cranebump Posted January 7 Author Posted January 7 1 minute ago, Zhym said: Did I just see @cranebump complain about a mission timer? Get back on your own side of the street—that's my turf! I learn ever so slowly, sensei.:-) 2 I have done a TON of AE work, both long form and single arc. Just search the AE mish list for my sig @cranebump. For more information on my stories, head to the AE forum sub-heading and look for “Crane’s World.” Support your AE authors! We ARE the new content.
Kyksie Posted January 7 Posted January 7 7 minutes ago, Zhym said: I haven't played the arc in question, and given the author's hostile reaction to cranebump's review, I'm not likely to. Same deal. I was planning on a middle of the road review- some stuff I liked, some not- but judging from the author's response to the above review I'm not going to bother.
Darmian Posted January 7 Posted January 7 On 1/5/2025 at 12:03 AM, cranebump said: Blue Spectrum Oh my stars and garters! Someone ELSE used him? Finally? 1 AE SFMA Arcs: The Meteors (Arc id 42079) | Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part One. (Arc id 26756) X | Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part Two. (Arc id 26952) | Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part Three. (Arc id 27233) Darker Deeds: Part One (Arc id 28374) | Darker Deeds: Part Two. (Arc id 28536) | Darker Deeds: Part Three. (Arc id 29252) | Darkest Before Dawn: Part One (Arc id 29891) | Darkest Before Dawn: Part Two (Arc id 30210) | Darkest Before Dawn: Part Three (Arc id 30560) | Bridge of Forever ( Arc id 36642) | The Cassini Division (Arc id 37104) X | The House of Gaunt Saints (Arc id 37489) X | The Spark of the Blind (Arc id 40403) | Damnatio Memoriae (Arc id 41140) X | The Eve of War (Arc id 41583) X | Spirals: Part One. (Arc id 55109) | Spirals: Part Two. (Arc id 55358) | Spirals: Part Three. (Arc id 57197) I Sing of Arms and the Man (Arc id 42617) | Three Sisters (Arc id 43013) (Pre War Praetorian Loyalist. Pre War Praetorian Resistance. Pre ITF Cimerora. Post ITF Cimerora. X = Dev Choice/Hall of Fame )
cranebump Posted January 8 Author Posted January 8 (edited) 3 hours ago, Kyksie said: Same deal. I was planning on a middle of the road review- some stuff I liked, some not- but judging from the author's response to the above review I'm not going to bother. To be fair the response was to a longer, harsher review. I edited and refined the longer one. But still…yeah. Edited January 8 by cranebump I have done a TON of AE work, both long form and single arc. Just search the AE mish list for my sig @cranebump. For more information on my stories, head to the AE forum sub-heading and look for “Crane’s World.” Support your AE authors! We ARE the new content.
Raikao Posted January 8 Posted January 8 11 hours ago, Kyksie said: Same deal. I was planning on a middle of the road review- some stuff I liked, some not- but judging from the author's response to the above review I'm not going to bother. Hey, I'm not sensing an ongoing desire to "bitch at the reviewers" from the author either and he is taking feedback. I ain't forcing anyone, but let's give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I mean EVEN @cranebump got that and he's a total piece of shi..ning example of this community. And with that I'm out of here. :> 2 1
cranebump Posted January 12 Author Posted January 12 (edited) A Light Within the Darkness (ID: 843) by @Steel Dancer This L25-37 arc from 2019 has you working with the Midnighters to secure some of their valuables (the main worry being possible theft by the Circle of Thorns). You agree to help and, of course, run into CoT right off the bat. However, your in-mish contact tells you that most of the raid damage doesn’t appear to be done by the Thorns. Your own initial investigations back this up, so…shenanigans! By an as yet unrevealed somebody/something! Involving a scary, mystical (stolen) tome! Actually “council bot” Montague (see below) is much more composed than that, but this is our basic setup. With your only real lead being the Thorny crew, you naturally pay them a visit. Here, you discover the 3rd party involved in the theft, which, in a nice little twist, leads you back to…Well, you’ll just have to see.:-) VERDICT: A clean, clear, well-constructed arc, made with care and attention to detail. Strikes a nice balance between "stuff" and story. Antagonists are well-drawn. Customs are nicely done. Great map choices (esp for the finale). Overall, I give it a solid, raddy-green Seal of Approval (I ran this with my Atomic blaster):-). PLAY IF: You want a solidly constructed, well-balanced mish. It's listed as story-heavy, but it didn't feel that way. The arc moves along very nicely. FYI: Arc ID 844:An Exchange of Words is a companion piece to this one. A few items of note: The contact model isn’t Montague, but rather the default council bot model the system uses, indicating the need for some updating. Also: There's no text on interact with some glowies in M1, nor do any clues drop from them. This only occurs in M1, and is the only noticeable error I found in the whole arc. There IS a timer on one of the mishes, but the map isn’t huge. I had plenty of time leftover (though I DID beeline to the objectives). Edited January 12 by cranebump 2 I have done a TON of AE work, both long form and single arc. Just search the AE mish list for my sig @cranebump. For more information on my stories, head to the AE forum sub-heading and look for “Crane’s World.” Support your AE authors! We ARE the new content.
cranebump Posted January 22 Author Posted January 22 (edited) To Dream of Nothing [ID: ] by @Zaphir This L20-29 heroic arc has you helping out Mel Gibs-, I mean Detective Martins on a missing scientist case (because in the world of superheroing, only scientists count!). Kidding there, of course. Tracklash, my obligatory “Sure, I’ll try a regen scrapper [omg...what have I done?]" is all too happy to help (esp. Since Crane has sidelined him at L46 for, like, a gillion days). We dive in to discover: BAD GUYS ARE INVOLVED! Who knew? (We did. We most certainly did. It’s like it was planned that way).:-) But, yes - bad guys. Who? I’ll give you one clue: FREEEEEEEM! Yup. THOSE guys. Oh, we ‘ve got some Family involvement here. But mainly, it’s everyone’s favorite fascists, embroiled in a complex little story that is well-paced, with great clues, nice details, a great deal of mandatory “Council-ing,” Nicti, a professor in over his head, an enigmatic something known as "the Voice," and... And that’s all I’ll say on story, because you should check this one out without me spoilering anything (else).:-) Overall: I really enjoyed this one. A great blend of story/design using familiar baddies, some strong NPCs, and excellent foreshadowing. A purplish Seal of Approval emitting an unavoidable gravitational pull (not that I’m hinting at anything there…noooooooo…):-) PLAY IF: your thing is a detailed story. There’s plenty here, and it’s very well-crafted. Worth your time! Stay frosty everyone (like, for real if you’re in this vortex thing), Crane P.S. There are semicolons in character dialogue. People don’t speak in semicolons. They just don’t. And everyone knows semicolons suck. Or rather, I know that, and… Okay, so my nonexistent staff is telling me this is a personal thing, and that I’m proselytizing. They’re also saying it’s annoying, overbearing, nitpicking, and…OKAY! I GET IT! Stepping aside right...NOW!:-) Design Deets (for those interested) Spoiler The highlights: A pair of interesting, disparate NPCs (whose multiple mish deaths were due to me forgetting to run on default setting). Excellent detail and depth of story. Especially well done early clues, hinting at the reveal, but not giving it all away (not an easy thing to do). Leaves a great many objectives optional, allowing players the choice of delving deeper or sticking to the main storyline. Well-edited (just saw a couple of tiny errors), and very well-crafted, mechanically. Time and care taken to get the little things just right, and to work with what AE so stubbornly gives you. Minor fixes to consider: (1) There’s a bit of back-n-forth on the finale map, but this is folded into the narrative (i.e., “cleverly explained/justified”) using clues. I think I’d rather this be a more linear process, but it doesn’t always work that way thanks to AE fussiness. My guess it that this is more than likely about the map limits than anything else. So, maybe not fixable? If not, it’s a minor thing. (2) Some issues with clue order here and there, mainly as a consequence of optional clues. Nothing terrible, since clues are ID’ed by Mish #. But numbering clues within mishes might be helpful, since there are so many [EX: M1-1, M1-2, and so on]. I had to scroll back and forth more than once, so it's noticeable, but not terribly so. All in all, a ton of strengths, very few (and minor) tweaks. Nicely crafted! Edited January 23 by cranebump 3 I have done a TON of AE work, both long form and single arc. Just search the AE mish list for my sig @cranebump. For more information on my stories, head to the AE forum sub-heading and look for “Crane’s World.” Support your AE authors! We ARE the new content.
Steel Dancer Posted February 18 Posted February 18 On 1/12/2025 at 4:10 PM, cranebump said: A Light Within the Darkness (ID: 843) by @Steel Dancer This L25-37 arc from 2019 has you working with the Midnighters to secure some of their valuables (the main worry being possible theft by the Circle of Thorns). You agree to help and, of course, run into CoT right off the bat. However, your in-mish contact tells you that most of the raid damage doesn’t appear to be done by the Thorns. Your own initial investigations back this up, so…shenanigans! By an as yet unrevealed somebody/something! Involving a scary, mystical (stolen) tome! Actually “council bot” Montague (see below) is much more composed than that, but this is our basic setup. With your only real lead being the Thorny crew, you naturally pay them a visit. Here, you discover the 3rd party involved in the theft, which, in a nice little twist, leads you back to…Well, you’ll just have to see.:-) VERDICT: A clean, clear, well-constructed arc, made with care and attention to detail. Strikes a nice balance between "stuff" and story. Antagonists are well-drawn. Customs are nicely done. Great map choices (esp for the finale). Overall, I give it a solid, raddy-green Seal of Approval (I ran this with my Atomic blaster):-). PLAY IF: You want a solidly constructed, well-balanced mish. It's listed as story-heavy, but it didn't feel that way. The arc moves along very nicely. FYI: Arc ID 844:An Exchange of Words is a companion piece to this one. A few items of note: The contact model isn’t Montague, but rather the default council bot model the system uses, indicating the need for some updating. Also: There's no text on interact with some glowies in M1, nor do any clues drop from them. This only occurs in M1, and is the only noticeable error I found in the whole arc. There IS a timer on one of the mishes, but the map isn’t huge. I had plenty of time leftover (though I DID beeline to the objectives). I have to admit, I was rather surprised to see this notification pop up! I appreciate the time you took playing it, and I thought I'd spend a few hours on both arcs to give them a bit of a shine up and polishing (and they did need it). Thanks again! 1
cranebump Posted August 14 Author Posted August 14 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.:-) 1 I have done a TON of AE work, both long form and single arc. Just search the AE mish list for my sig @cranebump. For more information on my stories, head to the AE forum sub-heading and look for “Crane’s World.” Support your AE authors! We ARE the new content.
sponazgul Posted August 14 Posted August 14 1 hour ago, cranebump said: 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.:-) Enjoy your Saturday, having fanciful rushing-blaster adventures! 1
cranebump Posted August 16 Author Posted August 16 (edited) 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! Edited August 16 by cranebump 2 I have done a TON of AE work, both long form and single arc. Just search the AE mish list for my sig @cranebump. For more information on my stories, head to the AE forum sub-heading and look for “Crane’s World.” Support your AE authors! We ARE the new content.
cranebump Posted Saturday at 12:18 PM Author Posted Saturday at 12:18 PM The Return of Despoticus by @sponazgul [aka "First of Equals"] (ID: 68902) In this high level, “clearly-not-a reference-to-alien-superdudes” arc (wink), we are contacted by the cosmic being, OMEGOD, whom we’ve worked with before, but don’t recall (because Super Memory is not a thing for us blue & red tights guys–especially if there’s a “Cosmic Unawareness Field”).:-) Maybe we’re skeptical at first. Maybe not (I’m not, but I have no regard for my own safety. Whatever the case, when someone named Despoticus has his Ultrahorde up to their antics again, then, yeah – we gotta git ‘r dun! (if only to sell more Despoticus Secret Base! Collector Playsets to the kiddies!). What follows is a quick jaunt through the looking glass, albeit one that opens a window to a delightful parody of old school, from the mish titles (In the Clutches of the Ultrahorde!) to the dialogue, to the mention of the Comic Code Authority (ahhhh…memories….), to a REALLY annoying super villain (see below). I could see my character, Solumbra (used to be Souler, but lost the name in a server transfer [grrr]), gracing action-packed Kirby covers (or the like – Solumbra’s costume scheme borrows its color-scheme from a decidedly DC-inspired Mexican comic superhero called – wait for it – Super Hombre). Particulars: short maps. Reskinned bad guys (who sometimes have some nasty synergy). (, with some customs (mainly NPCs). Definitely want a tank, if you run at higher settings (I had +o/x4 on a FA/DM Incarnate – enough to keep me on my toes, early on). Everything’s really fun. Until you face Despoticus… Long story short: unless you’ve got some ranged capability - or some allies who do - you’re not going to defeat the guy without using a break free. I tried twice. Repulsion Field does not drop. Then you get Detention Field, which means you can ignore the Repulsion Field. But you can’t do anything. However, if you pop that BF, you can stroll right up and smash his teeth out (which I woulda done sooner, but didn’t realize I could pop 1 insp to do so…derrrrrrr). Anyhoo, barring that hiccup (which was all on my part, really), this was an excellently scripted mish. Light-hearted. Some nasty synergies on the mix-n-match reskinned minions. Nice customs. It’s very well done. PLAY IF: You like a bit of the old school tone (and don’t mind being “ocelotted”). DON’T PLAY IF: If you hate enemies with “annoying” powers (read: you feel that what’s good for the goose is definitely not good for the bad guys). A “Repulsive” Seal of Approval from this Superdude knockoff.:-) 1 I have done a TON of AE work, both long form and single arc. Just search the AE mish list for my sig @cranebump. For more information on my stories, head to the AE forum sub-heading and look for “Crane’s World.” Support your AE authors! We ARE the new content.
sponazgul Posted Saturday at 12:52 PM Posted Saturday at 12:52 PM Thank you for all of this! I appreciate this review, and i acknowledge that your experience with the Ultrahorde's leader, the Space Tyrant Despoticus is certainly relatable. I've thrown a bunch of tanks at Despo during testing, with a variety of results. (My ranged characters have a much easier time.) I have an Earth control dominator who had to pause just because watching his stone elemental rushing Despoticus over and over and over was too entertaining.
cranebump Posted Saturday at 01:12 PM Author Posted Saturday at 01:12 PM It's a great arc! And no cakewalk when I ran it at 0/x4 version. I think x8 woulda floored me, considering the minion synergies. I just can't believe after all this time playing I didn't know about using insps to bypass the push-push. Learn somethin' new every day.:-) I have done a TON of AE work, both long form and single arc. Just search the AE mish list for my sig @cranebump. For more information on my stories, head to the AE forum sub-heading and look for “Crane’s World.” Support your AE authors! We ARE the new content.
sponazgul Posted Saturday at 01:39 PM Posted Saturday at 01:39 PM Today is the day I learned that break frees work against that one effect! Had I only known that all the times I had to fight Sefu Tendaji in the Gaussian arc. OMEGOD: Wait, you didn't know that? Everyone knows that. Clue Lass: Duh. 1
Darmian Posted Saturday at 07:41 PM Posted Saturday at 07:41 PM Two reviews in one day! I never got that @cranebump 😛 1 AE SFMA Arcs: The Meteors (Arc id 42079) | Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part One. (Arc id 26756) X | Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part Two. (Arc id 26952) | Dark Deeds in Galaxy City: Part Three. (Arc id 27233) Darker Deeds: Part One (Arc id 28374) | Darker Deeds: Part Two. (Arc id 28536) | Darker Deeds: Part Three. (Arc id 29252) | Darkest Before Dawn: Part One (Arc id 29891) | Darkest Before Dawn: Part Two (Arc id 30210) | Darkest Before Dawn: Part Three (Arc id 30560) | Bridge of Forever ( Arc id 36642) | The Cassini Division (Arc id 37104) X | The House of Gaunt Saints (Arc id 37489) X | The Spark of the Blind (Arc id 40403) | Damnatio Memoriae (Arc id 41140) X | The Eve of War (Arc id 41583) X | Spirals: Part One. (Arc id 55109) | Spirals: Part Two. (Arc id 55358) | Spirals: Part Three. (Arc id 57197) I Sing of Arms and the Man (Arc id 42617) | Three Sisters (Arc id 43013) (Pre War Praetorian Loyalist. Pre War Praetorian Resistance. Pre ITF Cimerora. Post ITF Cimerora. X = Dev Choice/Hall of Fame )
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