Hail Emperor Cole!

[Scarlet Shocker]

Slightly diverting from my previous "Retcon" thread and other discussions, I wanted to express that but didn't want to divert from that. 

 

One of the biggest problems with GR is that it fails to allow you to make a realistic choice. 

 

As a Praetorian, you've lived your life in the zones, and absorbed the culture, propaganda, and ambience of the world, knowing you're born in a state of total war against the Hamidon and other external forces, but you're not allowed to enjoy and progress that vision. You're not permitted to discover what an utter wanker Cole turns out to be and yet say "I'll stand by him because the alternatives are worse." There's a strange parallel there, which some might consider ironic. 

 

I have yet to grasp why most Praetorian citizens would fail to back Cole. I admit I'm no Lorologist, but you spend your life living and learning and drinking Enriche, which is literally the coolaid - and the real resistance is run by a deluded madman and managed by losers who can't even speak English. 

 

There's literally no attraction for a citizen to join the Resistance and the only reason for a powered character to join is because you've got to make that choice at the point of creation/training. 

 

Cole keeps the city safe, he's got a capable team backing him up and keeps us all safe. Let's honour him in the right way. 

 

And then he blows the whole fucking zone up. What kind of twatt does that? 

 

Am I the only one who hates the story? 

 

 

 

[Frozen Burn]

5 minutes ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

Slightly diverting from my previous "Retcon" thread and other discussions, I wanted to express that but didn't want to divert from that. 

 

One of the biggest problems with GR is that it fails to allow you to make a realistic choice. 

 

As a Praetorian, you've lived your life in the zones, and absorbed the culture, propaganda, and ambience of the world, knowing you're born in a state of total war against the Hamidon and other external forces, but you're not allowed to enjoy and progress that vision. You're not permitted to discover what an utter wanker Cole turns out to be and yet say "I'll stand by him because the alternatives are worse." There's a strange parallel there, which some might consider ironic. 

 

I have yet to grasp why most Praetorian citizens would fail to back Cole. I admit I'm no Lorologist, but you spend your life living and learning and drinking Enriche, which is literally the coolaid - and the real resistance is run by a deluded madman and managed by losers who can't even speak English. 

 

There's literally no attraction for a citizen to join the Resistance and the only reason for a powered character to join is because you've got to make that choice at the point of creation/training. 

 

Cole keeps the city safe, he's got a capable team backing him up and keeps us all safe. Let's honour him in the right way. 

 

And then he blows the whole fucking zone up. What kind of twatt does that? 

 

Am I the only one who hates the story? 

 

 

 

 

Sorry you're not a fan.  I personally like all the content.  But i see how you might think / feel that way. 

 

Yes, creating a character and then right from the gate, you join the resistance or remain loyal.  But you do the same in heroes and villains too - you pick either side upon creation. 

 

The difference with GR is, in the Praetorian tutorial, you get some decent writing and little bit of story to lead you to either sympathize with the resistance under ghoul attack and being mistreated by the PPD, or you agree with the PPD that they are nefarious terrorists plotting something underground and you be loyal to Cole.  So, you can pick your side after that.  Hero and villain tutorials have none of that.  You pick your side upon creation and then either enter the game or do a tutorial.  At least Villainside has a story to "breaking out" but you're still a villain at the end.  I love Praetoria for that alone and I always do the tutorial because of that.

 

One of the brilliant things about Going Rogue and Praetorian content is that you can switch sides and "spy" on the other.  So, you could start as Loyal - like a "normal" enriche-soaked Praetorian would be - but then switch to Resistance and then report back to Marchand on what they are doing.  Or perhaps, you do find out about Cole's true nature and how people are sheep and his bosses are not the heroes everyone thinks they are.  And it goes the other way too... Start as Resistance, and spy on the Loyalists reporting back to Calvin - and perhaps you might see some of the brilliance behind Cole's drastic means for protecting the people from the Hamidon and keeping them happy, safe, and comfortable in such a dystopian world despite the drama behind the scenes. 

 

And as for Cole blowing the whole place up - well, Primals have systematically dismantled everything he built.  They stopped his invasion, defeated his armies and lieutenants, they invaded Praetoria taking over section by section, they've freed the people and turned them against him - so his last ditch attempt to maintain control and defeat the Primals, he destroys the city and absorbs the remaining souls there for ultimate power to vanquish his enemies.  That's such a classic supervillain move.  And that... that is the perfect kind of villainous "twat" he is.  😄

 

Going Rogue allows you to make probably more choices as a character (even in that sandbox) than Heroes / Villains does.  COH / COV allows you to go back and forth and live in the grey areas of being a vigilante or rogue, which is nice - and it's getting even better with all the newer content.  But GR not only gives you that ability, but the extra layer of still remaining true to the previous faction you were despite the content you are running is just brilliance.  ...for that, GR and Praetoria will always be my favorite.

 

Again, sorry you don't find it as interesting or fun.  But that's okay!  Plenty of game out there to enjoy.  🙂  ...another reason this game is one of the greatest that ever was, is, and will be.  

[Scarlet Shocker]

I think you misunderstood that I'm not a fan of the content overall. 

 

I like it a lot. At least I like a lot of it a lot. (Calvin Scott was a genuinely disappointing finale, tbf) 

 

MY point here was that I think there was a greatly missed opportunity to become something really ruthless, to follow Cole into the moral abyss to the extent you come out the other side so single mindedly focused on his ideology that you make Recluse look like a saint in comparison. 

 

I would love more choices in Blue and Red side - I think it's more important in Red side where your character is more individual and autonomous - but we kind of covered that in other spaces so I didn't really want to deal with that part of it here. 

[Snarky]

9 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

 I admit I'm no Lorologist, but

[Scarlet Shocker]

37 minutes ago, Snarky said:

 

Watch it! I've clocked people like you for less. 

 

Timely retort though! 

[MTeague]

You're not alone. I mean, by the time you do all the mission arcs, you have a pretty solid grasp that Cole is Not a Nice Person, and that some very shady stuff is going down, and anyone who disagrees with him gets disappeared. 

 

But the single biggest question for the Resistance, that is the 95,000 lb behemoth in the room, is "OK, what's your plan for Hamidon / the Devouring Earth?". 

 

I've seen people say "Well, the average person thinks Hamidon is dead."  I don't buy that. There's billboards all over the place reminding people about the monsters lurking behind the Sonic Fences. Provost Marchand outright talks to you about Hamidon during the tutorial if you choose Loyalist, and he's not acting like it's any state secret. He's honestly shocked if you ask "What's a Hamidon?".  Maybe the Resistance assumes the state of half-truce with the Hamidon, with only occasional skirmishes will continue indefinitely, even if Cole were killed/removed. But that's literally gambling the entire species on that assumption. They should be smarter than that. Now maybe you have some true believers who say "It's better to die free than live a slave", and OK, some sympathy for that viewpoint, but it's one thing to gamble your own life, another to gamble all human life on the planet. 

 

Once we have contact with parallel worlds, OK, that's good, but the first step should be evacuating the remaining population, not trying to topple Cole. 

[Frozen Burn]

7 hours ago, MTeague said:

You're not alone. I mean, by the time you do all the mission arcs, you have a pretty solid grasp that Cole is Not a Nice Person, and that some very shady stuff is going down, and anyone who disagrees with him gets disappeared. 

 

But the single biggest question for the Resistance, that is the 95,000 lb behemoth in the room, is "OK, what's your plan for Hamidon / the Devouring Earth?". 

 

I've seen people say "Well, the average person thinks Hamidon is dead."  I don't buy that. There's billboards all over the place reminding people about the monsters lurking behind the Sonic Fences. Provost Marchand outright talks to you about Hamidon during the tutorial if you choose Loyalist, and he's not acting like it's any state secret. He's honestly shocked if you ask "What's a Hamidon?".  Maybe the Resistance assumes the state of half-truce with the Hamidon, with only occasional skirmishes will continue indefinitely, even if Cole were killed/removed. But that's literally gambling the entire species on that assumption. They should be smarter than that. Now maybe you have some true believers who say "It's better to die free than live a slave", and OK, some sympathy for that viewpoint, but it's one thing to gamble your own life, another to gamble all human life on the planet. 

 

Once we have contact with parallel worlds, OK, that's good, but the first step should be evacuating the remaining population, not trying to topple Cole. 

 

Correct - the Hamidon is definitely still alive in Praetoria.  As you state, many references of DE beyond the sonic fences, but it's also stated at the end of the Underground Trial by Desdemona when we find out that Cole didn't defeat Hami and only made a deal, and that the renewed battle with Primal Earth has angered the Hamidon and cannot be "dissuaded" any more. 

 

And you are also correct in that the Resistance has no plan for dealing with the Hamidon directly.  BUT the Resistance does aid in the evacuation of Praetorians coming to Primal Earth.  We do see evidence of evacuation of Praetoria with Marchand (Primal)'s arc "The new Praetorians" and we also get to revisit the ruined Praetorian city in Number Six' arc.  

[Ravenplume]

18 hours ago, Frozen Burn said:

 

Sorry you're not a fan.  I personally like all the content.  But i see how you might think / feel that way. 

 

Yes, creating a character and then right from the gate, you join the resistance or remain loyal.  But you do the same in heroes and villains too - you pick either side upon creation. 

 

 

 

At least when starting red or blue, one can easily pop to Pocket D before doing anything else (if you don't start with the tutorial) and immediately have Null make you Rogue or Vigilante, if you don't really want to be either full Hero or Villain.

[Frozen Burn]

5 hours ago, Ravenplume said:

 

At least when starting red or blue, one can easily pop to Pocket D before doing anything else (if you don't start with the tutorial) and immediately have Null make you Rogue or Vigilante, if you don't really want to be either full Hero or Villain.

 

Yes, but that also defeats the point as well... that's still instantly becoming a certain faction instead of living as one thing for a while and then experiencing some stuff, and then choosing a side. 

 

The only part of the game where you get to live in an area factionless before choosing a side is the Praetorian tutorial.  There, you start as nothing, do a bit of story, and then choose.  COH and COV, you've made the choice as you enter the game, and then only through tips and the morality system (later on at lvl 20) do you "live in an area for a while" and then switch sides or double down and remain loyal to whatever side (or play in a greyer area).  You do that in Praetoria too - you run a couple arcs and at the end, you get a moral choice to stay or change - and if you cahnge, you get another option to still reamain loyal to your previous faction by "spying" or "ratting" on the other side.

[TygerDarkstorm]

9 minutes ago, Frozen Burn said:

 

Yes, but that also defeats the point as well... that's still instantly becoming a certain faction instead of living as one thing for a while and then experiencing some stuff, and then choosing a side. 

 

The only part of the game where you get to live in an area factionless before choosing a side is the Praetorian tutorial.  There, you start as nothing, do a bit of story, and then choose.  COH and COV, you've made the choice as you enter the game, and then only through tips and the morality system (later on at lvl 20) do you "live in an area for a while" and then switch sides or double down and remain loyal to whatever side (or play in a greyer area).  You do that in Praetoria too - you run a couple arcs and at the end, you get a moral choice to stay or change - and if you cahnge, you get another option to still reamain loyal to your previous faction by "spying" or "ratting" on the other side.

If you choose the Galaxy City tutorial, you technically start as factionless until you get to Blue Spectrum.

[Frozen Burn]

8 minutes ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

If you choose the Galaxy City tutorial, you technically start as factionless until you get to Blue Spectrum.

 

You can go to Mercy Island from Galaxy City tutorial?  It's been a long time and don't remember that.

[lemming]

24 minutes ago, Frozen Burn said:

 

You can go to Mercy Island from Galaxy City tutorial?  It's been a long time and don't remember that.

You either lend Blue Spectrum some power, or steal his remaining power.

[Scarlet Shocker]

5 hours ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

If you choose the Galaxy City tutorial, you technically start as factionless until you get to Blue Spectrum.

 

And he should have been called Purple Spectrum to keep it even! 

[Skyhawke]

3 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

 

And he should have been called Purple Spectrum to keep it even! 

 

His costume is blue and red, though. A neat bit of foreshadowing there. 

[TygerDarkstorm]

10 hours ago, Frozen Burn said:

 

You can go to Mercy Island from Galaxy City tutorial?  It's been a long time and don't remember that.

Yep, if you opt to steal Blue Spectrum's power, you become a villain for the rest of the tutorial. If you do, it's kind of funny how confused and disappointed the voice actor gets.

[Scarlet Shocker]

8 hours ago, Skyhawke said:

 

His costume is blue and red, though. A neat bit of foreshadowing there. 

 

Foreshadow is in the Hollows! 😅