SSA Who Will Die Episode 4 is live

Becoming involved with the game's "lore" has never been a top priority for me. Over the years I've read pretty much all the mission text for every mission in the game. But to be honest I've never been -that- interested in the exploits of the Freedom Phalanx or the like. I've accepted it as the backstory of the game while focusing more on the development of my own characters.

But I must admit these SSAs have been so well done that I'm actually finding myself paying close attention to the connected story presented in them. I'm very much looking forward to seeing "how the story ends" with this arc and hope that there will be other future arcs as well done as this.

For your lore:

paragonwiki.com/wiki/Old_Calvin_Scott_Task_Force/Flashback

A Mind in Danger. Level 30-34. Do it for background on this SSA.

Ok, I have said this before, other people have said this before, and I and other people will keep saying it until the devs start to actually listen:

LEARN TO ******* PROOFREAD!!!!

There is a spelling error in the nav text for mission 1 hero-side. "Assasinating" indeed. This is only the first of the glaring errors in this arc. It is sloppy, it makes you look like you don't care. Also, in the final mission, Malaise is into crossdressing now? A "mirror of Sister Psyche" looking like Aurora makes sense kind of (although I'm sure it's not intentional, just another example of sloppiness) but a "mirror of Malaise" using the Aurora model? COME ON. If you're not going to put these up for us to test and send /bug reports that you will ignore, at least test them yourselves. Repeatedly. On x8.

Now on to the actual arc:
Why is the demon-hunter Hardcase helping Johnny, the guy who made a deal with demons?

Malaise's death is totally gratuitous. I'm wondering if Psyche is going to have to deal with any consequences for killing someone. Probably not.

Seriously Psyche, you have issues with Swan's outfit? Seriously? You?

I thought I was playing a video game, not watching a movie. That last mission is pretty much watching a movie with a few ambushes thrown in as a token nod that I am playing a video game, not watching a movie.

Villainside I supposedly put in ear plugs to not hear the Dirge of Chaos, but I still get the song in captions. So which is it? Am I hearing it or not?

Overall the story is meh, and the gameplay suffers from too much standing around listening to other people yak, especially heroside. I pretty much felt like a spectator throughout the whole thing. Heroside, I wasn't doing anything someone else couldn't have probably done better, and Villainside, I'm not entirely sure what my motivation in the whole thing was. That last map shure is purty though.

This storyarc just gets better and better! I really feel like my character is a part of the lore of the game, much more than when I'm playing the regular missions and task forces. The writers have done an excellent job making a story that just sucks me and I'm excited whenever a new part comes out.

The only criticism I have for this month's arc is the intro dialogue from the hero contact. I didn't like that he hates his first name of "Dakota". I love the word "Dakota", partially from growing up and currently living in South Dakota, but also because it's a great word. I have several characters with "Dakota" somewhere in their names. So that kind of made me mad at the contact at the beginning, but I soon forgot it as I got into the missions.

Anyone notice the inconsistency of the colored text for this arc. Psyche isn't always using the white on green text bubbles (speaking of which, it really a terrible color combination).

Also had some problems with the first part of the mish. Duo'ed the arc and we both crashed when interacting with the computer (I had lead, crashed, lead transferred to partner, they clicked on computer and crashed, I regained lead and it worked).

Still, I do not mind the more movie-like experience. It certainly is a change of pace.

Storyline-wise (blue) #4 is the best so far. I haven't done the redside version to see what essential knowledge I'm missing but for once it doesn't feel like there's much, if anything, missing for the bluesiders. It's also nice to not feel like a chump (#3, I'm looking at you).

Mechanics-wise my only gripe is the Masked Perceptor, though it is better than with Marshal Perception since the uber-perception doesn't seem to be on from the get-go. I couldn't even get in smoke grenade range with the Marshal. The Masked one was fine until engaged, but after running out of the mission and back in I couldn't get into smoke grenade range without aggroing him. I feel sorry for anyone running a stalker on #3 or #4.

edit: is Dakota Berg Blast Furnace?

The Clockwork King being in his early twenties at first made me say "whaaa?" Then I realized that most characters in the superhero genre, unless specifically designed to be otherwise, are usually under 30. I just always had this impression that the Clockwork King was 40+.

So anyway, I guess that PM lays his motivations to rest. It's not fatherly protective feelings that he has toward her if Hero 1 felt the need to mention the age difference.

I miss Hero 1. His LinkedIn says he still works at Paragon, but we haven't heard from him in a long time, and he wasn't at the Summit.