Good news, everyone! "Aeon's Nemesis" has been upgraded for Issue 15, giving you one less excuse not to try it!
Version 15.0.1 highlights include:<ul type="square">
* Description upgrade! The arc can now describe itself as Comedy.
* Aeon's computer found! Various critters in the arc now have better starting animations.
* Techticians institute gender blind hiring! Extra space means this new group has a little more diversity among its Minions and Lieutenants.
* Aim/Build Up abatement! Custom critters have had their power selections pruned to avoid the more problematic powers.
* Teh Stun Meister demoted! The Freakshow captive in Mission 4 is now a Minion to permit a wider level range for the mission.
* Hearts (bleed) on sleeve! The poor Doomed Lackeys in Mission 4 have a snappy new uniform.
* Enhanced verbiage! Various texts have been tweaked, and a few typos have been corrected. Techtician /infos now include paragraph breaks. Marshal Brass now has his (abbreviated) bio.[/list]So clear out a space in your calendar and try the improved "Aeon's Nemesis" yourself! Act quickly and one day you'll be able to casually mention to your friends that you played this arc before it made it big!
-D
Darkonne: Pinnacle's (unofficially) mighty Dark Miasma/Radiation Blast enthusiast!
Be sure to check out this mighty Arc:
#161865 - Aeon's Nemesis
PoliceWoman partially reviewed Aeon's Nemesis in her ongoing review thread. You can find the original review over there but I'll respond to her comments here.
[ QUOTE ]
Mission 1
...
The mission itself seems decently crafted, though not unusually special aside from the Vanguard, who are pretty nasty opponents due to their debuffs; a group of 6ish of them managed to drop me once. They seem to be standard PvE Vanguard though, so I can't really complain.
I like the guest appearance by Fusionette. Her dialog is pretty good, though I almost think she sounds more competent than usual. 
[/ QUOTE ]
I'll admit I have a soft spot for Fusionette, but I think she's competent enough to handle this sort of thing. She's just a little overzealous sometimes.
As for the mission, it is intended to be typical fair. Since the simulator malfunctions later on in the arc, I felt it was best to show it functioning in a safe, mundane manner at first.
[ QUOTE ]
Mission 2
Briefing: Another Architect test, it seems, only this time with a randomly generated "extreme" threat. Not quite sure what I'm getting into from the briefing, but...it's just a test?
Mission title: "Find the Protoype" probably should be "Find the Prototype". But then, the briefing does not mention a prototype at all, so this may not make sense as a mission title anyway. Perhaps consider changing this to "Perform Extreme Test" or "Stop Threat to Rogue Isles" or something else that fits what the contact told us.
OK, entering the mission, the mission popup does a better job of explaining why I need to Find the Proto(t)ype.
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure how best to handle this mission description. The idea is that you're asking Aeon's simulator to construct a random scenario for you. As such, you only get a briefing on the objective when the mission loads up. I felt it was best to stick with "Find the Proto[u]t[u]ype" as the objective description, and hope it would all make sense once you enter the mission. If you're reading this, PW, which do you think would be best now that you've played through the mission?
[ QUOTE ]
When searching the safe glowies, I get a lot of messages like:
You begin cracking the safe.
You find nothing of interest in the safe.
You begin cracking the safe.
You find nothing of interest in the safe.
You begin cracking the safe.
The prototype is not here!
The last safe triggered the spawn of the prototype (I think), but "The prototype is not here!" is actually true of all the previous safes as well. The "Pogodyne Requisition Order" does explain why this safe is different, but you might change "The prototype is not here!" to something like "You find paperwork indicating the prototype has been moved!" or something similar.
[/ QUOTE ]
Good point.
[ QUOTE ]
In the nav tool, "Locate the protoype" should be "Locate the prototype". I understand why I need to locate the prototype now, but it's unclear why "Defeat the director" has suddenly become an objective after cracking the safe.
I found the "Director of Mercenary Resources" and fought him; he had some fun dialog. The mission ended as soon as I defeated him though, despite my never accomplishing the "Locate the protoype" objective. I thought that was odd until I read the "Field Test Authorization" clue from defeating the Director, which explains where the prototype went. You might consider striking the last sentence, "You could always get in the old fashioned way and steal the prototype", I think that would make more sense in the debriefing or next briefing than in a clue.
[/ QUOTE ]
You're right, the objective for the DMR should be altered. I might modify the last sentence a bit, but I think it's a good way to explain why this mission is over and lead in to the next one.
[ QUOTE ]
Mission 3
I still had the "Find the prototype" objective after defeating the ECM Master Tech, until I found a stray Techtician from his group and defeated him, at which time I got the "Deleted!" clue. You might consider making this "only boss needed" to complete this objective.
The "Deleted!" clue indicates I pick up the prototype, but it wasn't really clear that the ECM Master Tech was carrying the prototype (though I assume this was the case). You might consider adding an extra line (to the clue or to the dialog) indicating this.
[/ QUOTE ]
More good ideas.
[ QUOTE ]
I now need to "Find the source of the anomaly", forcing me to search the Council base again, which is kind of a pain. Interestingly, a lot of Nemesis patrols have spawned behind me, though. I eventually found a Nemesis Warhulk that told me that I had outlived my usefulness, and defeating him completed the mission. I'm not quite sure why he was more of an anomaly than the other Nemesis patrols, but I guess this works. I wonder if he should maybe be a Fake Nemesis instead?
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't really like using Fake Nemeses when EB/AV versions of Nemesis might show up. They're so similar that they make the 'real' deal seem derivative. And given that you’re running into Nemesis troops in a simulated environment, I’d rather not have to clarify exactly how real a given Nemesis is.
[ QUOTE ]
Debriefing: I like the stuff he says here. The last paragraph sounds more like the set up for the next mission than anything else; consider moving that text to the next mission's briefing? Other players on the team (besides the leader) won't be able to see this debriefing.
[/ QUOTE ]
It is indeed the set up for mission 4, but I think it has to be mentioned here. Aeon was kidnapped while you were running mission 3; it would be a real non-sequitur if it were only announced at the start of the next mission. Mentioning it here feels, to me, like a better way to ramp up the action.
It's true that team members won't be able to see it, but I don't see a good way around that.
[ QUOTE ]
Mission 4
Briefing: This kinda threw me for a loop initially; Dr. Aeon has been kidnapped, but the contact doesn't want me to go rescue him. Instead he wants me to break into Aeon's office (I guess while he's out). This made some sense (in terms of villain infighting) after I thought about it some, but I found the way the briefing presents this mission to be a little confusing.
Second part of the briefing explains the motivation a lot better.
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't think Aeon's well being would ever be a high priority for Marshal Brass. I like the way the briefing flows now, but if more people find it confusing I'll consider changing it. Since very few people have played the arc, I don't have much feedback on this yet.
[ QUOTE ]
Map selection: a standard "office" map is used to represent "Aeon's Office"; but since Aeon is a mad scientist, I kinda think it would make more sense to use a scientific lab map for his private office.
[/ QUOTE ]
The final mission is on a Tech map, so I felt using an office here was the lesser evil.
[ QUOTE ]
Haha, I like the fun messages from the glowies, particularly "This was a project to clone Blue Steel. Aeon abandoned it when he realized Blue Steel never bleeds." You might consider putting the message text into actual clues tied to the various glowies, just for fun. The game text they generate is easy to miss in the other game text spam, and also is not visible to players other than the one who clicked it.
[/ QUOTE ]
Maybe. I was trying to avoid putting too many clues in this mission, since there are already a lot and they get hard to read through as they pile up. But this is probably worse for those playing the arc in a group.
[ QUOTE ]
I've now cleared the whole office but can't find the last experiment. I'm now thinking that "A Perfectly Safe Bomb" is, in fact, the last experiment. But I can't destroy the bomb, I think because I have to aggro its guards to interact with it; and I can't attack the guards, because they are tagged friendly.
I spent some time puzzling over this and could not figure out how to get past. I think that this mission is uncompletable as it stands. I suggest changing the Bomb's guards to be hostile; they ARE Arachnos, and all other Arachnos in this mission were hostile to me.
I feel like I have to quit the arc at this point, but this seems like some sort of bug, so I'm leaving the arc unrated for now.
[/ QUOTE ]
As I mentioned in the original thread, the Perfectly Safe Bomb is not required and is only there for fun. Either a glowy was hiding very well, or some new glitch prevented something from spawning properly. :-(
To end the mission, you need to find 9 experiments and destroy the Security Monitor. The experiments consist of:
<ul type="square">
* AES Mainframe (a big computer bank, it discusses Aeon’s use of the simulation)
* Dimensional Interface-o-mat (One of the standing tech-y objects, it doesn’t do anything obvious)
* Genetic Replicator (the medical cart with Aeon’s Shivan tests)
* Teh Stun Meister (Freakshow ally, he has to be freed)
* Bio Material Storage (the bio fridge for the Blue Steel experiment)
* Automata Components (the box of robot parts)
* Research Notes (a white board that notes a fault in the AES)
* Computer Console (the computer terminal, it’s running a robot fighting sim)
* E-mail Console (another computer terminal, it has an e-mail on it)[/list]
PW, you said you found the Bio Material Storage, Teh Stun Meister and the AES Mainframe. Can you remember if one of the others never showed up?
-D
EDIT:
I've run through the arc myself, and Mission 4 seems to be spawning the glowies correctly. I can't rule out an intermittent bug, but for now I'm declaring Aeon's Nemesis functional.
I've also updated the arc to 15.0.2 to correct all the typos PoliceWoman found, and to address some of her suggestions.
Darkonne: Pinnacle's (unofficially) mighty Dark Miasma/Radiation Blast enthusiast!
Be sure to check out this mighty Arc:
#161865 - Aeon's Nemesis
In honor of the First Annual Architect Awards, I've updated Aeon's Nemesis to version 16.0.0! Changes include:
* Noncommittal Introduction! Marshal Brass no longer introduces himself to you in his opening text. This is intended to make the arc more compatible with characters that played through his CoV arcs. He still will not directly acknowledge the connection, but then you were never officially working for him anyway.
* Aeon's Secret Office downsized! Ever budget conscious, Dr. Aeon has moved his secret office to a somewhat smaller building. This should result in less trouble cataloging his MAD SCIENCE! during Mission 4.
* Perfectly Safe Bomb even safer! The Perfectly Safe Bomb in Mission 4 has been altered modified from a friendly defensible object into a hostile destructible object. This will avoid the confusion that arose over the bomb's seemingly inert nature.
* Improved Doomed Lackey Technology! Aeon's Nemesis continues to lead the industry in our attention to Doomed Lackey features.
* Battle Bots Makeover! The battling robots that can be encountered in Mission 4 are now clearly divided into two fashionable teams.
* Clockwork Calibration! The Clockwork that chase Teh Stun Meister in Mission 4 are now the proper low level electrical models, rather than the higher level Psychic Clockwork. We apologize for the lost XP.
* Plot De-obfuscation! The text of various dialog and clues throughout the arc have been tweaked and a new set of clues has been added to Mission 5 to better explain just why the arc happened the way it did.
There's still time to try this arc before it makes it big, so go out and run the new, improved Aeon's Nemesis today!
-D
Darkonne: Pinnacle's (unofficially) mighty Dark Miasma/Radiation Blast enthusiast!
Be sure to check out this mighty Arc:
#161865 - Aeon's Nemesis
(Blast it, where'd I put that list switch? Ah!)
Good news everyone! Despite years of neglect, Aeon's Nemesis is up and running once again. Behold the changes that make up version 21.0.0:
* Dust Bunny custom group evicted! The arc is once again playable! Hooray!
* Warlord, the 8th Dirty word! Even the Techticians must fear the profanity filter. The newly renamed Hauberk Power Suits will protect the tender sensibilities of the children.
* Villains are so 2009! The arc's suggested alignment has been switched from Villainous to Rogue, to better reflect the lack of kicked puppies and maimed orphans.
* Mystery changes! The ambush pattern in the thrilling climax has been altered to heighten the drama and improve playability. How could it possibly get better you ask? You'll just have to see for yourself!
So those of you looking for a little Architect fun, come on down and play Aeon's Nemesis before the next patch breaks everything all over again. :-(
-D
Darkonne: Pinnacle's (unofficially) mighty Dark Miasma/Radiation Blast enthusiast!
Be sure to check out this mighty Arc:
#161865 - Aeon's Nemesis
My original comment thread died, so I've decided to rebuild it: better, stronger, with more posts!
This is the new feedback thread for my first arc, Aeon's Nemesis. It is designed as a story focused, humorous arc for solo characters above level 32. It's on the amoral mercenary side of the Villainous morality spectrum. Here's the quick summary.
Name: Aeon's Nemesis
Arc ID: 161865
Length: Very Long
Morality: Villainous
Description: "You've heard a rumor that Marshal Brass is looking for someone to test a secret feature of the Architect system."
Suggested Level Range: 35-50
Estimated Running Time: 1.5-2 hours
Estimated Difficulty: Moderate (similar to a standard CoV Story Arc)
For those who prefer knowing the plot ahead of time, Venture was kind enough to review my arc. You can find his in depth review (which does include plot spoilers) here. [tl;dr: 5 stars. Nits: no theme (but comedic)]
I would very much appreciate any feedback. In particular, I do not have a Controller or Dominator high enough level to test it myself. I'd also love to know how it plays with a group. And while I've checked the text several times, I'm sure there are a few typos left in it somewhere.
So there you have it. I hope you enjoy the arc! And if you really like or dislike something in it, please let me know!
-D
Darkonne: Pinnacle's (unofficially) mighty Dark Miasma/Radiation Blast enthusiast!
Be sure to check out this mighty Arc:
#161865 - Aeon's Nemesis