SSA #6 Story Discussion ** SPOILERS **

So I just finished up both the blueside and redside version, and read through this thread, and I'm kind of surprised that no-one has mentioned what a non-event Penny Yin and Vanessa DeVore meeting face-to-face was. At the very least, I was expecting some kind of "wink wink, nudge nudge" for those of us who've been paying attention, but... nothing. It's got me wondering exactly what the situation is with those two.

Oh my god, she's right... we have to warn Sutter before part seven comes out!

I have to say that another truly annoying thing is that it's STILL the Manticore and Friends show.

Sean Fish must get some satisfaction from the fact that his own Mary Sue character not only continues to be the star of the show, but he also continues to blatantly break the law and outright murder people and/or attempt to murder them while receiving no punishment or come-uppance for it at all.

But then, he's Justin Sinclair and he has the best lawyers in the world working for him, apparently. The Countess could learn a few pointers from him.

Whatever. I'm still waiting for whatever virtue this story is supposed to have that makes it worth spending $35 on it.

By the way, I'm pretty sure that 2 of the emotes used by Manticore in the cutscene, along with the music, were done specially for it - which is a nice touch.

The thing is, it didn't matter about the story's structure or anything. As many people have said before, it's a shame that it's all about the NPCs and that we get next to no interaction, forced to go along the stupid, "we were just too late!" road of plot creation, and that much was obvious when the entire thing was announced.

With a title like 'Who Will Die?', it doesn't matter how much they try, unless the arc is targetting the player itself (which would also be a bad idea) it was garunteed the story was never going to be about the player. When it was sold off as the major heroes of the Freedom Phalanx being in peril of losing their lives to a relatively unknown agent such as Darren Wade, then really, the story has next to no chance of really being about the player. Sure, the player may be the one to put a stop to Wade, and for heroes, it's likely to end up with a moral choice of whether you should kill the guy, with Positron and Manticore being your little angel and devil respectively; however, the focus and selling point was that at least one of the phalanx was going to kick the bucket.

The question wasn't so much about 'How are we gonna stop that?' but rather 'how, if we can, are we going to get them back?' This question was answered in part 5. Alexis was a casualty that would lead to the downfall of the Statesman. Really, if anything, the first arc could have ended there, and another arc could have started up where you now have to go find and defeat Wade. While Psyche's demise wasn't an entirely bad decision, it doesn't do anything for the player emotionally for her to bite the big one so soon after Statesman was killed.

If I'm gonna be so bold, I'm under the impression that, in the event of 'replenishing the ranks' of the phalanx, the following would be considered:

Hero 1

Back Alley Brawler

Ms. Liberty

and perhaps an open spot where they make you a Phalanxer. You already have the accolade proving you're on the reserve. They just make it really ambiguous as to who got the spot (a task very difficult to do well).

I guess this story kinda reeks of DCUO syndrome. It's a series of events where you try and clean up the mess the NPCs have set for you, and regardless of how well you do, you aren't properly recognised until you've single handedly stopped the world from imploding (a feat I'm sure we've all accomplished hundreds of times by now, and will continue to do so), and even then all you get is a thanks, a pat on the back, and a small trinket that wouldn't go for much on eBay.

"Thank you, hero, you have done so much! You have my eternal gratitude. Now let's go back to the way things were. He's a little hero merit, now be on your way."

I can tell you that a response such as this is a fairly sizable slap in the face when you've gone and proved their little organisation completely superfluous. I'd respond in the same way I responded to Wonder Woman when I saved her behind:

"No, keep your little toy. You guys suck at your jobs, I'm going to go form my own damn league!"

/endnerdrage

As for the story itself

I can't help but think that maybe it will turn out like that one Batman Animated episode, where they all think Barbara dies from a high fall, and the Batman family are systematically hunted down and arrested, with it all turning out to be a dream.

... I hope thye don't go that route.

1) BUG: Hero side, last mission, when Sister Psyche tried to follow me up the first rope bridge, she got stuck in terrain, on the rock just to the left of the bridge. Could not be moved without GM assistance. And she was immune to friendly teleport, which meant that I couldn't teleport her out myself.

2) Story complaint, same mission: And after I escort her all the way to the ritual site, Manticore is already there waiting for me. What the pancake? What'd he do, just buy his way in? Suggested fix: I know the modelers will cringe, but instead of escorting Sister Psyche, we should escort Manticore ... carrying Sister Psyche. Before you freak out, it's a waist-up custom model only, can use all the standard walking and leaping animations.

3) Inconsistency between the two stories: If in the hero mission, the hero kills Tryska (or whatever her name was) before the ritual, how is she still there for pseudo-Aurora to possess after the ritual in the villain version?

4) Chronology nitpick: When heroes rescue Penny Yin, we are explicitly told that it's been "many years" since we met Penny back in Faultline. And yet? Neither Jim Tremblor nor Fusionette have aged a day. If Penny's in her 20s, should they both be grown-ups in their late 20s or maybe even 30?

5) Thank you! for the Carnie skinned office that's in both versions and double, extra special thank you for the Nemesis-skinned warehouse that's in the villain version. I have been complaining for at least five years now that it takes half the fun out of fighting a steampunk villain if he doesn't have one or more steampunk lairs, so thank you. Now get cracking and make a Nemesis-skinned lab, with coal-fired generators, clockwork computers, nixie-tube displays, and cleaner, shinier versions of Dr. Vahzilok's lab gear! Please, please, please? P.S. Those maps are going to show up in AE, right?

One more half-serious suggestion: At some point in that last hero mission, Penny and Shalice should have had a conversation about Shalice's current problems. Why? Aside from making story-telling sense (Earth's current most-powerful psychic counseling, or at least consoling, Earth's used-to-be most-powerful psychic), it would have meant that "Who Will Die?" would finally meet the Bechdel Test.

The plot critiques in this thread are all valid enough, but there's a lot of older content that has us doing numerous small errands, fighting un-fleshed-out characters (at the behest of two dimensional allies / Big Heroes), plot holes you could drive a truck through, and writing that seems to believe that any hint of wit or charm is somehow lacking in the requisite gravitas of a Real Hero.

Just like everyone else, I either avoid those arcs, or race through them to get to the more enjoyable content. *shrug* What I have a difficult time with is this old-style mission writing COMBINED with the old-style "run around for ages for no apparent reason" format.

********MORE DETAILED SPOILERS**************

The first mission is fighting carnies until you get to Vanessa DeVore. We don't fight her, but waves of Malta show up to stop this discussion, and after they're defeated she basically says "uhh, I dunno, go try the Thorns." Ah.

Second mission you go to Portal Corp via the safeguard paddy wagon (?!), talk with the Thorns guy, then fight a bunch of nemmies scattered all over the lawn and parking lot (with one in the portal room next to the room with the contact). Oh, and there are PPD Psi-cops (sorry, don't play villains enough to know their correct titles) scattered all over... NOT DOING ANYTHING AT ALL. "Fake Nemesis on the lawn suddenly? Yeah, whatever, don't bother me, I'm busy GUARDING, awright pal?" Er... alright.

Apparently, offing the last nemmie gives us enough info to take Sister Psyche to an altar for this ritual (!?). So, third mission - 3 glowies to get, but luckily these are pretty much right on the way to the altar area, which is nicely marked on the map for us. Except this is an Oranbega map. *facepalm* Or, more precisely, THREE maps, because we have to go so far that 1 map, even 2, cannot contain the length of this. Along the way we fight the usual spawn along the entire length of all 3 maps. In addition, because Sister Psyche is with us and she gets confused easily (2 people in her head, you see), you can't stealth any of it. You must fight every dreary spawn of 3 minions or 1 Lt/1 minion group the entire length of 3 maps. And when you finally arrive at the altar room and place Sis on the altar, you're immediately told to go fight the Big Bad who is someone you've never heard of (apparently unless you've played the villain arc). SO... you have to traipse back through all 3 maps, fighting NEW irrelevant spawn of 3 minions, and etc. to fight the EB (who is a little wimpy, or else I'm just that darned good ). But no, you're still not done. Then you have to go ALL THE WAY BACK AGAIN for no reason other than to see that Manti's upset. (NOTE: obviously, one can make the spawns larger, or the EB tougher, for more of a challenge.)

Aarrggh does not begin to sum up my feelings about this mission.

But hey! There were some good things!

1) Penelope Yin was a delight. Her character, her look, her powers, all wonderful! Like meeting an old friend again. LOVE HER!

2) Apparently the entire Freedom Phalanx, and every single established hero or police group has poo-pooed Penelope, because though she can demonstrate that she is incredibly powerful, she is still Penelope Yin. So, this idiotic and hidebound mindset I find to be totally consistent with all the Freedom Phalanx that we have all gotten to know and want to kick in the shins repeatedly. I rate this a 10 for consistency!

3) The locations of all the missions were all quite centrally located, near the contact.

4) Penelope can follow. I mean, she really follows us. My illusionist was using her superior invis., AND (occasionally) fly with afterburner. And she STILL followed me! (she's a cute little super speeder) HOLY MOLEY!! If this NPC-follow ability exists in the game, am crossing my fingers that it gets ported elsewhere, too! (They can start with Sister P., I don't care how many people are running around in her head)

So, despite Penelope's best efforts, I still couldn't help having flashbacks of doing Ghost Widow's Patron arc, minus, of course, GW, animated hair, and, you know, GW. If others enjoyed that arc, they may well enjoy this one, too. For myself, uhhh... not so much. Personally, I am done on Oranbega maps after the 2nd torch I get stuck on, but that's just me.

*shrugs*

I finished the SSA # 6 and...well...



I got a Hero Merit for it so I'm good


*lulzstory* <--troll bait


It just sets it up so that Yin is the go-to "psychic" now and a player made toon can replace Statesman type of thing...

We'll see I guess....



I did like the cover page/art for SSA # 6 though

I thought about it some more, and I can suggest a simple fix to the inconsistency between the hero and villain versions:

In the hero version, once you get Tryska down to 25% health, she "surrenders." (Flips to friendly, drops to hands and knees.) And the objective changes to "Arrest Tryska." When you talk to her, she taunts you that while you're dealing with her, Darrin Wade's trap is killing Sister Psyche, but if you hurry, maybe you can stop it. Objective changes to "Try to save Sister Psyche." Stepping back through the portal triggers the cut-scene and Tryska teleports away. That way, no changes are needed to the villain version.