What year is it?

[UltraAlt]

On 4/20/2024 at 3:12 PM, keyguardactive said:

What is the date, in universe? 

 

There are still pay phones and CRTs for computer displays.

And the timeline is constantly sliding around due to all the messing with the timelines - I think they call it Mending, but it sure seems like "messing" with the timeline.

 

So yes.

 

On 4/20/2024 at 3:12 PM, keyguardactive said:

Is this one of those comic book sliding timescale things where now is always now?

 

It does seem to be "now" from the perspective of your character when you are solo or "now' from the perspective of whoever on your team has the star.

[El D]

My supergroup treats it as the modern year (as is seemingly hinted at via the new history plaques and zone details) and the out-dated technology is just a stylistic choice for the narrative/time capsule from when the game was first published. Similar to how Gotham in Batman The Animated Series was deliberately retro but set in the 1990s timeline-wise.

 

If you need an in-universe handwave, all the villain groups and massive, world-shaking events that have continually disrupted the most important city on Primal Earth (and in many cases, the rest of the globe) is as good an excuse as any why tech in some places has seemingly stagnated. There's plenty of agencies and institutions in the real world that still run on increasingly outdated computer and electronic systems after all, and we don't have Nemesis or the Council or the Rikti invading every other week.

 

Alternately, perhaps the CRT monitors, brick phones, and old school cars are just 'retro-themed' but containing modern technology inside them. People love that kind of stuff IRL too.

 

 

[Scarlet Shocker]

you might be overthinking it.

 

We have a contiguous history but it's hard to take our enforced hiatus into account. Is it 2012 or 2024?

 

Stan Lee said it best: "Marvel time isn't like regular time." I think that's a pretty good yard stick we can apply to this game, given the way the game works. There is a coherent, long story that your character goes through but it isn't often done in a purely linear way, and you find yourself darting back and forth between stories and even sometimes knowingly travelling in time.

 

Accept that the latest stories; the whole "Who will die?" arcs and latest content are roughly "now" and you first stood on the steps of Atlas Park (or elsewhere) when you came to the city as a Rookie.

 

Batman, Spiderman, Daredevil, the X-Men, JLA et al have been doing the same shit for decade after decade after decade and still live in the "now", unaged, adapting and understanding technologies that simply didn't exist when they first appeared (computers, mobile phones, internets for example) and yet we still gladly accept that they do what they do without much question even when they fundamentally change persona and history. Every time you dive into this game you pick up the latest metaphorical issue of your character's story - which isn't very different from all the stories that went before.

 

Enjoy it for what it is, in the moment and stop fretting!

[High_Beam]

On 4/22/2024 at 8:24 AM, huang3721 said:

 

Nevermind. I found it.

Once more, the Oranbegans lost control of a monster/god they trapped.  I so cant believe they fooled the Romans into putting down Carthage just to use this minor god as a battery.

[Techwright]

13 hours ago, High_Beam said:

Once more, the Oranbegans lost control of a monster/god they trapped.  I so cant believe they fooled the Romans into putting down Carthage just to use this minor god as a battery.

 

They basically violated Evil Overlord List #22:  No matter how tempted I am with the prospect of unlimited power, I will not consume any energy field bigger than my head.

[temnix]

Statesman is not dead, if you get to kill him for Recluse. But more than that, of course the game remains in 2012, actually in 2004. Just look at the cars and the trucks. There are emotes for smartphones, but also phone booths on the streets. Some of this obviously comes from incorporating retro elements: the Family wears suits out of "The Godfather" and shoots from Tommy guns. For brevity, though, Donald Trump has never been the president of these United States. The wars in Ukraine, Myanmar, Yemen and Israel, in Syria, never happened. Neither did COVID-19. It is a universe of a better past, and enjoyable that way for those who remember it. After all, where else won't I be surrounded by the Internet and see people talk to each other on the streets, if not in this online game?

[Skyhawke]

It's 2004 over and over again. Every so often, something goes amiss and the machines have to reboot the Matrix, but it's always 2004. Now, can I interest you in a pretty colored pill or two?

[Hawkshield]

I would say to just go into any office in game and see what computers they are running