Give the Family's Beam Rifle revamp to the Sky Raiders

[Vanden]

So one of the few changes to the game that I personally outright hate is the revamp the Family got in issue 24. There are a couple of reasons for this; first, the Family were intentionally designed from the get-go to be an anachronism. They're a group of 50s-style gangsters operating in a 21st-century setting. Their dress, their style of speech, and their weaponry is intentionally out of place in the setting. By giving them high-tech gear like laser weapons, this core concept of the group is entirely ruined. Even giving them updated costumes undermined that, since the mid-2000s art assets they used to have were only enhancing the impression that these were guys in the wrong time period.

 

The second reason I hate their revamp is that I feel like its goals were misguided from the get-go. The idea was to give them powers that would enable them to actually challenge players at higher levels. But in my opinion, the Family actually have no business being a challenge to heroes in the 40+ level range. Their concept just isn't that interesting; just a group of crooks trying to make money by selling illegal stuff. You know, like the kind of thing you can see in thousands of other pieces of media. They're a low-to-mid-stakes threat that's perfectly appropriate to allow to vanish into obscurity in the highest levels of the game. Other enemy groups at 40+ are cyborgs, super-soldier fascists, aliens, dimensional invaders. Guys who want to get rich by selling contraband have no business standing alongside that kind of company in a punch-up with superpowered heroes and villains. What's more, you hardly even fight these guys 40+. There's a mission in Unai Kemen's arc where you visit a world populated by Family. There's a mission for Television where you go inside an old gangster movie (where, again, giving them future guns goes entirely against the premise). And there's a mission for Mr. G. on primal Earth where the goal is to humiliate the Family on the international stage (where the enemies being weak and unthreatening to the average player character would actually serve the narrative better). There may be other missions, but those are the only ones I know about.

 

But now let's talk about the Sky Raiders. High-tech is their whole thing. They've got jetpacks, teleporters, flying force field generators, robots, personal jet crafts. On top of that, they're the main antagonists for a high-level TF, where they are laughably incapable of challenging the typical team of level 50 characters. This combination of appropriate theme and prominent content spotlight means they are a much more appropriate group than the Family to receive a Beam Rifle-centric upgrade to make them more threatening.

[kelika2]

people will just start using their second builds for ranged/energy defense.

then the frankenslotting of fisticuffs/slugfests for melee and eradications/cleaving blows for maoe will be out of control

the thunderstrike set will be a 1m a piece and then suddenly maybe 5m a piece

 

oh god and the people who get dopamine releases from being negative all the time will complain and say "wait they did this with the family already wtf" and then call it city of ranged defense because also energy

[Saiyajinzoningen]

couldnt agree more

family with lasers is just weird

but then again so are zombies with pistols

anyway, even without the laser guns family can be challenging in certain situations

try a few family bosses in a smallish room with singularities!

 

[Rudra]

I both agree with and disagree with the OP. I agree with the part where you go into an old Mafia movie and you are fighting Family with advanced weapons. That part makes no sense, but I do understand that it was done to make the movie Family a threat to the player. I disagree with the part about the Family just being your common criminals. Yes, they are that, but they are also aren't. Let me explain. One of the things you see in later Family arcs, by which I mean the point at which prior to their upgrade to be level 40+ enemies, is their attempt to improve their power base with advanced weaponry. It shows up in 1 tip mission I believe, and it shows up in a blue side arc where the Family are negotiating with the Sky Raiders. Then eventually there is a mission/arc where the Family manages to get their hands on the advanced weapons they use. So their goal of updating themselves to keep pace with and hopefully outperform the supers is met. There is also the fact that while the Family may be rooted in archaic mafia motifs, any organization, especially a criminal one that wants to survive in a super world, will and should be adapting their methods and goals. They can still retain their business suits and 50's gangster talk, that falls under retaining tradition within such an organization, but their methods, equipment, and even goals can change to reflect the changing world around them. So on those grounds, I'm fine with the high level Family, except for that one TV mission.

 

As for the Sky Raiders? Yeah, they need to be updated too.

 

Edited April 12 by Rudra
Edited to correct "to" to "too".