Aisy's Happy, Squishy Review Corner

Thank you very much for the review Aisynia! <^_^> I was wondering about how Full Auto would work out >.<; it doesn't hurt any of my characters very much... but even my blaster has about 30% resist to S/L (which I always forget I have ><)

It is meant to be a bit tough; but I don't want it to be frustratingly tough >.< that's the tricky part really, figuring out how tough is too tough.

Part 2 is in fact in the works <,< But it's been sorta heavily delayed due to several things. Once the contest is done though, I'll get back to it in earnest (well and maybe before that even!). This is liable to be a trilogy, but it may go on beyond even that, depending on where the war takes us. (Once I've gotten your anonymous seargent's story told, I may move on to other sections of the war)

RE: Spoilered section:

(Sorry this is long <T_T> Some of this requires explanation of in-universe tech, so you're getting a chunk of my story bible here)

-----------------------------------------

Some of this is sadly just the limits on the format <;_;> I'll address what I can and the 'why', but I also want to admit freely that some of these are me intentionally invoking Fridge Logic - basically putting things out there that make the story playable in this format; but aren't as consistent as I'd prefer (and thus I'm relying on your suspension of disbelief to get you through the story before you notice "Wait a sec...")

1) The press-ganged workers:

Originally, this arc had no less than 3 Penal Officer mobs, including the Lt. Commander. Combined, their pets gave you the feel of slave workers forced to fight you... unfortunately, they can be quite a challenge on their own, and if you inadvertently end up fighting 2 at once... it gets icky fast.

I tried nerfing them several ways, and it always made fighting the Lt. Commander less satisfying. (Due to space issues, he uses the same file as the generic Penal Officers, much as the first battle with Lt. Andrea uses a default female Iron Guard)

Working in a one-off slave mob didn't work well either for a number of reasons; space being the limiting factor - I had to decide if making a one-off would be worth the space; I decided it wasn't not just because it would only get used in the one mission; but also because said workers would end up all being identical. Given that they aren't armored or anything, differentiated slaves would feel most important to me to make them look 'right' >< and sadly it's just not possible with current space limitations.

2) Why did Earth send only one ship?

There's two answers for this, one author-based reason, and one in-story reason:

The first is simple playability - It's far easier to tell a story about you fighting your way through a space ship if you stay on one ship. It also makes the linchpin of the whole thing very, very clear. If I'd included say, a flotilla with the Wellington, you'd end up with a different bit of Fridge Logic *or* a need for Wellington to have some kind of crazy abilities beyond just being a 'big damn ship'.

Including a fleet would necessitate explaining why the Wellington's destruction is key to the whole thing - even being a monstrous battleship, I have a tough time imagining the Terrans fleeing at it's loss unless the Martians (who generally have fewer ships anyway) were pretty much un-hurt by the battle up to that point.

It also eliminates the need to talk about those other ships - because that would mean adding yet more walls of text to an already text heavy arc >.> Which eats up space, and the character limit that could be used to confer additional dramatic tension to your personal situation.

Now from an in-story perspective:

The Terran Coalition is something of a cross between the colonial powers of the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as some of the megalomania of the fascists of the 1930s-40s. (There is however no racism against humans present - this is a century where genuine aliens exist; and it becomes a lot harder to have a prejudice against someone who looks generally like you, but with a different color skin; than say... a guy with tentacles coming out of his face. >.> Still, the general mentality is there - "We take what we want" is practically an un-written motto.)

You know how Hitler was fond of impractical super-weapons? Think of it in those terms. The Terran Coalition leadership at the highest levels are people who's military ranks are invariably purchased. (If you look up the practice of buying commissions, it's a historical precedent that's actually older than most merit-based promotional systems)

So these people, who are generally relatively ignorant of battlefield reality, and when ordering new weapons they tend to go for the truly grandiose. Things that are visually impressive, ludicrously powerful... and that are expensive enough an entire fleet of light cruisers could have been bought instead.

Sending the Wellington alone was meant to be something like a less-nasty Death Star attack. The idea being to show that the Terran Coalition has weapons so powerful that one ship can conquer a planet, and thus forcing their other colonies and former colonies to get back in line. At least, that's their logic.

And to be fair, the Wellington really is a powerful, massive ship that has some of the best technology available to humans. It's impractical largely for economic reasons, but it is a functional ship.

3) Where's the Martian fleet?

This coincides with the above answer on both points. From a gameplay and story perspective it's just simpler if I keep it as a David against Goliath battle (where you are the sling stone); rather than trying to depict a fleet action in a game that can't handle it well.

(Though if we ever get a space zone...)

Story-wise; Mars broke away from Terra in a short but brutal war some 30 years ago. Neither side was happy with the resolution - Terra of course didn't want to lose a profitable colony - especially so close to home. Mars on the other hand had initially hoped to overthrow the whole thing, essentially making it an internal revolution rather than a breakaway.

Needless to say, tensions have been high pretty much the entire time. Mars and Terra both have other colonies however - and unfortunately for Mars, all of it's colonies are outside the solar system. Much like the Cold War in real life, both sides have to do a lot of 'Show the flag' type missions - showing their people in the colonies that they're there, showing the other side that they won't hesitate to retaliate, etc...

So most of Mars' ships (as well as most of Terra's) are out in the colonies at the start of this.

Mars being relatively undefended is a combination of lack of manpower (Mars has fewer ships, part of why the shipyards on Deimos and Phobos are so important); and also an error in judgment. 30 years of relative (if tense) peace, and the assumption that any attack would be presaged by a build up of enemy ships basically left Mars with the belief that they'd be able to see an attack coming. Sending a single ship that had been in Earth's orbit for months before this kinda caught everyone off guard.

4) Boarding Torpedoes and Range:

It's an issue of maximum effective range really, that and the fact that boarding torpedoes are a little different than standard torpedoes.

A boarding torpedo is much, much larger than an ordinary torpedo, and caries an entire squad of marines and their equipment. Needless to say that means a bigger engine and more fuel. What made it risky and less-than ideal in this case is that at the range they were firing, the torpedoes had to coast most of the way; saving their remaining fuel for last-minute course corrections.

Trying the same trick with ordinary torpedoes would be rather fruitless though, because whereas the manned torpedoes lost guidance at the last second due to crossing the Wellington's shields; an explosive torpedo* would have detonated against the shield. That'd be fine in standard combat of course, where pulse cannons and other things can help damage the shield and eventually knock it down; at this range though it'd just be a waste of ammo, as by the time another volley was fired, it'd be back to full power.

As for why the Wellington isn't doing the same to the Vallis - this is a risky trick. By firing the torpedoes at this distance, there's the possibility that many will simply miss altogether as they don't have enough fuel to make necessary course corrections at the last second; not to mention the potential of boarding torpeodes getting scrambled at the last second.

Unlike the Vallis, the Wellington isn't in a desperate situation. The Terran Coalition isn't nice generally; but they don't want to waste marines (who aren't easy to train and wear expensive equipment) on an attack that's rather unnecessary. Especially since ideally their Marine compliment would likely be securing ground positions post-space battle if things had gone according to plan.

It also probably isn't clear in the story, but many of the torpedoes did miss**. There's just enough fuel left at the tail end of their flight to alter course - a miscalculation means you're stuck waiting to see if someone's going to come get you or not. Like I said, this was kind of desperation move - a step far outside of standard tactics. (Ideally, boarding torpedoes are meant to be used at relatively close ranges after you've blown down an opponent's shields and crippled other areas - typically the goal is to make the ship surrender so you can capture and refit it after battle. After all, building new ships is more expensive than re-fitting captured ones.)


5) Why didn't the Wellington just blow the torpedoes up?

They did, a few. There's ECM systems at play however, which makes targeting a boarding torpedo that isn't actively thrusting a little tricky. (There's no heat signature to follow, and the engine trail is non-existent while the thrusters aren't on, so the only way to track is by the metal in the hull, and all the while your sensors are competing with an ECM suite. Of course once you get close enough, and once the thrusters kick in for that last course correction, it becomes easier - so a few torpedoes would have been destroyed. But you weren't in a position to see it happen really)

Of course the biggest reason is simple gameplay; it'd be a real short story if your torpedo blew up on the way in eh? <,< (I didn't want to end up with a situation where it was just you all by yourself/with just your one squad going "DOOM" on the Terrans. I wanted to make sure the player would encounter at least some soldiers from their own side. So that necessitated at least a good number of boarding torps actually landing)

As for the tactic itself - it's been done; but it's not exactly common by any stretch. It's kind of like in Star Trek where a situation pops up where this weeks Negative Space Wedgie isn't responding to any normal technique. So you jury-rig something on the fly, or come up with an unconventional or dangerous plan out of desperation.

To a captain, ordering an attack like this is practically like ordering their marines to commit suicide (and as Sheas notes at the end - very few of them come back at the end). So, it's been done, but I could probably count the instances on one hand, and the number of 'successes' is... well less.

6) Atmosphere -

This is a blatant handwave on my part >.> I honestly didn't want to cut away from the action to mention something a lot of people won't pick up on. The handwave is basically that there are forcefield projectors throughout the ship, capable of sealing breached areas off. It's never mentioned though, since like I said, I didn't want to distract from the actual story for a technical thing >.>

----

I hope that explains some of it <^_^> I wish I could put it all in-game and make these explanations easily available <;_;> but there's neither the space nor a good way to do it without it interrupting the narrative. (Ideally I'd do it like Mass Effect, with it's encyclopedia system where, as you encounter new things, they show up in the encyclopedia.)

I admit I've been tempted to, and maybe someday actually will, make an "Academy" program who's sole purpose is to explain the universe, including history and tech. That said, it'd probably bore most folks <;_;> so IF I do it, it'll be only if I have extra architect slots I'm not using.

*Boarding torpedoes have countermeasures to deal with shielding; though as the story shows it's still a risky proposition, as even if it doesn't smash you on the way in, it can fry all your electronics. As for the obvious followup "Why don't they put countermeasures in regular torpedoes" - There's a few reasons, but the simplest is cost. Boarding torpedoes can afford to be expensive because their payload is also expensive. (They also tend to be recoverable after a successful engagement) - Normal torpedoes... not so much.

** This is part of what I was trying to indicate with Corporal Redding's first report to you. Basically the situation is chaotic - some torpedoes missed, most got scrambled and didn't hit their assigned areas.

Here's my thoughts on your arc "Mutually Assured Destruction" ID 246007. I would just like to preface this by saying I did not finish the arc, but for good reason.

We'll lets start with the good. The writing for the most part is excellent. The contact has a very well defined personality, which is quite a rarity amongst MA contacts. I was quite interested too see where his story might be going, until I quit in the middle of mission four. The only real complaint I have is with mission 3, where he pretty much tells you "If you are a villain, too bad, you are going to play a hero this time". Granted, I was playing a hero at the time, but forced morality derailment is never something that works.

Now, for the bad. This arc is hard. Really Hard. You might even say ABSURDLY HARD. As in "The I wanna be the guy of MA arcs". Granted, is it never hard in a stupid or cheap way (okay well it is kind of cheap). It is just
HARD.
And frankly, I can't see many people bothering to play past the forth mission. Making players fight a Psi Blast/Willpower EB is bad enough, making them fight it AGAIN is worse, but when you FILL A MISSION WITH THEM, AND ALSO HAVE OTHER ELITE BOSSES IN THE SAME SPAWN AS THEM, you have officially crossed the line.

So in short, the story is great, but it's buried under the ridiculous difficulty.

Hehe, danke again Aisynia <^_^>b Sorry for the length of all that info btw <X_X>; it's one of those things I always wished I'd had a chance to explain to people; but the opportunity in-mission just isn't there. <._.>; (Thanks for listening while I nerded out about my own arc <X_X>;

No, it's cool, I love to read stuff like that

Cool, ill give it another look. I didn't rate it in game after I played it anyways.

Review Six

Might Makes Right: The One With Tin Hats Arc ID: 5213

Author: @Frija (Tangler on forums)

Score: ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

Character used: Singularity XSR Lv.49 Elec/Nin Stalker (Click for picture)


Overview (only very mild spoilers):

This arc starts off with you learning that some jerky low life gang down the street has their hands on some pretty hardcore equipment. After listening to your inner thoughts represented as a fiery demon, you decide "well, I think I deserve it more than they do", so you set off to liberate the items in question. The enemies are interesting, taking the role of "Greasers", 50's style and everything. The dialogue is interesting, but you quickly realize these guys are not what they seem, and the equipment they have is very specific. Worse yet, they've been planning on snagging you.

As the name of the arc implies, there's a conspiracy here, and it's brought to you by the Malta Group. A lot of people may go "Malta.. ew...." and then not play it, but the arc is fun, and definitely worth it.

You spend the next four missions ensuring that their little plan (which involves you) never comes to fruition.. but it's done in a distinctly villainous style. A lot of villain content that requires you to stop other villains ends up treating you like a hero instead. There is never a doubt during this arc that you are a bad person, I love that!

The ones in the back are just a little bit surprised.

Not only that, but it paints you as a true villain with a brain and not a total moron like dev created content, and everything you do makes complete sense.

This was intended to be a fairly humorous arc. As my girlfriend will attest however, I don't have a particularly amazing sense of humor, but I admit to smiling a few times, amused.. there's a certain wit here that's hard to place, but definitely appreciated. I even snirked at a couple of the optional objectives (okay, actually, I plain laughed out loud at one of them). If you play this, I strongly recommend hunting down the optional objectives and reading them, that's where the serious humor lies, and it really shines through in this medium. It was very smart to use the clues like that.

I have to say I also found the contact dialogue interesting. Instead of a contact asking you to do a job or whatever, it acts as your thoughts and actions (represented, again, as a flaming demon), and paints you as a serious criminal. I'm a roleplayer at heart and don't always like my character's hands and thoughts to be forced, but it was done elegantly (my character isn't even evil, but I wouldn't let that affect the rating or how I took the story anyways).

What indeed...

One of the biggest pros here is that overall, the choice in maps was excellent. Nothing more needs to be said here, everything fit, and made sense, and a couple of the maps not only provided immersion, but helped drive the story in and of themselves. Very nice.

The overall narrative was interesting and kept me engaged, a true sense of connection and rising action between missions and the idea that you are indeed out there executing a plan.

On the negative side, there are some logic issues with the way Malta is portrayed, but they should be easily fixed and didn't detract from the overall rating. I'll go into them in depth below.

This comes recommended as a quick, villainous romp. It is a very polished arc. It took me a little over an hour I think, and I enjoyed myself the whole way.

5 out of 5, play it and have fun


Specific feedback (spoilers, intended mostly to help the author):

There are only minor flaws with this arc, and I feel they can be fixed or alleviated fairly easily.

First, the really small stuff.

The mission 4 exit pop-up is redundant with the end of mission text. They are identical, so the pop-up isn't needed.

I'm not normally one to point out typos but heads up in the last mission clue "Organisation Chart" you have "off" instead of "of".

I also really, really feel like the bombs in the last mission should fade in, implying that they aren't there until you actually set them.

Now the slightly larger stuff.

Malta are a bunch of crazy, zealot spooks, who are incredibly paranoid. Them leaving around the kind of information they did in mission 1 seems odd. Obviously though, there wouldn't be much of an arc without that. I'm under the firm belief that hand-waving is fine if done appropriately. Drop in a line that they were caught with their pants down or that, to their extreme misfortune and ill luck, this happened to be the day they were moving their files around. I'm sure you can come up with something witty regarding upper management and file clerks

Also, have to admit.. if the Councilman is so intent on not blowing his cover that he won't fight you, being rescued by a shadow organization that many heroes could identify as bad guys is pretty suspicious! Maybe use cops in a custom group listing them as "Disguised Malta"?

Same thing could be possibly said about the titan ambush in mission 3.

Um, yeah, that's about it. There are very few things that stuck out in this arc to me as things that could be improved, it's highly polished.

End spoilers.


Anyways guys, very well polished arc, very few flaws as to be practically unnoticeable, and very fun, as well as pretty funny.

It's very much worth a play, 5 of 5.

I made an update the the queue mechanics on the first page guys!

I also updated which arcs are present on the first page to play through!

I will try hard to get through the current queue but I will have zero time to do anything from Friday to Monday (it's a very special weekend <3).

*loves exclamation points*

Grats on your nomination Aisynia.

Thanks. Cue me getting flamed over it lol.

BTW I am working on the Mercytown review right now.

Review Seven

Mercytown: The One With All The Fish Arc ID: 6017

Author: @Frija (Tangler on forums)

Score: ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ (Rated ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ in game)

Character used: Maleyna, Lv.14-15 Dark/Pain Corruptor (dinged while playing) (Click for picture)


Overview (only very mild spoilers):

This is a fun arc, and for once, an arc aimed at low levels, so I brought my low level corruptor, whom I never really play, but would like to more often

The contact is none other than old Dmitri Krylov! I have an appreciation for his arcs as it is, so seeing him is a fun surprise. There aren't enough AE arcs that use established contacts anyways.

Anyways, as the story goes, you have just arrived on Mercy, presumably from the Zig. The moment you step away from Fort Darwin, Dmitri approaches you. He wants you to get a Coralax specimen, as a colony has been reported around Mercy, and he wants to use them in his amphibious super soldier research. Sounds like good ol' Dmitri alright

When you get there however, it seems the colony has surfaced and is now taking up residence in an alley on Mercy. There are Coralax everywhere, and frankly, I barely survived, but it was a nice victory, for sure.

Regardless you find and procure the Specimen, leading her to your boat, but she mentions something about searching for the "Book of the Deep".

This launches the plot for the rest of the arc, as you slowly uncover exactly what the Book of the Deep is, and why the Coralax are after it.

Scientists are squishy, good thing I'm along?
This is described as both a Horror arc, and a Comedy arc, and balancing those, I don't have to tell you, is not easy. The author pulls it off fairly well, as the humor is more subdued and dry rather than laugh out loud hilarious. It's also not as prevalent as in the author's other arc, reviewed just above. In terms of horror, I'm not sure what the author means here in terms of horror but I have to admit, there were a couple points during the arc, especially in mission 4, where I had a sense of deep foreboding.. but that tone doesn't carry through the entire arc either. I think there are a couple spots that could really do with some closer examination by the author, to help maintain that atmosphere, which I will mention in the spoileriffic feedback section for the author himself. Overall, this aspect is fairly solid, just don't expect to be scared out of your mind, or laughing your rear end off, instead, there's a generally happy medium.

Instead, what is here is an investigation that leads into a very serious plot, which I thoroughly enjoyed learning about, even though learning about it is largely optional. This leads us into the pros and cons of the arc, with the first pro being..

First pro is an excellent use of clues. There is one mission with a ton of completely optional clues that fill in a significant amount of backstory and really give a very good atmosphere to the arc. I definitely recommend reading any optional clues you find on this arc.

That said, in regards once again to the plot, there is a definite sense of rising action, though sometimes it seems to take big steps (like when you are trying to get up a staircase faster so you skip steps). I'm not saying the author has really left anything out, just that things will flatten out a bit, and then spike. Hard. Then again, that may be the point, as you come upon each new revelation, some of which are indeed a bit surprising. The plot is not predictable.

The map selection is mostly very, very good. I don't know if the mission 2 map fit perfectly well, but the rest of the maps were spot on. In fact, the way the first mission was designed, along with its map, I was immersed to the point that I was almost surprised I was back in the AE building when I exited.

And in relation to that the mission design was great. Only as complex as necessary, and in the one mission that has a crapton of clues with a crapton of exposition held within them, the clues are optional. Very nice.

Not really a pro or a con.. there are parts of this story that don't feel particularly villainous.. then again.. right when I was about thinking that we had squarely entered the realm of neutral.. we go totally bad again. So that was nice

That said, the first con... sort of... the author says he designed this for level 1 characters.. I can see this being possible, but Coralax are pretty nasty even for my level 14 and 15 corruptor (dinged while playing). Their nasty melee attacks combined with the powerful slows on their ranged attacks are a one-two punch of pure, concentrated whoopass. That said, I didn't die, but I certainly came close, and I'm not sure how I could have handled it were I level 1 without enhancements. Then again, I assume the author did test this. And of course, there's the whole "the story wouldn't exist without the coralax" part

Alas, there are some logic issues in the arc that the author has to be aware of, but I will mention anyways in the spoiler section. Nothing that really drags it down though, just made me stop a couple times and go "wait, huh?".

OVERALL, it has some minor flaws, but it's an excellent low level arc, with a fairly strong story and a mostly consistent theme. It's definitely worth a play guys! 4 of 5 with room to grow.


Specific feedback (spoilers, intended mostly to help the author):

There are only minor flaws with this arc, and I feel they can be fixed or alleviated fairly easily.

Is the second mission an Abandoned Office because the Coralax are ransacking it? It seems like a place that is used a lot, and not abandoned, but I'm not sure the abandoned office map gives me the impression the Coralax have torn it apart. It does fit the larger theme of the arc though, so if that's what you are going for, it fits.

In the last mission.. why are we waiting until we are in the very lair of the enemy before destroying the book? Why not destroy it before we get there, just in case it falls into their hands? Seems a better idea to destroy it before going. There's also the matter of the barrel, it looks way out of place, perhaps use an older looking, rustic barrel?

I was also wondering why I had to worry about killing their leader and foiling their plans when, upon leaving, we blew the place up and none survived.

Also, I know Dmitri is a scientist, and they are squishy, but if I wasn't /pain, he woulda been very dead (he spawned as an LT. Default difficulty I think).
And one last thing.. I assume the colony had surfaced in the first mission to look for the book? If so, why were they looking there?

Lastly, I felt the night club mission sorta broke up the atmosphere of the arc, so you may want to look into a way to sustain the atmosphere in there a bit more.

Anyways, just a few things I wanted to point out, and see if you wanted to take a look at 'em. It's a great arc though, so it's hardly unplayable, just a few things that really caught my eye.

End spoilers.


Darned good arc guys. If you are looking for a low level arc with a strong story and a bit of foreboding and comedy on the side, definitely check it out. 4 out of 5, with room to grow

Thanks for the two reviews! I only realised you re-reviewed Might Makes Right just now, even though my last post was just beneath it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aisynia Also, I know Dmitri is a scientist, and they are squishy, but if I wasn't /pain, he woulda been very dead (he spawned as an LT. Default difficulty I think). And one last thing.. I assume the colony had surfaced in the first mission to look for the book? If so, why were they looking there?

Can you recall if he was EA or Regen at the time? I've recently switched him to a full powered regen in the hopes of improving his survivability.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aisynia Is the second mission an Abandoned Office because the Coralax are ransacking it? It seems like a place that is used a lot, and not abandoned, but I'm not sure the abandoned office map gives me the impression the Coralax have torn it apart. It does fit the larger theme of the arc though, so if that's what you are going for, it fits.

It's supposed to represent an office being torn apart, I might try adding some 'ransacked' objects to illustrate this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aisynia In the last mission.. why are we waiting until we are in the very lair of the enemy before destroying the book? Why not destroy it before we get there, just in case it falls into their hands? Seems a better idea to destroy it before going. There's also the matter of the barrel, it looks way out of place, perhaps use an older looking, rustic barrel?

That's because urm... a wizard said so. Yeah. Though honestly it was a silly oversight when I made it, and I've been meaning to fix it when I thought of something better.

As for your re-review of Might Makes Right, I've been meaning to make a big overhaul on that arc for some time now to address most of the nits you have mentioned. It's just that I've wanted to finish going through the Player Awards, and then finish up my own first review batch before finally getting back into authoring proper.

As you can see in the above picture (sort of), he is very much /EA. Did the regen help a lot?

Okay.. hmm.. yeah I guess that works

Regen seems like an odd choice but if he is more survivable, then great

Review Eight

Have a Blap, Blap, Blappy Day Kids! Arc ID: 2019

Author: @Wrong Number (Wrong_Number on forums)

Score: ☼ ☼ ☼ ½ (Rated ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ in game, especially for potential)

Character used: Aisynia, Lv.50 Ice/Ice/Cold Blaster (Click for picture)


Overview (only very mild spoilers):

Your contact for this arc is none other than Television! Like I said in the above review, I love it when people use established, canon contacts. I don't rate based on that, and I also love custom contacts, but I sure like it, it's fun seeing old friends (or in this case, brainwashers).

You're watching television, and then your news program suddenly takes a turn for the strange as the newscaster begins speaking directly to you. She says that Blappy, a kids TV show host (and super hero), is missing, and that foul play is likely involved. She tells you that you should head to the WPAR TV offices, and that there's a shady exec that may know something.

You head over and in a trash can, find a DVD showing Blappy, the Exec, and Nemesis, all brokering some kind of deal. You then come upon the exec himself and defeat him. He's a shady TV exec, he deserved it. He mentions that Blappy's show is as good as cancelled, and that I'm far too late.

This leads you, with the assistance (or brainwashing?) of Television, to unravel this plot over the course of the next three missions and recover Blappy before it's time for her to go on the air.

Fig. A, The Evil TV Exec/Mastermind Pawn in its native habitat.

I had a very tough time rating this arc. I want to note ahead of time, that though this is a humor arc, and it's tagged as such, I didn't find it funny. I'm not subtracting stars for that though. I don't have a great sense of humor, and the humor in this arc just did not appeal to me. I recognized when it was there, it just didn't amuse me.

I'm not everyone though, and like I say in the first post, my word isn't law, especially on this, since, well.. again, I don't have a great sense of humor. I try to be funny occasionally, but it generally doesn't work (see Fig. A).

But, this arc was incredibly quirky, so it definitely needs that humor tag, because that counts. That quirkiness is what really carries this arc, and what makes it better than the average dev created content, as the dev created content, as far as I have ever seen, lacks any sense of humor.

And while I didn't find it amusing, that same quirkiness is what made it fun. Without that quirkiness, this would just not have anything to carry it. So this is it's major pro here (as opposed to cons). The author has a genuinely light heart, and that shows in her writing.

Another pro is that while a lot of the missions are very straight forward (and hey, that's a good thing) there was a particular mission where the use of objectives and clues was extremely clever. I never would have thought of it. When I finished that mission, I suddenly had like a light bulb turn on over my head like I just realized something amazing, and I was like "Wow, that really damned cool and clever!" In fact, this kind of objective and clue setup, while possibly limited in application.. I'd like to see more of it. It was just very, very smart, and I was impressed and humbled by it. I will speak about what this is exactly in the spoiler section.

This arc has a lot of custom enemies so I would be silly to not mention them. They were quirky and odd, in fact, to the point of absurdity (no negative connotation there, I think this is kind of the point). This is a source of a lot of the humor, and though I was not personally amused, I am not everyone, and my sense of humor.. well let's just say I have to have jokes pointed out to me most of the time ("That was a joke" "Oh.."). I think there are people who will get a giggle out of a lot of the antics going on this arc, and especially the custom enemies. Definitely read their bios. Bottom line: Great custom group, with one issue which I will mention below.

The maps, overall, are great. I was at first confused by the choice of the last map, but I suppose it makes sense. I like how the author keeps the maps small and made good use of the space. There was a little backtracking in mission 4, but overall, not bad, and they all fit the theme and the storyline very well.

Now for the cons. There was no one thing that got this rated lower than I am comfortable with (I hate rating lower than 4, I really do, I feel gross doing it), but there were issues with the arc that I felt held it back some. But remember, this is all my opinion, and I don't pretend it to be anything else but my opinion. My opinion isn't law.

The first con is that while the plot isn't necessarily weak, I found it pretty difficult to follow, but I think that's more a choice of medium (the Television). On one hand, the plot is very simple and easy to follow, but on the other, some of the background intricacies are difficult to tie together. Some things also seem a bit odd and contradictory, mostly related to the timing of the missions in the arc, but I will mention that below. This hurts the arc, but not a lot. I mean, let's be serious, the author wanted to write a cohesive story, but when you are doing something this quirky and lighthearted, logic in the story itself is not the foremost thing on your mind (I imagine).

Likewise, while there was a sense of rising action.. it wasn't really intense.. I mean it's a quirky, lighthearted arc (and it accomplished that very well), so I will hand it some leeway. I'm not gonna grade this trying to pretend it was meant to be a dramatic literary masterpiece that people read by fires while sipping tea.. but going from one mission to the other, I felt no sense of urgency until the last mission, and even then.. I have to admit.. I didn't feel.. involved.

And one final thing.. while the focus of the arc was not in its logic, there were a couple things I think should make a bit more sense. I'll give some more detailed feedback on that below.

Overall everyone, this is better than 80-90% of dev content. It's not a long arc, it's just a lighthearted romp with some interesting enemies and a playful atmosphere. I cannot guarantee you will laugh, but I think you might just smile at a couple parts of it. It's not the best arc ever, but it has some serious potential to make a bit more sense, and be more amusing (it's obvious the author has a great sense of humor).

Play it and enjoy it for what it is. 3.5 stars, room to grow, and I really would like to see the author work out some of the kinks here.


Specific feedback (spoilers, intended mostly to help the author):

First.. what I mentioned above about the clever use of clues in mission 3 (right?) where you need to get the email and the password to open them? Wow, that was great! I would have never thought of this, it was very clever and even ingenious. Two required clues (an email and a password) combine to finish the mission, unlocking the mission complete clue.. which is the email you just opened with the password. Just wow. I am seriously impressed. Kudos to you on that one.

I mentioned above that I would talk about the one issue I had with the custom group.. and that is Blappy. Specifically, her powers.. more specifically, how overpowered she is. My character is generally seen as overpowered by all my friends. I was playing on [-1 x1 no bosses, no AVs] difficulty.. so she spawned as a yellow boss. The very first thing she did was hit Build Up and then 1-shot me with Total Focus. So I was forced to hosp. I came back, and the first thing she did was hit me with Bitter Freeze Ray and then killed me in another two seconds before I could hit a break free + Hoarfrost combo. Now, I don't mind a challenge, but in an otherwise pretty easy arc (especially on this difficulty) having the one character being so much more powerful is sort of jarring. And she isn't just hard, she's cheeseball with the BU+TF thing. Add on top of that it's a timed mission that I nearly failed because of this, and it's just a bit crazy. I strongly suggest nerfing her a bit, taking away her Build Up in the very least. She is a squishy's nightmare, and though she represents an Ice/Energy Blapper, she is not squishy herself at all Strong recommendation to take a second look at her.

As I mentioned above.. involvement.. That's not an easy thing to capture I suppose when your contact isn't an actual living being that you can interact with on a personal level. I didn't feel like I had a vested interest in saving Blappy, because I didn't know who Blappy was. Television audiences, backstory-wise, obviously love Blappy, but I don't know Blappy, and haven't seen her show. I think it might help to, instead of a newscast, show Blappy's show to begin with, and then start the plot off from there. Maybe a rerun that gets interrupted by the newscast in the mission accept text. That way, you can tell a couple jokes, and let us get to know Blappy how the viewers do.

One thing that also stuck out to me was the second mission, the warehouse. First, this is a heroic arc, so it seems like you are in Paragon, and even watching Paragon TV.. so how do you get you get to the Rogue Isles to get to this warehouse (it's over 50 miles offshore)? Likewise, the show is a take on COPS, showing the RIP.. but it's been firmly established that the RIP is in Arachnos' pocket (after all, Arachnos is the government, and these guys have the Arachnos insignia on their shoulders). I don't see how the RIP would actually be nice to anyone, they're supposed to be incredibly corrupt, from what little information we have on them. So given the location and corruption issues, I think it would make more sense for it to be a warehouse in Paragon, and for the cops to be PPD. My word isn't law, but this just makes more sense to me, personally.

One last thing, in regards to Bright Angel and Blappy, and also timing in general..

First, this arc seems to take place over the course of a few hours at most in terms of what you are doing and needing to have Blappy back for air time. However, Bright Angel's gradual transformation from hero to villain.. hairstyle change, and then costume, seem like they are taking place over the course of several days, at least.

Second.. Okay so Bright Angel has grown to hate Blappy.... really hate Blappy. So what I don't understand is why she joined the Injustice Legion with Blappy, becoming part of the same villain group. That struck me as very odd, though I didn't notice at first, it dawned on me later. Seems she wouldn't want to join the same group as Blappy considering she is practically implying she wants to do away with her entirely.

I know this is a lot of criticism, but it's done in the spirit of wanting to see your arc improved. I thought parts of it were very clever, and overall I enjoyed myself, but this has potential to be more than it is. If you decide to update it, I would love to play through again.

Remember, I don't pretend my word is law, this is just all my opinion

End spoilers.

Well guys, it's a quick, interesting, lighthearted arc that is still better than most dev content. It's not the most amazing thing ever, but it's worth a play, and has room to become better

3.5/5 stars.

Might I make a quick request, Aisynia? If you find time and interest, could you please run my City of Ho Ho Ho, or A Claus in Paragon? It's arc 18775, 3 missions long, levels 5-20. It stars Outcasts and Trolls for the villains. My global is @Tubbius.

Whether you are able to make time for it or not, thank you for your consideration.

--Tubbius

Just a straight request?

If that's permissible, yes. My schedule's crazy tight for the next week, so I can't guarantee that I'd be able to return a play on an arc any time soon. Thanks again, this time for your quick reply.

That's fine, I will stick in the queue.

First off, thanks very detailed review and suggestions! It is a good thing, no matter if I agree or not, to get detailed feedback from someone actually trying to help improve one of my arcs and not just be negative.

On to your suggestions...

You're welcome, I just wanted to help. I did enjoy myself

As for Bright Angel's transformation, yeah 24 hours is more believable. Maybe have it start on a Friday and you have to get Blappy back for the Monday show? That gives you a bit more space to work with too.

As for Bright Angel's faction, you can now custom set it in the boss objective settings, so you can effectively change her faction without pulling her out of an XP capable group

I just finished The Most Important Thing could you please review Old Dog, New Trick arc # 81318. Details of the arc where included in my feedback mail.