GOOD CoH Writing

I have expressed dismay at the writing in CoH in a few particulars; there is no need to revisit those.

In fact, I would like to ask what writing in CoH do you think is particularly GOOD?

What do you hold up as an example of "what works" when you think of writing you have enjoyed?

You may ignore the goals of the underlying missions in arcs or TFs if you desire. In other words, if you think the writing overall is good but all of the missions are Issue 1 Defeat Alls In Blue Cake Rooms, just note that aspect is being set aside and review the elements you enjoy.

Personally, I liked the Faultline revamp arcs a great deal. Fusionette was problematic for a while with her UltraAggro Ways, but I ultimately found her to be endearing overall.

So what springs to mind when you think of of "Good Writing in CoH"?

I liked Sefu's writing. I felt genuinely bad when he bit it.

Doc Buzzsaw is hilarious.

TV is fun.

Westin Phipps actually makes me feel slimy, same with Peter Themari (is that how you spell his name?) when he cuts the girl's hair. Uggggh. That was a well-chosen creeper moment.

I like Faultline too! I made a set of characters to run through it and pretend they did it all together, because I wanted it to be 'their' adventure.

I miss Doctor Creed's arcs. They were so evil Perfect for beginning villains.

Seer Marino's arc immediately comes to mind.

As does World Wide Red. Yes, it could be shortened some without losing anything, but as far as presentation goes, I still think the Kronos Titan ambush pwns a lot of the newer fancy scripting as far as mechanics adding impact to the story.

Lord Recluse's dialogue when you bring him his helm at the end of Time after Time. There could have been so many ways for that to go wrong, but Recluse simply accepting that he has no power over you and telling you to go forth was just awesome to me. Westin was good, I had never felt so bad about anything else I did in game before that. The Rogue to Hero tips are some of the most hilarious and fun mishes I have ever run, and the Vigilante were some of the darkest, but still fun.

The clone arcs, both heroside and villainside, are some of my favorites. And I will second the vote for faultline as a nice self-contained and well done story.

the shining stars, at least in Atlas (I've only done through part of steel)

each one feels like a unique individual. I want to see what happens to them.

the Manticore involvement I don't like, but the writing of the Shining Stars is great

I really liked Johnny Sonata's arc "Devil May Care", especially Johnny's dialogue after you finish his last mission.

Purely as a hero (not downing villains...they definitely need more of that on goldside): First Ward?

Praetoria - Moral choices with visible consequences.
Vanguard - Save the world has such a nice ring to it
Kheldian arcs - Words alone can't do these arcs justice...
Marshall Brass - Time paradoxes, caged demons, sassy reporters, what more could you want?
Positron TF2 - A league to beat Maelstrom sounds overkill to me, but going against a gargantuan pile of rotting flesh? Call the cavalry!
Alignment missions - Very cool, particularly because you feel like you're only seeing half the picture when you pick a side.
Matthew Habashy / Aaron Thiery - Beat the bad guys, save the hostages, resist the temptation to take the law into your own hands, basically the prototype of the flawless hero mission.

If I could change one thing, it would be to reduce the number of NPCs in the game, and instead have them show up in more than just one story arc. If an NPC is created, don't shelf it right after the mission is done. Have the lore's characters tie more closely from one story arc to the next.

For example, the role of reporter in Paragon City is shared between Deborah Rosenfeld and Lillian Issan, plus Jessica Flores in Praetoria and Amanda Vines in the Rogue Isles. They're all essentially the same character, only written by different people who didn't bother to check if a similar character already existed. Unless there's a pressing need to actually create a new NPC, it would be better if a particular role (like young reported, rookie police officer, petty swindler) was limited to one NPC with multiple cameos throughout the game. I know I loved seeing Tremblor and Fusionette again in Vanguard, and in no small part because I enjoyed the familiarity.

Dean MacArthur is the man. I gave him a high five. It was intense.

Absolutely love the Power Loyalist arcs. I felt like a real celebrity and top dog.

Faultline is really well done. Lots of backstory, although the names are a little too wacky for some of the items and characters from it's history.

The RWZ arcs. All awesome. But I'm a sap for Rikti lore.

The Imperious Taskforce was very well done. It not only did justice to bringing back the Fifth Column, but the maps in and of themselves were designed to hide the Fifth until it was time to fight them. Perfect combination of game design and story meshing.

I considered rewording, but honestly, everything I wrote about in my "Tender Moments" thread qualifies here, I should think. I'll try to think of more examples when it's not 3 AM

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.

Television arc is nice.
First Ward is great except for a "Woman in Refrigerator" moment or two.
World Wide Red arc from Crimson is decent.
Von Grun is decent.

Some of my favorite examples of writing in the game:

Veluta Lunata's arc. I think if this was easier for people to find and obtain before they outlevel it, it would be talked about much more.
Vernon von Grun's arc. Funny, original, and off-the-wall nuts. Perfection for a mad scientist theme.
Mako's and Ghost Widow's patron arcs.
Seer Pia Marino's arc. Great example of explaining the game universe's lore and background without sacrificing storytelling or dumbing things down.
Peter Themari's and Westin Phipps' arcs. When evil plots make even villains cringe and hesitate, writers are pushing the envelope in a very lovely way.

Keith Nance and Jenni Adair's arcs. Maybe my favorite blueside arcs at the moment.
Admiral Sutter's task force. Annoyance of the Durays aside, the writing and plot are great. Dialogue in particular rocks.
Matthew Habashy's arc. It's nice to have an alternative to the same boring lvl 1-5 intro missions, and a good ending is an unexpected plus.

Warrant's storyarc. Very, very well done. Nice way to draw people into Praetoria's backstabbing politics.
Antimatter's arc. The slow dawning of the amorality present through almost all of Praetoria's power structure makes the ending even better.
IVy's arc. I can't explain why I like it so much, but I do.
Katie Hannon's and Blind Makwi's arcs. I still dislike the forced ending, but it grabs you from the start and keeps throwing shocks at you. The reveal about the truth behind the Apparitions gave me cold chills. Very well done.

The clone arcs.
Shining Star arcs.
Most of the Praetorian stuff is decent.
Most of Faultline.
I enjoyed Roy Coolings arc.

Clone arcs, while others have mentioned them already I feel I should say why. I haven't encountered such a story in an MMO where by the same story can count for two in two different universes like those arcs do, I was amazed when I realised this on my Praetorian signature Stalker.

When you're primal the clone arcs are about your hero being accused of committing crimes elsewhere in the world and having to clear your name, then you have to work with your 'clone' to beat your evil. inverse-coloured clone and then stop a Praetorian incursion event which leads to your clone's death. The clone is most likely a Praetorian version of your primal character.

But playing with my Praetorian the whole story takes a whole new light. You've entered a new universe but you're accused of committing crimes therein and have to clear your name. You work with your clone to beat your evil counterpart and then prevent a Praetorian Incursion which results in your clone's death...The clone is from Primal! *take off glasses "My God"*

And then the last words the clone says in both arcs makes complete sense as a Praetorian. When you're a Primal it kind of sounds you're just told to continue the work you've been doing from 1-20 but as a Praetorian you are instead basically taking up the mantle of your Primal counterpart to continue what they cannot do for the rest of your Heroic career! Feels a bit like you owe it to them to not let their life go in vain.

The Praetorian variant of the arc was so good it's now part of my Stalker's backstory! Complete with the awkward 'What to tell Primal's family/friends' regarding who died and who's left.

I also liked the Nance and Adair "clone arcs" very much, but I had to take points off for the extremely muddled writing at the very end of Adair's arc regarding the writer of the letter and the maddening usage of "Alright."

I did like the fact that your double is never explicitly identified, and thus could be from anywhere. Of course, now that I've said that, the insane sentient Well of Furies will get retconned into it.

*grumbles something VERY unkind about Arbiter Daos* Someday Kes really does want to have that man's head on plate. <_<

The red-side arcs that always make me grin are Vernon's and Dean's. I enjoy those two an awful lot.

Blue-side, things are less specific... There are plenty of individual missions I like, but fewer entire arcs.

Dean McArthur and Leonard make awesome flunkies for you, as does Vincent Ross. Darrin Wade does a great job of treating your villain with respect, like an equal.

Blueside, Faultline is great, as is RWZ and the espionage arcs of Indigo and Crimson.