cranebump

Never Say Tomorrow Again by @Nanoman (ID: 2270) It’s not Bond-tober yet (sigh). BUT -- you can get a jump on it in this L34-ish (and tragically underplayed) 2019 comedic arc, in which Mendor Silos sends you back in time to the Swingin’ 60s to repair a 12-hour time fracture. After being warned to “stay on the path” (er, that is, “stay in the warehouse”), we head out to face off against a gillion security guards (oops….I’m still running on fire farm settings). Looks like someone’s killed Bowen. Jim Bowen. With a futuristic energy weapon. AND they've got some sort of super-weapon! And a time-machine that looks like a (nope...not spoilering)! They must be stopped! Shaken! Not stirred! (…er, and so forth). This was fun. Lots of humorous 007 references. Well-crafted mechanically. Does include a timed mish (albeit on a VERY small map), and a “find & destroy” (on a very big map). There’s some level bouncing from mish-to-mish, due to range caps on the reskinned bad guys. Pretty tough end boss for the level range, but not unduly tough (still, they pack a punch, if you’re a squishy). As a CoH player, I really enjoyed it. As a Bond fan, I LOVED it. Nicely done. A crisply-pressed, dinner-jacketed seal of approval!

The chain, above, with each collection linked to others. If you make the objective NaV text the same on each it will appear as if it’s part of a package/series (something like “Look for clues”) . You can also indicate where, if the locations consistent (“Look for clues (first floor)” etc) That said, I think you’re better off dividing the clue into 3 parts. The player is then not opening a box for nothing.

I have a more or less full day of nuttin' comin' up this Saturday, so I will try to get a few more reviews in. Especially seeing as how we have so many more active authors showing off their wares. I'll be a bit rusty. But then rushing in with your blaster and dying is, I hear, like falling off a horse, so...I feel confident it'll all come back to me.:-)

Just thinking that @TerroirNoir2's assertion, I know what I mean, encapsulates my entire life mantra.:-) (I love reading these writeups. TN is always dropping in these humorous pearls, one after another.)

Echoing @Police Woman and @Frozen Burn. Beginning. Middle End. That pretty much says what I subscribe to (and turned into convoluted lecture series, above).:-)

I consider mishes in SFMAs to be parts of a greater story, analogous to, say, movie script structure. So you have intro to/of a problem (intro mish) investigation/complication/some sort of twist (middle mishes), finale (tying up the arc (setting up segue into next arc, if the story is multi-arc). With multiple arcs telling a larger story, the structure is the same, but spread out over more missions (middle arcs working like middle mishes, structurally, for example). I haven’t done a collection of, say, radio mishes, but each mish could follow the same structure, in microcosm. Such a structure is maintained, even if you put things in different order (like starting at the end in M1, then telling the rest in flashback). Pulp Fiction is an example of telling a structured story, then chopping it up and presenting it in non-linear fashion (which made the movie gimmicky to me—you tell it in order, it’s pretty simple). However the plot’s presented, it just needs to be easy to connect, and, to me, follow Todorov’s model of status quo-disruption (rinse, repeat, till status quo has been reestablished or a new status quo has emerged). However anyone does it, you just need a solid basic plot, and characters to care about. All other considerations are secondary.

Multiple singularities. (Actually happened when a team ran a mish of mine that was fine solo, but spawned additional bosses with the power. BOY-YOINGYOIING)

Captain Castillo. He told me so himself. (MANY times):-)

D'oh...the request says "play as intended." That makes it hard. Most people intend to not die (my playstyle to the contrary).:-) Hmmm...I probably agree with the Emp DEF as being poor/slow to solo. Of course, if you really want to go "as intended," then it's such things as not seeding the character with any Inf, using drops, etc. The default style, in and of itself, makes things inherently tougher. Then you stack the more challenging AT/Powersets on top of that, you got yourself some nice, slow pain. Speaking of powersets: Beast/Rad is really that bad? Man, I thought Rad anything was pretty good, thanks to debuffs.

Would any petless MM fit the bill here?

Welcome back! And as far as finishing stuff, not to worry from my part—I have nothing in production. (Though I evidently have the usual errors).:-)

Whatever you do, the character must be a Bad, Bad Boy.

I want a Troller who’s a Charismamancer. I just fly by and the mobs swoon and fall over. The XP (and your hearts) are MINE!

Any 7 people, and me to be Venge bait.

But how will you emulate “pop the muscle band!” (Oh, yeah—crane knows Big Jim):-)