You Play Mine and I Play Yours! REVISED EDITION

GlaziusF · 05-15-2009 08:38 PM

High 40s spine/regen scrapper. Live feedback, all set! Readyyyyyy....

GO!

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Woo, ancient king chicken of the chicken people! (Mighty Max has RUINED archaeology for me, sorry)

TROGDOR WAS A MAN... sorry again.

It's kind of odd that there's no trace of the CoT down here, not even a battle.

Interesting custom group, nice progression, bit of a pain to deal with given how much damage they can dump at range though. The giant confuse/slow aura Ice Control spits out is something I'm glad they only click on for a little bit.

I hope this isn't going to be 5 missions of just them.

...oh, dude. Lying to me about what I'm going up against is not going to get me into your good graces.

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Still, I soldier on.

...what the? This is freakin' Talos Island, not Salamanca!

If the intro scroll was supposed to be warning about the patrol boss, dude's a lieut. Easy pickings.

Two stones down two to go? I thought at the end of the first mission he said I had to find four... guess that should be four TOTAL instead of four MORE since I already grabbed one.

Okay mister man, where's the next one at?

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Office building. More of the same custom enemies. Some hostages.

The hostage takers don't use $himher to get the gender right.

Weirdly enough the safe was in the first room and the hostages near the middle of the map. I completed the mission without even getting to the last room at all. Kind of odd.

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Ah, Arachnos. That'll make for some nice variety.

...huh. Searched all the crates, but I've only found "a strange book", "a strange amulet", and "The Statue of Nocturn". The runestone objective is cleared and there's a system message that SAYS I have it, but...

The arachnos negotiator sounds like she's TRYING to call for help at 25% health. Why not have it show up?

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Last mission.

The last fight was... alright? No real memorable wrinkles.

But it turns out I've been working for a different god this entire time.

That's twice this contact has outright lied to me. Facing a threat of invasion from the depths, yet.

I don't know why that rubs me the wrong way so badly, but it does.

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If you're still playing stuff in return, take your pick from something in my sig.

Stomphoof · 05-16-2009 04:28 AM

Yes the lying is not supposed to make you comfy.
The island was the closet thing to a forest I could find, although I am pretty sure now there is an actual Croatoa map.

I should add an ambush but I am DARN close to the cap (like 97% full)

I have been trying to fix the office map so things are more spread out but no matter what I do it seems to not want to spread out :/

Maybe add an ambush during the final boss fight. HRMM.

GlaziusF · 05-16-2009 05:44 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Yes the lying is not supposed to make you comfy.
The island was the closet thing to a forest I could find, although I am pretty sure now there is an actual Croatoa map.

[/ QUOTE ]

There's no reason I can see for him to lie. He just kind of does it then kind of doesn't.

There are actual croatoa maps, though I believe they're unlockable, with varying degrees of forest.

Stomphoof · 05-16-2009 05:47 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yes the lying is not supposed to make you comfy.
The island was the closet thing to a forest I could find, although I am pretty sure now there is an actual Croatoa map.

[/ QUOTE ]

There's no reason I can see for him to lie. He just kind of does it then kind of doesn't.

There are actual croatoa maps, though I believe they're unlockable, with varying degrees of forest.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yea I unlocked all the maps. I am still working on the dialog as well.

I need to find out which Croatoa map would work to be honest.

Mirror_Man · 05-16-2009 07:26 PM

Like I promised, here's my review of "Return of the Three Fold King"!

Character Used: Level 49 Dual Blades / Willpower Scrapper

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Mission 1:

So, as Stomphoof stated in the description, the contact for this Arc is professor John Cramer. The mission intro states that I'm answering an ad he put in the paper for help retrieving an artifact from the CoT. Since he's not a hero, he can't get it himself, and needs some heroic help. Off I go.

Enter the mission, go a couple steps into the caves, and... am met with a custom group. I had been expecting CoT from the mission intro, but I'm a sucker for well-done custom groups, so it's a nice surprise for me. Looking over the custom mobs, I notice that Stomphoof's method of designing enemies isn't that far from mine. Not that this custom group looks like anything I've designed, but rather in the fact that there's an obvious hierarchy and overall costume design with the Lemurians, which I appreciated. You wouldn't BELIEVE how many custom groups I've come across who look like a rag-tag pick-up group you'd find in the Hollows. Anyway, I make my way through the map, defeat the boss, and mission complete. I also find a clue, which turns out to be the Lemurian artifact I had been sent to find in the first place.

Mission 2:

So, it turns out Professor John Cramer has been less than honest with me. He needs help not to find ancient relics, but rather stop an invasion from an ancient evil known as the Lemurians. He'd do it himself, but his powers stem from Lemurian magiks, so he can't do squat against them. In order to stop the Three Fold King, the leader of the Lemurians, I need to find 3 more artifacts so he can break the shield guarding their main hideout. The author did a good job of setting up the rest of the Arc in this dialog, though by now I'm beginning to notice more than just a few typos in his text. The next artifact is in the hands of the Tuatha, so I'm to get it back from them in Salamanca.

I expect a Salamancan map, but instead the map is a regular forest. I'm not sure if the author has a reason for this, but since it's not entirely out of place for the Tuatha, I don't hold it against the final score. I look around, and find some wandering mobs. Yay for patrols! Buth then I realize... all these patrols are saying the same thing. Boo for patrols with identical dialog! I finally come across the scout leader, a lieutenant. This is actually the first time I've come across a "Defeat Boss" objective in an AE Arc where the "boss" was actually a "lieutenant", so it's a nice change of pace. Defeating the scout leader, the Lemurians are replaced by Tuatha. Fortunately, I'm able to find the 2nd artifact very quickly, and complete the mission.

Mission 3:

So, the Lemurians don't like Professor Cramer and his client ruining their plans, and have launched a small offensive against the Legacy Chain. The Professor tells me that I have to save some captive Legacy Chain mages, as well as find the 3rd artifact. Sounds agreeable.

I enter the office mission, and make my way through the map. One of the captives I rescue has a key, which opens a safe which contains the 3rd artifact. I rescue the remaining hostages, and complete the mission. Not much to say about this one.

Mission 4:

So, the Lemurians are hatching a plan to form a temporary alliance with Arachnos. Professor John Cramer is terrified of this idea, and sends me to a Ritki hideout which Arachnos has taken over to stop the merger.

I enter the mission, and am met (predictably) with Arachnos. Defeating the high-level Arachnos, I search for the negotiators from the Lemurians and from Arachnos, all the while checking various caches all around the mission for the last artifact. Finding it, I defeat the Lemurian boss, then the Arachnos boss, and complete the mission.

Mission 5:

So, with all the artifacts in our posession, it's time to defeat the Three Fold King. Professor Cramer uses the artifacts' power to destroy the shield protecting their main hideout, and sends me in to destory the King. He suggests taking a team with me. I don't.

Entering the mission, I find it's an Oranbega map. Makes sense, considering the nature of the Lemurians. Making my way across the map, I find the Three Fold King. Expecting an epic battle, I'm surprised to find he's not as hard as I thought he'd be. Maybe he's harder when he's an AV (I was on difficulty Level 2, so he was an EB). Either way, I complete the mission and finish the Arc.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, this was a solid Arc, with a well-designed custom group. There were spelling and grammar errors in many of the clues and mission intros/outros throughout the Arc that you might want to correct, but nothing TOO severe. While there were maps / enemies in the map that came as a "surprise" to the player, it was never anything that seemed out of place or inappropriate for the enemy or mission the player is sent on. All in all, this was a good effort by the author, and while not perfect, the Arc is a great playthrough from beginning to end.

Final Score: A well-deserved 5 Stars

Supplemental Galactic Protectorate Fanfic

Stomphoof · 05-17-2009 06:39 AM

Wow thanks Mirror. I am going to be doing some updates today (Such as correcting some typos that someone else found) as well as adjusting the 2nd map (I was unaware I had unlocked ACTUAL Croatoa maps!)

I dont think I have gotten a 5 star yet :O