Primal Mr. G's arc: what does he do, exactly?

[MechaCrash]

I was going through the arc with a friend, and something that he pointed out after we got done with the second part: what exactly do all these chumps you pick up do around here?

 

The instigating incident is that you decide to see if you can snag some crumbs when Arachnos tries to loot the remains of Praetoria before Hamidon destroys everything, and what you find is Mr. G, who promises to be useful to you in exchange for getting him out and saving him. Which, okay, that's fair.

 

Except that his big plan is "hey spring these war criminals I know," and most of them are not terribly useful or are only useful by accident. The rest of the arc is basically dealing with cleaning up the mess that all this results in and dealing with the giant target that springing these jerks put on your back. I mean, let's take a look at what we've got here.

 

• Mr. G? He got you into this mess and everything else is dealing with the fallout of his big plan.
• Bobcat? Depowered and useless. You couldn't know that at the time, but the one thing she does is spark the idea for "a TV show about you beating everyone up," which is not exactly "worth alienating Vanguard" level contributions here.
• Splice? Okay, Splice is very useful, absolute MVP who carries her weight here.
• Transmuter? Also useless and depowered, mostly, and his biggest contribution is helping Subjugator 5, who you didn't even know was there.
• Subjugator 5 was just a bonus plan, and one of the few people on this ragtag team of losers that's worth the trouble. I mean, sure, the plan involving her doesn't actually work out, but that's not her fault.
• General Alito was also not part of the initial plan, but you got lucky and picked him up. And his job is flying the helicopter. A job which Mr. G, the otherwise useless goober, can also do. And winds up not being relevant because the chopper gets bricked remotely!

 

So you try to score some goodies out of a fallen empire before it's overrun by supermonsters, and all you get is a guy who gives you a plan that pisses off Vanguard, potentially pisses off what's left of the IDF, paints a big target on your back, and for what? Only one of the people he told you to rescue has any real utility at this point, and quite frankly if I could've made a deal with Vanguard for "I'm keeping Splice (she's useful) and Bobcat (out of pity), you can have the rest" then I absolutely would have done that. Bunch of useless goobers who are only still free and nominally on the payroll because the character I was using doesn't sell out her subordinates (because that is a quick way to ensure you do not have subordinates).

 

About the only real good plan was taking over the Awakened, and all of that was purely a coincidence, and the whole thing feels like Mr. G flailing for a reason to keep himself relevant to your plans so you don't throw him under the bus after his first big scheme blew up in your face.

[Octogoat]

Yes.

[Major_Decoy]

With me it was a case of "I could be open to negotiation, but you threatened me and now you have to regret that."

[Go0gleplex]

Well...Mr. G is a former assassin turned information broker back in Praetoria. While he doesn't have the same level of contacts in Primal that he had back there it would only be a matter of time...and facilitating your exploits would go a long way as an introduction to those sort of contacts. So he's using you just as much, if not more, than you're using him. The only good thing about him is that he does have a sense of loyalty or you'd be royally hosed. 

 

Splice...a former member of the resistance if I recall.

Spoiler

The same resistance that smuggled the DE into the Praetorian council safe house and let the run amok.

Prime hacker...but if not for Mr. G watching over her she could be all sorts of trouble. 

 

Bobcat may be de-powered but she's still a CQC specialist and while lazy as sin, is a decent (and expendable) base security member. 

 

Transmuter is the detective and Mr. G's errand boy. While he has no powers anymore, he's intelligent and knows his way around the streets otherwise Power Division would've cut him loose or 'retired' him with prejudice long ago. He's also a combat veteran of the Praetoria Hami Wars so there is some combat capability there as well as a small unit tactics & strategy resource that Mr. G isn't really suited for.

 

General Alito, like Transmuter, is a combat vet with extensive tactics and strategy value. He probably also likely has an in with various 'hardware' sources and has the rep to be credible with 'temporary' assets and their management. Piloting is likely only one skill. I'd imagine he'd have others involving AV operation and demolition as well. 

 

Subjugator 5...yes. An unknown element that, while very useful, is very risky to have around given that you know nothing of their goals, plans, or motivations. Having an independent sniper, preferably with an AMR, keeping S-5 in their sites 24-7 whenever and wherever possible would be minimal insurance. A remotely detonated bomb belt with triple redundant  detonators would be better in the event that they do decide to betray you. 

 

In either event, they are known factors from your home reality and intrinsically more reliable than the Primal scum you're typically dealing with...and they are more than aware of your reputation from back home thereby likely less inclined to try to pull a fast one. You busting them out is just a bonus in keeping them owing you. 

Edited 20 hours ago by Go0gleplex

[huang3721]

Maybe it is a deliberate effort from the writers to make the player's character look powerful.

 

IMO, Mr. G's story arc is a power fantasy, and it is not necessarily a bad thing. As the character doesn't have to carefully ponder which faction to antagonize or weigh if the outcome is worth the effort, it will be easier to write the plot. Also, the aim is to paint them as notoriously dangerous criminals. A power fantasy serves this purpose well.

[cranebump]

When I think of this guy, this saying comes to mind: there’s a G at the end of every douchebaG. 🙂

 

[MechaCrash]

6 hours ago, Go0gleplex said:

c'mon man it's like two posts up

 

Yeah, but these are their theoretical contributions, the things that Mr. G is selling himself and these chumps to me for. Their observed contributions fall well short of this mark. I know the writers can do "the rest of the team is doing cool stuff over there off-camera" type things, as we saw with the clone arcs in Talos and the New Praetorians, but mostly they tell you who's coming for you and sit around the base.

 

Now, I am willing to walk it back a bit. Transmuter and Bobcat do find out who's coming after you and where they're mustering, but the reason they're mustering to attack is to cash in on that bounty that Wu Yin put on your head, which he did because you busted a bunch of Praetorians out of jail, which you did because Mr. G told you they'd be useful. And he's just really lucky that all these jerks I hauled out of the can are a package deal because "they cleaned up the mess my plan got you into" is not a good way to keep from getting thrown under the bus.

[Luminara]

Gives you that temporary base where he hangs around, waiting for you.  Even puts it on your map.

 

In other words, he shows you where the G-spot is.

[GM Crumpet]

Mr G is one of those people it pays not to underestimate. All the people you recruit are experts in their field (except subjugator) and in their current state need someone like you to help bring them out of the very bad situations they are in and start to rebuild some kind of power base. 

 

As someone else said, they are using you as much as you are using them. But that's not a bad thing. They are useful contacts (if it was real life) and you are an incredibly powerful ally they know is trustworthy (a rare condition in their line of work) and they know you will keep your end of any bargain. They also know from first hand experience that if they don't keep their end of a bargain you'll wipe them out without a second thought. If something goes horribly sideways they have someone they can call on in an emergency. 

 

Gameplay-wise everything resets at the end of the arc, but if it was real life the network of contacts you accumulate as you progress would be incredibly handy. 

 

As Dorian Maldovar said, " If that man is finally collecting on his debts, God help you, and God help his debtors."

[Skyhawke]

Mr G got me my very own catgirl. He, is my hero.

[FupDup]

5 minutes ago, Skyhawke said:

Mr G got me my very own catgirl. He, is my hero.

That fool Neuron didn't know what he had. Anti-Matter most definitely simped for the wrong woman. 

[Uun]

Even with Provost Marchand (Mr. G's blue side counterpart), while the New Praetorians fight alongside you during the first arc, they do almost nothing to help you after that. You break them out of prison at the end of the second arc and they participate in the final fights, and Marauder briefly fights alongside you in the third arc.

 

Also, if you run Dean MacArthur's arc before you run Mr. G's, Dean will have your back throughout.

[merrypessimist]

1 hour ago, Uun said:

 

Also, if you run Dean MacArthur's arc before you run Mr. G's, Dean will have your back throughout.

 

That's because Dean is the man and worth every high five he asks for.  *Wanders off to go high-five Dean*

[Skyhawke]

D Mac is a treasure. 

[jprewitt73]

8 hours ago, Luminara said:

Gives you that temporary base where he hangs around, waiting for you.  Even puts it on your map.

 

In other words, he shows you where the G-spot is.