KD's House of Second Chances (Reviews)
By
AwesomusPrime,
Posted on: 2009-06-04 23:58 in Mission Architect
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Hmmm. Count me as someone who's confused about this thread. You said you wanted to review arcs that had been poorly rated by Venture ... and then you go on to review a work that had 4 stars.
Since when is 4 stars a bad review?
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That must have been an oversight. The stated intent was to play and rate only arcs that Venture gave 3 stars or less to. Clearly I didn't double check that submissions were following the rules. Which one was this?
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KD, two questions for you: Did you come up with this idea becasue you played arcs reviewed by Venture and found that your taste in arcs differed greatly from his? How often did you agree with his comments and how often did you disagree?
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Basically I wanted to try to see how fair Venture's reviews were. He seems at first blush to be overly colored by personal tastes (dislikes for Nemesis and time travel, etc). Overall it seems like I'm a little more generous than he is. Also, it's pretty clear that different reviewers are going to have different likes and dislikes, so it's very possible to get a bad review just because you caught someone the wrong way.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
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Hmmm. Count me as someone who's confused about this thread. You said you wanted to review arcs that had been poorly rated by Venture ... and then you go on to review a work that had 4 stars.
Since when is 4 stars a bad review?
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That must have been an oversight. The stated intent was to play and rate only arcs that Venture gave 3 stars or less to. Clearly I didn't double check that submissions were following the rules. Which one was this?
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KD, two questions for you: Did you come up with this idea becasue you played arcs reviewed by Venture and found that your taste in arcs differed greatly from his? How often did you agree with his comments and how often did you disagree?
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Basically I wanted to try to see how fair Venture's reviews were. He seems at first blush to be overly colored by personal tastes (dislikes for Nemesis and time travel, etc). Overall it seems like I'm a little more generous than he is. Also, it's pretty clear that different reviewers are going to have different likes and dislikes, so it's very possible to get a bad review just because you caught someone the wrong way.
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Not sure who was mistake, you or me. I thought that what you listed at the top before your review was the review that Venture gave in stars. Here's what I read:
Arc #84420, "Death to Disco!"
tl;dr: 4 stars
Pros: Sharp humor, Exactly What It Says On The Tin
Cons: 1st mission a bit flat; some costume issues; possible niche audience
Now, of course, if this is your rating, then it was my mistake.
But I have an even bigger question for you based on your original post: If you read things in Venture's review that made his poorly rated arcs sound interesting to you, why didn't you just play a few and find out if you agreed with his reviews or not?
I hope this isn't coming across like a flame or a troll-style question. It just seems to me that there are so many reviewing arcs out there right now -- especially those that detail and arc, point by point, and then get debated by the author point by point -- that I was curious as to why this one?
And if this one, why not just pick and review the ones that sounded interesting to you ... and report back on the ones that played better in your opinion than in Venture's?
(I just really, really, REALLY hate the idea of someone getting a bad review there and then getting another bad review here. It would be like going to the doctor who tells you that you're suffering from severe halatosis and you ask for a second opinion, and he tells you that your ugly, too.)
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(I just really, really, REALLY hate the idea of someone getting a bad review there and then getting another bad review here. It would be like going to the doctor who tells you that you're suffering from severe halatosis and you ask for a second opinion, and he tells you that your ugly, too.)
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No... it'd be like the second doctor saying "Yep, you're suffering from severe halatosis, have a mint already!"
Infatum on Virtueverse
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(I just really, really, REALLY hate the idea of someone getting a bad review there and then getting another bad review here. It would be like going to the doctor who tells you that you're suffering from severe halatosis and you ask for a second opinion, and he tells you that your ugly, too.)
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No... it'd be like the second doctor saying "Yep, you're suffering from severe halatosis, have a mint already!"
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In that case, I propose shorter reviews here.
Given that they've already been reviewed by Venture (and the the posters have provided a link to the original review)
how about adopting this format:
[Name of Arc] # 10101011010110101010101010 - Yup, Venture was right. This is a REAL STINKER!
or
[Name of Arc] # 10101011010110101010101010: What was Venture smoking when he rated this a 2????? It is CLEARLY a solid 3.
I'm always looking for more opinions on my arc: Ctrl + Alt + Reset 137561 (previously called Time Loop).
Venture's Review 3 stars: Just a bunch of stuff that happened.
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I'm always looking for more opinions on my arc: Ctrl + Alt + Reset 137561 (previously called Time Loop).
Venture's Review 3 stars: Just a bunch of stuff that happened.
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INSTANT REVIEW OF
# 13544667 AKA Time Loop Re-Looped
Yup, Venture was right. This is a REAL STINKER!
(The devil made me do it!) 
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Now, of course, if this is your rating, then it was my mistake.
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That's my rating.
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But I have an even bigger question for you based on your original post: If you read things in Venture's review that made his poorly rated arcs sound interesting to you, why didn't you just play a few and find out if you agreed with his reviews or not?
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That's what I did at first, but why not share my thoughts with the author? While I've found that Venture's analysis has some merit, I have another perspective to offer and, often enough, specific suggestions as to how to correct the flaws in the arcs. Sometimes people take issue with Venture's reviews throwing tropes around, with the implication that using those tropes is necessarily bad; and while that may be true in some cases, in many others the flaws are more general and you can label them with more than one trope. So hearing the problems described twice can give a better picture of what the flaws really are.
In short, I felt that authors receiving poor reviews from Venture (or others - one of the arcs was originally reviewed by LaserJesus) would benefit from a second analysis, not just a second rating. Authors who agree with me can submit their arcs here. But if it's not your cup of tea, feel free to focus on other review threads instead.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
I've been reviewed twice by Venture, both three or under. As you can see from the review itself (quoted below) I've done extensive rewrites and plan to do more slight revision, but it still doesn't look up to snuff. thought I'd seek a second opinion before moving further.
Probably best to pay this arc high level, 45+.
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Arc #181165 "The Case of the Late Richard Faraday"
tl;dr: 3 stars. Offenses: "just a bunch of stuff that happened", typos, some plot issues
Reviewed on: 6/18/2009
Level Range: 20-54/1-54/1-54/1-54/
Character used: Venture/Virtue
This is a re-review of an arc originally published as #1285 "Training Day". The original review is appended below the line.
Act I now opens with Detective Morgan asking you to help recover Officer O'Leary from the Freakshow. There's an account in the acceptance text of how the operation leading to his capture played out and a warning about a "Dr. Armington" being involved. The various "bad cop" tropes are gone. O'Leary appears to be Claws/Regeneration EB this time with one of the Cultists for a guard; there are some other Cultist spawns present as well. Armington is technically a Rescue detail; he's negotiating with the Freakshow when you arrive and after you beat them ("freeing" him) an ambush wave of Cultists spawns to "cover his escape" as he runs. The debriefing has info from Freakshow 101 in orange text (typo: "thier").
Act II now has you accompany Morgan to the facility they're treating O'Leary at. Most of the info is in the acceptance text again (typo: "optomistic"). The Cultists are already there with hostages, one of which tells you the nanotech the Cultists use is a virus. OK, and this building that is full of people using the stuff is not quarantined...why? Morgan does tell you in the debriefing that O'Leary's nano wasn't weaponized; presumably this was true of the stuff infecting the Cultists but that needs to be spelled out here.
Act III is now a mission to go get Armington. Morgan gives you a little info on Faraday, who's been mentioned by the Cultists a few times (typos: "abotu", "dispursed") and is supposed to be dead now. The map is an abandoned tech base full of Cultists, augmented by a few new models with more nanotech. A Cultist Ascendant's approach text says they're planning to dump the nano into a shipment of the Freak's Excelsior (typo: "compount"). Armington is a Robotics/Devices Elite Boss; he rants a bit as you beat him up then on defeat gives up the location of the transmitter that controls the nanovirus and Faraday's location. This is repeated in the exit popup just in case you didn't get it the first time. Morgan is sceptical about Faraday being alive; this guy is a Paragon City cop, right?
Act IV is the Fight Scene: Morgan and O'Leary accompany you to Faraday's hideout. This is a 90-minute timed mission with an AV warning (typo: "swat", should be capitalized and/or punctuated). You have to take out six "virus bombs" (is it really a good idea to break these things?), the control computer and Richard Faraday, Dark Blast/Dark Miasma AV/EB. There are several Boss level Cultists to deal with as well, but it's a pretty straightforward kill-the-Big-Bad run. The souvenir points you to a second part but this arc does stand on its own.
The arc is improved from its earlier incarnation but still has issues. There is no theme, there are some plot holes (noted above) and more than a few typos. It's serviceable but not much more.
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Arc #1285, "Training Day"
tl;dr: 2 stars. Offenses: many plot holes, surprise EB/AVs, spelling errors, "just a bunch of stuff that happened"
Detective Morgan of the PPD's Vanguard Liason Office wants your help in tracking down a "Docter Armington". An apparent typo in the first briefing is not a good sign. Armington has taken an Officer O'Leary hostage. Morgan tells you if there's nothing to bring back to make sure he's not suffering, and reminds you there's no such thing as a brutality charge in his unit. Um, yeah.
The warehouse you're sent to is filled with custom-faction bots. O'Leary has been turned into a cyber-zombie Claws/SR EB (no warning, but nice job on the model). Defeating him spawns a new objective: "Rip Armington a new one for what he's done." Um, this is a Heroic arc, right? Armington is another EB, Bots/FF, and may try to run when low...I'm not sure. On defeat he says "Teleport activate!" but the defeat text says you can rest easy knowing a monster has been taken to justice...um, which is it?
In Act II, you learn that O'Leary survived the battle and now has control over his new body. The scientist responsible is adapting the nanotechnology that was used on O'Leary ("Lockgear") for battlesuit use. Hmm, nanotech that warps people body and mind developed by a mad scientist now being adapted into Vanguard battlesuits? What Could Possibly Go Wrong? You're asked to oversee a transfer of the equipment. Once on site the objectives are to retrive 5 components, rescue O'Leary (down to Boss) and defeat Armington again. The enemies on this one are Freakshow, with a patrol of the custom drones tossed in for color. Armington is back with a bunch of Freaks for guards; when you start beating on him he hits you with a threat we don't often see in City: "I will make you MY MONKEY BUTLER!"
Yeah.
When Armington gets low on health "Michael Faraday" spawns, a Dark Blast/Dark Miasma AV with machinegun-toting "Cultists" and Energy Blast/Dark Armor "Cultist Ascendant" LTs, the latter's info saying they've been upgraded with Lockgear. They spawned Rocks Fall Everyone Dies style. Even the Contact doesn't know who Faraday is. In Act III you're sent to bust up some of Faraday's cultists in an effort to learn more about him. The mission takes place on an Arachnos lab map, with an Arachnos raid in progress. Heard at entry from a Cultist: "Faraday will whipe this world of life!" Um, yeah. You have to search various computers until you find a Clue stating that Lockgear was invented by one of Faraday's cultists and given to Armington in the hopes that it would end up in Vanguard's hands. Sure enough, Faraday now has control over both Armington and O'Leary, so for Act IV you and Morgan have to recover the Lockgear nanotech before it goes all grey-goo on everyone. Somehow, though, the mission takes place in a sewer. You have to destroy three objects. O'Leary and Armington are present but don't have to be fought. Morgan is supposed to be available as an ally, but spawned in the last room.
For Act V you get a letter from Faraday taunting you into a final showdown. This being a comic RPG you're not allowed to call in an air strike. The match takes place on a small sewer map. It turned out O'Leary was available as an ally but he was behind Faraday and behind some geometry so I didn't see him until well after the fighting was over. Faraday spawns as an AV/EB again and calls multiple ambush waves as he dies.
The plot does not make sense in a lot of places and there are more than a few spelling errors. It also assumes the player is a graduate of the Harry Callahan Police Acadamy. This needs a lot of work.
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#119228: hero therapy (TM)
tl;dr: 3 stars
Pros: Original idea, well written, some thought provoking ideas
Cons: Gameplay issues, repetitive mission structure, unsatisfying ending, and I just didn't have fun
Reviewed: 6/18/2009
Level range: scaling
Character used: lvl 32 fire/fire blaster (yes, yes, I know)
Telling me not to run the arc on a fire blaster made me want to haul my fire/fire blaster Hoht out of the storage bin. So I did. Don't worry, I didn't downgrade for the problem, though it does point to something I think should be fixed.
The arc is a series of four missions that all follow the same formula. Your contact is a therapist, and he hypnotizes you to help you work through buried issues by sending you to combat them in your mind. Each mission is set up the same way: you enter the map and rescue the Therapist (a non-combat ally), which then triggers a boss you need to defeat. Along the way you have the option to rescue "The Steel You Lack" and (after the 1st mission) the boss you defeated in the previous map, who will fight as your allies.
And... that's pretty much it. The bosses are, in order, a Librarian, your Vanity, a Hidden Shame, and "The Door" (who looked a lot like the Dark Watcher - not sure if that was intentional). The therapist never turns out to be anything other than a therapist, which was a let down for me. The arc never really produces any surprises, and although the combat does increase in difficulty throughout the arc, the plot doesn't seem to get any deeper or more complex to support that ramp-up.
There are some reasonably interesting optional glowies in each mission, but they suffer from the same problem as the rest of the arc - namely, it tells you what your character's psychological history is, i.e. it's all powerposing. I was hoping the therapist was a sham partly so that I could RP my way out of this, but no dice. The author seems to have tried to make all this less obtrusive by making the psychology general, but as a result it feels sort of psycho-babble-ish.
I also have a big problem with the way the arc is structured. The levels ramp up in such a way that lowbies are never going to make it through to the end (the final boss is an AV) but high-level characters will be forced to exemplar down. That means I'll never be tempted to run this arc again on any character I'm playing. Maybe some will find this an appealing time sink for a 50, but that group would not include me.
The boss in the 3rd mission is a fire armor EB. Fire armor has the distinction of having nearly capped resistances against one damage type, fire, and mediocre resists against most everything else. So anything fire-wielding is going to have problems. The allies help, but you have to be a buffer to keep them alive - they're not all that tough. I'm not downgrading for this, but I think the author should play around with custom settings in i15 to tone down the fire resist somehow.
I was really torn on how to rate this arc. On the one hand, it's well executed. On the other, I simply didn't have any fun in it (even prior to the EB I couldn't dent) and I was left feeling like there wasn't really a story there - no beginning, middle and end, just a series of metaphorical combats. In-game I didn't leave a rating at all. For the purposes of this review I'd rate it a 5 for execution, 2 for gameplay and 2 for enjoyability, which even out to a 3.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
Current queue:
137561 "Ctrl + Alt + Reset"
181165 "The Case of the Late Richard Faraday"
209473 "Standing Within the Mists"
I'm going to finish these reviews and then close the project. Mostly this is due to the fact that I have so little time to play these days, with a 2nd child just born and other RL factors. In fact, I may have to take a hiatus from the game sometime soon. Hopefully the authors I've reviewed have found my feedback helpful.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
137561 "Ctrl + Alt + Reset"
tl;dr: 3 stars
Pros: Decent gameplay, interesting ideas, humor value
Cons: Timey Wimey Ball, Just A Bunch Of Stuff That Happens
Reviewed: 6/27/2009
Level range: 5-30
Character used: lvl 22 necro/pain MM
Before I start I should point out how incredibly similar this story is to "A Tangle in Time". I almost think the two authors should collaborate and put all the good ideas from both stories into one arc.
Foreshadow contacts you, asking to investigate a temporal anomaly he's sensed. The anomaly was centered on a science lab that Wyvern has already cleared out - the problem is Wyvern isn't taking his warnings seriously and is holding the goods for its own use. Hm. You're sent in to extract the scientist's computer.
When you locate the computer, you find nothing interesting, so you proceed through the map to the Wyvern leader, Marx, encountering another Wyvern boss on the way. Defeating Marx gives you a baseball-sized item called with a button on it, already pressed. Uh oh.
Returning to Foreshadow, he speaks as if you're just now responding to his original request - exactly the same setup as "A Tangle in Time". (Deja vu, all over again.) So you go in again, this time paying more attention to the computer you skipped before. You find a locked file, and proceed once more to defeat Marx to retrieve the passcode in addition to the now-grapefruit-sized item. (It also sports more buttons.) Nit: the passcode, "Sister Psyche", generates a bit of powerposed-dismissal in the player's voice saying "Real subtle Manticore" - huh? When did Manticore get involved? Anyway, with passcode in hand you proceed to the computer, which is now a destructible object with a guard; defeating the guards ends the mission, but you can right-click the computer for info before leaving, and discover that there are actually two items of interest.
Before you can investigate further you're back at Foreshadow, who agrees that you should try to find both items on this run. Strangely, this time the map is larger, and filled with random junk, none of which turns out to be important to the plot - mostly it seems to be there to provide joke material (the inevitable reference to RHPS, the only Rickroll I've encountered in the MA, some other stuff). Marx again has the object, even larger now, and he tells you the other one is in the possession of someone named "Steve". As you exit, you realize that "Steve" must be the other Wyvern boss on the map - nice bit of plot development there as I figured that out at just about exactly the same time my character did.
The final mission is again larger than the previous. This time you find Steve and get the other artifact, push its button (er...) and hear noises, which lead you to an enemy called the "Time Shifter". This is a custom boss with an accompanying faction made of Hydra, Slag Golems, and Husks, who are apparently the life-drained Wyvern who've been trapped on the map... as it turns out this "Time Shifter" is the MacGuffin itself, somehow sentient and at the root of all the shenanigans. You fight it multiple times in escalating forms, and its final defeat seems to have something to do with the "Time Splitter" object you got from Steve, though the connection is far from obvious to me. Then you're free.
In a lot of ways I like this arc better than "A Tangle in Time", but it suffers from many of the same problems. There's no coherent reason that I could see for the "Time Shifter" object to have become sentient, and the device of leeching Wyverns to become more powerful is so hand-wavey you have to look at it from two miles with an extreme squint to give it a pass. The whole plot is just a confusing mess, in retrospect, and the frustrating thing is that there's an unused loose end that could be used to unify everything - which is the scientist who designed the thing in the first place.
On the plus side, the arc doesn't throw the Idiot Ball (unless you count pushing the button on the unknown 2nd artifact without thinking... ok, that probably *does* count, but it can be overlooked) and the arc progression seems natural for what develops. You react in a reasonable manner each iteration given the information you have at your disposal. My only complaint in this regard is the throwaway comment at the end that you were trapped for three months; it's completely unnecessary, and undermines the pacing of the story you just experienced.
In short, the gameplay and mechanics are interesting and the missions are reasonably fun to play, but I don't think the author has succeeded in hanging them off a coherent story. A rewrite would probably be needed to elevate this higher than 3 stars.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
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Current queue:
137561 "Ctrl + Alt + Reset"
181165 "The Case of the Late Richard Faraday"
209473 "Standing Within the Mists"
[/ QUOTE ]Standing within the Mists is actually due for a pretty substantial overhaul once I15 comes out so if you're short on time, feel free to pass on it. I appreciate your offer but you won't be running the "finished" product anyway.
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Before I start I should point out how incredibly similar this story is to "A Tangle in Time". I almost think the two authors should collaborate and put all the good ideas from both stories into one arc.
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One of my early feedback /tells referenced A Tangle in Time, and I did borrow a few of his ideas to help improve my own arc already.
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Nit: the passcode, "Sister Psyche", generates a bit of powerposed-dismissal in the player's voice saying "Real subtle Manticore" - huh? When did Manticore get involved?
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Manticore is more or less the head of Wyvern.
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On the plus side, the arc doesn't throw the Idiot Ball (unless you count pushing the button on the unknown 2nd artifact without thinking... ok, that probably *does* count, but it can be overlooked) and the arc progression seems natural for what develops. You react in a reasonable manner each iteration given the information you have at your disposal. My only complaint in this regard is the throwaway comment at the end that you were trapped for three months; it's completely unnecessary, and undermines the pacing of the story you just experienced.
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Been meaning to change both of those complaints: removed the button press, and changed "you've been there for three months" to "The Wyvern sound like they had been trapped for what felt like weeks to months or more"
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In short, the gameplay and mechanics are interesting and the missions are reasonably fun to play, but I don't think the author has succeeded in hanging them off a coherent story.
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Well, if the missions were interesting and fun, I feel like I've accomplished more than a lot of missions out there. Thanks for the review.
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Nit: the passcode, "Sister Psyche", generates a bit of powerposed-dismissal in the player's voice saying "Real subtle Manticore" - huh? When did Manticore get involved?
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Manticore is more or less the head of Wyvern.
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Sure, but why would he be setting the password on this file? It's the only time in the arc he's mentioned. If he were personally involved in this project I'd expect him to show up.
I'm curious what you think of the idea of tying the plot together via the scientist who built these devices. He's never mentioned after the intro, but his personality and backstory could go a long way toward unifying the story.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
It is an interesting thought, I had always intended to have it just be some random, nameless scientist. Though after i15 goes live, I might end up adding a fourth mission where instead of heading back to the Wyvern base, you decide to track down the scientist and wring some information out of him. Although, that would end up making it even more like A Tangle in Time with it's 4th mission going to Mobiosa's base.
Hm... I could add more information to the computer, having a list of files that don't seem to mean anything, but as you progress through the missions, they make sense to look more closely at them.
Although, if you have problems with the general concept of a "time vampire" as I was going for, then I doubt further explanation could sway you. But the basic idea is a learning ai that uses the energy of those around it to jump them both back in time in order to speed its own learning/evolving process.
(BTW, there is a hidden clue with story information within the useless and joke glowies, it's lab equipment with the clue: "You find some research about Time Shifter. Apparently it's original intent was to give surgeon's more time in critical situations by allowing them to reset if something unexpected goes wrong. There was also a previous try, something called a Time Splitter. Though that turned out to speed up time.", did you happen to catch that one?)
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Although, if you have problems with the general concept of a "time vampire" as I was going for, then I doubt further explanation could sway you. But the basic idea is a learning ai that uses the energy of those around it to jump them both back in time in order to speed its own learning/evolving process.
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I don't have problems with that general concept as long as it's somehow built up to, or flows naturally from the unfolding events. But I felt like I didn't really have enough information to put the pieces together that way.
Let me put it this way: good endings need to seem both surprising and inevitable to the reader of the story. It's a tricky feat to pull off, but when done well it's very satisfying. Lots of stories, particularly CoX canon, err too far on the side of caution and spoon-feed everything to you, so there's never really any time to build up to a surprise. You've gone in the opposite direction: there was no way to know by Mission 4 whether there was a single person or group behind the events in question, or (as it turned out) that it was an artifact of the technology itself. Surprising, but in no way inevitable. The details of Mission 4 could have been swapped out with a variety of other endings while leaving the rest of the story completely alone, and that makes the ending seem like kind of a randomly-chosen set of plot elements.
As one example of this, I'm not sure the story ever mentions these devices having an AI that could evolve. I certainly don't remember it, and it's pretty non-obvious that a baseball-sized "rewind" button device would have one.
EDIT: The whole Steve thing did achieve this by the way - the extra Wyvern boss was introduced early, and clearly had a role, so it was very satisfying to catch on to his significance as the plot unfolded. Kudos for that.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
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(BTW, there is a hidden clue with story information within the useless and joke glowies, it's lab equipment with the clue: "You find some research about Time Shifter. Apparently it's original intent was to give surgeon's more time in critical situations by allowing them to reset if something unexpected goes wrong. There was also a previous try, something called a Time Splitter. Though that turned out to speed up time.", did you happen to catch that one?)
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Forgot to respond to this - yes, I did catch that clue. I'm honestly surprised it's not required, as IIRC it's the first reference to there being a "shifter" and a "splitter"... but again, does this imply that either device has an AI? It doesn't seem to me to imply any such thing. You'd think that such a relevant clue would give more information on the true nature of the technology.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
heh, actually an edit before I saw your reply to it. I did add a touch more information, and changed that clue I mentioned to talk about self-evolving technology instead of the time splitter. Keeping it non-required though. The mission description does have "hidden details" in the tags. 
Will probably try a bigger clean-up pass come i15 when I play with the new features (namely renaming the Time Shifter's custom minion group, which has a lot more mobs in it than you saw {shivans, coralax, living armor, etc [hydra almost always show up though]})
And now the review that I've been looking forward to all evening...
181165 "The Case of the Late Richard Faraday"
tl;dr: 4 stars
Pros: Gripping plot, interesting theme, great gameplay
Cons: Spelling and grammar issues, unsatisfying ending
Reviewed: 6/27/2009
Level range: 20-54
Character used: lvl 42 bots/traps MM
Detective Morgan has a problem: one of his men, an Officer O'Leary, has been taken hostage by the Freakshow after a failed attempt by the PPD to intervene in the "conditioning" of some new recruits. Time is short, so he's looking to bring in some heavy hitters, i.e. you.
You enter the map and discover that time was shorter than you thought: O'Leary has already been modified, and it wasn't Doc Buzzsaw but one Dr. Armington who did it. O'Leary (custom claw/regen boss) fights you, clearly against his will - the modifications Armington made seem to be something outside the standard Freakish treatment. After that battle you encounter Armington himself, who summons an ambush of a custom faction called the Cultists (who also accompanied O'Leary) to cover his escape. He mentions someone named Faraday in his unaware text.
Act Two has you checking in on O'Leary's fate, as the PPD techs try to reverse his non-consensual modifications and determine their significance. Morgan invites you to the lab with him, but you find it already overrun by Cultists who have taken the techs hostage. You rescue them and discover that O'Leary's mods are the work of nano-tech mites controlled remotely; they've blocked the signal locally, allowing O'Leary to fight by your side, but don't know the encryption codes or the source. Faraday is mentioned again, IIRC by some cultist patrols.
Morgan explains that Faraday was something of a cult figure in the late 90s, who hari-kari'd himself when the world didn't collapse as he predicted at the century rollover. If he's come back to life the how of it is a mystery... Anyway, it's time to go get answers from Armington himself, who's holed up in an abandoned tech lab with cultists and some nano-tech combat models. He's working for Faraday, but isn't too loyal, as he gives up pretty much everything he knows on defeat. Maybe he's having second thoughts about deploying weaponized nano-tech mites that will turn Paragon City into someone else's army...
Now that you know how serious the situation really is, Act IV sends you to stop Faraday's mad scheme by destroying all the requisite components in Faraday's lab in Baumton. Of course Faraday himself is also there, as a dark/dark AV, but with both Morgan and O'Leary at my side he didn't give my bots/traps much trouble.
Before I tell you how the story ends, I should say that up to this point I was absolutely, totally gripped. The idea of Freakshow self-mods becoming non-consensual is something that's come up in canon before, and there's a theme there about the seductiveness of (dangerous) technology combined with eugenics. The character of Faraday was intriguing me and I looked forward to discovering the link between his cult-leader status in the 90s and his nano-tech-wielding egomania in the present. My own theory was that Rikti technology was involved in his resurrection, probably Rikti nano-tech, which would explain both that link and his obsession with "sharing" the blessing of nano with the world. And I was having a great time working these things through in my mind while fighting through the story, which had exactly the right sized maps and exactly the right mix of custom spawns and story points in them.
So... how does the story end?
It ends.
You defeat Faraday, stop the nano-virus... and learn nothing of import. You also find out later that he escaped (which opens room for the sequel, mentioned in the souvenir).
Aargh!
Here's what it felt like: the home team is down by 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th. With the bases loaded and 2 outs, your favorite batter is up, and lines up a really nice line drive along the 1st base line. The outfielders can't quite get it - one run scores - two runs - three - and your batter is rounding 3rd, with the outfielders scrambling to put a tag-out at home into play...
And the batter stops running mid-stride, walks over to the dugout and starts signing autographs. He's tagged out. Now it's a tie and we're in extra innings.
Why, lord? Why, oh why, could you let this happen?
If the story had revealed the link between Faraday and nano-tech in the way I believed it was leading up to, this would be a 5-star arc despite the many spelling and grammar issues I ran into (noted below). As it is, it falls short.
Fortunately these things are not hard to fix. The gameplay, plotting, and pacing are all spot on. Add that missing ingredient to the end and fix the spelling and typo issues, and I'll happily give this one 5 stars, run it on all future characters, and recommend it to friends.
OK, on to the spelling issues (I note that Venture mentioned several of these, so I'm surprised they weren't already fixed).
Mission 1
accept, clue - Drek - spelling
debrief - freak - caps
debrief - thier - misuse (and spelling) - they're
Mission 2
intro - Thanks - should be lowercase
accept - their - misuse - they're
accept - last sentence run on
popup dialog - last sentence run on
give hostages a brief animation so I can see their dialog
clue - hadnearly - typo
exit popup - shareing - spelling
debrief - "Probably to prevent infecting each other"... "each other" has no antecedent
Mission 3
intro - abotu - typo
intro - dispursed - spelling (dispersed) (disbursed is for money)
clue - nit: transmitter frequency isn't what they didn't know, it was the encryption
clue - Farada - typo
Mission 4
accept - We''ve - typo
nit: "destroy the nano-virus" (single nav bar text) - should be just a component
Faraday's defeat: you city - typo (should be "your city")
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
I ran out of disk space, and couldn't bring myself to cut anymore... I know I know... pitiful.
I'm told i15 brings better data formatting which allows for more room, in which case you'll get your real ending. At the time I'd planned to make it a two parter, three actually with the second part focusing on Armington while we wait for Faraday to come back to life again, but I only finished the second arc before my son was born. Now it's busy busy busy.
After the launch of i15 look to the skies for a more complete ending!
And thanks for the awesome review.
Oh and the typos, again, new son. Can't wait to correct them, thanks for the detail.
[ QUOTE ]
At the time I'd planned to make it a two parter, three actually with the second part focusing on Armington while we wait for Faraday to come back to life again, but I only finished the second arc before my son was born. Now it's busy busy busy.
[/ QUOTE ]
Heh. OK, no worries. I look forward to the revamp.
By the way, some people have been claiming huge space savings in i15, but I don't really see it. I do see maybe 5% on my arcs, but nothing like the 30-40% some people are reporting. Anyway, hopefully even 5% is enough to add a good ending.
I'm more than willing to engage Faraday again in a 2nd arc, I just felt like this one wasn't quite tied together at the end. You can leave him as escaping as long as I find out enough about him along the way to explain the nano-virus connection.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
I just finished moving, and had a look. In i15 I've 15% free space, expect an update to this arc soon!
Send me a tell when it's done and I'll replay it. BTW, I changed my forum name to match my in-game global/authoring name (or at least, as close as I could get within 16 characters). Unfortunately this means the title of this thread no longer makes much sense, but c'est la vie.
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
Hmmm. Count me as someone who's confused about this thread. You said you wanted to review arcs that had been poorly rated by Venture ... and then you go on to review a work that had 4 stars.
Since when is 4 stars a bad review?
Personally, I don't understand why anyone who got kicked in the pants by Venture now wants to bend over and let you boot them in the butt, too. But it takes all kinds, I guess. (Including me.)
KD, two questions for you: Did you come up with this idea becasue you played arcs reviewed by Venture and found that your taste in arcs differed greatly from his? How often did you agree with his comments and how often did you disagree?