[ QUOTE ]
I'm not flexible? You are arguing that writers should be limited to what the game can actually portray. The entire purpose of the text is to describe things that it can't.
[/ QUOTE ]
Wait, what? I thought you were of the fervent opinion that arcs should be strictly limited to what the game can actually portray. Did I miss something, or did you recently change that opinion?
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Can you put my heroic arc in the queue?
Arc ID# 195202
A Bad Hand from a Worse Dechs
4 missions, no defeat all, one EB (on diff 1 will be a boss, I think)
Yeah, I know it's in my sig, but I might change that...
EDIT: Sorry, I just noticed the post of yours saying that your queue was full and to hold requests until after you finished. Feel free to /ignore me.
[/ QUOTE ]
No problem Dechs, i'll make a [one-off!] exception for you since your title is such a glorious groaner of a pun 
Eco.
[/ QUOTE ]
If you like puns, you'll love the contact.
What can I say, I'm a pretty punny guy!
At least I haven't told my eskimo joke yet.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Can you put my heroic arc in the queue?
Arc ID# 195202
A Bad Hand from a Worse Dechs
4 missions, no defeat all, one EB (on diff 1 will be a boss, I think)
Yeah, I know it's in my sig, but I might change that...
EDIT: Sorry, I just noticed the post of yours saying that your queue was full and to hold requests until after you finished. Feel free to /ignore me.
[/ QUOTE ]
No problem Dechs, i'll make a [one-off!] exception for you since your title is such a glorious groaner of a pun
Eco.
[/ QUOTE ]
If you like puns, you'll love the contact.
What can I say, I'm a pretty punny guy!
At least I haven't told my eskimo joke yet.
[/ QUOTE ]
What's your Eskimo joke?
Eco
MArcs:
The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)
Quote:
|
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."
|
Bing Bong.
Here I go with an arc that differs from the previous two Ive looked at so far (not counting the mini-nod to Death to Disco) in a few ways. Firstly, whereas I know and love both Venture and Wrong Number with all my heart (and I think you can see that coming across in my posts on their arcsJ), of Mirror_Man I know little. I am also diving headfirst into a multi-slot arc (or is it a multi-arc story?) for the first time. Its called
The Galactic Protectorate 01 Arc ID 47143
Neutral, so Ill use MrCaptainMan, my 50 En/EN Blaster. 3 missions, a variety of objectives. Descr says that an alternative-reality Synapse is asking for my help, and also contains those funny double-bracket jobbies that RPers use (someone correct me if Im wrong). So, Im maybe looking at an alternative-canon space opera with catgirls!
OK, /em Im not worthy, My apologies, that was a cheap and hackneyed jibe at Rpers, the catgirl crack. Im actually quite partial to a spot of roleplaying myself, only the PnP kind.
In we go!
Wow! I didnt realize Synapse was so short!
hold on, DJ Zero was quite short too, wasnt he
nah.
Synapse says Hello? Can you hear me? See me?
and bingo, we have smile from me already. The gag here is that the alternative-reality Synapse has wwooowee-oo-ed his frequency transbobulator (I made that up) into the AEs system, and is using it to communicate with me.
A little aside here, As Is My Wont:
Earlier we had the AE building as the Halls of Rock and Roll and the contact hologram was not a hologram at all but a flesh and blood deity (or whatever deities are made out of
ectoplasm and stardust, maybe), and here the AE building is the AE building but the contact hologram isnt strictly what canon says it is either. Its not being generated by the simulation software anyway. I For One, Approve. Its AE brand-stretching, is what it is.
Back to the briefing, and theres more! The AE array has been reprogrammed to act as a gateway from your world to mine says Synapse! Marvellous! I love it when writers get me away from the you are on the holodeck wossname.
I eagerly jump into the gateway, looking forward to
Mission 1: Liberate the Captives
Ooh. Alternative Atlas isnt looking like a good place for a CC right now. Rubble, fire
Ive got 4 people to save, according to the Nav instructions. I even know what their names and job titles are. Magical Infodump in action!
I patently have to relax my perhaps unreasonably strict approach to Nav instructions. We cant have every mission starting with investigate and then have all the objectives triggered from that. This case is a good example of what Venture said about stuff like this setting the scene. It would be silly to expect Synapse to reel out a list of every individual Im to rescue here, only to have it repeated in the Nav. In Synapses briefing, he did in fact say There are some important people who need to be rescued ASAP, which pretty much covers it I guess. So re-re-rewind! !PmudofnI lacigaM
Likewise, the bios of the customs in an arc often contain lots of OOC info about their faction, as here, where the bio of an Agony Agent goes on abt sb called Lord Cosmic (Woo! Hes COSMIC!
) and stuff. Its quite a long bio. Thinking more about it, I realize that I actually like interesting bios with faction info in them, so Ill categorically state here and now that Magical Infodumps in bios Are OK In My Book (within reason).
Aha! I find my first captive to rescue, and the captors have kindly encased him in a gigantic green glowing cloud of gas thats visible from space. Plus 5 stars and a bag of jelly babies for marking him out for me.
The captors dont put up much of a threat to my Blaster, and their bios suggest what their possible powersets could be, so I know to go for the Mastermind first, for example. The captive thanks me, and the flavor text makes me think that were dealing with an earth under alien occupation style affair here.
Ronberrys dialogue is a tad ho-ho for someone whos being levitated in a huge poison gas cloud J
With the rescue iof the last captive, a clue drops. Its a discarded newspaper dated several years in the future. Now I experience a slight FWM - Is this the future of this alternative earth, or is this alternative earth temporally a few years ahead of my earth, or what?
All will be no doubt revealed.
I use the gateway to return to the Kings Row Ae building and use the privy, check my text messages, have a look at the view from the balcony outside and stock up on inspirations before sauntering over to where Synapse is waiting for me.
that illustrates a [small] problem with using the MA to make arcs set in the real world of Paragon and its reality rather than the nested reality of the AEs more usual virtual environment. With a normal arc thats purportedly a fiction created by a hero or villain or NPC, these gaps between missions can last for ages if necessary and you can just say that the simulation is on hold. Right now, however, MCM;s stanign around in the KR AE building picking his nose whilst I type this, and alt-Synapse might be getting a bit irritated.
Someone unbelievably pedantic and OCD about stuff like this might suggest putting an Oh, sorry, I thought Id lost you there
at the start of the next briefing to circumvent this, but that way lies madness, surely
Lol thats not a serious suggestion. Im just musing out loud about the meta-ness of the MA
BTW, it seems that the several years in the future means that my contacts earth is ahead. The newspaper clue could be slightly tidied to be clearer. ..dated several years into the future from your point of view, looks
The entry popup for
Mission 2: Infiltrate the Communications Hub
uses appears a bit too much for my liking, but thats minor compared to the Pedantic Frothing At The Mouth I do when I see Find Computer, Find Computer, Find Computer, Destroy Mainframe, Destroy Mainframe, Destroy Mainframe in the Nav instructions.
The Arc ID ah crap, I forgot to put the Arc ID at the top.
Hm
did I do it for the others?
Nope, Ill rectify that. Sorry.
Right, back to this Nav mess. I dont want to insult you, but its possible you dont know how to make multiple objectives with the same Nav instruction.
If they are for example collections, set the Plural Nav description to [nouns] to [verb] and set the Singular Nav descr to [verb] the last [noun]
So yours would have Computers to Find as the plural, and Find the last Computer as the singular. The MA will put numbers in front of the plural Nav instruction until theres only one left and then itll switch to the singular.
My first computer gives a clue containing some info about first contact and a weather forecast Moderate to severe planetary resistance is expected
Hey! Ive just noticed that the Galactic Protectorate are all women! What? Lol
I find the first Mainframe, labeled Mainframe 2 I dont know if youll find this tip useful, but if you dont want to have a number after objects with the same name, name the first as is, then for the second one add a single space after it, and add 2 spaces after the third one, etc. The MA wont let you name more than one objective with identical names, but if you add spaces after the name theyll be different as far as the MA is concerned, and ingame theyll look the same because spaces are invisible!
Ah
oops, maybe I shouldve stayed ingame after the mainframe got blown up and not typed this. Ambush! Lol RotP to the rescue!
The object guard dialogue says one of our sensors just detected something, so obviously the galactic protectorate has access to hyper advanced thing detectors of some kind. The guards call for help as soon as I attack, Engaging enemy! Requesting backup! but the ambush spawns when the mainframe is destroyed, some time later, saying Request received! En route to your location! Theyre assumedly using some hi-tech radio, not lighting signal fires on hilltops in sequence like the men of Middle Earth, so you need to tweak that dialogue a tad.
OK, Im getting a bit tired now. I think this maps about done, but Im close to calling Huge Map Syndrome. There are computers to check that arent required objectives that give flavor the ones marked Progress Report? I like them, actually, theyre cool. The required clues are deadly dull, though. Base codes, base co-ordinates. Theyre the equivalent of Keys in Doom.
Luckily, I was right. One more mainframe and the missions over. I exit.
Mission debrief from Synapse contains a typo thougt and a wrong collocation to begin a major comeback its make a comeback.
Another typo a little while later, my comrade, Matnicore.
Im also a little confused about the arrangement Statesman has made with lord Cosmic. Statesmans off on a jolly at the intergalactic Council or something., right? Lemme check that clue again.
Aah, I see. Yeah, it sort of makes sense. Now Im assuming that Statesmans offworld held prisoner somewhere. Classic friendly occupation. Like Russia and Poland after WW2 sort of thing?
Mission 3: Save Manticore!
I have just 30 minutes to save Manticore and do some typing (no, really, its a mission objective). Better get on with it, I guess.
[plus quintrillion stars for having exclamation mark in nav instruction]
If I wasnt stealthed, I might be having difficulty doing this in 30 mins. But then again, Im using up my stealth-saving time by typing this out arent I?
I do some actual ingame typing as my first objective.
Im not joking, look You begin typing out the false report...
And then its off to find Manticore.
Ouch, those Comet Commanders hit hard.
I find Manti, Nova his guards, and he thanks
[Synapse! How rude!] and runs off after telling me he knows where a generals base is. Mission over.
The debriefing tells me that a corner has been turned, the humans can start their counter-attack, the trumpets rise in volume, etc. I think you should put the arc ID for part two in that final debrief after a few lines in red or something, in some more of those funky RP double-brackets if you like. Theh people can just rush straight to the search window with the numbers fresh in their mind after being sucked into to your vividly realized totally fleshed out no-detail-overlooked universe
pfff, thats about as nasty as I can get about the Galactic Protectorate Im afraid.
I enjoyed it in a middling sort of way. Youve obviously got a story to tell, and the villain group is extensive. I counted 9 different customs. Their uniforms were varied but featured the same symbol and style, their powersets were also varied and in groups they gave some challenge (though nothing really dicey).
Mechanically the arc was ok, nothing experimental going on. Im very glad you put the green glowing gas on the captives in Mission 1. I Like A Well-Ordered Clue List, too, and yours was a bit out of order.
My biggest negative is that what happens in it isnt very epic, for a story about an alien race enslaving the Earth. I rescued 4 civilians, who told me where to go for mission 2. in mission 2 I got some more directions, which were then shelved for mission 3 and the rescue of Manticore. There wasn't even a Big Bad to fight!
Now heres an important
thing. If I was a member of the Every Arc Stands Alone Brigade, I might FAIL your arc here because on its own it, it doesnt have much internal cohesion. Im not, however, and I wonder how it would stand up if it were simply the first three missions in a longer arc. If I dont have to view mission 3 as the End (or even An end), maybe Missions 3 and 4 and 5 will seem like a Middle, if you get my drift.
So Ill have to play the rest of it, wont I?
I wont rate it right now, Ill write down now on my little pad what I think it deserves if the rest is crap, middling or great, and then at the end I can rate all three with the same brush. Multi-slot arcs FTW, ticket-wise, eh?
I will say this, however. Youre already sailing towards the Isle of Bloat, even with just 3 missions and with the fairly small number of objectives you have in each one. I think its a combination of knowing there are another 2 segments to go and the manifold customs in the Gal Prot they make it seem larger. Could you at least use smaller maps? Less travel time in Missions 2 and 3 would make a world of difference.
And Ive still got an eye out for some catgirls
Eco.
MArcs:
The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)
Quote:
|
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."
|
Thanks for the stream-of-consciousness review, MrCaptainMan! I'm glad you enjoyed the first part of my Arc, for the most part 
I appreciate the fact that you'll be rating the first 3 Arcs of my story as one large Story Arc I'll be looking forward to what you think of the next parts!
However, I'm not really a fan of catgirls, so if you're expecting some "nyuu" custom catgirls in the following Arcs, you're going to be disappointed 
Supplemental Galactic Protectorate Fanfic
MrCaptainMan, I know you've played through my "Tubbius Trilogy" already, and your comments in tell were very generous. . . but might you be willing to rate and run PENGUIN on here if you find time and inclination?
Err, sorry; just saw the note about no more requests. Well, let it wait 'til you're ready for it, if you even want to do so. Thanks!
I'm out of signature space! Arcs by Tubbius of Justice are HERE: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=218177
Tubbius,
I am going to be alternating the requested runs with selected arcs that I've done before and would like to spotlight for various reasons. The Tubbius Trilogy is one I can include. I'm a bit slow however so it might be a while.
Eco
MArcs:
The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)
Quote:
|
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."
|
[ QUOTE ]
With some amount of careful testing on multiple maps, you can produce an objective chain that consistently spawns in a linear manner for the player and that doesnt require backtracking. It IS possible.
It is not, because you do not control the player's actions.
[/ QUOTE ]
Chum Bucket Casino map. Set a wall safe collection object. Set a Defeat Boss objective to trigger when the Wall safe objective is completed. There. Thats a chain with consistent sequencing and no backtracking.
But that maps got just one room! I hear you splutter. It doesnt matter. I just made and tested that idiotic tiny mission to illustrate that binary statements with no modifying adverbs are often easily refutable. I said that it was possible to produce an objective chain that consistently spawns in a linear manner for the player and that doesnt require backtracking, and you said it is not. Its your rigid sticking to absolutes like that that dooms your arc to mediocrity. And whats awfully sad IMO is that I dont believe youre even sticking to your position because its a universal law as you claim. You just cannot ever admit youre wrong, or even modify your stance with politenesses like 'i see your point, but...'.
It IS possible to produce a map with a consistent sequence of objectives, and Im not even talking about chaining them, necessarily. If they are for example in a fairly linear map and obvious to see or highlighted in some way the glowing green gas cloud being a good example (and no, I'm not suggesting using this ALL the time) then players are quite likely to do them in the intended order.
[ QUOTE ]
Well, if you see Azuria as Dullard Queen of the Tedium People and think that her canon voice reads like a 1,200 mg a day Thorazine addict whos lost the will to live, then you were bang on with that voice.
Ambiguous, are you claiming she is not written in character or not? I've reviewed her text on ParagonWiki and I think she is. Ditto for the Legacy Chain.
[/ QUOTE ]
Stop banging on about whether or not shes IC or not lol. She sounds like an eighties 16kb chess computer in your arc.
[ QUOTE ]
God, no. Change the there are bodies everywhere! sentence, thats all. Make it a strike force of Legacy Chain or sth. You have this My writing SAYS something is so, to hell with the actual stuff the player encounters! attitude.
You arent very flexible, Venture.
I'm not flexible? You are arguing that writers should be limited to what the game can actually portray. The entire purpose of the text is to describe things that it can't.
[/ QUOTE ]
Not the entire purpose, surely, otherwise youre outlawing text to describe stuff that can be seen. One of the purposes of the text is to describe things that the game cant portray, but not when it directly contradicts to such an extent. If I put This office building is empty, silent as the entry popup in a cave map, youd rightly lambast me for bad writing because Im not in an office, Im in a cave.
[ QUOTE ]
I thought you were into RP, and yet you seem to have no regard for the difference between IC knowledge and OOC. The average player doesnt even need that entry popup spelled out for him at all the Nav instruction would do. The character, however, has just entered what looks like an empty modern office building, and there is absolutely no sign that anything is amiss. No noise, no fights, nothing.
Because there can't be. (Unless, again, I want to fill the place with corpses -- and then get complaints that they're in body bags.) Thus, the text sets the mood.
[/ QUOTE ]
Sure, and the mood is Mild Bafflement followed by ah,fuhgeddit.
[ QUOTE ]
I guess every time an RPer (e.g.) describes his character as wearing a piece of jewelry or such that doesn't show on the avatar he's out of line, since you can clearly see that he's not wearing it. Emotes lacking animations must likewise be forbidden.
[/ QUOTE ]
As far as Im concerned, these sorts of RP are absolutely fine.
[ QUOTE ]
With enough testing, Player Runaraound can be minimised if not avoided altogether.
Not until the game becomes a side-scroller.
[/ QUOTE ]
Here you go again, ignoring words and contradicting yourself as a result. You, Venture, already try to minimise Player Runaround, youve said thats why you dont use triggered objectives. Perhaps you confused the concept with minimalise?
[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, cos nothing says Quality arc! like a 3-star rating after 58 plays.
Your (rather obviously vindictive) reviews are the worst ones my arcs have received. And those are still three-star reviews, since you couldn't credibly one- or two-star either.
[/ QUOTE ]
I didnt one or two-star it because it was, as I said, worth three stars IMO. If it had been much worse I would have given it the rating I felt it deserved.If it had been much better I would have given it 4 or 5 stars.
[ QUOTE ]
Reviews and comments have otherwise been consistently good. I don't pay too much attention to the rating system because it is too easily griefed. Too often when I post a bad review I almost immediately get a string of lowball ratings.
[/ QUOTE ]
You have my sympathy on that score. Thats low behaviour IMO
[ QUOTE ]
(When the MA database was copied to Test, where zero-star ratings have been removed in i15, all three arcs jumped to 4 stars.)
[/ QUOTE ]
gratz?
[ QUOTE ]
But the point youre referencing here wasnt about clue order, it was about the mission complete clue thats supposed to be Cinovars speech arriving when Cinovar was nowhere near me.
Right, because it's completely impossible that the character might walk over and talk to you after the mission! Are you actually this literal-minded?
[/ QUOTE ]
You sound much more human when youre exasperated, Venture. I think its the contractions thing. Add a few contractions to Azurias dialogue, and she wont sound so much like HAL before his meltdown.
[ QUOTE ]
If Cinovar hasd been defeated before that clue drop, it would have been even more incongruous.
Cinoval. If you're going to complain about typos and attention to detail try living up to your standards.
[/ QUOTE ]
I was complaining about typos and attention to detail in arcs, not in threads. But my apologies for not remembering the correct spelling of Cinoval.
[ QUOTE ]
I don't know if that's even mathematically possible, at least on a solo map and when he's actually using his secondary.
Not everyone will have your encyclopaedic knowledge of canon lore.
Everything referenced is found in-game, not dug out of web pages or the like. By level 41+ the player should have basic knowledge of the canon.
So, let's add this up...you didn't complain about any plot flaws or holes. You didn't claim it was "just a bunch of stuff that happened", or that I threw the Idiot Ball at anyone, or about canon inconsistencies or established characters being out of character. I didn't powerpose the player unacceptably or show him as being used as pawn or anything like that. Your complaints are that you disapprove of the manner and order in which clues are delivered, I used some locutions you don't approve of but aren't actually incorrect, there were a few typos that dozens of people either didn't notice or didn't think were worth mentioning and I used text to describe things that couldn't be shown in game.
Did I miss anything?
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes. You missed the most important thing of all. I think Chains of Blood is horribly, terribly, painfully dull. It is a flat arc, it has no soul. When I play Ghost In The Machine or The History of Statesman or Axis and Allies or even a simple one-mission Grab n Defeat story like Death to Disco above, I can sense the passion behind them. Chains of Blood gives me no such impression.
Eco.
MArcs:
The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)
Quote:
|
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."
|
But that maps got just one room! I hear you splutter. It doesnt matter.
Well, yes it does, because proving a degenerate case doesn't prove the actual point.
It IS possible to produce a map with a consistent sequence of objectives, and Im not even talking about chaining them, necessarily. If they are for example in a fairly linear map and obvious to see or highlighted in some way the glowing green gas cloud being a good example (and no, I'm not suggesting using this ALL the time) then players are quite likely to do them in the intended order.
"Likely" is not good enough. As we have seen, as I did place the clues in Act IV in a straight-line order, and you missed one. Players are not, in fact, likely to do things in the intended order because players as a rule are an ornery and sometimes even (intellectually) perverse bunch. Some of them are always looking for short cuts and a significant minority will try to do things in unusual ways just to see if anything breaks. The result is that if it is physically possible for a player to complete Objective 2 before completing Objective 1 many players will find a way to do it even (or in some cases, especially) if that breaks the plot.
Now add the fact that spawn point selection and clue order are different goals determined by the same thing (order of detail creation), the fact that if you're making changes on a mission with a lot of details preserving the clue order may require deleting and recreating almost all of your objectives (since you can't change their order any other way) and the fact that limiting yourself to linear maps for any mission with clues means ignoring the great majority of the indoor maps and all of the outdoor ones (which, despite their labels, treat everything as "front"). This is an unreasonable amount of work and limitation for something as minor as what order the clues appear in, especially since the number of current critics who have made any note of it at all can be counted on the thumbs of one hand.
Stop banging on about whether or not shes IC or not lol. She sounds like an eighties 16kb chess computer in your arc.
Whether or not the canon characters are written correctly is exactly the point. If they are, your complaint can only be "I don't like them so you shouldn't have used them", which is an aesthetic matter. It is your prerogative not to like them, but as a criticism that carries little weight.
If I put This office building is empty, silent as the entry popup in a cave map, youd rightly lambast me for bad writing because Im not in an office, Im in a cave.
Only because you could have chosen an office instead of a cave. If all the game had was cave maps we'd have to either accept that all of the action takes place underground or allow rather a lot of wiggle room in text descriptions. Of course, in such a restrictive and contrived scenario I suspect most of us would Take a Third Option: play something else.
As far as Im concerned, these sorts of RP are absolutely fine.
Sauce for the goose, then -- if players can play loose and fast with textual depictions to cover the lack of visual ones, why not Architects?
You sound much more human when youre exasperated, Venture. I think its the contractions thing. Add a few contractions to Azurias dialogue, and she wont sound so much like HAL before his meltdown.
She does use them. You just ignored them.
Yes. You missed the most important thing of all. I think Chains of Blood is horribly, terribly, painfully dull. It is a flat arc, it has no soul.
It is your prerogative not to like the story, but that is not a technical flaw. It carries very little weight as a criticism. If the majority of respondents said the arc's story was dull that would be one thing, but even people who have complained about the difficulty (in earlier versions using the Arch-Magi instead of the custom Redeemers) or about the mission not having lots of custom mobs (which I find no more interesting than the existing mobs) have said things like "the story is a blockbuster". You are perhaps the third person out of dozens of reviews and comments to not like the story (and one of the other two said something like "nice farm but kind of dull"...the hell?!)
When I review an arc I address the technical details. In the general case my aesthetic response to the arc is at most a small factor; if I liked or disliked it might tip the scales if I'm stuck deciding between X and X+1 stars. The only exceptions are arcs that rely entirely on comedy, in which case since there's nothing else to criticize it's all going to come down to whether or not I thought it was funny, which is entirely subjective. If an Architect puts all his chips down on "funny" and spins the wheel (asks for a review)...well, what ya get is what ya get. That's why I tried to aim a little higher with the comedy I'm developing on Test (#225399 "Why We Fight", feel free to review it, I could use the input of someone who will find all the insignificant problems no one else in the universe cares about). All I'm getting here is whether or not you liked the material, which is an outright laughable approach to reviewing given your signature quote. Frankly, it looks to me like you "review" arcs by forming an aesthetic judgement and then nitpicking them to support it, which is no way to do things.
And that's all I got to say about that.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
Wow dude, seriously? If you have a personal beef with someone take it to PMing him instead of clogging up his review thread. I'm sure you don't like it when people shove crap in your thread. Show the guy the same common curtasy.
MA Arc:
Red Typhoon 4912
Akhdar Blood Arc: 247198
[ QUOTE ]
Wow dude, seriously? If you have a personal beef with someone take it to PMing him instead of clogging up his review thread. I'm sure you don't like it when people shove crap in your thread. Show the guy the same common curtasy.
[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the step-up, but Venture's entitled to respond to criticism of his arc. My first critique of a Venture arc (Blowback, Arc ID 4643) was in fact made in his own thread, so protesting against him responding against my comments in mine would be unfair.
But thanks for the defence, though
Eco.
MArcs:
The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)
Quote:
|
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."
|
[ QUOTE ]
And that's all I got to say about that.
[/ QUOTE ]
Thank heavens.
Eco.
MArcs:
The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
[The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."
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Kiss Hello Goodbye.
That Is My Favourite MArc Title Ever. Its awesome. Kiss Hello Goodbye. Kiss Hello Goodbye. Just saying you do that again, you can kish hello goodbye, shweetheart in a Humphrey Bogart accent makes me giggle. Im slapping an Unremoveable Titanium Star on thjis one for just its title.
Kiss Hello Goodbye, Arc ID 156389.
Very Long, 4 unique maps and one small, Neutral Morality.
Ill taks the Dirty Promise in for this I think. Ill even go change her costume into something a bit more Femme Fatale for it.
Hm
Usually, Film Noire has male protagonists. This arcs description warns its going to hijack your characters inner monologue, so Im interested in seeing what happens
And so I start.
Lol the briefings straight into Noir narration, and the contact is a dame in red who causes Dirty to say things like She took a hesitant breath, and I was jealous of the air. Fantastic. I wouldnt Kiss her hello goodbye!
Niggles - Typo ; Unnecessary space in front of the first $Name, Im not enamored with the Star Wars reference, and the contacts name is a bit dull, unless later events provide more info on this. Finding a really classic-sounding femme fatale contact name would be diamond.
Mission 1: Ask a few questions
An Aside, here, As Is My Wont:
The question of Capitalization In Titles is one I think of sometimes (not a lot lol). Is it best to have a title like this The quest for pumpkins, or this, The Quest For Pumpkins? My own personal preference is for the latter, but Id say that consistency was more important. If every title is capitalized, fine, if none are, thats good too. Mix and match and youre Pedant Baiting.
Oh, that goes for Nav instructions too.
Back to the mission. I have to find the dames kid sister, and the first mission sees me going to ask some of her friends where she might be. Classic Noir startup so far.
The entry popup to the casino needs a
at its end, IMO. I like the past tense use; it mirrors the voiceover of a noir movie. Its such a shame we cant use sepia, isnt it?
hm
maybe I can turn my monitor to B&W?
OK, Im now playing in black and white. Wow, thats weird. The speech bubbles are a bit too washed out to read them easily (LMAO this is not a criticism!). Luckily Ive got the chat bar anyway.
Im Hidden, so I have a sneaky-sneaky look around the place. Theres a low-life called Slick Willie and a big goon
whos an EB! (optional. According to the description, so thats nice for hardcore players and poltroons like meself).
And the Ebs conning white, so he shouldnt be too much of a problem J
Slick Willies conning white, too
as are ALL the mobs. Maybe my B&W idea needs a rethink lol.
My first attempt at Slick Willie was a walkover
for them. The custom group is quite tasty in a group, even though theyre all conning white
Second attempt is much better, because I take some care about it lol Just as Willie fell, the EB noticed all the commotion happening 3 metres away (er
) and ran over to have a go. I figured Id stay to see what he was like, so I summoned my Widow and have at him. We were doing pretty well, as it happens. He was SS/inv, maybe? It was quite a long fight, and I got him down to a sliver but then I had to do some kiting and the casino was a bit enclosed for that sort of thing lol and I got overwhelmed by the other mopbs. Not a huge problem, but I wonder, did you try any other maps for this? For immersion purposes, it would be better if the EB wasnt within sight of me beating on Willie. He did in fact support the immersion by noticing me beating up his partner, but hes listed as optional, so you might get people thinking hes forced ion them.
2 large niggles: Exit popup says A new superdrug on the streets of my city? Not if I could help it., but Im a mercenary who doesnt really give a monkeys about that. The line could be considered as not neutral. And worse, Gorilla says That all you got, boy? during the fight. I know hes a big dumb galoot, but Im a sexy bird in a dress and high heels, so
you win a FWM
The rest of the dialogue is great Liked the MJ line esp
The info I gleaned from the bust gives me my lead to the next mission. Back with the Dame, I decide to go back to full color because my eyes are starting to go wonky. In the briefing for Mission 2, A ship that had paid off the right people would slide quietly up to the docks, would be better as With the right people paid off, a ship could slide quietly
, I think. Ships dont pay.
Youve got two uses of legit in the sendoff briefing. A quick trip to thesaurus.com could provide a synonym for the second one, especially since the first is spoken by you and the second by her. Tiny differences in modes of speaking can help differentiate characters from each other.
Apologies if this seems petty, btw Lol
Mission 2: Search the cargo
Ooh, its the first outdoor instance in CoV map! Yay!
Nav instruction reads suspicious crate, when it should read Use a verb My preferences are becoming obvious now, eh?
I can see the crate from the boat, guarded by some Rogue Fortunatas from the Mad Science faction. There are also more goons around. The Mad Science faction has a standard bio. I placate the crate and destroy it, since its not a clicky and nothing seems to be attacking it. Verbs Are Our Friends
I get a mission complete message, but I have a look around for the optional boss. Its gorilla again, so in case I need to kite, ill wipe out the other mobs first. As I search, I find an optional kidnap victim. Her Descriptions a bit borked, it says as Ms Chesterfie' but doesnt finish. Perhaps her name field isnt large enough?
Hmm
the kidnappee gives me some information thats quite useful, but its optional. If Id not been looking for the EB I wouldnt have found her.
Gorilla goes down this after a satisfactory amount of nicely balanced fighting.
The debriefing has another extra space after $Name (and an extra space after the period there too). When you use $Name, $Class etc, you dont need to put spaces in front or after, just use it as though you were writing your own characters name, for example.
Mission 3: Inspect the cargo
Id got the number of a truck leaving the scene of Mission 2, and the contact had located the warehouse it was bound for.
I LOVE the dialogue and bio for the Old Fossil, and check it out its an Ally that actually tells the player to leave him behind. Nice.
I lead the Old Fossil over to Gorilla, whos fairly close, and they get it on. Unfortunately, Gorilla beats him down by the time Ive finished off Gorillas attendant goons (BTW, the guards with the shotguns looked great). When Gorilla turns on me, I Placate and run deeper into the warehouse, looking for the kid.
I find her, held hostage by some goons, and her bio gives me a Magical Infodump. I know, I know, I said upstairs that MIs in bios were ok now, but this one specifically says It made a lot of sense except for one thing: according to Ligeia, [something] had [happened] [sometime]. I havent rescued her or spoken to her, and she hasnt said her rescue dialogue etc yet. Id move that message from the future to her rescue clue, maybe?
Her guards dialogue We should off her, like I said in the first place. Would be a very slight improvement?.
With her rescue, the mission completes. Shes a boss though, and her dialogue suggests that I could lead her off for some fighting (perhaps against gorilla) if I wanted to. Nice to think of that.
I take her for a stroll thru the base and we beat up some goons, and then I leave.
The Exit popup says Old Fossil is speaking to me, which is odd since hes either dead or at the hospital. Id have much preferred the exit popup to continue with my internal monologue. Theyre great when you do those.
The Dame has some kind of [wossname], but I have a Mcguffin so thats all right. Brilliant. Theres a Mcguffin! Haha.
Im going to try to avoid spoilers from now on, because the twists are nice and the arc deserves it. Its time for some answers, but I get KOd (coshed from behind, classic), and wake up in an arachnos base. The entry popup is a nice surprise in the way it presents my decision to investigate.
Mission 4: Where is [someone]?
The Nav instructions are good. I set off into the base
and it all goes to pot.
Im Hidden, remember? I encounter Old Fossil, and hes having a battle with some arachnos. Hes talking to them whilst they fight him, telling them to stop resisting and tol ead him to [someone], and I stop to watch. Im thinking wow, this is great! when I see hes getting a bit low on health. So I AS one of the arachnos and he finishes the other one off. Im ready to lead him in further, when he turns to me and WHAM straight in the kisser. Total WTF moment. Before I can react, Im faceplanted and he runs off.
Hes a Boss now, obviously, not an Ally,and hes against me. I read his dialogue back and parse it as if it was directed at me, and it makes sense. Its really unfortunate that it transpired the way it did, though. I dont know if this is a commmone thing or not, but if I hadnt helped him, the arachnos would have killed him, possibly before I got there too.
So a quick hosp, and back in.
I find [something], and it doesnt make Dirty Promise happy. Then I find a [device]. Ew. Thats gross lol. Its clue has a typo, into it's component it should be into its component as the possessive pronoun its never takes a possessive apostrophe.
Finally I find another clue,which clears the mystery up a little more, and Im out.
Theres a giant No in the debriefing, my heroing license, when Im not a hero. Change the morality to Heroic if you dont want consistency complaints.
The plot is also getting me a tiny bit confused now. The Dame has changed sides, apparently, but Im not real clear when or why. The last line in the debriefing is nice, though.
I think that Mission 4 could do with one or two more obvious clues (not necessarily actual Clue Drops, maybe some extra dialogue perhaps or sth) as to the frame-up thats happened. There was a mention of sirens in the entry popup, which was nice, but at the end I wasnt totally in an Ive been framed mindset.
So to
Mission 5: Have a grand old party
Inside, I was expecting Doc Vahziloks map, but instead its a dirty Faultline tech base, which is great for the setting. I find [the EB], and smile and nod sagely at the bio, which explains a lot more of whats been going on, including why the contacts name is what it is
Then I sneaky sneaky further in, and find the things Im looking for. I deal with them fairly easily, and its mission complete time. The EB is optional, but I feel this is necessary, so I go looking for backup
Im sure its around somewhere
Hmm
.no backup. Ah well, Ill have a go on my own then. Uh-oh, Shes an MM. In I go.
And you know, Im doing alright! My blinding powder confuses quite a few of her minions, who sort of help, and I get her down to a sliver
and then she REALLY pisses me off by running away.
Im sorry, but that absolutely blows massive chunks. Minus a zillion stars for giving me a nice wham-bang-kapow EB fight and then yanking it away just as I was about to win. She spawned right by the entrance too, so I didnt have enough time to get more than 2 hits in on her before she was out the door.
What a downer of an ending
Theres another mention of My heroing license in the debriefing, and erasiong too. The debriefing as a whole is definitely not neutral, IMO. Its heroic.
OK, so my last moments were a downer, but what do I think of the whole arc?
Im a big fan of noir, and as I said, I love that title. I think the arc started off Awesome but Lost Its Way a little towards the end. The gag with the Dame and her effect on me may come over as a little odd for players with female toons (though I personally dont have any idssues with same-gender stuff), so perhaps you could have some kind of arched-eyebrow she isnt my usual type comment, which would cover more bases.
The customs fit the theme, and I liked that you had chose some appropriate idle animations. The Big Bad fights along the way were fun for the most part too. Its a double edged sword, making EBs optional it enables folk to ignore them if they dont like hard fights, but theres the danger that the experienced content will then be thinner. On the whole, I think you made the right decision.
Mechanically, most of the arc worked well, but there was that big Whoops in Mission 4 with Old Fossil. That was a head-scratcher, and it really put the kybosh on that mission for me. When I went back in, I couldnt find him either, so I guess he must have been offed by the arachnos in the base. After that, Mission 5 needed to raise my spirits a bit, but as it happened I stealthed the two [doodads] and then failed to defeat [the Big Bad].
By the end, the plot threads are all cleared up, and everything is known, and it does make a fairly classic noir plot with a CoH spin. Its not perfect, but I think that if Mission 4 and 5 had not given me those two speed bumps my mood on finishing would have been much better.
And a players mood on finishing is the mood he or she is in when the ratings done, isnt it?
What to rate Kiss Hello Goodbye? Im torn, to be honest. The title (oh, that title), the setup, the plot, the atmosphere (more internal monologue, please! ), all say 4-stars to me, but the Old Fossil hiccup, the end fight boss-escape and minor typos etc say 3. We cant give 3.5 stars, however, so I have to choose, and Im going to choose 4 because my best friends back in town after a long absence, its nearly the weekend, Ive possibly got a date tomorrow, and
Its called Kiss Hello Goodbye.
I told you, I love that title.
Eco.
MArcs:
The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
[The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."
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Thank you, thank you, thank you very much for you review. You definitely pointed out some things for me to clear up, and I certainly appreciate your choice not to give away all of the twists.
I'm not going to give a bigf itemized counter-critique: I am happy to get the 4 stars and I can't really fault where you caught me out in most places. I'm not sure what to do about Old Fossil's dialogue in Mission 4: that will take some thinking.
As far as the [big bad] getting away; well all I can say is, it made sense for the character and the story, and they are entirely catchable if you are ready for it. Of course, you aren't necessarily supposed to be ready for it.
I am actually a fan of failable missions, but I can understand if others aren't.
All in all, thanks for the review, and as soon as I can afford it I will be buying more slots to hopefully do some more stories in various styles.
Story Arcs I created:
Every Rose: (#17702) Villainous vs Legacy Chain. Forget Arachnos, join the CoT!
Cosplay Madness!: (#3643) Neutral vs Custom Foes. Heroes at a pop culture convention!
Kiss Hello Goodbye: (#156389) Heroic vs Custom Foes. Film Noir/Hardboiled detective adventure!
[ QUOTE ]
Thank you, thank you, thank you very much for you review. You definitely pointed out some things for me to clear up, and I certainly appreciate your choice not to give away all of the twists.
I'm not going to give a bigf itemized counter-critique: I am happy to get the 4 stars and I can't really fault where you caught me out in most places. I'm not sure what to do about Old Fossil's dialogue in Mission 4: that will take some thinking.
As far as the [big bad] getting away; well all I can say is, it made sense for the character and the story, and they are entirely catchable if you are ready for it. Of course, you aren't necessarily supposed to be ready for it.
I am actually a fan of failable missions, but I can understand if others aren't.
All in all, thanks for the review, and as soon as I can afford it I will be buying more slots to hopefully do some more stories in various styles.
[/ QUOTE ]
I look forward to playing anything else you do.
One more note on that [Big Bad]: she was literally on a sliver of health when she hit the door. On reflection, it wasn't the running away that made me 'gah!', it was the successfully running away lol. If she'd have spawned at Back of the map, I'd quite probably have experienced and succeeded in an exciting 'chase down the villain' sequence instead.
I'm not going to argue against 'villain runs at X health' uses-they are another element of storytelling and can often add a dynamic tense element to a confrontation with an enemy. But I'd give the playr as much time as possible to get more hits in as they do run.
I mentioned your title to my friends in the pub last night btw, and there was immediate general consensus that it's a corking noir title
Eco
MArcs:
The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
[The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."
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Well, looks like I'm up next... Let's hope my arc performs all right...
Also, as a side note, I ran Kiss Hello Goodbye a while back and enjoyed it quite a bit. It's always cool to see some arcs that are completely different from the usual CoH/V fare. I managed to keep the "Big Bad" from running, so I feel pretty proud of myself. 
My arcs:
Title: Blitzkrieg
Arc ID: 3416
Title: Soldiers of Fortune
Arc ID: 4431
Title: The Rikti Accession
Arc ID: 278757
[ QUOTE ]
Well, looks like I'm up next... Let's hope my arc performs all right...
Also, as a side note, I ran Kiss Hello Goodbye a while back and enjoyed it quite a bit. It's always cool to see some arcs that are completely different from the usual CoH/V fare.
[/ QUOTE ]
yes, it is, and when it works, as KHG did admirably despite the minor mechanical hiccups I encountered, it's awesome.
[ QUOTE ]
I managed to keep the "Big Bad" from running, so I feel pretty proud of myself.
[/ QUOTE ]
cool! I think it's a strength of the arc that players want to go for it there, even though it's optional. It shows the engagement with the story.
Eco
MArcs:
The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
[The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."
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I will get onto Blitzkreig soon, Mekkanos, but I'm anticipating a combat-heavy hard run on it, so first i wanted to do something a little lighter. Apologies for the sidetrack.
Eco.
MArcs:
The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
[The Incarnate System is] Jack Emmert all over again, only this time it's not "1 hero = 3 white minions" it's "1 hero = 3 white rocks."
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Frank Sinatra escaped from hell and has kidnapped TV star Kelly Ripa! Arc ID 45878 by @redjoe.
What a title. I found this whilst searching for Celebrity Kidnapping, which Ill do in another post. I had to check it, out, after all, its called Frank Sinatra escaped from hell and has kidnapped TV star Kelly Ripa!
Its a one-mission arc, Villainous, which is odd since the description has you rescuing Kelly, with the help of Regis, from Ol Blue eyes, who has escaped from Hell and wants her to be his undead bride.
Still, Villainous is what its labeled, so Ill use the Dirty Promise (50 NB/Nin Stalker).
This arc offers me the chance to ramble on about an aspect of the MA system and ratings etc thats pertinent but maybe overlooked. Regis Philbin, according to Wikipedia, holds the Guinness World Record for the most time spent in front of a television camera., which suggests he should be recognisable, but Im British and Ive never heard of him
Theres a gag in one of my arcs which cracks me up, but no-one has ever got it because it is stupidly obscure. I sometimes get comments informing me of the typo.
Im not criticising anything with this observation, its merely an idle thought, and in this specific case Im sure that the HUGE majority of the intended audience will know exactly who Kelly and Regis are, them being well-known US TV personalities, but sometimes people arent going to get some or all references in an arc. A 1 or 2 star rating doesnt always mean that the arc has mechanical or story errors, sometimes it can mean that the point was missed by the player. Such is life.
So after a brief heads up on wiki for Kelly and Regis, I Start.
The contact, Regis Philbin, looks like a sort of wood-satyr, with the paper Crown on his head. His briefing IS ALL IN CAPS AND HAS ONE MISSING COMMA! APART FROM THAT ITS OK EVEN IF LUDICROUSLY BRIEF.
The acceptance speech (it is rather long!) needs a comma between viewers and dont.
I accept and Regis shouts at me some more. A comment in his sendoff dialogue suggests that perhaps he is known for shouting in his show? If so, theres a great example of what I meant earlier about missing the point.
Mission1: Defeat Frank Sinatra with Kelly Ripa!
Slightly odd instruction, there, and once Im inside the Nav instructions are Frank Sinatra, Kelly Regis. No verbs to tell me if Im supposed to rescue, defeat, escort, destroy, or what.
The Entry popup is funny. Im expecting sb else from the Rat Pack now.
I stealth my way through the Too Big map, and I encounter some disappointing customs. They are Joan Rivers, Joey Bishop, Elton John, Shelley Winters, Sammy Davis Jnr and Rich Little. The Brat Packers are here, obviously, but Im a bit perplexed at Elton John? The faction is Las Vegas, so perhaps theyre all supposed to be Vegas regulars
they have totally standard bios, unfortunately, and their costumes are nothing special. Its a shame we dont have /em whiskey tumbler animation
I find Kelly being guarded by a few of the customs, and free her. The mobs have ice, MA, and theres some plant control in there too, which causes a quite annoying sequence very near the elevator when 8 carrion creepers manifest after the plant dom mob has been defeated. They con orange and are tedious to deal with.
Im very happy to say that Kelly must have some good +per, as she keeps up with me even though Im Hidden no problem.
I find Frank, whos an EB, fire something, and activate my ninja-skillz for the fight. Kelly is Spines/something. With her and my Widow, we should be ok.
Right, Frank isnt too bad, actually. Theres a few of his minions around, but Kelly takes them on whilst my Widow and I deal with Frank. Halfway through his health, he shouts out for Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, so I know an ambush is on its way. Then he hits a quarter health and his other powerset is revealed. Its /run away. Not Run To Exit, just Run Around Like An Annoying ****. Kelly and I chase him down and finish him off just as Dean and Jerry arrive.
The mission complete popup has arrived by now, and the exit button is there, but My Way is to finish off any ambushes etc and exit from a clean empty silent room whenever I can, so I want to finish off Dean and Jerry. Unfortunately, either Dean or Jerry is a thugs/storm MM, or Gah/Ragequit to give it its other name. Im getting blown all over the damn shop. I persevere, however, and finish off the last one, and then I turn and am confronted by a rezzed Frank, fresh from murdering his beloved.
On my own and with my supply of inspires gone, its just moments before Im sleeping with the fishes.
Theres a typo in the exit popup, interviews that rots should be interviews that rot.
So, regrets? I noted a few. The title definitely sucked me in, so that should get this arc a few plays, lol. But inside it fell off the stage Im afraid. What you want here is a one-shot comedy mission that has amusing text and dialogue relating to the Brat Pack (and Vegas loungecore if you like) wrapped around a basic rescue hostage, defeat boss mechanic. Starting from a what the hell, 5-stars for the title!, the arc loses one for the standard bios, undistinguished costumes and minor typos etc, another for Franks rezzing and the annoying MM ambush, and a third for the general mehness of the mission once Id got inside it expecting some laughs.
So thatd be a 2-star rating, wouldnt it?
However, nobody likes a lowball rating, do they? And what am I, Solomon? Its no disaster-arc, thats for sure. 3-stars.
Eco.
MArcs:
The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)
Quote:
|
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."
|
A Perfect Arc.
I know, this isnt in my queue. But I havent got time to get though Blitzkrieg right now, I do have time for a shortish arc that I know, and Id like to spotlight this arc because in my view its perfect, and MAuthors can learn a lot from it. Itll be a fairly quick run-through.
Celebrity Kidnapping, Arc ID 1388, Medium length, Villainous Morality, so Dirtys up again.
The description explains the setup simply and clearly; heres the contact, heres the job, sorted.
In I go.
Willy Wheeler suggests a plan to make MILLIONS! by breaking a superpowered celebrity out of the Zig and then ransoming her to her rich family. Shes set up not as a supervillain but as a celebrity who revealed she has powers on a reality TV show, so already were forming a picture of a bimbo. She isnt even in the Zig for any sort of great crime.
Were going to be using the Zig Breakout map, and Willy tells us to use the sewer grate at the far end to get in (thats PW thinking of players who havent seen this map yet).
Mission 1: Break Paris Out of Jail
Once on the map, the entry popup reads Sirens wail and shotguns boom; you see prisoners and guards duking it out in the yard. and I actually can! The map is full of patrols, prisoners and longbow. Since theyre patrols, as I stealth through the yard towards the grate, they come into contact with each other and attack. The dialogue fits the scene and of course the spotlights etc are spot on.
The Nav instruction reads Sneak through sewer grate to break Paris out of her cell, no mistaking that at all.
In the grate, I move up into the jail. Inside, the fighting continues with Longbow, Prisoners, Family all fighting. Its excellent, really. Upstairs, the Celeb is cowering in a cell guarded by three prisoners who are about to get friendly with her. I attack, theres an attempt by longbow to stop me (ambush), but I polish them off too (half way through attracting the interest of another group of longbow running past), and when shes freed we start to make our escape. Some paparazzi rush in to take some photos of her and me escaping together!
We fight our way out (the Nav has changed to Lead Paris to getaway vehicle) into the yard. Once in the yard, we simply make our way back to the getaway copterm fighting or avoiding as required. Paris (the celeb) is wearing a Zig jumpsuit, by the way, and her bio and dialogue and powersets are flawless. Shes got thermal support for me and fire attacks for our opponents. I never feel overshadowed by her, and yet she definitely helps.
The whole thing doesnt take very long, but it feels totally slick and fluid. Its a textbook break sb out from Zig mission. If I were teaching MA in college, this would be the Zig Breakout example.
Outside, Paris is whisked away to a safehouse, and Willy tells me that the first half of the ransom has been dropped at an abandoned office for me to collect. Well get the second half after releasing Paris. So then, on to
Mission 2: Get Ransom Money
This mission is a gem. Its almost unnecessary. Its on the abandoned office map that features in Outbreak sometimes. Its tiny, really. It has some bums and hobos, all standard mobs, in various despondent animations, bemoaning their lot in life, and a cardboard box containing the loot. The Bum I have to defeat (only because hes too close to the box on other plays of this, the box was in a side room and I just left the sad homeless guys alone) has some smile-raising lines from On The Waterfront.
I grab the cash from the box after dealing with the tramps, and mission complete.
Other authors might have made this mission a big trawl through an office complex or a warehouse map, maybe put in a Boss or some other objectives. Its a three-mission arc, after all, so its already shortish, right? Doing that might have indeed been fine, depending on its quality needed.This minimalist central mission provides a great little balance between the front and the end of the arc and is a lesson in restraint.
Outside, Willy tells me that to get the other half of the ransom, we need to hand Paris over, so Ive got to go pick her up from where our Family partners are hiding her in a warehouse. It strikes him that with the Family out of the way, therell be more money for us, too. Sounds good
Mission 3: Get Paris from Family
Inside, this smallish warehouse map is empty as I run through it to the area at the far side. The area I head for is at the end of a long straight, and waiting there are some Family including a Boss, and Paris, guarded by some goons in an appropriate pose. Everything about the scene is Just So. Its great.
The map has been empty, of course, because theres going to be some spawns triggered by the rescue. As I attack the first few Family (whove delivered some nice flavor text already as I approach), theres a commotion behind me the paparazzi have got wind of whats happening and are here to snap me and Paris again!
I wade in to the guards, and free Paris. Uh-oh! Suddenly, the warehouse is invaded by the PPD, and the route back to the exit is now a gauntlet.
We fight our way back towards the exit. This map is faultless for this. Its mostly linear, so Paris doesnt run off and annoy me by disappearing beyond my control. Sometimes, Allies set to Follow end up Leading because of an accident of multiple aggros. This doesnt happen here.
On the way out we encounter [someone], who provides some excellent comedy and another little fight, and we continue. [Someone]s set to NOT follow, which allows some more flavor text from the ally lost dialogue.
And then, just before the exit, we meet another Police Boss and [two people]. The first time I played this arc, these two amused me, but I really got the total gag on my second play of it. Its top banana.
Then were at the exit, and I swap Paris for the ransom and have a final chat with Willy. The debriefing is a perfect /facepalm moment for Willy, and the arc ends.
I have just two niggles about this arc, and both of them are negligible.
1 In the Paparazzi bio, I think that changing restaurant or even swimming to restaurant, even while swimming would be better grammatically.
2 I think that the info given in the mission complete clue for Mission 3 would be better placed in the Exit popup (which even repeats the info), so it comes after you exit. Mission Complete Clues are a nice little reward for finishing a mission, however, so if you were to move it, maybe stick a gag about Paris in here
This arc is in my opinion a paragon of Elegant Simplicity. Its mechanically reliable, consistent over multiple plays, the challenge level is spot on, the story is easy to follow and makes sense and it engages the Player as the center of the action. Paris is an Ally in two of the missions, but theres no impression that she or the contact are stealing the Players thunder. Its easily canon-worthy IMO and I think that every MAuthor should play this to see how a great arc can be crafted.
5 stars
Eco.
MArcs:
The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)
Quote:
|
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."
|
Thanks for the kind words!
I must confess that several of the items you highlighted as being especially good were added specifically as a result of suggestions from players. Player feedback is awesome!
I'll take a look at tweaking the Paparazzi bio and the mission 3 completion clue as you suggest; both those seem like pretty reasonable ideas.
Thanks for running through Celebrity Kidnapping! I'm glad you liked it.
@PW - Police Woman (50 AR/dev blaster on Liberty)
TALOS - PW war journal - alternate contact tree using MA story arcs
=VICE= "Give me Liberty, or give me debt!"
Blitzkrieg by @Mekkanos, Arc ID 3416
Very Long (5 maps), Heroic, against Rogue Arachnos and Malta.
Things MCM Doesnt Like #1: Malta
I played Mekkanos Soldiers of Fortune arc (ID 4431) quite a while back, and didnt fall in love with it, but this is not that arc, and I promise to enter it with an open mind. My most recent encounter with Malta was Ventures arc Blowback (Arc ID 4643), and although I thought the arc blew in a lot of ways, the actual Malta encounters in it didnt seem to bother me as much as the canon stuff has in the past. In order to perhaps avoid getting distracted from the story and mechanics by concentrating on the mobs, I am going to take this one slowly. I shall try to clear as I go rather than stealth. Depending on how big the maps are, of course, I might change this tactic lol.
So, the description. It warns me therell be a few AVs/EBs, but that Ill have help if theyre required. Fair enough. The plotline touched upon in the description probably wouldnt hook me personally into it if I hit upon it as a flyby, but thats mostly cos I hate Malta. At least theres no KoA in there too lol.
I accept, and turn to the contact.
Its Crimson. Hes very tall, isnt he?
The briefing is simple enough. Malta has been too quiet lately, and Crimson wants to know if thats anything to worry about. Im to investigate a base.
In I go.
Mission 1: Investigate Malta Base.
I have 2 tasks to perform; Look for clues and interrogate the base leader. The Nav is clear and is using verbs! Yay!
The entry popup is atmospheric and doesnt contradict what I can see or hear.
I turn the first corner and find a lieutenant with some dialogue. I attack him, and he goes down fairly easily, and then the Gah starts as an ambush with a sapper arrives. Im sapped, Im held, Im sighing with resignation at the thought of 5 missions of this to come. Throwing a sapper at someone who hates Malta largely because of the bloody sappers within 2 minutes of the first mission starting
well, its not your fault I hate Malta I guess, is it?
Aside, AIMW: Rise of the Phoenix is one of my favourite powers. Having it actually makes me leave myself to die sometimes, especially when my end is low or at nothing. For anyone who doesnt know what it does, it rezzes you at roughly half health and half end, does AoE damage and KB to any nearby foes, and leaves you invulnerable for a short period of time.
Since the sapper made it impossible for me to fight, I let them kill me and RotP. I waste the goons, and then
Then I leave the mission, visit the inspiration seller, and ditch all my reds and lucks and buy a trayfull of blues, which is what I should have done in the first place.
Some comments on the Boss and Ambush dialogue before I move on. The bosses dialogue in the fight was good, but his dialogue when he notices me says take em down! and theres only one of me. The ambush dialogue talks about a confirmed MHI being on the base. I assume thats me, but the acronym is unknown to me. I googled it, but I dont think that the Malta think Im a Manufactured Housing Institute, a Master of Healthcare Innovation or an employee of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industry Corporation. Im guessing its [something, Mobile, maybe?] Hostile Intruder, or similar?
Anyway, onward.
I hate Malta. How anyone enjoys encounters with them is utterly beyond me. The stuns are horrendous.
I have a few fights that go like this:
1 I snipe the engineer or sapper
2 I get 2 hits in on the operations officer
3 Operations officer stuns me
4 Im a blaster, so I finish him off whilst still stunned.
5 I WAIT FOR THE STUN TO WEAR OFF.
Its point 5 that gets on my nerves.
I find a desk computer with some files, but theyre encrypted. The Base Leader should have the cipher for them.
I find the Base Leader, and its an easy fight. He does have the key to the files, and also warns me that theres something coming soon that wont be good for superhumans.
The base is apparently in the process of being decommissioned, btw.
I leave and report back to Crimson. The debriefing has a grammar error, a few days ago. should be a few days earlier., and the second paragraph suffers from a bit too much that means [something], which means [something else], and that indicates that [something else is happening], which suggests[something else], but otherwise its fine. Basically Something Is Up, and the files may tell us more.
They tell us to go investigate another base.
Mission 2: Investigate supplier
Ill say here that Im not a huge fan of the speech marks you use in this mission. I paragonwikid Crimson to check his dialogue for uses of friends, and all I found were multiple places where Indigo uses friends. The one in the Nav Bar looks the worst IMO, but its a really minor quibble.
The second base is an Arachnos base! Interesting. The Nav instructions are again clear.
Around the first corner is a titan lol. Hes a big man; lets see if hes out of shape.
Jesus.
I didnt die, but I didnt enjoy that at all. I dont like using half my inspiration load on a seemingly unimportant encounter. The titan had a sapper with him, and when I attacked another sapper arrived with an ambush. Two sappers, a titan, plus the tactical operatives and the cocking auto-turret. Awful.
I soldier on.
I stop clearing now, I cant be dealing with this. I switch to stealth mode and carefully avoid the mobs. There are patrols of Rogue Arachnos as well as the Malta in here.
I find some hazardous materials and dispose of them. The system messages are extremely detailed, lol.
I find the boss, who talks about the Main Hawaiian Islands or the Medicare Health Insurance again, and wade in. I defeat him without any problems, and then grit my teeth through the stuns and finish off his guards. He gives up the cipher, and snarls out another you will soon be sorry type thing as he drops.
I discover 2 more glowies, and then I spend about 5 minutes searching the map again for the final glowie. Its hidden in a little crevice, which is why I missed it on my first pass. 5 seconds before I find it, I come to the conclusion that Im not really enjoying myself as much as I should be.
The mission complete clue is a letter from [someone] explaining why the Rogue Arachnos are here.
Crimsons debriefing and briefing for the next missions explains what the Evil Plot is. The now decipherable secret files outline Maltas plan to [do something] and blame the heroes of Paragon, lowering the publics trust in heroes in general. Malta can then engineer [something].
Mission3: Visit the Zig.
For their Evil Plot, Malta needs a villain. One matching the requirements is currently in the Zig, I have to go to the Zig and convince the authorities there to relocate said villain.
I wonder why Crimson cant just phone them up? Hes a government agent, isnt he?
When I arrive at the Zig, it is in alert mode. Theres already a raid on, presumably Malta are coming for the villain. The entry popup warns players they might have to enter the grate at the far end of the yard, , which is good. It has only 1 typo - system on the far end of the should be system at the far end of the.
So earlier in the thread, I described a perfect Zig Breakout mission. This mission also uses the Zig map, but here the objectives are to defeat the raid leader and arrest 2 escaped villains.
The yard has patrols of rogue Arachnos, who are here to distract the guards according to some flavor text, and
Knives of Artemis.
Things MCM Doesnt Like #2: KoA
Lol but hopefully I can avoid them. I find a named villain very quickly, hes got ice powers. More holds, then. 
The second villain is DB/Fire and I two-shot him before he can even get a hit in.
The atmosphere outside here doesnt seem as dynamic as in Celebrity Kidnapping. The two villains feel a bit tacked on. Im not sure right now whether or not they are anything to do with the Evil Plot or just random Zig villains whove taken the opportunity to escape.
I enter the grate and go into the Zig proper.
and theres nothing there. There are a few rogue Arachnos, which I dispatch with aplomb, but apart from that the interior is empty, prompting a FWM.
I head back outside and locate the Raid Leader, whos a KoA lieut. She and her spawn con yellow to me, so theyre no threat at all. She drops a coded message upon defeat (when the mission completes) that I cant read.
This mission was a bit weak IMO. All three objectives spawned outside, so there wasnt any point to me going inside at all. The entry popup warning leads me to believe that the objectives placement may be set to any for this mission.
The mission was over quite quickly, too.
The exit popup tells me that the villain Malta and I want had escaped before I arrived. I think this would be better delivered in some form inside the mission, rather than after the fact.
The debriefing has a clever explanation connected with the Rogue Arachnos used.
The Briefing for Mission 4 tells me that Indigo has found the location where [someone important to Maltas Evil Plot] is being kept. Its a Warburg facility. Theres also some [stuff vital for the Evil Plot] to destroy, and some [more stuff] to sabotage.
I stock up on break frees and blues, and head into
Mission 4: Attack the Malta base
The instructions from Crimson are very well written, and what I have to do is spelled out clearly, using orange text to highlight the main points. Apparently theres going to be a villain in there that Crimson would like arrested, but the mission takes priority so if I dont want to(or cant) handle her, thats fine.
Inside, the Nav instructions are clear. This is a warburg outdoor map with an indoor warehouse section.
There are a number of [things] to destroy, and the flavor text for their guards is identical. The optional EB is on the roof of the warehouse; I ignore her.
Inside the warehouse, I quickly locate and destroy [a doodad], the guard has flavor text which fits. I run about destroying [wossnames] and then I find [someone]. Hes an easy fight, and the mission ends.
Now that Ive managed to blow up all the [stuff] and save [someone], theres the mopup to do. Something found in the last mission leads to the location of the Big Bad and some people in need of rescuing. Its very reasonably described.
Mission 5: Stop Operation Blitzkrieg
This is a timed mission, and Im told Ill have help from Indigo ijn it, which will be useful for the undoubted EB
I head in, and meet Indigo shortly afterwards. On the second floor, we find Isotope, the villain, who looks awesome and has some nice dialogue. The fight with him is annoying as hell, however, because hes spawned right at the exact same place as one of the hostages, AND a patrol happens along during the fight, so I have to deal with 3 bloody sappers while Indigo does her own thing. RotP FTW. He goes down and we carry on.
We rescue the last hostage, and head on to fight the Big Bad.
I HATE MALTA I HATE MALTA I HATE MALTA I HATE MALTA I HATE MALTA I HATE MALTA I HATE MALTA I HATE MALTA I HATE MALTA
Sorry about that. Indigo aggros everything on the way of course, and everything is conning Orange now. Id like to shove an auto-turret up the backside of the Dev whom invented them.
We find the Big Bad, and he is an EB, but the fight isnt too bad, despite him having Grav powers that root me for a moment. His clue contains a typo ['hero.'] should be ['hero'].
The clue explains the rationale behind the Evil plot, and its ok as an explanation.
I exit, and Crimson thanks me for saving the day.
And thats the end.
So, what was my overall reaction? Im sitting here now and Im relieved its all over, and not wanting to play it again at all, but Im also thinking about all the stuff that was done right. The plot made sense, the mechanics were for the most part well-oiled, the presentation was consistent and clear, and the instructions were excellent. The plot had a clear start, middle, end, with no missions feeling like filler or padding. Sometimes I got the impression that youd taken the easy road (identical dialogue for the destructables in mission 4 for example), but thats pretty minor. With all this good stuff, then, why do I feel so meh about it?
Its Malta, I conclude. I just cant find any enthusiasm for the group or for plots dealing with them. I lean towards the hammy MWAHAHAHA! type of villain group Im afraid, Maltas dark n gritty conspiracy plots just make me /shrug.
Youre a good writer and youre mechanically adept. If this were an arc featuring a different mob group, and a slightly more campy plot, Id be 4-starring it I think. But Im going to give it 3 because I didnt have as much Fun as I like to, purely because of the faction.
That said, I would play an arc written by you featuring a different faction without reservation.
Eco.
MArcs:
The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)
Quote:
|
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."
|
Well, I appreciate the fact that you were able to stick through with the arc to the end but I feel like I really should have known better than to subject you to it when you disliked my last arc. I think that Malta has one of the better stories of any of the villain groups in the game but I was worried that the fact that the Malta enemies were annoying would override any feelings regarding the story when I made this arc. It looks like that's exactly what happened in this case. Anyway, going on to some individual points...
[ QUOTE ]
The bosses dialogue in the fight was good, but his dialogue when he notices me says take em down! and theres only one of me. The ambush dialogue talks about a confirmed MHI being on the base. I assume thats me, but the acronym is unknown to me. I googled it, but I dont think that the Malta think Im a Manufactured Housing Institute, a Master of Healthcare Innovation or an employee of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industry Corporation. Im guessing its [something, Mobile, maybe?] Hostile Intruder, or similar?
[/ QUOTE ]
Regarding the first point, "Take 'em down" can be viewed as singular or plural depending on how you use it. I believe canon arcs use it the same way, although I can't remember where. Also, MHI is a term Malta uses quite often but you only learn what it stands for in one mission where the boss actually says "So, you're our Meta-Human Intrusion." Generally, it just refers to a super-powered intruder. Your interpretations of it are amusing, though.
[ QUOTE ]
Ill say here that Im not a huge fan of the speech marks you use in this mission. I paragonwikid Crimson to check his dialogue for uses of friends, and all I found were multiple places where Indigo uses friends. The one in the Nav Bar looks the worst IMO, but its a really minor quibble.
[/ QUOTE ]
Hmm, I thought I recalled Crimson using "friends" quite often along with Indigo. Maybe I misremembered. Regardless, I AM considering removing the quotes from "supplier" except the initial time Crimson brings it up, so I appreciate you bringing that up.
[ QUOTE ]
I wonder why Crimson cant just phone them up? Hes a government agent, isnt he?
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, technically, he's a Longbow agent. He probably does have the pull to do it himself but I imagine he would want you present in case something went wrong anyway. As luck would have it, something went wrong.
[ QUOTE ]
The atmosphere outside here doesnt seem as dynamic as in Celebrity Kidnapping. The two villains feel a bit tacked on. Im not sure right now whether or not they are anything to do with the Evil Plot or just random Zig villains whove taken the opportunity to escape.
[/ QUOTE ]
Strange that you didn't think it wasn't very dynamic, considering how the Longbow and PPD in the map are having an all-out brawl with the Rogue Arachnos and Knives. Anyway, regarding the mission, they're just random Zig villains. I would have used the generic Rogue Isles Villains from Safeguards if I could but since they weren't available when I made it, I made my own. They're little more than small amusing fights.
[ QUOTE ]
This mission was a bit weak IMO. All three objectives spawned outside, so there wasnt any point to me going inside at all. The entry popup warning leads me to believe that the objectives placement may be set to any for this mission.
[/ QUOTE ]
It's not necessarily that the objective placement is set to any. Instead, it's more like the bosses refuse to be placed where I want them to be. I wanted the Knife boss to be indoors but she keeps spawning outdoors even when I set her to spawn in the back. It seems like only Rescues spawn in the correct place (Battles spawn in the jail cells, hence why I didn't have any and opted for patrols instead). This, sadly, is an Architect problem...
[ QUOTE ]
Its Malta, I conclude. I just cant find any enthusiasm for the group or for plots dealing with them. I lean towards the hammy MWAHAHAHA! type of villain group Im afraid, Maltas dark n gritty conspiracy plots just make me /shrug.
Youre a good writer and youre mechanically adept. If this were an arc featuring a different mob group, and a slightly more campy plot, Id be 4-starring it I think. But Im going to give it 3 because I didnt have as much Fun as I like to, purely because of the faction.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm more than somewhat saddened that my choice of villain group is what ultimately made you grade it one star lower than you initially considered, but I guess that's what I should have expected when I chose a group like Malta. It was made pretty clear in the previous arc that we have different tastes and it's made even more clear here. I personally don't like writing camp because I want to be able to take my villains seriously but it looks like you're the opposite in that regard. For people who like camp, I imagine Malta just isn't appealing as a villain group because they're generally a very serious group (With a few exceptions, such as the loonies who were trying to clone Roger Vrabel, but even that involved traumatizing an innocent family). I guess I just like fighting enemies that actually make you want to stop them rather than simply being amused by them. Not that I mind people like Aeon, though.
I guess, in the end, I should have remembered that we have different tastes and not subjected you to the arc. That said, I do appreciate how you caught a number of errors that have somehow lasted through about a dozen revisions of the arc.
Thanks for your time!
My arcs:
Title: Blitzkrieg
Arc ID: 3416
Title: Soldiers of Fortune
Arc ID: 4431
Title: The Rikti Accession
Arc ID: 278757
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The atmosphere outside here doesnt seem as dynamic as in Celebrity Kidnapping. The two villains feel a bit tacked on. Im not sure right now whether or not they are anything to do with the Evil Plot or just random Zig villains whove taken the opportunity to escape.
[/ QUOTE ]
Strange that you didn't think it wasn't very dynamic, considering how the Longbow and PPD in the map are having an all-out brawl with the Rogue Arachnos and Knives.
[/ QUOTE ]
Ah, I'm afraid as I experienced it, I didn't see many fights going on at all. I did noticve the different factions, but they mostly seemed to just be wandering about on their own without coming into contact. Perhaps I was just unlucky this time with the spawn placements and the patrol paths.
[ QUOTE ]
Anyway, regarding the mission, they're just random Zig villains. I would have used the generic Rogue Isles Villains from Safeguards if I could but since they weren't available when I made it, I made my own. They're little more than small amusing fights.
[ QUOTE ]
This mission was a bit weak IMO. All three objectives spawned outside, so there wasnt any point to me going inside at all. The entry popup warning leads me to believe that the objectives placement may be set to any for this mission.
[/ QUOTE ]
It's not necessarily that the objective placement is set to any. Instead, it's more like the bosses refuse to be placed where I want them to be. I wanted the Knife boss to be indoors but she keeps spawning outdoors even when I set her to spawn in the back. It seems like only Rescues spawn in the correct place (Battles spawn in the jail cells, hence why I didn't have any and opted for patrols instead). This, sadly, is an Architect problem...
[/ QUOTE ]
I see, I wasn't aware of that. That's a shame, isn't it?
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Its Malta, I conclude. I just cant find any enthusiasm for the group or for plots dealing with them. I lean towards the hammy MWAHAHAHA! type of villain group Im afraid, Maltas dark n gritty conspiracy plots just make me /shrug.
Youre a good writer and youre mechanically adept. If this were an arc featuring a different mob group, and a slightly more campy plot, Id be 4-starring it I think. But Im going to give it 3 because I didnt have as much Fun as I like to, purely because of the faction.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm more than somewhat saddened that my choice of villain group is what ultimately made you grade it one star lower than you initially considered, but I guess that's what I should have expected when I chose a group like Malta. It was made pretty clear in the previous arc that we have different tastes and it's made even more clear here. I personally don't like writing camp because I want to be able to take my villains seriously but it looks like you're the opposite in that regard. For people who like camp, I imagine Malta just isn't appealing as a villain group because they're generally a very serious group (With a few exceptions, such as the loonies who were trying to clone Roger Vrabel, but even that involved traumatizing an innocent family). I guess I just like fighting enemies that actually make you want to stop them rather than simply being amused by them. Not that I mind people like Aeon, though.
I guess, in the end, I should have remembered that we have different tastes and not subjected you to the arc. That said, I do appreciate how you caught a number of errors that have somehow lasted through about a dozen revisions of the arc.
Thanks for your time!
[/ QUOTE ]
I'd say the word 'subjected' is a bit harsh, lol. It wasn't a terrible experience by any stretch. Hopefully, anyone reading who does like the Malta faction will take note of my positive comments about your arc and also bear in mind the fact that its my personal likes that affected my experience a lot.
Eco.
PS Isotope's mask was fantastic, too.
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."
|
[ QUOTE ]
Can you put my heroic arc in the queue?
Arc ID# 195202
A Bad Hand from a Worse Dechs
4 missions, no defeat all, one EB (on diff 1 will be a boss, I think)
Yeah, I know it's in my sig, but I might change that...
EDIT: Sorry, I just noticed the post of yours saying that your queue was full and to hold requests until after you finished. Feel free to /ignore me.
[/ QUOTE ]
No problem Dechs, i'll make a [one-off!] exception for you since your title is such a glorious groaner of a pun
Eco.
MArcs:
The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)