Venture's Reviews V: Critic's Choice

I never had any problems finding that door on my first experience as a lowbie villain. It's true that players are conditioned not to bother trying doors, but I found the map layout and the direction you face as you start, pretty much leads you to the door to that big prominent building.

If you want confusing, Marshal Brass has you entering the TV broadcasting building (one of many in a large outdoor map) to access the roof for one of your objectives.

Other maps with "indoors", several of which boggled me the first time.

The Zig - click the sewer pipes to continue. (see: Celebrity Kidnapping)
Just a couple weeks ago I played a map villainside that's a large city map and you have to enter one of the buildings.
There's a nighttime docks mission with a building in the center that you have to enter. (see: Fight The NITES)
The map talked about in this thread (which was one that actually never gave me problems).

Arc #178278, "The Marconeville Horror"
tl;dr: 1 star. Offenses: throws the Idiot Ball, poor portrayal of canon faction, problematic mobs, plot issues, undeclared AVs and EBs, "just a bunch of stuff that happened"

Reviewed on: 11/6/2009
Level Range: 10-20/10-20/10-20/10-20/15-20
Factions: Family, Mooks, Legacy Chain, Custom
Architect's Keywords: Canon Related, Horror
My Keywords: Challenging
Character used: Master Kasai/Justice
Difficulty: +0x2+B-AV


Billy Heck (bio not copied over) needs some muscle to deal with a theft of Family goods. The goombas who were supposed to be watching the stuff say it was some "Whitfinger" guy, but Heck (demonstrating the insight one would expect of a rhesus monkey detective squad) decides it must have been the Mooks. You're sent to the instanced Mercy map from Creed's arc (again...this time one of the Bosses mentions the fact there's an "inside" at least) to deal with two Bosses and two "spooked Mook" captives inside the warehouse. The Bosses claim that they were robbed too, and the Spooked Mooks insist it was Whitfinger...who, you are finally told in the mission end clue, is dead.

Heck admits in the next briefing that he should have told you about Whitfinger, who was a violent mobster killed a while ago for torquing off Don Marcone. He's become something of a boogeyman figure in mob culture since, something mob moms threaten their little hoods with. Some say that he isn't really dead or his ghost is running around but Heck doesn't believe that. Given the world he lives in that makes him a pretty dim bulb. His next great idea is to have you pretend to be Whitfinger so Emil Marcone can personally expose you as a fraud, thus (he thinks) convincing everyone that there's nothing to the story. You catch the Idiot Ball and run with it to a warehouse map. Stealing some gold from a safe triggers the spawn of Emil, who is a an Assault Rifle/Force Field custom Boss for some reason. Defeating him triggers an objective to "Escape, defeating anyone in your path" which is code for "Defeat Whitfinger and his undead mobster goons". "Whitfinger's Wrath" spawns as a Dark Blast/Dark Miasma Boss (invisible thanks to Shadow Fall). Heck thinks everything went according to plan until he talks to you.

All of a sudden Heck remembers he can see a fortress full of pirate ghosts from his house and realizes there must be something to this Whitfinger thing after all. The problem is that now that Emil Marcone is telling everyone Whitfinger is a fraud who's been dealt with Heck can't let him in on the truth. So he wants you to deal with Whitfinger. He's sending you to meet Mr. Bocor with a written question, because Bocor has agreed to answer one and only one question. You head to one of Bocor's hideouts (Banished Pantheon cave map) only to find him being harassed by Legacy Chain troops (with very bad dialog). I'm going to assume Bocor decided to amuse himself by watching you fight them instead of vaporizing them himself.... Once freed, you have to escort him to the door, which triggers a very annoying ambush full of Mook Hitmen. When you reach the door the mission end Clue reveals the question: "how do we kill Whitfinger". Bocor tells you he can't just tell you the answer, you have to see it for yourself. He offers you a blue pill^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hspirit trance that will reveal the answer.

The trance takes you to a tech lab map to witness Whitfinger's death. The first death I witnessed was mine as I ran into (literally, thanks to the enclosed map) a young version of one of the Mook Bosses from act I as a hostage, guarded by a bunch of custom "Marcone Hatchet Men" LTs that cut me down instantly. These are Battle Axe/Pain Domination making them very nasty and completely over the top for an arc in this range. You have to defeat Whitfinger, optionally free Don Marcone and find what Whitfinger stole, the "Bitter Ossuary", a solid gold pitcher (hmmm) he pinched from the Legacy Chain. The mission end clue says that Don Marcone led the Chain's troops to Whitfinger because he'd stolen the Ossuary without permission. It also says Marcone was afraid of a confrontation with the Chain, which would make him the only character in the game that could be said of.... The pitcher actually comes out of the trance with you.

This gives Billy an idea: return the pitcher to the place of Whitfinger's death to lure him out so you can take him out. It doesn't seem like just beating up a ghost is going to lay it to rest, but whatever.... As it turns out, it doesn't matter because Whitfinger isn't a ghost. He's an Eidolon created by Dr. Vahzilok, who is present in the mission. I can see the architect wanted to pull a misdirect here but it just doesn't work. Too much of the plot depends on Whitfinger being a supernatural entity. I'm not sure if I had to defeat Vahzilok to spawn Whitfinger because it took me about an hour of trying to defeat Whitfinger and I just don't remember. Whitfinger was a Dark Blast/Fiery Aura Elite Boss, with both Blazing Aura and Healing Flames, and had Dark Blast/Dark Miasma guards with Shadow Fall. He was able to hit for about 60% of my HP, my pets died from standing in attack range and I couldn't stand still to heal them. I finally got him by stacking Lucks with a Cryonite Armor temp and feeding my Jounin a few reds, and even then it was close. In the end Billy thanks you for your work, etc. yadda yadda yadda.

The arc has no theme and a large number of issues. Skip it.

Can you imagine having to do this one with only training enhancements, temp powers or an extensive array of powers? Say a level 6? For me that arc failed because it was not a TO arc in the first place. AV's do not belong in a lowbie arc.

For a similar reason, I agree with your assesment of Paulas tutorial. I think it is an excellent arc but it is not designed for lowbie play. It is designed for AE Noobs and it does an excellent job there.

Mr. Squid summed up my thoughts regarding your response to my post quite well, Venture. As much as I may be one of the few people on the boards that actually respects you and your opinion despite your sometimes caustic approach (whether or not I always agree with it), this is one clear example of where you allow your personal opinion on how the MA should operate to override the reality of the situation. That is, of course, your right. In this instance, however, evidence strongly suggests you're wrong.

Arc #118690, "Sibling Rivalry"
tl;dr: 4 stars. Offenses: stilted dialog, weak theme


Reviewed on: 11/7/2009
Level Range: 1-20/1-20/5-20/1-20/1-20
Factions: Outcasts, Clockworks, Custom
Architect's Keywords: Custom Characters, Origin Story
My Keywords:
Character used: Ursus Minor/Freedom
Difficulty: +0x2+B-AV


War Witch (bio not copied) wants you to look into a Clockwork bank robbery. She wants you to find out why they're robbing a bank, which is unusual for them. The mission is a simple defeat-all on a bank map full of Clockwork. When the last one falls the end Clue narrates you hearing a voice in your mind angrily complaining that "Sister Flame" was supposed to come and stop him. War Witch tells you that she knows Sister Flame and she'll have to be warned of the threat.

War Witch manages to contact Sister Flame at the start of Act II via a scrying glass. Flame is judging a dance contest but before the two could talk much contact was lost thanks to a Troll attack. You have to race over and save Sister Flame from the...Disco Trolls.



It seems their leader Fudor found some disco movies in a dump, fell in love with the style and decided to bring disco back by force. My favorite was the Raging Fro troll whose power was "incredible hair, and he won't let you forget it". They were trying to get Sister Flame (non-combatant hostage, she leaves to make sure everyone else gets out OK when rescued) to declare Fudor the winner of the contest. In the debriefing, War Witch tells you that Sister Flame knows who made the telepathic threat at the bank: it was her brother.

Sister Flame's brother is a villain named Gearmaster. Flame won't tell why Gearmaster wants revenge against her but does want him stopped before he endangers anyone. Unfortunately War Witch's powers can't locate him. She has located one of his known associates though, a villainess named Sidestep. You and Flame are sent to capture her at an Outcasts hideout. She is a Martial Arts/Super Reflexes Boss (her bio says her actual superpower is the ability to see three seconds into the future, a nice touch) and didn't last too long with both Ursus and Sister Flame pounding on her. Following percussive interrogation she gives up the addresses of three of Gearmaster's hideouts.

Act IV opens with Sister Flame going to check out the addresses Sidestep provided. You'd be doing that with her but...Fudor has escaped and demands a rematch. He's threatening to blow up part of Faultline if you don't show, so off you go. This is another simple map, Troll caves, with three bombs to disarm and a rematch with Fudor to win. Of course, when you get back Sister Flame has not returned from checking the last of the three addresses...

...so it's Time for the Fight Scene. You're off to the rescue with a bring-friends warning. The showdown takes place on an abandoned office map full of Clockwork. Sister Flame spawns as an ally rescue about midway through (typo: "calvary"); I passed by her and took on Gearmaster alone. He was a Fiery Blast/Psychic Blast Elite Boss with a substantial guard party. He dropped me quickly in the first round; I came back with more aggressive inspiration use to win in the second. His defeat clue narrates a fate I won't spoil, another nice touch. I doubled back to free Sister Flame and end the mission. War Witch thanks you for saving Sister Flame and wonders if we've seen the last of Gearmaster.

Normally this would get three stars from me. It gets an extra star for the humor in the Disco Trolls and out of acknowledgment that it's an incredible achievement given the architect's age. The arc has a theme, even if it doesn't do much with it, and shows a strong grasp of the fundamentals. The dialog could use some work but that will improve with time. Recommended.

Edited the review of "Sibling Rivalry" to include screenshots -- Comcast's FTP server was out yesterday.