The return of "Ghost in the Machine"

[Thyristor]

Back on live there were arcs on AE by "Ivan Turgenev" that made the Devices choice list.

Ghost in the Machine parts 1 and 2. These told the story of Dani Mizel aka 'Sunglare'.

I enjoyed these arcs a great deal when the game was live and searched for them when I returned to Paragon last year.

Obviously I was disappointed but not surprised that the story arcs hadn't been transferred and assumed that they had been lost forever.

 

So I was watching a twitch stream this Sunday (Shout out to @greblaja) when 'Turgenev' popped in for a chat, curious about how people are playing (and streaming COH) 10 years after shutdown. I mentioned the old AE arcs but didn't assume this was the same person (more than one fan of a 19th century Russian writer may exist).

Turns out that they were the original author of the arcs and even better, they had saved the data on a thumb drive. They play and stream Elder Scrolls Online these days but this morning I got a link to 3 .storyarc files.

They don't work straight off the bat unfortunately but I've been going over the errors of the first story and have got to the point where I can start testing. Sadly the late shift beckons but once I get these arcs playable I'll publish them. I've created a fresh account @Turgfiction (with 'Ivan's' permission) and a level 1 Peacebringer is waiting at the Pocket D AE facility ready to upload it.

It may take some time for me to test and publish them all but I've posted this here to motivate me into doing it.

 

 

 

 

[Thyristor]

Follow Turgenev here 👇

T U R G E N E V _ Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch _ Linktree

[Thyristor]

Act 1 of The Ghost in the Machine by @Turgfiction has been edited and published.

 

Arc #51630

 

If you do try it, please read the clues, lots of good stuff there. 😁

 

and of course rate it - any number of stars as long as they number 5 👍

Edited September 7, 2022 by Thyristor

[Ankylosaur]

This was really fun! Thanks for resurrecting it.

Some very clever ideas, clever use of formatting, maps, clues and custom mobs and the main person you interact with has loads of personality.

 

Some things that I would do differently, but that's just to my taste.

 

Personally, I'd avoid

• Having missions at different levels without specifically justifying it in the text somehow. (and seems easy to do in this case) When a character is suddenly hampered for no good reason - it feels off.
• Defeat Alls. The maps are pretty small though so its not really that bad here. But in general if a player has a big conclusion and boss fight and then has to go back and pick off stragglers they missed - well - it breaks the flow and pacing a bit for me.
• so many ambushes - when they happen so often they become expected and lose the escalation aspect of it. 

Again - and all those are trivial things really and I suspect you don't want to fiddle with someone else's work.

 

You know - if there were a different "ghost" and the enemy was Crey, this could be Number Sixes' back story! 🙂

[Thyristor]

Thanks for the feedback 👍

As you pointed out the protagonist if at a high enough level is somewhat hampered in the first two missions because one of the stand groups in those missions only go as high as level 33. There is another group that could be worked in as replacements that have a higher level cap but as you pointed out I didn't want to fiddle to much.

The defeat all I tend to agree with you but as for the ambushes, I was ok with them as they could be interpreted as attempts by the 'Machine' to protect the MacGuffin.

 

I do believe I have seen a similarly themed arc in search, I'll definitely try that one out 😀.

[Ankylosaur]

 

 

It's a very different story, but my My Ghost in the Machine arc was the genesis idea of my All That Glitters series - and for a brief moment, The Ghost in the Machine was the finale - but it really was not up to the task of that. That series has iterated a lot as the Gold Brickers evolved, etc. But this arc is a pretty simple and fun run at some AE exploration.

 

One more for you related to AE: "The Doctor Returns" by @Take One

Edited September 13, 2022 by Ankylosaur

[Ankylosaur]

Enjoyed Part II also. Eager for Part III to help out my new dancing/clubbing friend!

Edited September 14, 2022 by Ankylosaur