Shifting through time! In-character reviews!
By
airhead,
Posted on: 2009-05-26 17:23 in Mission Architect
Arc Name: A Tangle in Time
Arc Id: 2622
Author: @jjac
Morality: Heroic
Level Range 5-54: CoT, Paragon Police
Played at: Level 3-5
**Time Loop arc #1**
Apparently Azuria has found a powerful artifact that is a gateway to the time-stream itself. Could be worth looking into. She hands me an amulet to neutralize the artifact and mentions that there are some PPD squads already there with a couple officers investigating. This should be easy.
So I get in, check the cave out. Officer Riley seems to have his situation under control, but I'm fresh and ready to test out my new hardware so I take out the thorns for him. Then I find the artifact, a perfect pattern on an altar. Bah! Too much magic for my tastes, so I take Azuria's amulet and tangle up the pattern with it, whatever. Mumbo jumbo if you ask me. Hansen's got some more perps for me to crush with my gravity manipulating software while he works out.
Last on the chopping block is a boss calling himself Mobiosea. Some grand mage giving me warnings and threats, but he drops just like a metric ton of semiconductors. Those threats didn't do him any good. Time to head back and tell Azuria the good news.
There's a problem, Azuria greets me as if she has never met me before. Unintelligible magic! It's trapped me in a time loop. Me!? She hands me another amulet and I'm back in for round two. As expected, Riley and Hansen are clueless, and seeing me for the first time as well. Mobiosea must be behind this, and he's expecting me. Apparently he has a problem with the PPD raiding his core, and I happen to be infinitely available to him now. Well played.
Reset! Repetition number three, change of plans: This time it's up to me to clear out the PPD instead of the thorns. Doesn't matter too much to me, honestly. Mobiosea's got himself stuck this time around and feels the need to tag along with me. Not much for microscopic communication, but I'm glad. I'd rather not hear about spells this and enchantments that.
Free of the time loop, and much quicker than anticipated. Unfortunately without the reset, the cops aren't very pleased with the abrupt hospital teleports and a free Mobiosea. Predicting this situation, I present Azuria with the three amulets I have kept safe in my compartment and her small mind grasps the situation finally. She knows where Mobiosea has gone to, and while revenge means nothing to me, I'm not very pleased with others altering the time stream as they see fit. Not hiding in the caves, he's back in his Circle Lair. He seems to have some broken pets lying around, this is why he shouldn't play with time. Still enjoy crushing Mobiosea like the bug he is.
Reset! Repetition number four, final plans: Destroy the altar, despite protests from clueless Azuria. Apparently Mobiosea has acquired a couple new pets who look much worse for wear, and changed from before though I'm not entirely sure why. The altar is destroyed with ease. And the final encounter with Mobiosea who doesn't last long against my gravitational force. All is once again right with the world, and another wannabe time-lord is put to rest.
Five Stars: Highly Recommended!
Arc Name: Future Skulls
Arc Id: 4727
Author: @Justice Blues
Morality: Heroic
Level Range 1-15: Skulls, custom
Played at: Level 5-6
So Mirror Spirit tells me of a vision of the future she had where everything was destroyed. The Skulls are preparing to do some sort of ritual that will cause this future very soon, but she doesn't know much more about it then that. So my job today is to go to one of the Skull's hideouts and crush the information out the them.
I find this hideout of theirs, and I overhear some of them talking about the ceremony succeeding this time. I guess that means that this is the right place. There's a lot of books in one of the rooms, most of them are strange, but unimportant. I read through some of them and find one that has things I could care less about, but I predict that Mirror Spirit will be interested in. I'm about ready to leave, when I hear Bonesnap mention that they are almost ready to complete the ritual. Well, I don't know what this ritual is all about, so I knock him around a bit for his arrogance.
I return the book to Mirror Spirit, which she tells me is very disturbing to her. Apparently the Skulls are trying to form a new ritual by mixing Circle of Thorns, Banished Pantheon, and Coralax magics in order to reawaken the Coralax's god Merulina. Unfortunately, Mirror Spirit and her cohorts know practically nothing about the Coralax, so this time it's up to me to scout around one of their lairs for some information. Unfortunately, all I find is a bunch of empty urns, and for some reason I decide to bring back one that broke because I looked at it too hard. Maybe it was a software glitch with my gravity powers.
I bring it back to Mirror Spirit and she is still troubled, though she has an idea. She decides to get the help of the Midnighters to send me into the future she saw in her vision. A future of a destroyed Paragon City, using those Midnighter Crystals. All this magic nonsense is starting to get to me. Anyway, she sends me to the future to gather more information. When I get there, my compass computer is telling me that I need to "Find the boss and beat the answers out of him." And my objective is "The Bride." I wasn't told who or what this boss or bride is, so I suppose it's just a matter of finding what I need to find in this destroyed city. I find some upgraded Skulls with larger skull masks and spikes on their shoulders, I also find the Bride. While I'm fighting her, she is going on about how she wants to destroy me, and she wants my soul or some such nonsense. But the moment she's lying face down on the ground she can't wait to give me a magical dagger and tell me exactly when this ritual from their past and my future is supposed to take place. And that I'm supposed to use this dagger to stop the ritual. Humans confuse me so greatly sometimes.
Bringing the dagger and information back to Mirror Spirit, she and some other mystics leave me in the waiting room for hours while they try and magically scry the location of this ritual. I tried to tell her that I could probably calculate the location myself given just a little more information, but she insisted that magical means were proper in this instance. She finally comes back and tells me the location of the ritual and mentions that it was fate and that I am the only one that can stop this ritual. But we only have one hour before the ritual is completed. I tried to tell her that if I had figured out where to go, I would have still had plenty of time to complete the task, but she just mumbles something about fate being fickle and hurries me on my way.
I get to the large field and search for two mystics that have been used for their magical energy. The first one I find says "Thanks to you, I have been drained. So I cannot come with you." That doesn't sound very much like a thank you for being rescued to me. I should have just left him there. I'm sure he wasn't critical to the success of this mission. Though he was quite visible in this large, open area. Bonesnap once again shows up, and after fourteen minutes and thirty five seconds of searching the area I finally find him. He looks much different than he did the first time I saw him. But he is soon defeated once again.
I finally come back to Mirror Spirit to reserved congratulations and a future warning. She says that if I had not stopped this ritual now, it would have only been fourty-eight hours before the ruined future she saw would have come to pass. Though I am curious about the dagger that I was given earlier. I was told I needed to use it to stop the ritual, but I merely used my normal tactics to stop Bonesnap, and the dagger was never mentioned again. And who was the Bride and what part did she really have in all of this? Regardless, I enjoyed my second short trip through time, even if it was only a brief venture into a possible future.
Four Stars: Recommended!
Arc Name: Out of Time
Arc Id: 94443
Author: @Frightfall
Morality: Heroic
Level Range 5-40: Family, 5th Column, custom
Played at: Level 6-8
Tonight I pay a visit to Vinnie Las Vegas. He tells me about a hero named Frightfall and how he mysteriously vanished into thin air during his retirement party. Apparently he knows some tech guys that decided it was a wrinkle in time and space. Not only that, but they've calculated where it will appear next, and so he sends me to an old, rusty ship.
When I get there, I find that it looks brand new. By my calculations, the wrinkle in time has taken me back into 1926. The Family have placed a bunch of wierd gizmos all over the cargo ship. In order to deactivate the gizmos, I have to remove some crystals from inside the devices. I also find Frightfall early in his superhero career, who comes along to help. He's still pretty inexperienced and doesn't end up helping a whole lot. I also find a Dr. Kreuler and a group of Timeway Men. He summons some robots, but they can't protect him from my gravitational destruction. After defeating him, I grab a remote control that he left behind upon teleporting in escape. I can easily see that this remote is a time control device using tachyon technology. A little primitive for my tastes, but it gets the job done, and when I bring it back to Vinnie and he has his own tech guys confirm it. They also use it to calculate where the next time wrinkle will be.
This time I am transported to an office building in the year 1993. Once again I find Frightfall who comes along with me. 5th column are also here along with more Timeway men who are using strange devices to steal information out of some databases. Not the most brilliant plan in my opinion, but I'm here, so I might as well stop it along with their leader. Although my nav computer won't let me back until I defeat all the enemies, which I think is a little unnecessary. Coming back to Vinnie, he tells me that they have tracked all of this time manipulation to an alternate future universe, and I have to go there because "your exposure to those focusing crystals has infected your sub-atomic particles. So....you're going to have to go into their dimension anyway to shed them. Otherwise these wrinkles they are creating will start to rip you apart from the inside. Whaddya say tiger, fancy living?"
Finally, I arrive at this alternate universe. My first thought: "Damn you! Damn you all to hell! Hmm... I must have absorbed some time from a movie fan somewhere along the way. Anyway, I find the current version of Frightfall, who for some reason doesn't want to tag along with me this time. Must be his old age getting to him. I search this doomed area and find who's ultimately behind this. I see Fear Rising and realize it is an alternate version of Frightfall. It takes all of my skill to defeat him, although I find that keeping him in one place is the best tactic and I return to my own time for now. Vinnie tells me that Fear Rising had come back to this time to harvest energy from various versions of Frightfall for reasons that neither Vinnie, nor his tech guys understand.
Three Stars: Good.
Edit: Wow, this really makes me feel like I'm not accomplishing much. While this arc only got 3 stars, it's not a bad arc, but it's still sitting at just my one play after all this time.
Still looking for some more lower level time travel arcs to play. I have a small handfull of arcs in my queue, but I'm a few levels away from them yet. Also, while I prefer to keep arc requests and suggestions out of this thread, I appreciate any comments on whether anyone's reading/enjoying Time Shifter's escapades, and any suggestions on anything I could do to improve.
A brief bio of Time Shifter by the way:
Time Shifter started out his current life cycle as an experiment in temporal transference. He was able to more or less syphon time from those around him. From their perspective, they would repeat a few minutes, or a day, and Time Shifter would repeat that time as well, speeding his learning software and upgrading his hardware. The more people around him, the more quickly he would evolve as it were, although the further along in the process, the more power he needed. Now he is at a point where people are of no use for him, he needs to seek out other temporal anomalies to further his advancement. He is now collecting artifacts and travelling to time anomalies everywhere he hears about them.
[ QUOTE ]
Arc Name: Future Skulls
Arc Id: 4727
Author: @Justice Blues
Morality: Heroic
Level Range 1-15: Skulls, custom
Played at: Level 5-6
[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the review. An interesting take on the events of the arc.
[ QUOTE ]
When I get there, my compass computer is telling me that I need to "Find the boss and beat the answers out of him." And my objective is "The Bride."
[/ QUOTE ]
Did it really say "him"? I have changed that to "her" twice now. 
[ QUOTE ]
I get to the large field and search for two mystics that have been used for their magical energy. The first one I find says "Thanks to you, I have been drained. So I cannot come with you." That doesn't sound very much like a thank you for being rescued to me.
[/ QUOTE ]
And that doesn't sound like the dialogue that is supposed to be there. Need to check that out I guess. And both hostages are supposed to be female. Was that wrong, or does your character have problems telling the human genders apart?
[ QUOTE ]
I finally come back to Mirror Spirit to reserved congratulations and a future warning. She says that if I had not stopped this ritual now, it would have only been fourty-eight hours before the ruined future she saw would have come to pass. Though I am curious about the dagger that I was given earlier. I was told I needed to use it to stop the ritual, but I merely used my normal tactics to stop Bonesnap, and the dagger was never mentioned again. And who was the Bride and what part did she really have in all of this? Regardless, I enjoyed my second short trip through time, even if it was only a brief venture into a possible future.
Four Stars: Recommended!
[/ QUOTE ]
Looks like I need to clear up the dagger dialogue and clue. You did stop the ritual using it, because without it you would not have been able to find the ritual.
Justice Blues, Tech/Tank, Inv/SS
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Fighting The Future Trilogy
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Your thread confuses me every time I see it (see title of arc in sig - and obviously the name of a thread I started about said arc).
Tangle in Time really is a great arc, though.
Thank you for the review. I am working on some of the suggested corrections. As for Future Frightfall, why he didn't help baffles me. I will correct that.
[ QUOTE ]
Did it really say "him"? I have changed that to "her" twice now.
And that doesn't sound like the dialogue that is supposed to be there. Need to check that out I guess. And both hostages are supposed to be female. Was that wrong, or does your character have problems telling the human genders apart?
[/ QUOTE ]
I remember a robe with a low hood and I thought she looked more masculine. Apparently I have problems telling the human genders apart? I guess I just didn't pay her much mind.
[ QUOTE ]
Looks like I need to clear up the dagger dialogue and clue. You did stop the ritual using it, because without it you would not have been able to find the ritual.
[/ QUOTE ]
I did get that the dagger was used to find the ritual, but from the Bride's dialog, I assumed you would actually use it somehow to stop the ritual, not just find it.
You must take time shifter through Speeding Through Time when he's level-appropriate-I'd live to see what he makes of mission 3!
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:
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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."
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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Did it really say "him"? I have changed that to "her" twice now.
And that doesn't sound like the dialogue that is supposed to be there. Need to check that out I guess. And both hostages are supposed to be female. Was that wrong, or does your character have problems telling the human genders apart?
[/ QUOTE ]
I remember a robe with a low hood and I thought she looked more masculine. Apparently I have problems telling the human genders apart? I guess I just didn't pay her much mind.
[/ QUOTE ]
That model is actually used in the low level hero game as a hostage in a mission. Under 2 or 3 different names. She is a female.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Looks like I need to clear up the dagger dialogue and clue. You did stop the ritual using it, because without it you would not have been able to find the ritual.
[/ QUOTE ]
I did get that the dagger was used to find the ritual, but from the Bride's dialog, I assumed you would actually use it somehow to stop the ritual, not just find it.
[/ QUOTE ]
So I need to make her more explicit about using the dagger to find the ritual, not stopping it.
Justice Blues, Tech/Tank, Inv/SS
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Fighting The Future Trilogy
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Arc Name: The Search for Time
Arc Id: 100185
Author: @Unstoppable Mr B
Morality: Heroic
Level Range 5-20: Outcasts
Played at: Level 8
Professor Freedman contacts me today to retrieve an artifact from a group of outcasts and their leader Sigmund that would be able to grant them the ability to time travel once they figure out how to use it. And as soon as I go into the mission, it seems that someone calculated that it will take them exactly 45:00 before they figure out how to use it. Also, according to my nav computer the artifact is a Legion Ring. According to my information, this is specific to the DC universe. Not much is really going on here, I get to Sigmund and he doesn't even say anything to me. Finally, I find the Legion Ring inside a giant treasure chest and save the day. Easy enough.
Two Stars: Radio missions have more depth than this.
Arc Name: The Galaxy Girl Maneuver
Arc Id: 132673
Author: @SlickRiptide
Morality: Heroic
Level Range 5-15: Igneous, PPD, Longbow
Played at: Level 10
Tonight I'm contacted by Mender Lazarus for some Oroborous sanctioned time travel. Although this must be a little on the side official business since it doesn't get me entrusted with their secret. They just get to hire me out for a night. And tonight it's all about saving Galaxy Girl's existence. Even though she's got her own statue, I've never heard of her before. Apparently, she... well, if you're interested read about her for yourself, or meet up with Lazarus here for yourself. I'm a time traveling computer, not a historian.
So, like I was saying, I'm being hired to save Galaxy Girl's existance by making sure that her origin story completes the way it's supposed to. And the major perpetrator of this event is Lou Parelli, who was the one that shot her, and shocked her into releasing her powers. Unfortunately he is being arrested for a bank robbery, and to keep the timeline intact, I'm now supposed to rescue a criminal from the police to allow another crime happen so that it will result in the creation of a major superhero, that I've never heard of by the way. So it's up to me to attack the PPD, who of course think I'm a supervillain and rescue Lou Parelli who also thinks I'm a supervillain. And even though he gives me a note that might prove that he was actually set up for this bank robbery, he is definately guilty of the past crime when he attacks Galaxy Girl.
This note gives the menders some questions, but first there is another matter to attend to in Galaxy Girl's past life. Just before she is about to retire, she is attacked by Protean and rescued by her sidekick Dauntless who dies in the process. Once again, I'm asked to allow something bad to happen in order to make something else good happen. Though this is a much more confusing conundrum. I'm supposed to send Dauntless to his death in order to save Galaxy Girl on the verge of retirement. I guess she defeats Protean, but this is a City of Heroes, isn't it? Anyway, who am I to argue on the supposed "experts" on time travel. So here in this warehouse, there are plenty of Igneous, and my nav computer says I'm supposed to defeat the central processor and have the option to rescue some smugglers. What smugglers, and what central processor? I'm a machine, and even I'm lost. Apparently the Igneous in this timeline are supposed to be advanced computers, who talk just like Rikti, even though this isn't really explained anywhere before now. And these advanced computers are holding the smugglers in some mystical ritual. And after rescuing Dauntless, he runs off where you catch a glimpse of his possible future full of bright possibilities. According to Lazarus, me doing this is great mender potential, though they're not hiring at the moment.
Now that I've sent Dauntless to his doom, the menders have analyzed the note from Lou and found where it came from. I'm sent to a base and have four clues to find, whatever they happen to be. Once again there are the Igneous machines and longbow who are hostile to me because they like to fly off the handle like that apparently. First I find a whiteboard with a bunch of diagrams connecting Ms. Liberty with Galaxy Girl. There's also a safe with a handwritten note to me asking whether or not I'm working for the right people for the right reasons. It seems to me as if the handwriting is the same as the note that Lou gave me, although I don't remember if anyone points this out. I also run into the Hood several times, though it seemed as if there were multiples of him, and it seemed as if they had a specific order which they didn't adhere to. I also find a couple computers with some journal notes about the plan to erase Galaxy Girl from existence, also one mentioned trying to do the same to Ms. Liberty. I also delicately retrieve some more information from some equipment before I leave.
Heading back to Lazarus, he explains that the Hood's plan is to remove Galaxy Girl's existence who had a dramatic impact on Ms. Liberty who in turn created Longbow. Seems to me an awefully convoluted way to make your mark using time travel. We all decide it's time to go back to the neighborhood and time when Galaxy Girl and some other women were attacked which resulted in Galaxy Girl's emergence as a superheroine. Sure enough, it's a big mess of Lou's men and some PPD all fighting the Igneous machines. According to my nav computer, I can optionally choose to rescue that other girl that was attacked along with Galaxy Girl, and Lou. As a hero, I wouldn't think these would be optional, but I guess they don't matter in the overall scheme of the timeline. When I find Galaxy Girl I see that her powers have been realized anyway so she will go ahead and become the heroine she has always been. Returning to Lazarus and he congratulates me on a job well done. But seeing as how the changes that happened didn't really change the past's future, it does make me think about the earlier choice with Dauntless, as that isn't really mentioned other than being a necessary evil. It seemed that Lazarus was trying to make a point about difficult choices, although it never really came across as choices that were done for the ultimate good, it just seemed like choices that were made for some arbitrary reason.
Three Stars: Good.
Arc Name: The Phoenix Orb
Arc Id: 26898
Author: @GoliathBK
Morality: Neutral
Level Range 1-54: Custom
Played at: Level 10-11
My contact today sends me on a quest to retrieve the Phoenix Orb from a group of women from another dimension. The Phoenix Orb is able to allow Time Travel, and that's something that I can't allow. I'm trying to corner the market on Time Travel. As soon as i got to the mission, I knew I was going to have some trouble finding it in the Oranbegan labyrinth I was sent to. Also according to my nav computer there is also a Hero Statue for me to destroy which was never mentioned before now. I'm used to time travel, but those portals were taking me everywhere except where they were supposed to. I would have tuned them up myself, but as I've mentioned before, I know nothing about magical transportation, only technical. I eventually find an unmarked chest which contained the Phoenix Orb. At least that's what my guess was since nothing actually clued me into this fact other than one less objective showing on my nav computer. The same goes for the Hero Statue, placed here for some unknown reason. But I did my duty and found yet another time travel artifact. Onto the next one!
Three Stars: Good.
Also I wanted to mention a bit of a wild goose chase, although an interesting diversion. Meet the Occams sent me to a neighborhood to rescue all of Occam's disciples from practically every enemy group near my level range. There were also a couple other stragglers mixed in for good measure, and we all ganged up to take out the leader of these Outsourced villains. Unfortunately, even with all of their help, we were unable to take out the Outsourcer and I was forced to leave them to their fate. It was of no mind to me once I realized there was no time events available here. I was led here by the promise of similarities to Mender Silos's taskforce, although the similarities were of the many allies nature and not the time travel nature. Alas, maybe next time.
Three Stars: Good.
Arc Name: A Stitch in Time....
Arc Id: 59925
Author: @Remnar
Morality: Heroic
Level Range 1-54: 5th Column
Played at: Level 11
My contact today is Montague Castanella who sends me back to 1954 in order to find out some information on a member named Gruber. Since it's a recent excursion in time, Montague warns not to seek out any of my family members. I will remember to stay away from any punch card computers of the time.
So, I seek out Gruber's personell file in one of the 5th column bases. Tucked in a safe in one of the corners is his personnel file with standard information, including his wife, Marie. Apparently, it's unusual to have personal information like that in a personnel file. It seems standard to me, but what do I know.
Next up, Montague wants me to go to Marie and tell her that she's married to a member of the 5th Column. Well, they're already there for some reason and holding her hostage. She is shocked by the revelation and vows to end the relationship. When I get back, Montague reveals that Marie is his mother, and keeping her away from Gruber keeps him in existance, though it's not mentioned anywhere who's trying to get rid of his existence, or how he's still talking when his existence is in question.
Finally, it's time to go after Gruber for some reason. He's hanging out at 5th Column headquarters and it's a simple enough job to take him out. I return to Montague and he thanks me for a job well done, though I'm not sure what I really accomplished. It feels like I changed history back to the way it should be, but I have no idea how it got changed in the first place. Or why Montague is sending me back when it's his existence I'm supposed to be saving. Just another trip back in time for me.
Three Stars: Good.
If you're still looking for a Lv10-14 arc, I have one. "The Horsemen Chronicles (Part 1)" Arc #195149
Play my MA arcs!
Tracking Down Jack Ketch - ArcID #2701
Cat War! - ArcID #2788
Arc Name: The Horsemen Chronicles (Part 1)
Arc Id: 195149
Author: @Citizen Razor 2
Morality: Heroic
Level Range 5-14: Vahzilok, Skulls, Outcasts, Hellions, Clockwork
Played at: Level 11-13
My contact today is Alpha, the leader of the Horsemen. According to him, there was a small window where there was an open connection to Praetorian Earth. Even though this sounds more like a problem with dimensional portals and not time portals, I decide to help him out... this time.
When I get to the source of the disturbance, I find a sewer full of Vahzilok, and a room full of dead bodies from the water department. And one of their IDs are missing. Suddenly, in pops someone named Omega who starts talking about five artifacts that he's searching for in this dimension. Unfortunately, he decides to teleport away on his own instead of letting the zig teleporters get him. I get the feeling I'll be seeing more of him later on.
Next up is a trip to Orenbega where some Skulls happen to be trying to get back one of their bandanas. There are a couple of other unimportant magical artifacts you find, and like I anticipated, you find Omega once again. And again, he teleports away.
Now I know what that Skull's thinking, did he fire 6 shots, or only 5?
Now Alpha is trying to get one step ahead of Omega instead of being one step behind him, so he finds out about a cave in the Hollows where some Outcasts are trying to dig up something. This time I do get there first and find a stone key made from the skin of a minion of Igneous. Omega's there, even though I don't have to, I try to beat some more information out of him before he leaves again.
Alpha thinks he has finally figured out the pattern to all of these seemingly random artifacts. Apparently, each one is tied to a superpower origin. And also, they are tied to important souvenirs on many hero's paths. But instead of going after the next artifact, Omega sends me a message saying that he wants the Stone Key back and he's taken hostages, including Sam Wincott. Who he get's a hero's medal of honor from.
Finally, we get to the finale where Omega is planning on using all of these origin specific souvenirs to open a stable portal to Praetoria and Tyrant's army. This time he's aided by the Clockwork. I'm in a large map looking for an etched Clockwork piece in several possible boxes with "oodles of doodads". One of which was in a very odd place. Finally, I find the correct part and now have to destroy some portal devices. The devices go and it's time to go after the Clockwork boss: Crackhammer. And then it's time for the final showdown with Omega, and this time Alpha has managed to jam his teleportation signal and send him to the Zig once and for all. Which in superhero terms probably means about five to ten weeks. Alpha congratulates me on a job well done, and is seemingly surprised that Omega is his own double. And now I'm off to look for more actual *time* anomalies.
Four Stars: Recommended!
Arc Name: Groundhog Daze
Arc Id: 3465
Author: @Grand Slam
Morality: Heroic
Level Range 1-54, 15-25, 5-15: custom
(and the dropping level range makes sense and is a nice touch)
Played at: Level 11-13
**Time Loop #2**
My contact today sends me on a job taking out an ineffectual criminal that is after some temporal artifact. His name is Punxsutawney Phil and he has a group of rodents following him. Once you get there, I find some scientist who lets me in on some information about a temporal generator that, if activated, could create a causality loop. Perfect, something I'm intimately familiar with. And when I get to it, of course it's been activated. I take out Punxsutawney Phil who "senses my temporal energy", which makes perfect sense, considering. Afterwards, he says he'll see me... before.
And now, I'm stuck in someone else's time loop. And, it's weakening me. Sounds like he's stealing my bit, he's going to have to pay for that. Well, at least it would be weakening me if I was at a higher power level to begin with. My contact also notes that Phil has increased in reputation to be considered my equal. Second time around and I don't find much more information, except that extended loops would eventually erase me from existence, but this is just a second go around. Third time is the charm as I use my speed and intelligence to get back before Phil this time. The scientist helps me out by giving me a temporal stabilizer to keep myself from getting weaker, and also to trap Phil. Quite a useful little gadget, might have to hang onto it myself afterwards. Since I'm there first, I can destroy the temporal generator before Phil gets a chance to use it once again, I defeat Phil, and when I get back to my contact he lets me know that they are destroying all of their research so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Since if Phil can cause such a ruckus as a minor player, imagine what would happen if a major player got their hands on it.
Four Stars: Recommended!
Arc Name: Temporal Anomalies - The Jamie Salladon Task Force, Part 1/2
Arc Id: 3962
Author: @Dyne
Morality: Heroic
Level Range 1-20, clockwork, custom
Description: The Clockwork are behaving even more oddly than normal, and a fellow hero asks you to check it out. Along the way, you start uncovering hints that something more dangerous is going on.
Played at: Level 14
Jamie Salladon, aka Usurper Dyne, asks me today to investigate some Clockwork acting oddly. They are digging up some clay for their King and have a girl named Ellie Wiggins hostage. Very unusual as Clockwork are usually interested in scrap metal rather than clay. Pressing on, and the clockwork have two more hostages who have psychic powers, but when I get there, they aren't clockwork, but clay warriors. Also to add to the strangness, the hostages refer to them as being normal clockwork, and one of the hostages *is* a Clockwork. Curiouser and curiouser.
(This is one of my favorite screens so far from this project, by the way)
When I return to Jamie, she has a big error message right in the middle of her sentence, but when I ask about it, she just ignores me and goes on with her speech. This time I'm after the lead kidnapper from the clockwork, named Heironymous. I also happen across someone who reminds me of Ellie Wiggins, named Heterodyne who was quite powerful and even took down Heironymous with no help at all from me. She says she comes from another world, and recognizes these clay minions as not being Clockwork. I return again to Jamie and another error message and she is suddenly interrupted and says she is the real Jamie and not just an AE simulation. Also that the clay warriors are from another world as well and somehow got into the AE interface, but the system couldn't handle them and treated them as Clockwork. This seemed odd to me, because I've seen many varied and unusual enemy groups that were handled just fine by the AE system.
Anyway, I'm sent to take out the leader of these Clay Warriors: the Golem King, who seems a perfect parrellel to the Clockwork King, only made of clay instead of metal. Also, Ellie was there to rescue once again, and keeps mentioning that she wants to join "No Supergroup". I'm not familiar with this concept, but it might make more sense to someone who was actually in a supergroup. This Golem King was quite powerful and his mental attacks scrambled my circuits so much that I could not do anything before being defeated. So, I had to procure help from a nearby blaster named Shock 23 who brough along his assault rifle and sundry gadgets. The Golem King was still quite powerful for us, but we were both determined and were able to succeed.
Yet another case of mistaken identity and confusion with the word "Temporal" which means "of time, or pertaining to time", which this mission did not in any way deal with time, merely dimensions. Hopefully I will not make the same mistakes with my future contacts.
Three Stars: Good.
Arc Name: Time and Time again. Act 1.
Author: @Ethan Black
Arc #:25314
Morality: Heroic
Level Range: 1-54, custom (good customs with no major problems @lvl 15)
Description: You are being called to investigate the strange temporal activity being registered all over the planet.
Played at: level 15
Today, I'm being contacted by random Crey Dr. who tells me about an assault on Atlas Park where a portal opened up and an organized group of military types came through an open portal and took over the city zone in short order, overwhelming any low level heroes who were there at the time. They must have picked a low farm zone, or all the high level heroes were too busy hanging out at the Architect Entertainment building to notice an assault on City Hall.
Anyway, I enter the Atlas Park warzone and have 30 minutes to destroy the ten temporal machines that they are using. Once again, let me shift into dictionary mode:
tem·po·ral (tem'per-el, tem'prel)
1. Of, relating to, or limited by time.
2. Of or relating to the material world; worldly.
This does not equate to temporal meaning: coming from or relating to another dimension. And the destruction of the first machine brings about the attention of a Guardian Longsword, although there are many Guardian Longswords about here and there, and they are only minor annoyances. I don't understand what makes this longsword so important. Scouring across the area, I find and destroy all of the machines and the errant Guardian Longsword with 3.45 minutes remaining. I return to the generic Dr. and lavish in his short praises and warning of other things that may soon come to pass.
Three Stars: Good.
I sadly don't have the arc number, but try out 'The Secret Origin of: Lil' Red Hood' by searching @Crasical. The arc is open to a wide level range, but it's mostly been tested near the upper end of the scale. Villainous arc.
Be most grateful if you played it.
Arc Name: Relativity Be Damned * Dev's Choice arc
Author: @Tragic Eight Ball
ID#: 177370
Morality: Heroic
Level Range: 5-54
Enemy Groups: CoT, Arachnos
Description: The father of modern physics is in danger - can you save him in a surprise battle across reality?
Played at: Level 16-17
My contact today is Dr. King, she's a little overzealous when it comes to physics and she has apparently found a way to cross the multiverse. That is to cross over into other realities where different choices have created very different realities. The one she wants to send me to is one where time has moved more slowly and they are at the equivilent of our year 1904. This is relevent because they also have their own version of Albert Einstein, the father of modern physics. Dr. King would like you to travel there, observe with the help of a device called a QuEST which will record all of the data that you observe.
Now, she tells me that while I'm there I will not be able to interact with anything, only observe. But of course, things go wrong immediately. First off, it seems a lot more modern than it should for 1904. Second, the people here seem to be able to see me. And third, those people are Arachnos and they are after Einstein for themselves. I'm still mindful of my first duty, to find some of Einstein's notes on his theory of relativity. But it seems that Arachnos have also found Einstein for themselves.
When I return, she seems confused and excited at the same time. She figures out that Arachnos are from our universe and now I need to go to their base and do a few things: Destroy their means of travelling the multiverse, Find out what data they have from the alternate universe, and some random destruction for good measure. Seems unusual for a supposedly heroic mission to destroy things just because. I guess it's good to destroy crates of random power armor parts. Sounds awfully brutish to me, but who am I to argue. From the arachnos computer, I find that they have a digital backup copy of Einstein's brain. But as I am able to determine that it is a backup copy and not the original copy, or maybe first copy, Dr. King tells me that I need to find that first copy and destroy it, but before I do, I need some help in the form of a mysterious contact from another reality. Unfortunately, this contact needs better directions because he ended up in a large cemetery brimming with Circle of Thorns. After 27 minutes and 36 seconds of scouring every tombstone and cross, looking under every Archer and through every Spectral Demon, I finally find Super Einstein, essentially. He is ready and willing to help me on this map to go... oh wait, there's nothing for him to help me with on this map, nevermind.
Finally, it's time to raid Arachnos's big base and take out their original mainframe full of data from their multiverse trip. Einstein goes on ahead of me, and we meet up there. Several floors full of Arachnos and not much else and I finally find this mainframe and destroy it, subtlety is obviously not Dr. King's best trait. I also wonder at my nav computer who tells me that by destroying some data, I'm apparently going to "Save the Day". But I dutifully destroy their computer and overhear that they have already completed their "Project E" which is Einstein downloaded into a suit of power armor. I guess I destroyed all of those crates full of power armor parts for no good reason after all. Their Einstein promises to bring on a bit of "E=MC PAIN!" but instead, my energy takes his mass down at the speed of 3.0x10^10 feet per second, square in the face.
Yet another round of time and space manipulations gone awry yet saved by my powerful heroics.
Three Stars: Good.
Pity, I expected better from something hand-picked by the developers. Instead I got a decently good story, with a few spelling mistakes and missing bios, basic objectives on very large maps with fairly little to do other than smash arachnos over and over, especially in the third and fourth missions. Until next time then.
Arc Name: Ctrl + Alt + Reset!
Author: @Bubbawheat
ID#: 137561
Morality: Neutral
Level Range: 15-30
Enemy Groups: Wyvern, custom boss, custom standard group
Description: Foreshadow sends you off to retrieve a dangerous temporal artifact. Guess what? It goes off and now you're stuck in a time loop and have to find a way out.
Played at: Various. It's my arc, I have to test changes, and what better character to use?
**Time Loop #3**
My contact today is Foreshadow, and he warns me about a temporal artifact that the Wyvern have confiscated from some random mad scientist which could be much more dangerous than the Wyvern are led to believe. That's where I come in. I have a striking familiarity with what's going on here, so I head straight over to Agent Marx who has the artifact with him. Aaah, I look so small at that age, really takes me back. I remember it well, I had already been activated at the lab and taken the agents here through several loops, and now it's time for a few more.
Agent Marx
I'm back with Foreshadow who doesn't remember me doing his first mission because I've sent myself back in time. Or rather, the small, young, artifact version of me that I took from Marx has sent the current version of me back in time to when I accepted Foreshadow's mission the first time. And Foreshadow blows off my objections and sends me right back to the Wyvern's nest. The computer has information that I bypassed the first time since I was headed straight for Marx. The files on myself and my counterpart are password protected so I head right on over to Marx again to knock the codes out of him. I return with the younger version of myself, I grew up so fast back then, and enter the code into the computer before being reset back to Foreshadow once again.
Heading once more into the breach and I see all of the clutter thrown at me by my younger self to hide the presence of my counterpart and my undoing. I wisely ignore it all and head straight to Marx to get the rest of the information that I need. He quickly tells me about Steve who has the Time Splitter, the second artifact created by the same scientist who made me. I also grab my younger self who I can tell is almost ready to become mobile. And of course, shortly after I come into contact with him, I am once again at Foreshadow's feet ready for my final showdown with myself.
As my younger self has progressed far enough along in its evolution, the Wyvern that had originally confiscated him are either dead, or have mutated into something new. Nobody said time loops were perfect. I find Steve, who is unchanged so far, though he has lost some of his mind. Luckily, he hasn't lost the artifact that he was guarding and I can use it to... wait, why am I wanting to defeat myself again? The journey for time travel has brought me to an interesting quandry. Do I allow my younger self to succeed which would negate my current existence if I am still tied to this current timeline and not on a different temporal plane having traveled through time on a non-linear path? Or do I defeat my younger self, foiling my past plans, but keep events moving on their pre-destined path which leads to where I am right now? I decide to keep on my current path. Even though things didn't work out the way I expected them to, I am appreciative of how things actually turned out. But before I seek out my younger self once again, I pay a visit to Agent Marx once again to see if he fared any better than Steve, or the other former Wyvern here. I pass by a small contingent of untouched Wyvern who have defeated their former colleages in battle on my way to the back of the base where Marx is now accosted by the men who once fought alongside him. He has stronger willpower than Steve and retains his sanity as well as remembering me from previous loops, regards my prescence as a sign of hope and joins me in my mission to end this time loop.
My first battle with myself goes extremely smoothly, as I had been only newly mobile at that time. He sets up a quick loop for himself, but Marx and I soon find him again and defeat him almost as easily. Again, he does a quick loop, and again we find him. It's like looking into a mirror at this point, and even though he is not completely defeated yet as he falls to the ground, this is the form that I am able to salvage and continue on with my newfound career as a superpowered individual. I don't call myself a hero even though that was the checkmark I selected on the superpowered registration form, as I am merely on a search for objects and contacts where I can experience more time travel and grow stronger in my own power. If my contact sends me to save someone, I save someone. If my contact sends me to rob someone, I rob someone. It doesn't matter to me.
Mirror Match?
Back to the point, I find my younger self for the final time, although I could almost call it my older self, just depending on how you want to look at it. As I eventually became immobile and surrounded by mobile projections. Destroying him this time ends up being the last time and I return to Foreshadow successful, though a little disappointed. Anyway, onto the next adventure!
Does this suit make me look fat?
Though I may be self-involved enough to write an in-character review of my own story arc, I'm not self-involved enough to give it a rating and let everyone know whether I think my own arc is the greatest thing since sliced bread, or a piece of crap that still needs tons of work.
[ QUOTE ]
I sadly don't have the arc number, but try out 'The Secret Origin of: Lil' Red Hood' by searching @Crasical. The arc is open to a wide level range, but it's mostly been tested near the upper end of the scale. Villainous arc.
Be most grateful if you played it.
[/ QUOTE ]
Arc Name: The Secret Origin of: Lil' Red Hood
ID# 183480
Keywords: Custom Characters, Origin Story, Magic (I think custom characters generally refers to enemy groups and not hostages/allies which are the only customs in this arc)
Moraility: Villainous
Level Range: 5-40 (though Family currently have some spawning issues for heroes)
Description: Go back in time and help ensure that the villian known as Lil' Red Hood comes to be!
Played at: level 17-18
My contact is the Origin of Villains inside the pillar of Fire and Ice. It seems as if it is passing itself off as a villainous offshoot of Ouroboros, though Ouroboros is neither heroic or villainous as far as I know. But, the Origin of Villains tasks me to restore the correct origin of a specific villain named Lil' Red Hood. My first goal is to rescue a Family boss named Antonio. Unfortunately, when we get to the door, he doesn't want to leave without his second in command. We go to rescue him as well, but he doesn't appear to happy with me there and when we get to the exit he appears ready to attack. The origin informs me that he was so upset at what he felt was Antonio's betrayal that he kills him for the slight. For a villainous task, I'm surprised I wasn't told upfront that the eventual goal was Antonio's betrayal and death.
Anyway, next I am sent to a university basement where I am supposed to place an artifact of PURE UNADULTERATED EEEEVIL... sorry about that, I don't know what came over me. That is, to place an evil artifact in the university basement which is intended to corrupt the guardian of a young girl which will cause her to escape. The young girl that is, though pronoun confusion can be hard to understand sometimes. I'm warned that this escape will be quite dangerous and I should watch over the young girl, but she will eventually be safe. Unfortunately, I never did see the young girl in this mission, though I was visited by Twilight's Son. Apparently it is actually Ouroboros itself who was trying to alter this timeline in the first place. He warns me that I don't know what I'm doing by restoring a dangerous villain to power. But I know exactly what I'm doing, it's not like I'm doing this as a hero. I'm doing this on a villain's contract and am fully aware of the consequences. For some reason, Twilight's Son is surrounded by Hydra minions.
Now, after two missions worth of setup without any explanation, the pieces finally come together in this mission. Though I don't really see any reason why this information is kept from me until now. I would understand if this is done to try and trick me into completing this task, but from the beginning, I am fully aware that I'm trying to restore the origin of this villain, and I feel that the contact should be upfront from the very beginning. But that's just me. Anyway, the way the pieces fit together is Antonio is now a ghost - piece A, and the young girl - piece B - has run away into a Circle of Thorns ritual involving soul possession - piece C. So (Piece A + Piece B) x Piece C = Lil' Red Hood.
Finally, it's time for my payment. And that payment is in the form of a favor I will get by helping the newly restored Lil' Red Hood with a Family problem. Unfortunately, I was also having some problems with the Family who brought in their higher leveled muscle instead of the appropriate mobsters, but I prevailed in the end and even ended up getting revenge for Antonio from the beginning, even though it isn't really mentioned that way. But I am quickly thanked and sent on my way.
Three Stars: Good.
Arc Name: Time and Time Again
Author: @Terman8or
ID# 30138
Moraility: Neutral
Level Range: 1-54
Description: A time-travelling mad scientist? Or just a misunderstood time-looping kid with a cool suit?
be warned this is not for the timid. A group would be nice.
Played at: level 18
**Time Loop #4**
My contact today is an Ouroboros Caretaker with a major case of the stutters. My initial curiosity is how one can pull off the concept of a time loop when my information lists this as a one mission contract. I enter the base and find a group of unique robotic enemies with a variety of powers. Nothing too out of the ordinary, so I take them out. My nav bar is a little confusing, I'm supposed to rescue Temporal Ascended, do who knows what with another temporal ascended, and defeat all enemies. Nothing in the mission mentioned anything about rescuing any Temporal Ascended, but I believe it did mention defeating a Temporal Ascended.
So, after a while I first find the Temporal Ascended that needs to be rescued. He mentions explaining what's going on, but then decides he doesn't have time for it so we just move on. Shortly afterwards we find another Temporal Ascended, though this one is hostile. After a short while of beating on this second Temporal Ascended, he summons an ambush full of... Temporal Ascendeds. Even though they are lieutenants, they are quite powerful by themselves and I have a hard time even taking them out one at a time. A few trips to the hospital and they are mostly cleared out. I decide to inspire myself to take out the lead Temporal Ascended as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, my luck is not with me and I am taken out a hair's breadth from victory. And with a room filled with overpowered lieutenants, there is no way I am able to take them out on my own.
Next, I finally take the original advice to bring a team with me. I am only able to recruit a couple willing victi-err, associates to join me in this task. Unfortunately, when attempting a difficult mission, bringing a couple friends raises the difficulty just as much as you are raising your firepower. It's not until you get a larger team, or an optimal team, that the team's accumulated power increases more than the increasing difficulty of the mission. So, I have to leave this mission uncompleted. Pity, it was rather amusing aside from the ambushes that were more difficult than the boss itself.
Uncompleted = Unrated.
I've been trying to come up with a new spin on reviews, my short arcs QPQ reviews thread has been dying off, my weekly reviews hasn't had much interest yet, and I recently made a new character inspired by my time loop arc who plans on playing through only arcs with some time-travelling element to them. I will be writing semi-reviews in-character here. It won't be so much of a critique, as a short synopsis of the plot, how my character reacts and comments. The voice of the character may change a bit as he gets more fleshed out.
If you have an arc you'd like me to play, *please* keep in mind Time Shifter's level as I will not jump level ranges more than 5 or so levels. I also tend to play solo, so warn of any difficult bosses so I can try to form a team for it. He is currently a level 5 Grav/Kin controller, but I'm not worried about morality. He's in the arc as a villain, but I liked this combination of powers better to play. He will probably go rogue if he's still in my interest when that's available.
I prefer PMs for arc submissions, and I will also be searching on my own for arcs. Again, keep in mind my level range, I'm currently only looking for low level arcs.