Venture

Arc #181244, "Waves of Chaos"
tl;dr: 3 stars. Offenses: "just a bunch of stuff that happened", balance issues, plot issues, poor custom faction, borderline Mary Sue

Reviewed on: 8/11/2009
Level Range: 5-54
Architect's Keywords: Save the World, Comedy, Drama
My Keywords:
Character used: The Philosoraptor/Freedom

This arc's warning messages include AVs, EBs, Extreme AVs, Extreme LTs, Extreme Minions and mobs with custom powers...at level 5? OK, deal, here's trying with an 11 Spines/Invul....

"Bloodstreak" (author insert) who says he hates his codename and asks you to call him Scott, needs your help with a difficult case. His nemesis Stryker (author insert) is gathering "the Zodiac Stones". Scott doesn't know what they do but is trying to get them first on general principles. His supergroup is already on the job, but he needs someone to follow up on a member who hasn't checked in. He can't do it himself because Azuria has him researching what the stones do. Why not send an intern to the library instead so...eh, never mind.... You're sent to a warehouse full of ninja cyborgs made by Stryker (based on the technology used to make both him and Bloodstreak...I already don't like the direction this is going in), with five stones to find, an ally to rescue and a raid leader to take out. The Lieutenants are Archery/Trick Arrow with both Entangling Arrow and Ice Arrow, lots of fun for a melee with no status protection yet. The raid leader didn't even have a name, just his mob designation. The ally was "Plasmon"; I have no idea what he does because I rescued him last. Bloodstreak says he's glad you made it back since Stryker's goons are so dangerous...yeah.

Bloodstreak's research turned up some scrolls Azuria is off translating. Next he wants you to accompany him on an Orenbega raid, as it seems the Circle has the last stone. Or not; I'd assumed we'd be off to Oranbega as it turns out this is on a sewer map for some inexplicable reason. There are some dummy glowies to check, one real one, and Bloodstreak to rescue from Stryker's ninja, only when you do so he tells you they infected him with something that's shutting down his nanomachines, so it's only a matter of time before his cybernetics shut down completely.

Act III opens with Bloodstreak telling you the Zodiac Stones are needed to release some "incarnation of chaos" thing when The Stars Are Right, which will be happening shortly...and one of his teammates has stolen the stones. Plasmon just went nuts while everyone else was out, blew the vault's door off and made off with the stones. Bloodstreak is out of commission and everyone else is dealing with other problems, so it's up to you to recover the stones. You're sent to an outdoor map full of ninja, which I just stealthed past to deal with Plasmon, a Fiery Melee/Fiery Aura Boss. On his defeat he manages to gasp out that he was taken over by the stones and delivered them to Stryker...and destroyed his own Medicom beacon, and thus dies of his wounds. Or not, Bloodstreak tells you he was taken to a hospital the old-fashioned way and is in critical condition.

So, you've got an hour (timed mission) to take down Stryker and prevent the release of the Big Bad. You're sent to a Troll cave map with Bloodstreak as a Minion level ally (skipped) and Stryker as a Dual Blades/Dark Blast Elite Boss. I cleared him after a few deaths only to find out that the stones he has are fakes; he knew Bloodstreak would go after him so he used himself as a decoy and sent the real stones elsewhere. The mission exit pop-up says you don't find the real site in time and chaos is unleashed.

With people going crazy all over the city, MAGI manages to locate seven possible locations for the Big Bad. You're sent to one of them, hoping it hasn't reached full power and can still be defeated. Now you are sent to an Oranbega map, Infernal's to be precise, to deal with Chaos, an Energy Assault/Dark Armor AV/EB. I stealthed past all his goons and took about half a dozen deaths but he eventually snuffed it. The mission end Clue narrates you as using a ritual you received from Azuria (when?) to seal Chaos away again for another few thousand years. Order is restored, yadda yadda yadda.

The arc has no theme and more than a few plot issues. The custom faction consists of exactly three mobs that I saw, one each of Boss/LT/Minion, and in terms of appearance they're all pretty much palette-swapped versions of each other. For an arc tagged as "comedy" there really wasn't anything funny about it. And it is really way too centered on the author's player-characters. This one needs a lot of work.

Pretty sure, though it's always possible I was mistaken.

Unless I've counted incorrectly (which is always possible) my records show 135 reviews, four of which (IIRC) are re-reviews. Hopefully before school starts again I'll have time to get all of them organized in some kind of database....

Starfall

Ebon Starknight

I don't discuss my criteria because I've already had people try to rules-lawyer me into changing a rating, and that's while I haven't spelled out the rules.

I think the proposed change would work, but if it was my call, I'd go with a Ninja/Poison Mastermind (with maxed-out guards and ambushes). I think a combination of the Sinister and Samurai sets could produce a sufficiently-spiderish yet fitting Lord Kumo.

Arc #260284, "A Warrior's Journey - The Flower Knight Task Force"
tl;dr: 4 stars. Offenses: breaks its own immersion, Canon Defilement

Reviewed on: 8/10/2009
Level Range: 45-54
Architect's Keywords: Challenging, Save the World, Magic
My Keywords: Challenging, Magic, Drama
Character used: Tisiphone Delta-7/Virtue

Flower Knight has been having dreams lately of battles in a Japanese-ish setting. She's sure these dreams are communication from her guiding ancestor spirit, especially since Portal Corp has discovered Pi Omega 4-4, a dimension that looks just like her dreams. Unfortunately she can't go there herself because of her low security level, so she's asking you to go instead. You wind up on an outdoor Croatoa map populated by "Spider Clan" soldiers (custom faction) amidst a battle. The soldiers are trying to collect taxes from impoverished peasants, which automatically makes them evil. There are two peasants to rescue, a female samurai named "Fujineko" (who looks familiar) to escort back to Paragon City, who tells you the land of "Perogan" was at peace until Lord Kumo of the Spider Clan began arming his troops with gunpowder weapons. Since the death of the Hawk Clan's leader "Setaetsemon" things have been getting bad. After being led back to the portal Fujineko decided to stay and fight alongside me after all, evidently, which seemed a bit out of place, but moving on.... You also have to take out the enemy leader, Jinkenzo (cough). On your return to Paragon, Fujineko quickly befriends Flower Knight and the two talk about the situation in Perogan at length.

Flower Knight next asks you to investigate a Spider Clan supply depot. She's concerned about the sudden appearance of gunpowder weapons which are well above the general level of technological development in Perogan (they're really not but that's another rant). Tina Macintyre has confirmed the presence of trace energies from dimensional travel in the area near the caves as well. The caves turn out to under the command of "Lord Aion" (Elite Boss, Energy Melee or Assault/Assault Rifle), aided by Jinkenzo (who is complaining about how no one believes his story about superheroes busting up the tax collection). Aion calls for "those worthless ninja sent by our ally", revealing the gunpowder weapons are likely the result not of Klingons but Praetorians. Flower Knight is depressed at missing out on fighting Praetorians (give it a few months, dear....)

After speaking with Fujineko again, Flower Knight learns that a "great lord" matching Chimera's description was seen courting a Lady Sayaki several years ago. Sayaki has since retired to a hermitage, becoming a priestess known as the Oracle of Amaterasu. You're sent to talk to her. Her cave contains some books, amidst which you find some romantic poetry (you suddenly read Japanese, it seems) and an altar to the goddess Amaterasu with a written prayer upon it, praying for the strength to resist the temptations of the flesh and the outside world. Sayaki herself is the prisoner of some of Chimera's ninja. On her release you have to escort her out past a few Boss ninja spawns. Once outside she confesses she had an affair with Chimera, disgraced her clan and was sent into exile. But now, with the Spider Clan on the attack, she recognizes her duty to the Hawk Clan and gives up the location of Chimera's base.

Sure enough, your next task is to take down that base. Flower Knight expresses her frustration at not being allowed to fight archvillains (kid, really, pace yourself). You're to take out Chimera (bring a friend), destroy any stockpiled weapons and if he has a portal back to Praetoria, that too. This is pretty much a rerun of the usual Chimera mission (imagine an outdoor map with caltrops instead of grass), with a few glowies added: two shipments of weapons, a crate that is now empty except for a note from Black Swan saying she's shipped over "Sir Recluse's old armor" which "didn't help that idiot hero when Tyrant went after him", and another note from Tyrant telling Chimera to finish conquering this dimension already, and the portal generator to destroy. Chimera himself commits suicide (it says here) rather than allow himself to be captured, spouting off a haiku about his love to Sayaki as he dies. As you portal back home, you have a vision of Sayaki committing suicide herself over his death. Flower Knight is distraught over her death when you return, unable to understand why she did it (here kid, you can borrow my copy of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon).

Time for the Fight Scene: the Praetorians are out of the picture but the Spider Clan is still armed for bear, and now they're on the move. You have to take down Kumo and his four generals. Fujineko will be returning with you, and security level restrictions notwithstanding Flower Knight herself insists on coming too. The first general I found was "Gaki-Onna", a creatively-reskinned Ghost Widow. She had the poor fortune to be fighting a Dark Armor Scrapper so between my resists and her constant use of Black Hole, this fight was kind of like watching paint dry. On her death she calls forth Lord Kumo (Recluse), who spawned juuuuuust outside of agro range. This was the usual absurd fight you always get with Recluse, and completely tosses immersion into the trash. Black Scorpion and "General Mako" were both (I think) Dual Blades/Willpower Elites; "Master of the East Wind" was Scirocco (didn't appear to be reskinned). The allies are listed in the nav bar but weren't required for completion (I skipped them entirely). On your return, Flower Knight informs you she's staying in Perogan to help rebuild.

There are three things keeping this from being a five-star arc. The biggest of them is Lord Kumo. Sorry, but the spider legs are not worth the disconnect when he starts throwing Arachnos agents at you. No, "just pretend they're Spider Clan guys" doesn't cut it. I know it's frustrating when the system won't let you build exactly what you want but simply put, this is a darling that needs to be killed. The other two things are the abuse of canon characters, Chimera and Flower Knight, both of which are essentially written out by this arc. When you use a canon character you're supposed to return it in something resembling the condition it was in when you borrowed it. Other than that, while I think we've had way more than our share of these goatee-universe stories this is very well written.

Arc #100306, "A Spider Weaves His Web"
tl;dr: 2 stars. Offenses: "just a bunch of stuff that happened", plot issues, overpowered allies, poor dialog

Reviewed on: 8/9/2009
Level Range: 50-54
Architect's Keywords: Challenging, Custom Characters, Mystery
My Keywords: Challenging, Canon Related
Character used: Venture/Virtue

The arc opens with your character reading The Paragonian Times off the web, in particular an article on missing military personnel who have been sighted in the Rogue Isles. You decide to investigate this on your own (slow news day, evidently). You end up on the warehouse map used in Dr. Creed's arc with two objectives. The first was to defeat the Arachnos leader, which was "Webweaver Karsky", a Martial Arts/Psychic Assault (I think) Boss with less than stellar dialog and one ambush. The next was to "find clues", which requires entering one of the buildings. People who haven't seen this map before probably won't know they can do that. In any case, the clue is an email from ilovesoaps@arachnos.web.com about a raid on Longbow in Nerva using "the new Webweaver assets", evidently intended to at least make us think Viridian is involved. The debriefing just says you report your findings to the authorities.

Next, you are again reading the Times when you see an article about your capture of Karsky, who was one of the missing men. It seems you've waited a good bit before following up on that lead. (The article also refers to your character as "the mysterious $NAME"....there's nothing mysterious about my character, he doesn't even have a secret ID, and I really doubt any hero in this level range has anything resembling privacy left, but anyway....) You head over to a Longbow base in Nerva under attack by Arachnos forces. Your objectives are to rescue an Elite Boss Ally, Longbow Witch Anastazi (which I did last, so I have no idea what her powers are), defeat Webweaver Mathers and defeat "V", who turns out to be Viridian, only not really I think as he didn't have his PToD. Mathers claims he is a loyal servant of Arachnos and won't be deceived into thinking that's not true. You also find a memo by Viridian about a plan to use captured and brainwashed military personnel for an attack on Overbrook, initialed by Recluse.

When you get back, you receive an email from "Silver Spinner" who claims to be an undercover agent in Arachnos. Spinner says the four captured men possess "a grand metaphysical awareness that is invaluable in planning and strategizing. With these men at his disposal, Recluse is nearly unstoppable." Um, so far that hasn't really panned out, but anyway, time to stop the attack on Overbrook. This turns out to be a one-hour timed mission (if there was a warning, I didn't see it) on an abandoned warehouse map. You are required to release hostage ally Silver Spinner (Elite Boss, Martial Arts/NotSure, author insert) to trigger the spawn of the other objectives, two more Webweavers and four teleport chambers to destroy. Spinner informs you that Arachnos is going to use the building as a staging area for a major attack by teleporting troops in. I parked the annoying ally out of sight, teleported off the map and re-entered. Webweavers Markus and Crosby are Elite Bosses instead of Bosses, but otherwise there's nothing noteworthy. The debriefing says Spinner vanishes before the police showed up with a who-was-that-masked-man bit, and the "Webweavers" are headed for attempted deprogramming.

There is no theme and there are serious plot and gameplay issues. It needs a lot of work.

Arc ID: 283197 "Psychophage"

Keywords: Challenging, Ideal for Teams, Non-Canon Story
Length: Very Long (4 missions, medium or small maps)
Morality: Villainous
Enemies: Custom Groups
Level Range: 45-54

Description: Dr. Stadov has been locked out of TriChron, her research company. Corporate politics at work, or something more? She's looking for an operative willing to find out...by any means necessary. Set outside the City canon. N.B. this arc commits almost every possible sin in arc design. Version 080809

Notes: This is about the worst thing I could write that I would still put my name on. It was created for the "Canon Fodder" thread since it seems to be precisely what they're asking for. There are a few violations I couldn't bring myself to commit (it has no Mary Sues in it, I didn't create factions with no Minions...a few others) but for the most part it should be taken as an example of what not to do.

In terms of difficulty, all of the mobs are on Extreme (actually, IIRC, in one case I had to use custom settings to go past Extreme). While my purpled-out Claws/SR main (Venture/Virtue) was able to solo this with nominal difficulty, my less impressively slotted DM/Regen (Phil Noir/Virtue) died seven times on the first map, four of them against Security Chief Hudson, with several deaths on each of the next two and I lost count of the deaths on the last (probably on the order of 20-30).

I'd say "enjoy!"...but you probably won't.

One comment so far (name redacted): " 4 stars for aspiring to cheesy B-movie greatness. 5 if the medics had not been attack-happy psychos. "

Arc #178774, "Tales of Croatoa: A Rose By Any Other Name...."
tl;dr: 5 stars. Nits: none

Reviewed on: 8/8/2009
Level Range: 33-34
Architect's Keywords: Canon Related, Magic, Drama
My Keywords: Challenging, Magic, Mystery
Character used: Venture/Virtue

The ghost of Rose, a little girl found in a graveyard in Croatoa, asks your help in rescuing her friend Billy from Red Caps. On entering their caves you find the bones of some of their victims, no longer identifiable, and some treasure chests of gold and iron loot, including one you have to smash to open. That one contains Billy...a teddy bear. When you return the bear, Rose is forced to confront the fact that she's a ghost.

Next, she asks you to visit the warehouse her father worked at. The place is deserted with skeletal remains of the workers. A battered witch hat leads you to suspect the Cabal was responsible, though it seems too violent for them. A note on a bulletin board reads "She is coming, Adriana, you must" and ends. Rose says her mother used to wear one of those hats when her father wasn't around, and she was having trouble with the Cabal.

Rose next wants you to visit her friend "Jack" who lives in a cave nearby, but too far from the graveyard for Rose to reach. Given the local...population...there are a number of possibilities for Jack's identity, some of which are potentially disturbing, but he turns out to "only" be a friendly Eochai. His caves are under attack by a rogue Cabal sect that practices necromancy (custom faction with some stock Cabal). After freeing him and a few of his friends, Jack tells you Adriana was a member of the Cabal who left to take a husband. She also took an amulet that used to belong to her grandmother, which the leader of the rogue Cabal wants for herself. He also tells you Adriana came to see him a few days ago, and has been driven to talk of revenge. He has no leads for you, unfortunately. Rose is heartbroken by the news and fades away. After she does, you hear a tinkling sound from within Billy, which turns out to be the amulet.

With no leads, it's time for percussive interrogation. You hit the streets and the Cabal for information on the rogues. You're led to an outdoor map with three ceremonies to disrupt and the ghost of Rose's father Patrick to free. The rogues are up to something involving Adriana as their ceremonies seem to be targeting her, and one of them gives up the leader Rhiannon's location under extreme rendition. You return to Rose's gravesite where she's reappeared to tell you her father is with her now.

Finally, Rose asks you to take down Rhiannon and to take Billy with you. You get a bring-a-non-teddy-bear-friend warning for this. The Fight Scene takes place on an abandoned office map. Rhiannon was a Dark Blast/Dark Miasma AV/EB; Jack and Adriana are present as allies but not required. On rescue Adriana reveals she had a deadly self-destruct spell ready to use on Rhiannon but fortunately that wasn't required. When you return to Rose, Adriana has already been to see her and left roses on her grave. Rose gives you one, then fades away, probably forever. You leave Billy on her grave as well, without the amulet.

This is an excellent arc all-around, well-written with strong themes and good gameplay. Recommended.

Thanks for the review, and the good rating.

And yes, that's Venture/Virtue's (and Starfall's) most popular costume. I almost always get complimented on it in groups.

Arc #60280, "Dr. Dave and the Copper Legion"
tl;dr: 4 stars. Offenses: "just a bunch of stuff that happened", some minor plot issues

Reviewed on: 8/8/2009
Level Range: 40-54
Architect's Keywords: Solo Friendly, Magic
My Keywords: Challenging, Save the World, Magic
Character used: Venture/Virtue

Dr. David Diaz y Callerojo (author insert) of the SAC Academy of Heroes, an archaeologist/anthropologist, has manage to lose one of his assistants on a field trip to Cimerora. He wants you to help rescue the young lady, one Heather Glass. She's a hostage in a Cimeroran cave map. Rescuing her triggers a Boss spawn back near the entrance, one "Miles Gloriosus" (it says here); the mission end clue, about a previous ruler of Cimerora named Praenuntius and an army of terra^H^H^H^H^Hgold^H^H^H^Hmetal soldiers that doesn't seem to take into account that Cimerora is set just after the fall of the Roman Empire. (Of course, Cimerora is a festering sinkhole of historical defilement in the first place.)

Diaz lets on when you get back that he's looking for this "Copper Legion" (and references Ch'in Shih Huang-Ti's terra cotta army). One of the other parties out searching for Heather actually turned up a lead on it, pointing to the Circle of Thorns. He wants you to check out one of their lairs. Diaz tells you that you are to find two scrolls; if they are not there you'll have to defeat the head librarian. Six bookcases and the head librarian come up in the nav bar on entry (Oranbega map) and sure enough, you have to beat the information out of him. He tells you another mage, Janus, came by days ago and took all the scrolls on the Copper Legion, but he knows where it is -- Sicily.

But, that will have to wait. The Midnighters' Club is under attack. (That's twice in two reviews...see what I mean?) Heather is there, so you'll have to rescue her again. The attackers are...the Copper Legion, so it's safe to say you've already come in second in this two-man race. You have to beat them all up and collect five Cimeroran tablets (that you can't read). On your return, Diaz tells you the tablets are written in code, which is why they were overlooked earlier, and now that they've been decoded they contain instructions on how to control the Copper Legion. They can't do that just yet because in addition to needing a powerful enough spellcaster (which they have) they need a special crown^H^H^H^H^Hkeystone.

Unfortunately the enemy is pressing his advantage, as the Copper Legion mounts an all-out attack on Paragon City. It's off to a city map to fight the Legion, rescue 9 civilians (two of them didn't make it, actually), and hook up with "Pyralis", one of Diaz's hero friends. He conveniently spawned in back so I didn't have to skip him. Spurious Bosses were out in force on this map, making it pretty lucrative (541 bonus tickets). On rescue, Pyralis tells you his suit has a limited ability to detect magical energies and he thinks the Legion soldiers are absorbing a magical signal...if this signal were cut off they might stop functioning.

For the Fight Scene, Diaz gambles that whatever is powering or controlling the Legion is immobile and thus still at the location you got from the Circle. He and Heather go in ahead to scout the catacombs. They're both in as their hero IDs (Sun Coyote and Glass Dragon) but I passed them up as usual. There's also a Ruin Mage hostage who activated the Legion because...Malta forced him to. The keystone is in the possession of Moment, currently borrowing Scirocco's form. There are some glowies to click but the mission ends when Moment snuffs it. When you get back, Diaz tells you the keystone has been moved to a secure location (What Could Possibly Go Wrong?) and the Legion itself has been sealed back in their cave with a battalion of Longbow permanently assigned to guard duty (I'm sure the Italian government loved that idea). Moment, however, escapes (Diaz says he can look like "anyone or anything"; since Moment's powers require copying the target's genetic code I don't think he can turn into inanimate objects, but that's a nit).

It's a fun enough romp, even if the plot is reminiscent of some recent movies, but there's no theme and a few small plot issues. Malta's appearance at the end is kind of a gratuitous twist, as it pretty much comes out of nowhere. The name "Janus" might have been intended as a reference to Moment but that's pretty weak.

P.S. -- very disappointing, when I pasted the text over from my ODF file the strikethroughs showed in the WYSIWYG editor, but were stripped in the preview. Seems that format code isn't enabled. Bummer.

Arc #174368, "Embers of the Thorn"
tl;dr: 1 star. Offenses: incomplete, canon issues, seeming inconsistencies

Reviewed on: 8/7/2009
Level Range: 31-54/25-25/31-54/25-25/31-54
Architect's Keywords: Challenging, Custom Characters, Magic
My Keywords: Challenging, Magic
Character used: Venture/Virtue

I can't wait to see the reason for that level range.

"Amaterasu", a custom Contact (no bio), is calling for your help because a few years ago someone gave her a letter saying that when she was in need of help, she was to look for someone with your name and description. She's being stalked by some unusual members of the Circle of Thorns and can't handle them herself. She's got a lead on them from the PPD and wants you to follow up on it. You're sent to an Oranbega map with a mix of Circle and some custom "Thorn Initiates" and "Thorn Circle", the latter of which are altered versions of Ice and Earth Thorns. Amaterasu is inexplicably on the scene as a hostage ally, and between her bio and Clues only makes some vague statements about memory trouble. Her release triggers a glowie, and then another glowie after that. The first gives some information on a Circle mage named Larien who is looking for some special magical archive. The second is a crystal with swirling violet energies in it. The mission exit pop-up says you black out when you touch the crystal, which is also narrated by the debriefing.

The next act opens narrating you coming to in a dense forest. The mission takes place on one of the Croatoa faery-realm maps, which starts out mostly empty. The nav bar says you are to "find your allies". I found an "Earth Tribe Leader" (retasked Legacy Chain Tellus) guarded by "Flame Acolytes" (more Legacy Chain), all calling me "Elder Larien". The leader's bio narrates him brushing off my questions (which is already getting old) and saying that you have to seal a pact with "Archmage Galan" before the "Sun tribe" can interfere. Galan, an Agony Mage, spawns back near the entrance as another hostage and says you'll be given immortality for your efforts. This ends the mission and triggers an ambush. You "wake up" in the exit pop-up.

Amaterasu (somehow) concludes the archive Larien is seeking is actually the Midnighter's Club. You head over to find the place under attack by Larien's forces (AE arcs are rapidly making the Club into a punching bag). You're to free Amaterasu and find a book Larien is searching for, which purports to be about how the Midnighters' made their Aspect of the Pillar (which they didn't). There are also two Midnighters being held hostage, just because. Freeing Amaterasu triggers the spawn of Loralie, a Dark Melee/Dark Miasma Boss; defeating her spawns Larien himself, an Electric Melee (or maybe Assault)/NotSure Boss whose bio says he's trying to "control time". He taunts you during the fight, saying that his "shell" means nothing to him and he already has the information he wanted. The body does have another memory crystal, which the Clue narrates you as accessing....

You end up on another Croatoa map during a battle between the Sun Tribe and Larien's followers, traitors who have sided with the Circle. You only have to defeat the Sun Shaman, a Lieutenant, to end the mission. When you come to and describe what you saw to Amaterasu, she concludes she is a descendant of this Sun Tribe, even though she doesn't know much about her powers or history.

She concludes that Larien must be trying to go back in time to affect the outcome of that battle, perhaps (she thinks) to prevent any of the Sun Tribe from escaping. She needs you to stop him, feeling that you have a better chance since you've seen his memories. In the acceptance text you realize you already know where Larien will be hiding. You also get a bring-a-team warning (not highlighted). The last battle takes place in the Thorn Tree respec map which is overused and tedious. You have to destroy Larien's time portal (glowie), three Portal Generators (Shadow Cysts, neutered of course), free Amaterasu (I skipped her until the end) and defeat Larien, who not only is hiding in the huge room with dozens of obstructions but has Steamy Mist running to boot. Loralie spawns as well with no dialog, even though Larien says "she's already gone through" as you pummel him. You get a fragment of Larien's version of the Aspect of the Pillar as a souvenir. The debriefing says Larien's soul was contained (how?) and claims Loralie got away (I flattened her), undoubtedly through the portal, and MAGI might be able to figure out where/when she's gone from that fragment. It also says we should wait for part II to get any answers, maybe.

Somewhere in this is a good story trying to get out. Unfortunately it is buried under obfuscation and padding. The arc doesn't even begin to answer any of the questions it raised. Since it involves time travel and depends on future installments for resolutions it is impossible to know if seeming inconsistencies are actual problems or just pending matters. The arc is flat-out wrong about the Midnighters' Aspect of the Pillar, which they didn't create (it is implied it was given to them by Mysterious Letter Writer Guy). Since it is not even a complete work I don't see any way not to trash it. That's too bad; as I said it looks like there's something decent in there, somewhere.

Arc #17006, "End Game - Final Moves"
tl;dr: 2 stars. Offenses: "just a bunch of stuff that happened", severe balance issues

Reviewed on: 8/7/2009
Level Range: 40-54
Architect's Keywords: Challenging, Custom Characters, Complex Mechanics
My Keywords: Challenging, Sci-Fi
Character used: Venture/Virtue

"Minkia", a custom Contact whose bio says she's the ex-assistant of a supervillain, wants your help (and is either assuming the mission holder is male or is "flexible"...). Said supervillain, Robert Veil, is seeking revenge against his sister Susan at DATA, who happens to be Minkia's new employer. The first step is to stop his robots from trashing a Crey lab. The bots are a mix of customs, Praetorians and a free-standing Assault Bot as the raid leader. The bots were ransacking the place for air compressors and biohazard containers, which is definitely not a good sign.

Unfortunately, your oversexed Contact can't crack the encryption on the bot' memory chip. Her solution is to send you to an Arachnos base dedicated to monitoring Longbow transmissions. Once you install a virus for her she hopes to use their equipment to read the chip. There are several dummy computers that trigger ambushes, and one that works. When you access it you get a call from Minkia: she's detected a large force of Veil's bots heading for the base. It seems Susan followed her own leads to the same base (DATA needs Arachnos equipment to crack a code, and happened to pick the same communications hub?) and the bots are coming to kill her. You now have to find her (hostage, non-escort) and defeat an ambush of bots. Susan tells you Robert is going to use the stolen toxins to kill "the Vox'm clan", some of her friends. She thinks she can come up with an antidote if you pool resources with her.

Act III (typo in briefing: "use" for "used") opens with Minkia raiding Robert's computers for the toxins' current location, a warehouse in Kings Row. She's already had a friend create an anitdote. You're to go in and neutralize his stash. She warns you Robert's got a lot of bots protecting the place, including Calash MK-II, built to damage Calash's (author) reptuation. There are five canisters of toxin to neutralize, and the MK-II to defeat, a Super Strength/Fiery Aura Elite Boss.

Finally, you have to go after Robert himself to get at the remaining supply of the toxin. He's going to skedaddle in 60 minutes so that's the time limit on the next mission (typo: "our" for "out"). You're told that the MK-II never arrived at the Zig so it will probably be there too, and Calash (author insert) will be on the scene as well. He spawned right in front, making avoiding him difficult but I managed it. The MK-II grew Healing Flames (or had it and never used it last time), which along with ambushes containing Empathy mobs made fighting it about as enjoyable as kicking dead whales down the beach. The same goes for the fight against Dark Veil, a Robotics/Invulnerability Elite Boss, during which enough Fortitude was cast to thwart Elude. After downing him two "Escape Drones" spawn, Robotics/NotSure Bosses, which run at low health. Take them out, the end.

This was heading for three or four stars until the last act, which is evidently balanced predicated on the use of the author insert ally. My stand on arcs of this nature is that the player should opt out and allow the author's characters to play with themselves.

While I agree the Big Bad should present a satisfying fight, Instant Healing doesn't do that. IH means a soloist can go grab a cold one because for the next 90 seconds you're just not going to make a dent.

IIRC, the Uber-Dork was only an EB. I'd recommend losing IH and moving him up to AV status.

Actually I'm not sure what Uber-Dork's secondary was, because he folded like a busted flush. I was using a Fire/Shield Scrapper with some decent (but incomplete) set slotting so I was hitting fairly hard.

As long as it doesn't involve people who are still alive and doesn't push any obvious hot buttons (and everyone knows what they are, so don't be a schmuck and ask for a list ), I'd say go for it.

Arc #37636, "The Missing"
tl;dr: 3 stars. Offenses: obvious Expys, balance issues

Reviewed on: 8/6/2009
Level Range: 10-54
Architect's Keywords: Solo Friendly, Drama, Mystery
My Keywords: Drama, Mystery
Character used: Jaidal Singh Bennet/Virtue

Shadowrush, a custom Contact (no bio, author insert), needs your help investigating the disappearance of a Dr. Lorena Charlestin. He has two leads to follow and needs you to check one of them, a Family member called Bobby Red. Red is pulling a bank heist with a mix of Family and custom mobs, which were a bit disconcerting (mobsters with Hurl?) After his dirt nap, Red admits that he heard some freelancers talking about Charlestin and he was raiding the bank for papers in her safety deposit box, which turn out to be about cures for various diseases. Shadowrush's lead turns out to be a dead end.

On further interrogation, Red gives up a possible location for Dr. Charlesin: a Council warehouse. The warehouse (using the map used in the ELITE mission) has some Council and Family in it, the latter worrying about "that thing they made us". A computer gives up some files on Warwolf creation, mentions a "Mr. White Shades" and a "cure" for the process. Which might be handy, since it seems Charlestin isn't quite herself any more...she's a Claws/Invulnerability Boss with a werewolf model. Shadowrush is very distraught when you bring her in.

It turns out whatever process was used on her didn't work completely and it's slowly killing her. Shadowrush comes clean and admits that Charlestin was one of his childhood mentors and practically a mother to him. So, he's going with you to take down this Mr. White Shades (one of his enemies) and hopefully find the cure that was mentioned earlier. White Shades turns out to be an Electric Melee/NotSure Elite Boss, and, of course, there is no cure. He planted the file to lure Shadowrush in. Charlestin dies when you get back, but Shadowrush heeds her last words and renews his commitment to fight for justice instead of taking revenge.

This was a hard one to rate. While it has a theme and it's fairly well-written, it's also blatantly lifted from the Batman mythos. Shadowrush and Charlestin are obvious Expys of Batman and Leslie Thompkins. There are some balance issues as well. The faux Family are a bit over the top and are really unnecessary -- the arc should simply have its level range set to 20-29 and just use the standard mobs. The author-insert ally rubbed me the wrong way too. In the end I decided I couldn't give it more than 3 stars in good conscience. The arc could improve greatly with some extra work.

Arc #55715, "Freaks and Geeks"
tl;dr: 5 stars. Nits: minor plot issues, typos

Reviewed on: 8/6/2009
Level Range: 30-54
Architect's Keywords: Custom Characters, Canon Related, Drama
My Keywords: Canon Related, Origin Story, Comedy
Character used: Ghostblaze/Infinity

Dr. Ira McSwiggins has put out a call for help: he received a text from one of his students, Luther Ruzicka, saying the Paragon University chapter of Novices Entering Research Disciplines (groan) is under attack. He needs a hero to rescue them immediately. As soon as you enter University Hall you can hear the buzzing of Freakshow. There are three NERDs to rescue, none of them escorts...and Luther's body to recover. His body is discolored and covered in needle marks.

Unfortunately, the Freaks are still on the move. They've also attacked an artificial-intelligence conference in Founders', making off with two scientists including Ira's friend Dr. Sydney Hu. You're off to the rescue. You also get the autopsy results on Luther, which seems awfully fast given the narrative. It seems that Luther's body was permeated with some kind of cybernetic fiber. Ira thinks the Freaks weren't trying to kill him but rather tried to transform him in some way that didn't work. The acceptance speech includes a get-a-team warning. You have to rescue the two scientists (one an escort) on the Mother Mayhem hospital map (please, give us another hospital map so people will stop using this one....) There are no Freaks here, though...the enemies are Crey, along with some "Crey Gen-X" customs. "The Orderly", a Super Strength/NotSure Elite Boss, gives up some written orders on his defeat saying these guys were hired by the Freaks (which is a turn-around) to produce "super-geeks" using "brilliant but nerdy" humans treated with Freakshow booster drugs and an experimental Crey cyber-fiber. Dr. Hu has already been subjecting to the process and was sporting a Willpower toggle during her rescue....

Time for the Fight Scene: the orders you found include directions to the Big Bad, the "Ub3r-d0rk". Ira tells you he's built a "Geek-Freak Transformer" that can mass-produce cyber-nerds, though this seems like an awful lot of information packed into one scribbled set of orders, but moving on.... You have to destroy the Transformer and take down the Ub3r-d0rk, and you'll have Sydney Hu's help on the job as she's gained superhuman powers. There are three components of the machine to destroy, the Illudium Q-36 Mitochondilizer (spelled "Mitochondrilizer" in the nav bar and completion message), the Automated Re-Encryptor and Cyber-Fiber Inscriber (unassembled, should be "disassembled" or "assembly required"). Destroying these triggers an ambush and a new objective to defeat the Ub3r-d0rk, a guy who got beaten up by Drek after an ill-prepared attempt on his part to take over the Freaks. His new obsession is to produce an army of super-geeks to prove the nerds can be effective Freaks. Dr. Hu was available as an ally hostage but I skipped her until after taking out the Ub3r-d0rk, a Psychic Blast/NotSure Elite Boss. Ira thanks you for saving the city's nerds from transformation and plans to ask Sydney out to dinner...strictly professional, of course....

The arc has a "revenge of the nerds" theme and backs it up with some (IMO) fairly effective comedy (which I felt overshadowed the dramatic elements, thus the tag). The game balance is good, probably a bit on the light side for builds with lots of IOs like the one I used (I pretty much steamrollered the two EBs). This is a fun arc, recommended.

Arc #1036, "The Mage with the Golden Wand"
tl;dr: 3 stars. Offenses: "just a bunch of stuff that happened", too terse, borderline Random Events Plot

Reviewed on: 8/6/2009
Level Range: 30-54
Architect's Keywords: Solo Friendly, Canon Related, Mystery
My Keywords: Easy, Solo Friendly, Magic
Character used: Ghostblaze/Infinity

Agent Six needs a hero to check out the lab of Dr. Noah, as the silent alarm has been tripped and no one is responding to calls. When you arrive the place is full of Freakshow who seem to be in a daze...more than usual, that is. Dr. Noah is a hostage escort, and on rescue doesn't seem to know what's going on either. Her rescue also triggers a spawn of patrolling Jaegers. Six agrees that this is very unusual (you think?) and goes off to look into it.

Her investigation shows phone calls from Noah's lab to a known Nemesis front right after the alarm went off, so that's your next target. The "Station Chief" (a Fake) doesn't know why you're there, which doesn't stop him from trying to pummel you of course. There are a number of glowies to search, one of which yields detailed activity logs for the past year. Six takes them for analysis on your return.

It turns out that one of the research aides at the lab called his brother for help -- his brother being a Nemesis agent. So that was a dead end. However, Six informs you a psychic managed to recover some of Dr. Noah's memories. She remembered seeing Pharason, a Circle of Thorns mage, ordering the Freaks around. There was a senator from an oversight committee scheduled to visit that day and the feds think he was the target. You're sent off to Pharason's hideout, a warehouse, but he's not there. You beat up another mage named Faculus, who says "You're too late! Pharason is already..." when defeated. He also triggers a fairly sizeable ambush while dying but you can probably click out before they reach you. You recover a parchment with some arcane writing on it.

While Six checks that out, you're sent to guard that senator's motorcade on its way back to the airport. When you arrive at the rendezvous point, though, the motorcade has been attacked by Freaks. This takes place on the villain cape mission map, not the Skyway highway map as expected, but that's neither here nor there. The senator is a hostage escort; rescuing him triggers an ambush of Circle exclaiming that they have to get the senator to Pharason when you get him to the exit but that ends the mission so you can just click out.

Finally, Six manages to decrypt that parchment you found, and learns that it's instructions for Faculus as to where to bring the senator...Pharason's new hideout. It's an abandoned office full of Circle. Pharason is a standard Death Mage who runs when he gets low on health. I was able to chase him down but he's set to Entire Encounter so I had to run back and finish off his guards. It turns out his plan was fairly straightforward: he charmed the Freaks and was going to take over the senator. The end.

The gameplay is decent, but the writing needs a lot of work. There is no theme, the clues are very terse and the plot borders on a Random Events Plot. The Bond references are cute but don't really add much.

Arc #207827, "The Maltese Bird of Prey"
tl;dr: 1 star. Offenses: overpowered mobs, pastiche too obvious

Reviewed on: 8/5/2009
Level Range: 1-54
Architect's Keywords: Custom Characters, Non-Canon Story, Mystery
My Keywords: Non-Canon Story
Character used: Jaidal Singh Bennet/Virtue, Phil Noir/Virtue

While the level range is consistent, it's very dubious that any custom faction actually covers the entire 1-54 range in a balanced fashion. I decided to use one of my lowbies for this reason, a level 15 Dual Blades/Fiery Aura Scrapper, even though the obvious choice was .Phil Noir/Virtue

"Sam Diamond" (ouch) is offering you a chance to get some practical experience towards a PI license. His partner Arch took a case from a woman named Wunderly to look into a guy named Thursty who's seeing her sister...ah, you've heard this one before. The first mission takes place on an instanced city map. The enemies are a custom "The Bad Guys" faction, all with white skin and black and white costumes. I imagine this is supposed to make them look like black and white movie characters, but the effect is to make them look like an army of vampire LARPers. It should go without saying that my character was horribly murdered on the first spawn. The mobs appear to be set to Hard difficulty at least, and one of the Minions models has Kinetics powers that really don't fit the motif. After three deaths trying to clear one spawn point, I felt the point was made and switched to Phil, who only died twice clearing the map. It turns out you only have to find one glowie, which triggers another, which I almost gave up looking for.

Your next task is to grill Joey Morocco...no, I'm not even going to try to outline the plot unless it suddenly deviates from the original. You get Bridget as an Ally, Super Strength/Willpower, but she snuffed it fairly early in the fight with Morocco, also a Super Strength with Rage.

Next is the meeting with the Fat Man. You have to take out "Wilma" (a guy) to trigger his spawn. Defeating the Fat Man (Super Strength/Regen, I think, also with Rage, dropped me in seconds through Instant Healing, then killed me again when I Revived, hit Moment of Glory and used Dull Pain...) triggers the spawn of Sam as an unconscious hostage. Rescuing him triggers a glowie you have to backtrack for.

Moving along, you are to head to the La Paloma to talk to the captain in a 30 minute timed mission. This one does have a small twist as there are some 5th Column mobs fighting the Bad Guys for the bird. You have to find the glowie (ambush) and rescue the hostage captain.

Finally you get to the meeting at Sam's apartment. You have to take out all of the principles again, each one triggering the spawn of the next, except for Bridget whom you only have to escort out (no ambush). The end.

This is a poorly-written copy of a classic novel implemented with boring, unfun custom mobs. Skip it.