Venture's Reviews V: Critic's Choice

Now that my old queue is empty, it's time for a new thread. Previous reviews can be found in the following threads:

Arc Reviews
Venture's Reviews II: The Nightmare Continues
Venture's Reviews IV: The Search for Part III

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I am no longer taking requests for reviews. Don't even ask. This is primarily because between RL and splitting my gaming time with The Other Game I can't guarantee reviews will be done in anything approaching a timely fashion. I don't want to make commitments I know I can't keep.

Because the pace will be slower in this thread, I am rescinding my earlier rule about discussion of reviews. I will engage in a reasonable amount of dialog if possible. Again, I am dealing with time constraints so I may not respond quickly.

I'll be choosing arcs for review in a number of ways. Arcs that look interesting in discussions here will be prime candidates. For now I'm running arcs from the Mission Architect Player's Choice Awards.

And the first of those is....

Arc #28470, "15+ Min TUTORIAL - Knowledge is Power: Architect Entertainment & You!
tl;dr: 3 stars. Offenses: see below

Reviewed on: 10/28/2009
Level Range: 1-54/5-50/1-54
Factions: Custom, Longbow
Architect's Keywords: Easy, Solo Friendly, Kid Friendly
My Keywords: Easy, Solo Friendly
Character used: Venture/Virtue
Difficulty: +2x5+B-AV

This isn't a story arc in a conventional sense, making a summarized review pointless. Basically, it is Exactly What It Says On The Tin: a tutorial for the AE system. It discusses badges and how to get them and gives some tips on mission construction.

It's effective at what it does. However, anyone who can find it and run it probably doesn't need it.

Arc #6017, "Mercytown: The One With All The Fish"
tl;dr: 5 stars. Nits: canon character's voice slightly off

Reviewed on: 10/29/2009
Level Range: 1-10
Factions: Hellions, Coralax
Architect's Keywords: Comedy, Horror
My Keywords: Comedy, Horror, Magic
Character used: Thermophage/Infinity
Difficulty: +0x1-B-AV

Dimitri Krylov, former Soviet scientist now operating out of Cap au Diable, races over to Mercy as soon as he's heard of your release to secure your services. The job turns out to be bagging a Coralax for him to study for his work on amphibious super-soldiers. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? You're sent to the small Mercy instance to "rescue" a Coralax "hostage", who goes on about a "Book of the Deep" she won't let you have. Krylov is pleased with the specimen.

However, he doesn't care much about the Book of the Deep. He does show you a newspaper article that talks about it, a recent find by one Dr. Henry Veidt, but Krylov isn't interested in it. He doesn't have any work for you right at the moment though, and we all know what idle hands are.... You nip off to steal the Book for yourself, unfortunately, the Coralax have gotten there first. Veidt's wife ("V V") mistakes you for a hero when rescued and asks you to see if her husband is safe. He's nowhere to be found, and neither is the book. You do find some computers with various illicit files on them and a singed tarot card.

Now Krylov wants the Book. He's learned the Coralax are part human and part coral. The tarot card is a trademark of Duke Mordrogar, according to Krylov, and while he doesn't know where the Duke's hideout is he has heard of a bit Hellions party tonight. The party takes place on the old PDP warehouse map full of Hellions and their girlfriends. A few of the mobs are labeled as "Squealers" but only one has the location of the Duke's hideout. The others have various bits of humorous information to offer. Once you've got the info, the next step is fairly obvious....

The Duke is holed up in the burning Hellions office. Veidt is there too as a hostage. When rescued he says it would have been better if you'd let him die in the fire, and suggests you burn the book. The Hellions didn't take his advice and read it, and now they're fighting amongst themselves. Mordrogar himself seems to be in thrall to it. An exit pop-up says you find a ransom note, demanding the Book for the safe return of V V and Veidt. Krylov is bemused by this: "what do they think, this is the Hero Isles?"

After going over Veidt's journals (and heeding the warning not to open the Book), Krylov determines that the only thing to do is to take out this group of Coralax and destroy the book. It's obviously dangerous and even if the Mercy colony is wiped out the Coralax will just keep coming after it. He's going to come along with you on this one. He's let the specimen "escape" with a tracking device, and he's got a submarine waiting with some explosives (with a cute story behind them). The sub takes you to some underwater caves (Cimeroran) with a surprisingly-breathable atmosphere. Krylov spawns up front as an Assault Rifle/Energy Aura ally (LT for me, due to 4XP settings I believe...oh, and there's a bit of a gag that only works if you check his info). There's a convenient (lampshaded) barrel of acid for you to toss the book into (it screams as you do so). Veidt is there as a hostage; V V is also present but...not as a hostage. To wrap it up, you have to take out the High Priestess, destroy an altar and plant four bombs (all of which spawned in the last room for me). The specimen is there too as an optional encounter with a few good lines. You witness the destruction of the colony from sub as you escape (exit pop-up). Krylov bids you farewell (with a mostly-unnecessary attempt to explain why he may not recognize you if you meet again), pays your fee and throws in a bonus, a ticket to Oakes. He advises you to put all this behind you, dropping a movie line as he does so.

Lovecraftian comedy is something you don't see a lot of, but the architect pulls it off. The only real nit I'd pick (overlooking the Friends naming convention) is that Krylov is a bit too terse at times. For the most part is voice is well done. This is a great arc recommended particularly for low-level villain characters that want to avoid the usual Mercy grind.

Arc #58363, "Nuclear in 90 - The Fusionette Task Force"
tl;dr: 3 stars. Offenses: "just a bunch of stuff that happened", canon issues, not funny

Reviewed on: 10/31/2009
Level Range: 1-14
Factions: Hellions
Architect's Keywords: Easy, Comedy, Kid Friendly
My Keywords: Challenging, Magic
Character used: Iphigenia/Justice
Difficulty: +0x1+B-AV

Fusionette, who sounds ditzier than usual (and lacks a bio), tells you that several of the "Nuclear 90" have gone missing. They vanished investigating warehouses in Atlas Park. She wants you to investigate the next one because she's late for Vanguard patrol duty. I heard Marty Feldman saying "careful, it might be dangerous...you go first!" Anyway, off you go, branded with the sickening moniker "Task Force Superawesome". The place turns out to be full of Hellions, inexplicably led by "Molecular Mandy", one of the Nuclear 90. Fusionette is confused...OK, more confused than usual....

...and the fun keeps coming, as "Neutrino Nick", another Nuclear 90 kid, is now leading a Hellions attack on a MAGI vault. Fusionette wants you to stop them, bringing along a jamming device supplied by Lady Grey that will divert a Medicom teleport to a Vanguard cell. You have to take down Nick (Fiery Melee/DiedTooFast Boss) and retrieve three crates of artifacts. Nick doesn't seem to know where he is or what he was doing when he hits the carpet. It turns out he had an amulet on that broke during the fight. Fusionette tells you Vanguard is looking into it, and admonishes you for forgetting to bring her the burger she asked for.

The amulet turns out to be a "Mark of Command", a mind-control item, and it means Mandy and the other missing 90s are probably still under control of whoever is behind this. Worse, Fusionette's boyfriend was with her when she learned all this and now he's missing. She figures he's run off to save the day and will probably need help too. You're given a divining rod that will hopefully lead you to the amulets. It leads you to a warehouse, where you find Hellions along with "Electron Elly" (Electric Blast/Pain Domination Boss), Jim Temblor (Fusionette's boyfriend a.k.a. Faultline, who just runs away when rescued), and "Radioactive Reimi", an Energy Blast/DiedTooFast Boss. One of her guards gives up the name "Immolation Ken" after his beatdown, saying Ken used to work for MAGI but was fired by Azuria. He then turned to the Hellions and gave them the amulets.

Time for the Fight Scene: Fusionette says Lady Grey had her guys "extract" some information from the captured Hellions so you now know where Ken is. Time to go in and take him out (bring-friends warning). You have to take down Mandy and Ken, a Fiery Assault/Kinetics Elite Boss, the end. Fusionette thanks you and invites you to join her and Jim for burgers.

The arc has some fairly standard gameplay with a non-very-compelling plot, no theme and some issues with the portrayal of Fusionette. While it is confessedly hard to tell from the game, Fusionette and Faultline are in their early 20s or so. They're older than Penelope Yin and she's just starting college. The teeny-bopper/Valley-Girl thing just doesn't work. There are some attempts at comedy in the dialog but they fell flat, at least for me. There's nothing terribly wrong with this arc but there's nothing to recommend about it either.

Arc #322480, "Day Job Hell: A Villain's First Day Job"
tl;dr: 3 stars. Offenses: poor portrayal of canon faction, technical issues

Reviewed on: 11/3/2009
Level Range: 1-10
Factions: Clockwork, Tuatha de Dannon, Custom
Architect's Keywords: Easy, Solo Friendly, Canon Related
My Keywords: Easy, Solo Friendly, Comedy
Character used: Caldera/Justice
Difficulty: +0x1+B-AV

This arc presents an "alternate origin path" for villains who don't want to do Kalinda's or Burke's tracks again. It opens with your villain being too cool to listen to the instructions given by "Fats Squalor", a Mercy sewer worker running an "underground badge network". If you check your Clues you "remember" the instructions, which are to (it says here) collect Snake guano from a cave and spread some Snake-B-Gone to keep them from coming back. Oh, and there should be a box for Fats in the cave that you're to retrieve without examining or asking questions. Your friend Jim is already there to help out if you find him (spawned up front as an Assault Rifle/Devices LT). The caves are filled with...guano monsters. Yep. They're the result of magical energy seeping from the Snakes' various artifacts, one of which (a pitcher) you make off with. There are 23 piles of guano but you don't actually need to click any of them (something you're told after you've clicked one), and a few cans of Snake-B-Gone to click on. Fat's box turns out to be full of cash, evidently from a Clockwork heist in Atlas. In the exit clue Fats gives you the "Guano Expert" badge (a fake) and twenty bucks, which you find outrageous.

Later that week on your day off Fats calls you in to cover for Jim. Seems he's got an outbreak of Tuatha to deal with (with a deliberately-lame gag). You're to catch up to "Ron-ster" and clear them out. When you get to the sewers, there are 15 "important clues" but the first one you click says you can ignore them. They're boxes of pipes, which Fats should be using for sewer work but it appears the Tuatha are boxing them up for the Clockwork...on Fats' orders. He lured them to the sewers with promises of peanut butter (which they love, it says here) and enslaved them. When freed from his Clockwork captors, the lead Tuatha says he'll tell you about the pitcher you found, but I couldn't find any Clues or such on the subject.

Next, Fats fires you because of your bad attitude. This turns out to be just what it takes to complete your journey to the dark side. You begin scheming and planning your revenge, starting with trashing Fats' home, which is on the instanced Mercy map from Creed's arc. There is no hint given that you can enter the building so people who haven't seen this map before may be flummoxed a bit. Inside the building there's a safe with records proving Fats is billing the Mercy DPW for the pipe he's giving the Clockwork and a bomb to plant. Each of these triggers a Clockwork ambush, though you can just click out from the second.

For the big finale, you crash the Sewer Worker's Anniversary party with Jim and Ron-ster's help. The party takes place on the Vahzilok's Lab map with Contaminated as the sewer workers. You have to hook up with your allies (whom you are setting up to take the fall for this), warn off "Rabittual Criminal" (someone who worked with Fats whom you actually liked; seems like a gratuitous insert), and plant a cake laced with laxatives. That triggers Fats, whom you beat up (no idea what his powers were, he was held the whole time), and that opens a new objective to smash the pitcher. There's still nothing that tells you what it actually does, but smashing it ends the mission and triggers a big Longbow ambush.

This would have been a 2-star arc if not for the comedy, which was reasonably funny if overly poo-related. You're never actually told what the pitcher does, so why Longbow show up when you break it in the last act isn't at all clear. Not highlighting the sub-map in act III is going to confuse at least some people. Finally, the portrayal of the Clockwork is just way off; they're too loquacious and out of character. The arc does take liberties with the player's mental states but that's probably necessary for what it's trying to do; people who have a problem with that probably aren't looking for an origin arc anyway. This one would benefit from some revisions.

Out of curiosity, will you be continuing the Player Choice nominees after the voting period is over?

In the highly likely case that I don't get to all of them before the voting ends, I probably won't review the remaining arcs.

I was planning to skip the multi-part section anyway (as far as I'm concerned, there are none), and will probably skip everything after TOs (except Serious which I've already voted on). I don't like what I'm seeing in the public votes and I'm beginning to think there's not much point to it.

Ah, I see. Out of interest, if the Devs upped the number of missions allowable for one slot, let's say to 10 for example, and then people were able to combine their previously multi-slot arcs into one slot, would you consider such an arc as complete?

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."

I think he was possibly using 'lampshade' in its nore general sense, not referring necessarily to cliche or the need for self-denigration. A bit too fond of tvtropes, imo.

I think he just means to suggest what i also noticed when i played it, that some players (like me lol) dont kbow tgat building can be entered and so there needs to be sth that informs the player that it needs to be explored too. You can be overt with this or 'lampshade' it subtly. 'leave no door unopened!' might be too subtle, i'd personally put it straight to the player, 'check the buildings at tge site too'

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."

I think it's weird how many people don't know about that map. The only "real" mission where it's used doesn't make a huge deal of pointing out that you can go inside the warehouse and somehow people still have managed to figure it out.

Oh, that map? I wouldn't necessarily call that lampshading.. but it wouldn't hurt to put a note in the mission popup dialogue.

I've occasionally done this to help a player through a particularly unique map.