4 Responses

1. American Scion Says:

   Storyline
   Design
   Gameplay
   Detail

   (Solo lv 12 NRG/NRG Blaster)

   Overall fun and a good arc for lowbies and solo play.

   The plot boils down to “follow the bouncing McGuffin” which would be pretty dull but a nice twist at the end saves it.

   The story is staight action comix stuff, nothing deep just straight-forward save-the-world, executed well.

   There are some nice design touches, good use of patrols and boss dialog to carry the plot and a great choice of maps and enemies for low-level characters. One glaring exception: hunting around the final, large, outdoor map without a movement power was rough. The bosses were running a nice visible animation, but that only helped a little.

   Posted on May 28th, 2009 at 6:16 pm

2. dugfromthearth Says:

   Storyline
   Design
   Gameplay
   Detail

   This needs work.

   The basic plot idea is fine but dragged out. It is basically the same mission with different groups. Which makes the gameplay more interesting but the story boring.

   there were two basic problems: mission briefings didn’t contain enough info, and clues contained too much.

   Clues first - almost every major plot development appeared ina clue. I’d defeat a boss and get nothing - but then the clue would say he told me something. The boss should actually in mission mention something - at least say “I’ll tell you everything”. I was often surprised when I’d get to the mission conclusion and found out I’d been told something I had no idea I’d been told. Clues should be reminders - not the primary source of information.

   The mission briefings were too sparse. Add more info - even if it is wrong or speculation on the contact’s part. Draw a picture and connect the dots.

   Mission 1: what are mineons of igneous? You can’t assume the player has been to the hollows and learned about them. Give info. And make it important - “if they spread throughout the city it will be a disaster, all the skyscrapers will fall - cats and dogs living together…” That isn’t the real thread of the arc - but pretend it is in the first mission. That makes it seem important and not just “go beat up some villains in a warehouse”

   Hellions mission - just have the mission be going after Blaze. Switching end objectives was clunky. Say the artifact is in the headquarters of a Hellion named Blaze and you need to get it from him. Have the empty box as a side objective (required or not). But have Blaze be the official objective. Less clunky and adds variety.

   The twist with the Warriors worked - no need to change that.

   The explanation of what the Future Skulls were doing was weak. It didn’t connect the dots. Why were they messing around with the artifact? Just to distract us?

   Make every intro text say: This is what is happening, this is why it is important, this is what you need to do. It can be wrong or pure conjecture - but it’s what makes the story.

   The concept is there, but it is not being conveyed to the player in an interesting and engaging way.

   Posted on May 29th, 2009 at 9:28 am

3. Justice Blues Says:

   Thanks for the reviews from both of you.

   American Scion, I know that the last map can be a pain. If it didn’t tie into the first arc and the temp travel powers weren’t in the game, I would lose it. It is the smallest map that has the necessary spawn points, and most people have the temp powers, so I have left it in. Which doesn’t help those that don’t have the powers.

   dugfromthearth, My big problem with more information is the lack of space. 5 missions with a custom group has me right up at the limit of what I can write. Basically, anything I put in one place has to come out somewhere else. I can change around what Blaze says to clear that up somewhat. But any big additions to mission intro text will have to wait until I15. It looks like they have set it up so custom groups don’t take up as much room, which would allow me to expand on a few things.

   Or I might be making some other changes that would lower the number of missions, based on some other feedback.

   Posted on May 30th, 2009 at 12:21 pm

4. Glazius Says:

   Storyline
   Design
   Gameplay
   Detail

   @GlaziusF

   Picking this up with an actual newbie - a single-digit BS/Shd. On diff 1, because lowbies is lowbies.

   —

   Whoa. Minions of Igneous? As a defeat all? You know they run like the wind and jump like a leaf in said wind, right?

   …yes, I wouldn’t know what the Seeker was talking about. That’s because the minions of Igneous can only speak their own simple yet beautiful native language.

   Golapo oog, remember?

   —

   …and now the rank and file are also talking intelligibly. You’d think Talshak would have mentioned something about that.

   I guess I can buy the Hellions as a link here but I’d like to find some evidence of them on the altar.

   —

   Hmm.

   http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=Dev&Number=13668031&bodyprev=#Post13668031|

   According to Manticore, the Igneous are a society of rock-people and NOT ACTUALLY TRANSFORMED HUMANS WOO! except for their leader who got shoved down a lava vent when some dude betrayed him and he’s looking to get back to the surface and take revenge.

   Not the sort of dude you’d expect to be responsive to an ancient amulet.

   So this thing goes direct to the Warriors, huh? Okay. You’d think Talshak might pursue alternate means of divination given how elusive everything is.

   …why’s he complaining about prepping spells, anyhow? “OH MISERY WHY MUST I CONTINUE TO WORK TO SAVE THE WORLD”.

   —

   Ah, got it, it’s tiring, right.

   Dude doesn’t have any friends among the cops who would know something like what gang pays tribute to who?

   Anyway, in a Warrior hideout, hearing some Warriors talk about… Sigmund? Wrong mythology, dudes.

   Wow. Complete dead end. Are these custom camo-panted Warriors I’m looking at here?

   —

   So hang on. If this was all a runaround then why did it work to draw the Igneous out?

   Seems like an awful complicated piece of magic.

   Anyway, the future dies again. But this was really awful sudden.

   —

   Storyline - *. There’s not much pace at all here. Four missions of chasing my own tail and an attempt to cram an arc’s worth of plot development into the last mission. You could probably trim out mission 2 and put in something before the last mission that actually involves the future Skulls a little more.

   And how the rock monkeys can I understand the Igneous? That’s not supposed to happen.

   Design - ****. Interesting use of recolors to represent various parts of a villain group, but I didn’t really see a reason to recolor certain members of the Warriors. Also there are a lot of defeat boss objectives that don’t fire off unless the minions die too, which I don’t really see the sense of.

   Gameplay - *****. Short, simple, smooth.

   Detail - ****. Enough little bits to make the missions feel somewhat alive, but especially for the last mission there really needs to be more going on, since it’s the only one that apparently actually matters. Some false safes in the Warrior hideout and some actual minor artifacts from looking the Hellion warehouse would also be appreciated.

   Overall - ***. Pretty much all of that’s from the story. The uneven pacing and inexplicably vocal Igneous both threw me for some pretty big loops.

   Posted on July 13th, 2009 at 8:57 pm