SilverAgeFan

A lot of what you've said here speaks to my thoughts lately. My favorite indie game, not naming names, just won 5 awards at the GDC. It is primarily a sandbox game with some survival elements.

For better or worse, I prefer computer games of "let's pretend." In another thread--or maybe this one--someone asserted quite strongly that this is not a sandbox game. In terms of game play, this is certainly true. But as a seven year player the thing that has kept me around and coming back on the few occasions that I strayed has been how character customization really tickles my imagination and serves many of my desires for some sort of sandbox-y, highly personalized creative outlet within our game space.

The game play itself in this game has historically been highly repetitive and rather easy. But for me that's always taken a back seat to being able to robustly realize characters from my imagination. That's the draw of CoX for me. It was the draw of why I at least TRIED the competition with some of what CO promised. It's also why I have no interest in the latest competition. It's the reason I momentarily considered genre jumping to try out APB. But even with its 7 year old low requirements and base library of parts and power animations and effects, CoX has consistently proven for my tastes to be the most open and adaptable game space for tickling my imagination.

I'm glad that the devs are exploring ways to make the newer game play more strategic and varied. I'm glad that something like team teleport now may actually have a use (avoiding sword bombs, silly as they are). And unlike some other avid posters, my taste for retro silver age camp leaves me comfortable with any of the new writing or at the very least able to hand wave away that which I'm not interested in. But despite all the things I do appreciate about the new direction that endgame development is moving in, it really does feel like the dev team has forgotten or is at the very least temporarily deliberately neglecting those of us for whom customization is key.

Point in fact: I am honestly MORE excited about the single new free aura made live today and the battleship (as scenery) added to IP than anything else I've seen regarding i20. And there are some aspects, like the reasonably perceived total lack of power customization for the new incarnate system, that actually has me downright disappointed and currently disinterested in the system.

I honestly have no idea how large a percentage of the player base is constituted by players like me. From a few of the posts in these threads, I see I'm not alone. May be just part of a passionate vocal minority or part of a more significant slice of those that still subscribe. Either way, I do reiterate to the dev team this reminder: For some of us, this MMO lives and dies by the costume creator and the character customization it affords, including power customization.

In this club. Wish there were a QoL improvement that would cause the mouse pointer to either change colors or get distinctly colored trailers if you wiggle it rapidly or something.

Problem started when I jumped up to the highest resolution on a cinematic display. This is the only game or software in which I currently experience this.

And obviously, like so many other graphic QoL features, what I'm asking for should have the option to be turned off for those that don't like it.

I have to agree with these sensible words from the man from down under.

I'm in this camp as well.

Been advocating for this for months. Time seems right to FINALLY focus on getting through those technical challenges and implementing this oft requested feature BEFORE Lore goes live.

Feels like the devs and/or marketing are really selling the value of customization short currently. I know its one major reason I play this MMO and not others--perhaps THE major reason.

Probably. Though that's ultimately up to the diligence of the forum mods and if a semi-official thread to consolidate the venom is created.

But for now, I personally think it's okay that people let those impressions fly. I can think of ONE particular and, IMO, VERY related instance when they listened to the player base: custom mobs for AE. Especially in terms of visual customization. The feature was delayed in order to implement that correctly. And it ultimately lead to content tools that permitted more uniquely costumed antagonists in official content releases AND dopplegangers. A win win win result if you ask me.

So for now, since this is still technically in development, those of us that are disappointed should speak up now. Hopefully the end game dev team is flexible and their systems plastic enough to perhaps consider player feedback regarding the Lore pets should the response be overwhelmingly negative with the proposed implementation.

Those are pretty impressive, Rhyme in particular. But don't be surprised if you awaken one day to find Underdog genericed. Some of us older folks grew up with that cartoon... Makes me wonder if that's why that one was available.

For me, the only names I've recently taken have been decent but were fourth and fifth tries to get something that worked for a few new alts:
Zero Spot
Midnight Verdict
Viridian Mask
Petrolmaniac

spread over triumph and virtue

Edit: oh and from a few years back when the tarot cards power was first introduced, was very happy to get Midnight Gambler who started as a petless dual pistols thugs MM only to be rerolled as a pistols/dark corrupter. He now also sports the tarot cards combat aura around his fists. VERY pleased with that one.

This. This x10. Dump Lore as it stands. Get full minion/pet power customization on a front burner. Finish up PC. And release Lore with an issue that includes MM customization and a completed Power Customization system, including full customization with multiple animations for ANY and ALL incarnate powers. This is a new system and these aspects should be baked in from the start.

And yes, bases and PvP, even though I don't really touch either any more, have been embarrassingly abandoned.

Call me old fashioned, but this is my first impression as well.

Most any form of iterative fiction from oral tradition to comic books and tv serials are loaded with self contradiction. Shared authorship one culprit, changing zeitgeists its co-conspirator.

A couple tricks I've found to keep the more distasteful corruptions palatable:
- When reading, take the perspective that this is not necessarily gospel or canon but rather the current NPC's localized understanding of the universe
- Cultivate an natural habit of gradated acceptance of each bit of canon. Embrace the aspects you love, outright ignore the ones you despise, embellish and touch up the parts you are ambivalent about as needed
- Which brings me to my third tip: remember that lore, canon, and everything the dev's offer up are BACKGROUND for you, the true protagonist. Sometimes, it's just a damned video game and you need to just focus on the graphic qualities: "my character looks like my character in that costume, moves like my character with those animations, not sure why I'm fighting Malta really but... if this character WERE ever in the pages of a cool comic fighting para-military dudes, he/she'd probably look just like that. Anyways, at least I'm getting the badge!" Other times, a villain group or particular set of arcs will just really click and feel as if they were designed and written for that character. More often it's somewhere in the middle, and just like this were an old text adventure game, a box of lego or even some of the older lo res non-3d graphic adventure games of yore, let your imagination run. Ask it to if need be. Banter in character with a mate or two if it helps. Whatever you do, remember that no dev has ever put a gun to your head and said you MUST accept the canon for all and every character's experience. See what they've written into the game as inspiration. Ignore the well if you need to and just say your character is still improving. Refining gadgets. Training harder. Getting luckier. Mutating naturally. Unlocking their potential. Wherever your mind roams, play first and foremost for your characters. Everything else in game narrative-wise should always come second.

(And for the record, I find the well thing to be rather stupid too. Sometimes I just go to Striga with a character and pretend I'm playing through an old 50's-60's era Weird War type comic, when military and horror genres bled into the flailing superhero comic market.)

Gotta disagree with you six ways to sunday on this one. And you contradict yourself. If it only takes 5 minutes to make the boss of not just a mission--but an ENTIRE ARC--look and even feel unique and germane to the story, why not go that extra mile. How does this in anyway = less actual content if as you say it only takes 5 minutes?

Can you make craptacular easy to defeat or far too tough bosses via the current AE tools and custom power selections? Absolutely. But if your day job was to sit down and comb through and revamp content in terms of text and mechanics, don't you think you should know the tools and powers enough to know if a combination will be too powerful or too weak for the main antagonist(s) of a story?

But I do get your points regarding the custom maps. Yes it is a lot of work. I have played a lot of AE and continue to (for the stories--not the farms). And yes... super rare only see them once maps become less special the more you see them. But I personally still enjoy seeing a wider range of map types and feels.

In another thread, I made a suggestion that the Terra Conspiracy arc be revamped with new tech and some polish on the story telling. It's our first REAL introduction to the Hamidon. It should be a clearer story IMO considering how that creature stars in one of the games oldest and already revamped raids.

In general, honestly, I'd like to see many of the old arcs--especially from level 30 going forward, get a revamp both for story and tech sake. We have so many wonderful storytelling tools now in the mission tech from custom maps, to custom mobs, to dopplegangers, to radio monologue that comes at you mid mission, to cutscenes, to multicolored and clearly labeled chapterized mission text. These old arcs contain--as Westley points out in the OP--some of the core and most interesting lore of the CoX universe. This lore has evolved some, but these touchstones could (and should IMO) be given much more new life via new tech and strategies for mission arcs.

Oh... and lots of the tedious old-school i0 and i1 filler can and should be trimmed from these stories. Keep them well paced and engaging.

Fix't. But yeah. That and power pool customization charge right into these issues of both tech and interface.

In the official feedback, I repeatedly suggested some alterations to the turn around for the animation. When many animals run on all fours, they are not so quick to turn their backs either due to defensiveness or momentum. There is sort of a four step scampering motion backwards on the paws THEN the turn around. I suggested that this be added to the animation for reversing to backwards runs.

This would help the animation have a more sense of momentum and agility. Right now it seems to glide too much. It feels like an early study of this kind of movement. Not a finished product.

At three handed version should have been explored for shields and single handed weapons. Look at footage of canine amputees to see how the bio mechanics look.

The jump is improved from its first iteration when the audio was off for some models. But it still feels weak. Not pouncy enough.

But it feels like any testing we did and feedback we offered was largely ignored. *shrug*

+1 on this list.

And there are some GREAT seeds for content within some of the dry, used up, old as a dog i0 content. If only it would get a good revamp with current mission tech.

ie. Currently running the Terra Conspiracy story again. This arc in particular cries out for a revamp.

• • First: Localize the story so it starts in Founders, then progresses into Eden. (No arcs take place in Eden. WHY?!)
  • Tanya--the object of this story and the affections of Hamidon--should be remade using the custom powers.
    • Starts out as a simple hostage.
    • Then the next time you free her, she has a few plant powers and works as an ally. Green hue to her skin
    • Then shows some signs of insanity and you fight her at boss level. More plant powers. More planty costume parts.
    • Climaxes with the EB version of her. But as giant Devoured as she is now +plant control powers.
  • Less defeat alls and stealth defeat alls
  • On the "protect the safehouse" mission, use the "talk to mob followed by ambushes" mission structure introduced with GR.
  • More ruddy tunnels
  • One custom DE overgrown tunnel map towards the end of the mission
  • Custom outdoor map at the end of the mission of a city block with its center overgrown with vines and other DE elements

In general, the old content could be EXCELLENT. But it needs a reworking starting from the oldest and moving forward. Keeping it in unchanged as filler makes no sense at this point IMO. IF this stuff were reworked--like the Jenkins arc--folks would run these stories again.

Seriously.

cheers! I enjoy much of the sub 50 content, either solo when working at Ouroboros badges or on teams with friends. Other than a growing addiction to purple drops, there will now be little keeping me from playing a wider range of content on my 50s!

To be fair, when I personally am deep in production on something--especially during the more tedious and repetitive tasks--I find that large portions of my creative mind are simultaneously activated but have little in the immediate to direct themselves towards. For me, this is when internal ramblings, similar to what Jay spouts, race through my own brain. I don't think he's really taking away hours from his responsibilities to write these things. I think they are pretty spontaneous and they these days the public teases, though still as severe when they do occur, are incredibly infrequent.

It does? Or is that *just* on trials like the BAF? Got a link? Not because I think you're lying but because I would be really really excited about this.

This-ity this. My impression is that in a way, at least with outdoor mob spawns, this was one of War Witch's responsibilities of yore. She did a great job at it too considering what the game was lacking at that time and what it had after she moved on to a different position!