Zhym

Just ran through this. Nicely done, as usual, although my shaky knowledge of the lore is starting to come through. Also, I think this (again?) illustrates how hard it is to do Praetorian lore arcs, because there are so many different directions that Praetorian lore can have gone depending on the character choices. For example: A couple of typos I caught: Mission 1: Cleo's descriprion text: last word is "Maruder," not "Marauder." Mission 4 post-text: "Defenceless" s/b "Defenseless." Finally: I don't know why I expected this to be a finale, but it definitely wasn't!

The tragic failure of ASF is that it's a lore-heavy story arc pretending to be a SF. People do SFs and FTs as speed runs. We know this. There's no such thing as a "stop and look at all the Easter eggs" SF run. And yet ASF is full of Easter eggs and story you can only see if you slow down and pay attention to it. As a story arc, it would be incredible. You could take your time, read all the dialog (I mean, Becky alone is worth the time), do a mission here and there in short bursts instead of having to do it all at once, and really be able to appreciate all the lore and story. Heck, if ASF were an AE arc it would be one of my favorites. But for some reason, it got implemented as a SF. Which is a damned shame, because the SF speed runners don't care about the story aspects and the people who want to enjoy the story generally can't run it solo. My theory about why this ended up a SF is that it got caught up in trying to be two things: (1) a great lore-focused story and (2) one of the standard bearers for the new "hard mode" and the associated new currency (the prismatic aether particles). IMO, the latter took over the former—and in many ways, ruined it. I still want an "easy mode" version of ASF (maybe as a Flashback mission?) that can be done solo. Because the story is so good, there really ought to be a way for mere mortals (well, superhero mortals) to experience the whole story. (I'd apologize for resurrecting an old thread, but @Snarky has already said he doesn't mind necromancy.)

The Ultima Underworld games allowed this. You could write anything you wanted on your game map. That game was way ahead of its time.

I've sort of been wondering how much of the recent quietness on Homecoming has been due to TotK. Glad to hear you'll be back to COH more soon, though.

I’d noticed that there seem to be a lot fewer incarnate trials going on these days. Oh, sure, you can still find a BAF most nights, but MoM? Keyes? Underground? Good luck with that. Even @Oklahoman’s Lambda and Magisterium badge runs don’t seem to be happening as regularly (or else I’m just logging in at the wrong times). Also, if people think it’s weird that this thread was resurrected ten months after it was posted, just imagine how I feel, having started the thread. “Wait, that’s my post? What the heck are people still doing discussing it?”

I've updated the "TV Guide" post to use the new numbering. That means it may not match @TerroirNoir's original posts, but I figure it makes more sense to follow the AE series numbering.

Oh, sure, try to deny it. But I've seen how many clones and duplicates you've put in your AE plots. ;)

Yay! We finally got that hot Engineria-on-Engineria action we've been waiting for! ...I mean the battle, people. Jeez. Where are your minds? Anyway—that did rather add something to the playthrough, I think. Also, that's Corporal Zhym to you. :)

That does remind me of something, actually. While I find the location tips in the objective text really helpful (especially the one about an objective being on an upper floor), I was a bit confused in this map because I wasn't sure whether "back" meant the back of the office building or down the tunnels.

Once again, it's a shame people can't make custom maps for AE. A classic bank map with a tunnel dug underneath it—and with more room for objective and glowies—would be perfect. But I can also see how that could balloon the size of the client if every AE author were able to make their own maps. And that's even assuming that the AE authors could also build the pathing into their maps, and that farmers couldn't exploit it, and...yeah, it's just better to pretend an office building is a bank.

"Private banking." They don't serve retail customers, so it doesn't look like a regular bank. Just a thought. ETA: Actually, there's a fancy office building with a big atrium at the entrance that might work nicely for that. Either you or @Darmian have used it as a "law office." Maybe it's Praetorian? ETA2: Of course, the problem with private banking is that they wouldn't have any cash on site, which would make a "bank robbery" difficult unless you brought a team of hackers with you.

Huh. I guess my calibration of large vs. small depends on whether I'm expected to defeat everyone on the map. :) Or maybe "small" on the office map means "only two floors." Anyway, just as an FYI, I think mission 2 is the one where I had to spend a fair amount of time doubling back and track down the stragglers. But if it's a small map per AE, it's a small map. BTW, does AE not have the bank map available? I was a little surprised to find myself in an office when the mission text sets it up as a bank robbery.

It is two missions. And both maps seemed pretty big to me, though I don't know how they are classified in AE. The first was the worst of the two for me—I had to go back and track down the stragglers. I can't remember if that was the office or the warehouse map, but the warehouse map in particular has that intersection room with two levels, plus stairs everywhere, and lots of handy corners to hide in. I think I could have tolerated one defeat-all, but when the second came around my reaction was, "What, again??" And from my recollection, the defeat-all isn't quite as justified from a story or mechanics perspective the second time, since there are other objectives that work just as well. My general design tip would be that if even when a defeat-all is justified by the story, use a small map. Defeat-alls on large (or "AE Medium") maps run the risk of getting tedious, IMO. Or maybe it was just that I started the arc around 11:30 last night, thinking I'd run it quickly before bed. :)

Just finished this one. A great start to what looks to be another intriguing arc (or is it a continuation of a previous arc?). My only complaint (maybe you can sense this coming) is the defeat-all missions. Both of them are on really large maps where it's easy for stray mobs to find out-of-the-way places to hide.

I played this last night and—well, that was certainly different. I still can't figure out if I actually enjoyed it or not, but I get that with a lot of experimental art (including games), enjoyment isn't necessarily the point. But kudos on doing something that proves it's possible to write an innovative arc that's not just about defeating the boss or clicking the glowy, while still working under the strictures of a system that only allows you to use things like defeating the boss or clicking the glowy as mission objectives. In fact, I almost wonder—and someone have an AED ready for @cranebump when I say this—if a timed mission might actually work in this concept. The idea wouldn't be that you're trying to beat the clock, but that the clock is the point. For example, maybe the movement is a 15 minute movement, and the goal isn't to click anything or defeat anyone, but just exist inside the mission for 15 minutes. There would have to be some other goal, because AE works that way, but it could be entirely optional (for example, if you really want out before 15 minutes, you can just defeat everyone in the map). I can't believe I just recommended a timed defeat-all mission. That's how unusual this arc is. BTW, I did notice one typo. The contact description text ends with, "The Paragon Symphony Orchestra a"—was there supposed to be more there?

Another great set of missions. Some thoughts:

I just finished Part One, BTW. Excellent arc, and I'll be doing Part Two soon. A few quick notes: Oh, and checking the description of the arc, I think, "In the aftermath of a failure to detonate a neutron device in the Magisterium," had me thinking that this was a follow-on from the choice to defuse the bomb. And it lists morality as "Neutral"—I don't know if that can be changed to "Crusader."

Maybe you did and I just missed it. Maybe a note that this follows on from Wardog's Praetorian arc and assumes that the bomb was detonated? I mean, yeah, that kind of follows from the "after the detonation" text, but maybe just make it clearer that this assumes a particular result from that arc? I do wonder if there would be a way to make this work with either option, though. Like instead of talking about the detonation, something vague like, "When the neutron bomb plan went sideways," and then imply that there was a traitor other than the PC. There's no way it could possibly work with the same PC who did the Wardog arc and chose not to detonate the bomb, but at least it would make sense with a different character. Or maybe I'm overthinking it. :)

Yeah, I get that. It might make sense to label this as a Crusader arc, though. I've run Resistance characters through the Praetorian content, and every one, when it gets to the neutron bomb plot, is like, "Mass murder to make a point? Nah, brah, I'm not down with that."

I've just started this, and I gotta say that as someone who always chose to defuse the bomb in the mission this follows, the opening is a little discordant with its talk about the bomb going off and killing some PPD. In my version of events, I disarmed the bomb on live TV, winning the adulation of millions. Not that that's why I did it. Nope. Just a public servant doing his job, that was me... Anyway. I know it's a limitation of AE—you can't have separate intros based on what the character has done. Still, maybe there's a way to make the intro a bit more ambiguous about what happened? Although I guess the timeline where I defused the bomb doesn't leave a lot of room for wondering who the traitor was. :)

Ooh, what was the Kansas quote? Also, kudos on an amazingly detailed set of feedback. I am in awe.