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Stephen Sheridan has a mission in which one of the stated objectives is 'Destroy the Mutagenic Cansiters" which cause people who come in contact with them to become Lost.
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So one old arc from before issue 1, which was rife with bad writing, and has never been done again since. That's hardly something that we do all the damn time in this game, which is what you try to make it sound like.
[/ QUOTE ]
"Find me some proof this happens!"
"Okay, here's the proof"
"THAT PROOF IS DUMB AND INVALID"
lol.
I'm just a holy fool, oh baby it's so cruel
Thessalia, by Darkchildx2k
This isn't the first time you blow up canisters and whatnot to stop a plague in game, and since this is the same game where the preferred method of stopping a ghost is punching it in the face repeatedly, smashing the shell and incinerating the canister didn't seem out of line.
I don't care how many times the developers make a mistake, it's still not acceptable for MA authors to repeat it.
The contact mentions (twice actually) that they ARE sending in a hazmat team to ensure the area is safe once you clear out the Arachnos. When you leave the map for the first time, it's clearly stated the sent in a cleanup team to scrub the area.
Too late.
They did. It's stated in the 1st mission dialog that Arachnos came straight down in their fliers, and immediately set up. After you check the area, you report back to Solemnise, who informs you they're waiting for Liberty to show up, and that they are sending in the cleanup crew. Mission dialog then points out specifically that 24 hours after they'd been in there, since they didn't return, they sent in SWAT and superheroes to investigate. The Hazmat team was doing their job, but as evidenced by mission 2, just ran out of time.
This isn't even close to correct. The area would have been quarantined immediately once it was known Arachnos was deploying a bioweapon, and CDC/SERAPH/etc. would have gone batty as soon as the leak was discovered. The response your story is describing is as if an oil tanker truck crashed on the highway and spilled oil all over the place. Do some reading about, say, predicted results of an airborne Ebola outbreak, and then consider that would be practically the common cold in the City universe. (Some of more out-there ones I've seen say weaponized strains of airborne Ebola could kill 20 million in a week. I don't know how much faith to put in that, but if they're off by a factor of 100 it's still horrifying.)
Furthermore, it's just laughable that no one would notice the center of one of the most important cities in the world going all Resident Evil for 24 hours. Of course, again, you're going to argue that none of this was "real" anyway but you're just digging yourself in deeper with that.
That's Hero-1's sword, that she normally wears at her waist. In game lore, she refuses to use it, instead holding on to it, awaiting Hero-1's return.
As Eva has pointed out, that's Excaliber and it's not that she refuses to use it, it's that she can't. Even Hero-1, the rightful bearer, can't use it now due to his...condition. I didn't bring this up earlier myself because with the rest of the transgressions it would have amounted to Arson, Murder and Jaywalking. Since the whole thing is a hallucination anyway it will just be handwaved in any case.
I'd like to note that once the hospital is introduced, you are told repeatedly that there's no supervillain plot, up to and including the fight with 'Nemesis' in which it begins with him outright stating he's not Nemesis, and then ending with you tearing off his mask to reveal...he's not Nemesis.
Once you have played the Dishonest Author card, you can't point to anything in your story as justification for your intended interpretation. Anything and everything could be a hallucination or deception of some kind. Thus, there is no valid interpretation of this story because there are no facts at all upon which to base one.
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"
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I wasn't trying to do that at all. I addressed only points that were either something I couldn't change because of the limitations of AE, something they missed in dialog, or my thought process behind why I did something that ultimately doesn't matter one way or another, and came down to personal preference.
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Doesn't matter. As an author, the moment you start responding to any sort of feedback with attempts to *explain yourself* is the moment the discussion ceases to have any merit. Because people start nitpicking your explanations and you nitpick the nitpicks and everything goes into an endless recursive nitpick loop.
For example, I could take issue with the fact that you insist everything in the first three missions makes *perfect* sense and is perfectly reasonable and realistic, and then when you get to the matter of the Clockwork King it becomes "well you're crazy and delusional so it doesn't have to make sense". Cake, eating it, still having it.
Character index
Gale - I would argue that right from the get-go things in the arc aren't 'right' and it starts breaking down way before you see the Clockwork King.
...but you're right. I'm never going to convince these people of anything, and they seem to want to do everything in their power to ensure they're completely miserable with it, so what can you do, really.
Qr - so someone posts a 'hey everyone, here's an arc i enjoyed!' thread, and the forum heavies turn it into a witch-hunt. Disgraceful behaviour.
Lazarus, you dont like me it seems, for reasons i'm not entirely sure of, but ive always respected you. Tonight, though, i was ingame when you started your review run with 'i have to see how bad this arc is', no sign of an open mind at all, and a bare hour later your review was up. You should be ashamed of yourself.
What happened to the community touted as 'friendly and supportive, not like WoWs' that i was told about when i started playing?
I bet witch is heartily sorry he ever wrote the thing now. Im sure he wont be eager to advertise any more arcs here-in the official forum for it!
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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so someone posts a 'hey everyone, here's an arc i enjoyed!' thread, and the forum heavies turn it into a witch-hunt. Disgraceful behaviour.
No, only when the subject material warrants it.
And I would have let it go with one post if people hadn't yanked my chain.
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"
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Gale - I would argue that right from the get-go things in the arc aren't 'right' and it starts breaking down way before you see the Clockwork King.
[/ QUOTE ]
Which, again, goes against your assertion that the odd hazmat procedures and the sudden and rapid handbasket ride make perfect sense and are totally reasonable. Either things are wrong or they're not; you can't have it both ways.
Let's consider for a moment how your arc works out in the context of the rest of the game. The player character is a delusional psychotic who constructs an elaborate fantasy world for themselves in which they are a superhero. This world (represented by the entire rest of the game) makes perfect sense and is internally consistent, even if it has the occasional oddity due to the crazy person's ignorance of things like proper hazmat procedures.
Then, one day, out of the blue, the crazy person's world starts breaking down, buildings ruined, all their beloved friends dying of an unstoppable virus, and the very logic of the world breaking down (Clockwork King has no business being there).
The crazy person regains brief lucidity, takes a look at their miserable reality, and decides they'd rather believe their dream world. So they imagine the doctor as being the supervillain who is making them hallucinate all of this, beat the crap out of him and... arbitrarily decide to bring everyone back to life and reconstruct the perfectly sensible and consistent fantasy, and are never again jolted out of it, despite presumably being kept in isolation and force-fed much stronger drugs?
The Nemesis Plot option seems about as sensible.
Character index
MrCaptainMan, if you abuse and misuse the term "open mind" one more time...
The only reason it's Venture leading the debate rather than I was because I waited a few days before even looking at the arc. Already it was being hyped as the best thing since sliced bread. Had I played it before hearing the spoilers my review would have probably been even worse because I'd be less prepared for the incompetent audience sucker punch that the arc tries to deliver.
[ QUOTE ]
so someone posts a 'hey everyone, here's an arc i enjoyed!' thread, and the forum heavies turn it into a witch-hunt. Disgraceful behaviour.
No, only when the subject material warrants it.
And I would have let it go with one post if people hadn't yanked my chain.
[/ QUOTE ]
you never let it go, Venture. You always have to have the last word, followed with 'and now im done with this nonsense', as though the other person involved is so much worthless scum. Ive never seen you say 'well lets just agree to differ' or anything of that ilk.
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 ]
Qr - so someone posts a 'hey everyone, here's an arc i enjoyed!' thread, and the forum heavies turn it into a witch-hunt. Disgraceful behaviour.
What happened to the community touted as 'friendly and supportive, not like WoWs' that i was told about when i started playing?
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I don't believe a friendly community has to include author-coddling. When you write something and put it out in a public forum for other people to look at, you need to be strong enough to weather the criticism that follows, no matter how stupid it might be.
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I bet witch is heartily sorry he ever wrote the thing now.
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Well I'm sorry I ever played it. So I guess everyone's sorry.
Character index
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
so someone posts a 'hey everyone, here's an arc i enjoyed!' thread, and the forum heavies turn it into a witch-hunt. Disgraceful behaviour.
No, only when the subject material warrants it.
And I would have let it go with one post if people hadn't yanked my chain.
[/ QUOTE ]
you never let it go, Venture. You always have to have the last word, followed with 'and now im done with this nonsense', as though the other person involved is so much worthless scum. Ive never seen you say 'well lets just agree to differ' or anything of that ilk.
Eco
[/ QUOTE ]
Well that's hardly fair to the man. He never responded to a single one of my posts in this thread. He's perfectly capable of ignoring a post addressed directly to him, he just chooses not to do so.
Character index
[ QUOTE ]
MrCaptainMan, if you abuse and misuse the term "open mind" one more time...
The only reason it's Venture leading the debate rather than I was because I waited a few days before even looking at the arc. Already it was being hyped as the best thing since sliced bread. Had I played it before hearing the spoilers my review would have probably been even worse because I'd be less prepared for the incompetent audience sucker punch that the arc tries to deliver.
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i have badly misjudged you. What a downer.
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 ]
[ QUOTE ]
Qr - so someone posts a 'hey everyone, here's an arc i enjoyed!' thread, and the forum heavies turn it into a witch-hunt. Disgraceful behaviour.
What happened to the community touted as 'friendly and supportive, not like WoWs' that i was told about when i started playing?
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't believe a friendly community has to include author-coddling. When you write something and put it out in a public forum for other people to look at, you need to be strong enough to weather the criticism that follows, no matter how stupid it might be.
[ QUOTE ]
I bet witch is heartily sorry he ever wrote the thing now.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well I'm sorry I ever played it. So I guess everyone's sorry.
[/ QUOTE ]
jesus, why is everyone so bloody nasty?
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 ]
I don't believe a friendly community has to include author-coddling.
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Right, this isn't childrens soccer where everyone gets a trophy just for showing up.
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Seriously Witch Engine, just apologize for your arc kicking Venture's dog, and the healing can begin.
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That won't solve anything, since it's reached the point where the entire MA Forum has started arguing with Venture. Actually if anything, this is getting Witch Engine tons of exposure.
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While the rating of the arc drops. Law of Averages has already taken hold.
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It's funny actually, because near the start of this thread, the arc had over 90% 5-star votes, and nearly a hundred votes. Once the 'forum cartel' folk latched on, it all of a sudden got hit with a bunch of 1 and 2 star votes that have been coming in in bursts. But not before, and the arc had literally been around months, and hadn't been advertised at all. My supergroup has 4 active players, and my coalition has another 6-8, so I know those prior masses of 5-star votes weren't from them. We're a small crew.
The lesson here is, don't dare upset the Forum Cartel because apparently they've got connections. :P
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I apologize, sincerely, for starting this thread. 
-Largo
Founder of A.G.O.N.Y. Supergroup on Victory
Member of Thought Sanctum VG on Victory
Member of St0rm Batallion SG on Guardian
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I bet witch is heartily sorry he ever wrote the thing now. Im sure he wont be eager to advertise any more arcs here-in the official forum for it!
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Just as a point of note, Witch Engine didn't start this thread and hasn't really advertised the arc. And I doubt very seriously that he regrets making it just because some people didn't like it.
I'm just a holy fool, oh baby it's so cruel
Thessalia, by Darkchildx2k
[ QUOTE ]
so someone posts a 'hey everyone, here's an arc i enjoyed!' thread, and the forum heavies turn it into a witch-hunt. Disgraceful behaviour.
No, only when the subject material warrants it.
And I would have let it go with one post if people hadn't yanked my chain.
[/ QUOTE ]
You disgust me.
-Largo
Founder of A.G.O.N.Y. Supergroup on Victory
Member of Thought Sanctum VG on Victory
Member of St0rm Batallion SG on Guardian
Like I told you in game, ignore the forum twits.
You'll be happier.
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I apologize, sincerely, for starting this thread.
[/ QUOTE ]
No good deed goes unpunished.
I liked it, I had a lot of fun playing it, and I am not inclined to pick it to bits.
you never let it go, Venture. You always have to have the last word, followed with 'and now im done with this nonsense', as though the other person involved is so much worthless scum.
I think an accurate vetting of my responses in various forum threads would show a substantial number of cases in which I simply walked away.
Ive never seen you say 'well lets just agree to differ' or anything of that ilk.
Just off the top of my head, I'd direct your attention to the threads for "Two Households Alike" and "Why We Fight" in which I did exactly 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"
[ QUOTE ]
Qr - so someone posts a 'hey everyone, here's an arc i enjoyed!' thread, and the forum heavies turn it into a witch-hunt.
[/ QUOTE ]
i c wut u did thar
lol
And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines
[ QUOTE ]
you never let it go, Venture. You always have to have the last word, followed with 'and now im done with this nonsense', as though the other person involved is so much worthless scum.
I think an accurate vetting of my responses in various forum threads would show a substantial number of cases in which I simply walked away.
[/ QUOTE ]
Proving yourself wrong while patting yourself on the back at the same time!? AMAZING!!
An author is allowed to say "Hey, you've got this wrong," when someone says something factually incorrect about their work. What in the hell makes people think that someone is just supposed to roll over and take it when someone says something completely off-base about a piece?
I have always thought these forums were absolutely terrible, but Venture, Gale, Lazarus, and a few of you others have taken it to a whole new level.
You've gone from occasionally mild annoyances to "people I'm glad I don't ever have to deal with in real life." Good Lord do you all need to go outside.
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I have always thought these forums were absolutely terrible
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Not getting involved in any of the other stuff or this "discussion"... but man, you must be new to the internet.
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To address a few concerns:
(tl;dr)
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Okay, seriously, you're not doing yourself any favors now. You wrote a pretty good arc and did a great job using the MA tools to implement it. A lot of people love it. Some people don't like it or are critical of it. Let the arc stand on its own. Don't try to "explain" things that people "aren't getting". Igonre the little voice that says "but only if they *understand*, I'm sure they'd all come around and we could all be great friends!".
[/ QUOTE ]
I wasn't trying to do that at all. I addressed only points that were either something I couldn't change because of the limitations of AE, something they missed in dialog, or my thought process behind why I did something that ultimately doesn't matter one way or another, and came down to personal preference.
I don't claim my arc is brilliant, quite far from it, actually. When it was created, it was a silly arc for me and my friends, that just happened to catch on big with some people. I find it more amusing than not that some of the reviewers analyzed it far more obsessively than I did when I wrote it. The one thing that DOES bother me, is simply when they complain something isn't explained in the arc when I specifically have dialog there that does, because it says to me they're either not reading that dialog, or ignoring it, to try and create a problem where none exists.