A City of Heroes Symphony, In D Minor - arc #55518

[Clave Dark 5]

Hey I made some music, and so can you!

 

Rather an experimental arc. 

Be sure to play with sound ON. 

 

MMs not recommended as they tend to drown out the other musicians. 

 

Probably sort of hard, if you're on SOs only, or lower level, but my 50s managed it pretty easily and I'm not a super-mad min-maxer or anything.

 

Edited May 17 by Clave Dark 5

[cranebump]

I still need to do this. Will try tomorrow if I get back on.

[cranebump]

Oooookay...

 

First-Never seen anything like it. That could be a good or not so good thing, depending on who's playing it.:-)

 

Mechanically, it's just flat out brilliant. All the customs, choice of animations, the use of musical notes in the text - just really, really, brilliant.

Narratively...well, I knew I was in some sort of weird space. But I spent a lot of time unsure of exactly what I was supposed to do, other than stare at the brilliance (and hear it), and then beat it all down. It's like watching that sequence in 2001, with all the colors, and I'm Dave Bowman, just slack-jawed, staring at it. 

 

Overall, it will provide a great experience for folks wanting to max out the settings, because I was only on +0/x4, with a fire-farming tank, and when I got cocky and dragged 3 mobs to me in the finale, I got cold-cocked, after eating insps, popping alpha strike, popping heal, and 3 AoE's. 

 

I rated it as a 5, because, as a piece that pushes the creative envelope, this is example A. It's just ridiculously innovative and interesting. Like walking through an art gallery (esp. in the opening). Use of sound is something I haven't seen, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's often discordant, which reflects the theme. I do think it's thin, story-wise, but as it's not a traditional story, the usual litmus tests in this area don't really apply. It drips with atmosphere. It's hard not to be completely impressed by all the work done here, in such a unique fashion. It has things I hadn't thought of, and personally could not execute anywhere close to this level.

 

That said...it has no characters to latch on to. At all. So, anyone looking for the feels isn't going to get any here. On the whole, though, I don't think that really matters because, when you take the entire thing as it is, judging on visuals, atmosphere, sound, and text, it's the best execution of an AE theme that I've ever seen. I liken it to an experimental film. Even the nod to what was actually occurring at the end seemed obligatory, as if I'm told, "Okay, here's an explanation for all this, but really, you should stop worrying and just let art wash over you, man."

 

Great work. Really great. 'Grats.

[Darmian]

Ok, that was damn interesting.  Firstly it provides definitive proof that the AE is not "just" farms, SFMAs and vanity projects. This is something that frankly would never appear in the actual game. And that's a strength of the AE rather than a weakness.

 

I loved M1. M2 and M3 not as much.  And M3 has enough glowies to give @Kyksie apoplexy. That said, it was very atmospheric and oddly fun. I have yet to check whether being able to sight read music would help, because it's not a skill I possess so I can't really comment.

 

I'd recommend people try this to see something totally different, just don't go in with any expectations. 

 

 

[cranebump]

Yeah M3 did have glowie overload. Again, wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do except find the “coughing person” and…I dunno. I went after the explosives first, then just treated it as a farm after that and cleared until I found him.

Edited Sunday at 12:00 PM by cranebump

[TerroirNoir2]

Something else to check!  So much to play!!!

[Nyghtmaire]

That was awesome! I loved the ambiance from the musical cues and the villain design. Story? Totally engaging. Well done!

 

1. Got me to play with sound on - a first for Homecoming.

2. Damn bassoons - those are sneaky bastards.

[Clave Dark 5]

Perspicacious criticism!  Totally a vanity project, though, because I do love art house movies. 

 

I can't read music, much, so this was all just aiming for verisimilitude at best.

 

Without hopefully getting too into the weeds, the glowies were just there to make more sounds, hence being ignored in the nav window.  I should probably somehow mark them more clearly as "optional"...

[cranebump]

It was clear that much WAS optional. What wasn’t entirely clear was what wasn’t. It was also never clear how I got there, but, again, hard to evaluate by any traditional measure because it is a non-traditional arc. It stands on its own due to artistic merit.

[Darmian]

46 minutes ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

Totally a vanity project, though

I personally count vanity projects as "Mary Sue" arcs where the thinly disguised player Main is the great hero and you do all the shit work for them while they get lauded.

[cranebump]

7 minutes ago, Darmian said:

I personally count vanity projects as "Mary Sue" arcs where the thinly disguised player Main is the great hero and you do all the shit work for them while they get lauded.

Yep. That's the very definition of a Mary Sue in TTRPG's, too. GM characters that soak up the spotlight. I know many of us AE geeks do drop in our characters (guilty here, though, in some cases, the AE NPC came first, then I decided to create a toon). But as long as it's still about the PC and not my totally rad, badass vigilante from King's Row, 🙂 it's all good. 

 

So, yeah. This arc is not really an AE vanity piece. It's a labor of love. You can tell that from the start.

Edited Sunday at 03:09 PM by cranebump

[Clave Dark 5]

Ok, then yeah, this was not it - unless you count myself as the Mary Sue making you run around.  But that would be most authors here, right?  I'll hide in the crowd.

[cranebump]

Just now, Clave Dark 5 said:

Ok, then yeah, this was not it - unless you count myself as the Mary Sue making you run around.  But that would be most authors here, right?  I'll hide in the crowd.

DANCE, PUPPET! DANCE!:-)

[Clave Dark 5]

8 minutes ago, Darmian said:

the great hero and you do all the shit work for them while they get lauded.

That'd be a great prompt for a villainous arc that ends with you delivering a well-deserved  clobbering to the hero...

[cranebump]

1 minute ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

That'd be a great prompt for a villainous arc that ends with you delivering a well-deserved  clobbering to the hero...

(ahem) May I present The Re-education of Westin Phipps (see below) 🙂

 

(just pretend he's a hero):-)

Edited Sunday at 03:12 PM by cranebump

[Zhym]

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?

 

Edited Tuesday at 05:36 PM by Zhym

[cranebump]

Who are you, and what have you done with @Zhym?

[Clave Dark 5]

6 hours ago, Zhym said:

BTW, I did notice one typo.  The contact description text ends with, "The Paragon Symphony Orchestra a"—was there supposed to be more there?

Say whaaat?  I tend to cut and paste a lot and I've noticed sometimes the AE holds onto some stuff in a weird way, so I'll have to go get rid of that, thanks.  Thanks for the play and glad you liked it.  Your timer idea intrigues me...

[cranebump]

19 minutes ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

Say whaaat?  I tend to cut and paste a lot and I've noticed sometimes the AE holds onto some stuff in a weird way, so I'll have to go get rid of that, thanks.  Thanks for the play and glad you liked it.  Your timer idea intrigues me...

GDIT, ZHYM! He's gonna do it! He's gonna DOOOO IT! (if he does, I'm gonna take that to mean @Zhym wants us ALL to use timers indiscriminately. With big maps. Especially that one with the smoke. And you got 14 rescues. And 10 minutes. [5, if it's a Crane arc]).:-)

 

(actually replied to mention a text bug I had the other day scripting part 1 of a planned 2-parter - clues to 2 bosses did not pop in the test--at ALL. I exited, checked text length. It was fine. Went back in, the text popped. Go figure. Go...and figure. [not sure what, but AE must want me to])