Caretaker's Plot Discussion Tunnel to Oblivion

[twozerofoxtrot]

8 hours ago, The Caretaker said:

I'll probably go back and take a look some time at Valeria.

 

I read this as "I'll go back in time and take a look at Valeria." 

 

And I was like.

 

"Excuse me but, Ouroboros isn't real."

[Xiddo]

12 hours ago, The Caretaker said:

It also attempts to shed light on the question of "What imbued Romulus with Nictus power?" by explaining that the first cyst is a coalescence of the three Nictus Essences from the ITF finale. Where THEY came from is still to be disclosed to the player. 

I look forward to this. As a Kheldian lover I’ve always been interested in the Nictus business and the lore behind this. Hadn’t properly read the story of this arc during the couple of times I’ve done it. Always found the mobs quite fun though. Looking forward to when this disclosure happens.

 

Sort of related, what if your perception of how Arachnos feel about Nictus and the cysts? A threat to Recluse’s reign or another avenue for experimentation? Nictus Arachnoids? 😉 

 

It’s been mentioned a couple of times here and on discord but the end of Pandora’s box sort of… broke The Zig and how it operates. Will that ever be explored?

 

And a side Q: Can we expect another SSA type format (10-20, 20-30 etc) of a series of missions to tell a story like the others? But a HC focussed story, not the aforementioned Scir business.

[The Caretaker]

Arachnos has a pretty clear line drawn on Nictus, if you ask me.

 

One of the very few times you encounter one in the Rogue Isles is when you discover the Warshade named Romulus. (Which, by the way, factored in to Valeria and the future roadmap.) Arachnos might have noticed the report, but it was so beneath them as to not matter at all.

 

Outside of that, however, we have the animosity between Arachnos and the Council, where the Nictus currently reside. Two competing fascist ideologies gunning for similar endgames doesn't ever end well.

 

As such, I don't see Arachnos "gaining" much Nictus power unless the Council were to spectacularly implode and leave their inner workings completely laid bare for others to plunder. Instead, I see an inevitable conflict when these two powers finally come to blows over a resource or event, and even then it'd be hard to measure who'd win. I'd lean towards Arachnos because they 1) Are operating openly with their own nation-state and 2) have their hands in more tech than Council.

 

Council's advantage is their cockroach-like tenacity, with layers and layers of redundancy to keep themselves from ever being truly wiped out.

 

---

 

Regarding the Zig: Pandora's box was not the end-all-be-all of security, but rather a fantastic extra layer of power siphoning. Even when the Zig's Supermax was broken into, the jail cells for the sixteen had tech and protocols to keep people like Veles, Clockwork King, Vandal and Rollister (etc) in the pokey. So the Zig has (had) more going for it than just the Box.

 

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SSA3? Oh yeah. It's coming.

[EmperorSteele]

49 minutes ago, The Caretaker said:

SSA3? Oh yeah. It's coming.

 

DUDE!

 

I always wanted more SSAs, but figured that making a dozen odd stroyarcs would probably be a big ask of the current team. Unless you're changing the formula a bit, which is totes fine, but either way, I'm excited =D

[BurtHutt]

On 5/6/2023 at 6:14 AM, The Caretaker said:

 

There's a phenomenon with all writers in trying to achieve balance.

 

If we say too little, a potential snark-laden commentary about plot holes and careless writing stalks our minds. If we say too much, we're trying too hard to cover every base and justify everything. 

 

We're getting better in that respect. I think Valeria, Houston and Stribbling had the balance about right. 

 

TBH I find it hard to apologize for making someone read, you can always blow through it and wiki it later.

Sure, balance is key. However, you could also look at the more popular TFs/SFs etc that already exist in game. The ITF, Yin, some iTrials and so on. I am sure you can data mine which ones are played the most. Maybe let that influence the way HC proceeds.

 

You will always get snark. Always. To please everyone...not going to happen. Aim for the majority.

 

I've said it before and will say it again, the new arcs are not fun to play. Take that for what it's worth.

 

So, you're saying the team format/play style makes it difficult to read the entire dialogue, scritp etc and the solution is go read up on it later? I find this very problematic and disheartening. It's not a response I'd expect from the HC team.

 

I'll conclude by saying this is a game. To me the real enjoyment is the game play and how fun that is. The story and text are very secondary. The story and directions definitely enhance the experience and it's too bad we can't have it all. I feel the Live devs were finally getting this. Maybe let them inspire the HC team.

[Arbegla]

This may have been addressed already, but I was wondering if there is anymore talk/plans/lore around the Moon and the Moon base? Is there any thought to expanding out the Incarnate system as well?

[twozerofoxtrot]

4 hours ago, BurtHutt said:

I've said it before and will say it again, the new arcs are not fun to play. Take that for what it's worth.

 

I'm not trying to start a scuffle in the fun teaser thread, but is this a widely held opinion? 

 

If not..

 

5 hours ago, BurtHutt said:

To please everyone...not going to happen. Aim for the majority.

 

[BurtHutt]

3 hours ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

 

I'm not trying to start a scuffle in the fun teaser thread, but is this a widely held opinion? 

 

If not..

 

 

I feel it's fairly obvious that most do not know what the consensus is here. All I can mention is my opinion and the other 7 that were with me on the arcs.

 

Also, I am also assuming the HC team wants our feedback. Regardless, I am providing my thoughts as I am a big fan of the game and it's pretty much the only game I play. I am not upset or being a troll nor do I have an axe to grind. It's feedback. That's it. Yet I am finding a few here opting to discuss my comments so here I am to clarify them...not sure why... lol 

 

Anyway, I'm relaying how I feel. I don't think it's helpful to come on here and be all Pollyanna on here. I think it's ideal to say what you honestly feel in a decent manner. That's it 🙂 

[Xiddo]

18 hours ago, The Caretaker said:

SSA3? Oh yeah. It's coming.

This is v exciting. As @EmperorSteele said, this defo seemed like a pipe dream cos it felt like a lot of work. Can you tease anything around the story? Obviously the last two are sort of linked to eachother, by my reading at least… [REDACTED] deaths and then the incarnate fall out from those and how it impacts the Phalanx… Is that sort of thread the tone or something off piste?

[Xiddo]

On Arachnos more generally. How do they really continue now? Obviously we’ve stopped Tyrant… Is Daddy Longlegs not livid we’ve taken that chance for revenge from him?

[EmperorSteele]

35 minutes ago, Xiddo said:

On Arachnos more generally. How do they really continue now? Obviously we’ve stopped Tyrant… Is Daddy Longlegs not livid we’ve taken that chance for revenge from him?

 

He took his shot and failed.

 

So no, I don't see him being  (too) mad about it. He respects power and ambition, after all.

[The Caretaker]

11 hours ago, Xiddo said:

On Arachnos more generally. How do they really continue now? Obviously we’ve stopped Tyrant… Is Daddy Longlegs not livid we’ve taken that chance for revenge from him?

 

10 hours ago, EmperorSteele said:

 

He took his shot and failed.

 

So no, I don't see him being  (too) mad about it. He respects power and ambition, after all.

 

Recluse knew what he was doing. That "show of force" was an orchestrated feint. The gambit was that Arachnos was in fact robbing Praetoria blind while engaging Tyrant head on as a distraction.

 

I can't say more because seeeekrits.

Also: https://archive.paragonwiki.com/wiki/Mission:Inside_Information_-_Praetoria's_Hidden_Treasure

[TheZag]

Is the shadow shard under any consideration for improvements?  The first 2 zones had missions and then it feels rather abruptly cut off.  The last 2 zones are pretty much just a hub world for a single task force each.  The storm palace especially feels like it could have more going on.

 

Through the task forces and who will die SSA,  i guess the plot is technically satisfied but it feels janky.  Especially when Rulawade is only an elite boss.  It feels like the big baddie is still out there with how easy he was after being the guy that killed Statesman.

 

[The Caretaker]

44 minutes ago, TheZag said:

Is the shadow shard under any consideration for improvements?  The first 2 zones had missions and then it feels rather abruptly cut off.  The last 2 zones are pretty much just a hub world for a single task force each.  The storm palace especially feels like it could have more going on.

 

Through the task forces and who will die SSA,  i guess the plot is technically satisfied but it feels janky.  Especially when Rulawade is only an elite boss.  It feels like the big baddie is still out there with how easy he was after being the guy that killed Statesman.

 

I want to, and even did some prelim work, but need more plots to strengthen the push into that revamp. 

[Jiro Ito]

You mentioned Sirocco, does this mean the Live plans to have Manticore fall to true vigilante are also going to be scrapped?  The AMA info sounded interesting, with him hooking up with Countess Crey after Psyche's death.

[The Caretaker]

1 minute ago, Jiro Ito said:

You mentioned Sirocco, does this mean the Live plans to have Manticore fall to true vigilante are also going to be scrapped?  The AMA info sounded interesting, with him hooking up with Countess Crey after Psyche's death.

If you look closely, some HC things are already in motion with Manticore. His reputation is beginning to... tarnish you could say.

[TheZag]

Even if nothing is planned for any time soon,  its nice to know you arent content with the current state of the shadow shard.

 

Also,  I've always hated manticore so thumbs up for him to go evil.

 

[twozerofoxtrot]

I doubt he's going to become evil, that's wildly out of character for him. 

 

Probably more like an anti-hero.

 

For example, it's his signature text bubble colors that appear in the final cinematic of the Redside version of Pandora's Box 5, indicating that he was manipulating Arachnos and other sundried bads (including the player) into achieving his goals.

 

My guess is that the HC writing team plans to gradually expand in this direction piece-by-piece.

 

Perhaps with the aforementioned Penny Yin Cloned Insane Paragon Protector? That's my personal fan theory at least.

[starro]

I really liked the Who Will Die and Pandoras Box series with content released periodically instead of all at once.  Do you ever see that story telling format coming back for future larger plots? 

[Arc-Mage]

The writers strike won’t have any effect on continuing stories will it? 
 

/jk

[Glacier Peak]

Kheldians getting any more love story wise? Last few pages were good, cleaned up a lot of ambiguity from legacy arcs/content.

[The Caretaker]

2 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

Kheldians getting any more love story wise? Last few pages were good, cleaned up a lot of ambiguity from legacy arcs/content.

 

Oh, yes. Herr Adelard Ziegler goes on a deep dive in Kallisti.

[Jiro Ito]

Are there plans for Blood of the Black Stream/Gadzul Oil/ancient Egypt stuff?

[The Caretaker]

On 5/12/2023 at 7:19 PM, Jiro Ito said:

Are there plans for Blood of the Black Stream/Gadzul Oil/ancient Egypt stuff?

 

At this time, that's an order of magnitude beyond our scope.

[Crasical]

So the warriors in the new Noble Intentions Arc didn't seem entirely sure: Is Tunnel Rat actually part animal? If she is, is it a random mutation, or one of the gene-splices from the program that created Bobcat?

 

Also, another Praetoria question: is Helix, from the Crusaders arc, a Kheldian?

Edited May 19, 2023 by Crasical