Plot suggestion: More happy endings for the good guys *Spoilers*
By
Aggelakis,
Posted on: 2011-11-11 21:18 in Suggestions and Ideas
The entire premise of Who Will Die is that a hero will die. I can't believe you're actually shocked that they followed through on that.
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
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A) She's a retired heroin, not a hero|
Originally Posted by DarkGob
The entire premise of Who Will Die is that a hero will die. I can't believe you're actually shocked that they followed through on that.
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B) She's not counted as one of the 7 signature members of Freedom Phalanx who's about to die (Statesman, Manticore, Synapse, Citadel, Sister Psyche, Positron and Numina), just a senseless victim pulled out of a hat to add to the drama
C) She was murdered on my character's watch while he stood by doing nothing stuck in cutscene hell (new mez type, I gather)
D) It beats the purpose of doing missions if a dev will come along at the end and says "no you don't!"
E) I said I didn't like the way it was handled, not that I was shocked. The moment they anounced the name Alexis Cole along with a picture of Statesman crying over a dead woman's body (or tagged foot, whatever) you just knew she was going to die.
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I just want to point out that it is one of the "Surviving Eight" that will die, not necessarily a member of the Freedom Phalanx, and your list leaves out Back Alley Brawler (who is not a member of the Freedom Phalanx, but *IS* a member of the Surviving Eight. Case in point: two of the pre-release teaser images show broken Brawler gloves alongside Manticore's broken bow and Statesman's cracked mask.)|
Originally Posted by Zemblanity
B) She's not counted as one of the 7 signature members of Freedom Phalanx who's about to die (Statesman, Manticore, Synapse, Citadel, Sister Psyche, Positron and Numina), just a senseless victim pulled out of a hat to add to the drama
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That's just a nitpick though.
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Originally Posted by Dispari
I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.
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My mistake, I left Brawler out because he wasn't a Phalanx member. Doesn't really matter, though, we all know Statesman is the one who'll kick it in the end.|
Originally Posted by Aggelakis
I just want to point out that it is one of the "Surviving Eight" that will die, not necessarily a member of the Freedom Phalanx, and your list leaves out Back Alley Brawler (who is not a member of the Freedom Phalanx, but *IS* a member of the Surviving Eight. Case in point: two of the pre-release teaser images show broken Brawler gloves alongside Manticore's broken bow and Statesman's cracked mask.)
That's just a nitpick though. |
But my point remains, the writers are flooding the game with tragedy, drama and horror nowadays, what with the whole Praetorian storyline and these new signature arcs. My good old fashioned heroes are starting to feel neglected...
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A) If you're going to correct my grammar you might want to lay off the drug references. I believe you meant "heroine". Anyway, "hero" is perfectly valid as a gender-neutral term, as is "actor".|
Originally Posted by Zemblanity
A) She's a retired heroin, not a hero
B) She's not counted as one of the 7 signature members of Freedom Phalanx who's about to die (Statesman, Manticore, Synapse, Citadel, Sister Psyche, Positron and Numina), just a senseless victim pulled out of a hat to add to the drama C) She was murdered on my character's watch while he stood by doing nothing stuck in cutscene hell (new mez type, I gather) D) It beats the purpose of doing missions if a dev will come along at the end and says "no you don't!" E) I said I didn't like the way it was handled, not that I was shocked. The moment they anounced the name Alexis Cole along with a picture of Statesman crying over a dead woman's body (or tagged foot, whatever) you just knew she was going to die. |
B) I know that, my point is that this story is already not going to have a happy ending, yet prior to Part 3 you were "eager" to play it despite already knowing that it will not end happily.
C) And that sucks. Bad things happen and sometimes you have no control over it.
D) Again, you apply this logic just to one part of the story but not the story as a whole. (Hmm, what should we call the gestalt formed by these arcs? We need new terminology here and I feel that merely referring to them as "arcs" would be confusing.)
E) So your problem isn't that there was a death, it's that you didn't get to see it coming when the entire "super-arc" (no, I don't think I like that term either) began. Or you're unhappy with how blatantly obvious the loading image was (a more valid complaint but entirely irrelevant to what you've been saying so far). I'm not really sure what you're getting at here, you seem to be coming from several directions at once.
Admittedly, I haven't done SSA3 blueside yet. You know where I have done it? Redside. Do you know how it went on redside? As an extremely rare unqualified victory for the villains. My WM/SD Brute bashed Alex Cole-Duncan's skull in with her mace (what's that you say? why no I didn't hear any gunshot, you must have imagined it...). We've had 21 issues of the heroes always winning, even at the end of some villain arcs. Face it, this time you lost.
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
This game is 7 years old and counting. As you pointed out in your original post, for most of that time the Heroes were mostly infallible. Every citizen of Paragon City (except those who were explicitly members of enemy groups) were perfect, law abiding, citizens who could never be corrupted. Longbow overstepping their bounds? Never happened. Couldn't happen. They were heroes. They were perfect.
On the other hand, from their inception, any of the villains could be effortlessly tricked, duped, thwarted, and laughed at and no one raised an eyebrow. Even if you, as a player, saw it coming a mile away, your character was still idiotic enough to fall for it (Willy Wheeler arc anyone?).
It was time for a change. If you know going in that the heroes are always going to win it gets quite boring, quite quickly. Adversity and the possibility that things may not always go well adds flavor to the game.
- Garielle
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Originally Posted by Frosty_Femme
I said "ur" which is not a word. It's a sound dumb people make when you ask them to spell out "you are".
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No, she wasn't. If you run the villain side arc (which is bugged at the moment, preventing mission one from finishing) you'll learn that she's already dead when you get there and there's nothing you can do to prevent it. What you see in that cutscene is one of Malaise's illusions so as to make Manticore (and you) believe that Miss Liberty dies in front of you.
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Originally Posted by Zemblanity
C) She was murdered on my character's watch while he stood by doing nothing stuck in cutscene hell (new mez type, I gather)
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The hero contact does tell you she was dead before you got there according to the autopsy reports. I actually quite enjoyed it, it was a real 'I did it 30 minutes ago' moment for the villains. I also have to echo some of the other posters here that it's about time that villains got to do some real villany. |
Originally Posted by Blue Rabbit
No, she wasn't. If you run the villain side arc (which is bugged at the moment, preventing mission one from finishing) you'll learn that she's already dead when you get there and there's nothing you can do to prevent it. What you see in that cutscene is one of Malaise's illusions so as to make Manticore (and you) believe that Miss Liberty dies in front of you.
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However, I do agree that the tone has darkened and personally, I blame the current obsession with Praetoria. It seems any arcs associated with that place, be it there or on Primal are neither good nor evil, just depressing. The closest I felt to being a hero in Praetoria was freeing Katie from the Seer Network. Only for that to get undone in First Ward, thanks!
My advice to the OP is to avoid the constant gloom of Praetoria and do more hero tips. They tend to be the place I feel most heroic, making the active choice to do the 'right thing' even if it means letting the villain go or going up against Longbow. There are some really nice moment in the tips for both heroes and villains. I hope they add more in the future.
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im glad they are adding something more villainous content for villains, i dont mind the "must band together with heroes to save the world from being destroyed" thing every now and then but thats been the main focus for like 10 issues at least
i for one am glad that they are finally creating something to support the villain half of the game instead of a "hero always saves the day" thing
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Sorry, I mistyped, Euro player, it was 6 AM when I wrote this. I just meant she was retired, not active. It'd be like announcing the imminent murder of a basketball player and then going after some obscure guy who played in the sixties.|
Originally Posted by DarkGob
A) If you're going to correct my grammar you might want to lay off the drug references. I believe you meant "heroine". Anyway, "hero" is perfectly valid as a gender-neutral term, as is "actor".
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| B) I know that, my point is that this story is already not going to have a happy ending, yet prior to Part 3 you were "eager" to play it despite already knowing that it will not end happily. |
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| C) And that sucks. Bad things happen and sometimes you have no control over it. |
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| D) Again, you apply this logic just to one part of the story but not the story as a whole. (Hmm, what should we call the gestalt formed by these arcs? We need new terminology here and I feel that merely referring to them as "arcs" would be confusing.) |
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| E) So your problem isn't that there was a death, it's that you didn't get to see it coming when the entire "super-arc" (no, I don't think I like that term either) began. Or you're unhappy with how blatantly obvious the loading image was (a more valid complaint but entirely irrelevant to what you've been saying so far). I'm not really sure what you're getting at here, you seem to be coming from several directions at once. |
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| Admittedly, I haven't done SSA3 blueside yet. You know where I have done it? Redside. Do you know how it went on redside? As an extremely rare unqualified victory for the villains. My WM/SD Brute bashed Alex Cole-Duncan's skull in with her mace (what's that you say? why no I didn't hear any gunshot, you must have imagined it...). We've had 21 issues of the heroes always winning, even at the end of some villain arcs. Face it, this time you lost. |
Point is, whoever it is that logs in should be the main character in the game, not a sidekick or a witness, and story arcs that are rigged from the start to fail should be avoided. Heroes save the day. Villains get to rule the world. Everyone's happy.
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There was plenty to do to prevent it. When negotiations turned sour in the first mission, we could have escorted her out rather than stick around and punish the Marshal for being wicked. Instead of going after the nukes in the second mission, we could have mounted a rescue operation first. And in the third mission we went for the Marshal before making sure Alex was safe, vigilante style. A bunch of wrong decisions that go against a hero's code of conduct, and eventually cost the life of the person we were meant to protect.
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Originally Posted by Blue Rabbit
No, she wasn't. If you run the villain side arc (which is bugged at the moment, preventing mission one from finishing) you'll learn that she's already dead when you get there and there's nothing you can do to prevent it. What you see in that cutscene is one of Malaise's illusions so as to make Manticore (and you) believe that Miss Liberty dies in front of you.
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Because it's a game played by many?|
Originally Posted by Zemblanity
Sorry, I mistyped, Euro player, it was 6 AM when I wrote this. I just meant she was retired, not active. It'd be like announcing the imminent murder of a basketball player and then going after some obscure guy who played in the sixties.
There's a difference between stepping into a burning building to rescue people and just watching it burn. If my hero's involved, I expect something to come out of it. Why not? My hero should be the main character in the game once I log in. The Signature Contact refers to the 7 episodes as Book. My problem here is that my hero character was a spectator in an episode where villains are rigged to succeed. Why can't we have it both ways? Play a hero, save the girl. Play a villain, kill the girl. That's what was so great about Praetoria, you could either save or kill Aria and Zane depending on your ambition and bloodthirst. The game engine allows this. I haven't done Redside yet, Manticore's poison arrow wasn't dissipating, meaning I couldn't kidnap Alex. Admittedly, I'd have the exact same problem if my villains did manage to murder her only to have a textbox cutscene undo my work. Point is, whoever it is that logs in should be the main character in the game, not a sidekick or a witness, and story arcs that are rigged from the start to fail should be avoided. Heroes save the day. Villains get to rule the world. Everyone's happy. |
That's what you're refusing to look at.
For this storyline to go anywhere, things will have to be done. What? Give the villains the story arc to kill her, but the heroes to save her? Then is she alive or dead in future plot lines?
Like I've said in other threads like this, if you don't like it for that character, don't play it on that character. My main would ever put Katie back into the network. So, I haven't played it.
And as stated already, your character only thought they witnessed the ordeal. They didn't.
So the correct mindset on this would be "Wait a minute, how did this mental trick get pulled off when I have 75% Psi Resist and 45% Psi Defense" or whatever (for those with concepts that say they are without the numbers...well that's how Malaise did it
).It's like playing any fighting game. Street Fighter 2. You beat it with Ken! \o/ Whoot! You get the Ken wins the tournament ending! YAY! Only to see in Street Fighter 3, the storyline progresses with Ryu as the winner of the last tournament.
This is a MMO...multiplayer game. The story has to advance. She's going to die. Be happy that the outcome was your character didn't make it there in time to stop it. Over, you beat the bad guy, saved the victim, but oh wait...she died somehow and it still went off.
As for where they're going with the current stories...they're following many a comic writers lead. Killing off characters! Joss Whedon did it. Others have done it.
As for which of the surviving eight will die. I still don't think it'll be Statesman, because if it is, it'll feel like a cop out. That would be the biggest let down.
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
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I don't see a problem with this, in fact the game engine allows it. In Praetoria, you can choose whether you want to kill or spare Cleopatra, Schrodinger's cat and all. Would it be that problematic for a hero to have a different outcome from the "cannon" version? They do write both hero and villain missions for these signature arcs, so I don't see why they can't diverge eventually, particularly in a game that allows for multiple dimensions to coexist.|
Originally Posted by BrandX
Because it's a game played by many?
That's what you're refusing to look at. For this storyline to go anywhere, things will have to be done. What? Give the villains the story arc to kill her, but the heroes to save her? Then is she alive or dead in future plot lines? |
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| Like I've said in other threads like this, if you don't like it for that character, don't play it on that character. My main would ever put Katie back into the network. So, I haven't played it. |
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And as stated already, your character only thought they witnessed the ordeal. They didn't. So the correct mindset on this would be "Wait a minute, how did this mental trick get pulled off when I have 75% Psi Resist and 45% Psi Defense" or whatever (for those with concepts that say they are without the numbers...well that's how Malaise did it ).
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| It's like playing any fighting game. Street Fighter 2. You beat it with Ken! \o/ Whoot! You get the Ken wins the tournament ending! YAY! Only to see in Street Fighter 3, the storyline progresses with Ryu as the winner of the last tournament. |
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| This is a MMO...multiplayer game. The story has to advance. She's going to die. Be happy that the outcome was your character didn't make it there in time to stop it. Over, you beat the bad guy, saved the victim, but oh wait...she died somehow and it still went off. |
And I wouldn't mention it if it was an isolated case, but nearly every hero mission since the launch of Going Rogue has ended tragically for no apparent reason than to add to the drama. Katie Douglas. My alter-ego from Jenny Adair's arc. Alex Cole. Calvin Scott. DeVore.
Heroes and villains can both succeed, just not at the same time. I'm urging the writers to stop pushing villain accomplishments into blue-side missions, because there's no fun in playing a hero if you know you can't win.
If you play a villain and want to give a hero player grief, try PvP. In PvE, I'll demand at least a small chance to succeed.
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| As for where they're going with the current stories...they're following many a comic writers lead. Killing off characters! Joss Whedon did it. Others have done it. |
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| As for which of the surviving eight will die. I still don't think it'll be Statesman, because if it is, it'll feel like a cop out. That would be the biggest let down. |
Er...
OK. Other than the ones mentioned, how many "They died/the bad thing happened" storylines are there, heroside? The Terra Conspiracy is the only one I can think of off the top of my head, and it's still a copout IMHO because she's "carted away for study so they can cure her later."
So - .01% of the hero storylines?
Frankly I think it's about TIME we got past the "Heroes always win" fifth-grade nonsense. Doesn't mean the heroes will always lose or start losing 50% of the time or anything - but the occasional "big loss," for me, makes other wins all that much sweeter because it's not a given.
The only thing I don't want is, if I'm going to lose, I don't want the loss to be because of something game-mechanics-ly cheap. If I need to escort a hostage, give them more than 5 hit points and don't make them feel the need to solo the rest of the map with nothing but a sharp stick and a pebble and THEN tell me I lost because, surprisingly, they couldn't defeat the room full of bosses when they ran off.
Wanted: Origin centric story arcs.
If you've only played an AT once (one set combo) and "hate" it - don't give up. Roll a different combo. It may just be those sets not clicking for you.
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I only played this once, so I might be off on this, but I'm pretty sure we stayed back to hold off the waves of Arachnos, and let Manticore escort her. He got jumped and she was taken. So you escorting her would have resulted the same way. You get jumped, she gets taken.|
Originally Posted by Zemblanity
we could have escorted her out rather than stick around and punish the Marshal for being wicked.
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| Instead of going after the nukes in the second mission, we could have mounted a rescue operation first. |
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| And in the third mission we went for the Marshal before making sure Alex was safe, vigilante style. A bunch of wrong decisions that go against a hero's code of conduct, and eventually cost the life of the person we were meant to protect. |
The SSAs aren't choose your own adventures, they're sets of stories that you get to participate in. That doesn't mean you get to change the story to suit your wants. If you don't like it, don't play them, no one is forcing you too.
Now about your overall suggestion, and to get off the SSAs, more lighthearted, or happy endings in the new content wouldn't be a bad thing, so for the -overall- suggestion /signed.
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Just a clarification, Malaise doesn't even touch Psionic Defense or Resistance. He's an illusionist, who takes his own madness and physically inflicts it on the real world (Illusion/Kinetics/Dark Blast are his in-game powersets). He made a illusory construct of Alexis Cole-Duncan floating in mid-air. What he fooled was your sense of sight; he didn't go about messing with your head.|
Originally Posted by BrandX
So the correct mindset on this would be "Wait a minute, how did this mental trick get pulled off when I have 75% Psi Resist and 45% Psi Defense" or whatever (for those with concepts that say they are without the numbers...well that's how Malaise did it
). |
Also, add my voice in support of the 'Who Will Die?' SSAs. Things don't always go so well for the Heroes, sometimes the villains do have the upper hand for a while, and things like this do happen. CoH as it was (Heroes always triumph!) was more Saturday morning cartoon. With arcs like these to bring more grit and villainy to balance it out, its more comic-booky in writing (after all, CoH is a Superhero Comic based MMO).
Global - @El D
Servers - Protector
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There's definitely a shift, though, and most blue-side missions launched after Going Rogue range from bittersweet to tragic endings. In fact, other than the Matthew Habashi storyline, I can't seem recall any blue-side mission ending well since Cimerora. Maybe when you freed Katie from the Seer Network... oh wait! Twinshot's arc ends badly. First Ward ends badly. Jenny Adair ends badly. Galaxy City ends badly. The whole Praetoria storyline in the trials is ending badly. I wonder if we'll even be able to save New Year's baby in the upcoming Winter event...|
Originally Posted by Stormbird
Er...
OK. Other than the ones mentioned, how many "They died/the bad thing happened" storylines are there, heroside? The Terra Conspiracy is the only one I can think of off the top of my head, and it's still a copout IMHO because she's "carted away for study so they can cure her later." |
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So - .01% of the hero storylines? Frankly I think it's about TIME we got past the "Heroes always win" fifth-grade nonsense. Doesn't mean the heroes will always lose or start losing 50% of the time or anything - but the occasional "big loss," for me, makes other wins all that much sweeter because it's not a given. |
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| The only thing I don't want is, if I'm going to lose, I don't want the loss to be because of something game-mechanics-ly cheap. If I need to escort a hostage, give them more than 5 hit points and don't make them feel the need to solo the rest of the map with nothing but a sharp stick and a pebble and THEN tell me I lost because, surprisingly, they couldn't defeat the room full of bosses when they ran off. |
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Joss Whedon is hardly a shining example to follow in the art of writing HEROIC fiction. His comic book credits are primarily X- books, deliberately grey and gritty. And let us not forget he's responsible for the depressing travesty of Firefly.
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Originally Posted by BrandX
As for where they're going with the current stories...they're following many a comic writers lead. Killing off characters! Joss Whedon did it. Others have done it.
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En/Dev blaster, equipped with a stealth cloak, I was invisible during the whole negotiations. A set of caltrops would have sufficed to slow pursuers until I got her out, no need to hang around.|
Originally Posted by Gemesis
I only played this once, so I might be off on this, but I'm pretty sure we stayed back to hold off the waves of Arachnos, and let Manticore escort her. He got jumped and she was taken. So you escorting her would have resulted the same way. You get jumped, she gets taken.
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| Brilliant! Let the entire world get thrown into a nuclear holocaust while we go rescue someone who... we don't know where she's being held captive at that time. |
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| Oh, did you try saying "Hey Marshal, I'm gonna go save the former hero you kidnapped, then I'm gonna come back and fight you"? Cause if you did, I'm sure he'd have just stepped aside and let you pass. |
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| The SSAs aren't choose your own adventures, they're sets of stories that you get to participate in. That doesn't mean you get to change the story to suit your wants. If you don't like it, don't play them, no one is forcing you too. |
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| Now about your overall suggestion, and to get off the SSAs, more lighthearted, or happy endings in the new content wouldn't be a bad thing, so for the -overall- suggestion /signed. |
P.S. It seems from the replies here that most people are satisfied with the current gritty feel of the new hero plots, and I realize I've overextended my rant. I apologize for being too forceful about this, if the community wants this, I'll step aside and shut up. Thank you for reading and sorry for wasting your time.
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Out of genuine curiosity, how would killing off Statesman be a cop out? A cop out is usually when someone does the absolute minimum or tries to wiggle out of delivering at all. If it were Miss Liberty who was the answer to "Who Will Die", that would, indeed, be a cop-out because it's a minor character that no one really cares a great deal about anyway. I don't see how killing off the face of Paragon City qualifies though.
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Originally Posted by BrandX
As for which of the surviving eight will die. I still don't think it'll be Statesman, because if it is, it'll feel like a cop out. That would be the biggest let down.
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- Garielle
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Originally Posted by Frosty_Femme
I said "ur" which is not a word. It's a sound dumb people make when you ask them to spell out "you are".
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I love that Numina is on that list. It's always struck me as funny that she's one of the "Surviving Eight" given that her whole schtick is that she didn't survive, but now they've gone it one better on the silliness scale by dangling the possibility that she May Be Killed to gin up suspense for WWD.
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Originally Posted by Aggelakis
I just want to point out that it is one of the "Surviving Eight" that will die, not necessarily a member of the Freedom Phalanx
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Actually, Numina is still alive, she's an astral projection of herself, and her body died. So it's still possible to kill her.
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
I love that Numina is on that list. It's always struck me as funny that she's one of the "Surviving Eight" given that her whole schtick is that she didn't survive, but now they've gone it one better on the silliness scale by dangling the possibility that she May Be Killed to gin up suspense for WWD.
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Originally Posted by Back Alley Brawler
Did you just use "casual gamer" and "purpled-out warshade" in the same sentence?
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Numina didn't die in the war, she was dead before the war, so she survived in the same state as she started out in. So yes, "Surviving Eight" applies to her quite well.
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
I love that Numina is on that list. It's always struck me as funny that she's one of the "Surviving Eight" given that her whole schtick is that she didn't survive, but now they've gone it one better on the silliness scale by dangling the possibility that she May Be Killed to gin up suspense for WWD.
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Originally Posted by Dispari
I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.
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This is hardly the first arc where you're stuck with doing things in a way that make you think, "I wouldn't do it that way." The engine just isn't flexible enough for you to have more than a very few limited options. It isn't like a pen-and-paper game where a real live human game master is sitting there to hear your idea of an alternate approach and rule on how well it would work.
As far as this particular arc it's explicit (even on the hero side it you bother reading the debriefing) that Miss L was dead before you started fighting Blitz, so bypassing him wouldn't save her. Red side it's made clear that Malaise makes her appear to die just as the heros get there solely to make Manticore (and the blue player) feel that they could have saved her if they'd only been faster.
Since this arc is not a fully story by itself, Alexis' death must occur to drive the plot. And even though we know that one of the Surviving Eight will die, we don't know that that will mean a victory for the baddies in the end. We still don't know what they REALLY want. At this point it looks like they want to steal Statesman's powers, but that may be a red herring. And they may not get him anyway. We know someone is going to die, but we don't know that it will be the target the villains are after. Maybe someone else steps in to make the heroic sacrifice that ruins the baddies' plans once and for all.
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@Inquisitor
The writing has definitely darkened, nowadays. Whatever happened to the light-hearted plots you used to tell, full of humour and tension, yet always leaving us with a silly grin in the end? A good mix of Chuck, the X-Files and Bomb Queen that made us spurt out our drinks every other line? Like the Faultline plot, where against all odds you managed to save the cheerleader, save the world, revise world history and trick all the bad guys into beating each other for you.
This is a superhero game, isn't it?
The latest plotlines make me wonder if I somehow logged into the wrong game, maybe one of those emo-vampire games about personal tragedy and ending up getting depressed for some imaginary drama beyond my control. I get that you're trying to change the game's signature characters and build in on their motivations, but why does that have to personally involve MY character? Why am I playing missions whose metaplot demands my hero to fail?
***** [Spoilers] *****
I'm speaking of Jenny Adair's arc, during which for some reason my doppelganger from another dimension just HAD to die - and I was forced to listen to a dumb dying speech instead of telling my other self to shut up and carrying him to safety.
I'm speaking of Katie Douglas in First Ward, whom I was FORCED to trap in the Seer Network - despite the fact that there was no reason to keep her there once I dealt with the whole Evil-Warwitch plot.
I'm speaking of Alexis Cole in the recent Signature Story Arcs, that I FAILED to rescue - because I just had to beat up an old man dying of cancer before making sure his hostage was safe.
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Frankly, I don't get it. I don't get why there isn't a choice to prevent missions from failing. Why undertake them at all? It's not that my characters are infallible, they do faceplant. Alot. Difficult missions? I guess some people want a challenge, so sure. Plot-driven tradeoffs? I don't like it, I prefer a flawless victory, but every once in awhile, that's acceptable. But when writing starts demanding I utterly fail and get a pat in the back, when every mission ends up making me feel like a spectator rather than a gamer, that's when I start to lose interest.
I eagerly anticipated the Signature "Who Will Die" episodes, but I'll stop at #3. From the perspective of a blue-side hero, Alex Cole's snuff scene was cheap, predictable and utterly tasteless, and if mandatory then it should never have directly involved a player character. Leave the gore to villains and newspaper clippings, please.
In short, please stop using the Twilight Saga and Suicide Girls Wiki as a writing inspiration, and let me know when the time comes to save the day. My characters do want in on the action, but only if the writing team actually allows them to succeed. I'll just keep farming Lambda or something in the meantime...