CoHMR Aggregator (a review thread)

GlaziusF · 05-28-2009 09:06 PM

Okay, so this thread is going to serve to aggregate the stuff I play based on finding it on www.cohmissionreview.com (CoHMR). If you've read this post before, please take the time to read it again carefully, as some options have recently changed.

Here's how you get in on this:

1) Decide if you'd like a rating on a finished arc or feedback on an arc still in development.

To get a rating on a finished arc:

2) (optional) Start a thread in the forums about your arc.
3) Post your arc on CoHMR.
4) Once your arc shows up on CoHMR (it may take a little time) post in this thread telling me you want a review. Just the arc ID or "the arc in my sig" is fine.
5) Wait!
6) [optional] If you've been waiting a while -- like, a week a while -- contact the site admin per the site FAQ here. Missions need a human to push a button before they show up, and unlike computers humans do many other things than maintain a website.

To get feedback on an arc still in development:

2) Post the arc ID in this thread, along with whether you'd like your feedback public or private.
3) Wait! And if you're looking for a star rating, prepare to be disappointed - I'll offer feedback in the relevant areas, but I only rate things when they're done. If you'd like you can ask for a rating when you've finished things up.

Here's what I do:

1) (mostly) every night, choose one arc randomly from the extant ones in this thread. Fridays are generally right out.
2) Play the arc and write down stream-of-consciousness commentary. If you want a particular AT playing it I'll be happy to oblige, as long as it's not an epic. I don't have any very high up epic characters yet.
2a) Stream-of-consciousness means I write down anything I consider significant. I may go back and flesh it out, I may leave it lie. Since most of this is intended for the author I will generally not go into detail about the plot of the mission or the specific circumstances. It seems a bit silly to me to tell you about your own arc.
3) Post the commentary on CoHMR, and in your thread if you have one or in this thread if you don't.
4) Pick random arcs from CoHMR and repeat, to fill out the night. Any arc with no noted forum thread gets posted in this one.
5) Create a summary post linking to the CoHMR entries for the missions I played. Any random arc I've already rated will just go in the summary with the rating.

Here's how I rate:

I can't get a team together who'll put up with me taking notes, so I run alone. I'll run your arc with a level-appropriate character, at a difficulty where I find a comfortable challenge in arbitrary paper or tip missions, including the bank run or merit mission. I can't guarantee this will always be a fair judge for arc difficulty or pacing but it should come close.

I read everything. EVERYTHING. Contact text including bug text; HUD mission summary and objectives; clues; descriptions of bosses, custom enemies, and destroyable/defendable objects; interaction text, including interruption, with glowies; souvenirs. I play any arc not explicitly noted as being for teams, since I can't get together a team who'll put up with me wanting to click everything, read everything, and take notes.

The ratings come some time after the stream of consciousness stops. I try to grade "for a B average". Think of 4 stars as "good, but doesn't really grab me". Most of the time this is because of some incidental imperfection, but sometimes it just happens. It's entirely possible that I can rate an arc 4 stars but have no idea how to improve things. I don't believe it's happened yet, but it's possible.

Regardless of star rating, your arc gets voted 5 in-game. The "real" rating will show up both in this thread and on CoHMR, but I'm of the opinion that the problems of one little reviewer don't amount to a hill o' beans in this crazy world, so I may as well be generous.

CoHMR breaks a mission down into four components: Storyline, Design, Gameplay, and Detail. Really there aren't any hard boundaries between the four, but some pairs are more tightly coupled than others. I'll try to keep comments, explanations of the ratings, and similar things restricted to an appropriate section, but no promises. Here's how I break 'em down.

Storyline/Detail - How interested does the contact dialogue and other text get me in seeing things through to the end? How well do I buy the story the mission's trying to sell?

Storyline - The overall shape of the story and the ideas therein. Can I see an overall shape? Do the parts work well together or do they conflict with one another? With game canon as a whole, assuming they set themselves up in the game world? I can be interested in simple things and complex ones, and I'll try to give a fair shake to twisty plots and unconventional methods of storytelling. But if your story's trying to be hard to hold on to, it had better try hard to make me want to hold on.

Detail - When I look at something, do I see what I expect? And if I don't see what I expect, does that mean something? Do briefings and debriefings address what I did in the mission? Are custom enemies and other targetable objects described appropriately? Do clues make sense? If the story is trying to establish a tone, do the briefings and dialogues agree with it or not? And I'll say it again: if I don't see what I expect, does that mean something?

Storyline/Detail Interaction - Generally, storyline and detail track with each other. Good ideas presented poorly are harder to understand. Bad ideas presented well can have some of their faults forgiven. Storyline and detail will generally share a rating. When storyline is higher than detail, the ideas presented in the storyline were for the most part engaging but something about the presentation prevented me from getting fully involved. When detail is higher than storyline, the ideas were presented well but they just didn't work together.

Design/Gameplay - How much does my experience inside the Mission Architect keep me interested in playing? How well does what I actually did match up with what I was supposed to be doing?

Design - How well does what I see and do match up with what the storyline is telling me I'm seeing and doing? Do I have to destroy something the story tells me to protect? Can I buy that the environment is what the story says it is? Do I believe the enemies I'm fighting are what the story says they are? I'm willing to forgive the limitations of the Architect, but it's still on the shoulders of every author to do what they can despite the limitations. If there are large factions of custom enemies, how well can I tell them apart from one another? Do they all look and act (powers-wise) like what they're described to be? Using the tools of the Mission Architect to put more features in a mission than just the required goals can go a long way toward making a mission feel like what you want it to feel like, rather than an empty box full of objectives.

Gameplay - This is a combination of frustration and disappointment, or rather, avoiding both of them. Do I spend a lot of time running back from the hospital because the custom enemies wrecked me, or staring at a wall waiting for Elude or a similar power to wear off? Do I have to hunt around a map for many empty minutes trying to find the things I need to do to complete the mission? Contrarily, do I get all fired up to go carve a swath of destruction through an enemy base or overland area in search of something, only to find it right in the first room/in plain sight of the entrance?

Design/Gameplay Interaction - These two features also tend to track well with each other, but more often gameplay will end up higher than design, just because CoH is fun to play all on its own. In the rare cases where it doesn't, it's likely because the mission's objectives made sense considering the storyline but actually accomplishing them was like headbutting a brick wall.

Overall - Usually this ends up around the average of all four components. But in some cases, especially when the rating for one component or pair is unusually low, they don't all contribute equally to my overall impression of the mission.

TeChameleon · 05-28-2009 09:36 PM

Hmm... well, being the review wh... hound that I am, I'll set my first arc upon the bonfire:

Small Fears (#12285). It's up on CoHMR, and there's a thread for it... uhm, I think. I posted it, it dropped into oblivion, and I haven't seen it since. I'll pull it up in a minute, just want to get this up now.

EDIT: Here it is.

"A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head." Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates

MA Arcs: #12285, "Small Fears", #106553, "Trollbane", #12669, "How to Survive a Robot Uprising"

GlaziusF · 05-28-2009 11:12 PM

Clave_Dark_5 · 05-29-2009 02:56 AM

My two arcs in my sig are your next victims! Both have 25+ plays and are sitting at 4 stars. The first one's the better of the two, but the second one's not chopped liver I think. My thread for the first one seems to have been deleted by now, but the thread for the second is here. However I haven't yet listed that arc on the other site. o.o;

Wrong_Number · 05-29-2009 04:37 AM

I would be happy with you reviewing any of my arcs in my sig. Trademark is a one shot, Disco is a two shot (my fave) and Blappy is a four parter.

WN

Check out one of my most recent arcs:
457506 - A Very Special Episode - An abandoned TV, a missing kid's TV show host and more
416951 - The Ms. Manners Task Force - More wacky villains, Wannabes. things in poor taste
or one of my other arcs including two 2010 Player's Choice Winners and an2009 Official AE Awards Nominee for Best Original Story

Stalemate · 05-29-2009 06:20 AM

What a great offer!

I'm already planning on improving / expanding on my FREEM! arc so I'll only submit A Voyage Fantastic at this time. There is an ongoing thread for it here. The ID number is 81829.

The timing is perfect too, since I republished it just last night after a few minor changes.

█ Players Guide to the Cities

Shagster · 05-29-2009 10:04 PM

Glazuis, your feedback on my first arc (5909 Amazon-Avatars) was a great help to me, and helped me get thinking in new ways about it. I've made quite a few changes, I'd be interested in seeing what you think of the new version.

My other arc (#6143, "Escalation") has gotten some reviews, but could always use more, if you are interested.

Both arcs have some custom critters of above average difficulty, so beware.

Both arcs are posted on cohmissionreview.com and each has a discussion thread (listed in my sig)

I'm a published amateur comic book author: www.ericjohnsoncomics.com
******MA Arcs****
Arc 5909: "Amazon-Avatars"
Arc 6143: "Escalation" (Nominee: Architect Awards, Nominee: Player Awards, and Dev's Choice!)

LaserJesus · 05-30-2009 01:49 AM

Well, I've submitted all of my arcs to the site (though I think I may have accidentally left Rise of the Drakule's number of missions at 1. It should be 2.)

As soon as they are added to the site, feel free to go ahead and review them. For the 2 Drakule arcs, I suggest a strong solo AT if you're going to solo. Doesn't matter what, just as long as they're capable of taking down EBs solo, because they're going to need to. I also suggest something high level.

Most ATs should be able to handle Fighting Freedom. Some of them may need to run on heroic however.

Emansor · 05-30-2009 01:56 AM

131780

Rip it up like when you just can't open a Cheetos bag.

The fourth mission has an ally to help with the custom group and EB, if you need him.

GlaziusF · 05-30-2009 07:17 PM

Okay, one more thing to say: You can stick multiple arcs in your queue, but I won't do your arc as the leadoff for the night unless a week has passed since I did your last one. (It can still come up randomly, though.)

Tonight's leadoff: Death to Disco! (84420). Verdict: ***. Commentary on MA Forums thread.

Random CoHMR mission one: Childhood Horrors (5349). Verdict: ***. Commentary on MA Forums thread.
Random CoHMR mission two: Impossible Kung-Fu Mission (111367). Verdict: ****. Commentary on MA Forums thread. (old review)
Random CoHMR mission three: Technology Terror (54535). Verdict: ****. Commentary below in this thread.

TeChameleon · 05-30-2009 08:05 PM

Hey Glazius- if Small Fears is up anytime soon on your list, could you put it on hold please? I just discovered (via another review, agh!) that one of the recent patches buggered it up horribly, and I need to fix everything.

EDIT: I... think I've fixed everything. I'm starting to get very, very nervous every time a new patch comes out >.<

"A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head." Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates

MA Arcs: #12285, "Small Fears", #106553, "Trollbane", #12669, "How to Survive a Robot Uprising"

GlaziusF · 05-30-2009 11:25 PM

@GlaziusF

Running on a low-40s DB/fire brute on Diff 2. Mission Engineer aint gonna earn itself.

Stuff is jumping out of computer screens in the fine old cyber-movie tradition. The enemies look pretty evocative, especially the lieuts and bosses with their techno-shields. Couple minor points - consider a different model tech shield for either the boss or the lieutenant, and you have to give something Elec Manipulation if you want it to shoot red lightning.

Apparently the rise of Terrorbyte has begun. Computer viruses wreaking havoc in the real world, and they dont even need an EVIL SALVAGE FLIPPER to do so!

Mission 2 starts out with what seems like a repetition of the debrief text from Mission 1. I already know the virtunoids are popping out in police stations - maybe tell me whats special about this particular one?

Oh, a list of bank security codes!

Hmm.

Two lists of bank security codes - the safe opening and end-mission clues have the same title and talk about the same things.

The EBs escort hit me right after they spawned, but then spawns inside a police station tend to wrap around walls and suchlike.

Though Im not sure how a list of printouts necessarily means Terrorbyte already has the information. Maybe one of the Betas dot-matrix printed REDUNDANT INFORMATION on it with lightning scars, or something.

And now hes moved on to all the banks! I do kinda like the feeling that Im working in concert with a bunch of other people thanks to this multitasking hologram. Lets see whats inside this one.

A cargo ship and just kinda incidentally, a complete file wipe. Even though the mission conditions were to take out all enemies, Im guessing you marked the EBs escort as not required? They dont still count in the defeat all total that way, so.

Once again the mission complete clue tells me pretty much the same thing as the objective clue but with slightly different phrasing.

Hmm. Looks like this mission Im going on alone, to take on a ship full of advanced tech. The link from the past mission isnt exactly clear - I can buy a government office with a list of police station, and a police station with a list of banks, but why have information about a cargo ship on a bank computer? Unless its a ship the bank financed, then say that.

Nice model reuse for the ship captain, but his descriptions still showing General Zs description.

The boss in charge this time has Rage. Rage is pretty terrible. One-shot me even through fire armor. It becomes a matter of waiting for it to wear off.

Unstoppable, not so much. That I can power through. But Rage is a big game-breaker.

Once again the clue the boss drops and the mission clue say pretty much the same thing in the same way.

And the last mission is an assault on the central base, with another Terrorbot who, again, I wait out Rage on before engaging. Weirdly enough these guys are harder to drop than Terrorbyte proper.

And now I own the most dangerous computer chip IN THE WORLD.

Storyline - ****. That little bank-to-cargo ship hiccup was the weak link in an otherwise solid story. Sure, AIs coming out of computers and taking over human civilization is cliche by now, but so what?

Design - *****. Not that there was a lot of extra detail here, but the custom enemies had particularly eye-catching designs, and were color-coded while still very thematic.

Gameplay - ***. The ragebots are most of the reason for this. The rank and file of the custom group were nothing I couldnt handle, and I never had to go off scrounging for things to do to complete a mission.

Detail - **. but, I dont think there was a single bit of non-required text in the whole thing. Everything had default descriptions and default mission objective lists, even stuff that could have been grouped together like the various destructibles in Terrorbytes lair.

Overall - ****. This one gets rounded up. The story is simple but solid, the customs have a very nice visual design, but the SS EBs need to lose Rage and the missions themselves need a pass to populate description and HUD fields, and maybe trim out some redundant end-of-mission clues.

GlaziusF · 05-31-2009 05:43 PM

Another night, some other arcs.

Tonight's leadoff: The Day I Tried to Live (131780). Verdict: ***. Review on MA Forums thread.

Tonight's random CoHMR mission: The Night Has a Thousand Eyes (121455). Verdict - *****. Feedback left further down this thread.

GlaziusF · 05-31-2009 10:21 PM

@GlaziusF

Feedback from a low 40s DB/Fire brute, diff 2. Mission Engineer stubbornly refuses to earn itself.

---

...I get to be target practice. Oh boy oh boy.

Man, these guys are just a bunch of stooges.

Although, when you've "faked a plural" by giving single objectives the same plural text, you can't count on the single text to show up right. (Dr. Howard's the last one up but the HUD says I need to take out Dr. Fine.)

I like the visuals on the suits, though, and they're not too overpowering either. They even have autopilots in case the pilots get mentally compromised! Because automated combat systems never decide to wipe out humanity!

Actually, I don't know.

...oh, the lead project scientist has a dead wife. That's a harbinger of stability.

Ah, sorry. I guess late nights bring out my inner cynic.

---

Little typo in the briefing for number 2. "Meesenger" for "messenger". But it's never just a courier run.

I see how it is. Lull the hero into a false sense of security and then HAMMER HIM WITH TWIN BLAST SETS.

Seriously, nice work on the extra suits, though the Augmentors look a little too much like standard Arguses to tell apart at first glance.

Once again the wrong singular comes out of the plural.

---

Some ancient mystery of the past, hidden away in Eden, is the key to all this? Alright, I'm on board, I'm not bored. Let's chop some mushrooms.

Hmm. The objectives in the HUD look weird. Did you fill in any text for 'em?

Okay, so the dude loves his dead hot wife. ...and she's actually a slimebeast now? Or possibly a Malta Titan. Or a Rikti! Maybe a Carnie ring mistress? A Warwolf?

(I am making a subtle point that FREAKING EVERYTHING IN THIS GAME IS SOME KIND OF TRANSFORMED HUMAN BEING WHAT THE HELL)

Ah, that kind of transformed human. Okay.

---

Oh, the Augmentors are kinda purply now that they're in good light. Needs to be a couple shades lighter I think.

Hmm. Tenements are more row-housey and less warehousey. You might have gotten away with an abandoned office or something here.

Nice seeing these knuckleheads again, though.

---

And now it's time to stick a blade in a crazy man's head.

Or words to that effect, anyway.

Hmm. Eliza still has C'Kelkah's default description and there's no special text for getting her out.

Hmmmmm. She sticks around, and Doc Walter shows up right by the door and mows down my following help. Well, half of it, anyway. The fight's nice, with a couple (apparently) unannounced ARGUS ambushes, a final announced one, and some Rikti reinforcements.

And Eliza is just kind of standing there, watching, unhittable, all this time. I'm thinking something might have gone wrong there.

---

Storyline - *****. Crisp, clear, nicely self-contained. Only one problem - did the doctor recently head into his old base and write down the truth about Eliza, or was that sitting around for a while? It seems like the kind of thing Sister Psyche would pick up on.

Design - ****. A little weirdness on the map choice for mission 4, that odd color tinting on the Augmentor that doesn't show up distinguishably in some lighting conditions, two silent waves of reinforcements in the final showdown, and Eliza's weird clingy spectator behavior. But everything else was quite solid, especially the design of the customs.

Gameplay - *****. The Argus suits were definitely hard but not unmanageable, though they got a lot tougher after the first mission. DIdn't have much trouble finding my way through the missions or figuring out what to do, either. Solid playing.

Detail - ****. The incidental scientists are great, but there are a few too many objectives with just their default HUD text and a little unevenness in the singulars of early plural objectives.

Overall - *****. This one gets rounded up. The story's good, if predictable, the customs are visually distinctive and generally distinguishable, and it just needs a little polish to get 5s across the board.

GlaziusF · 06-01-2009 09:33 PM

Tonight's missions!

The leadoff for tonight: Amazon Avatars (5909). Verdict - ****. Commentary on MA Forums thread.

Tonight's first random arc: Heroes No More? (36861). Verdict - *****. Unfortunately this is an old rating that I think carried over from test and the thread has fallen off the forums.
Tonight's second random arc: Rise of the Drakule (51357). Verdict - ****. Commentary below in this thread.

Bubbawheat · 06-01-2009 10:30 PM

I always appreciate good feedback on my arcs. I feel both are pretty well polished, but I feel they are never really finished.

Time Loop

Matchstick Women

GlaziusF · 06-01-2009 10:35 PM

@GlaziusF

Running this on a low-40s DB/fire brute, diff 2 so bosses is bosses. Let's see how it handles.

---

So... this Drakule. Is he from Double Hell, or Scarytown? Because I don't think I'm ready for Scarytown.

Opening contact dialogue: thoroughly earnestly hilarious.

Anyway. Into the cloughb. Hmm. The human minions could stand to be just "people with an unhealthy obsession with black leather" or somesuch instead of calling out a subculture.

Also you really need to find some way to give the ninja dudebro a popped collar. I don't care if he's wearing spandex long johns, he needs a popped collar.

The actual boss is not much trouble since I keep a couple break frees sitting around for MA missions, and Mind is the short-duration kind of confuse. Also, nice use of those parts from the magic pack. Tiny pink wings EVERYWHERE. Crazy.

Also also, striking visual design on the flaming guys. Crouched over or even standing up they manage to look nonhuman despite using the same mesh.

---

It seems my contact is a machine, whose only two speeds are "walk" and "kill Drakule".

Ah, burning Oranbega. This does nicely as a demon castle.

...though the brides of Drakule seem to have come from an alternate dimension where this is a thoroughly serious story and there are no such concerns as attempting to update one's wardrobe after centuries of sleep or cleaning up the kitchen after a failed batch of hemoblood decides to start sliming out and devouring spawn or similar amusing castellan pastimes.

And the Castlevania bit coming from Drakule himself is one spot of parody in what seems like an otherwise serious boss fight.

---

Storyline - ****. I was having fun laughing at how pretentious and overwrought everything was until the tail end of the second mission, when it suddenly became just, uh, tentious and wrought, I guess? That sudden tone shift was the only dark spot.

Design - *****. Very well-thought-out visuals on the custom enemies, and the maps are serviceable as well. I would have liked to see more random chatter in the castle, though.

Gameplay - *****. Drakule kicked my [censored], mostly because I'd run low on inspirations fighting the brides. With a normal loadout he went down readily enough. But dying once to the final boss isn't exactly unreasonable.

Detail - ***. The fight dialogues and descriptions of Drakule's Brides and Drakule himself are a lot more pedestrian then the rest of the arc, which is lightly comedic. They just sort of put the brakes on the good mood that was buoying me along. If they get a little humor in 'em, well...

Overall - ****. But it could easily have been 5s across the board if the last mission kept the light tone up all the way through.

LaserJesus · 06-01-2009 10:52 PM

You know, I actually have been feeling that way about the final mission myself lately, especially after writing the second one and making a third one. I probably should go through and add a little more pep to the last mission.

The second one is definitely more lighthearted through the whole thing. Well, I guess it depends on how twisted your sense of humor is. I've had some people tell me the ending of the last one was kind of a tearjerker, even though I thought it was twisted comedy. Hmm. I wonder what that says about me.

Thanks for the review and the feedback!

GlaziusF · 06-02-2009 09:03 PM

Another night passes, more arcs run.

Tonight's lead-off: A Voyage Fantastic (81829). Verdict: ***. Feedback on MA Forums thread.

Tonight's random mission from CoHMR: A Grave Undertaking (120646). Verdict: **. Feedback below in this thread.

GlaziusF · 06-02-2009 10:31 PM

@GlaziusF

Running this on a low 40s DB/Fire brute, on diff 2, so bosses is bosses. Mission Engineer ain't gonna earn itself, after all.

---

"Shady" characters, not "shaddy".

It's rather tough for a hero to get over to Mercy Island in the first place, given the rather dim view Arachnos takes of trespassers.

And... 5th? What? Why? If he's looking for mercenaries the Council would probably do just as well and also not canonically be in deep cover hiding.

Uh, you don't get to tell me I'm shuddering, clue. It's fine to just say "he must have been some kind of simulacrum. What's the real thing like?"

---

Okay, she's got a fangirl crush on some kind of professional magician. I'm sure he won't turn out to ironically be the mastermind here.

Huh, he's actually in the mission. Reading a newspaper in the middle of a crowd. Okay, guy. Apparently I need to get you out of here alive (why, exactly?) so out you go so I don't get failed because an ambush spawns.

...and you're following me around anyway. Uh, okay, I guess? Fire/mental is a bit of overkill but I ain't complaining.

When you complete any single objective that has multiples, the clue and system text for completion will show up. So they shouldn't imply that you're done.

Sure, plucky girl reporter. Your crush isn't a zombie. Don't let me stop you from drooling on your signed photos, there. Never mind that apparently this stuff doesn't work on the living.

---

...uh. Okay, the mission's called "diversion", and it's assumed that the key I picked up is for one of the many branches of the 22nd National that's being robbed.

Somehow I don't think I'm going to find anything useful here, but oh well.

And all I get is a newspaper about a crackdown on villain groups in Europe and a little lecture about how beating the boss all but assures the next step in the plan will work.

Whatever, guy. I didn't really see too many alternatives to swording you into a fine red paste.

Can the contact at least acknowledge that the guy who's being held hostage is the same guy in the paper?

---

You know, if the police band is going nuts about the ambassador's kidnapping, maybe they're also going nuts about the zombies?

It wouldn't hurt for that clue from Jarst to be an actual explanation from him of what's going on.

Hmm. Looks like you got some stuff scrambled in the battle dialogue. PPD/Undead saying some PPD stuff, and then PPD/undead both doing zombie moans.

Bombs should be defused. If they diffuse, it's rather bad.

All the bombs seem to be clumped up together at the end. Is that deliberate?

Hmm. Ambushes can contain the Gateway lieutenants, who are definitely not zombies. Not sure what to tell you about dialogue in that case, though.

...what do you mean this was a hollow victory, exit text? Losing one guy and saving several city blocks from being zombie slaves sounds like a pretty good deal in the end.

---

Storyline - ***. I don't much like being told how I react to things. Aside from that, the justifications for hitting the warehouse and then the bank seem a bit weak. Maybe in the pile of simulacrum dust Graves leaves behind there's a more tangible link to the warehouse - same with the key and the specific branch of the bank.

Design - **: Having the 5th Column say that they're just placeholders doesn't excuse them just being placeholders. Aside from that the map choices and custom enemy designs are pretty reasonable, though Gateway could stand with a little more than one minion and one lieutenant. I have no idea why you escort the magician to the entrance in the second mission if he's just going to follow you around anyway, though.

Gameplay - ****. It runs smooth, aside from that meaningless escort bit.

Detail - *. A lot of problems here. Objectives and interaction text that don't start with capital letters, typos and word confusions, the souvenir giving the contact's name a couple of different spellings... it really, really needs another pass.

Overall - **. The idea's alright, the customs are reasonable, but the missions need more of a link between them, and the text really needs a pass to correct errors.

MrCaptainMan · 06-03-2009 12:11 AM

QR - I'd be pleased if you'd play and review my arc The Echo, Arc ID 1688.

I'd prefer you to run it on a highish-level damage-dealing Hero if you can. Whatever AT you choose, I'd very much prefer you NOT use a Brute. I feel that the final mission especially works best witha more measured approach than a Brute's playstyle encourages.

I was prompted to submit this to you by your statement that you read all the text etc. I hope you enjoy it.

Eco.

EDIT: if you do review it, could you possibly avoid spoiling the ending?

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:

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."

GlaziusF · 06-03-2009 08:39 AM

Okay. If/when it comes up I'll send any suggestions on revamping the ending to you via PM. Got a thread for it?

Stalemate · 06-03-2009 10:18 AM

Thanks for running my arc!

If you don't mind I'll reply to your extensive review here - it'll just be a few comments.

[ QUOTE ]
... I get a captive who insta-rescues on mission entrance?

[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
... The bacteriophage is killing its own guards with the AOE pulse aura and embedding them in the walls to boot. One gets stuck and I just kinda wait for it to get pulsed to death.

[/ QUOTE ]

Former is working as intended. It's just a wink really, added last week based on player feedback. But perhaps some critters to defeat here could work too.

Latter is an issue I've seen happen only once before, and been reported once again by another player. No idea how come the captive is fighting the mobs on its own before you get there.

[ QUOTE ]
... The ambush that shows up at 1/4 health mentions giving him clearance to retreat, except he just kinda hangs around still. Any reason he can't do a runner? There's a lot of terrain to catch him in.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll check that. He should be running, as you suggest here. Thanks for spotting it. Failing the 2nd mission introduces even more berating by the contact.

[ QUOTE ]
Storyline - *. So I get shoved into questionable orifices by someone who won't give me the time of day and proceeds to take all the credit. That's bad enough as it is, but the end boss is really just a shaggy dog story.

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This here is probably the rating killer for you.

The contact's personality just appeared as I was working on the arc, and I thought it was original enough to leave it abrasive, obnoxious, pompous. It's quite OK that not everyone likes this approach and I expected it.

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Design - ****. Good reskinning of the existing groups to serve as adversaries. I was expecting some destructibles in the last mission representing the emitters that were spurring sentience or something.

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Items fall out of the map geometry consistently on the 2nd map I used, so they can't be used as mission objectives in this one. Plopping them in as optional didn't make any sense plot-wise to me, so out they went.

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Gameplay - ***. Getting some guys stuck in the wall in the first mission and running around a half-empty map for the second are the major complaints I have here.

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Can't be helped, unfortunately, as explained above. I'm sorry the ingame mechanics and / or bugs influenced your appreciation here.

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Overall - ***. Most of this is because the story treats me like an afterthought and ends with a completely unnecessary cliche. Without that it'd be 4-star territory and would need some map reworking to get up to 5.

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I'm a bit disappointed with the rating, to be truthful, since this has been getting consistent 4s and 5s, with some players even telling me it's their favorite arc, but I'm aware that this is no great masterpiece.

This took me 30 min. to write up originally, and it was (then) at under 13% resource use. I guess a *** is quite all right, in retrospect.

But besides the contact's personality and map choices (which have to stay or else the story loses even more immersion), there's always room for improvement.

Thanks for taking the time not only to play, but to extensively write up this arc. Much appreciated.

█ Players Guide to the Cities

GlaziusF · 06-03-2009 04:56 PM

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Latter is an issue I've seen happen only once before, and been reported once again by another player. No idea how come the captive is fighting the mobs on its own before you get there.

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The push explosion is a toggle aura. Allies (including captives/escorts, who are effectively a special kind of ally) will run toggles, including PBAoE damage powers, and certain powersets can kill their own captors, who will just stand around and wait to die.

GlaziusF · 06-03-2009 06:49 PM

These are tonight's arcs.

Tonight's leadoff: Matchstick Women (3369). Verdict: ****. Feedback left on MA Forums Thread.

Tonight's first random arc: Becky's Revenge (60197). Verdict: *****. (old review) It's, like, short but totally fun?
Tonight's second random arc: Parts Unknown (78964). Verdict: Still bugged - not unstartably so but unplayably so. Hasty patches tend to do this. Will return to the mission once it's fixed and tested.
Tonight's third random arc: Red Scare (77395). Verdict: ***. Review below in this thread.
(Tonight's not-fourth random arc: CoHMR shows me Becky's Revenge again. Is it trying to tell me something?)