2 Responses

1. Mythosfan Says:

   Storyline
   Design
   Gameplay
   Detail

   First, a disclaimer…I am biased in that I am a friend of Teravoltt.

   That said, I think this is a really good arc. The attention to details to tie it in with the real world is near perfection. The concept is spot-on, with good pacing.

   My only real problem is with the final mission being quite rough if you don’t have the “right” team make-up. Soloing can only be done with certain AT/builds. However, that’s not really a major thing, just a bit limiting, is all.

   I also would’ve liked for the final two big baddies to have appeared together as one would expect, but unfortunately, the mission architect doesn’t allow that at this point. Ah, well…maybe in the future.

   Long live the Queen! ; )

   Posted on September 10th, 2009 at 10:42 am

2. Glazius Says:

   Storyline
   Design
   Gameplay
   Detail

   @GlaziusF

   Running this on a mid-40s ice/axe tanker, +0/x2 with bosses on.

   —

   Generic Warden contact. Nice idea. Needs a bio now that that’s possible.

   Alright, so a visiting dignitary has been bum-rushed by the Council. I get informed of a time limit… after I accept the mission. Not the best time for it.

   Also not the best color for it; the royal blue autocolor doesn’t show up very well against the black text outlines.

   Hmm. Well, this is an interesting casualty of pacing: everyone cons green. Makes it rather difficult to not knock them all about the place.

   Thanks to the vagaries of overworld spawning, both hostages spawn more or less adjacent to the exit. There’s an ambush that seems like it should be targeted when the princess is rescued, but instead fires off when her escort to the exit is complete.

   —

   Now, off to Striga to find out why the Council wanted to do this, aside from the obvious high-value target.

   Six computers to hack, but I get a clue after the first one. That’s a thing with glowies - if you have multiple glowies you get the clue after the first one. Since the only objective seems to be the glowies you might want to “maintain the suspense” by having a mission-complete clue instead.

   Pacing puts greens in the entrance again.

   Oh, now there’s something you don’t see every day, down in the basement - a flying jar of jam! Also an elec brawler. He does a credible job of running off, but I intercept him for the fun of it anyway. Don’t seem to get much in the way of clues from him, though. Pity

   —

   Seems we’ve blundered into a bit of world politics gone bad, as the villain who was talking to the council is buddying up to an international megacorp.

   Gunner minions, swordsman lieutenants. Looks like defense debuffs are the order of the day.

   The man in charge is a mace/invuln job in a jester suit with a big wooden mallet.

   All the computers seem to have found their way into the end room with him - this may be a case of the well-documented middle for back confusion in the MA. .

   And once again I get a clue after the first of many hack attempts. Though the ambush doesn’t come until after the last of them, when there’s nothing more to do in the mission.

   So this megacorp is trying to find another time to kidnap the princess. Oh joy.

   —

   Anyway, circus tents at Talos Island. The last surviving element of the princess’s bodyguard mentions she was taken to the Black Sand Reserve.

   Well, okay, let’s get out of– no, still have a villain to defeat.

   Somewhere on this giant outdoor map.

   No obvious particle effects I can see.

   Running up and down narrow featureless corridors full of minions with enhanced perception who don’t clump up on anything.

   This is gonna take a while.

   Oh, it’s the jamjar again. Round 2 goes much like Round 1.

   —

   Seems to be some warning about not letting this boss escape. Can do, can do. …maybe.

   Looks like the Black Sand Reserve is much like Eleusis.

   The Viceroy’s bodyguard… is SS/Will. With Rage.

   Yeah, trying to deal with that hit-buff is just running into a hard wall of mathematics. Saving this for later when I can pop a Shivan.

   The Viceroy himself is a downgraded grav/energy AV, who doesn’t make much of a move to run or spout any dialogue indicating he will do so, despite the warning in the briefing.

   Anyway, the day is saved.

   —

   Storyline - ****. The story of a sad, deluded man who believes that, even with the royalty being little more than ceremonial, restoring the proper dynasty to the throne will restore the British Empire to its former glory.

   A sad, deluded man and his private army and villainous allies, including some faction of the Council.

   What’s in it for all of them? Well, okay, his bodyguard is in many senses a Man Friday, a couple villains are easily explainable, as villains are an amoral and mercenary lot. The private army could be in it for the money or actually ‘round the bend enough to drink the kool-aid.

   But what’s in it for the Council? Money? Technology? Most favored villain group status?

   That’s about the only sticking point here.

   Design - ***. The custom enemy group are utilitarian but distinctive, what few ranks there are of them. Though going up against just three enemies for three missions in a row is putting a little too much emphasis on too little variety. The villains are a bit more fancy free, and there’s a nice trick played with a fleeing “boss” to make it look like you’ve caught someone on the way out the door from negotiations.

   There isn’t really a lot in the way of non-essential detail in any of the missions, though — mostly it’s just the objectives that open up the next mission — and one thing non-essential detail can really help with is fleshing out the story for people who might be curious about it.

   It would help a bit, and probably open up your enemy group selection to boot, if you picked a level range for this arc. There’s really no downside anymore since exemplaring grants full XP and other rewards.

   Also you should have a look at your pacing settings, unless you wanted green Council in the first two missions.

   Gameplay - *. The customs aren’t very fun to fight for several reasons. (Not the use of Devices. Devices is used appropriately here on a boss-rank enemy. It’s a set with a control power and shouldn’t be spammed about by minions. I felt I should call this out.)

   First, all the minions are ranged. This means they never clump up of their own volition. This means a lot of zipping around chipping down one target at a time, unless the geometry wants to cooperate, and there’s no guarantee it will on an overworld map.

   Second, cascading defense debuffs. Even if you’re a set with defense debuff resistance, it’s possible that your base defense will get whittled so low by assault rifle and broadsword that all future attacks will hit and continue to debuff your defense so that future attacks will hit and so on.

   Third, enhanced enemy group perception, especially bad on outdoor maps where there aren’t many walls about. Fighting more enemies at once means more chance of a permanent defense-buff cascade, and because all the minions hang back that means more running around cleaning things up.

   The Viceroy’s bodyguard is a pain, too. On an elite boss or higher, a long-duration buff like Rage is basically an indication to go off and find something to do until it wears off. Short-duration bursts like Build Up might be acceptable, especially on elite bosses that are supposed to be climactic fights, but I’ve always found that just the straight mix of powers, without any temporary buffing powers, are enough to get a decent scrap out of an elite boss.

   Outdoor maps are a pain to find objectives on, especially objectives without some sort of notable animation to them (usually involving particle effects). This is especially bad on the carnival map, where objectives can (and, for me, did) hide under overhangs.

   So, animate notable mobs on outdoor maps, and consider some sort of alternate setup for the minions. Maybe add some with nightsticks. Maybe use the Robotics laser rifle instead of Assault Rifle. Maybe both! If you were space constrained before, there’s a lot more room now.

   Detail - ***. The briefings talk up saving the Princess as the most important thing I have to do here, to the point that I wonder why I’m bothering with fighting the jester and the jam jar once I have the intel I need. Now, if there was, say, some sort of encrypted agenda they each had part of a key too, that’d be a good excuse to hunt them down and bring them in. But as it is the only reason to throw down with them is because the nav bar says so.

   Also, just as a rule of thumb, try to keep character descriptions to four or five lines. Otherwise they all tend to run together.

   Overall - **. Not intended as an average. On outdoor maps, the enemy fights had better be able to carry the map, since objectives are randomly placed and combat is the only thing you can count on. But this enemy group is monotonous, prone to defense debuff cascades, and worse when multiple groups aggro on you at once, which thanks to enhanced perception happens very often.

   The plot is generally solid but could stand a few more details here and there; it’s dealing with the custom enemies that’s really frustrating, and the arc features them in great quantities.

   Posted on April 12th, 2011 at 9:08 pm