SSA #6 Story Discussion ** SPOILERS **

And the wait for dual Pistols to become available to players was about a two years when thugs MMs got them and then another four before they got their own powerset?

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow City of Heroes is a game about freedom of expression and variety of experiences far more so than it is about representing any one theme, topic or genre.

The text was at best ambiguous. The first thing that gets said isn't about Psyche, it's about the PC, and how Wade is annoyed that you're still around. I immediately assumed (correctly, as it turns out) that whoever this random assassin was, they were here for me and not SP. A bizarre disembodied voice from somewhere deep in the halls of Oranbega also didn't speak "male" or "female" to me, so I was trying to figure out why Manticore immediately assigned it a gender, and spent a good thirty seconds pivoting around him to make sure there wasn't anything that would mark him as the real assassin. Turns out I was right about that, too, only in a way more emo way than I'd figured.

What gets said is basically (paraphrasing) that the individual is there to make sure Psyche meets her fate. Not that the assassin is there to kill Psyche. That wasn't said, and it wasn't what I assumed. So, no. Wandering off after a random trash-talking minion when I have the "target" herself in my sights makes no sense. You can't protect what you can't see, and given his behavior thus far in the story, I have no reason to trust Manticore to get the job done.

And while we're at it, are we to assume that Psyche broadcasted her death, at least to our character? Because the player sees what's in the cut-scene, but the character doesn't, necessarily. And if my character DOESN'T see what happens, coming back and seeing the emotionally unstable Manticore on his knees and Psyche with an arrow through her DOES NOT elicit a comforting pat on the shoulder. I promise.

Deep breath. Okay.

Things I liked:

Penny. She's fun.
Penny's power sets. They're interesting.
The re-skinned office map. Always like to see more of those.
The splash screen. Totally awesome, made me wish it had been released on Valentine's Day.

I don't think having 3 attacks that are barely animated compared to gunkata particularly counts. If anything, Thug MMs were the testbed for trenchcoats.

Also, I don't see where Penny's powers would get used. We already have Mind Control, and I doubt they'll do a full on revamp of that. Fortunatas are a sub-branch of the least played archetype, so I highly doubt they'll get an update either (that, and they can't even use anything but the default set of claws - even Soldiers get alternate rifles and maces). It's not entirely surprising though, a few of the signature characters have had their own unique stuff for a while now. Synapse has his cool super speed animation, Manticore has the teleport arrow, Statesman had that thunder ground punch thing, I'm pretty sure Black Scorpion is unique model all together, Recluse has a few unique attacks, etc.

Dark Watcher did the rezzing, not Lady Grey. (Though she IS a dark/dark defender, so she should be able to do it herself anyhow.)

@Oathbound & @Oathbound Too

She would have done it, but she got faceplanted from splash damage on that one mission where you rescue her from the Vanguard Sword.

That "WADE WAS NEVER GOING TO SET ME FREE" is not Psyche talking... that's the splinter of Aurora in her mind. Wade had been stringing her along, offering to give her control of Psyche's body, and never mentioned he'd been planning on killing her all along.

(Dork-cred attention to detail - the color of the speech bubble at that point is Aurora's, not the green/white of Psyche's.)

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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This. I don't play psi, but I would roll one for them.

I swear, they've been sitting their handing out Task forces for so long they've forgotten how to hero.

I'm actually kind of on board for this idea. Of course, I'm also on board with the idea of Psyche jumping into Darrin Wade and jacking up his plans during the grand finale. I was discussing that notion with a friend, and suddenly realized that if that did happen, then Psyche would be stuck in Wade's body. Cue the yaoi fans making disturbingly happy noises and running off to draw PsyWade/Manticore fan-art. But wait! She just has to unlock the right option in the Market, and then she can just go to the tailor and change the body to female!

Then my friend suggested that, instead, Manticore could just swipe a few Tilmanrora clones from the "Minds of Mayhem" trial for Psyche to puppeteer around. I instantly got the mental image of Justin Sinclair, wearing about half of a tuxedo, lying in a humongous bed with a harem of a half-dozen PraetorPsyches, holding a glass of champagne and talking about how unbelievably awesome his sex life is now that he can have seven-ways and still be completely faithful to his wife.

His insufferable smirk and jaunty pose would almost certainly look a lot like this: http://www.historyguy.com/comicshist...lk_starfox.jpg

I think the Freedom Phalanx is very incompetent so if they are killed off it allows room for growth.

Pfftt... If I were Manticore, I think my last words to Wade would be; "Ever wonder what it would feel like to be strangled by your own intestines" right as I pulled out a dull splintered wooden spoon as a cutting implement.

I wouldn't get in Mantocore's way.

I think you hit the nail on the head there though, Arcana....it's possible but not likely that his plan has contingencies. But seriously, for the sake of credibility and just internal story consistency, the only way his plan works is because the story says it does.

Statesman dies not because he has an amazing plan, but because, as was stated ad infinitum, he somehow loses the power of common sense and walks into an obvious trap even the most neophyte hero could see coming. That's not even player knowledge factoring in, that's how a character of reasonable intelligence would see things. The same goes for this scenario; the only reason you draw off someone is so that the actual plan can go ahead.

But at that juncture, even knowing this, I do as I'm bidden (because the story simply won't advance if I just exit the mission) and the killing of Psyche ensues. That's not advance planning or contingency planning, that is the plot demanding (not suggesting, not even remotely trying to fool me) that I take this course of action.

The Joker in Dark Knight doesn't come off as omniscient to me because his plan is entirely unpredictable, and relies on his assumptions about human nature more than anything else. And more importantly, his plan fails because of those assumptions. If you then take that logic and apply it to Wade, this means then that he has somehow been able to totally and correctly understand your character, their motivations and what they would do down to the letter. Despite the fact that by the time SSA #1 starts, you're a random factor. I'm willing to accept a master planner, what I'm not willing to accept is the very level of omniscience you yourself have mentioned.

Asking me to buy into a story conceit about Wade that he has all these contingencies and backup plans are fine...so long as the conditions for them occurring are just as reasonable as the plan itself. But even then, we're presented with knowledge only Wade has, despite there being pre-existing groups who do and should have the knowledge already; we have solutions to situations like the removal of Statesman's powers handed to us with Miss Liberty with the dubious caveat that 'only those who want to come back can be summoned' whilst never once questioning if Red Widow does; and lastly, we see characters acting frankly out of character and abandoning reason when the logic gap is so obvious it becomes apparent that the plan (such as it is) is reliant far more on such psychological weaknesses in the Phalanx that if they were actual people, they'd be stood down from active service because of them.

These things have nothing to do with Wade's supposed level of planning and far more to do with absolutism in the story. It's totally unrealistic for me to sit here and say for example that Manticore had no other option but to kill Psyche, but because the story says so, I'm forced to accept it. If there were no other options, if Wade had considered all the possibilities, then why can I sit here and come up with at least half a dozen totally plausible alternatives on the fly? At some point I need to stop being an apologist for the story and view it as it is, not as I wish it should be or construct reasons for how it would be. That is not my job.

It's as I said before about the story: if you as the viewer/reader have to start filling in the gaps so that the story works, then the story isn't working to begin with.


S.

What does that say about US, though? The contacts might be thinking, "You know, we called you on six different occasions, and now three heroes are dead. You can go ahead and sit the rest of this out. We're thinking maybe we'll give Blast Furnace a chance instead..."

Haha true.

I think the shift that needs to happen is the player has to thwart Wade at some point regardless how prepared he is. I look forward to finally being a wall he can't drive through, because right now I feel like a minor speed bump to this guy who once upon a time I worked with smuggling artifacts with. :P

Unless the contacts were planning on promotion through attrition. "Hey, this guy's got quite the friendly casualty rate and I really would like to move up the hero ladder... Say buddy, we got this situation with this hero...."

She'll be in the Freedom Phalanx

I've fought numerous Malta and never noticed that.