Which story arcs/missions do you find most emotionally engaging?

I suspect that when it comes to their own brand of bodysnatching*, Malta mostly goes for those who "never will be missed" per the Lord High Executioner. This time, through a chain of coincidences, they took one who was and whose relative managed to attract a hero's attention.


* My first main had a particular grievance against Vahzilok as a lowbie, for practicing Bad Science and trafficking in human suffering. This carried over to Crey once she entered that tier, and finally Malta - it seems there's no shortage of bad guys interested in making use of "human resources."

One series of missions that gets me emotionally engaged the most is the Get the doomsday device out of Nemesis' grasp mini-arc. Admittedly, the emotion it tends to engage is raw, seething rage. It reveals that Nemesis (our Nemesis) has literally committed the worst racial genocide in human history, killing billions of people because of the colour of their skin. This mini-arc is why every single one of my characters has a "kill Nemesis on sight" policy. And the worst part is, it's never mentioned again. There's never any newspaper articles, no reference to it from other contacts, not a peep of it in the lore. Whenever I finish this arc on a hero, I have to switch to a villain for a bit of catharsis, to burn the world that seems content to ignore an event like this.

I think I'm a freak. I never read the mission text except whats in the little window. I played the competitor's game with the voice overs and found myself clicking through it as fast as possible.

Its not that I don't like stories, I just tend to ignore them in this type of environment. I feel like it's all instanced and "unreal" in a way. Back when I was playing online games with "shared realities" so to speak I did pay attention.

As for the highest level of involvement I've had in an RPG, that would in the game that almost rhymes with Walter's Fate 2. Particularly the dream scene where an extremely unscrupuluous archmage gave a certain speech about life and death... I've never wanted to slay a boss villain more.


Video (possible spoilers):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rv7Pti47UA

Late to the party as usual, but:

#1: Horror of War, and the fate of Sefu Tendaji. The Sword Gets Things Done. /em salute

#2: The Vahzilok Plague. The story (and AV) so good it got co-opted into the remade Posi's Task Force. Dr. V tops every Mad Scientist the Rogue Isles can churn out, because he's gone so far into 'mad' that he's coming back around into 'sane'. Vernon and Buzzsaw are amusing, but the Doctor is just flat-out scary.

#3: Westin Phipps: frikkin' anything. That magnificent bastage. Who else inspires more arcs about beating the crud out of him?. I hereby posit to you that Westin Phipps is the evil ****** Batman of the Rogue Isles and if it ever came to a fight between him and Recluse, he'd win.

I'm going to stop with my top three, but there's plenty of other greatness, mostly already mentioned. I'll be glad when this incarnate nonsense finally starts dying down and we can get back to more great stories like these.

It's really tempting now to take a couple days off from work, and just play through all these arcs - some I've actually not had a chance to try (like the different tracks in Praetoria).

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

First, I'd like to say that without the text of the missions, I wouldn't play this game.

Sure, some people play for the costumes, some for the PvP (REALLY????), some for the uber-powers, but for me it's about the story. I really enjoy reading the content.

That being said, some of the content is a bit fanboy for me: I'm fine with it, but I'll skip it. I never really got "into" the Frank Sinatra (oops, johnny sonata) storyline in St. Martial for example. I thought it was well written and fun to play, but the story just never "grabbed" me for some reason. Whereas I totally always make sure to unlock Doc Buzzsaw: AWESOME writing there!

For emotional impact, though, it's Westin Phipps, easily. I mean, seriously, you do a mission where you poison food for poor people and when you turn it in he says this:

For me, exploring Alpha Upsilon 24-2 for Tina Macintyre was the most emotionally engaging mission so far. I was especially shocked by the clue and NPC chatter. I remember vividly thinking, "No way! I would NEVER become that!" (Although after I got over the horror of the possibility it did lead to an interesting development for an alt on the RP forums.) It really drove home what blindly following mission objectives or my character's own pursuit of shiny things would lead even the best of heroes to.


On the other side of the scale, I ran the story arc for Vincent Ross at least a half-dozen times in Ouroboros. I told myself it was to explore all the dialog trees of the optional contacts. But really it was because I liked the "I Win!" easiness of fighting off the waves of enemies; especially the smirk the last mission gave me.

I gotta admit, what with the new "WHO WILL DIE?" artwork showing up... I really hope that whoever it is, their story is a good one. Off-camera deaths SUCK. Off-camera MEANINGLESS deaths suck even worse.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

On the subject of "Who Will Die?"

I want them to let US pick.

I don't know what all they have planned for the 'aftermath', (probably a Task Force tossed into Ouroboros, maybe a cut scene, them being replaced as a trainer) but it is 7-plus months away.

Let US pick.

- Let there be a dialogue box in the penultimate mission where we pick who to sacrifice or save, then fade to a "To be Concluded". Over the course of the next month the results are tallied, some dialogue and 3D models are switched, and then we see who died.

- Let us vote/poll secretly via ingame email over the course of the 7 months.

- Let hero characters spend store points to buy special ally NPC resurrection temp powers based on the members of the Surviving 8, with the purchases counting as votes. Conversely, let villain characters buy similar signature attack temp powers based on who they want to see go down.

I don't care how you do it, devs, but please... allow us as players to make this choice.

Please let us affect, even if it is only once or twice a year via Signature Story Arcs, how the game progresses. Please let us collectively make a real mark on the world.

That would be emotionally engaging.

That would be worth money.

That would be fun.

The problem with this idea is that we can only pick one.

When I started playing the game, I was never emotionally drawn to any of the arcs. I didn't know it was even possible - I just never thought of it. My emotional investment was limited to who gave missions with badges, or were too darned far to try to traverse without travel powers. Contacts were guys who had jobs for me, to fight some growing threat or other. Was not - and am not - drawn to any of the Big Heroes of the Game. Why would I? I never had any relationship with any of them. They are the Big Famous Guys, and sometimes I do TF's for them, while they stand in one place looking Big and Heroic. They say "thanks, good job" or something, but am pretty sure they would not recognize me on the street a week later. That's ok, I wouldn't recognize them either, unless they were wearing all the nifty costume pieces I can't get (that's the dead give-away!). I get to feel some sense of satisfaction finally when I rescue Statesman at the end of Maria's arc, it's as if I have somehow entered the Big Girl's Super Hero Club at last.

I think the first arc that I had some emotional investment in is Jim Tremblor's arc in Faultline. I mean, I'm some dorky level 15 superhero wannabe, right? I can't do much of anything, but suddenly am faced with not only actual EB's (!!) but, crap, Fusionette! And it's at this point I realize I might be a weenie little 15, but I'm not Fusionette, so maybe there is hope for me. My very favorite (maybe in the whole game!) is the mission fighting Nocturne. I start Jim's arc being a weenie little dork. Once I beat Nocturne, I am a super hero. Period.

The first time i really got really involved was doing Jenny Adair's arc. I got really choked up at the end of that. And even though I know what's coming each time, it continues to choke me up, too! I think that's indicative of some very good writing. It was really eye-opening for me to get drawn into a mission emotionally, and made me rethink how I was playing, and how much I might have been missing. (Is this my own faulty premise? Or is it the way it's all written? I have no idea, this is only my "VERY" subjective experience. I hope it is not taken as any sort of criticism of anyone or anything in the game. I enjoyed it before it had an emotional element, I enjoy it even more now.)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Praetorian arcs. My only regret is that I found the content difficult to solo with support toons at such a low level. I just could not counter all those ambushes alone, so found teams, which pretty rapidly withdrew me from the emotional aspect of what I was playing. However, my husband and I duo'd many of the arcs, explaining the dialogue only one of us could see, and we both fell in love with Katie, and Tunnel Rat, and Noble Savage. And ached for Penelope and Aaron. Aaron Walker's arc is probably my favorite, but it's tough to say for sure - they are just SO good! ALL of them! At the end of the Praetorian arc, I don't know if any of these people are - or will become - fabulous Big Heroes of this world. I don't care. They became my friends.

Have to also mention the last mission before leaving Praetoria. The first I did was Loyalist, and meeting Cole - COLE! - was huge, and... deeply creepy! I literally got chills. I felt sorry for the poor guys stuck with the Resistance mission, because they would not have a chance to experience the shock and creep factor meeting the guy so caught up in his own grandeur. That is, until I did the Resistance exit mission. OMG! I was in tears seeing all those people/contacts/friends! (I'm choking up again just thinking about it! How embarrassing!) It was just perfect. Beautifully thought out, wonderfully executed. Going from this mission into Talos was a letdown. "Let's see... I MET the biggest, baddest guy in the entire DIMENSION who BEGS me to help him, but I leave and now... I can go defeat 10 Freakshow." *sigh*

Luckily, now there is the First Ward, and I would vote each and every arc there as being wonderfully done, and wonderfully told. Again, am developing relationships with these people and doing things for/with them not because it's a "job", but because they've become friends. And hey! I'm in my 20's now, and can actually solo the content, though it remains challenging. I can't say which arcs are better than the others - part of the beauty of the writing is that in 1st Ward you don't really "graduate" to the next contact, you revisit them over and over again.

Lots of good ones here.

One that really got to me after a while is the Television arc. While it was funny, the more I got into it, read the dialogue and thought about it the creepier it got. Even at the end your character doesn't know if any of it was real or not - the souvenir makes that clear. But that leaves two basic possibilities. First, that your character just spent quite some time completely insane; either he/she has been staring and mumbling at a Television for hours and hours while having hallucinatory battles, or they've actually been rampaging across the city fighting hallucinations because they thought a television talked to them. Including at the end engaging in a pitched battle with a portable radio. It was an arc that managed to give me the feeling that my character just might be genuinely insane; not just a bad guy, but a raving loony.

Or, and just as disturbing, Television really is some vast, world girdling parasitic entity that needs people to watch it and intends to ensure that they continue to do so. Something near omniscient, with hypnotic powers and some kind of dreamworld contained within itself. And it isn't' alone. What was Radio? What was I taking orders from way back in Port Oakes? A being similar to Television? Are there more such? Is there an "Internet"? A "Phone"? Are all those screens I see everywhere watching me?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark_Respite (BTW - how many people actually high-five Dean?)

I have a few characters who have; the shallow or goofy ones. Like Feloni the Energy/Traps, who became a villain for the thrill of it; I've also imagined she's the sort who'd sign her name with a little heart over the "i".

Man, where do I start...

One of my favorite arcs is the entire storyline centered around the revamped Faultline. The story there, I thought, was really rich. Having the four contacts that take you through the zone little by little was a nice touch, and setting up the mystery around what happened to the zone was fun to go through. I liked all of the characters introduced - yes, even Fusionette. It was a cool display of somewhat new tech and introduced some memorable characters and villains. The fact that they all end up fighting each other in one of the ending missions was a nice touch.

Which leads to the Rikti War Zone arcs. It's another favorite of mine, though not so much as the Faultline zone. There's a lot of good stuff here. The one map that involves a meeting taking place in the compound was very well done, and was fun. I love taking screenshots in the area where everyone's just standing around talking. Mostly, I love the final arc, from Dark Watcher, "The Horror of War." The final mission is one of my favorites in the game. And I love how you sort of come full circle, with being able to team up with Fusionette and Faultline again.

A lot of the newer content has just hit me in a way that I never expected possible from a game like City of Heroes. It was mostly just a fun diversion, but there wasn't really a lot there in terms of story that really engaged me. I enjoyed the novels, but the same kind of storytelling wasn't always present in the game, although there were moments.

But then the issue hit that brought the doppleganger arc to blue side. The first time I ran that, I was floored. Not only by the mechanic of having a doppleganger, which I thought was awesome, but the story that was in place.

"Twisted Reflections" was a great set-up, and I loved how you got chances to argue your case with various contacts, and the whole concept of having an "ear-piece" that lets you get updates. It kept the story moving at a brisk pace, and set up a nice mystery, leading up to the next arc, "Looking Through The Glass." The ONLY thing disappointing about this arc was that I didn't get the chance to play side by side with the doppleganger, which, while it would probably be unbalanced, would be tons of fun, running next to yourself and taking on mobs. I still loved having the mirror's objective displayed above though. It created a new level of immersion. And like Dark Respite said in her original post, the moment after you defeat Protean had me staring at the screen with a expression on my face. The arc is one of my absolute favorites, with fun groups to fight, an excellent story, and great mechanics. I loved it so much, I even recorded the end of it in Fraps on my main character.

And then Going Rogue came out. By that point, my interest in the game was wavering. My subscription had been inactive for awhile.

I played through Praetoria.

And I was amazed. Absolutely amazed. I never expected a story that would have that kind of depth from a game like this. The story and characters, for all of the arcs, just felt so rich and had so much ripe potential. I went through each of the arcs in each zone on one character, just so I could experience it all, even if that meant that some events conflicted with each other.

The Loyalist Power arcs were some of the most fun in Praetoria. The whole fighting to become Top Dog was a lot of fun...being the leader of a sort of Supergroup in Imperial City was a blast...and being able to rob a bank with Bobcat was hilarious.

My favorite arc in all of Praetoria, and the game itself, however, is easily the Resistance Warden chain. Out of everything in the game, this is the storyline that resonates with me the most. It has some wonderful characters, from Robert Flores, Tunnel Rat, Jessica Flores, Katie Douglass, Aaron Walker...wonderful story moments that let you try and make a difference in a positive way, and show that even if you're trying to work against the powers that be, you can do it in a way that isn't crazy violent (which is why I have trouble with the Crusader arc.) Things like being able to work against the other members of the Resistance to prevent a needless bombing, or helping a reporter get her story out, were nice touches that fleshed out the atmosphere of Praetoria, and brought a little light into the darkness. Helping Aaron Walker find and eventually recruit James Noble was bittersweet, considering what his fate is, and generally, the arc leaves you feeling positive about your role in events.

Out of the Warden missions, my favorite character was Katie. Although the writing was kind of over-the-top sappy, it worked. It hit me and made me feel for her character. I actually got MAD at Mother Mayhem for the fact that this was the result of the Seer program. It made me see the other Seers in a new light, and really shows just how dark and twisted the world of Praetoria can be. Even to see how it plays out, I could never actually bring myself to choose the Loyalist outcome in that arc. It'd just make me feel too guilty. Katie's a character that I feel...protective of, if that makes sense. Like she's someone I want to genuinely help. And like Dark Respite said, another wonderful moment is when you go to rescue Aaron Walker. It actually made me sad for the fate of the character, and it was a sort of bitter laugh that I had when I read the text of the robots he'd programmed to defend you at the end. His whole character was fun to work with, as he rambles on and on and acts arrogant, but still tries to do the right thing and leave a positive impact on the world.

It's just nice to have something that feels optimistic, particularly in a world where there's not much to be optimistic about.

Being able to meet all the characters you'd helped at the end was another wonderful touch as well. Seeing Katie and her freed Seers made me feel like I'd actually accomplished something positive, as well as talking with Noble Savage and Tunnel Rat and the other characters that had shown up to see me off. It was like I was actually saying goodbye to friends, which made the fact that the storyline just sort of stopped entirely at level 20 rather depressing - especially the fact that, at the time of it coming out, there was no way to go back to Praetoria (and even when you could, the fact that contacts don't remember you was equally depressing.)

And now, with the introduction of First Ward, the story continues to hit me in ways I didn't expect. The storyline there is just so incredibly rich and dark, with varied dialogue and scenery, and just a sense of impending doom that, no matter what you do, is going to strike. Being able to meet up with characters that you'd met previously was also nice, but man, I felt absolutely awful about hooking Katie back up to the Seer network again. It was almost enough to make me quit the storyarc entirely, and the fact that an event in a MMO can make me feel like that is amazing. Or the mission where you see what leads to the creation of one of the Abominations was heartbreaking - once again, I found myself actually get MAD at Mother Mayhem for the stuff she had pulled. Sure, Cole seems evil depending on the arc you play, but he doesn't really have a sense of being EVIL. Mother Mayhem, on the other hand, just seems completely...low. Evil in a way that goes beyond wanting to rule the world. The Seer program, the way she just destroys minds around her...it's awful. Based on some of the information we have about Cole's actions and motivations for those actions, I can sort of understand him and why he might have done what he did. It's not right, but I can understand it. Mayhem, on the other hand, is so far beyond redemption and reason...I wouldn't be surprised if she was set up to be the real evil in Praetoria, considering all the horrible evidence we've seen of her actions.

Like I said, it's this kind of storytelling that completely renewed my interest in the game. It made me excited for what's to come for the first time in a long while, and it's what keeps me around.

ETA: Oh, and I forgot to add - I also love the new Twinshot arc. Aside from the sometimes cringe-wrothy tutorial moments (but it is a tutorial mission, so I don't really care), the story was surprisingly well crafted. The characters are all likeable and quirky in a way that isn't annoying, and the storyline had some surprising depth to it. I want to know more about what happens to Twinshot and the rest of the gang in the future. It's nice to have NPC's in games that you can consider 'friends' of your characters - which is how I feel about a lot of the Praetorian contacts as well. The emphasis that's being put on story-telling, even in the Atlas missions and the tutorial arcs...I love it. It's a trend that I hope continues in the future!