The Greater Good (Vigilante Version)
I tweaked this arc a little for the new release. The XP seems fine now.
As always any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
@Gypsy Rose
In Pursuit of Liberty - 344916
The Vigilante - 395861
Suppression - 374481 - Winner of The American Legion's February 2011 AE Author Contest
Review as part of the CoHMR Aggregator project.
@GlaziusF
Running this on my level 50 spine/regen scrapper, +1/x2 with bosses on.
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Okay. With a vigilante spin this is a much simpler premise - its established that youre willing to risk some civilians to put somebody behind bars.
Not quite sure about the initial whispered aside, though. Maybe itd be better off as a note? The clue in the safe is a little more specific...
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Hmm. Shes really feeding out a line. I cant put my finger on exactly why it rubs me the wrong way to have these dual briefings, but having her just put on the blank front and, say, slip some secret instructions on a piece of paper in a farewell handshake wouldnt be out of line.
The PPD patrolling the prison yard seem a little conflicted about the guy they just captured. Wonder why.
Huh. Not even a trot out to the chopper. Once his guards are down, thats the extent of things.
Not that Im complaining, but with all the patrols I saw it might actually be fun making my way back out.
Little typo in the return text - handwriting, it should be.
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I think the reason I dont really like the dual briefings is because my contact is out in the open but doesnt seem to have any worries about breaking her cover.
And the only briefing Im overtly acting on is the one she delivers first, so theres that disconnect too.
Anyhow, kidnap a-go-go.
I find a bunch of glowies in the front office, including the two things Im after. Are they supposed to be up in front or was that just my bad luck? I found some distraction glowies spread throughout the mission, which is why I ask.
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Hmm. The note to open the last mission (finally, a note!) talks about some kind of gas. Until I see the canisters in the entry room I dont really have a context for that. Oh! Actually, re-examining the briefing, it was called out in the sendoff, buried in the middle of a paragraph. That could use some color highlight.
You know whatd make this party better? Yellow recticles. Shame that technologys not with us yet.
Oh. I get some nice effects with a follow-on ambush from one of the canisters running into a party group. Thats pretty well done, and I dont think yellow recticles would work for it.
And... somehow my contacts brother is back? Thats nice, I suppose?
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Storyline - ***. The original storyline makes a bit more sense when youre coming into it as a vigilante. Theres another plot thread running through this, about my contacts brother and his previous attempt to address/expose the Greater Good. But its taken care of mostly in incidental comments from my contact and the occasional clue. I never actually do anything with the plot thread -- it just kinda flails around in the background and gets somehow resolved at the end.
Heres an idea. Forget the clue in mission 2, have my contact send me off to her brothers apartment to meet a friend who the Greater Good are trying to disappear as mission 4. Maybe prevent a boss from escaping or similar. Then before word gets back to HQ about me jumping into the operation, confront our Mr. Worthy. My contact can justify it as going to wash the stink of wealth (and gunpowder) off before the induction ceremony.
Design - *****. The Greater Good seem like the generic brawler/ranged mix, and are rather monolithic but thats kinda the point. In general special maps are used pretty reasonably well, though the last two are rather unavoidably offices.
Extra points here for how the flavor spawns in the last mission react to ambushes. Even if its up to chance most of the time, I think the first room will make sure that its seen at least once.
Gameplay - *****. This is pretty solid. You could stand even to have Mr. Worthy or the little rich girl led to a glowie somewhere and it wouldnt really detract much from the task at hand. This isnt necessarily a challenging group of missions, but not everything needs to be a slog.
Detail - ***. The clue in mission 2 is a bit odd to find - why would Worthington throw it away in his jail cell? And finding his appointment book in Richmonds penthouse is a bit weird too. If you take my suggestion on mission 4, you can probably move the ulk of the clues relating to Worthington there.
The briefing style and its split personality, while I can see the sense in it, is rather a pain to follow. I think segregating the alternate briefing to a passed note would help there.
Overall - ****. Now that vigilantes exist, its easier to feed into this arc. But the extra plot thread, which I guess was supposed to be personally compelling, just sort of flops around resolving itself without really a lot of intervention on our part.
The new thread could honestly do with a mission to itself, as it doesnt seem possible to really laer it in very well with the existing structure.
Up with the overworld! Up with exploration! | Want a review of your arc?
My arcs: Dream Paper (ID: 1874) | Bricked Electronics (ID: 2180) | The Bravuran Jobs (ID: 5073) | Backwards Day (ID: 329000) | Operation Fair Trade (ID: 391172)
Review as part of the CoHMR Aggregator project.
@GlaziusF I think the reason I dont really like the dual briefings is because my contact is out in the open but doesnt seem to have any worries about breaking her cover. |
Thank you so much for all the feedback and for playing this arc yet again.
@Gypsy Rose
In Pursuit of Liberty - 344916
The Vigilante - 395861
Suppression - 374481 - Winner of The American Legion's February 2011 AE Author Contest
Arc Name: The Greater Good (Vigilante Version)
Arc ID: # 395861
Morality: Vigilante
Creator: @Gypsy Rose
Difficulty Level: 45-54
Enemies: Paragon Police, Longbow, Family, Custom Group
Synopsis: What is good? What is evil? Things are not always as they seem. A mysterious organization called the Greater Good had been recruiting many of Paragon City's finest heroes. Now they want you. Will you join them?
Length: 4 missions - the first map is very small - total play time should be less than one hour
The original version of this arc was written for Dr. Aeon's challenge which required me to write an arc where a hero performed evil for the greater good. I received lots of feedback from people who did not like playing an arc in which their hero did such acts of evil. Having spent months on this arc, I decided to change it rather than throw it away.
So, I have created The Greater Good (Vigilante Version), in honor of the upcoming release of Going Rogue. In this version, your hero is a vigilante. I have made his or her actions less evil and I hope provided better motivation for them.
I want to thank all of you who provided feedback on the original version, and I would especially like to thank PW who provided lots of detailed feedback on this latest version before I changed it to Vigilante.
As always feedback would be greatly appreciated.
@Gypsy Rose
In Pursuit of Liberty - 344916
The Vigilante - 395861
Suppression - 374481 - Winner of The American Legion's February 2011 AE Author Contest