4 Responses

1. @Acid Zero Says:

   Storyline
   Design
   Gameplay
   Detail

   Review from 16/04/2009, 1728 hours; reposted from City of Villains community forums:

   Likes: Dynamic mission objectives, story references, canon incorporation, plot flow.
   Gripes: Mission 2 escort seems unnecessary, mission 3 has a few too many glowies.

   Synopsis: I found a gem! Well, barring the grammar stuff, so maybe a gem with a scratch, but still a gem. The story was compelling, mixed several elements together into a cohesive and evolving plot, was told from a very interesting perspective, and while it ended a bit predictably, it was an excellent work all the same. I especially liked the dynamically changing objectives, the cross-referencing to here and there, and of course just the idea of You Know Who doing You Know What.

   Aside from a text-cleanup and a few small nitpicks, I really have no concrete criticism for this. It’s just a really good arc, and I highly recommend it.

   Details:

   Mission 1:

   Intro dialogue: some erroneous capitalization here and there. Also, you may want to add that it’s the Council that nabbed Herbert before the scanner gadget stuff.

   Intro popup: ohh, a twist already! How neat. Data terminals shouldn’t be capitalized, though.

   Mission: Okay, this looks promising. Decently sized, but not too long to wear out its welcome…I also like the changing objectives mid-mission; very clever. Oooh, is that a Council Sniper?! I hardly eversee these guys! Oh, and he’s even a ‘custom character’, which I would know if I’d read the clue right away. Oops, my bad. :p Oh, and there’s even a mission drop clue. Hehehe, it appears the plot thickens.

   What could this mission use? Can’t think of a thing.

   Mission 2

   Okay, gonna skip over the grammar discussion since it seems to be just capitalization stuff (let me guess; English isn’t your first language either? I know it took me a long time to get that stuff right :). Hm, so I’m helping Posi, huh? Sound interesting. Hm I also see Arachnos. Let’s see what comes of this.

   Ah, and there’s the first device, a generator… with its generic description still attached, bah. Was hoping for something more sinister. You might want to look into that. And I see we have changing objectives again, with supported text and clues; very nice. Looks like I’m off to find Posi.

   I do quite soon, and he’s got a nice animation, not to mention some very decent dialogue — and yet another new objective attached. This appears to be a trend here, so I’ll just say nice work on the dynamics and be quiet about it here from now on. With Posi, I handily defeat the Big-Bad-Maybe — but it’s not over! Though defeated, the villain had a backup plan! NICE!

   Not gonna spoil what happens from here on, just know that I liked it very much.

   What could this mission use? Maybe lose the escort. I imagine Posi is competent enough to take care of things on his own once you hurmhurmhurm. It doesn’t detract, however.

   Exit popup: You’ve got a typo in ‘cowardly’.

   Mission 3:

   Intro dialogue: Typo in ‘erected’.

   Mission: Oh boy, the finale. I cannot say I’m not excited about this. The conveyance of urgency of the last mission was excellent.

   Hm, so I’m not quite sure what these objects of power are supposed to be or where they came from — you might want to elaborate on that — but the custom enemies are definitely a sight!

   Okay, found an object, an altar. Not sure… oh, I see where this is going. Very nice. Hm, you might want to change the fluttering shadow clue, it says there are only 2 objects there. I also ran into the Shadow before getting the objects, so a tad of a disconnect there, and when ‘it’ asks me to stop… um, how do I do so? Lacking a few instructions there. I guess you didn’t count on people wanting to take its offer, huh?

   Okay, finally found all the objects of power, and get… hehe, more stuff again, very nice. Oh, this is keeping my attention — and though the results of ‘finding out’ the stated objectives were somewhat predictable, they still fit every nicely.

   What could this mission use? Less objects of power, since they all seem to give the same clue.

   Posted on May 3rd, 2009 at 8:54 am

2. @PW Says:

   Storyline
   Design
   Gameplay
   Detail

   I really liked the creepy mood of the last mission, it was very disturbing. I also really liked the dynamic way the objectives were chained to each other, making each mission feel very cool and unique. The middle mission felt a little long due to having to repeatedly search Steel Canyon for the dynamically spawned objectives, but I do like the way they were connected together.

   I think the dialog could use some work though, some of the things the NPCs said felt very stilted and unnatural. Also I thought there were a lot of loose ends that were never cleaned up. The plot was a little murky; since we never actually find the Overseer, we never figure out what his motivation is for hurting Ms Liberty. The description of the story arc seems to tell us the most about this; it is never actually explained in the story itself. As a result it seems like it is mostly a set up to get into the last mission in Ms Liberty’s mind.

   But the gameplay of each mission is pretty cool, and the ambience set up by the last mission was terrific.

   Posted on May 9th, 2009 at 7:24 pm

3. @cristelmoon Says:

   Storyline
   Design
   Gameplay
   Detail

   Excellent story. Positron is a bit of jerk for some reason but oh well.
   I also wondered about “The Overseer”. We never actually meet or find out who he/she is.
   Perhaps a 4th mission might have been good but it might also have been anti-climatic as well.
   Some very interesting uses of captives(?) in the last mission.

   Posted on May 10th, 2009 at 12:42 am

4. Glazius Says:

   Storyline
   Design
   Gameplay
   Detail

   @GlaziusF

   Arcing away on a level 40 DB/Fire brute, since Mission Engineer ain’t gonna earn itself.

   —

   Hmm. I’m not sure why Ms. Liberty is trying to use “setting a bad example” as a crowbar here. I mean, heroes free innocent civilians from being kidnapped all the time, and usually they don’t even get anything out of it.

   Herbert’s lame little explanation could actually work out if this is one of those Council bases built into a secret entrance in like a supermarket or something. “But I was just looking for the men’s room!”

   Hmm. The clues mention a particular Council guy and act like I’m supposed to know who he is, but I’ve never heard of him before. Maybe he’s written his name into the comments of the files in appropriately self-aggrandizing language?

   I wonder where he’s going to show up and then I remember the winding tunnels at the beginning of the map - which are really terrible for immobile snipers. His sniper status also actually makes the overall fight harder since my splash AoEs clearing out his troops are enough for him to summon help.

   —

   Positron needs backup? But all that stuff is grey to him. No XP.

   Ah, Lord Recluse got some of the boys from the old neighborhood to help kick off his latest invasion.

   Hmm. Or not. The Arachnos are still talking about an Overseer.

   …agh. I cleared out this entire map (no joke) looking for Posi, and finally found him under a ramp in one of the construction yards, tucked away in the corner.

   Chaining objectives on an outdoor map like this is really just frustrating. I had to crisscross an empty map three times to find everything out.

   …and my contact’s mind is going, Dave, she can feel it, but the hologram’s still here. I guess I can buy that, but there are lots of Vindicators other than Ms. Liberty.

   Also apparently it was Lord Recluse all along? I can buy him using an alias to talk to the Council but his own troops should call him by name.

   —

   And now apparently the whole Freedom Phalanx are getting in on the hologram. I can understand what you’re trying for, but there are probably better ways. Like making the contact your mission computer or something.

   Speaking of mission computers, don’t the Vindicators have a rez ring in their base? Why was Ms. Liberty using the public medicoms?

   o/` And there’s a creepy doll
   That always follows you
   It’s got a ruined eye
   That’s always open… o/`

   Heh! Okay, this bit of backtracking I don’t mind.

   But should the enemies really have such detailed information about them? I mean, I come into this having no freakin’ clue.

   Also Miss Sis Psyche tells me I have to find two objects but the HUD says six. I guess they’re all fractured up…

   The “allies” who are set to wander say their “you lost me” text and “you found me” text essentially at random, which is kinda atomospheric but also a bit bizarre, since Psyche wandered pretty close to the boss room and I didn’t see her say goodbye until the middle of the fight.

   And now I… what? That’s it? Two missions of setup to one mission of payoff? I was expecting something a little more, especially since the description mentions “every hero in Paragon”.

   —

   Storyline - ***. Aside from the thing about Ms. Liberty using the public hospital network, there wasn’t much off with the story. But it felt like it was going somewhere and then it stopped. Like, another mission deeper into Ms. Liberty’s subconscious, or maybe a trip into the collective unconsciousness of every hero who fell victim to this plan, with the custom group running rampant.

   Design - ****. Aside from the awkwardness with ally dialogue in the last mission, this used most of the features of the MA pretty well. I wonder if the custom group should more closely mimic the Vampyr’s powers - DM/regen and MA/regen, maybe?

   Gameplay - ***. The real deal-breaker here was backtracking across an empty overworld map multiple times in search of objectives. I’m not sure what to say about that, or if everything being around makes sense from the start.

   Detail - ***. The descriptions mentioning the details about something crazy I’d never seen before didn’t make a lot of sense, and the arc overall has persistent issues with run-on sentences that make it tough to separate ideas. New idea, new sentence.

   Overall - ***. An interesting concept that ends too early for my liking, with a rather exasperating backtrack-fest in the middle.

   Posted on May 30th, 2009 at 9:36 pm