cranebump

I think you can’t really take every speck of what Kyksie says 100% seriously (though If he says there’s time wasters, there likely are). He’ll point out the basic stuff (like missing custom critter descriptions, a lack of basic proofing, for example) that indicates a lack of basic, um, professionalism, for lack of a better term. But it sorta reads to me as part review, part entertaining banter. This is definitely evident in the review’s last paragraph, where there’s the legitimate criticism of using AE as a vanity exercise, juxtaposed with the snarky end comment about Hot Pockets. It’s fairly clear that was meant to be funny. Not sure I’d find it so if I were the author, but I do think that, if I publish something, I have to be ready to be skewered. Because rarely does anyone create something that everyone likes. P.S. I appreciate the mention, above. I didn’t think anyone actually read my little reviews. If they’re helpful, I’ll try to do more of them.

Sorry about that purple text. I was certain I had changed it to yellow, after Darmian ran it and commented on the same thing. I’ll have to check it again. Thanks for running it, and the feedback.

TWEAKS: Fixed several typos (found by @Darmian. Changed text color on Dross's Clue (yeah, that purple was a bad idea). Some minor verbiage about how one gets to Night Ward (as in, "I've no idea how he got there...").

AGH! Must I say it again, Darm? (D*************************************!):-)

I...think so. It’s the one where Vetrano appears in cut scene, and you have Desdemona escort. Pendragon is on it. This was on a L50 team in Night Ward.

Damn, Sinclair, wouldja just DIE, already?

[SFMA] DATA calls on you to lend a hand with a current conundrum. As always, though, there's more on the horizon than initially appears. Can you bring yet another sinister plot crashing to earth? Or will your unseen foe achieve their sky-high aspirations? TESTING NOTES: *Tested with incarnate levelled down, then switched to a pretty squishy L32 blaster (Psi/Rad). He handled it fine, save for being KD'ed a lot, because he's a defenseless putz. *First map spawn chain usually keeps forward momentum - except for the last run I did, which put 3rd hostage behind the previous 2. I'm hoping this was an outlier. *On the fence about Finale DIFF. Story-wise, works, but some timing and placement issues can make it a bear, or an anti-climax. Made some adjustments, but jury's still out for me. Thanks in advance, Crane

Damnit! I forgot the freakin' catboys! My extreme competence bit me in the ass again!:-) (thanks for the writeup).

Of course I messed up the arc name and the ID but @Take One fixed it so you’re good 🙂

What if Dream Doctor died turning back the Rikti? End game sure looks different.

Okay, here's my run-through. I went with: KR Devil, an exemplared Incanate AR/TA. Why? I don't trust you, man.:-) M1 GREAT costume on contact. I’d title the missions, but that’s a style thing more than anything else. I feel like it’s another opportunity to add thematic components or easter eggs. And sometimes it’s fun to figure out if there are certain references involved (pop culture, Shakespeare, etc.) Feel like we need a period before “she has this magic doll.” Use of highlighting is interesting, but not sure we need as many things highlighted as you have. Typically, a highlight for the main mish objective (to accentuate the main objective). But, we’ll see what happens inside. Maybe it’s foreshadowing or something? Style, but maybe carriage return before “See you there!” Also I’d put “here’s the address” on the same line as Awesome! Miss Loud dewc: should be “but, often,” instead of “but often.” Great use of the escort. Excellent dialogue all the way around (NPCs, perps). Broom...hehehehe. Now THAT’s a neat trick.:-) Strong use of patrols. Fyrestorm down! SUMMARY: I could’ve done without the glowie chain. Looks like it was mainly to spawn an ambush. If so, maybe unlock the extra glowies by making them non-required. Then, when i seek out the doll, I might get it right, or I might trigger an ambush. Otherwise, I’m just running around for no reason. This is still a very good mission, and excellent use of the Hellions/customs. NOTE: Feels like the Nav Obj should be “Keep the kids out of trouble” or something. It IS a search and rescue, but feel like that could be a mish title instead. Not a “have to,” by any means. M2 Entry text: go there, like, right now. (comma needed) Contact text is character-rich. Nice job. Not sure why ??? is a mission goal? (the wolf, yes?) The NPCs are great! Ice cream vendor, etc. Nice touches. FYI: I HATE maps like these, but it worked well because it wasn’t overly cluttered. Wish it was **slightly** smaller, but the kids were easy to spot due to consistency of baddies. Felt weird spraying them with fire, though. (I'm a jackass...)😕 M3 Send off text: hehehehe...My toon is the King’s Row Devil and he’s telling me how to get around KR.:-) If it’s THIS crate, I can’t access it...yet… There we go. Second room. Only downside to window dressing - wondering if I'm gonna have to click ALL this stuff at some point. Rats in the sewer. Now, why didn’t I ever think of that?:-) (like, seriously) Lots of interesting window dressing (objects). M4 I’m working the Goonies…(sigh) 🙂 EXCELLENT multi-spawns of Skulhead. And self-deprecating reference “yeah, whatever beat this guy so we can move on” is a great touch! Ha. Niiice…. By this time, I’m like “Where are all the freakin’ adults?” Feels like I’ve been dropped into Stranger Things. Window dressing is one of the best things about the arc. That’s a lot of work just to create ambiance. Bravo. I am sooooo not a kid, kemosabe… Must assuredly… No, I got this. Y’all just...stand there…:-/ (and bullets MATTER, chick with the British boarding house mistress name!) Annnnnd...DONE! Good stuff: *The object window dressing is excellent. *Use of NPCs is superior (esp. “window dressing” (civilians in outdoor map [who are ignoring the kids being bullied]; “Guard duty”).:-/ *Dialogue is excellent. *A unique arc, due to the kid-centric focus. *It doesn’t take itself too seriously.:-) *It’s clean and fairly quick. Tweaks: *The glowie chain on M1. No reason to go to the trash can, the desk, the lockers, etc. Surprised Kyksie didn’t mention this, because it feels like one of those “time wasters.” I **think** I know the reason (ambush spawn?). But I’d do that the way I suggested, above. *A few minor grammatical things (commas) *What's up with the wolf? Never was mentioned again. Or did I miss that? (First rule of Poetics - everything should be attached to the plot in some way-but I digress...as you did there....):-) [I'm sure I just missed something). *I felt funny spraying down bullies with fire. Kinda wish the Hellions were messing with them instead (which would fit the whole “doll is magical and they want it” throughline). *I feel highlighting is overused. I don’t think “me and my sister” needs to be in green. Names are fine. Highlighting the major objective is fine. The rest, I’m not sure the need is there. It doesn’t hurt anything, however. *Just a personal preference: I like the individual mishes to be titled, but, again, personal preference. It’s fine the way it is. Verdict: It’s damn near a 5-star arc. Most of my suggestions are simply cosmetic. Better than probably the first 10 things I attempted. And you got a BEST EVER! from Kyks, so file that away (for the dark times....when you're scripting and the damned. thing. just. won't. work.):-) Well done! Keep it up! Crane

Some merits out there. For example, Willy Starbuck is 23. I only know that because I’ve been running a character primarily focused on pool powers and have been soloing old contacts. They do have a lot of Hunt mishes, but they don’t take too long, unless I happen to be slightly under leveled. If that’s the case, I grind up or do radios. Pick up explore tips and so on.

Appreciated, thanks. I agree on the comment about the judge. I’m also not sure what I did right, but I’m not going to belabor that at the moment. Thanks again, and looking forward to the next one!

TWEAKS & CHANGES: *Reduced number of rescues in M2 to 1 required and 3 optional. Reduced glowies from 2 to 1 by truncating the 2 clues. I still hate that map. What I'd really like is a small corner of the forest. But I need to learn how to use outdoor maps better, and it fits the arc, so...whaddaya gonna do?:-) *Gave some of the Lt's names. *Still need to check: Spawns in M3. Sometimes they're dead on. Other times, they're wonky, and cause backtracking.

Got inspired by Iago's speech in Othello: "Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners." Then it sorta went from there. TEST NOTES: *Initial run throughs=L15 "Power Pool" character. Had issues with some of the customs and the boss. Nerfed them all before proceeding. *2 runs with my exemplared L50 Incarnate Blaster. Last mish was tough, but that was because I had tagged ally reinforcements as "Enemy." Derrrrrr..... Fixed and ran again. No issues. *Final run with a L27 Rad Melee/Nrgy Shield Tank. Only issues occurred when I decided to grab several groups of customs. Btw: Was GREAT fun after clearing the final boss to lead the leftover mobs right into my allies. Ahhhhhh....die, you gravy sucking pigs! *Lore wise, this uses Pavel Garnier, 6 months after his Vahzilok plague arc (and presumably after Pos TF has taken out Doc Vahz, leaving a power vacuum). *Had to make a pair of mishes 14-20, rather than 15, because, even though Hellions and Skulls WILL spawn at higher than 14, the default list has them at 14. The engine simply wouldn't let me play the mish until I dropped it down to 14 (even as it had missions saying, "This is allowed for publish."). I look forward to your feedback (yes, Kyksie, I am levelling you down again, like the douche I am).:-) Crane

Right under the wire, @NyxiaSnow:-)

I played it and reviewed it in My Josh Jones stuff.

The whole "take a bite, the decide," statement doesn't hold water. You can put a rating on arc without even entering the mission. Just load it, abandon it, rate it. So you can "decide" without even sampling it, which is very (VERYVERYVERY) likely what the revenge rater did. Based on the evidence offered (the offender's own words), It's also pretty much beyond "possible" that the revenge rater is being a colossal jerk. Not sure why you're defending them, unless you happen to know who they are, and/or you know something the rest of us don't.

Kennedy for me. Got me there.:-)

While running Frostfire last night with a group of 3 , including 2 new players (who prefer villains), one of them says, “Let’s slit their throats!” Reply: “We’re heroes, gentlemen. Let’s arrest their throats.” That was pretty fun. Later, villain side, while one of us isn running around doing Dr. Graves’s road trip around Mercy, 2 of us fart around with emotes and have a little dance party in front of the quartermaster. Random player lands next to us, dances for 16 seconds, then zooms away without a word. That was fun. So...sh*t like that.:-)

Two birthdays from 60. 60! What the hell? Who is this guy in the mirror? Is that...my dad? Or my grandfather?

(Sheepish voice) I enjoyed fighting the guards...:-)

This isn’t a solution to the problem, but, in general, working with AE is often best approached using the “path of water.” Which basically means it is often better (or at least just simpler) to work with what AE gives you, rather than try to force it to do what it cannot easily do. Crafting a decent mission using the basic tools can be challenging enough. I often find myself adjusting my own goals and ideas to what I’m given, rather than the other way ‘round. It’s sorta like you’re making a movie, and you want to do ‘X,’ but you only have the budget for ‘Y.’ So, long story short: how can you accomplish the same or similar objective you’re seeking, above, given your “budget?” Do you have to have mid-mission dialogue? Or can this be something you can accomplish using clues, or your arc contact? What will your “budget” allow?

Man, do I hate DST. I just can’t get my wife to believe how detrimental it is. Lucky for her, I finally just kept my bitching to myself.

Give everyone enough to pay off their car loans and see what happens. I sold some land I inherited several months ago. We paid off both cars and a credit card bill we’d had since moving (again - a move we didn’t get to prepare for). No loans out, you can actually build some wealth and, you know, buy stuff for the grandkids. in any case, my advice about giving someone something. If you're going to monitor how it’s used, don’t bother giving it away in the first place. Worst thing is someone who lends someone a hand, then holds it over them the rest of their lives. It’s a gift, not a small business loan.