Architect Arc Club

Played "Crime is Art and Art is Crime" by Twoflower

For Reference Reasons:
Character: Level 50 Spines/Ninjitsu Stalker (Fully IOed)
Settings: +0/x2/Bosses Off/AVs Off

Overall: 4.12 / Rated: 5

Story: 4.83
Logic: 5.00
Details: 4.75
Dialogue: 4.75

Action: 4.83
Immersion: 4.75
Flow: 4.75
Cast: 5.00

Technical: 3.83
Presentation: 4.00
Lots of white tends to make everything blend together for me.
Maps: 5.00
Balance: 2.50
Felt some of the customs in missions 2 & 3 were a bit overpowered for their rewards.

Rewards: 3.00

Played "Terra Mystika: The Nexus" by Lord Of Storms

For Reference Reasons:
Character: Level 50(+1) Spines/Ninjitsu Stalker
Settings: +0/x8/Bosses Off/AVs Off

Overall: 4.51 / Rated: 5

Story: 4.83
Logic: 5.00
Details: 4.75
Dialogue: 4.75

Action: 4.91
Immersion: 5.00
Flow: 4.75
Cast: 5.00

Technical: 4.83
Presentation: 4.75
Found everything extemely easy to read and reference, tho some navigation seemed a bit confusing in some areas.
Maps: 5.00
Balance: 4.75

Rewards: 3.50

What can I say, I highly recommend this arc and the author is a pretty cool cat to boot.

Ran #115935 "Cracking Skulls" by @Flame Kitten (who I gather is also Coulomb. Correct me if I'm wrong.)

I saw that Cracking Skulls was featured in the scheduled AE teaming thread, so I decided to try it out. I also see that it's been reviewed multiple times here, so I won't go into dramatic detail.

Ran it with my level 50 MA/SR scrapper, the Playboy Avenger. Since it was featured as a Kings Row crime arc with Freitag as the contact, I was delighted.

It had a nice Detective Comics style flow, and I felt the final boss at the end was well realized. I think my favorite was the NPC in mission #2 with the great bio and dialog.

I left a comment that I'll basically restate here, while I was reading Freitag's lines, they sounded very Joe Friday in my head, until the end. I might have just been imagining Webb's vocal style, but if that was intentional, a classic Dragnet epilogue regarding sentencing details would be a nice bonus.

I'll be recommending Cracking Skulls to friends of mine with avenging alleyway vigilante type characters.

Real-time notes as posted on twitter:

#CoHMA Playing Shadow of Grime Alley #144416 by @ Fantastic Foe as part of the Architect Arc club.ut.
#CoHMA M1: Gordon Stacy informs me of a new gang war moving into Kings Row. Seems small time for an arc that goes to 50.
#CoHMA M1: Found some custom <Skulls> but they're giving very reduced rewards. Like half of what the <Family> are giving.
#CoHMA M1: 1st pet peeve - large map. Very minor, but gets bigger if there's any chained objectives.
#CoHMA M1: Interesting, there are chained objectives, but the later ones are optional.
#CoHMA M1: Took a while to find the last boss on the big Steel Canyon map, but I got him. Also found a family hit w/ an unusually large gun.
#CoHMA M1: Seems this gang war is just the Family moving in on Kings Row by orders of the "Gat".

#CoHMA M2: Briefing felt kind of unclear. Like "There's no Family activity there, which is suspicious, so I'll send you over here."
#CoHMA M2: Apparently "Gat" was a Marcone that died 10 years ago. 4 years ago, some of his "protectors" were murdered. And now again.
#CoHMA M2: Seems odd to be murders on the 6th and 10th anniversary of his death, regardless if it's his ghost or something else.
#CoHMA M2: This also had another pet peeve of mine: A defeat all. But the map was small enough and no twists, so I didn't even notice it.

#CoHMA M3:Briefing referred to me as a "Vigilante" as in, not police. I thought registering as a hero got me some perks.
#CoHMA M3: had to double check the arc's morality. Labelled "Heroic" and not "Vigilante". This is Paragon's idea of Heroes, not Batman's
#CoHMA M3: Sounds like a possible non-combat mission where I learn the tale of Gat and his son.
#CoHMA M3: Police station, no enemies yet but I get the feeling it's not entirely non-combat. Found a body with BIG bullet holes.
#CoHMA M3: Found some reports that Gat's son died in a Zig breakout, but the facts don't quite add up. At least according to the clue.
#CoHMA M3: Weird, the mission completed as soon as I took the elevator upstairs. No idea how that happened.
#CoHMA M3: Two more of the family that were supposed to be protecting the Gat have died. Gordon was a no show because of an arson.

#CoHMA M4: He told me the story of Gat's son. You know Batman's origin story? It's that. Only he gets arrested and beat to death in prison.
#CoHMA M4: We agree that the son's not really dead and is looking for revenge from the last remaining chump his dad knew: Don Napoleano.
#CoHMA M4: Saved the Don, though he said his daughter has been taken. Find her down in the sewers. Apparently her name is "Daughter".
#CoHMA M4: Haven't mentioned this, but there's a lot of a custom, more modern looking Family style enemy group. Full or near full XP.
#CoHMA M4:They're called <Rogue Island Goons> and I guess they work for the new Gat. Nice, simple designs. I like them.
#CoHMA M4: The new Gat looks kind of like Daredevil, only with dual pistols. Another subtle Batman connection. His name's Wayne Thomason.
#CoHMA M4: The new Gat (just called "Gat" in mission) has an Arachnos entourage. Gordon thinks Recluse is using him to get a hold in Paragon

#CoHMA M5: And now Gordon's asked me to finish the job, and track down the Gat through the sewers and nab him for good.
#CoHMA M5: Another Batman reference, someone who I think is a Gat decoy is saying "I'm Gat-man, gat-MAN!"
#CoHMA M5: Same Gat-Time, same Gat-channel. Next boss also refers to the decoy as "that joker".
#CoHMA M5: Finally made it to the Gat, who looks remarkably like Bruce Wayne. Only with a shield and a trenchcoat.
#CoHMA M5: When looking at the arc description, I thought I saw 3 or 4 defeat alls in it. Haven't noticed any, but this has a large backroom
#CoHMA M5: Definitely a defeat all. It's the sub map so it's not horribly big, but it is Arachnos, so :P.
#CoHMA M5: ends with me clearing out the base, which Gordon refers to as "cool", not quite showing much profesionalism there.

Overall I thought this was an interesting arc. Unfortunately I thought it seemed a little to small-time for a level 50, I also noticed there were some inconsistent level ranges mixed in there. I did kind of like that it felt almost like an alternate world version of Batman, like a "what-if" world where his father was a mob boss and he became more villain than vigilante. There's a lot of subtle nods that I liked, but when they became blatant, in-your-face, and overly comical, I didn't care for them as much. The only other thing I want to mention is that the defeat all on the final mission felt unnecessary. The others were fine, in fact I didn't even really notice that they were defeat alls except I noticed in the arc description. Generally, I liked it, but it could still use some work. Good luck!

Hey, thank you for playing Shadow of Grime Alley. I'll have to do some tweaking, and I appreciate the feedback.

But I'm pretty sure both the warehouse and the Gat-cave are not defeat alls, or at least not defeat all on the map. I'm pretty sure that they are defeat all in the final room, but I'm rethinking that.

Will run an arc or two over each of the next two days. Don't count me out of the club yet! Been very busy with work.

Arc #115935 Cracking Skulls by @Flame Kitten

Loved the easy fun of low level Skulls-busting! This one comes packaged with a great story that's easy to follow, yet JUST complex enough to be rewarding. Great job!

Arc #271637: Welcome to M.A.G.I., by @Doctor Gemini

Good overall. 5 stars rating, but a few quick notes:

1. It might very well be finishable on a level 1-10, but I'm not sure? I was on a 25, exemplared down to 10, with level 15 powers, on a team of 8, at default difficulty settings, and it was tough going in some missions: very demanding in terms of constantly fighting. Plus, a true level 1-10 character won't necessarily have the space to carry the extra Break Frees to use in the last mission.

2. Azuria's voice didn't quite feel right to me, for some reason. She's always struck me as the wise, serene, water-off-a-duck type, which isn't quite the vibe I got here, especially with her crack about what players have heard at the Hero Registration meetings or what-not.

3. Something I'm guilty of myself, sometimes: a couple of the NPC chat boxes were slam full of text, making it hard to take them all in when a boss drops amid his flunkies because players are still trying to focus on fighting, not having the time to read the text 'til later, with scrolling up through the chatbox.

BUT overall, a solid mission with a good story when one takes the time to read the clues. 5 stars, and well worth a replay when I have a little more time and a character of the appropriate level to see if it REALLY works for me at that stage. Good work.

#CoHMA Running Agent of the OSS #525356 by @ PW aka PoliceWoman on the forums, from the Architect Arc Club input/output.
#CoHMA The arc is set in WW2 and I'm one of the "Mystery Men" who's been recruited to the Office of Strategic Services.
#CoHMA M1: I'm being paradropped into Stalag 19, one of the camps set up for superpowered individuals.
#CoHMA M1: 5th column on the zig map is used for <Wehrmacht> German soldiers. Guessing none of the wolf/vampire mobs, but solo mob sizes.
#CoHMA M1: There's no mention of entering the sewer grate. One of my pet peeves. I think inside/outside maps are more common, but #yaneverno
#CoHMA M1: Ok, there are some German Shepards, and not the cute little kind that follow you around. #WarWolves
#CoHMA M1: Actually, the <hounds> are in their own group, and patrolling the area like good doggies should.

#CoHMA M2: Some sympathizers gave Monica the location of a secret tunnel so we can sneak in and sabotage the time machine.
#CoHMA M2: The entrance to the tunnel is in a casino? We'll have to blend in. Wonder how this is going to work out in the AE.
#CoHMA M2: Ooh, in this mission I'm supposed to be changing into civvys and this is one character that actually HAS a civvy costume slot!
#CoHMA M2: Nice, I lead civvy Monica to a glowie row of lockers and she says "This is it", voila - secret passage.

#CoHMA M3: Was hoping for a short and sweet between-mission dialog and I got it. Straight from the entrance to the base.
#CoHMA M3: The time machine is already complete! But I did knock out Dr. Lizardo, its creator.
#CoHMA M3: A blast of radiation hit me when I destroyed the time machine. Oh no! Will it give me superpowers? Oh wait.
#CoHMA M3: Neat, arc ends with me being tossed to the present via the time machine, contact is original contact's son. And Monica's dead.

Will post a short summary tomorrow.

Just played Lord of Storm's "Once a Hero"

It's not technically on the list for reviews, but I'm a rebel. A rebel! (I'll make sure to run Terra Mystika soon...)

Once a Hero is a five mission arc, the missions flow nice and smooth.

There is a tremendous variety of custom opponents, I enjoyed seeing all the different monsters, particularly the undead version of Hellions and Skulls. I always enjoy seeing higher level versions of low level opponents. Makes me nostalgic.

The story text and dialog seem well presented, I didn't notice any errors or odd phrasings.

I enjoyed the interactions with the NPCs, although I would have expected the citizens I saved on the Croatoa map to react in some way.

The missions featured a short amount of core objectives and a fair amount of optional objectives that added depth, I give a hearty thumbs up.

Very minor nitpick, the mission briefing mentioned Croatoa but it might have been better to use the proper name of the village, Salamanca.

All in all, I'd recommend the arc, it's one I'd play again with different characters, on different difficulty settings.




SPOILERS

Based on the title of the arc, I expected the ultimate bad guy to have been a hero who had been drugged up on Dreaming, I had not expected the actual situation in regards to the contact, and I appreciated that little twist.

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the club. I've pretty much gotten burned out on CoH and a few weeks away has not recharged my batteries so I'm likely out for another month or two. I always get pulled back in, though (and I'd better since I'm buying another year with the holiday deal), so kick me out and take my arc off the list, I'll rejoin the club when I come back.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tubbius Arc #271637: Welcome to M.A.G.I., by @Doctor Gemini Good overall. 5 stars rating, but a few quick notes: 1. It might very well be finishable on a level 1-10, but I'm not sure? I was on a 25, exemplared down to 10, with level 15 powers, on a team of 8, at default difficulty settings, and it was tough going in some missions: very demanding in terms of constantly fighting. Plus, a true level 1-10 character won't necessarily have the space to carry the extra Break Frees to use in the last mission. 2. Azuria's voice didn't quite feel right to me, for some reason. She's always struck me as the wise, serene, water-off-a-duck type, which isn't quite the vibe I got here, especially with her crack about what players have heard at the Hero Registration meetings or what-not. 3. Something I'm guilty of myself, sometimes: a couple of the NPC chat boxes were slam full of text, making it hard to take them all in when a boss drops amid his flunkies because players are still trying to focus on fighting, not having the time to read the text 'til later, with scrolling up through the chatbox. BUT overall, a solid mission with a good story when one takes the time to read the clues. 5 stars, and well worth a replay when I have a little more time and a character of the appropriate level to see if it REALLY works for me at that stage. Good work.

Thanks for the play and review. Addressing your issues...

1. I've played about a dozen level 1 characters through of all ATs and they've all been fine. By the time you enter the last mission you're level 5 so you can carry enough inspirations to take in at least 1 break free, and I've never actually needed more.

2. In designing Azuria's dialogue, I decided to ignore her official dialogue because she, and all those early contacts especially, came across to me as generic and interchangeable. So I had her speak very precisely pronouncing each and every syllable...except when she gets upset. She is still human, so serene or not I see her getting very annoyed when she is constantly blamed for things out of her control, even if it was really a bit of meta-humor.

3. I know. Far too many dialogue boxes of all types were filled to the brim. Most of my mission dialogues had to be cut down just to fit. If I ever do another arc it won't be so chatty.

Thanks for the kind words. It's going to get a major revamp, especially in mission 4, when I get over my CoH doldrums and get back into the game again.

Okay, I’ve been focusing on the Player’s Choice arcs, but I don’t want to neglect Arc Club, so today and tomorrow I’ll do my two arcs for November (technically tomorrow’s will be a day late, but I’ll be sure to do two more after than for December).

Arc #524278 The Astral Prison by @Zaphir - heroic, level 40+, 11 plays

Overall Impression: A very well done, fun arc with a neat story, good gameplay, and a lot of nice touches. I gave it five stars.

A few “thoughts along the way” from when I was actually playing through it:
Why is it necessary that I use my powers to escape the Astral Plane? The mission two briefing suggests I need to defeat two “controlling” thought beings to open the way for escape, and, obviously, my powers will come in handy here, but it’s not real clear why simply using them is necessary to “poke a hole” in the dimensional fabric. I thought that’s what I was taking out the “controllers” for…

Syllable’s description mentions him “beating the tar out of me” – I’m make it a more neutral statement (in the actual fight, he didn’t even lay a hand on me).

The Robot Warriors are the shadow shard reflections. The rest of the custom faction looks solid, so I honestly don’t know if the reflection thing is intentional (remind you of the ‘unreal’ quality of the prison), or if the whole faction is supposed to feel “solid” this time.

Oh … okay. The fact they are encouraging me to use my powers without explaining *why* its necessary (or how using them will help free me) is actually part of the plot. Gotcha.

Third mission intro: “…I can see it from here that it is rather shoddy…” Should probably be “…I can see from here that it is rather shoddy…” (or possibly “…I can see it from here. It appears to have rather shoddy…”)

The ‘custom’ Protectors in the last mission are neat, although I do think their description could use a second pass: it makes it sound like I’m not aware of what they actually are (which, in an arc that goes up to level 50, is not a safe assumption) – one actually refers to them as a ‘supergroup’ for example. I’d recommend making their descriptions reflect what they actually are a bit more.

*But* the fact that they actually speak as though *they* think they’re really heroes is a nice touch, and fits in very well with the story.

Arc #514570 Terra Mystika: The Nexus by @Lord of Storms, Hero 40+, 10 plays

Overall Impression: It’s a solid, fun arc, and the way the last mission is set up is really very neat, although I would have liked it to have more of a climax. The story moves right along too. While the missions are pretty short, the first three are basically “copies” of each other (in terms of what you are doing) – find clues, close portal, beat local boss. Since the missions are short, it doesn’t actually make the arc boring (like I said, the pacing actually feels really good), but it does create the feel of “gee, wouldn’t it be better if there was more variety in those missions?”

“Officially” I’d rate this 4 stars (with “more variety”, more of a “climax”, and an editing pass in a few key places mentioned below, as being what would be needed for a solid 5 stars). But, unless the author specifically requests the ratings be “as is” (as PW did for Crises at Talos), I prefer to give 5 stars if I’d rate 4 or 5, and leave it unrated if I’d give it three or less, so in game I gave it 5 stars.

A few “thoughts along the way” from when I was actually playing through it:
Minor nit – even though she’s a boss, story wise it makes slightly more sense for Melinda to be closer to the front of the mission … if the back is preferred, perhaps her saying something like “My teleport spell put me deeper in than I would have preferred…”

Minor grammar thing in end of mission clue – probably better as “That’s how they work:” (with a colon; putting a comma there makes it a run-on). And (at the end of the clue) “portal” instead of “ortal.”

In mission two the first dialog I heard didn’t make a lot of sense: they were talking about something like “yesterday it looked like a building in Budapest or along a street in Berlin, but now it looks all run down” – is the building “decaying” or something?

In the second mission I encountered an image of myself – it seemed to have something to do with the Nexus, but what was going on was never explained (at least I don’t think it was): I got the impression I was already supposed to know what was going on. In the briefing for mission three, I learned from Melinda that there exist something called “Nexus wards” – and they could look like anything. IMO, this really could use a stronger, clearer setup: perhaps a “mission start” clue that explains what the idea behind these wards are. Right now I’d guessing they are some sort of “defense” (that happens to be hostile to people from worlds other than the Nexus’), but it’s not clear what they are in spite of Melinda’s dialog suggesting I should actually already be familiar with them.

There’s another Nexus shade that looks just like me in mission three – but it’s not hostile; it doesn’t interact with me in any way, either. Don’t know if that’s intended or needs to be fixed.

Okay, the way the last mission is set up is a really neat idea. The puzzle almost seems *too* easy to solve, but I really like the setup.

I would suggest an editing pass on the second paragraph of “The Betrayer’s Plot” – it’s basically a big run-on and actually is pretty hard to follow.

Also, there’s got to be a way to add a climactic finale to that final mission so it doesn’t just ‘end’ with the accusation (maybe a few of the Elder’s loyal “wardens” could teleport in, and you have to defeat them before they can assassinate the other Elders or something)…

I did then click on the “wrong” glowies just to see what would happen. As an alternate to the storm elemental “renames” (i.e. the Nexus creatures) you might want to consider having “rogue wardens” loyal to the betrayer Elder ambush me instead, saying something like “Quickly, stop $name before he figures out who our real master is and foils his plans!” (or something). Just an alternate suggestion.

Terra Mystika: The Nexus (#514570)

I thought this was a neat concept. I really liked the Central Alliance and their weird background chatter, and the additional custom models in the Roman group. The accusation mission was also a neat idea. The writing in the briefing and the clues all seemed solid.

I felt the first 3 missions were rather repetitive (perhaps intentionally so); even though they had different enemies, they all had exactly the same formula. I'd recommend mixing it up some, while keeping the key element that a traitor was somehow passing information and/or materials to those groups. I thought it was a little strange that the same traitor would be supporting three different groups from three different dimensions, though; it's possible I didn't fully understand the motivation here.

Having the arc end on the accusation felt rather abrupt, I would've expected the traitor to fight back in some way. Consider having a final confrontation with the traitor; either a combat, or perhaps some sort of courtroom scene. That would give a better sense of closure.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the play, Coulomb2 -- glad to hear ya liked the arc! Some minor comments below

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coulomb2 Syllable’s description mentions him “beating the tar out of me” – I’m make it a more neutral statement (in the actual fight, he didn’t even lay a hand on me).

Yeah, good point... I usually watch out for overly 'active' descriptions, but this one slipped by me. Will change the wording a bit.

Quote:

The Robot Warriors are the shadow shard reflections. The rest of the custom faction looks solid, so I honestly don’t know if the reflection thing is intentional (remind you of the ‘unreal’ quality of the prison), or if the whole faction is supposed to feel “solid” this time.

Welllll... I wanted a few robotic minions, and the council bot reflections are one of the few 40-54 options (Nemesis Jager robots in particular have very weird and annoying level ranges). OTOH the ghostly / ethereal thing is nice for the extra 'strangeness' factor (the dopplegangers in M3 all have the ghostly aura for the same reason).

Quote:

Third mission intro: “ I can see it from here that it is rather shoddy ” Should probably be “ I can see from here that it is rather shoddy ” (or possibly “ I can see it from here. It appears to have rather shoddy ”)

Good catch, will fix.

Quote:

The ‘custom’ Protectors in the last mission are neat, although I do think their description could use a second pass: it makes it sound like I’m not aware of what they actually are (which, in an arc that goes up to level 50, is not a safe assumption) – one actually refers to them as a ‘supergroup’ for example. I’d recommend making their descriptions reflect what they actually are a bit more.

Yar, will give these descriptions a second pass.


Thanks again,

-- Z.

Thanks for the Feedback!

I was going to respond by starting a forum post for Terra Mystika: The Nexus, but since I haven't yet, I thought I should respond here.

I actually agree with some (or most) of the points: The 1st through 3rd mission have the goal of closing the portals to end the flow of re-enforcements. This is critical to all 3 missions, but does give it a feel of lather, rinse, repeat. I have an idea to at least change the 3rd missions (the Romans) so it won't be quite so repetitious. Now to wrestle with the mechanics to find a way to make it work...

Not confronting the boss in the end... The original reason was I had planned to do a sequel and wanted to keep the boss (The Betrayer) alive for that. This is a comic based game and we all know major villains appear to die on a regular basis only to return later with an elaborate story about how they survived, a detailed plan for faking their death, or whatever. Given that, it doesn't make sense to not have a confrontation... So added the Betrayer as a foe to defeat in mission 4. I am also thinking about adding another mission (mission 5, leaving 4 in place) to complete more of the story.

I have not yet ruled out a sequel ( or prequel, or both...). I like the Wardens and am thinking about using them and the Nexus again.

Two Chicks at Once: mission arc #83920
Longbow has launched a cunning and titillating operation to undermine Arachnos' influence in the Rogue Isles. It's up to you to beat them at their own game.

Curiouser and Curiouser: mission arc #167567
How can Lord Recluse's latest plot be so secret, even he doesn't know about it? How do Longbow and Malta fit in, and who invited Nemesis?

Cat: It's What's For Dinner: mission arc #530511
Such a simple plan: steal the Orestes Rifle, kidnap Ms. Liberty, defeat Statesman. What could possibly go wrong? Choose from two possible endings.

These are intended for for levels 40-50, although they're not too hard. No defeat-alls or other time wasters. There are EBs, but you will either have allies for them, or you won't have to fight them. The dialog assumes that you're a villain.

Although the three go in chronological order, the plot for each is mostly self-contained. Still, if you only have time for one, please do Cat: It's What's For Dinner. The first two came out two years ago, and were played by people reading my long-abandoned review thread, while this one is brand new. Feedback of any kind is welcome (no plot spoilers please). I'll start other people's arcs right away.

Whack a Mole! Incarnate Edition! Lambda Sector

I had played this one a month or so ago, and found it really funny, although I admit I have a weakness for parody arcs. I'm hoping they add the TPN map to the Architect soon . I was actually surprised to find the Lamdba map in AE, although it's just a part of the real one. Of course, that may be a good thing, since even after doing the real Lambda half a dozen times, I still get lost finding nades and acids. Here, I beat it with 3 seconds to spare. Non-Incarnates probably won't be able to succeed, but then, if someone hasn't done Lambda they won't get the jokes anyway.


Black as Midnight: Team Spirit

A well written, atmospheric run through an abandoned building in Dark Astoria, where you have to rescue a bunch of Midnighter allies and whoop some evil looking badguys. The allies appear to be avatars of the author's friends, which could be confusing to the 5-10% of us who don't play on Virtue. All allies and foes are custom mobs with descriptions and good looking costumes. Every single defeat and glowie gave me a clue; to be honest, I found the plot confusing, but maybe that's just my fault for playing at 3AM with only one pot of coffee. The EB at the end is tough, but 2 EB and 2 boss allies push the odds in your favor.


Shadow of Grime Alley

The title immediately made me think of http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Appointment_In_Crime_Alley, a episode of the superb Batman animated series. I have a special fondness for this episode, because it highlights Batman's more complex side. A shady Gotham developer wants to get rid of Crime Alley to make way for a shopping mall, or maybe a hotdog stand or something, but Batman stands in his way, because he knows that despite the name, the residents of Crime Alley all are good people with hearts of gold. I couldn't help but thinking that if Crime Alley were burnt down, crime bosses would have a harder time finding muscle-bound henchmen in 10-15 years, but maybe Batman doesn't think that far ahead. Anyway, the contact for "Shadow of Grime Alley" is Gordon Stacy, whom I'm assuming was created originally as a nod to Commissioner Gordon.

The plot here does not follow the episode, but instead is a story of betrayal and revenge among the Family. It's well told, with dashes of humor thrown in. The only real complaint, besides a few itty-bitty grammatical errors (missing punctuation, inconsistent nav text) is that the first mission requires you to find two hostages on a BIG outdoor map, which took me a while. Maybe they would have been easier to spot if it were daytime ingame. Nevertheless, this is still worth playing.

Kill or Cure #459581 by @Samuraiko

This starts out promisingly, the player tasked with defending SERAPH against an attack by Lesbian Hellions. Granted, they look just like Knives of Artemis, but I could tell they were really Lesbian Hellions because half a dozen patrols all said "Ok ladies, put it in and get it over with." Or something. I entered the building, took out the boss and rescued hostages, all with well written dialog clues. Players who aren't familiar with this particular map might get stuck figuring out which door they need to go in.

Clues from this lead to more Severe Pummeling, which leads us to a plot to genocide the Rikti, which we have to stop, because... um, because genocide is bad, I guess, even if it's Rikti. A Vigilante might see it differently, but oh well. The story is well written, with a cool ending. An incorrect event trigger in the final mission made one thing happen out of sequence, but I told the author about it, so no doubt it's fixed by now. Worth checking out.


Arc #514570 Terra Mystika: The Nexus by @Lord of Storms

Melinda, a moderately shapely witch with a pointy hat, asks me to to come to the defense of the Fortress, in the middle of the Nexus, in the world of Terra Mysticus. She goes into a fair amount of detail about this world, both in mission briefings and clues obtained. The writing is well done, but still, since this is outside of CoH lore, it's difficult to get emotionally invested in something I never heard about before. Still, I dive in, hoping for the chance to dive into Melinda's short skirt later. I rescue her from some CoT, defeat Zinfandel, and get some foreshadowing clues about how their own portals were used.

The next two missions are much like the first; I defend the Fortress from people who look exactly like Council/5C, but they're from central Europe, which is conveyed by patrol chatter about how much they like cabbage. Or something. The third has Romans, who look like Cimerorans, but with a wide variety of powersets and an even greater fondness for gladiator movies.

In the final mission, Melinda invites me to a party on the slopes of a mountain. I eagerly accept, hoping to find her waiting behind some bushes, but instead I need to determine which of their leaders betrayed them by gathering information from clues from the previous missions. I went with Professor Plum in the vomitorium with a gladius, but all that happened was some hostile pink clouds spawned. Hopefully Melinda gives you third base if you get it right, but even if not, well worth playing.


Arc #29205 PENGUIN by @Tubbius

I'm not going to go into a lot of detail here, just suffice it to say to say that it's told in a innovative manner, and there's a penguin.

Shadow of Grime Alley (#144416)

Mission 1

I didn't really get why rescuing Sara triggered finding the buttonman's body (she never mentions this), or rescuing Matt triggered finding Matt's friend's body (I didn't think he mentioned this, but scrolling back, I saw it's stated in the system text, which is very easy to miss). I'd suggest adding dialog or clues pointing to these objectives.

Mission debriefing seemed too short (only 1 line).


Didn't have anything to say about mission 2.

Mission 3

In the briefing Gordon talks about "Striga and Rogue Isle Family factions"; it would sound a little more authentic if you used family names like "the Marcone family". Also "Commisioner" should be "Commissioner" (both in send-off message and in Gordon's description).

Mission popup "Gunfire, yelling, sounds of scuffle" isn't a proper sentence. Also I think "sounds of scuffle" sounds much less impressive than the gunfire and yelling; I'd suggest simplifying this to something like "As you enter the station, you hear yelling and the sound of gunfire."

Inside I run into "Goon" whose description is just "Someone needs to keep the Mooks in line", seems awfully terse; I'd suggest you flesh it out a little. I'm a bit puzzled over who these goons are working for; in later missions I find out they're minions of the Gat, but I think after you defeat the goons in this mission you should get a clue or some info from Gordon saying that the goons confess to working for the Gat.

Found a body bag; this one body bag contains BOTH Virelli and Caruso? Seems a little weird, maybe should be 2 body bags.

There's at least one patrol of SWAT officers in the police station. I think their dialog is too calm; real cops would be a lot more agitated if someone came into a police station and blew away some witnesses in police custody. I assume "the Gat" did it, but how did he get by the police that would normally be here to shoot Virelli and Caruso? Seems like that would have required him to kill or capture the cops that were already there. Possibly there should be cops surrounding the bodies of the dead witnesses, too.

Also wasn't I supposed to meet Gordon Stacy here? He wasn't present anywhere in the building; seems inconsistent.

The end-of-mission clue postulates that Tommy Thomason and his wife were killed by a mugger, but according to the story, Tommy "Gatling Gun" Thomason is a mob enforcer with his own custom firearms, which makes it very implausible that he could be killed by an ordinary mugger. I could believe he was killed by another hitman, or a sniper, or even a supervillain; a common mugger seems unlikely though.

Debriefing has Gordon Stacy explaining why he wasn't there, but I'm not sure I buy it. Could HE be "the Gat"? The paragraph breaks in the debriefing are somewhat messed up, you probably want to insert additional line breaks.

Gordon expositions a lot more about the Gat's son, but finishes by claiming the Son of the Gat is dead. It doesn't make sense for him to talk this much about someone he thinks is dead; I think he should either not talk about this, or else suggest that maybe Wayne faked his death (the obvious implication -- and Gordon Stacy IS a detective, after all).


Mission 4

Inside the mission I find Don Napolino, who has been captured by some Mooks. But Napolino seems to be asking them to look for his daughter, which is weird if he's captured by them.

I run across a Family/Mook battle where one of the Family says:

[NPC] Button Man Gunner: Aiiieeeeee! Oh, it's just Bette Noire. Whew.

....but this mob actually fights me, which doesn't make sense for him being relieved to see me. The mooks talk about their boss being low on ammo. Maybe they really do work for the Gat. The mooks guarding Angelica Napolino confirm this.

I find the Gat and confront him. He's escorted by ... Arachnos? Huh? Is that on purpose? This surprised me at first, but got explained later. I beat up the Gat, but upon defeating him, the clue he drops claims that his men "rescued him at the last moment". This feels like kind of a cheat, as I clearly beat him up at the end of this mission.


Mission 5

Since I already defeated the Gat in mission 4, this mission to capture him again feels like filler.

The very first encounter is with "The Gat?" who has extremely silly dialog that kinda breaks the mood of the arc. Defeating him doesn't seem to accomplish anything except tell me to defeat the next person claiming to be "the Gat".

I eventually find the real Gat and fight him, and he's using a shield and martial arts. That seems weird, he's in his home base and has a jillion Arachnos minions guarding him now, but he wasn't able to find reloads for his guns? Seems rather implausible and a guy named "the Gat" should really fight with his signature firearms.

The mission exit popup, "This time, he's down for the count" is missing a period at the end.


Souvenir

I'd recommend making the souvenir longer, basically giving a summary of the plot of the adventure, much like a normal story arc souvenir. This would look a bit more polished.


Overall

I like the basic concept of turning Batman's origin into the origin of a crazed gunman. However, I don't buy that an ordinary mugger could kill a top Family enforcer, and Wayne's motivation to kill Family capos for not providing his father protection feels very weak. Also if this is his motivation, why kidnap Angelica, who had nothing to do with it? Mission 5 feels kinda filler-like since you already beat the Gat in mission 4.


Suggestions (use if you like them, ignore if you don't like them):

* Change Tommy's death to be the result of a hit from a rival Family member who never gets identified or caught. This makes Tommy's death more believable and gives Wayne a better reason to kill other Family members.
* Changing Wayne's motivation like this would end up removing the reason why he would kill homeless people in Kings Row, but the arc as written really doesn't do very much with that plot thread anyway -- it follows the Family killings. However, if Wayne is only killing Family, his actions are basically that of a Vigilante. You might consider exploring whether the player should really arrest Wayne in this case, or might sympathize with him. This might also be a chance to give Wayne some more depth as a character than "crazed gunman".
* Consider cutting mission 5 entirely and have the arc end on the Gat's defeat in mission 4. Or, if you really like the Gat-Cave, remove the Gat from mission 4 (just say he's already gotten away) and have the player fight him only in mission 5.
* I'd suggest dropping "The Gat?" who seems to be a humorous element in an otherwise non-humorous story, and let "The Gat" use his guns in the final fight.
* With the Gat's minions being named stuff like "Mook", consider having a connection to Guido "the Mooch" Verandi, whose minions are also called Mooks. Maybe Verandi is backing the Gat's moves, in a play to take over some of the mainland Family territories.

Hope some of this helps!

PW,

Thank you very much for the detailed feedback, particularly on the dialog in mission 3 and Napolino's dialog in mission 4.

I'll certainly look that over.

Some quick comments, the map for the police station was an incredibly restrictive map, I didn't have the ability to present two body bags to represent both of the Family bosses arrested in missions 1 and 2.

I'll give some thought of either reducing the number of dead bosses, or look for another police station map.

Mission 5 as a concept is dear to my heart, so I'll keep it in, but it needs a change in tone. The Gat at the end in particular has very unsatisfying dialog.

I hear what you are saying about fighting the Gat in mission 4, and then really defeating him in mission 5, and feeling cheated that he escapes in mission 4 thanks to mission text. I wish the AE system could allow me to script an encounter with the Gat in mission 4, where he escapes, since in the comics, rarely does the hero only encounter the villain in the finale.

I'll give some thought to that as well.

I particularly liked in your review your descriptions of your thought process as you encountered the mission elements. I was surprised that you suspected Gordon Stacy as being the Gat.

Clearly, I need to support a lot of activity and mission events with persistent clue text that can be examined to flesh out details and my intentions.

Again, I really appreciate you playing the arc, but also really examining it for comments.

Played "Cat: It's What's For Dinner" by Interface

For Reference Reasons:
Character: Level 50(+1) Spines/Ninjitsu Stalker (Fully IOed)
Settings: +0/x1/Bosses Off/AVs Off

Overall: 3.58 / Rated: 5 (it's my policy*)

Story: 4.16
Logic: 4.50
Details: 3.75
Dialogue: 4.25

Action: 3.66
Immersion: 2.50
Flow: 3.75
Cast: 4.75

Technical: 4.00
Presentation: 3.00
Maps: 4.50
Balance: 4.50

Rewards: 2.50

General Notes (without Spoilers)
What I didn't like:
1) I am a HUGE fan of comedy and do appreciate slapstick comedies, but the basis of this parody is bordering on Lohan... errr... horror. I've personally come across 4 parodies pertaining to this item of lore now.
2) Enemy group should be customized or renamed to match their dimensional leaders.
3) I feel use of additional colors not in the limited selection list would be nice here, but that's my personal preference.

What I did like:
1) The sense of humor. There were a few points in the dialogue that I grinned.
2) No continuous white walls of text.
3) Costumes of custom dimensional counterparts.
4) Optional ending.

*My Policy:
Who am I to discourage authors who put forth effort with a less than 5 star rating and possibly push them down the list? It may discourage them or those who like their style from finding their creation and trying it out. Is it a flawed approach and misleading to those who go off ratings? Yup, but I feel when you're dealing with a flawed ratings system there's no need to be a flawyer(my word). I'm just 1 audience member in this game and I'd rather see this community grow than fade into oblivion. If the author is curious what they can do to appease this 1 audience member, I hope my ratings per category reflect what I felt needs improving to get me to "spread the word" about their creation.