CoHMR Aggregator (a review thread)

Tonight's arc: Until the End of the World (431270). Verdict - ****. Review in MA Forums Thread.

My current queue:

• The remaining Galactic Protectorate arcs: 03 (174352), 04 (269714), 05 (304290), 06 (355068), starting no earlier than August 4th.
• A review of Evolve Or Die (411446).
• A review of the Tales of Cimerora, From Tartarus with Love (292389), starting no earlier than August 10th.
• A review of The Greater Good (vigilante version) (395861).
• A review of The Soul Hunter (294431).

Tonight's arc: Galactic Protectorate - 03 (174352), Verdict - **. Review in MA Forums Thread.

My current queue:

• The remaining Galactic Protectorate arcs: 04 (269714), 05 (304290), 06 (355068), starting no earlier than August 18th.
• A review of Evolve Or Die (411446).
• A review of the Tales of Cimerora, From Tartarus with Love (292389), starting no earlier than August 10th.
• A review of The Greater Good (vigilante version) (395861).
• A review of The Soul Hunter (294431).

Tonight's arc: Evolve Or Die (411446)., Verdict - *****. Review lower in this thread.

My current queue:

• The remaining Galactic Protectorate arcs: 04 (269714), 05 (304290), 06 (355068), starting no earlier than August 18th.
• A review of the Tales of Cimerora, From Tartarus with Love (292389), starting no earlier than August 10th.
• A review of The Greater Good (vigilante version) (395861).
• A review of The Soul Hunter (294431).

@GlaziusF

Running this on a high 30s ice/sound controller, +1/x1 with bosses on.

---

Frostfire’s intro mentions how the conditions of his parole prevent him from “running around arresting people like you”. That should probably be “running around arresting people, like you,” to avoid confusion.

But alright, let’s see what’s going on here at the Boomtown construction site. ...wait, there were a lot of Outcast hangouts in Boomtown. That’s gonna be a slap in the face.

It’s under attack by 5th. Casual chatter seems to reveal a pronounced anti-mutant bias, both among the supervisors and the attacking 5th. There’s some clever trickery with the navbar, but unfortunately the boss spawns behind a crumbled concrete barrier and I sweep the place clean before the map takes pity on me and shows me where he is.

Apparently the 5th make regular raids here as part of their rebuilding projects. Lovely.

Frostfire is a real powerhouse, though, unless you’ve whipped him up as a custom fire control/cold dom guy, in which case he’s still a real powerhouse but for different reasons.

---

Next up, take the base out. Looks like there’s a defeat all on, but it’s a small base so that’s alright (though a vampyr gets stuck behind a fuel tank and I have to head back for it).

According to the records here, looks like the Outcasts are consolidating their power base and somebody’s poaching the Lost.

More anti-mutant sentiment. I never remembered the 5th being big on that, but it does fit the comic book nature of mutants, and as the Johnny-come-latelies to the big power buffet I can see why an old established group like the 5th might hate them with the burning passion of a thousand suns.

---

Looks like Frostfire’s headed off to save the Lost. I kinda wonder why he’s so eager to go back into prison, given that I’m going to have to justify his trail of destruction.

I thought he was wearing a tracking bracelet or something?

Anyhow, looks like it’s Crey rounding up the Lost. ...and Frostfire. Well, I guess now we know where to find him at least.

Well, now to look for the Rikti leader, who calls in bombs and spawns patrols and forces me to run for the exit past all of them.

Shame the bombs can’t actually be the proxy kind that blow up when you get near them, but otherwise well done.

Can’t worry about what exactly the Rikti are up to now, my charge has got his fool self kidnapped.

---

Oh. Or, according to the cell, he’s gone berserk.

Wonder if that’s a split personality talking or what, exactly?

Anyway, some prototype Protectors are running black ops all over this place. Better find some evidence...

...what? It’s all in the first room? That can’t be right.

Well, inspecting the clues it does seem as though “I decide” that chasing Frostfire is more important than combine the glowing rubble.

I head down to the bottom anyway, and find a slightly amusing boss fight but no other information.

---

Well, Frostfire seems to be reading a prepared text.

Or maybe an old Chris Claremont comic.

Apparently there was some other sort of mutant supremacy group that’s fed the Outcasts’ ranks. The new suits are pretty impressive too.

Anyway, I take out some bombs, rescue some confused captives, pick up one hero, then decide to head for the same place I found the boss in the initial construction map, and damn if Frostfire isn’t there.

He reveals that he found faith in himself as the new messiah of **** Superior. And the arc ends with whoever opened his eyes still out there controlling the New Outcasts.

At least until they hijack that rocket they’re building in the north end of Steel Canyon and jet off to Asteroid O.

---

Storyline - *****. Solid use of investigations for foreshadowing and a story that resolves its initial issues and credibly sets up for later action.

Design - *****. Great work with map choice and clever use of objectives and text to fake missions that change “on contact with the enemy”. The Neo-Outcasts’ design is a clear outgrowth of their old one and just as individually distinctive.

Gameplay - ****. I realize it’s story-appropriate, but the construction site map is a bit of a pain to navigate and operate on, since it can (and, for me, did) scatter appropriate objectives across Z-levels -- in addition to that odd little tucked away boss corner. Aside from that, the power selections on the customs were reasonable and there was generally lots of available help when I needed it.

Detail - ****. Generally very good work, even with the incidentals, making the maps seem alive and foreshadowing major plot developments. Just a couple little tics here.

First is the Crey mission. The closing paragraph of the “mission summary” clue seems to indicate that there might be some benefit to investigating deeper into the lab, but I really didn’t find anything in the depths except for a boss fight that didn’t drop any clues or say anything plot-relevant. Maybe it’s just my mistaken impression of the wrapup clue, but it might stand to be rewritten all the same.

Second is the rather monolithic NPC regard of mutants in the arc, except for the mutant hero assists in the last map. “Mutie” is kind of a charged term for me given its use in X-Men, and Paragon City may not quite have the history that the Marvel Universe has, but NPCs at the construction site and from the Crey and 5th and the New Outcasts all treat mutants as some kind of collective.

Mutants don’t all have the X-Gene in this continuity. They are the most idiosyncractic of the power origins, with the limited amount of information available suggesting that no two mutants work alike. There isn’t some unified mutant power framework, except in the context of a unified framework for all superpowers.

Honestly, this is probably just a personal quibble. I can definitely see what you were gunning for with this arc and it’s certainly something that’s done for mutants in comics.

Overall - *****. Overall my quibbles are personal and minor. This is a well-plotted, well-designed arc that takes the task of adapting a low-level enemy group to be high-level players and hits it out of the park. I certainly wouldn’t mind a sequel.

Tonight's arc: The Soul Hunter (294431). Verdict - ****. Review lower in this thread.

My current queue:

• The remaining Galactic Protectorate arcs: 04 (269714), 05 (304290), 06 (355068), starting no earlier than August 18th.
• A review of the Tales of Cimerora, From Tartarus with Love (292389), starting no earlier than August 10th.
• A review of The Greater Good (vigilante version) (395861).

@GlaziusF

Inspecting the arc, it looks like Neutral morality and suitable for a high-40s DBlade/Fire brute (unfortunately not fully adapted for the new fire armor), +1/x2 with bosses on.

----

Oh hey, it’s Crash. Who mentions Sharkhead.

So this should be a villainous arc? Maybe a rogue one?

The language Crash is using here sounds very stilted and formal, which doesn’t suit her well at all, but then again she’s been possessed before too.

So the place is full of Black Swan Shadows with other names, whose text suggests that they’re out getting delicious souls. I find a thunder statue and a fire statue, and Crash’s friend who suggests there’s still a survivor.

Survivor found and led out, though the map is small and that’s not a bother. She hints at meeting us again.

Well, whatever. Crash is still determined to go her own way, even after that weirdness.

----

Except she can’t work out the statues, so she asks me to take ‘em to Bocor. (her briefing calls me a superhero now?)

At least it’s not the traditional Rogue Isles method of researching, that is, giving the Legacy Chain a giant swirlie until they cough up the info.

Mr. Bocor and his cadre of recolored CoT, Diabolique Wraiths, and Storm Elementals have some trials for me. Step 1: pop Bocor free. Step 2: recover some books. (typo in complete text, should be “ancient”)

There are some distracto-books, but they’re labeled as “wrong books” and should probably be called something else. You can pull the old capital I lowercase l confusion with “book collection”.

And now, MORTAL KOMBAT! ...with a mini-me. Necro-pain, looks like. He says to keep going when he drops, but the objective doesn’t complete until I defeat his guard that have spawned around a bend.

One more quick hostage pop and we’re done. Not bad overall. Very hoop-jumpy in a good sense, gives you the impression you’re just being toyed with, as do his final words about Crash.

----

God-dialers. Well, I’ve seen weirder. This is adopting a sort of parodic tone, kind of on par with Asterix. Not that this is bad.

Anyway, the character from the first mission recurs again, and apparently the monoliths like the one I found in the Cage warehouse are connections to some alternate dimension, where gods and demons are the heroes and villains.

Crash is eager to push the big shiny black candy-like buttons, and really, who could blame her?

----

So! Spawning some boss fights.

Er, calling some “gods”.

Actually it doesn’t appear to be doing boss fights. Wonderful! But Bocor warns that the first god that answered is actually extraordinarily malicious, and she seems to have gotten the Banished Pantheon to be a decaying-meat wall.

Hammer/storm and a fire/devices (?) custom boss. Not bad, though there’s some running around trying to find both of them.

----

And now to take down the soul hunter, in some snake-type caves. The allies are generally easy to grab, the only problem being that sometimes some of the special boss spawns show up in almost the same place, and that’s a proper crowd.

The end boss seems to be... fire control/axe? Her bonfire plays hell with my escorts but I mow here down in good time anyway. She has some custom escorts but I don’t really have the time to get a good look at them.

And that’s the end. Reality remains strong for another day.

----

Storyline - ***. The base is pretty decent. Magical artifacts with a dangerous power that can threaten the world, carelessly used.

But it’s the carelessly-used part that kinda bugs me. Crash’s friend used one of the statues just to see what it would do? Maybe? It’s never really explored how it happens in the first place, as Bocor drops what’s going on in the third mission. Or did someone else use it?

Maybe there could be a pile of bones or something, from the unfortunate guard who experimented, and that warehouse has basically been warded shut to seal the Soul Hunter inside? That’s pretty fitting. Crash orders a break-in, not really knowing what’s going on, and the Soul Hunter pops out. Making that a little clearer would help this impression that I have that the whole thing would have been cleared up a bit sooner if Crash’s supposed friend had fessed up to meddling.

Design - ****. Generally good work with reasonable-seeming maps, and the handful of customs are mostly used to pretty good effect. I just have one problem. The end boss seems to come with her own escort of customs. Even with the in-mission assistance, taking in an entire enemy group all at once just for the final fight is a bit much to try to understand what’s going on.

If I knew who her trusted lieutenants “were”, in terms of power, it’d help with this feeling that the final fight was just something arbitrary out of nowhere. Especially since the other stock bosses and the apparent other custom boss in the same room all had an escort of renamed Black Swan Shadows, hitting an entire other group just for the final boss feels off.

Gameplay - ***. Running back and forth in a large rock-tube tunnel map looking for the people who picked up the phone was a bit of a time-waster, though that one may have just been bad luck on my part.

But speaking of bad luck, Black Swan Shadows and Diabolique Wraiths can both put a serious, serious, drain on accuracy, especially at melee range. Trying to take on my comfortable difficulty was pretty tough with them, not because of their damage output but because I constantly had to worry about getting tagged too much and not being able to hit anything. Diluting the Shadows, perhaps with some of the end boss’s custom escort, would help enormously.

Detail - ***. Judging by the EU tag and some of the idiosyncrasies in the language, is it much of a jump to say you’re not writing in your native language? Everything’s perfectly readable, there’s no worry there. But everyone seems to come out as having about the same “tone of voice”, which doesn’t work too well given the main players.

Crash Cage is reckless, informal, and straightforward. Mr. Bocor is reserved and formal, and talks very elaborately. But they don’t sound much different, which is a real shame as they’re both a bit of fun to read in their own ways.

Overall - ****. Overall my impression’s a bit more favorable than the individual rating might suggest. The arc has its flaws, but they don’t tend to feed on each other and drag the whole thing down.

Tonight's arc: The Greater Good (vigilante version) (395861). Verdict - ****. Review in MA Forums Thread.

My current queue:

• The remaining Galactic Protectorate arcs: 04 (269714), 05 (304290), 06 (355068), starting no earlier than August 18th.
• A review of the Tales of Cimerora, From Tartarus with Love (292389), starting no earlier than August 10th.

Thanks for the review, GaziusF!

Morality was neutral because actions and motivations would not be villainous, even though it is a red-side contact. Rogue could be an option to choose, was not available when the arc was created.

You are quite right in that English is not my native language and I do struggle with finer points of writing artistry in English. It is good to get that pointed out and I will look for ways to improve it.

The custom boss sidekick in the end fight actually appears in the first mission also, but is not a mission objective and would not always be seen, depending on where things spawn.

Mission #4 is unfortunately a hit or miss with regards to running around, depending on where things spawn. I have tried a couple of different maps that also work with the first part of the mission (Bocor) but have not been able to avoid it entirely.

Good points in review and I will look at doing some improvements.

Tonight's arc: Tales of Cimerora: From Tartarus with Love (292389). Verdict - ***. Review in MA Forums Thread.

My current queue:

• The remaining Galactic Protectorate arcs: 04 (269714), 05 (304290), 06 (355068), starting no earlier than August 18th.

Thanks a lot for the review. Glad you liked it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlaziusF @GlaziusF Frostfire is a real powerhouse, though, unless you’ve whipped him up as a custom fire control/cold dom guy, in which case he’s still a real powerhouse but for different reasons.

Yes, it's a custom Frostfire. He doesn't come at that high level, or at least he didn't when I made this arc.

Quote:

More anti-mutant sentiment. I never remembered the 5th being big on that, but it does fit the comic book nature of mutants, and as the Johnny-come-latelies to the big power buffet I can see why an old established group like the 5th might hate them with the burning passion of a thousand suns.

What little is mentioned about mutants in the game talks about them being feared and misunderstood, much like in the Marvel Universe. Since there are no mutant enemies after level 20 this is never really explored in the canon material. I imagine that the 5th Column don't like mutants for the same reason they don't like anyone who isn't like them.

Quote:

Storyline - *****. Solid use of investigations for foreshadowing and a story that resolves its initial issues and credibly sets up for later action. Design - *****. Great work with map choice and clever use of objectives and text to fake missions that change “on contact with the enemy”. The Neo-Outcasts’ design is a clear outgrowth of their old one and just as individually distinctive. Gameplay - ****. I realize it’s story-appropriate, but the construction site map is a bit of a pain to navigate and operate on, since it can (and, for me, did) scatter appropriate objectives across Z-levels -- in addition to that odd little tucked away boss corner. Aside from that, the power selections on the customs were reasonable and there was generally lots of available help when I needed it.

Believe me, I've been cursing over that map so much... but it's the only one that is appropriate.

Quote:

Detail - ****. Generally very good work, even with the incidentals, making the maps seem alive and foreshadowing major plot developments. Just a couple little tics here. First is the Crey mission. The closing paragraph of the “mission summary” clue seems to indicate that there might be some benefit to investigating deeper into the lab, but I really didn’t find anything in the depths except for a boss fight that didn’t drop any clues or say anything plot-relevant. Maybe it’s just my mistaken impression of the wrapup clue, but it might stand to be rewritten all the same.

I did it this way because the burning laboratory map was the absolutely best I could find for the mission. The only problem was that it was 5 floors and quite large. So I figured I would put everything relevant in the first room for people who only wanted the story-related stuff and didn't feel like fighting all those PPs, and then I let the player decide if they want to clear out the rest for rewards. If I could have a burning lab with just two floors I would have done it differently.

Quote:

Second is the rather monolithic NPC regard of mutants in the arc, except for the mutant hero assists in the last map. “Mutie” is kind of a charged term for me given its use in X-Men, and Paragon City may not quite have the history that the Marvel Universe has, but NPCs at the construction site and from the Crey and 5th and the New Outcasts all treat mutants as some kind of collective. Mutants don’t all have the X-Gene in this continuity. They are the most idiosyncractic of the power origins, with the limited amount of information available suggesting that no two mutants work alike. There isn’t some unified mutant power framework, except in the context of a unified framework for all superpowers. Honestly, this is probably just a personal quibble. I can definitely see what you were gunning for with this arc and it’s certainly something that’s done for mutants in comics. Overall - *****. Overall my quibbles are personal and minor. This is a well-plotted, well-designed arc that takes the task of adapting a low-level enemy group to be high-level players and hits it out of the park. I certainly wouldn’t mind a sequel.

Mutants in CoH are sadly underused. After level 20 there are no explicitly mutant enemy groups anywhere. I wanted to make an arc where "the mutant threat" becomes an actual threat. The Outcasts is one of my favourite enemy groups, because they are actual supers instead of mostly thugs with guns. As for the anti-mutant sentiment, the game talks about mutants being feared and misunderstood, but this never really shows up anywhere. It's mentioned a few times and then forgotten and abandoned, along with the mutants themselves. Even the mutant part of the Origins of Power story arc where the origins are discussed in depth drops the ball and sort of loses track of what mutants are supposed to be.

Anyway, thanks again for the review. I hope I can get to work on a sequel soon.

Tonight's arc: Galactic Protectorate - 04 (269714). Verdict - ***. Review in MA Forums Thread.

My current queue:

• The remaining Galactic Protectorate arcs: 05 (304290) and 06 (355068), starting no earlier than August 27th.

'Eya,

I just got to a 'v0.9' version of a post-apoc arc (intended to be the 'hero' half of the story; the 'villain' half of the same story will take place in Grandville). Can ya give me an 'in-development' review of it? There are 5 bottlecaps in it for you! ID is 445456.

It is not fully polished (need to add souvenir + formatting, especially on clues in M3... M4 also needs some more "stuff to do") and I haven't tested it extensively, so all feedback is welcome! I'd prefer feedback via PM so others don't get spoiled.


Thanks in advance!

-- Z.

I just revised the arc that was reviewed here some time back.

"Trading Blood for Roses"
161399

Tales of the Terran Space Marines - Eternity's Edge: The Avatar Saga
Arc # 360243
Morality: Neutral
Factions: Standard - Storm Elementals, Soldiers of Rularuu, Longbow
Custom: Terran Military...

Glad to see you're still doing this! Also, I find it hilarious that your thread is at 2 stars. I'm assuming this is from people who weren't happy that your opinion was different from theirs, regardless of whether your disagreement with the was well-founded or not. Keep fighting the good fight!

Man. Six weeks. Work got a little hectic and I've had next to no free time, but I think I can get back to this. So!

Tonight's arc: The Tannhauser Gate (96322). Verdict - ****. Review in MA Forums Thread.

My current queue:

• The remaining Galactic Protectorate arcs: 05 (304290) and 06 (355068), starting no earlier than August 27th.
• A rereview of Blood for Roses (161399). The only review on that page is mine, and I wouldn't trust it until the rereview is completed.
• A score-free critique of arc #445456.

Hey, just wanted to thank you for your review of Papers and Paychecks. I heavily used your comments for improvements. Feel free to look at it again if you have time - no worries if not.

Put my arc up on your site. (points to sig) Have at 'er

Welcome back!

Actually, now that the 3rd challenge is going on, I'd really appreciate a 'real' review on my entry "Who Dares Wins" (#454805) instead of the post-apoc experiment -- feel free to remove #445456 from your list.

CoHMR link is here; arc thread is here.


Thanks again,

-- Z.

A Clone of Your Own? Is up on CoHMR and ready for reviewing.

yup they finally posted mine up too

Weekends continue to not work well for me. But!

Tonight's arc: Galactic Protectorate - 05 (304290). Verdict - **. Review in MA Forums Thread.

My current queue:

• The remaining Galactic Protectorate arc: 06 (355068), starting no earlier than October 18th.
• A rereview of Blood for Roses (161399). The only review on that page is mine, and I wouldn't trust it until the rereview is completed.
• A review of Who Dares Wins (454805)
• A review of When Madness Reigns Over Reason (452196)
• A review of A Clone Of Your Own? (453091)
• A rereview of Papers and Paychecks (298290)

Tonight's arc: A Clone Of Your Own? (453091). Verdict - ***. Review in MA Forums Thread.

The next few reviews are going to be an Aeon Challenge special -- once I take care of the arcs submitted for Aeon's challenge I'll get back to the others.

My current queue:

• The remaining Galactic Protectorate arc: 06 (355068), starting no earlier than October 18th.
• A rereview of Blood for Roses (161399). The only review on that page is mine, and I wouldn't trust it until the rereview is completed.
• A review of Who Dares Wins (454805)
• A review of When Madness Reigns Over Reason (452196)
• A rereview of Papers and Paychecks (298290)