Who Will Die Part 2 SSA - Thoughts

Once again, same as SSA Part 1:

-The blue side arc is a clone of the red side arc, only with parts cut out.
-The red side arc rewards a cool temp ability. The blue side arc has nothing.
-The red side arc reveals extra information/clarifies things the blue side arc just glosses over.

It's clear what side these arcs are really being written for; who's getting all the shiny and who is getting the hand-me-down story.
Even the very premise means your hero MUST fail to save the Phalanx member.



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Finished the hero side of this arc tonight...was okay/good.

I don't follow the story that much but it was nice to see a new enemy group I guess.

No real issues with the missions.

While I didn't find the first arc fantastic, at least it had a couple maps that were gorgeous and made it feel special. This second arc added a preview to a new villain group (which really didn't feel that unique to me), and at least for me is not as fun as the first part. I was hoping that the arcs were going to get bigger and better as they went on, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

3 missions, with an EB at the end, just doesn't feel worth the months wait (or the 400 pts a premium player would spend). I figure I'll just go premium, and then renew at the end and play it all through at once. It probably will feel better that way. All things considered I've been highly disappointed by this feature, and as I have sworn off Incarnate content, I don't think I need to remain a subscriber to enjoy what I still enjoy of the game.

Also, having an EB that has a self heal and summoned pets is not very solo friendly for some ATs.

Okay, I apologize if I missed it in the thread but...who is the contact in Talos? I did not get a popup saying I should talk to so-n-so.

Michael Binocolo, on the cliffs north of the Talos hill.

Yeah, while I'm quite enjoying the SSA so far, $5 a piece is too high - that means the full arc is going to be $35, which is pretty much equivalent to a full expansion pack in price, but *far* less content (even if you don't rush, you're looking at maybe 30 minutes per part - compare that with e.g. First Ward content to cost ratio), and while I can fully understand not being allowed to buy an easy way to make 7 alignment merits per week, the limit on rewards takes away the only other area that might make it worth that cost.

Not that it affects me as a subscriber, but if I were Premium I'd just buy whichever was the shortest/easiest part and ignore the rest.

More than likely, once all 7 episodes are released I wouldn't be surprised to see them bundle them together at a discount normally, like the costume packs.

I do have to agree though, compared to First Ward which gives you several long arcs and multiple contacts, the SSAs are really not worth buying individually. If you're in it solely for the rewards, just buy the first one and run it once a week. Especially if you're a villain, ridiculously easy.

Played through the arc yesterday on my villain just to obtain the 2 alignment merits.
It was alright, but I thought that the Rulu-Shin looked pretty cheap. Excluding the chest detail and gloves, they looked like something a Magneto fan would throw together in AE.

I would just like to say, the last mission where you have to defeat the boss guy, it's really frustrating I have an IOd out PB and I still can't defeat him with all the lucks and whatnot, why did the devs make that boss so hard to defeat, I am using combat flight, I have IOs and I am using lucks like crazy, but nooo I can't defeat him no matter what, and since it's a taskforce I can't invite anyone to help me unless I quit and start all over, I want to do the SSA because it's interesting and for the rewards, but thank you devs for making something sooo frustrating that I can't finish.

For the people having trouble with the EB, what are you doing about the minions he has around him? Their self-destruct is what heals him, but if you clear them all away first, he shouldn't be healing, based on what I've seen.

I saw the cave boss heal himself once at the start of the fight. After that he went down so fast (to a level 33 solo beam/mm) that I didn't get a chance to see any of his other powers. The EB at the end was the same story. Lead with overcharge to vaporize his helpers and then hop around blasting him. He hit me a single time for almost all of my health but that was the only chance he got. I imagine he'd be tough in melee, and to that I say "good!"

Now I just need to make a dang villain so I can actually see the other half of the SSA content.

For whatever it's worth I fought him with a level 30 WM/EA Brute (generic and frankenslotted IOs) and a level 25 DP/Poison Corruptor (same for IOs) and took him down without too much bother via purple + red inspirations (just whatever I had on-hand at the time). With the Corruptor I took down his minions first to reduce incoming fire then kited him as I wore him down. With the Brute I avoided killing the minions for the small +rech and +def/end boosts they provide EA and just went toe-to-toe.

With no self-heal besides a couple green inspirations it was a close fight, but I managed it without a death. I don't say this to haha-newb anyone, just to let you know that it's certainly doable without uber characters, so don't give up!

Also, in fairness, it does warn you about the EB and that it may be difficult to solo.

Is the end boss same for villain and hero arcs?

I didn't have too much trouble with him at the end. I used my lvl 45 brute and had plenty of greens, blues, and oranges and she was able to foot stomp his minions into confusion long enough to beat the main down and keep him from regenerating. She did have to come at him twice but I bought the resurrection power for her thinking that she might need something like that for this mission. So she didn't defeat him straight up but she didn't have to hospital either.

E

I didn't know Darrin Wade was a Nictus? Arc was pretty sweet thou, Rulu-shin were cool. Hopefully more Rulurru action in the future.

I haven't finished the arc yet, but there's something... Odd about the Numina pinup on the loading screen. Now, this might sound like open criticism, but I'm just trying to express what throws me off about it. Feel free to correct me on any and all counts.

The first thing I notice is that her face actually looks decent. No O-face in sight. I can respect this greatly. She does have something of a large nose, but that's really not the point. It does seem odd that her lipstick comes FAR below her lower lip almost until it meets her chin, but I don't really know the specifics of female makeup, so maybe that's done to make her lips seem fuller. How DO you put makeup on a ghost, anyway?

I really like her hair. It's both sensual and reserved, which is quite hard to pull off in artwork, but what is that vertical "rim" at the back of her head intended to represent? Is her hair from the left somehow twisted and wrapped over the top of her head and coming down on the right? If that's the case, then why is it as long as her hair on the left? Wouldn't you need a very uneven haircut to pull that off?

The next thing I notice is that her right hand REALLY stands out. I'm not sure what it is, maybe the way the bottom of the palm juts out makes her hand too big for her tiny wrist, or maybe her fingers are a bit too long. I can't quite say. What I CAN say, however, is that her index finger seems unnaturally short, much shorter than her ring finger. Now, I do know that some people's ring finger is longer than their index finger, but I'm not sure if it's usual for it to be longer by THIS much.

I immediately start comparing it to her left hand holding the skull, which appears larger larger than her right, despite being in the foreground. Maybe it's just me, though, I can't be sure. I really have no complaints about the left hand, other than that her index finger feels like it shouldn't be visible, obscured by the skull if she was supposed to have an even spread of her fingers. Certainly it should have been obscured by her middle finger. In fact, if you go by where the picture suggests her index finger knuckle would be, then she has a HUGE gap between her index finger and her thumb, clear on the other side of the skull. Upon reflection, he pinky looks as long as her ring finger on that same left hand.

What really catches my eye even more, though, is... Why does Numina have fingernails on her gloves? And I'm not talking about pointed fingers as though the hands beneath the gloves had long nails, I mean she has actual pink fingernails AN TOP of her gloves. It's like she isn't wearing gloves at all, but instead has her forearms and hands body-painted pink. That can't be right, though, because her right wrist shows fabric wrinkles, and I can't see a reason why she'd paint her hands. They're not very obvious on her right hand, but that has fingernails, too, just not as long as on the left hand. Surprisingly, this reminds me of Wagner's artwork, a little bit.

Then I notice that... Wow, she has large breasts. Not a bad thing. Not a bad thing. I like it. But as I'm looking at them, I start to notice that her right shoulder seems to be very far away from her rib cage. At first I thought it was just because her hair hides part of her neck so things just look off-centre, but that's not it. The middle of her throat goes over her centreline, which her clavicles radiate away from. However, whereas on her left shoulder the clavicle goes over the actual shoulder (which I'm not sure it should, but I don't know enough about anatomy), on her right shoulder the clavicle seems to end a good inch before her shoulder even begins, which is odd considering what the clavicle is supposed to link up with. Now, at first glance it looks like part of the collar bone may be hidden by her hair, but if her right clavicle did go all the way up to her shoulder, it would be much longer than her left one. And, yes, I know her torso is at an angle, but that rotation should have retained the length of her bones. I don't know, it just feels like her right shoulder is jutting way out.

And while I'm looking at her neck and collar bone area, I start to wonder... Is her outfit made of sticky tape on the inside? I though Numina wore sort of a long sleeveless coat, so why am I seeing her clavicle bones through it to begin with? Why is it dipping down into the indentations of her body and between her breasts to begin with? It feels like that coat is made of shopping bag nylon or something equally as thin, while I would have expected a coat to be made of a thicker material, especially with that high collar. I know that in comic books, you essentially draw naked people then trace tights over them, but I honestly thought that Numina wore a coat?

Finally, her eyes. They're pretty, but what is she looking at? At first I thought she was looking at the magical skull she's holding in the "oh Yorick poor Yorick" stance, but no. The way her head is tilted up, the skull is actually below her full forward line of sight, so her eyes would have to dip down in their sockets, but instead they're as far up as they can go without opening the eyelids wider, which makes her gaze actually point straight up into the sky. It almost feels like she's looking at the moon, but that can't be as the moon is in the background. Then I thought she may be looking at something forming from the pink ectoplasm that the skull is evaporating, but it would have to be just out of frame, so... Can that be it?

Also... Where is Numina's back? The panel is sort of leaning towards her back, which makes her look like she's leaning back and holding the skull up in the same fashion that a doctor would look at an x-ray against a ceiling light, but then it occurs to me that I should be able to see part of her back or at lest part of her side below and behind her right arm. The only explanation for why that's invisible that I can think of is if her torso really does end where her coat sleeve suggests it should and that her large breasts just make her torso look much bigger than it is, but that means her right arm is REALLY sticking out.

Finally - and this may be a stupid question to ask, but which set of her teeth are we seeing in her mouth? Looking at where her mouth is in relation to her jaw actually suggests they should be her upper teeth, but then doesn't that make her mouth shifted somewhat high up on her face, or does it just suggest she has a very sturdy lower jaw? Those can't be her lower teeth, as it seems a bit too high on her own skull for it to be them, and it would make her face kind of... Weird if they were. The reason I'm asking is the way her lower lip droops forward and down, we may actually be seeing both rows of teeth where they interlock with each other. That's pure curiosity on my part.

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Again, I don't want to come off as bashing on the artwork. Compared to Tutorial Sister Psyche, Numina is AMAZING. But there are just some things about that pic I can't quite grasp visually. As I said, it's very possible I just don't understand how things should be proportioned and directed, so if you can correct my misconception, I welcome the clarifications.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.