SSA SPOILERS: He's WHO?!
I did the villain version last night on my Vigilante and it is by far my favorite of the 3 so far. Great job! Now I need to do the Hero version.
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My post on the "bugs me" thread covers my objections, so I'll just say this:
I guess we know who died now
Also the objection about her even going there seems reasonable, and I would also question why she wasn't given a mediporter. We've established that civillians can't get them so as not to strain the system, but she's kind of a big deal. It's hard to believe that diplomats in potentially hostile territory wouldn't have one, particularly since Blitz uses one immediately after the negotiation breaks down.
Except that there are millions upon millions of these inspirations *** Kora Fruit kicking around, for 50 influence (or is it 150) that will bring anyone back from the dead err defeat. There just isn't an excuse for ANYONE to die in this game. Death isn't permanent. You just get zapped to the nearest Medical Center and that's all she wrote.
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Death (rather than "defeat") is permanent in CoH, except for the edge case in canon of Numina being able to bring someone recently deceased ( a few minutes at most) back from the grave. And by Statesman's own words to Manticore, dead is dead, he wouldn't even try to bring someone back.
The game mechanic of zero hit points does not mean "dead" in the context of the game-world. It just means "unable to interact with the environment due to injury". As an RPer, I consider it to mean "un- or barely-conscious". It cannot mean "dead".
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What reason could there have been for her not to have a mediporter, though? It seems like it'd be a pretty common-sense thing to have, arguing with a madman like Blitz.
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Just came up with something myself: She was under illusory attack so no physical damage was detected. She died of psychic shock rather than anything the mediporter could detect.
Still think this arc was kind of meh, though, although punching the flyer in the face was so much fun.
We know that technology exists to subvert Mediports, we know that Arachnos have it (though the fact that they most commonly use it to teleport someone, fully healed, into a prison cell is a bit fudge-worthy), and we only know for sure that heroes are given free and unrestricted access to the Mediports network - she is no longer a hero. My counter-question is why would a civilian have a mediporter, and why would Arachnos let her use it when they don't have to?
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Giving mediporters to heroes makes sense because they're incrediby valuable assets to the city. Likewise, so is Alexis. It seems to be the CoX equivalent of giving people stab-vests. Actually going to the negotiation is already straining my credulity, but hey, she was once a hero, and I'm up for believing that kind of mentality is going to stay with her. I can just about accept danger is a risk she's willing to take for peace, however unlikely. And Manticore and my hero being there is also good, although the fact we're all that's there and the room is filled with Crab Spiders is a little frustrating too (maybe it's a compliment, me and Manticore are equal to a room full of Crabs).
But, given they know her death would be an international incident, and given that Blitz has some kind of mediporter, and given that she's apparently a much bigger deal to everyone else than she is to me (I'll mention again she appears in exactly one mission, as an enemy, for the thirty seconds it takes to floor her), it seems ridiculous they didn't take the (what seems to be) simple precaution of giving her a teleporter. I'd have been happy if Manti had mentioned "Oh, she tried to teleport out but I think she went into a cell further in", or even my suggestion above, but just leaving it out makes her seem less "heroic" and more "really stupid and/or naive", which someone with her experience shouldn't be coming off as.
I'm not going to argue that the storytelling could have been spoonfed to us a little better, considering that we're here discussing why she would or would not have a mediporter (hint to devs: this sort of thing needs to be explained so that we don't have these questions), but I fully stand by my point that if, for whatever reason, she was unable to mediport out, her death is, and should be, unrecoverable outside the timeframe of Numina's ability to resurrect people.
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Oh, yeah. No doubt that dead means dead. Just that
A: Making her dead shouldn't have been as easy as it seems to have been presented and
B: Who cares? I felt as though my motivation was primarily a political one, ala "this could threaten war", until Manti started flipping out over it. I think I was meant to feel sad about her death, but really I just felt kind of frustrated that I'd seen it from a mile away, that I didn't get to fight Malaise, the buggy illusion fading, and most of the missions in general. If that was our empathic moment, then it really fell short.
Also, keeping in point with this: Was Blitz on Malaise's side, or was he just profiting from the confusion? It seems to be the latter during the meeting, but subsequently Blitz seems to be protecting Malaise before you go and not-fight him.
If you click on Clues and read the dossiers you are given at the beginning, Blitz' dossier says:
NAME: Marshal Jason Blitz OCCUPATION: Formal Marshal for Isle of Warburg. Current leader of the 'Rogue Arachnos' BACKGROUND: Marshal Blitz was once the marshal of Warburg, an island in the Rogue Isles that was infamous for its WEB system, which developed extremely powerful missile weapons. Blitz was charismatic and ambitious, thwarting every attempt by 'rogue' heroes to oust the control Arachnos had over the island. Edit: Also, if you target Blitz, then -> Actions -> Info -> Description, the first paragraph reads: "Marshal Jason Blitz used to be the Arachnos Marshal for the isle of Warburg, one of the western-most Rogue Isles, and is today the de facto ruler of it. Marshal Blitz commands a contingent of Rogue Arachnos that took over Warburg and uses its rockets to threaten Paragon City." The whole point of the story being that when he worked for Arachnos, they made him Marshal of Warburg; but (at least for purposes of this story) now he appears to have turned against Arachnos, so they probably no longer accept him as Marshal. |
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Should it perhaps be "former"? Which makes more sense. Have we identified a typo?
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Should it perhaps be "former"? Which makes more sense. Have we identified a typo?
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3.However, as I mentioned above, there are better adjectives for titles 'in name only.'a. Characterized by strict or meticulous observation of forms; methodical: very formal in their business transactions.4. Having the outward appearance but lacking in substance: a formal requirement that is usually ignored.
b. Stiffly ceremonious: a formal manner; a formal greeting; a formal bow to the monarch.
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I wonder if we might eventually need to try and stop Ms. Liberty from using Longbow to launch some kind of massive retaliation against the Rogue Isles?
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On what grounds could she launch said retaliation?
Arachnos and the Rogue Isles had nothing to do with this. It's well known that Marshall Blitz is a rogue agent and that Arachnos has been trying to bring Warburg back under it's control. Part of why they haven't succeeded is due to Longbow Operations in Warburg.
It's a possibility that without Longbow interference Arachnos would have gotten Warburg back under control and removed Blitz from the picture avoiding this whole incident.
Arachnos and the Rogue Isles had nothing to do with this. It's well known that Marshall Blitz is a rogue agent and that Arachnos has been trying to bring Warburg back under it's control. Part of why they haven't succeeded is due to Longbow Operations in Warburg.
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Blitz still has his own ideals and his own nasty cancer. Longbow or not, Blitz would have sped up his operations regardless of what Recluse told him.
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Honestly if Liberty does go on the warpath, I think it would be one of the best things for the game. It would finally show the world what an irresponsible and reckless person she is.
Overall I think Longbow does more harm than good for ordinary people, and the vents here are that harm coming back at Liberty.
If Paragon still considers Warburg to be Arachnos property than the circumstances for the peace talks are even more shaky. If Warburg is part of Arachnos than Blitz wouldn't be the one to speak to for peace talks, it would be Recluse's chosen representative(typically Arbiter Sands). It Warburg is not part of Arachnos, than Blitz's offer of peace while having merit, wouldn't be relevant to the situation with the Rogue Isles.
Either Blitz is an Arachnos operative and wouldn't have the authority to make peace talks with Paragon, or he isn't an Arachnos operative and would be able to make peace talks regarding himself and his followers.
EDIT: Read Zombie Man's post above with the info on Blitz. It says quite clearly that Blitz is a Rogue Operative, if he is a rogue then he is no longer affiliated with the group.
Either Blitz is an Arachnos operative and wouldn't have the authority to make peace talks with Paragon, or he isn't an Arachnos operative and would be able to make peace talks regarding himself and his followers.
EDIT: Read Zombie Man's post above with the info on Blitz. It says quite clearly that Blitz is a Rogue Operative, if he is a rogue then he is no longer affiliated with the group. |
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Ah, so it's kind of like the difference between Doctor Strange and Dr. Strange.
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The more you know!
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I'm very aware he's a rogue operative, and I can read. You might also note that his description says Paragon has asked Recluse to clean up his mess. Would it be out of the question for the Phalanx to say "Well this is all your fault anyway, Steffan!" and just go for it? Tempers are high, allegiances are breaking, and everyone over in Paragon just found out Alexis Cole-Duncan is dead. Somehow I doubt rational decisions will be made.
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It certainly wouldn't be out of line for the Phalanx to react that way however Recluse could easily respond "How am I supposed to clean up the mess with Blitz if Longbow keeps undermining my attempts to do so?"
if the Phalanx does go after Recluse, it would certainly be interesting especially since an attack like that would actually make Recluse the victim politically.
the biggest piece of info you all are forgetting about blitz is that he turned rogue after he learned he was dying of cancer, he always wanted to launch nukes at paragon but recluse new that could cause a host of new problems making things more difficult so when blitz new he was dying anyway he went rogue to do what he thought was right
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Well... technically speaking Doctor and Dr. are the same thing...
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He's still called 'Marshal". That's why it's a 'formal' title. 'Formal' has as one of its many meanings:
3.However, as I mentioned above, there are better adjectives for titles 'in name only.'a. Characterized by strict or meticulous observation of forms; methodical: very formal in their business transactions.4. Having the outward appearance but lacking in substance: a formal requirement that is usually ignored. |
I suspect he's done a Hannibal Smith (Colonel) and retained his rank (Marshall) even though he formally has no right to it, and we have a typo on our hands.
Or, to phrase it as a question, how can the man formally hold the title "Rogue Isles Marshall of Warburg" and simultaneously "used to be Rogue Isles Marshall of Warburg"?
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I'd say "self-declared" would be a nice replacement.
A few queries on my part:
Did everyone have Malaise spawn at 50% health? No reason I can think of this one happening, he just spawned at 50% health and while I was running up to him (having hopped around in the irritating "Cons friendly for dialogue" phase, I was a short way away) Manticore finished him off.
Are the minions in the conference room fight meant to be untargettable, save for Blitz himself? I would say "blinded" but I could still see them all and Blitz was perfectly targettable.
Did anyone else get a message saying why we cared about those Arachnoids, or even hinting we're meant to stop guarding the scientist and go and beat them up, or are they meant to try and ambush you? They spawned in a tunnel for me and I had to go fight them.
Maybe Manticore had a little head start with him before he showed up. Wonder if Malasie's Illusions went up in price after this arc.
Yeah they could have done with a different loading screen for sure.
[shameless plug] Also if anyone wants to discuss this in game with others that enjoy story and lore, head on over to the global channel "Storytime with States". I have a few more theories that I will share there because don't want to do any possible spoilers here[/shameless plug]
Seriously, the writing is AWFUL.
of course, kicking him in the head still seemed to work pretty well, but its more a psychic thing i guess