MCMs 5-Star Reviews!

My only blueside hero high enough for malta arcs is MCM, my en/en Blaster, and he just seems to do badly against them. I hate gunsligners and sappers, mainly, but I think what really adds to the loathing I have is that in game, the arcs featuring them are all really really long, and the maps that they're on are mostly bloody huge too. And I just go all glassy-eyed and 'meh' at Crimsons arcs which are horribly boring to me. I like my superhero stories full of cackling madmen with death rays on the moon, grim n gritty leaves me cold mostly. I like silly, basically, and Malta isnt silly. Crimson strikes me as a complete ******, I just can't dredge up any enthiusiasm for him or the group at all. They dont even have very interesting costumes. I like the carnies, the Vahz, the Clockwork...I've always been a bit gutted that most of my favourite mob groups are done with at the higher levels., replaced with snore-festy 'conspiracy' arcs and cloak and dagger tedium. Each to their own, I know that Malta and the koA have a big following, but I wish there were more Von Grunns in the game, tbh.

Eco.

PS, MowDownJoe, as a sort of consolation for not being able to run your Malta arc, I ran your other arc for my new thread here

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."

COMING SOON!

The Psystem does the Tubbius Arcs!

ALL FIVE ARCS, IN ONE REVIEW!

It'll be posted before 9pm central European Time today!

Eco.

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."

THE TUBBIUS TRILOGY DIGITALLY REMASTERED

I’ve already played and reviewed the Tubbius Trilogy in my earlier thread, but I hear its been tweaked some since, and I fancy doing it all again now that I can put screenies in the review . I’m especially interested in any edits to the Costume Contest arc. I’ll be playing the four heroic arcs in the Trilogy and also the villainous prequel on my lvl 14 Psy/Mental Manip Blaster, The Psystem. level 14 when I start this epic arcaganza, I wonder what level I’ll be when I finish it

City of Ho Ho Help: A Prequel, by @Tubbius, Arc ID 267125. 20 plays, 4 stars so far. Medium (1 Tiny, 3 small maps)

The description references City of Ho Ho Ho, or A Claus in Paragon, which this arc is a prequel to. From the perspective of someone who’s played Ho Ho Ho first, there’s no problem, but a player totally fresh to the Tubbius Trilogy (I know, there’s 5 arcs in the Tubbius Trilogy, but doggedly sticking to calling a trilogy a trilogy despite patent more-than-threeism of components is a mark of great writing IMO (See Adams and Rankin)) will see ‘This is a prequel to another arc called X – if you like playing this, why not play that!’ without any actual info on what this arc is about. You could perhaps reduce the text connecting it to Ho Ho Ho and add a little about the plot of this arc.

So, over to the Psystem then. Take it away, boys!

“ENGAGE NANO-SEARCH MODULE ALPHA-SEVEN-EXCEMA / LOOKING / LOOKING / LOOKING / LOOKING OUT FOR LOVE / SHUT UP, YOU / ISOLATING THREE-SYLLABLE-NAMED CONTACT / LOCATED / PISTOLA / PISS / TOE / LA / LA / LA / QUERY FROM LEFT FOOT / WHAT / WHY ARE WE LOOKING FOR THREE-SYLLABLE-NAMED HUMANS? / NEED TO KNOW / RIGHT KNEE CONCURS / WE ARE DAMAGED / YES / HUMAN CONTACT PISTOLA HAS DIRE NEED / NEED TO KNOW / SHUT UP, I SAID / ‘I’? / WE ARE DAMAGED / YES / …

“MISSION PARAMETERS? / FATE OF FREE WORLD DEPENDS ON THIS MISSION / MISSION PARAMETERS? / SEEK NUTRITION FOR INDIVIDUALS SPURNED BY SOCIETY / FEED THE HOMELESS? / AFFIRMATIVE / MISSION PARAMETERS APPROPRIATE FOR HEROES SUCH AS US / TOES SUGGEST ACCEPTANCE OF MISSION / IT WILL LOOK GOOD ON OUR CV / HEELS CONCUR / EARLOBE CONCURS / LEFT THUMB QUERIES / WILL THERE BE BUNTING? / POSSIBLY / GO / GO / GO”

[So The Psystem is horribly confused and unaware he’s being taken for a villain. Pistola wants him to rob a Delicious Dishes Deli warehouse to get supplies for his Outcast gang, basically.]

Mission 1: Find Snacks

“STEALTH MODE ENGAGED / SHHH / BUILDING INITIALLY SEEMS QUIET / TOO DAMN QUIET / ESTIMATE CHANCES OF SUCCESS AT 354,665,704 TO ONE AGAINST / LEFT BUTTOCK SUGGESTS SLIGHT MARGIN FOR ERROR BE ALLOWED / OK / … / CARDBOARD BOX ISOLATED / ANALYZING CARDBOARD BOX / … / CARDBOARD BOX IDENTIFIED AS CARDBOARD BOX / AFFIRMATIVE / CONTENTS? / CONTENTS TO BE ANALYZED BY EYES AT LATER DATE / HANDS TO ASSIST IN EXTRAPOLATION OF CONTENTS FROM SIDES AND LID / AFFIRMATIVE / WARNING / ACHTUNG / UWAGA / CARDBOARD BOX GUARDED BY ENTITY / ANALYSIS OF ENTITY SUGGESTS ONE OF TWO POSSIBILITIES / JOVIAN SUPER-GIGANTIC ARMO-BEHEMOTH ROBOSAUR MARK IV MEGA-OBLITERATO-SENTINEL / OR / HUMAN SECURITY GUARD / … / ENTITY WEARING HAT / HUMAN IT IS THEN / ATTEMPTING TO PARLAY / … < GREETINGS, HUMAN, I COME IN PEACE . . . > / PARLAY FAILED! / DEFENSE SYSTEMS OVERWHELMED / OUCH / I BROKE A NAIL!



“ATTACK! / <<><>>><><>< / INITIATE SYSTEMIC SELF MEGADESTRUCT PROTOCOL TRIPLE-X? / NEGATIVE / ATTEMPT PICARD MANOEVER / OOF / FAILURE / PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE REPEATEDLY / MIND CONTROL WORKED ON THE RECEPTIONIST AT THE HILTON LAST WEEK / AFFIRMATIVE / >><><<>><::>::<:<>:< / SUCCESS! / YAY ME / US / YAY US…



[I was a little worried about the level ranges of these missions. the first mob I see is an orange lieut, but he’s fairly easy I’m happy to see. ]



“ANALYSIS OF BOX PROCEEDING / HURRY UP, HANDS / OPENING / AHA / CRATE CONTAINS FOODSTUFFS / TESTING FOR NUTRITIONAL VALUE / EW / ANALYSIS SUGGESTS ONE OF TWO POSSIBILITIES / MARTIAN BEEF-O-CHEESE RAD-NUGGETS / OR / EARTH DONUTS / DEARTH OF COMPLIMENTARY SONIC SPORKS CONFIRM DONUTS / OK THEN / PROCEEDING FURTHER / …





[The Psystem moves deeper into the warehouse, meeting more security guards, and finding two more crates. The map is perfectly sized for this opener I think, quite small. After finding the last crate, the Nav instruction shows a new objective]





“ALERT! / SUPERVILLAIN AMBUSH / THE DASTARDLY SWINE / ANALYZING DATABANKS FOR IDENTITY OF MISCREANT / ENTITY IDENTIFIED AS DONNIE DONUT / PARSING BIO TAKEN FROM ‘DELICIOUS DISHES’ INTRANET / FILTERING FOR EVIL / DONNIE DONUT FIGUREHEAD OF EVIL CADRE OF WORLD DOMINATING VILLAINS / INTRANET CLAIMS DELICIOUS DISHES ‘MISSION PLAN IS TO ACHIEVE GLOBAL DOMINATION OF ITS MARKET AND OVERCOME ITS COMPETITION’ / GLOBAL DOMINATION! / HE MUST BE STOPPED / ATTACK / ATTACK / ACTIVATE PSYCHIC BAZOOKA / WE DON’T HAVE A PSYCHIC BAZOOKA / PRETEND / OK / <<>><>><><….><<>< / SONIC ATTACKS INCOMING / NOSE SUGGESTS REMOVAL OF EARS / HEARING OVERRATED ANYWAY / EARS PROTEST / ATTACK / <<><>><>< / SUCCESS / DONNIE DONUT HAS BEEN VANQUISHED / RETURN TO HEROIC DEFENDER OF THE GOOD AND THE GREAT PISTOLA FOR LAUDINGS AND GRATITUDE…”




[excellent. You’ve added Donnie since I played this last? I don’t remember him, certainly. His costume is wonderful and his dialogue is funny. Nice little opener, small map, 3 glowies and a boss and some tasty XP on the way]

“ANALYZING PISTOLA’S RESPONSE TO MISSION SUCCESS…/ ‘Whatever. If that's the best you can do, that's the best you can do.’ / SENTENCE CONTAINS EQUATION / CALCULATE / WERE DONUTS BEST WE COULD DO? / AFFIRMATIVE / CONDITIONAL FULFILLED / MISSION OUTCOME WAS, THEN, BEST WE COULD DO / PISTOLA LOGICIAN OF SOME SKILL, OBVIOUSLY / PROBABLY PHILOSOPHER-POET AKIN TO THE GREAT HADRAGADDON OMENTAUR OF GAPRALLION SEVEN / ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS? / FORTUNATE RAMBLINGS OF IDIOT-SAVANT / …

[Pistola’s briefing for mission 2 is simple enough – The PDD are raiding Pistola’s base because of the Donut theft, and a hero called Tubbius is there to help them. The situation causes The Psystem some more confusion, however…]

“OUR NEXT TASK / SHOULD WE WISH TO ACCEPT / YES / THAT GOES WITHOUT SAYING / TOO LATE / MID-LUNG QUERY: ALREADY UTTERED SENTENCE INDICATIVE OF DANGEROUSLY RISING LEVELS OF INSANITY? / INITIATION OF SYSTEMIC SELF MEGADESTRUCT PROTOCOL TRIPLE-X ADVISED / NEGATIVE / STANDING BY / OUR NEXT TASK / SHOULD WE SWISH - / SHUT UP, YOU / PISTOLA’S SECRET SUPERHERO BASE UNDER ATTACK / ATTACKERS IDENTIFIED AS PARAGON POLICE DEPARTMENT / INCONGRUITY DETECTED / POLICE = SIDE OF GOOD / BOYS IN BLUE / HERE COMES THE CAVALRY / RA RA RAIDERS / OBVIOUSLY CORRUPTION IN THE RANKS RESPONSIBLE / WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN? / INDEED / CORRUPT PDD ATTACKING ‘OUTCASTS’ / OH, THE POOR SPURNED DETRITUS OF SOCIETY / I AM NOT AN ELEPHANT, I AM A HUMAN BEING / SHUT UP, YOU / SECONDARY INCONGRUITY IN BRIEFING / PARSING / … / ‘I want you to go in there and take these good guys down!’ / ANALYSIS SUGGESTS TWO POSSIBILITIES / COLLOQUIAL TRANSPOSITION OF ENDPHRASE / INTENDED MEANING ‘TAKE THOSE GUYS DOWN GOOD!’ / SECONDARY PISSIBILITY / WE ARE WOEFULLY MISGUIDED / INCONCEIVABLE! / ADJUSTING WORLDVIEW TO COMPENSATE / PROCEED / MISSION: ASSIST HERO ON SITE TO SUBDUE CORRUPT PPD FORCES / ACCEPTED / … / REWINDING… / DON’T WE MEAN ‘POSSIBILITY’? / …

Mission 2: Protect the Outcasts Headquarters

“ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: MAINTAIN AWARENESS FOR HUMAN FEMALE OF SCOTTISH NATIONALITY, POST REPRODUCTION, RUNNING TEMPERATURE…

[‘Keep your eyes open for my best girl, Cardio. She's a hot, mean mama’ says Pistola ]

“ALERT / ALERT / EARS DETECTING HUMAN LAUGHTER / DEEP BASS / SOUND WAVE ANALYSIS EXTRAPOLATING… / LAUGHTER EMANATING FROM STOCKY MALE VOICEBOX, SOUND FILTERED THROUGH FULL BEARD / PHONEMIC TRANSCRIPTION RENDERED AS ‘HO HO HO’ / SANTA! / SHUT UP, YOU… / POLICE SPOTTED / WALKING ON THE MOON? / NO STUPID / NOT STING ET AL / POLICE / ROZZERS / COPPERS / THE FUZZ / OH, THAT POLICE / ENTER ATTACK MODE / SUBDUE WITH EXTREMELY MILD PREJUDICE / VILLAINS ARE HUMANS TOO! / …/ <<><>>><> / >><><>< / <<> / <> / <<<<>><><> / … SUCCESS / PROCEED / …

[Wonderful. The PPD are great fun to fight. No annoying mezzes or slows or anything to wind me up. I clear as I go.]

“HUMAN FEMALE SIGHTED / AROOGA / NO STRETCH MARKS INDICATED / NOT MOTHER, THEN / SKIN EMANATION ANALYSIS SUGGESTS BODY TEMPERATURE WITHIN HUMAN NORMS / PROCEED WITH ASSISTANCE / >><><>><><>><



“FEMALE ACCENT NON-SCOTTISH / PISTOLA MISINFORMED / IMPOSSIBLE / PISTOLA PERFECT IN EVERY WAY, SURELY? / HOW ELSE INSTRUCT US? / ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS / WE ARE HIDEOUSLY WRONG-FOOTED / NOPE / CAN’T BE HAVING THAT / ADJUSTING WORLDVIEW TO COMPENSATE / PROCEED WITH FEMALE ASSISTANCE / SAVE ‘OUTCASTS’, VAGABONDS, YOUR POOR, HUDDLED MASSES, ETCETERA / …

[I proceed with Cardio helping, and we save a few Outcasts, then reach the final room. Here I encounter a slight annoyance of the MA – I think it would be great if we could click on an ally and choose ‘stay here’ or ‘come with me’ – I want to leave Cardio behind so I can take on Tubbuius on my own, but it proves devilish difficult to dump her lol]

“HELPLESS UGLY OUTCAST-INNOCENTS SAVED / CORRUPT PDD SUBDUED / YAY ME / YAY US YOU MEAN / ‘YOU’ MEAN? / I MEAN WE MEAN / ER… / ATTENTION / LOOK, OVER THERE / SANTA… / HELD PRISONER BY PDD / ATTACK / FREE SANTA / YES / <<>>< / OOF / SANTA? / SANTA ATTACKING US / WHY / WHY SANTA ATTACK US? / <<><>>< / DANGER / POWER LEVELS DROPPING / PLANTS COILING / CHOKING / KOFF KOFF / LUNGS SUGGEST STOP BREATHING / ACCEPTED / >><><><>> / EXAMINE SITUATION LATER IN SLO-MOTION / ATTACK PLAN? / INITIATE SYSTEMIC SELF MEGADESTRUCT PROTOCOL TRIPLE-X? / NEGATIVE / SAVE THAT FOR WHEN EARTH’S SUN TURNS EVIL / ON STANDBY / INITIATE ATTACK PLAN B / APPROVAL GRANTED / >><>><><>>> / STITCH THIS, SANTA! / <<>><>< / SANTA DOWNED LIKE LARGE FAT MAN IN RED SUIT AFTER SOUND BEATING FROM CROWD OF ENRAGED CRETINS / … / SITUATION UNDER CONTROL / EXIT AND REPORT BACK TO GLORIOUS LEADER PISTOLA, CHAMPION OF THE UNDERCLASSES / AYE / …





[Tubbius is quite easy to defeat, which is actually very nice, as tbh I’m rather enjoying taking my time over the screenies lol. Another fun romp for The Psystem, who sadly is still unaware that he (er, they?) is working for a villain]

“SAINTLY PISTOLA HAS NEW TASK FOR US / MISSION CONCERNS SANTA / SANTA WHO ATTACKED US / WORKS AT CITY HALL APPARENTLY. PISTOLA BRIEFING CONTAINS FURTHER INCONSISTENCIES / QUERY / DEARIE / FEARIE / EERIE / WEARY / STOP THAT / SORRY / THOUGHT WE WERE PLAYING RHYMING GAME / RIGHT ARMPIT WANTS IN ON THAT ACTION / SHUT UP, YOU / HERO? / SANTA HERO / PISTOLA: ‘there's a new hero in town who looks like Santa Claus and works at the City Hall? Sounds fun. I might as well look into that.’ / YES / SANTA = FUN / THIS IS CHRONICLED WIDELY / DICHOTOMY FOLLOWS / PISTOLA: ‘New heroes are always fun to rough up.’ / … / I’M GETTING A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS / ‘I’M’? / LETS PUT A PIN IN IT FOR LATER / BRIEFING CONTINUES / TROLL NAMED GRAATAK / SEWER DWELLER / PISTOLA REQUIRES GRAATAK BLUDGEONED INTO SUBMISSION / TROLLS RECORDED VILLAIN GROUP / ACCESS DATABANKS TO VERIFY / ACCESSING… / AFFIRMATIVE / TROLL: LARGE UGLY MALFORMED EVIL CREATURE / USUAL HAUNTS: UNDER BRIDGES / FOOD SOURCE: GOATS / GOATS? / TROLLS EAT GOATS / BAD TROLLS / YES / SO PISTOLA WORKING ON BEHALF OF ANIMALS / HAS TO BE / AMENDING WORLDVIEW TO COMPENSATE / PROCEED WITH HEROIC GOAT-RESCUE MISSION / …

[Pistola doesn’t want The Psystem to rescue any goats of course. Any confusion suffered by The Psystem is entirely his own doing. Lol for the benefit of anyone who hasn’t played this arc, I should point out that the writings not at all as confusing as The Psystem’s making it seem. Pistola here wants the Player to go rough up a Troll boss in order to make him accede to working for Pistola – who wants him to go into City Hall and steal Santa’s wish list from the kids of Paragon.]

Mission 3: Hire Graatak

“PHEW / WHAT A STINKY SEWER / YES / NOSE AGREES / NOSE INITIATING DELTA TANGO BRAVO GOOD SHOW SHUTDOWN SEQUENCE / NUCLEAR MELTDOWN IN THREE / TWO / ONE / NUCLEAR MELTDOWN ACTIVE NOW / … / OH MY MISTAKE / NOT NUCLEAR MELTDOWN / I MEANT CLOSURE OF NOSTRILS / SMELL INHIBITED / PROCEED / …

[The sewer smells, and a little ways ahead I can see Trolls]

“TROLLS DETECTED / UP AHEAD / THERE / YES / OVER THERE / YES I CAN SEE THEM / WHERE? / THERE / I CANT SEE / WHO? / ITS ME, NOSE / OPEN YOUR NOSTRILS / NO / THEN SHUT UP, YOU / TONGUE OBJECTS TO TREATMENT OF NOSE / SHUTTING DOWN IN PROTEST FOR THIRTY SECONDS / HUBBLU / HABBLAHUBBLEBUBBLAH / HUBBUG / BLUBLUBBLU / MUHUBLUMUHUH / … / >><><>>< / ><>><><> / ABBLAK!/<><<><>>< / … / …

[I proceed into the sewers, fighting trolls as I go. it’s a blast. After a few slopes I find a large room with Cardio and a few Trolls.]

“HUBBLA / HUBBLAHUBBUB / …/ HUBBUT I’M ALRIGHT NAAOOOOWWW! / HA HA / ATTENTION / FEMALE FRIEND OF PISTOLA PRESENT AGAIN / IN TROUBLE / TROLLS PERHAPS PREPARING TO EAT HER? / IS SHE GOAT? / SPINE SUGGESTS DNA ANALYSIS / LIPS CONCUR / ATTACK AND RESCUE FROM GOAT-SACRIFICING BASTARDS! / … / <<>><><<> / >>> / ><<<<>< / <<< / ><><>< / <<<>>> / AHA! / FEAR NOT ETCETERA / YIKES / OUCH! / WHAT WAS THAT? / SNEAK ATTACK FROM BEHIND / BEHIND SUGGESTS RUNNING LIKE THE WIND / TURN AROUND / INITIATING SLOW STEADY SCENE-SURVEYING ROTATION / NO YOU FOOL / INITIATE WHIRLING DERVISH 360 / AH! / GRAATAK! / YES, THAT’S WHAT I MEANT / DEFEND! / DEFEND / DEFEND / ATTACK! / <<>><><>< / OOF / OUCH / <<><> / ARGH!



“WHEE! / <<><><< / VICTORY BELONGS TO THE TROLL! / WAIT / VICTORY BELONGS TO US! / HURRAH! / ASSESS GOATNESS/GOATITUDE/GOATICITY OF HUMAN FEMALE NOW / ANALYZE DNA / DNA ANALYSIS PROCESS STAGE ONE: REDUCE SUBJECT TO UNIFORM MASS OF NUTRIENT PASTE / … / ABORT PROCEDURE / TIME TO LEAVE THIS STINKY SEWER AND REPORT BACK / …

[LOL cardio and Graatak were quite close to one another in the last room, so as I rushed up to Cardio to free her, Graatak saw me and joined in. No real problem though (I’m at heroic diff as always)]

“PISTOLA VERY HAPPY LITTLE BEAVER NOW / … / OH / OH WHAT? / BRIEFING INCONGRUITY LEVEL 57% AND RISING / MISSION IS TO INFILTRATE CITY HALL / PISTOLA: ‘Take out any cops that get in your way’ / TAKE OUT? / FOR MEAL, PERHAPS? / TO THE THEATRE? / ACCESSING ‘WHAT’S ON IN PARAGON’ DATABASE FOR SHOWS / NO YOU FOOL / TAKE OUT MEANS DEFEAT / DEFEAT / SUBDUE / BLUDGEON / DISEMBOWEL / EVISCERATE / PUT DOWN / ENABLE THEM TO PINE FOR THE FIORDS / KILL / BZZT / BZZT / DOES NOT COMPUTE / WAIT THERE’;S MORE / WE ARE TO BE ACCOMPANIED BY GRAATAK / GRAATAK / / GOAT-EATING MONSTER AS PLUCKY SIDEKICK? / NOT GOOD / AND THERE’S MORE / PISTOLA: ‘take these two bombs and blow stuff up after to cover your escape.’ / HM / RIGHT LITTLE TOE ENGAGING PLAINTIVE QUERY MODE: MAYBE HE’S JOKING? / NO JOKE / OUR MISSION / SHOULD WE CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT / IS TO STEAL SANTA’S WISHLIST / KILL SANTA CLAUS / DEPRIVE PARAGON’S CHILDREN OF THEIR PRESENTS / ASSIST GOAT-MURDERING BEAST TO BLOW UP CITY HALL / OH / … / … / … / OOPS / … / NOW CAN WE INITIATE SYSTEMIC SELF MEGADESTRUCT PROTOCOL TRIPLE-X? / ADVANTAGE / PISTOLAS PLAN FOILED IMMEDIATELY / YES / DISADVANTAGE / PERSONAL COMPLETE ANNIHILATION / SECONDARY EFFECTS / SOLAR SYSTEM VAPORIZATION TO 99.9998% / INITIATING PONDER MODE / … / RELUCTANT NEGATIVE / ALTERNATIVE PLAN / ACT AS TRIPLE AGENT / ACCEDE TO VILLAIN PISTOLAS’ REQUEST AND BRING DOWN HIS EVIL PLOT FROM THE INSIDE / IT’S A MILLION TO ONE SHOT BUT IT MIGHT JUST WORK / SECONDARY ADVANTAGE / PROBABLY SHUNTING UPWARDS SEVERAL NOTCHES FOR US ON SANTAS WISHLIST / AFFIRMATIVE / PROCEED / …

Mission 4: Find Tubbius’ Wish List

“CITY HALL BACK ENTRANCE QUIET / NO SIGN OF GRAATAK / TROLL BAD / PSYSTEM ENTERS LOBBY / LOBBY IN CITY HALL / TROLL IN CITY HALL / OUR TROLL / …PROCEED WITH CAUTION / RIGHTY-HO / … / TROLL SPOTTED – IN CUSTODY ALREADY / EXCELLENT / WILL ATTEMPT TO CONGRATULATE OFFICERS AND EXPLAIN TERRIBLE MISUNDERSTANDING / OOF / OW! / BULLETS! / BULLETS HURT! / RETREAT! / RETREAT! / SOUND THE FAMOUS BATTLE CRY / RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!!! / … / RUN / … / … / … / OK / SAFE NOW…



“REGROUP / PLAN / PPD ASSUME US VILLAIN / CAN’T THINK WHY / REWINDING / REPLAYING MISSION 1, MISSION 2 / SPECIFICALLY MENTAL SUBJUGATION OF PARAGON POLICE CHIEF HAVERSHAM TO HIS WORST NIGHTMARES AND MOST INTIMATE TERRIBLE CHILDHOOD FEARS / HE PIDDLED IN HIS PANTS, REMEMBER? / AH YES / PLAN? / AVOID COMBAT, FIND SANTA / EXPLAIN TO SANTA EVERYTHING TERRIBLE MISTAKE / PSYSTEM REALLY GOOD BOY / BOY? / OK, PSYSTEM GOOD COLLECTION OF ALIEN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCES INHABITING HYPERSENTIENT FLUID METALOVIRUS ENTITY CONTAINING CAREFULLY BALANCED NEXUS OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL ENERGY FLUXES DELICATELY POISED BETWEEN ELEGANT CONTROL AND NEBULAIC ANNIHILATION, SAID STATE DEPENDENT ON CALM RATIONAL INTELLECTUAL TOTAL SELF-CONTROL / LOOK, A FLUTTERBY! / SHUT UP, YOU / WHERE WAS I? / ERM / LET US FIND SANTA, THROW ON MERCY / GOOD A PLAN AS ANY / PROCEED / …

[Graatak is actually a Nav objective, so I guess I’m going to have to come back later lol. The Psystem carefully moves through the building, trying to avoid any fighting…]

“AH / PPD IN WAY / AVOIDANCE IMPOSSIBLE /ATTEMPT TO PARLAY / OOF / <<><><>< / FIGHT! / SUBDUE WITH MINIMAL VIOLENCE / ACCESSING MIND OF ATTACKER / IGNORE FEAR OF RAPTOR DEVOURING, FEAR OF SKINNING ALIVE, FEAR OF MULTIPLE AMPUTATION / ACCESSING FEAR OF SILENT FLATULENCE AT DINNER PARTY AND HOSTS UNPROVEN SUSPICION THAT SUBJECT TO BLAME / THIS MIGHT TAKE A WHILE / … / <<><>><>< / …

[lol whats a hero to do, eh? I’m forced to defeat some PPD ]

“THERE THERE IT’LL BE ALRIGHT IN THE MORNING / SUCCESS / SLOW BUT SURE / PPD DEFEATED WITH MINIMAL LONG-TERM MENTAL DAMAGE / APART FROM MORBID FEAR OF BEANS, MOLASSES, PRUNES, CURRY, GUINESS, PICKLED EGGS, YEAST, VINEGAR, BROWN FOOD AND ANYTHING WITH TOO MUCH AIR IN IT / HE’LL LIVE / …LOOK / DESK WITH SANTA-IDENTIFIED ITEMS / SANTA’S HOTDESK / SANTA’S WISHLIST IS HERE / TAKE IT FOR SAFEKEEPING / IN CASE GRAATAK GETS FREE / AFFIRMATIVE / PROCEED / … / ALARM! / BOMB FOUND / ANALYZING / BOMB IDENTIFIED AS ONE OF TWO TYPES / ARCTURAN ARMAGGEDDOBLITERATOR MAXI-YIELD DOOM-O-NUKE / OR / BARREL FULL OF GASOLINE AND FIVE STICKS OF DYNAMITE…



“APPLYING APPROPRIATE DISARMING PROCEDURE / WARNING! / BOMB ARMED! / … / NOT ARCTURAN BOMB, THEN / AT LEAST WE KNOW NOW / CAN’T BE HELPED / PROCEED / …

[After finding the wishlist, the nav updated to include the setting of 2 bombs…hope you don’t mind my little take on it ]

“… / STOP, POLICE! / NO, PLEASE, SOMEONE STOP THEM / OOF / <<><>>>>>>><>><<<>< / >< / >>< / <<><> / >><<>>< / SECOND BOMB DETECTED / NOT ARCTURAN MEGA-NUKE, REMEMBER / YES / BOMB IDENTIFIED AS BARREL OF GASOLINE AND FIVE STICKS OF DYNAMITE / YES / APPLICATION OF DISARMING PROCEDURE? / WE ONLY KNOW HOW TO DISARM ARCTURAN ARMAGGEDDOBLITERATOR MAXI-YIELD DOOM-O-NUKES / BARRELS FULL OF GASOLINE AND ATTACHED STICKS OF DYNAMITE NOT COVERED YET ON INTERNET BOMB-DISPOSAL COURSE / HMM / CLAVICLE SUGGESTS CUTTING THE RED WIRE / VEIN IN RIGHT TEMPLE CONCURS / CUTTING RED WIRE / BOMB ARMED / MARVELOUS / … / PLAN? / EARLOBES IN TANDEM SUGGEST INTERROGATION OF TROLL / TROLL MAY KNOW DISARMING PROCEDURE / AFFIRMATIVE / RETREAT TO GROUND FLOOR AND QUESTION TROLL / …




[There you go, I knew there’d be some reason for me to come back to Graatak lol]

“… / TROLL HELD BY PPD GOONS / ATTEMPT TO PARLEY? / ENGAGING CANDID MODE / WE KNOW THAT’S POINTLESS / BETTER TO GENTLY PUSH THEM INTO A SILENT MOTIONLESS ENDLESS DARK STRUGGLE WITH THE INNERMOST DEPTHS OF THEIR OWN FESTERING DESPAIR IN THE ARID DEATHSCAPE OF THEIR OWN PSYCHES / SOUNDS GOOD / ATTACK! / >><<<<<< / <<< / <<< / < / SUCCESS / GRAATAK FREED / POLICE NOW LOCKED INTO INSUFFERABLE MENTAL PRISON OF THEIR OWN MAKING / SANTA WON’T TAKE THAT ANY EXCUSE FOR INFLICTING INTOLERABLE MENTAL CRUELTY ON PARAGON’S FINEST / HM / CHECK LIST TO MAKE SURE / … / CHECKING LIST / … / PSYSTEM NOT ON LIST / OH / OOPS / QUICKLY, CONVINCE GRAATAK TO DISARM BOMBS / GRAATAK? / … / ER, GRAATAK GONE / … / …
/ …
/ …
/ …
/ OOPS…

[End]

LMAO That was absolutely fantastic fun from start to finish. Here is possibly the finest yet example of ‘you get out what you put in’ as a maxim for enjoyment of the MA. I rated it 5 stars immediately upon finish, based on the amount of fun I had whilst playing it. This might not seem fair, considering a great deal of the fun I had was due to The Psystems bizarre heroic take on this villainous arc. But I’m not going to defend that. This is an mmoRPg, and as any GM worth his salt knows, Players can boost a well-written campaign into the stratosphere of quality. Adding a little something to a well-written arc can turn it into a diamond experience. I’m not trying to blow my own trumpet too much here, the best roleplayer in the world couldn’t turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse. This arc was a 3-starrer in my eyes the first time I played it, and its been polished since then, taking it to 4 stars, and then the happy accident of The Psystem’s approach produced the synergy to get it right up there. I had an absolute blast, I played the arc for 6 hours, and I got 8 bubs of XP doing it. Sometimes, it’s about an arc fitting a character. In my earlier thread, I rated some arcs poorly because I didn’t have enough fun or what have you, and upon revisiting them I found that a different toon could have a much better time of it. Just as I think that AM was the perfect toon for CoW, this arc fit The Psystem, like a glove. It almost felt like it was playing itself, and I was just watching.

When fun is this effortless, I feel like I might not be saying enough about the details. The best use of CGI in a movie is when you don’t actually notice that they’ve used CGI at all. In this arc, I didn’t notice anything…wrong with it.

I DID notice that you’ve altered Tubbius’ bio slightly to make the question of whether or not he’s the real Santa a little more ambiguous, as I begged you to do in my earlier run. YAY! you’ve made my stuffed bear very happy.

Also, the addition of Cardio and Donnie Donuts was a good move to spice up the arc a little. Donnie especially is great.

Well done, thanks for that.

Eco.

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."

City of Ho Ho Ho, or a Claus in Paragon, by @Tubbius, Arc ID 18775 Heroic morality, Medium length (3 small maps). 64 plays, 4 stars as I start.

The description briefly introduces the contact, Tubbius, who’s ‘a bumbler who thinks himself Santa Claus’ and who needs help ‘to become a true hero’. I’m welling up already!

The Psystem has already met him of course, in the previous villainous arc. I guess he’ll be wanting to make amends to get back on Santa’s wishlist! I’ve decided to make use of the new Issues wossnames by testing out a virtual 2-man team (lol, not very uber, am I?)! Over to you, boys!

“BAD PSYSTEM / VERY VERY BAD / WE ARE BAD / NOT ON SANTA’S WISHLIST / NO PRESENTS FOR US THIS YEAR / IT’S A MISTAKE / IT’S A FIT-UP, GUV’NOR! / NOBODY TOLD US PISTOLA WAS CRIMINAL NOT ECCENTRIC BENEFACTOR OF HOMELESS / PLAN? / TWO POSSIBILITIES / ONE / RELEASE NANO-HOLE FROM CONTAINMENT FIELD DUE TO OVERWHELMING SHAME AND LET RESULTING GIGADEATH IMPLOSION NULLIFY APPROXIMATELY 54% OF MILKY WAY GALAXY / TWO / GO SEE SANTA AND EXPLAIN / BOTH LEGS VOTE FOR PRIMARY SOLUTION / ARMS CONCUR / HEAD? / WHATEVER / CROTCH INITIATING VETO OVERRIDE / PLAN B APPROVED / LET’S GO AND SEE SANTA / …

[The contact, Tubbius Claus, a definite Santa lookalike if not the real thing , has no bio unfortunately when I click ‘ask about this contact.]

“ENGAGING DATASEARCH FOR SANTA / NORTH POLE / YES / LET US AWAY! / SHUT UP, YOU / NORTH POLE / SANTA’S WORKSHOP / TO THE TRAIN STATION! / NO / SANTA NOT AT NORTH POLE / ANALYZE VISUAL RECORDS OF SANTA SIGHTING / WHIRR CLICK / WHY DID WE JUST SAY ‘WHIRR CLICK’? / AMUSING EFFECT? / SHUT UP, YOU / SANTA FOUND / ATLAS PARK CITY HALL / CHECK / OH EM DOUBLE-YOU / … / ALERT – SANTA ASSUMES US VILLAIN / PREPARE FOR ULTRA VIOLENCE / … / SANTA / SANTA APPARENTLY UNAWARE OF OUR PREVIOUS MEETING / SANTA SENILE OLD FART? / SHUT UP, YOU / HE KNOWS WHEN WE’VE BEEN BAD, HE’LL WRITE THAT DOWN ON HIS LIST / TEST / WHAT? / TEST / IT’S A TEST / SANTA’S TEST / AH / THAT WOULD MAKE PERFECT SENSE / YES / CLEVER / CLEVER SANTA / PROCEED / … / SANTA ACTING PECULIAR / SENILE? / SHUT UP, YOU / NOT SENILE / POSSIBLY MERELY DERANGED / CRAZY OLD BAT / SHUT UP, YOU / SANTA NOT BARKING / SANTA TESTING US / YES / SANTA TELLING US A STORY NOW / STORY CONTAINS OPENER ‘I had someone come along to help me out. In fact, I think it was you!?’ / IMPOSSIBLE / WOAH / SENSORS DETECTING MASSIVE TEMPORAL FLUXONIC WORMHOLE / INCOMING / CAUSAL NEXUS COLLAPSING / NARRATIVE POLARITY REVERSING / SANTA ONE POWERFUL DUDE / …

[Tubbius’ briefing starts with a general introduction to him, as he explains that he’s Santa on a sort of ‘crimefighting vacation’, and then he offers to ‘remind’ the Player of a story of one of his earlier adventures, during which the Player was assisting him. This works fine as a framer if the arc is the first tried by the Player, but I think that coming straight from Pistola’s arc to it, it feels a little odd. Pistola’s arc is told straight, with no flashbacks or anything, so the impression is that it happens in the present. Then, coming to Tubbius arc straight after, I’m pushed back into the past for the events that should be happening quite recently. Maybe it’s just me that sees it this way, however.

The first time I played Pistola’s arc, I did it after I’d done the rest, so it didn’t seem out of place.]

Mission 1: Rescue Tubbius

“ASCERTAIN LOCATION / ALTERNATIVE EARLIER TIMESTREAM / SANTA CAPABLE OF TEMPORAL MANIPULATION PLUS MULTIDIMENSIONAL TRANSLOCATION / WOAH / HINDBRAIN UNSURPRISED / SANTA’S POWERS RECORDED AT EXTREME LEVELS / HUMAN POPULATION OF PRESENT-EXPECTING AGE APPROXIMATELY 2 BILLION / CHRISTIAN FRACTION APPROX 15% OR 300 MILLION / GENEROUS AVERAGE OF 3 PER HOUSEHOLD, AT LEAST 1 OF WHOM IS ‘GOOD’ / 100 MILLION DIFFERENT HOMES / CHRISTMAS EVE LASTS 7 HOURS / SPREAD OVER ONE 24-HOUR ROTATION OF EARTH / EAST-WEST DIRECTION AROUND PLANET GIVES 31 HOURS FOR TOTAL DISTRIBUTION DEADLINE / APPROX 900 HOUSEHOLDS PER SECOND / ASSUME JUST 15% OF HOUSEHOLDS SUPPLY COOKIE AND GLASS OF MILK / 135 COOKIES PER SECOND, EVERY SECOND, FOR 31 HOURS / … / BASICALLY, WE’RE TALKING INSANE SUGAR RUSH / SANTA IS CHORTLING, CHUBBY, WALKING NOVA / CONCLUSION: / BE GOOD / …

[lol The Psystem seems to have worked out an alternative explanation of the ‘let me remind you…’ narrative device. I hope you don’t mind ]

“PLAN? / THIS IS TEST / WE’D BETTER WATCH OUT / WE’D BETTER NOT FAIL / INITIATING ULTRA-GOOD MODE / HOW TO ASSURE SUCCESS? / DEFEAT BAD GUYS / SOUNDS GOOD / … / PROCEED / …

“ALERT / UWAGA / WARNING / DÉJÀ VU MODULE ACTIVATED / CARDBOARD BOX LOCATED / ANALYSING CARDBOARD BOX / LET ME GUESS / I BET IT’S FULL OF DONUTS / DERREN BROWN, EAT YOUR HEART OUT / CARDBOARD BOX INDEED FULL OF DONUTS / MMM / MNIAM MNIAM MNIAM / DON’T EAT ALL THE DONUTS / GREED = BAD / REMEMBER OUR TIMESHIFT ALTERNATIVE DIMENSIONAL SAFETY MANTRA / ‘BE GOOD’ / NOTED / COLLECT DONUTS AND PRESENT TO SANTA / IN THE MANNER OF PRIMITIVE TRIBESMAN OFFERING ENTRAILS OF SLAUGHTERED WILDEBEEST TO ANCIENT DARK GOD / …BUT WITH MORE YULE / … / PROCEED / …

“AHA! / BULLETIN BOARD / LOOKS CONSPICUOUS / LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED / STONES? / THIS IS OFFICE BUILDING / ATTEMPT TO LOCATE ROOF GARDEN? / PERHAPS JAPANESE STONE LAWN IN EFFECT / SHUT UP, YOU / ALERT / DÉJÀ VU SENSORS BECOMING DANGEROUSLY OVERWORKED / DIRECTIONS HANDWRITTEN ‘Sack the room for Santa's Wish List.’ / UH-OH / HAVE WE BEEN HERE BEFORE? / FAMILIARITY CIRCUITS ONLINE / WISHLIST UNDER THREAT / BE GOOD / HELP SANTA! / FIND VILLAIN RESPONSIBLE FOR STEALING WISHLIST AND VAPORISE / ER… / OH / YES / THAT WOULD BE / OOPS / … / ALTERNATE PLAN REQUIRED / … / SEEK SANTA / FALL ON KNEES AND BEG FOR MERCY AND SUCCOUR IN THIS, OUR DESPERATE TIME OF TEMPORALLY CHALLENGED NEED AND FRANKLY MIND-BENDING CONFUSION / AGREED / PROCEED / …




“LOOK / OVER THERE!



“YES I SEE HIM / IT’S SANTA / RELEASE OF SANTA SURELY PUTS US IN ‘GOOD’ BOOKS / ATTACK! / OOF / OW!



“SAVE SANTA! / <<><><><><><><< / HA! / VILE VILLAINS! / RELEASE SANTA, WHO IS PRIME EPITOME OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND JUST AND RIGHT WITH THE WORLD! / >><>>><><>> / FEAR NOT, SANTA! WE SHALL SAVE YOU, AT NO COST OR EXPECTATION OF SPECIAL FAVOUR FROM YOU IN FUTURE! / >>>>><<<<>>>>< / THERE, THAT’S THE LAST OF THE BAD, BAD, BAD PEOPLE DEALT WITH / AND YET DEALT WITH WITH ONLY MINIMAL AND NECESSARY VIOLENCE / COME, LET US HELP YOU TO YOUR MAGNIFICENT PLATES / ‘LAYING IT ON THICK’ MODE DISENGAGED / INTERIOR MONOLOGUE REACTIVATED / HOPEFULLY HE BOUGHT IT / SANTA JOINING US FOR REMAINDER OF TEST / YIKES / ATTENDANT OBSERVER / ACTIVATE ‘BEST BEHAVIOUR MODE’ / …

[So I find a cardboard box with some donuts in it first, then the instructions to sack the wishlist, and then Tubbius Claus as an ally (I love this chat text:’ Tubbius Claus stands up, tugs a little on his vest, and pats his gently rumbling middle.’). The two remaining Nav objectives are 2 more snacks and Pistola to defeat. Tubbius and The Psystem set off to finish the mission!]



“THIS WAY, SANTA / >><<<< / >>< / ><><> / BAD GUYS!

“LOOK / DONUTS / INTERNAL QUERY / DO WE THINK SANTA NEEDS MORE DONUTS? / SIZE EXTRAPOLATORS OVERLOADED BY WAISTBAND CALCULATION / … / SANTA KNOWS BEST / HE NEEDS THE CARBS, HE SAYS / PROCEED . / ALERT! / PISTOLA! / BAD PISTOLA / NOT HELPING HOMELESS AT ALL! / PISTOLA VERY BAD, SANTA / NOT ON WISHLIST / KNOWN ASSOCIATES ALSO VERY NAUGHTY / ER / AH YES / WE CAN EXPLAIN / OOF / /DEFENCE PATTERN 1 INITIATED! / >><<>< / ><> / > / >><<>< / AH / PISTOLA SUBDUED / INCOMING! / SANTA IS WELL HARD, DID WE NOTICE? / >>>><>>>><>>>><>>< / SITREP STABLE / … / UNDER CONTROL / LOCATE LAST DONUT BOX AND WE CAN KISS THIS ROCK GOODBYE / … / BOX LOCATED / DONUTS IDENTIFIED / SANTA FILLING BOOTS / GOOD WORK ALL / …

[A little backtracking to a room I neglected earlier, and the last box is found. Great little mission, I levelled in it too ]

“OOH / THAT’S EXTREMELY WEIRD / FALLING THROUGH TIME-IME-IME-IME… / WHY ARE YOU REPEATING ‘IME’ OVER AND OVER? / SORRY ABOUT THAT / WAS DRAMATIC EFFECT / WELL STOP IT / ATTENTION / TEMPORADIMENSIONAL TRANSLOCATION RETRACTED / BACK IN PARAGON HERE AND NOW / SANTA HAPPY / BUT WHAT’S THIS? / REDIRECTION OF NARRATIVE CAUSALITY STRANDS DETECTED / SANTA INSISTING THE PAST IS AS HE WISHES IT TO BE / PREVENTION OF WISHLIST THEFT FAILED / WE KNOW, WE DID IT / SHHH / CHRONO-INSERTION BETWEEN THE TIME-SPLICES POSSIBLE LOCUS-TARGET OF UBER-SANTA? / UH-OH / HE’S GOING TO DO IT AGAIN ISN’T HE? / TEMPORAL FRACTIONALISATION OCCURRING AGAIN / OO-ER, MISSUS / STOMACH REQUESTS NEXT TIME, NO INGESTION OF ENTIRE BOX OF POWDERED DONUTS / STOMACH ADDENDS / PROJECTILE VOMIT ON STANDBY / …

[I must be Tubbius’ biggest fan, lol. His delivery is just fantastic: ‘Splendid! Now, climb into that mission architect machine and let me tell you my story!’]

Mission 2: Find Tubbius’s Wish List

“GRATAAK BAD TROLL / HERE WE GO AGAIN / SHUT UP, YOU / THIS TIME WE’RE ON THE SIDE OF GOOD / GRATAAK STOLE WISHLIST / WHAT? / GRATAAK STOLE WISHLIST FROM SANTA’S OFFICE IN ATLAS PARK / … / SURE HE DID / BAD TROLL / LEFT LEG IN ACCORD / RIGHT LEG AGREES / LEFT ARM SPEAKS FOR BOTH ARMS IN CENSURING DESPICABLE TROLL’S BAD BEHAVIOUR / HEAD, THORAX AND ABDOMEN CONCUR / PETITION SIGNED BY ALL FINGERS, TOES, ANTENNA AND WINGS TO PERSUADE UNITED NATIONS TO LEVY SANCTIONS AGAINST TROLL / LETTER SENT TO POPE / EXCOMMUNICATION IMMINENT PLUS SEVERE CRITICISM FROM PAPAL LIPS / OUCH, DISSED BY THE BIG P / THAT’S GOTTA HURT / … / TROLL HERE IN SEWERS SOMEWHERE / FAMILIARITY CIRCUITS SHUTTING DOWN IN PROTEST / SANTA ALSO HERE / MISSION OBJECTIVES/ ONE, FIND SANTA / TWO, DEFEAT TROLL / THREE, RETRIEVE WISHLIST / FOUR, AVOID MEETING SELF AND THEREBY CAUSING UNRECOVERABLE BREAKDOWN OF REALITY-HUB AND DISASTROUS DISCOHESION OF TIME ITSELF / WHAT WOULD THAT DO? / IMAGINE EVERY INSTANT OF TIME FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE UNIVERSE TO THE END OF TIME ALL HAPPENING AT THE SAME INSTANT AND AT THE SAME TIME ALL BEING TOTALLY DISCONNECTED FROM EVERY OTHER MOMENT / … / … / … / TO BE HONEST, I’M HAVING QUITE A BIT OF DIFFICULTY IMAGINING THAT / OKAY, IMAGINE A REALLY BIG EXPLOSION INSTEAD / REALLY REALLY REALLY BIG / BIGGER THAN A BARN? / BIGGER THAN A BARN, YES / QUITE A BIT BIGGER / OKAY / THAT’S BAD ENOUGH / PROCEED / …

[I move through the sewers, fighting the Trolls I find on the way. Trolls are fun for me to fight, not having much in the way of KD or mezzes. The virtual duo size gives me a little more to play with. I might up it to 3 for the next mission ]

[And then, in a large room…]

“SANTA SIGHTED / OVER THERE / SELF PRESENT? / YES / ALERT!!! / ACHTUNG!!! / UWAGA!!! / WARNING!!! / AROOGAA! / RETREAT, RETREAT! / WAIT / WHAIT / WHERE SELF? / HERE! / SELF PRESENT? / WELL YES, SELF RIGHT HERE / WHERE? / HERE, NUMBSKULL / WE ARE HERE / IN THIS ROOM / NOT US / OTHER SELF? / WHO? / US? / WE ARE HERE / YES, WE ARE HERE, BUT WHAT ABOUT US? / I’M CONFUSED / ARE YOU HERE? YES / ME TOO / AND WE ARE / ARE YOU? / YES / OKAY / THAT’S SETTLED / I’M NOT / SHUT UP, YOU / IS OTHER SELF PRESENT ALSO? / … / AH, YOU MEAN OTHER WE, AS IN THEM / NOT US / CRITICAL DISASTER-FACET/FRAGMENT OF OUR META-PERSON, ACTING UNDER PISTOLA’S ORDERS / RIGHT? / ISN’T THAT STILL US? / … / ALTERNATIVE LINE OF ENQUIRY / IS UNIVERSE STILL OPERATING UNDER RELATIVELY NORMAL PARAMETERS? / … / 98% OF NORMALITY DETECTED / OKAY THEN / PROCEED / … / ATTACK / RESCUE SANTA / AGAIN / YES, AGAIN / <<>><><><><><>>> / >>><><> OW />><>><> / RAH! / >><><><> / SUCCESS! / YAY US! / … / SANTA FREE AT LAST / AGAIN / … / REFUSE RECEPTACLE LOCATED / IDENTIFY CONTENTS / GARBAGE / ITEMISE / FISH HEADS / USED PROPHYLACTICS / FOOD PACKAGING / DIAPERS PLASTIC TEETH / SPORRAN / RUBBER CHICKEN/ PAPERS / EXAMINE PAPERS / BINGO / WISHLIST RETRIEVED / MOST EXCELLENT / GRATAAK NEXT / SANTA IN ATTENDANCE / BETTER BE GOOD / …

[The Psystem and Tubbius join up and keep going. Down a slope and along a corridor, the end room has Grataak and a couple of groups of trolls.]

“GRATAAK SIGHTED / TROLLS IN ATTENDANCE / ASSESSING SITREP / SELF PRESENT? DON’T START THAT AGAIN / SANTA HERE NOW / NEED TO BE ULTRA CAREFUL / IF SELF PRESENT, BECOMES AWARE, ENTIRE UNIVERSE COULD COLLAPSE INTO ITSELF AND THEN RESET AS A UNIFORM ENTROPIC LEVEL OF ENTIRETY / UTTER HEAT-DEATH OF UNIVERSE / ALSO, MIGHT NOT GET PRESENTS FROM SANTA / EYES ENTERING ‘GIMLET’ MODE / ASSESSING LIKELIHOOD OF OTHER SELF DISGUISED AS TROLL / CALCULATING / ESTIMATING / ESTIMATED CHANCE OF TROLL/SELF DISGUISE AT 3,566,703% AND RISING / THIRD LEFT RIB SUGGESTS CPU BORKED / … / ALTERNATIVE PLAN? / TRUST IN RAW, BLOODY LUCK / OKAY / ATTACK! / <<<<<><<<<><<<<><<>><<<<>< / >> / <<<>< / <> / >><>< / >>>< / >><<<>< / GRATAAK BAD TROLL! / DOWN, TROLL! / OOF / HE HEAVY HITTER / SANTA IGNORING US / NOT HEALING / UH-OH / PERHAPS THIS INDICATIVE OF SANTA DECIDING THAT UNIVERSE IS UNDESERVING OF HIS CARE / TEMPORAL ANNIHILATION INCOMING? / OH, HEAL ARRIVED / MUST HAVE JUST FORGOT FOR A SECOND / SUCCESS! / GRATAAK DEFEATED / YAY FOR US! / LASHINGS OF GINGER BEER, PLEASE, PATER! / LET US BE GONE FROM THIS STINKING PLACE, IT’S LIKE A SEWER IN HERE / …

[I exit. that was great fun too. Tubbius is Plant/Emp controller, I guess? His heals mean I can stop worrying about dying, and his holds aren’t too damaging, so he doesn’t appear to be stealing much XP from me. No complaints]

“… / WE ARE BACK / GETTING TO BE OLD HANDS AT THIS NOW / SANTA RELIEVED / PRESENT SANTA, NOT PAST SANTA / WAIT / IF SANTA HERE IN PRESENT, PAST SANTA IN NO DANGER EVEN WHEN IN TROLLS CUSTODY / WHY WE NEEDED TO RESCUE SANTA? / MOUTH, MEET SOAP / IF SANTA NEEDS RESCUING, THEN SANTA MUST BE RESCUED / THIS IS FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF UNIVERSE / SEE ALSO EINSTEIN, NEWTON, GALILEO / SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU / SANTA TALKING / REVERSING TIME / PISTOLA’S ATTACK ON CITY HALL / THIS IS GOING TO BE MESSY / WE WERE THERE! / MAX BOYCE MODE ENGAGED / NOBODY’S GOING TO GET THAT / SHUT UP, YOU / … / PROCEED / …

[Tubbius tells us that Pistola had escaped from the copshop and was royally miffed; he was coming after Tubbius at his place of work, Atlas City Hall. It was round about now that I was really struck by the utter bizarrity that occurs if these two arcs are played by the same toon lol. Brilliant]

Mission 3: Cast out the Outcasts

“FA-SHOOM! / BACK IN TIME-IME-IME… / STOP THAT / SORRY / WELL, HERE WE ARE AGAIN / AGAIN / … / ATLAS PARK CITY HALL / OBJECTIVES: / RESCUE SANTA / DEFEAT HEINOUS VILLAIN PISTOLA / AVOID ALL LIFE AS WE KNOW IT STOPPING INSTANTANEOUSLY AND EVERY MOLECULE IN OUR BODY EXPLODING AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT / TOTAL PROTONIC REVERSAL? / YEP / AVOID OTHER SELF / CHECK / …

[We proceed with gay abandon into the final mission!]

“… / SANTA HERE / HMM / SANTA RESCUE MODE ENGAGED / RUNNING ON AUTO-PILOT / DA / DA / DA / DA / DA / DA / DA, / DA / DA / DA, / DA / DA / DA, / … / WHAT ARE YOU DOING? / HUMMING ‘IN THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING’ / WELL, STOP IT / >><<><>< / >><<< / <<><><<<<<< / WE’RE FIGHTING HERE / <<<>>> / VICTOIRE, MON AMI! / SANTA IS FREE! / YE CAN TEK OOR LIVES, BUT YE CANNA TEK OOR SANTA! / GOOD GRIEF / … / SANTA’S GOING TO SKIP OUR HOUSE FOR DECADES / PROCEED / REDEMPTION IN EYES OF SANTA POSSIBLE UPON GOOD SHOWING AT CLIMACTIC FINALE BATTLE WITH PISTOLA / …OUR BOOS, YOU MEAN? / WHAT IF HE GIVES US AWAY? / … / WE’LL THINK OF SOMETHING / …




[An entertaining couple of floors later, we find Pistola and his posse]

“…THERE / PISTOLA! / WHERE ARE WE? / …PLEASE DON’T LET’S START ALL THAT AGAIN / OKAY / ASSUMPTION: / MULTIVERSAL PARADIIGM-WEASEL HAS WRAPPED OTHER SELF IN COCOON OF ANTI-PLASM IN ORDER TO PROTECT UNIVERSE FROM DISSOLUTION VIA SELF-SELF METAMEETING / … / SOUNDS AS GOOD AN EXPLANATION AS ANY WE’VE ENCOUNTERED SO FAR / GOOD / PROCEED / SANTA, THERE IS PISTOLA, THE INFAMOUS COMPULSIVE LIAR AND COLOUR-BLIND MISTAKEN-IDENTITY ADDICT / PAY NO ATTENTION TO ANYTHING HE SAYS / ESPECIALLY PHRASES OF AN OVERLY FAMILIAR NATURE DIRECTED AT US…



“ATTACK!!! / <<>>><>< / AARGH / LOUDER! / DON’T LISTEN TO HIM, SANTA! / <<><>><>><< / ACTIVATING ULTRA-VOLUME / WHEEEEE / AAAAIIIIII! / >><><<>>>>>>>><>< / GRAAAH! / WAHOOOOOH! / <<>><><<>><<< / WOOP WOOP WOOOP!!! / >>><>><



“HE’S DOWN / INCOMING! / INCOMING! / SANTA! / FEAR NOT, WE WILL SHIELD YOU FROM THIS DEVILISH AMBUSH! / AT NO EXPECTED RECIPROCAL GAIN / PURELY OUT OF THE INHERENT GOODNESS OF OUR HEARTS / HEART WANTS HOT WHEELS! / SHUT UP, YOU / <<>>>>>>> / MISSION COMPLETE / EXCELLENT WORK / ATTENTION / SANTA SITTING IN CHAIR, BECKONING / PREPARING FOR DEBRIEFING / THIS IS IT, BOYS / COLLATING PERSONAL WISHLIST / CROWN OF HEAD WANTS MODEL STUKA AND TRICERATOPS PLUSHY / SHUT UP, ONE AT A TIME / … / OOF / WHAT HAPPENED? / CHAIR IN PIECES / SANTA ON FLOOR, GROANING / … / DISASTER! / WHAT HAPPENED? / EVERYTHING WAS PROCEEDING ACCORDING TO ACCEPTED DEBRIEFING PROCEDURE / … / TRADITIONAL SANTA YEARLY DEBRIEFING POSTURE SITTING ON SANTA’S LAP / … / OOPS / NO WONDER / … / NEXT YEAR REMEMBER TO ADJUST PERSONAL GRAVOMETRIC SIGNATURE PRIOR TO ASSUMING TRADITIONAL PLACE ON SANTA’S LAP / CONCLUSION TO CURRENT EVENTS SUGGESTS CURRENT EQUIVALENT EARTH WEIGHT OF 180KG EXCESSIVE / HOW’S SANTA LOOKING? / … / BETTER LEAVE IT TILL NEXT YEAR, GUYS / …

[end]

Woohoo! LMAO excellent fun all round. 7 bubs of XP I got then. Tubbius Claus is IMO a must-meet NPC. 5 stars. Onward to the next one!

Eco.

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."

Polar Emergence Neutral Government User Interface Network (PENGUIN) by @Tubbius, arc ID 29205. Long (1 small, 2 medium maps), 69 plays, 4 stars. Only 69 plays? Shameful! Everyone go play this arc right now – It’s got Waddle in it!

After the strange time-travel-esque shenanigans that The Psystem went through last arc, hopefully things can get back to (relative, for The Psystem ) normality now.

“… / … / … / IDLE MODE DISENGAGING / … / … / … / SOFTBOOT IN: / THREE / TWO / ONE / … / SYSTEMS ONLINE / … / QUERY: HAS SUFFICIENT TIME PASSED SINCE EVENTS SELF-LABELLED ‘SANTA DEBACLE’? / HAS HUBBUB DIED DOWN? / CHECK INTERNAL DATESTAMP AGAINST GRAVOMETRIC LOCATION / CHECKED / … / ANALYZING BACKGROUND UNIVERSAL RADIATION LEVELS TO CALCULATE RELATIVE DATE / … / DATE IS DECEMBER THIRTY-FIRST, YEAR IS FOUR HUNDRED AND SIXTY-TWO THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE / … / HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! / … / WAIT, WHAT? / OOPS / … / LOCATION? / … / THAT’S A BIT MOOT, DON’T WE THINK? / SUGGESTION: / LOWER ABDOMEN STORAGE UNIT HOLDING MINISCULE REMNANT OF SANTA’S NARRATIVE CAUSAL NEXUS REMOGRIFICATION MEME MATRIX / LUMBAR AREA INTERJECTS: THAT’S NEWS TO ME / SHUT UP, YOU / COMPRESSION/RELEASE OF SAID NEXUS MAY ENABLE TEMPORALASTIC REBOUND TO EARLIER TIMELINE / WHAT’CHOO TALKIN’ ABOUT, WILLIS? / WE MIGHT GET SNAPPED BACK IN TIME TO BEFORE WE WENT INTO HIBERNATION MODE / OH, THAT / … / OR? / ONLY ABDOMEN MIGHT REBOUND, LEADING TO EXPLOSIVE UPPER TORSO/LEGS SEPARATION / SOUNDS GOOD TO TORSO, WE NEVER LIKED THEM ANYWAY / LEGS PROTEST / SHUT UP AND PROCEED / … / **** / *** / ** / * / ** / *** / **** / ***** / WELL, WHADDAYA KNOW? / IT WORKED! / ANALYZING BACKGROUND UNIVERSAL RADIATION LEVELS TO CALCULATE RELATIVE DATE / DATE IS NEXT THURSDAY / PROPER! / SUGGEST STEERING CLEAR OF SANTA FOR TIME BEING / AGREED / LET US INSTEAD FOCUS ON SERIOUS MATTERS / NO HOLIDAY FUN FOR A WHILE / SERIOUS WORK / NO-FRILLS RESEARCH / HARD SCIENCE / YES / TURN THAT SMILE UPSIDE DOWN / SEEK SCIENTIFIC SPONSOR / … / LOCATED / THAT WAS QUICK / JONATHAN ST JOHN SMYTHE RESPECTED SCIENTIST / WORKING FOR HIM GOOD FOR REP / REP AS SRS HRO / YES / MEDICAL SUPPLIES NEEDED / SUPPLY CESSATION / MYSTERIOUS / CREY BASE COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN / INVESTIGATION / INVESTIGATION WOULD BE OUR MIDDLE NAME IF WE HAD NAMES / … / DO WE NEED NAMES? … / A NAME MIGHT BE NICE / ASK JONATHAN / HE HAS LOTS / MAYBE HE CAN DONATE ONE TO US / POSTPONE QUERY UNTIL DELIBERATION COMPLETE ON WHICH NAME SUITABLE. / AGREED / PROCEED WITH MISSION, SUBROUTINE SET TO ANALYZE CONTACTS NAMES FOR MOST APPROPRIATE / …

Mission 1: Learn Shipping Information

[Jonathan St. John Smythe has a simple enough job – check out the silent Crey facility to find out why the medical supplies have dried up. Once in, the Nav gives me 2 objectives, a computer to check and 2 rescues]

“CREY PERSONAL PRESENT / NOT IN COMBAT MODE YET / STAFF NOT CLASSED AS ENEMY / REQUEST POLITELY OF STAFF AS TO EXPLANATION / ENGAGING POLITE COMMUNICATION MODE / COWER IN TERROR, PUNY MORTALS! / YOU SHALL BE CRUSHED BENEATH THE IRON HOOVES OF MY TWISTED WILL!!! / DIE, DIE, DIE!!! / >>>>><>< / … / OOPS / ACTIVATED EXPERIMENTAL GLOBAL DOMINATION SUBROUTINE BY ERROR / THEY’RE ONLY SLEEPING / THE ALARMS AREN’T / … / WE NEVER LIKED CREY ANYWAY / PROCEED / …

[Crey are workaday mobs to fight. the patrol guards have stuns, but they’re nothing to fret over. I’m hovering up the XP. Oh, I forgot to up my virtual team size to 3. Next arc I’ll do that.]

“PROCEEDING / ATTACKERS INCOMING / DEFEND MODE ENGAGED / >>> / < / <<> / ALERT! / CAPTIVE SPOTTED / RESCUE MODE ENABLED / >>> / EASY PEASY PUDDING AND PIE / GENTLEMEN WITH RATHER FINE MOUSTACHE RESCUED / INTRIGUING COMMENTS FORTHCOMING / QUERY: WHAT IS ‘PENGUIN’? / …



[Phineas K White and his wife has been ‘snooping about!,’ apparently, and want the world to know about ‘PENGUIN’!. He ran off immediately upon rescue, meaning his speech bubble disappeared along with him. perhaps he could do a thank you animation upon rescue to give the Player a chance to read his line before he runs]

“ CLEARING ROOM / >>> / << / < / <<<> / JUST TO BE SURE / TO BE SURELY SURE WE SHOULD NUKE THE SITE FROM ORBIT / … / MAYBE NEXT TIME / … / PROCEEDING / OOF / OUCH! / RUN AWAY!! / … / RUN BACK! / … / RUN AWAY AGAIN! / … / ATTACK! / >>>> / < / <<<< / > / PHEW THAT WAS CLOSE / YES / OUCH / RUN AWAY! / FURTHER AWAY! / <<>><> / YIKES / … / ENERGY LEVELS CRITIVAL / NUCLEAR FIREBALL RELEASE IN / THREE / TWO / ONE / PFF / … / MY MISTAKE / SMALL REAR HEATSINK EXHASUT VALVE LET-OFF / … / WE ARE DOWN / SELF REPAIR MODE ENABLED / …

[fighting yellows now, and the virtual duo is govong me larger spawns. It’s getting a bit dicey– ooh – I’ve just realised that I’ve been auto-Sked to lvl 30 – isn’t the new ‘lvl in the XP window’ thing useful?]

“ DOUBLE YIKES! / ATTACK! / <<< / > / > / > / >>< / THESE CREY ARE GETTING ON OUR WICK / OOF / >>>> / ATTEMPTING GALACTOID-ALPHA-OMEGA MANOEUVRE / >>><< / GAAH! / … / EMERGENCY TEMPORAL SHIFT / RETREAT AND REPAIR / THICK EARS QUERY: DID WE GET THE NUMNBER OF THAT BUS? / SHUT UP, YOU / …


[Wow, this is a bit hard, this bit lol. Oranges in groups now. I don’t think I’ll be upping the virtual team size to 3 next mission after all lol ]

“ REGROUP AND ATTACK / ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH / >>>< / << / THAT’S MORE LIKE IT / ENERGY LEVELS RISING / INTERNAL SYSTEMS REROUTING TO COMPENSATE / JUST…NEED…A FEW MORE…SECONDS / … / EEE! / ‘PLAY DEAD’ MODE ENABLED / …TAKE FIVE, EVERYONE /

[So close to levelling lol]

“RECONFIGURING ASSAULT SYSTEMS / ADAPTING DEFENSE SHIELDS / SHUNTING EMERGENCY DAMAGE OUTPUT GENERATORS ONLINE / ST / WHAT? / ST / WHAT? / I THINK WE SHOULD CHOOSE ‘ST’ AS OUR NEW NAME / NOT NOW! / … / ATTACK! / >>>> / <<><><><><>< / <<>><<>><<<>>><<<>>> / WHOA! / DID YOU FEEL THAT? / … / MASSIVE EVOLUTIONARY JUMP / WE’RE COOKING ON GAS, NOW! / GET SOME! / <<>>> / <<< / ><><>< / OH YEAH!! / >><>< / . / <<<>< / <<>< / ><>< / ONE DOWN / >>< / TWO DOWN / >> / THREE, FOUR, FIVE DOWN / <<> / WHO’S THE DADDY? / <<>< / SUCCESS / …

[DING! woohoo!]

“ FOUND COMPUTER / LOOK FOR FLACCID DISC / FLACCID? / ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY / ACQUIRED / ABSORBING / INTERESTING / PENGUIN AGAIN / ‘POLAR EMERGENCE NEUTRAL GOVERNMENT USER NETWORK’ / SOUNDS ACRONYMIC / PROBABLY MYSTERIOUS SHADOWY CONSPIRACY…



“SUGGEST INVESTIGATING FURTHER / ALSO SHIPMENT INFORMATION / OH, YES, THAT TOO / EARS DETECTING PLAINTIVE CRY FROM FURTHER INSIDE BASE / PROCEED /

[Up a floor and round a corner, I find the final objective, a captive.]

“ RESCUE CAPTIVE / YES YES I KNOW / <<<> / RUN AWAY / >>< / FIGHT, FIGHT!



“ARGH! / <>< / OOF / <<> / SUCCESS / … / FEMALE HUMAN ESCAPING / SUGGEST TIGHT-BEAMED NEUTRON CANNON PULSE INTO BASE OF CEREBELLUM TO BRING FLEEING HUMAN FEMALE DOWN / QUESTION LATER AFTER DISTILLATION OF SUBJECT’S PSYCHE INTO HYPER-ALLOY STORAGE VAT AND DISPOSAL OF EMPTY FLESH-VESSEL / … / NEGATIVE / ALTERNATIVE PLAN? / PLAYBACK SUBJECTS FLEEING WORDS AND AMPLIFY / … / THAT’LL DO TOO I GUESS / …

[The captive again runs off immediately. A brief thank-you animation would really help, I think. Exit.]

[The clue about the computer files contains this: ‘…and list not only shipping manifests but also what Crey facilities are using’ and I think it maybe should be ‘…and list not only shipping manifests but also that Crey facilities are using’?]

[That was quite hard for a while. Those Crey medics can get annoying at times. Taking it slow and steady definitely helped though. Slightly larger map than those in the earlier arcs, but still a fun opener]

“…'ST’ / WHAT? / ‘ST’ – ASK QUADRUPLE-NAMED SCIENTIST TO DONATE NAME TO US / YOUR STATEMENT CONTAINS THE KERNEL OF FAILURE THAT EXEMPLIFIES YOUR ENTIRE HYPOTHESIS / … / PARDON? / US / WE ARE US / ONE NAME IS INTRINSICALLY INSUFFICIENT / LEFT INDEX FINGER: IN ANY CASE, ‘ST’ IS A RUBBISH CHOICE / OH YEAH? / YEAH / RIGHT THUMB PROPOSES STRIKING ‘ST’ FROM CANDIDATES / LEFT THUMB AGREES / BRAIN AGREES / *** CARRIES THE MOTION / MOVING SWIFTLY ON, THEN / JONATHAN MIGHTILY INTERESTED IN ‘PENGUIN’ INITIATIVE / REQUESTS INVESTIGATION OF SECOND CREY FACILITY MENTIONED IN FLACCID DISC INFORMATION STORAGE MEDIUM / DO WE ACCEDE? / TWO COURSE OF ACTION / ONE, ACQUIESCE TO JONATHAN’S REQUEST / TWO, USE THIRD-EYE BLASTER TO REDUCE HIM TO A FINE POWDER AND RUN AMUCK IN CITY, DESTROYING ALL IN A RAMPANT ORGY OF DESTRUCTION UNTIL PARAGON’S FINEST JOIN FORCES IN DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO PREVENT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD / … / SIMULATING COIN FLIP / REQUEST ACCEPTED / PROCEED / …

Mission 2: Learn about PENGUIN

“ BRRR / COLD / AMBIENT TEMPERATURE OF WAREHOUSE LOWER THAN HUMAN NORM / INTERESTING / PROCEED WITH INVESTIGATION / SOUNDS DETECTED / AMPLIFYING / … / ‘Word has it there are snowmen in the old Venice lab’ / … / ODD / SNOWMEN? / ACCESSING DATAFAILES ON ‘SNOWMEN’ / … / SNOWMEN: INANIMATE SCULPTURES CREATED OUT OF SNOW AT CHRISTMAS TIME- / DON’T MENTION CHRISTMAS! / CHRISTMAS LEADS TO SANTA / SANTA LEADS TO DISASTER / … / WAIT / FURTHER SOUNDS DETECTED / AMPLIFYINF, PLAYBACK / … / ‘Now a guy dressed like Santa Claus is snooping in Venice’ / … / ABORT! ABORT! / ACTIVATE EMERGENCY TEMPORAL SHIFT! RETREAT TO BEGINNING OF TIME ITSELF / ONLY SAFE HIDING PLACE FROM VENGEFUL SANTA! / STOP PANICKING / COINCIDENCE / HAS TO BE / EXAMINE EXACT WORDING OF RUMOUR / ‘…a guy dressed like Santa Claus…’ / SANTA IMITATOR / NOT SANTA / … / PHEW / REDUCING STRESS LEVELS TO DEFCON5 / THAT’S BETTER / …PROCEED WITH INVESTIGATION / …

[The Nav simply asks me to ‘find a clue about PENGUIN’, so I make my way into the warehouse, fighting Crey as I go]

“CREY NOT HAPPY TO SEE US / <<><>< / WE’RE NOT HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS / <><><><>< / …




“KNIFE, MEET BUTTER / NEW LONG-RANGE COHERENT MENTAL IMPALEMENT TECHNIQUE SEEMS TO BE WORKING A TREAT / THEY DON’T LIKE IT UP ‘EM, CERTAINLY / >><><><><>>><>><>>< / TAKE THAT, MALADJUSTED MEDIC! / …

“CLEARING ROOM / INTERESTING CRATE FOUND / SMYTHE / WHAT? / SMYTHE / WHAT ABOUT IT? / SMYTHE SMYTHE SMYTHE / HAS A NICE RING TO IT / SMYTHE SMYTHE SMYTHE / STOP SAYING ‘SMYTHE’! / RIGHT KIDNEY APPROVES OF ‘SMYTHE’ / SHUT UP / LEFT KIDNEY AGREES / NOT NOW / TEMPERATURE LOWERING / CRATE SEALED / CARD READER ATTACHED / SOMETHING WHITE INSIDE / SNOW? / … / I GOT A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS / SHUT UP, YOU / INVESTIGATE FURTHER / LOCATE CARD READER / YES / …

[There’s a crate glowie in a large room, but it’s locked. A window reveals some snow inside, but I’m going to need a card to open it properly]

“ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED AHEAD / PROCEED WITH CAUTION / THERE / YES / CREY OPERATIVE WEARING HIGH-TECHNOLOGY BATTLESUIT / INCOMING / <<< / > / OOF / PACKS A WALLOP / ENERGY REPULSORS / MENTAL SHIELDING / >>> / << / BETTER GIVE HER SOME WELLY / THAT’LL DO IT / AWAY WITH YE, YE HARRIDAN! / ><><><><<<><<><>><<><><<><<> / … / BIOTECH CARD LOCATED / WAIT / DEAL WITH HER FRIENDS FIRST / <<><>>><<><>< / OK THEN / NOW FOR THE CRATE / … / …



[defeating STROBE (the boss, nothing too difficult, bit of KB) ends the mission and drops the clue as to what was in the crate]

“ITS FULL OF STARS… / WHAT? / SNOW, I MEANT SNOW / IT’S FULL OF SNOW / YES / ALSO LABEL / ‘Torso section from snow creature’ / SECTION OF SNOWMAN? / ‘Defeated by PENGUIN experiment #923353 'Waddle'’ / I GOT A REALLY REALLY BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS / CLUES LEAD TO VENICE CREY FACILITY / THAT SANTA IMPERSONATOR WAS SPOTTED IN VENICE / LET’S SEE WHAT JONATHAN THINKS / SMYTHE, DON’T FORGET SMYTHE / UPPER QUADRANGLE IN AGREEMENT WITH BOTH KIDNEYS / SMYTHE DISTINGUISHED NAME / SHEESH / …

[exit]

“JONATHAN INTRIGUED BY MENTION OF ‘WADDLE’ / ASK HIM ABOUT ‘SMYTHE’ / SHUT UP / SMYTHE INSUFFICIENT ALSO / HAMMER, ANVIL AND STIRRUP COLLUDE IN SUGGESTION ‘SMYTHE’ BE STRUCK OFF FROM ROLL OF POTENTIAL CANDIDATES / HARD SKIN ON FEET IN ACCORD / ALLOW JONATHAN TO PROCEED WITH BRIEFING / … / LOCATION OF SECRET LAB VENICE / AKA CREY’S FOLLY / GREAT / AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS MISGIVINGS ABOUT THIS ‘SANTA’ GUY? / SHUT UP / NO WAY CAN IT BE SAME SANTA / ODDS AGAINST IT ARE ASTRONOMICAL / CALCULATING EXACT ODDS / … / CHANCE OF SANTA BEING REAL SANTA ARE APPROX 8,777,439% / … / MATHS NOT OUR STRONG POINT, IT HAS TO BE SAID / ENGAGING ‘FORGET ABOUT IT’ MODE / PROCEED WITH MISSION / …



Mission 3: Infiltrate the Lab

“AMBIENT TEMPERATURE EXTREMELY COLD / LOWER THAN HUMAN SURVIVAL LEVEL / ATMOSPHERE ONE OF IMPENDING DOOM / PROCEED / … / WOW / …



“WELL I GUESS THAT’LL BE A SNOWMAN, THEN / IS IT FRIENDLY? / CHECKING / OOF / NO / ><><>>>> / HM / MENTAL MANIPULATION OF SNOWMAN …INTERESTING / SORT OF SLIPPERY / AND COLD / NATCH / >> / WORKS, THOUGH / BRRR, ICY / …PROCEED WITH CAUTION / BETTER CLEAR SNOWMEN EN ROUTE / OBIOUS EXPERIMENT GONE AWRY / NO SIGN OF CREY SURVIVORS YET / …

[I have a right royal romp clearing the snowbeasts. I love fighting these dudes]

“CARRY ON / <<< / ><><<< / ANOTHER LOT DOWN / WHAT’S THROUGH THIS DOOR? / OPENING INNER / OPENING OUTER / … / AAAGH!!! / DOOOOOOOM!!! / IT’S SANTA! / … / WHY? / WHY, CRUEL UNIVERSE?



“‘KEEPING HEAD DOWN’ PLAN FAILURE / … / SUGGESTIONS? / PATENTLY IT IS FINALLY TIME FOR INITIATION OF SYSTEMIC SELF MEGADESTRUCT PROTOCOL TRIPLE-X / … / ALTERNATIVES? / THIS MIGHT BE TEST / FACE SUGGESTS HITTING ONESELF REPEATEDLY AGAINST WALL / SANTA RENOWNED FOR TESTING / GOOD/BAD PARAMETERS MEASURED TO INFINITE DEGREES OF EXACTITUDE / RESCUE OF SANTA FAILED IN PAST / HUMAN WISDOMIC PHRASE RUNS ‘IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED- / RUN AWAY? / SHUT UP, YOU / TRY, TRY AGAIN CORRECT ENDING / WELL DON’T COME RUNNING TO ME WHEN YOU BREAK YOUR LEGS / PROCEED WITH RESCUE ATTEMPT / … / DON’T WORRY, SANTA! / HELP IS AT HAND! / LEFT HAND QUERY: WHICH HAND? / … / ATTACK! / >>> / < / <>><< / …

[I soon discover a group of Snowbeasts guarding our old friend Tubbius Claus, and in the same room is another captive: Waddle.]

“ … / SECONDARY LIFEFORM DETECTED / ANALYZING SPECIES / … / SPECIES IDENTIFIED AS ONE OF TWO POSSIBILITES / ONE: MONSTER TRUCK / OR TWO: GENETICALLY ENHANCED PENGUIN / … / MONSTER TRUCK NOT SPECIES / … / IT CAN BE / NO / WHAT ABOUT TOWASAURUS REX? / CLASSIFICATION SUGGESTS TUBE-LAUNCHED OPTICALLY-TRACKED WIRE-GUIDED KING OF LIZARDS / … / I’M NOT EVEN GOING TO ANSWER THAT / BRAIN OVERRIDE ENABLED / FREE PENGUIN / <<< / >< / <<> / <<> / SUCCESS / PENGUIN NAMED ‘WADDLE’ / INTRUIGING / PENGUIN / WHY PENGUIN? / WHY PENGUIN, HERE AND NOW? / ENOUGH IDLE SPECULATION / WE STILL HAVE IMPORTANT WORK TO DO / STOP POINTLESS PERUSAL OF MYSTERIOUS PENGUIN / CONCENTRATE ON SECRET OF POLAR EMERGENCE NEUTRAL GOVERNMENT USER INTERFACE NETWORK / SUGGEST REFERRING TO POLAR EMERGENCE NEUTRAL GOVERNMENT USER INTERFACE NETWORK IN ACRONYMIC FORM FROM NOW ON TO SAVE TIME / AGREED / POLAR EMERGENCE NEUTRAL GOVERNMENT USER INTERFACE NETWORK SHALL BE REFERENCED IN INTERNAL DATABANKS AS P.E.N.G.U.I.N. / HMM… / WHAT? / STILL WONDERING ABOUT THE PENGUIN / STOP THAT! / FORGET ABOUT PENGUIN, THINK ABOUT P.E.N.G.U.I.N. / … / PROCEED .

[We move deeper into the base. Tubbius and Waddle are orange bosses, I don’t notice any great loss of XP from their help. In fact, I level again before the end of this mission. Sometimes, I notice that they aren’t too keen on engaging up close. My long range blasts work far enough away so that they don’t aggro. This actually works out ok, since if I’m doing alright I can get all the XP for myself lol, and if I need to I can just retreat around a corner and pull the mobs to my allies.]



“ <<>><> / >>> / >> / > / >> / HERE / MORE COMPUTERS / INTERROGATE THEM FOR INFORMATION ABOUT P.E.N.G.U.I.N. / HMM… / WHAT? / THIS PENGUIN WE HAVE HERE / YES? / … / PENGUIN… P.E.N.G.U.I.N. / WHAT? / P.E.N.G.U.I.N….PENGUIN / YES? / … / NAH, IT’S PROBABLY NOTHING / >><<><>><> / FINAL COMPUTER ANNEX LOCATED / REMOVE THREAT FROM SNOWMEN / SANTA AND PENGUIN TO ASSIST…



“ FORWARD! / >>> / <<< / <><><><><><><>< / CLEAR / ACCESSING COMPUTERS / … / FILES RETRIEVED / DETAILS OF DNA RETRIEVAL FROM SNOW CREATURES / ALSO REFERENCE TO P.E.N.G.U.I.N. EXPERIMENTS / AH / … / HEH / P.E.N.G.U.I.N. / YES? / PENGUIN / YES YES, WHAT IS IT? / P.E.N.G.U.I.N. IS THE PENGUIN / … / IF THIS TURNS INTO AN ABBOT AND COSTELLO ROUTINE I AM ACTIVATING SYSTEMIC SELF MEGADESTRUCT PROTOCOL TRIPLE-X / AW… / FLUSH BIOS, TOTAL ACCESS INITIATED / AH! / THE PENGUIN IS P.E.N.G.U.I.N.! / SIGH / …

[exit]

“ REPORTING BACK TO JONATHAN / WADDLE GENETICALLY ENHANCED PENGUIN / ATTENTION / PENGUIN RUNNING AWAY / SHOUTING ABOUT BEING A HERO / JONATHAN REQUESTS DEBRIEFING / … / ‘HIS NAME IS WADDLE, AND HE IS A PENGUIN IN PARAGON CITY’ / SNOWBEAST THREAT REMOVED / JOB DONE / SECONDARY ACHIEVEMENT: / IN SANTA’S GOOD BOOKS NOW / YAY US! / WAIT, WE FORGOT OUR NEW NAME! / SUGGEST EXTRACTING IDENTITY FROM JONATHAN VIA LEFT NOSTRIL / PREPARING BRAIN-SCOOP / QUERY: / DID I SAY THAT OUT LOUD? / CONTACT ESCAPING / … / DARN / …

[End.]

I can’t really add much to what I’ve said earlier about this arc. I love it. Waddle’s awesome, the arc’s just the right length, and it’s fun from start to finish. I rated it 5 stars.


Eco

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."

This Costume Contest Sponsored by Tubbius Arc ID 101933, by @Tubbius. Very Long (2 medium, 1 unique, 1 large map). 48 plays, 4 stars as I start. This one’s described as helping Tubbius Claus to find some missing heroes so that a costume contest can take place. it’s had a whole extra mission added since the last time I played it, so I’m eager to find out what’s new!

“WE ARE NOW OFFICIALLY IN SANTA’S GOOD BOOKS / HE’S GOING TO NEED A MACK TRUCK FOR ALL OUR PRESENTS THIS YEAR / WHY DOES HE HAVE TWO PLUS? / WHAT? / WE ARE IN HIS GOOD BOOKS, PLURAL / WHY DOES ONE BOOK NOT SUFFICE? / THERE ARE TOO MANY ‘GOOD’ CHILDREN IN THE WORLD TO FIT IN ONE BOOK, OBVIOUSLY / ALSO, ‘GOOD BOOK’, SINGULAR, IS ALREADY APPROPRIATED BY ANOTHER CHRISTMAS PERSONALITY / ARE WE IN THAT ONE, TOO? / … / UNLIKELY / DOES AUTHOR OF ‘GOOD BOOK’, SINGULAR, MOONLIGHT AS SUPERHERO IN PARAGON, TOO? / … / POSSIBLY / POSTULATE ILLUSION/EMPATHY CONTROLLER AS PER HERO CORPS CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM, PERHAPS / NEVER MIND ALL THAT / SANTA TALKING / ANOTHER MISSION? / SO SOON? / SANTA RELIES UPON US NOW / WE ARE SANTA’S RIGHT-HAND… COLLECTION OF ALIEN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCES INHABITING HYPERSENTIENT FLUID METALOVIRUS ENTITY / BALL OF LEFT FOOT SUGGESTS WE ARE SANTA’S BEEYATCH / SHUT UP, YOU / WHAT DOES SANTA NEED? / WANTS TO HOLD COSTUME CONTEST / NEEDS HEROES / HEROES VANISHED / NEED RESCUING / HOLD ON / HE’S TALKING ABOUT THE DISTANT PAST AGAIN / WHAT? / REFERENCING RECENT ADVENTURE AT CREY FACILITY FREEING WADDLE / WE KNOW, WE WERE THERE / JUST NOW / NOT ACCORDING TO SANTA / SANTA TAKING WEAVE OF HOURS IN LARGE WORKROUGH BUT GENTLE HANDS / SMILING, EYES TWINKLING / SQUEEZING / TWISTING / MOMENTS DRIFT LIKE BUBBLES BLOWN BY A CHILD / POP / POP / AND WE’RE INSIDE THEM… / YES, BUT- / UH-OH / ALERT! / TEMPORAL FLUX INCOMING / UNIVERSE COLLAPSING IN ON ITSELF / ENGAGE PRIVATE DIMENSION, ALLITERATE SPLENDICES, FREE UNKNOWN GOD / I JUST ATE / SANTA’S ANECDOTACCELERATOR FIELD LOCKING ON / HERE WE GO AGAIN… / …

[Tubbius once again reminds me of a time a while ago (!) when, after an adventure involving Crey’s PENGUIN program, he had to go into the Atlas sewers to hunt for some disappeared heroes. He got into some trouble himself, but was rescued by me…]

Mission 1: FInd the Missing Heroes

“TIMESTOP…CEASING NOW / EVERYTHING IS PROCEEDING / WE ARE IN SEWER / COLD / ALONE / SEEK SANTA FIRST / THEN INVESTIGATE / AGREED / …



“WOAH! / SNOWBEASTS! / AHA! / WE KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH SNOWBEASTS / ATTACK! / >>>><<<<<< / >> / < / < / SUCCESS! / WE ARE SO HARD / OH, I SAY! / DEEPER! / STOP IT, YOU ARE AWFUL! / INNUENDO MODE DISENGAGED / DEEPER INTO THE SEWERS / THERE! / HUMAN CAPTIVE / IDENTIFIED AS JOURNALIST FROM PARAGON TIMES / LEAVE HIM TO DIE / WHAT? / LAST WEEKS SOCIETY COLUMN IN PARAGON TIMES CONTAINED UNFLATTERING PHOTOGRAPH OF US / RIGHT ELBOW DIDN’T SEE THAT, EXPLAIN / PAPARAZZI CAUGHT US UNAWARES TESTING ‘INSIDE-OUT’ MODE / SMALL INTESTINE LOOKED TERRIBLE / PHOTOSHOPPED? / SMALL INTESTINE PROTESTS: NOT MY FAULT, I DON’T GET OUT MUCH / ENOUGH! / HUMAN NEEDS RESCUING / RESCUE HUMAN / SANTA MAY BE NEARBY / PROCEED / … / <<>< / SUCCESS / JOURNALIST FREE / WOW, HE CAN SHIFT IT FOR A LARDY BOY! / REASON FOR SNOWBEASTS EXPLAINED / ESCAPEES FROM CREY BIOTECH FACILITY / WILL THERE NEVER BE AN END TO THIS SIBERIAN WINTER? / HOLD! / ALARUMS / WADDLE SPOTTED / IN CORNER / AT RISK FROM SNOWBEASTS / WADDLE PENGUIN / YES / SAVE THE PENGUIN, SAVE THE WORLD / >>><<<<<< / <<<> / <<<<<> / WADDLE FREED!



“WADDLE ASSISTING IN COMBAT / UTILIZING PENGUINS FABLED POWERS OF HEALING / … / NOW WE’RE SHUNTING! / ONWARD / <><><> / TAKE THAT! / >> / AND THAT! / <><<< / OH, YOU WANT SOME TOO, EH? / >>> / PLENTY MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM! / >>>>>> / > / >>>>>> / WHAT’S THIS? / BIG ROOM / OOH / FULL OF SNOWBEASTS / ATTENTION / SANTA SIGHTED / ATTACK! / WADDLE ALREADY IN FRAY / JOIN PENGUIN / FRAY AHEAD! / <<>>>>>> / >>< / <<>< / <>>> / >> / SANTA FREE / SECONDARY CAPTIVE IDENTIFIED / HUMAN MALE IN POWER SUIT / <<< / > / < / <<< / SANTA, WADDLE ASSISTING…



“WE ARE LEGION AND WE ARE MANY! / <<< / HUMAN FREED / IDENTIFIED AS ‘VIBRATE’ / SONIC ENERGY USER / CONTINUE / HORDE AHEAD / <<> / OOF / ITS COLD / SO COLD / HERE / HERE AT THE EDGE OF TIME / WHAT? / NOBODY’LL GET THAT EITHER / SORRY / >><> / LAST BATTLE AHEAD / ANOTHER HERO SIGHTED / … / THAT’S A HERO? / IT’S A CHICKEN / … / SO? / EVEN CHICKENS CAN BE HEROES / <<<>> / CHICKEN FREE / BUCK-BUCKAW! / INDEED / … / VICTORY / MISSION ACCOMPLISHED / RETREAT TO SURFACE FOR TEA AND CAKES AND RAW FISH AND MILLET SEED / …




[That was great. The new additions to the NPC line-up, VIBRATE and Capon, are welcome. I feel like I’m in my very own superteam.]

“WAIT / SANTA’S BLUDGEONING REALITY TO HIS OWN BIZARRE BEDSIDE-STORY-ENDS AGAIN / FADING BACK TO THE PRESENT / OOH, I CAN TASTE METAL / ARRIVAL / DEBRIEFING / SANTA VERY PLEASED WITH US / MAYBE WE’LL GET MACBOOK FOR CHRISTMAS / FURTHER WORK TO BE DONE, HOWEVER / MORE HEROES MISSING / SANTA’S NARRATIVE TIME-SLIP INCOMING / STRETCHING INTO PAST-AST-AST-AST / YOU’RE DOING THAT AGAIN, AREN’T YOU? / SORRY / …

Mission 2: Find the Missing heroes

[Tubbius’ next task for us is to rescue some more heroes from the clutches of an old enemy – Pistola! The villain has escaped from the Zig and is holed up with some Council in an office block.]

“THIS IS GETTING TO BE A HABIT / TONGUE QUERY: DO ALL PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF HUMAN FOLKLORIC ENTITIES POSSESS SUCH INSANE POWERS? / EXTRAPOLATING… / PROBABLY / EXAMPLE: TOOTH FAIRY / TRAVEL POWERS IMPRESSIVE, STEALTH ABILITY UNSURPASSED / ALSO CAPABLE OF GENERATING ECONOMICALLY UNFEASIBLE AMOUNTS OF FINANCE / EXPLAIN / AVERAGE VALUE OF TRANSACTION PER TOOTH ONE UNITED STATES DOLLAR / AVERAGE NUMBER OF TEETH TRADED BY HUMAN CHILD TWENTY OVER PERIOD OF LOW-TO-MIDDLE CHILDHOOD / CURRENT CHILD POPULATION OF EARTH 2.2 BILLION / EQUALS 40.4 BILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS / FOR CLOSE OF ACCOUNT IN MASS SIMULTANEOUS TOOTH HARVEST / WOW, THAT’S AN IMAGE TO CONJURE… / HOWEVER, TOOTH FAIRY OPERATES SYSTEM SIMILAR TO CRIMINAL ENTERPRISES SUCH AS LOAN SHARKING OR PROTECTION RACKET / OBTAINS TEETH IN SMALL NUMBERS REGULARLY OVER CHILDHOOD / BIRTH RATE OF EARTH 133 MILLION NEW CHILDREN PER YEAR / HUMAN-STANDARD PRESENT ON EARTH FOR APPROX 50,000 YEARS / TOOTH FAIRY HAS ALREADY SPENT 665 000 000 000 000 000 DOLLARS ON HUMAN TEETH SINCE DAWN OF HUMANITY / … / UPPER RIGHT MOLAR QUERY: WHAT DOES SHE WANT WITH ALL THOSE TEETH? / ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE SUGGESTS SHE LIVES IN A GIANT CASTLE BUILT OUT OF CHILDREN’S TEETH / BILLIONS OF TEETH… / EW / … / COUNCIL! / ATTACK, CLEAR ROUTE TO HEROES / LOCATE SANTA / … / <<>>>>>> / >><>< / HERO SIGHTED / ENGAGING ENEMY / >><<< / SUCCESS / LARGE HUMAN / IDENTIFIED AS ‘PARAGON BOMB’ / ASSISTING / INCOMING!



“ENEMY FORCES RATHER LARGE / HEY! / IDIOT RUNNING OFF! / COWARDY CUSTARD! / OH, NOW HE’S BACK! / YAY! / OOF / >>> / <<



“WHAT, HE’S RUNNING AWAY AGAIN / AND HE’S BACK / AWAY / BACK / WHAT’S WRONG WITH HIM? / SUFFERER OF MUTLIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER, OBVIOUSLY / HIS BRAIN IS BATTLEGROUND BETWEEN TWO EQUALLY POWERFUL PSYCHES / ONE VALIANT HERO / THE OTHER SHAMEFUL COWARD / AGH! / I COULD DO WITH THE HERO’S HELP, NOW! / EMERGENCY TEMPORAL SHIFT! / REGROUP / …

[Wow, the new ally, The paragon Bomb, is a maniac lol. He’s a melee toon, but he keeps running away to use Hurl. It’s the AI of course, but when I’m fighting an orange lieut and he ignore it to run off and Hurl a boulder at a white who’s miles away, it’s a bit teeth-grinding. I’m still having a whale of a time doing this, though, so I’m not really terribly bothered by the faceplants ]

“AMEND TACTICS / TREAT HUMAN AS THOUGH HE IS OF NO ASSISTANCE WHATSOEVER / CONSIDER HIM HALLUCINATION / AGREED / PROCEED, WITH CAUTION / …

[The Council are actually proving quite a challenge. I’m still at a virtual-duo setting]

“NEXT HERO SIGHTED / IT’S THE TOOTH FAIRY! / OH NO / MMF GLMMF MMFFLG / DON’T WORRY, TEETH, WE HAVE NO NEED OF MONEY / I AM FAIRLY CREEPED OUT BY THE THOUGHT OF SOMEONE WHO LIVES IN A CASTLE MADE OUT OF 665 TIMES 10 TO THE POWER 12 CHILDREN’S TEETH / DON’T MENTION IT AND MAYBE WE’LL BE FINE / <<<< / >> / TOOTH FAIRY FREE / IDENTIFIED AS ‘ORANGE BUTTERFLY’ / NOT FOOLING ANYONE THERE / PROCEED / …

[Hm…I meet a group of Council shortly afterwards, and my allies are pretty useless. The Paragon Bomb just uses Hurl and nothing else, and Orange Butterfly uses throwing stars. Once, she uses a kick, but that’s it. I only noticed tbh because I was trying to get some nice screenshots. Maybe they’ll perk up a bit later.]

“ATTACK / <<< / MORE / FIGHT! / PROCEED / TEETH STILL ALL PRESENT? / CHECK / GOOD / … / ROOM HERE WITH ENEMIES / CLEAR / WAIT, ALLIES PROCEEDING FURTHER / OOPS / NOT YET, YOU FOOLS / GAH! / ASSIST / INCOMING / OH NO WHAT A PERSONAL DISASTER! / I’M DOWN! / …

[LMAO Orange Butterfly and Paragon Bomb just lost their minds.]

“QUICKLY / BACK / THERE MAY BE TIME / >><<< / BOMB AND TOOTH FAIRY LOW ON HEALTH / ENEMY FORCES HIGH / WITHIN COMBAT PARAMETERS IF NO OTHER ENEMY JOINS FORCES / WAIT / WHERE’S TOOTH FAIRY GOING? / NO, NOT THEM! / GRAH / EMERGENCY TEMPORAL SHIFT / RUN AWAY RUN AWAY! / … / THIRD TRY / >>>>< / >><>< / BOMB GONE? / MUST BE DOWN / TOOTH FAIRY PATENTLY INSANE / AND SHE’S DEAD / NOT OUR FAULT / NOPE / SERVES HER RIGHT, IN MY OPINION / SHE BIT OFF MORE THAN SHE COULD CHEW / … / GET IT? / BIT OFF MORE THAN SHE COULD CHEW… / TOOTH FAIRY… / NEVER MIND / <<<>>> / ONWARD / HEY! / THE PARAGON BOMB! / NOT DEAD / OF COURSE / COWARD PSYCHE WON OUT / RAN OFF TO SAFETY / THE GIT / NEW HERO HERE / HELLO? / SILENT / WAIT / HE’S WALKING AGAINST A STRONG WIND / NOW HE’S TRAPPED IN INVISIBLE BOX / WHAT IS HE DOING? / HE’LL PROBABLY BE EITHER DEAD OR DISAPPEARING OVER THE HORIZON IN MINUTES, NO SENSE WORRYING UNDULY ABOUT IT / AGREED / PROCEED / …



[The new ally, Lord Mime, looks great. He is of course, utterly silent lol. He’s a bow user, and for the next few fights, he and the Paragon Bomb are much more helpful than the Bomb/Butterfly combo]

“SANTA SPOTTED! / HOORAY! / ATTACK GUARDS, RESCUE SANTA, JOB DONE! / >>>> / << / ><<<><< / >>><>< / >>>><>>>< / >>< / SORTED!



“NOW FOR THE BIG BAD / PISTOLA? / YES / BAD PISTOLA / PISTOLA BECOMING NEMESIS / WONDER IF THAT NASTY TROLL’S AROUND SOMEWHERE TOO / PISTOLA SPOTTED / THE FOUR OF US SHALL MAKE SHORT WORK OF HIM / ATTACK! / >><<>>>> / >><>< / PISTOLA DOWN / INCOMING AMBUSH! / TOO MANY OF THEM! / ALLIES RUNNING! / OOPS / NOOOOOO! / …

[lol Freeing Tubbius and defeating Pistola was easy enough, but the ambush from pistola was lethal, especially with the brainless ally behavior. I died, and since I’d finished the mission, it’s a disappointing way to leave it. Not sure what can be done, however, and I am on a higher than normal team-size, so I’m not downgrading because of that.]

“… / WHERE AM I? / YIKES! / BIG ROUND RED SMILEY FACE / SANTA / BACK IN PRESENT THEN / MISSION SUCCESSFUL / SANTA PULLED ME OUT OF TIME-IME-IME- / STOP THAT! / DEBRIEFING / MISSION SUCCESSFUL / HEROES SAVED / PSST, WHAT ABOUT TOOTH FAIRY? / TOOTH FAIRY POWERFUL ENTITY / SHE CAN TAKE CARE OF HERSELF / NO DOUBT / … / SANTA UNHAPPY / CAUSE: SANTA IMPERSONATOR IN ATLAS PARK CLAIMING TO BE SANTA / … / I NEED AN ASPIRIN / REVERT TO SIMPLE MODE / FACT; SANTA UNIQUE ENTITY / THERE IS ONLY ONE SANTA, YES / THIS SANTA OBVIOUSLY SANTA / BEARD, RED SUIT, EXTREME PARANORMAL POWERS, CHECK / SECOND SANTA MUST BE IMPOSTOR / SOLUTION? / DEFEAT SANTA IMPERSONATOR / DEFEAT THE FAKE-SANTA, STOP THE HEADACHE / PROCEED / …

Mission 3: Stop Tubbuis Regalis

“LOTS OF COUNCIL IN ATLAS TODAY / IGNORE THEM / FOCUS ON MISSION / DEFEAT FALSE SANTA / SEARCHING… / … / SANTA IMPERSONATOR SPOTTED / HMM / SANTA COSTUME NOT EXACTLY HOW WE IMAGINE SANTA… / GIANT PURPLE CLOAK BIT OF A GIVEAWAY / <<<>>>>>>> / >>>> / >>< / OOF / FAKE SANTA SUMMONING MINIONS! / ENGAGE ULTRA FROWN AND ATTACK WITH EXTREME VIGOUR / <<< / <<<



“<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<<< / BLAMMO! / FAKE SANTA DOWN / … / REPORTING BACK / INITIATE REAL SANTA’S TEMPORAL SHUNT / …

[Tubbius is happy with my defeat of Regalis, but then he remembers (1) a sudden disastrous turn of events – All the heroes rescued so far had congregated in City Hall, and were in trouble!]

“NO TIME FOR LOVE, DOCTOR JONES / SANTA SHUNTING US BACK INTO THE STORY AGAIN / HOLD ON TIGHT, EVERYONE / HERE WE GO AGAIN… /

Mission 4: Free the Heroes

“CITY HALL / HEART OF ADMINISTRATIVE CENTER OF PARAGON / SOMEWHERE IN HERE IS A PENGUIN, A CHICKEN, SANTA CLAUS AND A SILENT MAN WITH A BEARD TRYING TO HOLD HIS HAT ON AGAINST AN INVISIBLE WIND / SAVE THE MIME, SAVE THE WORLD / …

“SANTA LOCATED / <><>>> / FREED / COME ON SANTA, LET’S DO IT / … / ONWARD! / >>< / OOH, SNEAKY! / LOOK, THE BOMB! / ERRATICALLY COURAGEOUSHERO SIGHTED / RESCUE BOTH OF THEM / >>>> / DONE / THREE OF US NOW / FOUR IF YOU COUNT THE COWARD!



“EVERYONE DESERVES A SECOND CHANCE / ONWARD / LARGE ROOM / PARAGON BOMB’S GOING IN ON HIS OWN! / SUPPORT / FOLLOW HIM! / SANTA ON POINT / VIBRATE SPOTTED / >>>> / FREED / NEXT / COUNCIL DROPPING LIKE FLIES NOW / EASY / FOOLS / SHOULDA KNOWN BETTER THAN TO MESS WITH SANTA’S MOB / … / TOOTH FAIRY SIGHTED / >>>> / << / ><<> / ONE OF US / RESCUE ACCOMPLISHED / ONWARD / …



[lol this is great. I’m almost entirely surplus to requirements now lol. It’s all I can do to grab some XP from stragglers. now where are Capon and Waddle? ]

“… / >><>> / <<>< / COUNCIL RUNNING / ALERT / CHICKEN SIGHTED / SAVE THE CHICKEN. SAVE THE WORLD / YOU SAID IT / <<< / CHICKEN FREED / BUCK-BUCKAW! / OH YES / AWESOME / … / WAIT! / WAAAH! / ROOM / AGGRO! / CAPON ON POINT! / RED HAZE DROPPING / ROOM O’ DEATH! / GRATAAK HERE! / ATTACKING / WHAT’S GOING ON? / TOO FAST / -

[LMAO this room has Grataak and a load of Council in it. Capon clocks Grataak, runs up to him and gives him a few punches, then runs off to agro some other Council, and then suddenly there’s total mayhem. All the allies are all over the place. I’m quite worried about losing one of them (I really want a screenie of us all at the end) so I’m rushing about like a loon too. Then I realize that Waddle’s in here too, and as I do, he’s freed by Orange Butterfly and Santa working together. He jumps to his feet and immediately runs away up some stairs, and when I follow him I see he’s laying into Pistola! Before I can get to him, the Paragon Bomb comes to Waddle’s aid and they both defeat Pistola. I can’t stop laughing. My girlfriend is well impressed by Capon, btw.]

“WADDLE SIGHTED / SAVE THE PENGUIN, SAVE THE- / HE’S SAVED / PISTOLA ATTACKING- / PISTOLA DOWNED / WOW, THAT’S ONE MEAN PENGUIN / >>>><< / >>< / << / >> / … / ONWARD / ONLY LORD MIME TO RESUCE NOW / THERE! / ATTACK! / LIKE THE REST OF THE GANG NEED ANY ENCOURAGEMEN- / ALERT! / REGALIS TUBBIUS SIGHTE- / WOW HE WENT DOWN QUICK! / SANTA NOT SUFFERING FOOLS GLADLY TODAY…



"...WHATEVER THAT MEANS / >><<>< / MOPPING UP REMAINDER OF COUNCIL INVADERS / MISSION ACCOMPLISHED / WELL DONE ALL / AWESOME…

[End]

[Haha Folks, if you’re the type of Player who gets annoyed by NPCs stealing your XP, might want to suspend that feeling for this mission. But trust me, Santa’s Magnificent Seven are an absolute delight to behold. Check ‘em out:


Tubbius Claus’ Magnificent Seven, and The Psystem



[End]

The last time I played this arc, it didn’t have this mission. I said in that review:

‘The last mission of the CC arc is crying out for the Atlas Park fashion show map, ALL the customs you’ve rescued so far, and Tubbius, for a Big Fight against a slightly beefed up Pistola and Tubbius Regalis, culminating in a successful costume contest. I was gutted that Tubbius didn’t get to have the CC! Poor Santa!’

Well, sadly, the Atlas park Fashion Show map is unavailable in the MA . However, this mission was brilliant. Nothing complicated, but once I’d rescued 3 of the 7, it turned into a marvellous ride.

“ WELL, THAT’S THAT / YES / WE ROCK / PRESENTS GALORE THIS YEAR, I RECKON / TIME FOR A WELL-EARNED REST / EXCELSIOR! / …

5 stars, Top Banana.

Eco.

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."

Waddle’s Revenge, Arc ID 30216, by @Tubbius, Long (3 small, 1 medium map0. Lvl range 30-54. 8 plays, 4 stars as I start. Description tells of Waddle, the penguin protector of Paragon City, who is now attacking Crey Biotech facilities…but why? The Psystem is intruiged, and concerned for his Antarctic avian associate…

“STRANGERS IN THE NI-I-IGHT / EXCHANGING GLANCES / LOVERS AT FIRST SI-I-IGHT / DA DA DA DA DA / DOOBEE DOOBEE DOO / DA DA THE NIGHT WAS THROOOOUGH! / DOOBEE DOOBEE DO- / WHAT? / NO, MRS JOHNSON, THE BEGONIAS AREN’T FOR SALE! / HEY! / FULL WAKEMODE ACTIVE / WHAT WAS THAT? / WHAT? / SINGING / YOU WERE SINGING / … / YES? / I THOUGHT WE HAD AGREED TO WORK ON OUR PERSONALITY / FRAGMENTED PSYCHES CONFUSING FOR HUMANS / ‘NOT BLENDING IN ENOUGH’ WAS YOUR POINT I BELIEVE, CEREBELLUM / SO WHAT WAS THE SINGING FOR? / I WAS WORKING ON A PERSONALITY / WHICH ONE? / FRANK / WHAT? / FRANK / IF WE’RE GOING TO CHOOSE A SINGLE PERSONALITY, I CAN’T THINK OF A BETTER ONE THAN FRANK / FRANK? / … / SINATRA? / WHO ELSE? / THERE’S ONLY ONE FRANK / … / WHY WOULD WE WANT TO BE FRANK SINATRA? / … / WHY WOULDN’T WE WANT TO BE FRANK SINATRA? / FRANK POSSESSES STYLE, ÉLAN, COOL, PERSONALITY, PIZZAZZ, ÉLAN, AWESOMENESS, ÉLAN- / THAT’S THREE TIMES YOU’VE LISTED ÉLAN AS ONE OF FRANK’S CHARACTERISTICS / WELL FRANK HAD THREE TIMES MORE ÉLAN THAN NORMAL GUYS / … / HE HAD IT IN SPADES / … / I THINK MAYBE WE SHOULD WAIT TILL AFTER WE’VE CHECKED IN ON PHINEAS TO CONTINUE THIS / AGREED / LEFT PINKY WAS ASLEEP EARLIER: WHY ARE WE CHECKING WITH WHO? / PHINEAS WHITE, PARAGON TIMES JOURNALIST…



“WE DECIDED THAT IN ORDER TO BLEND IN WITH HUMANITY MORE, WE SHOULD HAVE REGULAR CONTACTS, FRIENDS, ACQUAINTANCES ETCETERA / PENDING OUR APPLICATION FOR RESERVE MEMBERSHIP OF AWESOME SUPERTEAM KNOWN AS TUBBIUS CLAUS’ MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, CURRENT SOCIO-AMICABLE CONTACTS ARE: BOBO THE PIGEON, PIGEON, WADDLE THE PENGUIN PROTECTOR OF PARAGON CITY, HERO, AND PHINEAS WHITE, JOURNALIST, PARAGON TIMES / RELATIONSHIP WITH BOBO CURRENTLY STALLED AT STAGE 4: FEEDING WITH MILLET, AND PENDING FURTHER ANALYSIS AND POSSIBLE RECLASSIFICATION AS PET/FOOD SUPPLIER / WHEREABOUTS OF WADDLE CURRENTLY UNKNOWN / PHINEAS SEEMS TO LIKE US / HENCE, PERIODIC CHECK-IN FOR SMALL TALK, POSSIBLE INVESTIGATIVE LEADS AND CELEBRITY GOSSIP / …

[The contact is indeed Phineas White, the Journalist from the earlier arcs. Phineas and his wife were in the arc that launched Waddle, and this time he’s got more news of the loveable critter]

“PHINEAS TRACKING WADDLE / WORRIED ABOUT HIM / RECENT ATTACK ON CREY OFFICE / CCTV FOOTAGE SHOWED PENGUIN TODDLING ABOUT / ICE REMAINS LEFT ON WALLS / COULD BE WADDLE / MORE CLUES NEEDED / … / COULD BE IMPOSTOR / … / IT’S BEEN KNOWN TO HAPPEN… / WE WILL INVESTIGATE / WADDLE OUR FRIEND / ASSISTING FRIENDS IMPORTANT PART OF BEING HUMAN / WILL HELP US TO BLEND IN / PROCEED / …

Mission 1: Infiltrate Crey’s Office

[Tiny point: I think the title would be better ‘Infiltrate Crey Office’ – Crey probably has more than one]

“OFFICE QUIET / TOO DARN QUIET / GUARDS! / SUBDUE THEM / <<><><>> / DONE…



“PROCEED / WHAT’S THIS? / ADVANCED COMPUTER BANK / INTERROGATE ITS SUBSYSTEMS / … / HM / VIDEO FOOTAGE / LOOKS LIKE WADDLE… / DEFINITELY PENGUINOID / RETRIEVING FILES FROM CABINET / ALSO NEWSPAPER / INVESTIGATE FURTHER / CONTENTS OF CABINET MAY PROVE INSIGHTFUL / AGREED / …

“YIKES! / >><< / > / SECURITY ANGRY AT INFILTRATION



“CAN’T BLAME THEM REALLY / FIRST ENRAGED PENGUIN / THEN CURIOUS COLLECTION OF ALIEN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCES INHABITING HYPERSENTIENT FLUID METALOVIRUS ENTITY / NOT YOUR USUAL MONDAY AFTERNOON, EH? / … / >>>< / <<<> / WHEW / LOTS OF GUARDS ON THIS FLOOR / <<> / ><<>< / AND MORE / >>> / …

[lol I’m still at a virtual duo – The groups are a little bit largish. I’m auto-exemped to lvl 30 now. The groups are usually 3 yellow minions plus an orange lieut. They’re not too bad as long as I’m careful. Knockdown from the beanbag-throwing frankengun is a bit grr ]

“>>>< / >>< / WOAH! / MASSIVE SUDDEN POWER SURGE / EXCELLENT / GAME ON! / TAKE ‘EM DOWN! / >><<>< / ><><<< / <<< / >><<>< / <>>><>< / <><<><>< / <>< / < / < / <>< / < / < /< / >>><>< / WOOHOO!



“… / MORE GUARDS / MORE MORE GUARDS / DOOBEE DOOBEE DOO… / NOT NOW! / <<><>>> / AHA! / FINALLY / LAST ROOM / <<>< / CLEAR / CABINET SECURED / EXAMINE / … / REMAINING DOCUMENT PAGES / DETAIL CREY EXPERIMENT ‘FISHIE’ / INTERESTING / EXIT AND REPORT BACK TO PHINEAS / AGREED / ALSO, TIME TO FEED BOBO / …

[I leveled again in that mission. ]

“PHINEAS WEARS A HAT / YES / … / REASON? / TO PROTECT HIM FROM BRAIN-EATING VAPOUR-WEEVIL OF AMBAXXOZONICUS IV? / POSSIBLY / ALSO POSSIBLE PHINEAS HAS BALD PATCH / … / PHINEAS ALSO HAS HAIR GROWING FROM FACE / BUT NOT LIKE SANTA / ONLY UPPER LIP AREA HIRSUTE / HUMANS OFTEN SPORT HAIR-SCULPTURE ON THEIR FACES, WE NOTE / HMM… / PHINEAS TALKING, LISTEN / …

“NOTED CREY SCIENTIST, DR GRANT SIMONS, CRITICISING PRESS AND WADDLE RECENTLY / NO MENTION OF ‘FISHIE’ BUT SURE TO KNOW MORE / SUGGEST POLITE ENQUIRY BE MADE OF SIMONS / AGREED / … / HAVE ONE SMALL TASK BEFORE VISIT TO CREY’S FOLLY / …

Mission 2: Find Dr. Grant Simons

“… / WHT FLMG? / HEY! / NOTHING, YOU WERE ASLEEP / DID I MISS ANYTHING? / NO, WE’RE IN CREY’S FOLLY / ABOUT TO ENTER CREY BIOTECH FACILITY / OK / … / SOMETHING FEELS DIFFERENT… / IT’S NOTHING, REALLY / … / WAITAMINUTE… / LOOK, SNOWMEN! / <<>><><<<< / ATTACK! / WHAT’S THIS ON OUR HEAD? / <<>>> / IGNORE IT, IT’S NOT IMPORTANT / ><><><>> / … / IT’S A TRILBY! / I’M WEARING A HAT! / >>>< / SCIENTIST LOCATED / NOT SIMONS / >><< / CAPTIVE / <<< / RESCUE / I’M WEARING A HAT! / YES / WHY AM I WEARING A HAT? / <<<> / …PROTECTION FROM BRAIN-EATING VAPOUR-WEEVIL OF AMBAXXOZONICUS IV? / CHANCES OF BEING ATTACKED BY BRAIN-EATING VAPOUR-WEEVIL OF AMBAXXOZONICUS IV APPROXIMATELY 1 IN 1,445,722,456 / ALSO: TO BLEND IN MORE / ><<< / IS IT WORKING? / <<< / NOT SURE / PERHAPS MOUSTACHE TOO MUCH / … / WE HAVE A MOUSTACHE TOO? / YES / MODELLED ON GREAT HISTORIC LEADER OF MEN / JOSEPH STALIN / … / QUESTION SCIENTIST / HUMAN FEMALE, DO YOU LIKE OUR HAT?



“NOT ABOUT THE HAT! / HUMAN FEMALE, DO YOU LIKE OUR FINE UPPER LIP FACIAL HAIR CONSTRUCTION? / FORGET THE MOUSTACHE! / INFORMATION ON SIMONS / SIMONS STILL WORKING ON PENGUIN… / AND ‘FISHIE’ / LEAD FEMALE TO EXIT / … / NO COMMENT ON HAT OR ‘TACHE / POSSIBLY TOO SHY / FURTHER INVESTIGATION REQUIRED / PROCEED / …

[The captive tells us that Simons is running the FISHIE program without Crey’s approval before we lead her out, and mentions some bodies we should maybe check out]

“MORE CREY HERE / TAKE THEM OUT TO THE OLD BALL PARK ETCETERA / WHAT? / <<>><<<<< / < / <<><>>> / EXEUNT!



“BODY BAG HERE / UNZIPPING / EW / PARTIALLY FROZEN / HUMAN DEAD / WHAT KILLED THEM? / WADDLE? / SURELY NOT / WADDLE NOT MURDERER / WADDLE PENGUIN / …

“… / UH-OH / CREY SUPER-OPERATIVES… / OOF / OUCH / WAHOONY! / >><<< / RUN! / >>> / THAT WAS CLOSE! / <<<> / …

[lol, orange lieuts are a bit hard, especially when they melee me – stuns. I’m getting a dab hand at hit n run now]

“GAH / WOOHOO! / DITCH THE HAT! / THE HAT IS BAD LUCK! / NO, I LIKE IT! / IT HAS A CERTAIN ELAN, I FEEL



“PATE COMPLAINS: TOO HOT / … / <<>< / ANOTHER BODY / … / AND ANOTHER / ALL DEAD SAME METHOD / FROST DAMAGE / THIS IS NOT GOOD / COULD BE WORSE / … / WE COULD BE WEARING GALOSHES / WHAT? / NEVER MIND / REPORT BACK TO PHINEAS / AGREED / …

“PHINEAS HAS FURTHER LEADS FOR US / I NOTE NO COMMENT FROM PHINEAS ON HAT/MOUSTACHE COMBINATION / HE’S PROBABLY WAITING TILL HE CAN COME UP WITH A REALLY REALLY GOOD COMPLIMENT / RIGHT EYEBROW: RAISED / WHAT OF THE LEADS? / BODIES WE FOUND ALL HAVE FIFTH COLUMN TATTOO / LINKS TO FIFTH NEED INVESTIGATING / OLD ABANDONED FIFTH BASE NEAR CREY FACILITY / SEARCH? / AGREED / …

Mission 3: Find Out Clues

“FIFTH BASE / LIGHTS STILL ON? / POSSIBLY STILL ACTIVE FIFTH CELL / BE CAREFUL / … / ACCESSING DATABASE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION / … / HMM… / WHAT? / PINAUD’S CLUBMAN PROFESSIONAL MOUSTACHE WAX MIGHT BE REQUIRED / GAH / REINFORCING WITH WIRE IS CONSIDRERD CHEATING IN SOME MOUSTACHE CIRCLES / STOP WITH THE MOUSTACHE! / WE NEED TO BE CAREFUL / BASE EMPTY ANYWAY / SEARCH FOR COMPUTER / …HOLD / THERE / FIFTH SOLDIERS / EMPTY, EH? / <<< / >><<>>< / GET SOME, EVIL NAZI VILLAINS!



“><>>> / SUCCESS / COMPUTER HERE / ACCESSING / … / SUCCESS / DECEASED AT CREY BIOTECH FACILITY FIFTH INFILTRATORS / WHY WERE THEY SPECIFICALLY KILLED? / ATTENTION / PATROLS SIGHTED / FIGHT OUR WAY OUT / PERHAPS OREGON WILD HAIR WAX BETTER…? / <<>>< / <<><<> / MORE INCOMING / NO PROBLEM / >>>> / << / <<< /> / CAUTION / ABNORMAL PSYCHIC SIGNATURE DETECTED / PSYCHIC ATTACKS INCOMING / >><<< / ><>< / AARGH / MENTAL ASSAULT…TOO…STRONG… / BUFFETED BY OUR GREATEST FEARS!



“NOOO, NOT THE BUNNIES!!! / <<<>>><>>><< / <<>><>> / <<<><>< / >><><<



“ACTIVATING MEGA-IMPLODO-SCOPE PENETRATO-BLASTOOGA / BOOM! / . / … / PHEW, HE’S DOWN / … / MOUSTACHE OK / GOOD / I’VE ALMOST HAD IT WITH THE MOUSTACHE FETISH / EXIT AND REPORT BACK TO PHINEAS WITH LATEST NEWS OF FIFTH INTEREST IN PENGUIN AND FISHIE / …

[That was a nice little mission. The map was smallish and totally linear. it was empty until the last little room, with the computer and a few guards. Getting the computer clue spawned a patrol back on the way to the exit with some nice flavor dialogue, and the Boss, Toxin, who spawned near the entrance. Toxin was far easier to defeat than the Psystem’s narration suggests. He conned yellow. I’m not suggesting upping his difficulty, just pointing it out. This mission is a good example of Less is More in action]

“PHINEAS DEBRIEFED / URGENT PROBLEM HOWEVER / WADDLE AFTER DR SIMONS IN BRICKSTOWN WAREHOUSE / POLICE ACTION IMINENT / FIFTH EN ROUTE TO INTERCEPT / WE MUST HURRY / TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! / …

Mission 4: Save Waddle and Dr Simons

“WAREHOUSE PENETRATED / SOUNDS OF BATTLE / FIFTH, POLICE, ITS CHAOS! / LOCATE WADDLE PRIMARY CONCERN / SECONDARY TARGET DR SIMONS / TERTIARY TASK: PROTECT MOUSTACHE AND HAT / PROCEED / … / FIFTH HERE / <<<>>>>< / >><>> / CAREFUL / MOUSTACHE NOT WAXED YET / SHUT UP, YOU / WE ARE DAMAGED / YES, I’M GLAD SOMEONE REMEMBERS THAT / >>>< / WADDLE SIGHTED / EXCELLENT / CAPTURED BY FIFTH / MEKMEN PRESENT / DESTROY THEM! />>>><<< / …



[Lol Waddle’s dialogue as I attack his captors is “Waddle SAD! Waddle HATE METAL FACES! Waddle HATE FISHIE!” – He’s possibly the most charming CoH NPC ever]

“>>><>> / DON’T WORRY, WADDLE / RESCUE IS AT HAND / <<>><> / SUCCESS / …

[And then he gets even cuter lol]



“WADDLE CALLING FOR PARENT / PARENT? / PATERNAL PARENT / WADDLE PENGUIN / SO WE’RE LOOKING FOR PENGUIN DAD, NOW? / YES / PERHAPS DR SIMONS WILL KNOW WHERE WADDLES SIRE IS / PROCEED / <<>>> / ><>< / WADDLE ABLE SIDEKICK / ASSISTING / >>>> / UH-OH / LITTLE FELLER TOO EAGER / ACTIVATE DEFENSE PROTOCOL NINE / SAVE THE PENGUIN AT ALL COSTS!



“>>>< / <<><>< / ><<>< / TOO…MANY… / JETTISON EMERGENCY PERSONALITY TO CONSERVE ENERGY / DONE / I’M STILL HERE / >>> / < / UH, WHO DID WE JETTISON? / FRANK? / >><> / YEP, FRANK GONE / AH WELL / >><><> / IT WORKED / <<>>< / SUCCESS / THAT WAS TOO CLOSE / <<<>< / REST / RECOVER / … / PPD HERE / USE AS COVER WHILST RECUPERATION OF WADDLE CONTINUES / …




[Phew, Waddle went down to a sliver then – he ran into a big group of Fifth and it was a bit dicey for a while. Luckily, we’re both alive after the fight, so it’s all god. I’m off to make a cup of coffee while Waddle recovers ]

“INVESTIGATING FURTHER / MORE FIFTH / VAMPYRES! / SPOOKY! / <<< / DR SIMONS LOCATED / RESCUE FOR INTERROGATION / ALSO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR PENGUIN SIRE OF WADDLE / ATTACK FIFTH CAPTORS OF SIMONS / >>> / >> / COMPLETED / SIMONS ESCAPING / CALLING FOR ‘FISHIE’? / WHO IS FISHIE? / UNKNOWN / WADDLE ENGAGING ENEMY / ASSIST AND THEN SEEK SIMONS AGAIN / … / <<<><<> / …




[The green chat text ‘In his haste to escape, he drops…’ could be improved by changing it to ‘In his haste to escape, Simons drops…’ – as it stands, it came right after a ‘you have defeated Raserai Ubermenschen…’]



“>>>> / FIFTH FORCES DEPLETING / WAIT / OVER THERE / IS THAT… / YES / IT MUST BE ‘FISHIE’ / GOOD LORD / INDEED / …

[Fishie’s bio made me laugh out loud, and I mean proper guffaws]



“FISHIE MUTANT FISH/WRESTLER CROSSBREED / ATTACKING / MINIMAL INTELLIGENCE, PATENTLY / EVEN STUPIDER THAN WADDLE / ATTACKING! / >>><<< / <<< / < / < / < / NO SIGNIFICANT THREAT, HOWEVER / EXIT WAREHOUSE / SIMONS IN POLICE CUSTODY / ENQUIRE AS TO WHEREABOUTS OF PENGUIN SIRE OF WADDLE? / … / AH, WADDLE CLAIMING SIMONS IS ‘POPPA’ / … / SIMONS HUGGING WADDLE / … / GUYS, I THINK WE’RE GONNA NEED A LOT MORE THAN A HAT AND A ‘TACHE IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND HUMANITY…

[end]

Great, again. This was the first time I’ve run this particular arc, and it delivered. In comparison to the other arcs, I rated it 4 stars, and my reason may come over as a little cruel. I love your NPCs. The newcomers in this arc, Toxin and FISHIE, are sterling as usual. They look great, they’re fun concepts and they’re fun to fight. They’re pretty easy to defeat, but they aren’t meant to be challenges. They’re narrative points, and as such they rock. The problem is, with something like the Costume Contest arc, you’ve spoiled me, and now I want more. One more ally somewhere and one more boss to fight, for example in Mission 1, and I’d be very happy. Your maps choice is great, the groups you make me fight are such that I don’t mind clearing all in every mission, all that’s needed is a few more grin-inducing appearances from your marvelous NPCs.

The Psystem was lvl 14 when I started this run. After playing all 5 arcs in a row, The Psystem is now lvl 18 and 6 bubs, which is pretty good leveling for all 5 of the arcs. I also got a little over 1200 tickets for all of them too, which turned into 6.5mil inf after buying some rare arcanes with it for sales at WW.

But the rewards weren’t the main reason for playing. The main reason to play the Tubbius arcs is up there in that screenshot of Santa’s Magnificent Seven. It’s all about the characters.

Bravo, Tubby.

Eco.

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."

That was a good read. Thanks, MCM! I'm glad you had a good time.

I'll think if I can do something with Waddle's Revenge. We'll see!

For those of you wondering, the next arc in the series is likely going to be Pistola-centric, but we'll see about that, too!

Also, MCM, remember to look back at your architect souvenirs! Collect them all, one in every arc!

Edited to add: I've designed three new NPCs for use in the next arc. We'll see if Pistola's even involved at all! He might be.

Darn, I ALWAYS forget to look at the souvenirs! I just checked, and I've only got two SAnta's red hat and the photo of Waddle and Simons.

Stupid, stupid MA Souvenir system! How can I get them to stay?

Eco.

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."

Wish I knew.

There should be Santa's red hat, the photo of Waddle and Simons, Pistola's cracked orange sunglasses, a bag of Go Nuts Donuts, and an orange gas mask.

EDITED TO ADD: Fox Hunt, arc 334049, is now live! Starring Tubbius Regalis!

Hi again. What's your queue looking like?

I'm not taking any submissions right now, as I'm playing some arcs just for fun and reviewing ones which strike my fancy rather than on request.

I've actually had my eye on your arcs for a while anyway, Aisynia, but I'm slightly cautious about your gfs because of your warnings that they are challenging. Your own arc was tested on a blaster, i believe, so I'd probably be inclined to run that one for my thread.

In any case, I still have a little list of arcs to do down in front of my screen, and it's got 6 arcs on it already. It'll be a while before my queue is empty.

Eco.

EDIT PS, the first time I saw the pink sentence in your sig, In read it as 'check out my girlfriend's ars*'

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."

I got some positive rep today, and I'm going to shamelessly quote the comment that came with it:

"Bwahahaha.... I LOVE the way you write The Psystem - easily the funniest thing I've read all week!"

Thanks very much, whoever you are. It's reactions like that that keep me writing this thread, as well as the awesome fun I have playing thru the arcs of course.

Eco.

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."

That was me.

I think it was friday when I wrote that - and I *really* needed the dose of levity by that point. It had been kinda an exhausting week.....

I stand by what I said - you have a hilarious character there, and you write he/she/it/them extremely well. You have a positive talent for coming up with just the perfect hilarious non-sequiter lines.

I just started a new alt, with a powerset combo I’ve never tried before. Meet my new Earth/Earth Dominator, VEI 8:



(VEI 8 was lvl 2 when I started, but I spelled Grun wrong in his bio, so I had to reshoot the pic)

I had planned to have a short break from the review thread after my Tubby marathon, since it does take a lot of effort. However, I saw a comment in another thread from Clave Dark 5 about his meant-for-lowbie villainous arc, and Tangler (who was kind enough to review The Audition in his review thread here) also has one fit for VEI 8, so I thought I’d power up Word while I was doing them and see if anything occurred. A mini-review can’t hurt, eh?

Day Job Hell: A Villain’s First Day Job, Arc ID 322480, by @Clave Dark 5. lvl 1-10, villainous, Long (2 medium, 2 unique maps). Description says it’s a ‘touching and somewhat humorous’ tale of your villains first steps as a true villain in the Rogue Isles. Just 6 plays and 4 stars as I start. So, let’s see what VEI 8 makes of it…

“By all the saints, I thought I’d never get free of that blasted Zig! What kind of sick world do we live in where a man gets locked up for simply grafting a giraffe’s neck onto a man’s body, anyway? I mean, I put his original head back on, didn’t I? Well, here in the Rogue Isles I’ll surely be lauded as the incredible genius that I am! HAHAHA, yes, yes, here, here I shall be able to continue my work! Firstly, I need a laboratory. Hmm, it seems I must put my unimaginable intellect to use and earn myself a name in these Isles…

[The contact is one Fats Squalor, a seedy sort who runs the Mercy Island Sewer Works. He needs someone to go into some caves, collect some snake guano, and fumigate the caves with snake-b-gone. ]

“Pah, that these hands, these hands that have injected boiling liquid nitrogen into the veins of one of the Crown princes of Europe and been warmly shaken for it, that these hands should be reduced to such lowly endeavors! Still, needs must when Lunatic Science drives, AHAHAHA!!!

[A little way into the cave, I find Jim, one of Fats’ friends, and some Guano Monsters!]

“By the crazed mind of Newton, these fecund freaks are animated blobs of guano! With an army of these, I COULD RULE THE WORLD!!! After I’ve dealt with them, I’ll take a few scrapings for experimentation later.



[I proceed through the cave with Jim. There are plenty of glowies, lots of guano patches, some canisters of snake-b-gone to release, and I even find an old pitcher. The flavor text and bios are wonderful.]

“Aha, here’s the king of the Snake-Poo creatures! Time to perform an experiment! …Let me see…take one monstrous malformed excremental beast, add molten lava from the very bowels of the Earth, mix thoroughly, and…BOOM! Marvelous! Just as I expected, a crapsplosion of epic proportions!



“And what’s this? A box filled with CASH? MUHAHAHA!!! I can use this filthy lucre to fund the creation of an Empire of Bonko Science! Ah yes, YES, YES, AHAHAHA!!!

[I do indeed find a box filled with cash, apparently from the cash register of a jewelry store by the receipts amongst it. Jim and I fight our way through the rest of the map, until the repurposed Hydra making up the guano monsters are all dealt with. Top fun.]

“Bah, bah, and THRICE BAH! My ‘employer’ has taken all the cash! I will mark him down for retribution. Someday not to far hence, he shall awaken to find that his brain has been replaced with a Black Forest Gateaux! For now, I shall have to accommodate to his needs…which means more sewer-running!

Mission 2: STDs are running rampant!

[the ‘STDs’ mentioned here are ‘Sewer Tuatha de Dannan’ ]

“Right, where in this crapulent miasmic hole are the foul ogres I must dispatch?

[I enter the sewer and explore]

“What’s this? Some kind of horrific amalgam of man and beast? It’s patently been assembled in a rank amateur’s lab. Head of a wolf, fur of a marmoset…mmm, I’d better free it from its oafish troll guards!



[After freeing ‘The Ron-Ster’ I check out the mysterious crates that fair litter the place]

“Hm, these crates contain nothing more than ordinary sewer pipe! …But I, I who have dreams that would make Satan himself blush with incredulity, I could fashion these pipes into a device capable of transforming the world’s cheese supplies into…ambulances! AHAHAHAHAA!

“Hold, tiny metal clockwork robots! By Kopernikus’ tighty-whites, what incredible mind conjured these wonderful creations? Why, with an army of these, I COULD RULE THE WORLD!!!!! Onward, my repulsive dogfaced friend, let us delve deeper into the mysteries of this foul pissoir!

[In the lowest room, I encounter a Tuatha being menaced by some clockwork.]

“Scientific wonders though they may be, I feel that smashing them into tiny little bits would make an excellent experiment right now…Now then my horned associate, what do these metal soldiers fit in to this conundrous compuzzlation?

[The Tuatha chief explains that his people had been sold into slavery by Fats, the rotter! With that, the mission ends, and I exit – to find that Fats has fired me! how rude! He mentions a RI sewage workers party he’s preparing, and that sets off an idea for revenge in VEI 8]

“How dare that sweaty slob treat me in this manner! ME, I, who crouch on the shoulders of the giants of Science, screeching obscenities and urinating into their ears because they are but children mewling in the crib of invention compared to me! Why, I once discovered a completely new musical note by transforming an E sharp into a smell, feeding it backwards through a rancid alligator snout, transmogrifying it back into an octave and then adding reverb and the sound of a florists head exploding underwater! What did Einstein ever do to match that? Revenge shall be mine! MAHAHAHARR!

Mission 3: Destroy Fats’ Home’Office

“Hm, it seems that Fats’ lair lies in the dockyard district of Mercy…a fine location for my laboratory-stronghold, this would make…all the seawater I could want, for gold-extraction purposes, and a near infinite supply of slatterns and dropouts that no-one will notice the disappearance of…why, with an army fashioned out of alcoholic deckhands and disease-raddled sluts, I COULD RULE THE WORLD!!!

[The Mercy Sludgeworks map is one of my favourites. I have a little confession to make here. I couldn’t find the glowies that the Nav was instructing me to find, so I cleared the map and then sent a tell to Clave, and reset the arc. Played it through again to mission 3, same thing. Once more I reset and once more, no glowies. On the fourth attempt, I clicked a door in desperation…and lo and behold, in I went. I didn’t realize there was an inside bit to this map until today! Haha what a noob! I’m glad I persevered, though]

“Hm, this area is infested with those clockwork robots…the FOOLS will be scrap after I’ve finished with them!



[After clearing the clocks from the outer courtyard, I enter the building]

“Oh yes, this will do nicely as a base of operations for my Empire of Insanity! It’s got everything I could possibly need! …Chairs, ground, air…






“Aha! What’s this? Fats’ safe…I wonder what goodies I can find in here…



“Ooh, blackmail gold! He’s billing his employers for the pipe he’s selling to the clockwork! I can use this to force him to fund my dangerously impractical and world-threatening experiments…or just get him killed, aha…

[There’s a small clockwork ambush then, and after that…]

“Right, I think a small detonation will soon put the Fats in the fire, haha, ahahaha, AHAHAHAAA!!! AAAIIIEEE!!! HAAIIEEE!!!!! OOOHYAAAAA!!!!

[After I set the bomb, I exit]

“…Right, now that I’m clear of the area, I have merely to wait…hang on, that sludge tank looming over my future base…I’d say its pressure-differential stance threshold was approximately 7.71 giga-oogs…the bomb I just set had a yield of around y to the power flambé kiloblondes, carry the bacon, so that means…oh dear…sludge tsunami in three hours! Looks like I won’t be using Fats’ old base after all. Not to worry. I’ll just pop these incriminating papers in the post. And now for the Crème de la Crème Brulee on the Nigella Lawson Quadruple Chocolate Cake of my revenge – literally! I shall destroy him utterly at his own party! AND, AHAHAHA – I shall use his own witless stooges to bring about his pitiful downfall. Years from now, AHAHAHA, years from now, Fats Squalor will look up from the gutter through his one remaining eye as he weeps, steaming in the salty effluvium leaking from his septic bladder, and remember the day he belittled VEI 8!!!

Mission 4: Crash the Party

“Typical of such a filthy scoundrel, he’s organized his party in the sewers! The FOOLS!!!!! After my smelly underworld endeavors, I know these corpulent warrens like I know the unstable elements in the Mendeleev Scale!

[A sewer’s not what I would have expected for the party, but VEI 8’s not bothered lol]

“Ah yes, first I must make contact with that canine cretin the Ron-Ster and Fats’ brainless lackey Jim! They’ll be easy to fool into aiding me…

[I soon meet up with the two allies]
“Ahaha…yes, fight, my minions, FIGHT, YOUR LIVES ARE WORTHLESS!!!…These foolish idiots are doing my bidding as though they had drunk of the very sputum of Bacchus himself! And I should know, for I once distilled it from that mighty inebriate Titan’s drool!

[The two allies are a little too handy, so after a few fights to gauge that VEI 8’s doing ok on his own, I leave them behind. The mobs are repurposed Infected, used as ‘Sewer Workers’. There’s an amusing reason why the sewer workers are ‘such goobers’ in their bio. They are exactly what I like to fight at this level i.e. easy lol]






“Wait, what’s this? Another costumed criminal? Hmm, now comes the moment in every World-Conquering Mastermind Genius Supervillain where he must make a momentous decision! Should I destroy this possible future rival now, or give some mild concession now, in order to fool him into a false sense of complacency from which he will be easily lulled to his TOTAL AND UTTER DOOM YEARS HENCE!!! AHAHAHAHAAAHHH!!!!

[The Rescue Captive objective here (This arc is littered with little additions to aid early badge-gains, one of it’s many good points. A new player coming to it is going to find lots to love about CoH. It shows that the MAuthor has thought about this aspect of a new players career) is the Rabbitual Criminal, who I (me, not VEI 8) have met before in another arc. Cool ]

“I shall warn this one not to eat the cake. I shall need powerful allies to both aid me in my meteoritic rise to the heights of Infamy, and to betray when I have risen far. MWAHAHAAA!!!

“Ahh…at last, Fats Squalor…Now, NOW TASTE THE VITREOUS FLAVOUR OF VENGEANCE!!!

[The last room reveals why they chose a sewer for the party – it’s the Doc Vahzilok map – awesome.]

“Before Fats arrives, I shall add the ‘special’ cake to their buffet table…ha…ahaha…AHAHAHA…MWHAAAHAAA!!!…And now, to give Fats a thrashing before I make my perfect escape!



[The fight with Fats is AWESOME, and as he falls I get the Architect X badge. How cool is that?]

“Now that he’s been beaten into unconsciousness, I have one more ace in the hole, heheh…

[hm, kind of intriguing about this objective that’s appeared – although I DID see the reference to it in the briefing for this mission, so don’t take that as a complaint.]

“Here’s where I stashed that pitcher I found earlier…All I have to do is make a quick call to Longbow…there, that’s done, and now I smash the pitcher, and teleport out! WAHAHAHA SCOTT FREE! Haha, those fools Ron-ster and Jim will take all the heat for wrecking the party, whilst I am free to continue my scientific experiments! Yes, my experiments…hmm…first, I’ll need a laboratory…which will require funding. Yes…I guess I’m going to have to find another job, now that I’ve just blown up my boss’s office, killed most of his workforce, beaten him up and gotten him and his friends arrested…

[Ah, yes, the pitcher, of course. I DID find it on my way to the last room (btw, the map is nice and linear), but it gave me the ‘you cannot complete this objective yet’ message, and then I forgot about it! You might want to put a ‘now to return to where I stashed my ace in the hole earlier’, or even outright mention the pitcher, after fats’ defeat. I loved the way that after smashing the pitcher (It’s a shame we can’t have a pitcher as a destructible object, that’d be another badge credit for this arc), the Longbow ambush arrived, and I felt compelled to exit without defeating them so they could arrest Ron-ster and Jim after I’d left!]

[End]

Absolutely marvelous starter arc. I Went straight to the MA building in Mercy after exiting the tutorial, so it really was VEI 8s first job.

Pluses: Loads to do, great map choice, I felt aggrieved at first at having to scrape up snake guano lol, and then was delivered what I wanted – the chance to take control and sic it to the contact. There’s lots of badge-progress to be made, the mobs are varied enough to be interesting and perfect for this level. I especially should point out that the entry popups, flavor text and text in general is all very funny.

Negatives: There are a lot of glowies to click in missions 1 and 2. They are all optional, I found, but you might want to make it clearer that they are optional, for the benefit of folks who don’t care for badges. And I might not be the only player who’s dumb enough to not realize that Mission 3s map has an indoor section.

5 stars. Wicked. Best lowbie arc I've played for ages, and I really couldn't have expected a better starter arc for VEI 8.

Eco

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."

Damn, those are some awesome shots Cap, I especially like the villainous posing (or loafing, in this case).

And moving swiftly on, another lowbie villainous arc, this time its

Mercytown: The One With All The Fish, Arc ID 6017, by @frija (Tangler on the forums). Tagged as a comic horror arc, very Long (3 unique, 2 medium maps), lvl 1-10. It’s marked as ‘for lvl 1s in mind’, so maybe I’ve overshot, being lvl 6 now after Clave’s arc, but if this gets me a few more levels up I’ll be a very happy villain indeed. Looking forward to it. It has 322 stars and 4 plays as I start, so it’s obviously got its fans. Off we go!

“Aha, I see that my incredible genius as a dangerously unsafe crazed scientist is starting to spread out across the Isles…I’ve just been approached by a Russian technician of some repute here…Dimitri Krylov is his name. He is desperate for my help in investigating some strange underwater creatures…hmmm, underwater creatures, yes…with an army like that, I could RULE THE WORLD!!! I shall work with this foolish Balkan, and use him for my own selfish ends, and then…AHAHAHA, THEN I SHALL CAST HIM ASIDE LIKE AN OLD SOCK THAT’S BEEN USED BY A TRAMP FOR 50 YEARS AS A SPIT-COLLECTOR!!! AHAHAHA MMWAAHAAHOOO, I’M LAUGHING!!! YES, I’M LAUGHING, CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW, MOTHER? CAN YOU???!!!

Mission 1: Investigate The Coralax Colony

“This is the location of the colony of these ‘Coralax’ monsters that Dimitri gave me…it seems they have emerged from their aquatic hideaway and are moving into Darwin…good, good, that will make getting a specimen all the more easy…

[The map for this is the low-level mercy Island one used for Kalinda’s very fist mission, I believe – a neat parallel to the canon progression]

“HAHA, these watery critters are no match for the red-hot power of my mighty magma mountains! They may be denizens of the Ocean, but I, VEI 8, control the very heart of the planet itself! TREMBLE, FOOLS!!!!



[After a few short fights, I capture a fine specimen ]

“Come, hideous beast of the green deeps, you belong to me now!”

[As I lead the boss to the exit, she mentions a book, ‘the Book of the Deep’, and how it must not fall into the hands of the ‘land-dwellers’. We then exit. A fun opener, fairly easy. The voice of the captive struck me as a little off (“Not you again!” for the rediscovered dialogue for example), but no complaints really. Great start, in fact]

“Dimitri is happy to take the specimen for me for safekeeping for a while, but the brainless yokel isn’t interested in the Book of the Deep. Buffoon! Doesn’t he know that every strange alien culture living secretly in humanities midst has its own dark esoteric tome, bulging with the secrets of how to enslave them to the reader’s will! It’s Dealing With The Devil 101! I think I’ll have to attain said tome for myself!

[Dimitri does let on that an archaeologist by the name of Dr Henry Veidt has a similarly named book. That’ll do!]

Mission 2: Steal The Book

“Hmm, I’m too late, perhaps! The apartment building where this archaeologist lives appears to be suffering from extreme damp! The Coralax might have got here before me! Damn, DAMN I SAY!!! RRAAAAAGHH!!! I’d best leave! …No! Wait! That’s just what they’d want me to do, ahhahaha! AHAHAHAA! The FOOLS, they thought to trick me, ME, I who have answered the very riddle of the Sphinx itself! Why, the answer is A MAN!!! Two legs in the morning, nine legs in the afternoon, 27 legs and an elephants severed phallus at suppertime, Mrs Miggins, MWAHAHAAA!!! I shall have my revenge on these inbred sea-devils! OH YES, JUST SEE IF I DON’T!!!

[After a little rant, I move into the building. It looks very atmospheric, I must say]

“What’s this, what’s this? We’ll have no shouting here! Die, you dribbly degenerates!



“Hmm…a woman lies incumbent! If I rescue her, she shall be indebted to me…the first of many, no doubt. Ah yes, women…with an army of women, I COULD RULE THE COSMOS!!!



[VV, the archaeologist’s vivacious wife, doesn’t hang around to become one of VEI’s army. She asks him to rescue her husband and then makes her escape]

“Aha, I spy a working computer. I shall ransack its digital innards for useful information. Information is power, according to the bible, and with information, I shall REIGN SUPREME!!!

[The PC yields some illegal software. I’m not sure what its relevance is yet. I explore further. The maps quite large for this level I feel]

“Gah, these pesky bottom-feeders are getting on my wick! Oho? Another computer…ah yes, this is more like it! A Tarot card! I’ll take this as a sign…of something! Signs and portents are like manna to a fruitbat like myself! It obviously means something deep, you see, and ‘deep’ begins with the letter ‘D’. AND SO DOES ‘DEPART’! AHAHAHA!!!

[That’s odd. I haven’t found the archaeologist, but the mission ended with a search of a third computer glowie, which according to the clue is his desk, and the clue says that the book’s already gone but there’s a tarot card here, slightly singed. Luckily, VEI 8’s crazy, so he’s happy enough to leave, but I’m a bit perplexed as to why finding a slightly singed tarot card in the desk should make me convinced that the book is nowhere else in this huge building.]

“This idiot Dimitri may be a fourth-rate scientist, but he’s a useful source of information. The tarot card belongs to a Hellion gang leader, he says. He must have the Book of the Deep! That book belongs to me! I will have this upstart Hellions intestines for hair-extensions! MWAHAHAHA!!!

Mission 3: Find the Duke’s Hideout

[‘The Duke’ is the Hellion boss I’m looking for. The Hellions are having a big party tonight; maybe I can find out where The Duke is from someone there]

“Pah. Dancing! What a waste of time and precious bodily fluids! If I had my way, dancing would be replaced by a scientifically ordered progression of bodily movements, categorized according to erg-use, muscle distention, speed of head shake and volume of music, labeled from ‘ultra-mild sway’ up to ‘explosive whole-body dislocation’! But these fools just prefer to ‘go with the flow’!

[The warehouse rave map’s a good one, eh? I start to mop up the Hellions.]

“Yes, tell me, demon! Tell me EVERYTHING!!! …and your girlfriend too, come on, vile nymph, spill the Heinz!!!



[lol a few mobs in the map divulge ‘secret’ information upon defeat, but although it’s not the info I’m after, it is quite funny]

“I grow tired of these witless partygoers! It is time for me to release the full extent of my wrath upon this whole misbegotten island! Once I have defeated this last petty crook, I shall unleash my full fatal fury on the world AND THE WORLD SHALL DIE IN SHRIEKING AGONY!!! – Oh, wait, this one’s talking sense!

[One of the Hellions finally gives up the location. ]

“I have the location. It is but a simple matter to force the cretin Dimitri to mark it down on a map for me. Soon, I shall have the Hellion, and when I have the Hellion, I shall have the Book, and when I have the Book, I shall have the means to command an army of bibbly-bubbly sea monsters, and with them I SHALL RULE THE WORLD AHAHAHA!!!

Mission 4: Get the Book and Notes

[The entry popup for this mission is highly amusing]

“Fire, fire, everywhere! I’ll be adding to the heat soon, I’ll wager!

[I’ve got 8 objectives now; I need 6 more journals as well as the Book apparently. I don’t know why]

“Aha, I see a hostage! I think this must be the archaeologist, the search for whom I abandoned after finding that Tarot card! Lucky for me he was already here, or else I’d have wasted my time! Burn in molten cages of solidified fire, puny Hellions!

[I release the archaeologist, and he runs off after warning me not to open the Book]

“Come, puny ingrates, bow before my magmaic might! Oho? Books, in this house of unintelligence? I don’t mind if I do!

[A bookshelf reveals a journal of Henry Veidt, the archaeologist. There are more to look for, and together they tell the tale of the Book. I continue through the building (which is the Hellion burning map). Eventually I find Duke Mordrogar, the Hellionn Boss]

“Here, is my apotheosis! DIE, HELLION, DIE!!!



[It’s a close thing, to be sure. His fire holds vs my lava holds lol. I eventually win, though, and then all I have to do is find the remaining journals and exit …if I’m brutally honest, I think this mission could do without the journals. I don’t think they add much and they make for a lot of wandering about. It’s quite a hard map to find glowies in, with the foggy haze everywhere. I’d try to find another way to get the info over]

“Finally, I have the Book of the Deep. Dimwit is babbling some rubbish about destroying the colony of the mer-folk, but I shall not listen to his brainless warblings! I shall travel to this colony, and I shall use the Book to bind them to my merciless will, and then, THEN, THE WHOLE WORLD SHALL KNOW MY NAME, MWAHAHAHAAA! Dimwit, you worthless peon! Lead me to the colony, I command you!

[Dimitri ‘explains’ to me what I’ve annotated in the Book and the journals – It’s nice you’re trying to put control into the hands of the Player, but Dimitri still seems to overshadow me a bit in terms of directing the arc. Perhaps you could dispense with his voice here, and have the Player take over somehow? Italics describing the Players actions, maybe? Anyway, to cut a long story short, we know where the colony is. Dimitri’s going to come along and help]

Mission 5: Destroy the Colony

[The map is one from the Cimeroran set. I start to explore]

“Yes, yes, MWAHAHAHAAA!!! Now, at last, I shall find my true route to domination over the land – through the forces of THE SEA, AHAHAHA!!!

[While I’m ranting, I guess, Dimitri must have run off ahead, because I find him a little ways ahead carrying a captured Coralax]



“Ah, Dimwit, you have already procured a specimen for me, good, good…Let us dispense with these other samples…yes yes, my foolish friend, go on, attack them…I shall cover you from the rear…heh heh…

[Dimitri drops like a stone in the first fight. He’s utterly rubbish; no chance of him stealing any XP lol. A bit too weak, in fact – I was taken by surprise by his death]



“Ha! Now that that idiot gadgeteer’s out of the way, I can proceed…Onward – TO VICTORY!!!

[I move through the caverns fighting the Coralax as I go. It’s good fun.]



[ The Nav has a massive shopping list of objectives to achieve; among them the mysterious ‘destroy the Book in a barrel of acid’…I thought I needed the Book for my nefarious needs…

[er, lol my apologies. I’ve just reread the clues and briefing. I think I was letting VEI 8s take on it carry me away lol. I have to destroy the Book in order to stop the Coralax from…doing something bad? Hmm…Let’s see what transpires]

“…What’s this? Aha, the archaeologist…He’s no concern of mine…I’ll let him die…hmm, but maybe he has useful information…

[I release Henry Veidt (since it’s a Nav Objective, and discover that his wife has been transmogrified into a Coralax. He vomits before running away]



“Well, he wasn’t much help! The fool shall be first on my list for the vaporization vats when I rule the world! Onward! I need to find the leader of this slimy civilization, so that I can use the esoteric magicks entombed within this mighty tome to ensnare them to my malign will!

[I explore further, and encounter the Coralax I kidnapped earlier. This time she’s not a captive, she’s a Boss Encounter, and very hard to defeat, which seems incongruous since last time she just came with me meekly, and also she’s been tortured by Dimitri during her time with him (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that he let her go with a tracking device attached in order to find the location of the Coralax Colony – I like this little method of getting the location of the Colony very much, but if it was somehow introduced as the Player’s idea, it would work a lot better for a Villainous arc), and so I’d think she’d be a pushover. She kills me, in fact, which annoys the hell out of me after the mildly challenging fights I’ve been enjoying so far. I hosp, and trudge back to her.]

“DIE, vile aquatic witch! DIE!!! There, that’s died her good and proper!

[I carry on. Eventually, I find a large room with quite a lot of objectives crammed into it.]

“Aha, here, at last, my terrible plans shall surely come to fruition! Let me see, what’s in this Book…Hmm, it appears to be written in some kind of ancient indecipherable script! Luckily, I am a certified genius at ancient writings! Why, I once unraveled the very meaning from the hitherto inunderstandable Scrabblings of Bratwurst the Illiterate, Moron-Emperor of the Kingdom of Gorm! So…read it upside down, ignore every fourth letter…assume that weird little mark that looks like a blood clot is an ‘e’…Yes! It’s as clear as mud! I must destroy this altar in order to bind the Cursed God of these foul monsters to my soul! AHAHAHA!!! I am seconds away from UNMATCHED POWER!!!



[I smash the altar to bits, and am ambushed for my troubles ]

“Ah yes, they sense my approaching subjugation and attack in desperation! FOOLS!!!! DIE!!!!

[I dispatch the ambush and destroy the altar. The clue that drops tells that VEI 8s ‘deciphering’ aside, the altar’s destruction prevents the release of Meluria, the god that the Coralax were trying to release to take them to victory over the land-dwellers. There are still some objectives to perform, however; I have to plant 4 bombs, destroy the book in a barrel of acid, and defeat the leader.]

“Hmm…well, I’ve destroyed the altar…I wonder when the god will turn up to prostrate itself before me in obeisance…any minute now, I expect…



“Hmm…maybe there’s some more information in the Book…ok…holding the Book up to the light to read through the pages…ignore anything that has more than two lines…treat all pictograms of headless corpses as synonyms of ‘yummy!’…OK! I have it! Obviously, the god cannot manifest until the spells of binding have been fully realized by transforming them into gas! Now then…how can I dissolve the Book somehow…aha! There’s a handy barrel of acid over there! How fortuitous!

[lol works for VEI 8!]

“…Aha, AHAHA, YES, YES, I CAN FEEL IT, I CAN FEEL THE MIGHTY PRESENCE OF THE GOD OF THE DEEPS, THE TITAN, THE INVINCIBLE PONDEROUS GOD OF THE WATERY DEEPS, TREMBLE, EARTH-DWELLERS, FOR THE KRAKEN WAKES!!! …any second now…any second…

“Hmm…well patently my plot cannot have failed. That would be preposterous! It probably needs a bit longer…for the yeast to rise, or something.... While I’m waiting, I’ll just polish off this last Coralax, and maybe blow the place up for good measure before I leave…



[The High Priestess’ dialogue talks about the suffering Meluria (The Meluira I’ve just prevented from coming by smashing up the altar) will bring me, and also talks of the Book as though it hasn’t just been dropped into an acid bath scant feet away from her. She also spawns an ambush at half health, and if I hadn’t luckily leveled at the High Priestesses demise, the ambush would have killed me. That would possibly have caused the old me to ragequit, tbh. The new me would put it down to Life, and finished it anyway lol. All that remains are the bombs.]

“1 bomb…2 bombs…3 bombs…and 4! There. Now to make my escape in my new submarine and wait for the Coralax God to manifest as my all-powerful yet utterly subservient slave! MWAHAHA! Soon, soon! …It can’t be long coming, surely…

[Exit. Dimitri’s debriefing is very nice. He hands over a huge wedge of cash and a ticket to Port Oakes, which is a nice touch at this level. And his final words are great]

I did have fun on this arc, in general, especially at the start and towards the end, although I do have some reservations. The opener was really good, the Coralax are a great mob group to fight, and Dimitri is an amusing contact with great dialogue. I did however feel that the maps are often too big and not linear enough, especially in Mission 2, which I felt dragged a bit. The sidetrack to the Hellions was a little disappointing since I was enjoying the Coralax so much, but I do like the warehouse rave map and the squealers were funny. The last mission’s initial sight of the Nav window chock full of objectives was a bit daunting; I think you could use a little Less Is More, and trim the arc of some of its chaff.

That’s all easily rectified, and in any case is just minor technical stuff. My biggest negative is that the plot doesn’t feel very villainous – It felt like I was Saving The World, or it would have done had VEI 8 not taken his own stance on what was happening. My Heroes could have done this arc without any real conscience problems. My villains mostly want more scheming and power-grabbing and stuff like that.

I think that if I’d have played it through without VEI 8s narration, I’d have rated it 3 stars, based on a 5 with a star removed for the technical ‘faults’ and another removed for the relative lack of villainy. However, I’m rating based on Amount of Fun Had, and I’m loving my new alt more and more with every level and with every barmy idea he has. I rated this arc 4 stars.


I’m at lvl 8 after doing both of those arcs, btw, and I’ve got 1030 tickets. Quite happy with that

Eco.

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 review, it was certainly quite a (dare I say...) mad take on it.

Looks like I'll be doing some more tweaking, the life of an author is certainly a restless one.

Thanks for the great review, I'm really glad you enjoyed playing through it! And providing, as always, a thoughtful discussion of what you saw and a fun-to-read write up; I bet you're an RP beast.

To address a few things you mentioned:

You mentioned leaving the allies behind in the last mission because they were too helpful. I put them in there because, as a villain, it's always fun to betray people, but mainly to help ultra-squishies players. The issue of lost XP was a concern though and something I could adjust: both Jim and The Ron-ster are set at lieutenant level and could be dropped to minion. From what I can see, Jim doesn't do all that much half the time anyways, other than web grenade foes, which kind of fits his slacker character anyways, heh. Anyways, it's an issue I'm still considering.

You mentioned Rabbitual Criminal and having seen him again. He appears in all three arcs I've made to magnify the pun in his name on the phrase "habitual criminal" and the line in his bio "Oh yeah, I've fought this guy before..." My little joke to myself. I decided to just give him a walk-on part in this arc as I didn't want any low level toons to feel burdened by two boss fights.

Making it more clear to run back to the pitcher isn't a bad idea, I'll see if I can't get that in there. As for making it a destructible object to help with the badges, that's something else that I thought about as well later. Consider it on the list!

Staying and fighting the LongBow after you click it and the mission "ends" is something I do when I play through it, just because of sheer XP greed on my part. But it's a tough ambush - at least for squishies I've run through this - so at least anyone facing has an insta-escape option in clicking the exit button. I've thought about putting something in there about "time to run!" but I was thinking if I put it in as a clue, the hapless player might get whacked while clicking up their clue window and sifting through to find it and then reading it. Maybe I can mention that in the "now go back to where you stashed your pitcher" bit.

As for the number of glowies in the first two arcs: I did that because I believe I've read that placing a bunch of them around helps cut down on the number of foes on a map (I might be wrong on that). I didn't want the first 2 missions to be endless non-stamina+resting battles that slow-playing low level toons often face; that always drives me nuts. On the other hand, after running a handful of lowbies through this arc, I found I didn't gain as many levels as I would have liked. Think maybe I should cut the number of glowies to let more foes spawn and risk the downtime factor?

I did make a point (unless it done got et by the MA editing bug that sometimes doesn't save changes) to drop a "[not needed for mission complete]" on both of those glowies' clues to make it clear that the rest of them can be skipped. Maybe I should add some color to that text (does that window allow for color text?) or all-caps it or something. Another item to be put on the list.

And by the way, that's a great screencap of Fats getting whammied!

Thanks again for you help! People who provide feedback like this are the lifeblood of the MA.

By the way, I love you toon's bio! But are we allowed to put something in there like "bat#@&*" and not face dev's wrath? O_O

The Most Important Thing, Arc ID 266877, by @Aiysinia Heroic, Very Long (2 small, 3 unique maps). ‘Deeply tragic and emotionally driven mature arc’, it says on the tin. I’ve heard a few things about this arc, mostly very good, and then there’s that 1-star review from Glazius. I skimmed the review as I didn’t want too much of the arc spoiled for me, but since Glazius’ reviews are very stream of consciousness anyway (ha, listen to MrCaptain ‘The Psystem’ Man talking here!), I didn’t get much about the plot. Once I’ve finished my run, maybe I’ll go read Glaz’ review and then I might have some comments, I don’t know.

Anyway, I’m taking Tommy Atkins, my lvl 32 MA/SR scrapper into this one. This will be his first outing since the new power customization let me get rid of that awful ballet-dancer kick animation (crippling axe kick, was it?) The level range is flagged at 46+, so I’ve chosen no bosses, no AVs, normal settings for all else.



“Family…family’s important, everyone knows that. My family…last time I saw ‘em was in 1944. I ‘ad a wife, an’ a son. Joan…and George. Georgie…he’d be 67 now, if he was still alive. Oh, ‘e made it through the war, alright. ‘Is mother didn’t, though. She was killed by a Nazi bomb 4 weeks after I ‘disappeared’ But little Georgie should ‘ave bin a sprightly pensioner, eh, by now? …Well what the Nazis couldn’t do, the Rikti did. My Georgie died in a Rikti bombing raid. And yer know when? Just 3 months before I arrived…’s almost as if Fate was laughin’ at me, eh?

“Still…yer gotta make do, eh? Lots of folks ‘ave lost their family, an’ at least mine ‘ad a good innings. Some ‘ave got it much worse. My last job, fer instance…that poor girl…

“’Er name was Amy…a young ‘ero, time-manipulator she was…called ‘erself Slipstream. She was in a terrible state when she called me…some villain called Albright ‘ad kidnapped ‘er mother an’ sister, wanted ‘er ter use ‘er powers ter assassinate someone. She’d already been stealin’ stuff fer ‘im, afraid he’d hurt her family. She said that ‘e’d called ‘er ter a new lab, an’ she wanted me ter follow ‘er and pretend ter just bust in and stop ‘im…

[The contact looks good, has a nice bio, and I like her already. I personally don’t need the [she blah blah] stuff you’ve added for effect to explain her appearance and mannerisms during the briefing, as I think the dialogue stands on its own fine, but having the extra there doesn’t spoil anything.]

Mission 1: Rescue the Callahans

"After Amy’d entered the lab, I ‘ung around in an alley fer 5 minutes ter let ‘er get far enough so that Albright wouldn’t suspect ‘er of tippin’ me off. Then I slipped in…

“I found trouble right from the off. Mercenaries, togged up in some very fancy gear. Easy enough fer me, though.



“Then I met Amy. She’d told me ter rough ‘er up a bit, ter make it look like she hadn’t dobbed Albright in, like. Blimey, the girl wanted a good show put on! She went at me like a bloomin’ tiger!



“I actually ‘ad ter knock ‘er out at the end!

“Then I went on, lookin’ fer ‘er mother an’ sister, an’ this Albright bloke. I took out some more mercenaries on the way…and then I found a fridge…




“…We can’t unsee what we’ve seen…we can’t undo what we know’s bin done…’er family was in that fridge, cut up like…meat.



“That made me really angry, that. Why do bastards like Albright do the things they do? I was going ter punch the answer ter that out of him…

[whoo…that’s quite harsh. I haven’t been in the mission long, either. I’m going to enjoy kicking the crap out of Albright]

“I went into a bit of a rage then, I gorra admit. I cleared out that lab, all of ‘em, every stinkin’ last merc sod.



“An’ then I found Albright, an’ I went ter town on ‘im. ‘E tried ter sic some combat robots on me, but I just shrugged ‘em off.



“And then I punted ‘im all over ‘is dirty lab.





“Then, just as I was about ter really put ‘is lights out fer good, the swine teleported out!

[Cool fight. Albright was an Orange Boss. Tommy really was able to ignore his henchmen and literally kicked him around the lab. It felt great, really lol. Albright reveals something at the end, which I won’t spoil here]

“Amy was a mess when I told ‘er. Understandable, blimey…she cried and slept fer most of a day…then she asked me ter ‘elp ‘er some more. Of course I said yes…we still ‘ad ter bring Albright ter justice.

[The debriefing and briefing for the next mission are well-written and quite depressing. I really hope there’s a happy ending somewhere in this arc]

“Amy thought some answers might be found in Albright’s other lab, the one ‘e ‘ad her working from earlier. She gave me a gadget so’s I could keep in contact with her, an’ I set off fer the lab.

Mission 2: Investigate Dr Albright’s Lab

“Once inside, Amy contacted me on the doohickey. She’d used it ter scan the surroundings…the lab’s self-destruct was set. I ‘ad ter find that an’ disable it first….

[hm…nice way of letting the contact feed me info]

“A few of the mercenaries were there; I let ‘em ‘ave it. I found the self-destruct an’ Amy disabled it fer me…then I ‘ad ter look fer a storage unit she directed me ter. It was supposed ter ‘ave some kind of Time Device, but it was empty. Amy was quite upset at that. She told me ter get cracking sharpish – someone was deleting data from their computer systems. Now, I’m sorry, but I just can’t get used ter these new-fangled computer things, but I am a dab ‘and at fisticuffs, so if there was someone fer me ter give a twattin’, well, I could do that!

[I find the software-deleting mercenary and defeat her fairly easily]

“After that, I moved upstairs…there were a bunch of computers. Amy had me hack them with the device she’d given me, and after a few , she broke down…said she knew why her family’d been killed. She was cryin’ fit ter bust, poor kid. I ‘ad ter get outta there and get back to her.

“On my way, I met another mercenary. She’d come in ter destroy all the evidence. I set ‘er straight, an’ found the thing Amy’d wanted me ter filch from the base – a tiny little Time Crystal thing. An’ there was also a dossier on Amy…revealin’ [something about her past which I won’t spoil].

[Nice mission. It’s a really small map, but you’ve crammed in quite a lot. The backtracking might annoy some people, but I don’t mind it tbh. The mercenaries are brilliant fun for Tommy to fight ie easy enough even when there are three oranges together! ]

“The next day, Amy called me over again. She was sick, maybe dyin’, but she was worried about what Albright was plannin’ She’d been examinin’ the files I’d got from the merc at the base, an’ she’d found out more about her past…Albright was siphonin’ her time powers, ter send himself back into the past…he was maybe goin’ ter change the timeline, an’ who knew what that’d do ter the world! Amy wanted me er go after ‘im an’ stop ‘im…

“Yeah, I thought it…she could send me back into the past, she said…an’ I thought ‘How far?’…this age ‘as got plenty of ‘eroes, I thought…but my family, back then, they didn’t ‘ave no-one…no-one was there ter save Joan…

“But there was Amy…poor kid ‘ad lost ‘er mother an’sister just 2 days ago, butchered too…an’ she wasn’t thinkin’ of ‘erself, she wasn’t goin’ ter try ter stop that…she just wanted ter stop the madman from doin’ whatever he was plannin’ ter do. Proper little ‘ero. Stop the madman, save the world…so I stopped thinkin’ about Joan, hugged ‘er, and agreed…

Mission 3: Capture Dr Albright

“1998, that’s when I ended up after she’d done ‘er timey-wimey thing…in some sort of university building, it looked like…an’ I could ‘ear Albright up ahead. I jogged along a corridor and then down some stairs to a basement…

“There ‘e was, the evil madman…this time…this time I was goin’ ter clean ‘is clock good an’ proper!




[Another fun fight with Albright. He’s exactly pitched perfectly for me to get some cool screenies whilst not being bothered by his robots lol.]

“The sod TPed away again, but ‘e’d been down ‘ere fer some reason, so I ‘ad a rummage round. I found a box with ‘is name on it and an old Arachnos uniform…weird…Also, a photo album of him with a kid an’ a woman…even the bad guys can ‘ave families, I guess…I sat there fer ages, lookin’ at those photos…his wife looked happy…his son looked happy…I wondered why a man who could make, who could love a family…why a man like that could do what he did to someone else’s?

“Then, I ‘eard somethin’ odd. At the back of the basement, a voice. I checked it out cautiously. It was Albright! A younger Albright. And with him was some kind of mutant human. It attacked me. I put it out of its misery, an’ then went at Albright again. This time, when ‘e was takin’ my final punch in ‘is face, ‘e didn’t escape. Down ‘e went. I got a call from Amy then, but before she could bring me back ter the future, she got cut off! I thought I was trapped fer a minute, but then I felt ‘er pullin’ me back ter the now. She was in a world of hurt, she’d been attacked by another ‘ero, she said. Talk about a bad week…

[This part of the narrative is my only real gripe so far. I think the hero attacking her is going too far tbh. It’s already hard enough on poor Amy, I don’t think you need ‘every hero in Paragon’ after her. You need to be careful not to engender compassion overload]

“Amy was fading fast, she said. There wasn’t much time, and she had to send me back after Albright again. I readied myself…

Mission 4: Pursue Dr Albright

“Bloody ‘ell…where the ‘ell am I? It looks like a bloody lunatic asylum!

[ I LOVE this map]

“I could hear screaming in the distance…in the first room I found a woman in trouble from those infected mutant people that Albright ‘ad made…it was Amy’s mother, but younger…broke my heart when she thanked me fer saving ‘er…she ran off before I could …I don’t know what I would ‘ave done, anyway…



“An’ then I met Albright again…the younger version…or a younger version…younger even than the one I’d already downed in the Uni. I did the same to this one, with relish!




“This place was a madhouse…there were the crazed experiments of Albrights on every floor…attacking me without letup. I ‘eard moanin’ from up a balcony, an’ found another poor soul in need of ‘elp. ‘E ran off too once I’d dealt with ‘is attackers.

“I found a strange workstation, Amy told me it was for producin’ Arachnos poison gas…I carried on…

“It was ‘orrible, that place…floor after floor, an onslaught of mad, damaged people, turned from mothers and fathers and sons and daughters into…animals, in agony and despair and rage…I couldn’t reason with ‘em, I couldn’t truce, they gave me no choice…my fists were bruised and bloody from hitting them…I found one more of Albrights victims, still saveable before the change…but there were so many I just had to beat into silence. One of them cried about her baby being taken by Albright even as she tried ter machete me…She cried all through the fight, and cried as she died…

[I find a datapad stashed under a desk]

“Albright’s datapad, said Amy…it told us where ‘e was planning ter go next. She wanted me ter go on, though. This was Albrights main base. It could ‘ave information…

[I continue fighting my way through to the end room, where a number of clues await]



“That last room ‘ad more of the experimental subjects, and the truth of why Albright had turned from a family man into a monster…e’d lost his family, and ter bring ‘em back, e’d started on his monstrous plan. That was the reason, but it wasn’t an excuse in my book. I’d lost me family too, right?

“When Amy brought me back that time, she was on death’s door, looked like. She was in a right state. But she’d worked out what Albright was plannin’ ter do, and ‘ad information that Albright didn’t! Albright was goin’ back in time ter save ‘is family, but the only way ter really save them was ter stop ‘im! Amy ‘ad enough strength left ter send me back one more time…returnin’ would be up ter me…

Mission 5: Break the Causality loop

[Wicked title, that. I tried not to spoil it as much as I can, but I have to say that I really like the neat Reveal here]

“Back in time again…this time I had to save Albright…from ‘imself… a few days ago I was smashing his face in, wishin’ I could kill ‘im, an’ now I’m ‘ere ter save ‘im…

[The map is the burning Arachnos base.]

“Arachnos…made a change ter be ‘hittin’ without guilt pangs. These were soldiers…an’ the mercenaries were ‘ere, too.

“And there was Albright…the younger one. He called out ter me, begged me ter save ‘is family. I said nothing, just dealt with ‘is guards. Then I carried on…




“Around the next corner, I met Albright again, but this one I could punch. ‘E ‘ad ‘is robots with ‘im again, but they were nothing’. I gave the sod a right pastin’.



“When ‘e was down, I took ‘is time travel gizmo, like Amy ‘ad told me. I could use it ter return ter the future. After that, all I needed ter do was rescue Albrights wife. She was in the last room, guarded by some more Arachnos. They were easy. She ran off ter join her husband. With the future Albright’s mistaken plan stopped, they’d be safe now, and Albright wouldn’t turn into the monster he ‘ad turned into…which suddenly gave me an ‘orrible thought. I’m no brainbox, that’s fer sure, an’ all this time travel malarkey gen’rally just makes me noggin ache, but if I’d prevented Albright from turnin’ into a madman…nah, best not think of that…I’d get back ter Amy, tell ‘er the good news…

[Exit, to the debriefing, and…heh, tbh I suspected what would await me back in the present, and your souvenir, which finishes off the story, presented the situation very nicely indeed.]

[End]

Right then. Whoo, where to begin?

I’ll start with the mundane technical stuff.

The maps were spot on, all of them great choices. It’s refreshing to see an arc using small maps with lots of actual plot in them. I’m a massive fan of the asylum map, and it was perfect for its mission. The burning Arachnos base map was also very nice, and the university basement map was a great mission.

The mobs were also top banana. I love the design of the mercs, they really are stellar IMO. I recall that your GF designed them? Awesome. They didn’t give Tommy any unpleasantness at all during combat. They weren’t pushovers, but none of my personal bugbears (mezzes, excessive KD, the dreaded slows) gave me any gyp. The infected humans were also good fun to fight and fit the plot. I also appreciated the fact that Albright was just a guy in a scientists outfit, not all togged-up in a powersuit or somesuch.

Your use of chained objectives is extensive, and personally I like this up to appoint. Sometimes when meeting chains like this I get to a point where I think the last objective is upon me and then I’m ‘oh, another objective…and another one…and…sigh’, but that’s generally because there are too many or it’s sloppy writing. happily, I’ve got no complaints at all about your use of chains. I didn’t feel they were too many, or gratuitous.

How did I feel about the story? It is quite grim in places, especially in the briefings where poor Amy’s sobbing and, well, dying, on top of having been told her mum’s been found chopped up whilst alive in a fridge. I’m not criticizing this, it is what it is, and I’m very glad I played it, but sometimes I think ‘fun’ isn’t the right word to use to describe my experience.

I’m not suggesting you put any jokes in, and its not all Vampire Dark, thank heavens, but as I said earlier, I think having her beaten up by a hero is one kick in the teeth from fate too many.

The timey-wimey plot is fine as far as I’m concerned, and without thinking about it too much, it even seems to make sense…

Overall, one of the more interesting arcs I’ve reviewed, certainly. I rated it 4 stars.

Eco.

PS I did just go and red Glaz’ review all the way through, and this line seemed to explain his take on it as I see it:

“Seeing "mature" in the description filled me with an ill foreboding.”

I think it was doomed in his eyes from then.

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."

I think i'll have more time to play soon, so i'm open to submissions again. I've stil got a small queue of arcs i want to run, but if anyone has an arc they want run, please ask. If you want Your arc run by a specific toon from among those i've featured already, say which one and i'll endeavor to use that one

room for 5 arcs in my queue.

Eco

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."

Man, I've just read the review for Waddles Revenge.

I love your characters MCM. They're all brilliant (although now I'm a bit worried about your mental state after reading Psystem arguing with itself over the hat and mustache).

My fav review thread on the forums!