria.
[NPC] Death Brother: You should of stopped at the mansion...
"should of" should be "should have"
Death Brother's Diary: "pursuasion" should be "persuasion".
[NPC] Azuria: You seek guidance, I seek a helping hand. Lets get out of here Mega!
"Lets" should be "Let's"
"Azuria's Parting Words": the first mission was all a dream? I guess this lets me off the hook for having killed Romulo and Juliette, but "it was all a dream" is still rather unsatisfying. Also "thankyou" should be "thank you".
Debriefing: it says here that I "avenged" Romulo and Juliette, which is sort of true, but sort of not true if I actually killed them in mission 1. "heroe's" should be "hero's".
The last line in orange text, "However it is with great pride..." doesn't rhyme and isn't in iambic pentameter, so doesn't quite mesh with the rest of the quotation here. (Admittedly, using the player's name will make it difficult to put into iambic pentameter...)
Overall
The story itself, rescuing Azuria from a kidnapping, isn't bad, and I like how there are many clues to find out what is going on. I also liked rescuing the various police officers in the first mission.
However, the Romeo and Juliette theme didn't work for me; the story arc's titular characters manage to unify the Skulls and Hellions, and so are really not that analogous to the classical Romeo and Juliette and their perpetually feuding families. The pacing feels wrong to me as well; I thought Romulo and Juliette dying in the first act didn't work. It felt like the player was scripted into killing two innocents, and then with the story's title characters already dead, the second act felt rather tacked on -- this despite the Azuria subplot which turns out to actually be the MAIN plot when Azuria reveals "it was all a dream!"
I kind of think the gang members could've easily been a mix of normal Skulls and Hellions instead of fusing them into the custom Darkfires, and the story arc could be brought down to the lower levels where Skulls and Hellions are more normally encountered. Up to you though.
Anyway, the story was okay but didn't quite work for me. I gave it 3 stars. Hope you think that is fair!
(Feel free to review any of my story arcs for your QPQ, if you are still doing reviews)
@PW - Police Woman (50 AR/dev blaster on Liberty)
TALOS - PW war journal - alternate contact tree using MA story arcs
=VICE= "Give me Liberty, or give me debt!"
I will test and rate your mission. I thank you for playing and rating mine too. I am looking forward to receiving your feedback because this will be mutually beneficial.
Here is my arc's details:
Description:
Dr. Mindbender lost his wife Stella and her twin sister Shelly to a horrific automobile accident on a stormy night. Mindbender consumed with grief does the unthinking and discovers a way to bring people back from the grave; but only as flesh feasting zombies! Now, everyone wants to lay claim to Mindbenders Formula, and will stop at nothing to obtain it!
Mission starts with Dr Mindbender asking you to investigate and contain zombies popping up throughout the city.
Arc Name:
ID: 56830 Part I-III DR MINDBENDERS FORMULA
ID: 57819 PART IV DR MINDBENDERS FORMULA
ID: 111418 PART V DR MINDBENDERS FORMULA)
Faction: Neutral
Creator: @geopsi
Length: 5 missions, short to medium.
Enemies: 5th Column, Council, Nictus, Custom Groups (Zombies, Scottish Warriors, Female Pirates)
Difficulty: Staggered; Custom group are scaling level range 1-54, and up to arch-villains.
Suggested Level: 30+ I have beaten this with a team of level 10's and level 50's
Estimated Playtime: About an hour, depends how much you want to fight, as some missions can be completed with stealth.
Created and designed for experienced players who crave fun, challenging, intense gameplay.
Be happy!