Neighborhood Chronicles Open Reviews

I have a dream for MA that I hope the developers might consider some day. I am a long-term player of CoX. I love the game, but one thing I’ve always been a bit disappointed in is the relatively few ‘secret’ things you can find when a player explores CoX zones and neighborhoods (other than history plaques, badges and a few exceptions). Here’s my idea: Imagine if the Dev’s expanded their Developer’s Choice categories to include a “Neighborhood Chronicles Choice” category for MA. If a player created a fascinating history or narrative that helps expand the CoX lore about danger zones, neighborhoods, and locations of the CoX world, your arc could be selected by a developer and placed within that zone as a ‘Discovery Mission’ for players to discover and play. The Arc would be accessible in that neighborhood by clicking on a ‘contact’ placed in the neighborhood and designated by a developer (perhaps the contact you used in MA, or a door, or a tombstone, or a statue, or a radio, or whatever the Dev thought would be fun and consistent with the neighborhood chronicle arc). Your arc would be placed on the map as part of the CoX lore.

I know it’s a big dream, but it’s fun to dream.

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In the spirit of this idea, I would like to propose short reviews of our favorite Neighborhood Chronicle Arcs. Anyone is welcome to review any MA 'Neighborhood Chronicle' using the following format:

“Neighborhood Chronicle Reviews” here shall be reviews of arcs recommended to others because they have a strong story to tell about neighborhoods, zones, and the actual world of CoX.

Reviews should include:
1. Basic Info (Name, Arc ID, Architect, length, etc.)
2. Briefly summarize the arc.
3. Key Part: What makes the arc a good Neighborhood Chronicle? How did the arc make the CoX world more interesting to you? Was it true to existing CoX lore? Did it expand on lore in a way that you liked?
4. Suggested edits? Anything random you want to comment on?
5. Review others and you may promote your own. You may promote (or request others to review) any one of your own arcs you argue is a “Neighborhood Chronicle” for every other arc you have already posted a Neighborhood Chronicle Review for in this thread. If you promote your own arc, use the same format as above.

I hope this thread becomes a useful exchange for players to share arcs and perhaps for the Devs to have some fun ideas for expanding on their neighborhoods in the future.

Cheers!

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Red Warlock
- "The Shadow Rune of the Warlocks" (Arc ID 124319).
- "The Legion of Mutants vs. The Iron Agents" (Arc ID 200364).
- "The Children of Astoria" (Arc ID 217499)

1. Basic info: Tales of Cimerora – Volume 1 “Of Feathers and Fur”, Arc ID 12647, By Nebulhym

2. Summary: Your contact is a Cimeroran soldier and the story is kind of like a Cimeroran version of the Odyssey. You go to war with soldiers first, but then find yourself fighting satyrs, harpies, demi-gods, rescuing slaves, all the things you might find in a Homer Epic, etc.

3. Why a Neighborhood Chronicle? I LOVED this arc. I’s a perfect example to me of a good neighborhood chronicle because it begins very rooted in the world of Cimerora, but then whole sets of new characters are introduced that are very believably consistent with the world of Cimerora. The Satyrs were fun, the Satyr Lord was fun, Sister Solaris, all of the characters were imaginable as part of Cimerora, except it takes the world even further by expanding into a mythological cosmology of Cimerora. The characters are what I imagine would be coming from the Cimeroran mythology, looking very similar to Greco/Roman Mythological characters. So the arc adds a whole new dimension to Cimerora (mythological satyrs, harpies, etc.) while staying very consistent with the world as created by the CoX developers.

4. Edits Etc.: I have no suggested edits – I just would add that the game play was very fun. There was just the right amount of difficulty and lots of things to keep you engaged while playing. (I was ambushed by harpies at one point and had the most amazing air battle as I flew away and they chased me - I didn't really expect them and there's nothing more fun to me as a flying character than being attacked mid air and having a full-on air battle).

This was my favorite Arc I’ve played that expands upon the CoX world. I highly recommend it.

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Red Warlock
- "The Shadow Rune of the Warlocks" (Arc ID 124319).
- "The Legion of Mutants vs. The Iron Agents" (Arc ID 200364).
- "The Children of Astoria" (Arc ID 217499)

1. Basic info: Astoria in D Minor by Cheshire Cat (was Arc ID 41565, but appears to be missing today)

2. Summary: You encounter a radio with a voice on the other end that lures you through a terrifying journey in Dark Astoria. It involves aliens, little girls, clown-like demons, and lots of unnerving moments that keep you on the edge of your seat the entire journey.

3. Why a Neighborhood Chronicle? This arc is another great example of a neighborhood chronicle. I would love to find a random radio somewhere on Talos Island, click on it, and hear the voice of this poor terrified woman in Dark Astoria and go through this mission as a random discovery mission some place. How terrifying! What was really great for me about this mission as a neighborhood chronicle is that Cheshire Cat really creates a horror movie vibe that is perfect for Dark Astoria. He takes Dark Astoria to a different level of fear and makes the zone even more interesting than it already is. Dark Astoria is my favorite zone, but it’s underutilized and this arc makes you imagine a LOT of what could be done with that neighborhood. I actually created my own arc “the Children of Astoria” when I was inspired by this arc by Cheshire Cat.

4. A random note – today I looked online and found that Astoria in D Minor was missing! I hope Cheshire Cat is just doing some reworking and wants to resubmit or something. It’s one of the best arcs on MA.

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Red Warlock
- "The Shadow Rune of the Warlocks" (Arc ID 124319).
- "The Legion of Mutants vs. The Iron Agents" (Arc ID 200364).
- "The Children of Astoria" (Arc ID 217499)

Those are two arcs to start with. I have many more reviews completed and will add more later.

I would absolutely love if someone would take the time to play and review my two Neighborhood Chronicles: the Shadow Rune of the Warlocks (Arc ID 124319), and The Children of Astoria (Arc ID 217499). I think both are interesting neighborhood chronicles about my favorite locations in CoH, (Dark Astoria and Moth Cemetery) and I think both missions are lots of fun.

If you have a request for a review, send me a private message - I love checking out and reviewing interesting story arcs about neighborhoods on MA.

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Red Warlock
- "The Shadow Rune of the Warlocks" (Arc ID 124319).
- "The Legion of Mutants vs. The Iron Agents" (Arc ID 200364).
- "The Children of Astoria" (Arc ID 217499)

Great idea for a thread.

eco

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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)

Thanks eco!

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Red Warlock
- "The Shadow Rune of the Warlocks" (Arc ID 124319).
- "The Legion of Mutants vs. The Iron Agents" (Arc ID 200364).
- "The Children of Astoria" (Arc ID 217499)

By the way eco - what do you think of that idea of the "Neighborhood Chronicles" discovery missions?

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Red Warlock
- "The Shadow Rune of the Warlocks" (Arc ID 124319).
- "The Legion of Mutants vs. The Iron Agents" (Arc ID 200364).
- "The Children of Astoria" (Arc ID 217499)

What a great idea!

I am really glad you started this thread. One of the first things that I thought of when I first heard of the MA was that it's a great way to enrich some of the least used zones in the game. In particular, two jewels: Dark Astoria and Cimerora.
While I am really comfortable with mythology, I didn't dare working on Dark Astoria (yet..). An excellent excuse to play and review the three DA arcs you mentioned...

I really hope people contribute a lot to this thread, it's fun and useful!

Oh and thanks a lot for the very nice review you gave to my arc! I feel honored to start!

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[COLOR=darkorchid]Nebulhym's AE Arcs: Try them now![/COLOR]
# 12647: Of feathers and fur...[COLOR=yellow]Winner of [B]The American Legion[/B]'s January 2011 AE Author Contest![/COLOR]
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[ QUOTE ]

4. A random note – today I looked online and found that Astoria in D Minor was missing! I hope Cheshire Cat is just doing some reworking and wants to resubmit or something. It’s one of the best arcs on MA.

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't take it down, I'll check online just to be sure, but it's possible you just had "Arcs I've already played/rated" checked off.


*Edit* it got invalidated by the destructable object bug that keeps resetting them every patch. Fixed now.

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"One of the first things that I thought of when I first heard of the MA was that it's a great way to enrich some of the least used zones in the game. In particular, two jewels: Dark Astoria and Cimerora."

This is exactly what I thought when I first saw MA come out. I'm hoping that this thread can become an organizing tool for that. I'm going to be posting Neighborhood Chronicles here regularly and I hope others will too so that we can have a collection of some of the best arcs that hopefully will give the Devs good ideas to work on their game with enriching their neighborhoods.

I'm glad you think this thread is a good idea Nebulhym and I'm looking forward to seeing any additions you would like to make here on this thread regarding your own favorite Neighborhood Chronicles!

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Red Warlock
- "The Shadow Rune of the Warlocks" (Arc ID 124319).
- "The Legion of Mutants vs. The Iron Agents" (Arc ID 200364).
- "The Children of Astoria" (Arc ID 217499)

1. Basic Info: Tales of Croatoa: A Rose by Any Other Name, Arc ID 178774 by Silvers1

2. Summary: A little ghost named Rose leads you through a tale of her world that walks you through her death two years ago and walks you through battles with Fir Bolgs, witches and broader themes of Croatoa.

Why a Neighborhood Chronicle? The title of this suggests that it would be a neighborhood chronicle, and it winds up sharing a lot about the world of Croatoa, but it does it through a fairly narrow scope. It's as much a character story of Rose as it is a Tale about Croatoa. Still, the story is very much a neighborhood chronicle because you experience a different aspect of Croatoa through the eyes of a little girl who happens to be a ghost, exploring how this girl struggles with her feelings of being in her paranormal state and humanizing a fable-like world of witches, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha and ghosts like her.

Other Random Notes: The story is very interesting as a character study and the child ghost is an intriguing character. The writing is strong and you learn elements of the story as the narrative unfolds (such as who "billy is - you will find out - it's not what you expect, and surprises like that make the story interesting to follow). There's lots of fun moments with Fir Bolgs, Spirits and NPC's that make the story entertaining. It's definitely worth checking out!

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Red Warlock
- "The Shadow Rune of the Warlocks" (Arc ID 124319).
- "The Legion of Mutants vs. The Iron Agents" (Arc ID 200364).
- "The Children of Astoria" (Arc ID 217499)

1. Basic Info: The Children of Astoria, Arc ID 217499 by RedWarlock

2. Summary: There was once a children's hospital in Astoria. What happened there? A team was sent to recover any potential survivor but never returned. It is up to YOU to investigate.

3. Why a Neighborhood Chronicle? This mission adds a bit of depth to the lore of the zone. Its fantastic atmosphere, largely due to the excellent work on the custom enemies (very believably set in their environment) and the different objectives that are required for completion, matches perfectly the survival-horror feel of Dark Astoria. I highly recommend it!

4. Other Random Notes: The plot, albeit very classic and predictable, combined with a very well-balanced difficulty makes the mission extremely fun and therefore quite re-playable.

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[COLOR=darkorchid]Nebulhym's AE Arcs: Try them now![/COLOR]
# 12647: Of feathers and fur...[COLOR=yellow]Winner of [B]The American Legion[/B]'s January 2011 AE Author Contest![/COLOR]
# 292389: From Tartarus with love...
# 459592: Interdimensional Headache