Some Exiles stand on dumpy street corners, like pirated DVD pimps. Others preside over even dumpier nightclubs. Some find their own venues, like Sunshine, who eschews the urban sprawl, and hangs out on the breezy boardwalks of Ikeburo (832, -10, -45). In fact, when I went to see her, I noticed she was a stone’s throw from a Machine Investigator; so I stopped to chat. But he did not have much to talk about, apart from old weapons codes. Nearby some Phoenix gang members idly milled about. So, back to business. I liked Sunshine at first sight. She was dressed in an elegantly Oriental manner: a red-gold Gi with black open-toeds. Dark hair, darker eyes, and a relentlessly upbeat disposition. What a breath of fresh air!
1. Morning Star
“Good morning!” In this curious recruitment mish, Sunshine asks you to bring in a reluctant recruit. The candidate is a Machine program tasked with managing the motion of some stars at night (nice work, if you can get it!). Sunshine explains that this work is to be rolled into the work of another program, rendering her superfluous. (Apparently the Machines have discovered re-engineering.) She scoffs at this idea when you find her, and you have to find evidence that she is scheduled for deletion before she consents. But you eventually talk her into a career change (creating art for Sunshine, yay!), and at the end Sunshine whispers “I’m glowing with pride.” Like many of her missions, this first involved the Saikung Shuffle, running back and forth to and from the area adjacent to the Saikung Center hardline. It brought back great memories of power-leveling. Good times!
2. Night for Day
The Truffaut title baffled me in this four-errand mission, which starts out with an all-too-rare “It’s good to see you”. She asks you to collect three disks from three sources, and drop them off.
The first one is a snap: you visit a nest of exiles, including one, Aiguillon, a compression sorting program. She is surrounded by Elite Guards, doing what Elite Guards seldom do: acting reflectively, gathering and sorting data. And they take their work seriously, too! One snaps at me, “No, I’m not a secretary! You think this is so easy. You file code strings all damn day. Jerk”. Aiguillon herself is more forthcoming, handing you a disk and an observation, “I hope she finds this info enlightening.” One other researcher gave me some code for a traffic disruption program. Just what I always wanted!
The next one did not go so well. That is to say, he was dead. But I found the disk in his pockets. I checked out the next room, which was an error, since a burly, sweaty Elite Guard immediately attacked me. Note to self: leave well enough alone!
The third and final pickup was also complicated. I ran into someone named Callisto, who looked surprised and blurted out, “Hey, uhh, I don’t have the date anymore. Some…uh…guys broke in and stole it. Yeah. Tell…erm…Moonshine that I’m sorry” and “So I guess we have nothing to say to each other. Why don’t you take off?” I don’t know, something just didn’t seem right… So we fought. He died. I got the disk.
The final handoff was smooth. A Merv Ravager Gofer was hanging around, wailing about how tough her job was; she was thrilled when I gave her the traffic disruption code, and gave me the contents of a file cabinet in exchange. This turned out to be a shotgun which would have embarrassed me as a raw bluepill. Thanks for nothing!
But the pay was good, the fights were not too taxing, and there wasn’t much heavy lifting or travel. And there were some interesting personalities to meet as well!
So what’s not to like? Loose ends were annoying. Who was trying to disrupt her operations? What was her own real interesting in ferreting out this and that piece of information? How did she hold together an organization when she seemed powerless to protect her own? Oblivious to all this, Sunshine beamed and said, “Thank you and may the sun light your path”. And as I walked back along the boardwalk, the breeze in my hair and the Phoenixes respectfully staying clear of me, my clan crushing our enemies, I thought it was. It was indeed.
3. One Track Mind
Cerulean, the wasted-looking Goth Exile-by-the-sea from Westview, apparently opposes Sunshine. To keep an eye on her, Sunshine asks you to insert some software into a Machine network traffic analysis node. It means popping a CD in a server. Pretty straightforward. The only mystery here is why Cerulean would find anything to contest with Sunshine; their personalities are so different, and they are almost at diametric extremes of the world. The significance of the title is another mystery.
But at the end, Sunshine remarks, “That’s a long shadow you cast. You must be growing in stature”. Say it again!
4. Out of Hand
Sunshine’s concern with Cerulean grows apace. You must steal a book she is holding, and deliver it to someone. This is _such_ a common mission trope. But two things make it memorable. First, Sunshine chirps at the end, “Thank you for brightening my day”. Second, the continuity is awry for this: after getting the book, you are told to take it to someone “who will index it for Cerulean”. The person you just stole it from! This must have slipped through the editing. Or it may be part of some vastly deeper scheme.
5. Left-Hand Path
Remember the book we stole in the last mish? Well, now someone wants it back, and you have to protect it. Unfortunately, the first custodian of the book perishes, and you have to take it to someone else. Oddnesses abound here. Why is Sunshine so interested in books? How does this relate to her character? That seems more like Hypatia’s realm. And at the end, Sunshine says the exact same thing she said in the previous mission: “Thank you for brightening my day”. Did someone run out of positivity at some point in the editing process?
Of the missions, then, the first one is the most interesting (first time I have ever written that, I think), because it seems most in character. The second mish was also very satisfying, with the backstory, the micro-arc of the traffic disruption device. But the last three kind of fall flat. The conflict with Cerulean seems to make no sense. And the continuity seems off in at least two instances. Naturally, all are worth doing, but the first two are the best. Oh, and the reasoning for the mish names eluded me entirely.
My lasting thanks go to Rifk from my clan for his help with these missions. I would never have been able to complete them without his help.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Sugar Shack 52: Bishop and Stealthy Love
After too many months in the Desert of the Real, I return to surveying the Exile contacts and their missions. They’re a great way to get loot and info and xps, and learn more of the backstory of the Matrix. Today we meet a mover and shaker in Chinatown.
With an entire building bearing his name, you might think that Mr. Bishop would receive you in his office or board room. After all, he is certainly comfortable enough with redpills; why, our clan has hung out in his place since forever! But wealthy and influential though he is, when it comes to missions, he is suddenly cagey, and chooses to meet you outside his building, yet in a public place. It may be that, like HP, he is worried about leaks, and thinks that nothing is better hidden than in plain sight.
Be that as it may, Mr. Bishop has desires best barred from the boardroom. Like many an Exile, he savors the old and the antique, much like the aged who obsessively collect the trivia of their youth. And like many an Exile, he dares not pursue his love directly, and needs you as a go-between. All his missions place you in the role of procurer.
1. The Hunter
His first mish is standard, looking for some debris from his past. In this case, he craves a set of gems held by some Merovingian redpills, and a statue held by some machinists led by an Agent Jones. I averted my gaze from him as I fought; praying he would not recognize me and report me to my clan Council. These were both obtained after some straightforward gunplay. Then the purloined loot was placed into a wall safe. And thus Bishop laid his hands on them without actually laying his hands on anything: the general Exile pattern.
Alas, neither gems nor statue were vieweable, just some generic item avatars. If only we could behold them, perhaps we could feel what the Exiles feel for these things they endlessly pursue.
2. Unravel
Did I displease Bishop last time? Is that why he gave me such a trivial task for my second mish? All he asks me to do is pick up an already-paid-for package and drop it off. The kind of task you’d give you kids to do at school! Perhaps he is testing me….
I traveled to Chukokkula and received the package. As always I chatted with everyone there, and as we all hung out, grooving on the code, an Elite Guard took a long drag on a joint, looked out the window, and shared the following reflection:
“Destiny rules us all, even here in the Matrix. Do you find it strange that I believe in Destiny? Destiny is a system, a pattern of events carried out with precision and absolute certainty. Destiny is nothing but code applied to life, giving the illusion of choice. Here, everything is code, and this everything is ruled by Destiny.”
“Destiny, schmestiny, who’s bankrolling this?” I asked, and set off to find Bach, the recipient. I wondered if I should get an all-brown outfit for these UPS runs. On the other hand, the all-yellow was more appealing, and had the benefit of setting off my hair.
So, anyway, I found that Bach was being held hostage by some twit who wanted to hijack the delivery. Not on my watch! Harsh words were followed by harsh fighting. I was the only one standing when the smoke cleared, and I completed the drop-off to the grateful Bach. Interestingly, there was a door between her and me, which seemed openable by hacking, by killing one of the thugs and retrieving an access card from him, or, ironically, by getting a key from a drawer! I liked the ingenuity!
3. Heirloom
I loved the way this mission began, with Bishop purring “Your reputation grows, Sugaree.” Say it again! Then, “I’d like you to go pick up an associate of mine and bring him to Chotte Brothers Imports Offices. His name is Jellyfish, deliver him unharmed if you don’t mind”. I loved the sly wit. I could tell we were really bonding; I started thinking about a corner office with an Ikea furniture upgrade.
From my operator I learned that “Jellyfish” contained some valuable code in his RSI. Kind of like steganography meets the Matrix, I guess. As I was looking at the non-descript JF, he looked right back and greeted me with: “What’s wrong? You were expecting a bondage king? Not all of us Exiles dress like freaks, you know.” I cleared my throat and hastily looked away, wondering what Raymond Chandler would have said.
Nearby, there was a computer with a message calling someone a bigot; I could imagine who had sent it... Naturally my escort mission was a fab success! Who would have suspected I was with an Exile! My fellow machinists chose to intervene, despite my protestation that I was on the team. Illyria, explain to the agents for me! The drop-off contact, after paying me off, explained that the Machines often intervened, inasmuch as Bishop and Chotte tend to traffic in materials which disrupt the current versions of the Matrix. I thought they and Anome would have a lot in common! And the Auditor downtown, always obsessing about memory leaks and the Matrix, would also have an interest.
4. Play Dead
No discussion of items traffickers would be complete without mentioning Digger and the Collector! I particularly enjoyed the backstory on this one: Digger has found something. The Collector wants it. So does Bishop, whose recipe for universal happiness involves paying Digger to give the Collector a fake.
But before I can get in to see Digger, his handler makes me fight a simulacra…perhaps to make me show I know my way around fakes? An alternate solution exited, involving getting a disk to a machine generating the replicas, but I was unable to figure it out, and uncharacteristically resorted to fighting, my least favorite form of defeating others. Honest!
After dealing in the past with mystic candy, enchanted candlesticks, and packets of numinous gems, I was expecting a lot from this item. A tiara? Shoes? A brooch? A ring, maybe? A Sword of a Hundred Truths? But instead, all I got from Digger was a tape. And a VHS tape at that! Apparently the elite personalities of the Matrix Exile community have a fondness for Days of Our Lives, Max Headroom, or I Dream of Jeannie. Go figure!
Before I had time to digitize it for my crew’s amusement, I had to drop it off. This cut-out had a great backstory. She was an archiving program who had defected from the Machines to protect her daughter, threatened with deletion. This effort was unsuccessful, and she eventually came to Bishop’s employ. She seems to have listened to the tape. She did not get much from the images (Crossfire? The Daily Show? Persephone as a weather reporter? The Merovingian with his own game show?) but said the voice was very familiar. I was dying from suspense, and was mercifully distracted by one of her colleagues, who went off on an absorbing, self-absorbed rant about the maternal program, the world they live in, and how real it is. I politely nodded as I counted my info, and absently waved to them as I left.
Bishop was on a high, I could tell. The pay was good, and he gushed, “with your help, my business grows even stronger”. Say it again, big spender! Say it like you’re Donald Trump!
5. Cold Sweat
An unexpected continuation of Play Dead! Bishop has tinkered with the artifact (perhaps redubbing it like What’s Up, Tiger Lilly? Or overlaying the voice of Orson Welles?) and now wants _this_ artifact taken to the Collector, who has already received the fake. My mission was to break in, take the fake, and replace it with the altered original. Got that? Well, get this: the office with the wall safe is located in Bishop Imports!! Someone else must have thought about the incongruity of this, for when I arrived I discovered the item had been moved. Nonetheless, I tracked it down, laid waste to the defenders, and made the switch.
Logic Problem: If the Collector came back, found all his guardian staff dead, and the artifact still in the safe, not stolen, don’t you think he would be suspicious? Or is it just me?
And that’s it! This suite is worthy for the great backstory, the characters, and their reveries. Bishop is an intriguing character, though most of the intrigue takes place by inference (meaning I made it all up). But you get involved in the networking and schemes of some of the major players in the Matrix, and that can only be a beautiful thing. Let’s hope it comes back to haunt us.
With an entire building bearing his name, you might think that Mr. Bishop would receive you in his office or board room. After all, he is certainly comfortable enough with redpills; why, our clan has hung out in his place since forever! But wealthy and influential though he is, when it comes to missions, he is suddenly cagey, and chooses to meet you outside his building, yet in a public place. It may be that, like HP, he is worried about leaks, and thinks that nothing is better hidden than in plain sight.
Be that as it may, Mr. Bishop has desires best barred from the boardroom. Like many an Exile, he savors the old and the antique, much like the aged who obsessively collect the trivia of their youth. And like many an Exile, he dares not pursue his love directly, and needs you as a go-between. All his missions place you in the role of procurer.
1. The Hunter
His first mish is standard, looking for some debris from his past. In this case, he craves a set of gems held by some Merovingian redpills, and a statue held by some machinists led by an Agent Jones. I averted my gaze from him as I fought; praying he would not recognize me and report me to my clan Council. These were both obtained after some straightforward gunplay. Then the purloined loot was placed into a wall safe. And thus Bishop laid his hands on them without actually laying his hands on anything: the general Exile pattern.
Alas, neither gems nor statue were vieweable, just some generic item avatars. If only we could behold them, perhaps we could feel what the Exiles feel for these things they endlessly pursue.
2. Unravel
Did I displease Bishop last time? Is that why he gave me such a trivial task for my second mish? All he asks me to do is pick up an already-paid-for package and drop it off. The kind of task you’d give you kids to do at school! Perhaps he is testing me….
I traveled to Chukokkula and received the package. As always I chatted with everyone there, and as we all hung out, grooving on the code, an Elite Guard took a long drag on a joint, looked out the window, and shared the following reflection:
“Destiny rules us all, even here in the Matrix. Do you find it strange that I believe in Destiny? Destiny is a system, a pattern of events carried out with precision and absolute certainty. Destiny is nothing but code applied to life, giving the illusion of choice. Here, everything is code, and this everything is ruled by Destiny.”
“Destiny, schmestiny, who’s bankrolling this?” I asked, and set off to find Bach, the recipient. I wondered if I should get an all-brown outfit for these UPS runs. On the other hand, the all-yellow was more appealing, and had the benefit of setting off my hair.
So, anyway, I found that Bach was being held hostage by some twit who wanted to hijack the delivery. Not on my watch! Harsh words were followed by harsh fighting. I was the only one standing when the smoke cleared, and I completed the drop-off to the grateful Bach. Interestingly, there was a door between her and me, which seemed openable by hacking, by killing one of the thugs and retrieving an access card from him, or, ironically, by getting a key from a drawer! I liked the ingenuity!
3. Heirloom
I loved the way this mission began, with Bishop purring “Your reputation grows, Sugaree.” Say it again! Then, “I’d like you to go pick up an associate of mine and bring him to Chotte Brothers Imports Offices. His name is Jellyfish, deliver him unharmed if you don’t mind”. I loved the sly wit. I could tell we were really bonding; I started thinking about a corner office with an Ikea furniture upgrade.
From my operator I learned that “Jellyfish” contained some valuable code in his RSI. Kind of like steganography meets the Matrix, I guess. As I was looking at the non-descript JF, he looked right back and greeted me with: “What’s wrong? You were expecting a bondage king? Not all of us Exiles dress like freaks, you know.” I cleared my throat and hastily looked away, wondering what Raymond Chandler would have said.
Nearby, there was a computer with a message calling someone a bigot; I could imagine who had sent it... Naturally my escort mission was a fab success! Who would have suspected I was with an Exile! My fellow machinists chose to intervene, despite my protestation that I was on the team. Illyria, explain to the agents for me! The drop-off contact, after paying me off, explained that the Machines often intervened, inasmuch as Bishop and Chotte tend to traffic in materials which disrupt the current versions of the Matrix. I thought they and Anome would have a lot in common! And the Auditor downtown, always obsessing about memory leaks and the Matrix, would also have an interest.
4. Play Dead
No discussion of items traffickers would be complete without mentioning Digger and the Collector! I particularly enjoyed the backstory on this one: Digger has found something. The Collector wants it. So does Bishop, whose recipe for universal happiness involves paying Digger to give the Collector a fake.
But before I can get in to see Digger, his handler makes me fight a simulacra…perhaps to make me show I know my way around fakes? An alternate solution exited, involving getting a disk to a machine generating the replicas, but I was unable to figure it out, and uncharacteristically resorted to fighting, my least favorite form of defeating others. Honest!
After dealing in the past with mystic candy, enchanted candlesticks, and packets of numinous gems, I was expecting a lot from this item. A tiara? Shoes? A brooch? A ring, maybe? A Sword of a Hundred Truths? But instead, all I got from Digger was a tape. And a VHS tape at that! Apparently the elite personalities of the Matrix Exile community have a fondness for Days of Our Lives, Max Headroom, or I Dream of Jeannie. Go figure!
Before I had time to digitize it for my crew’s amusement, I had to drop it off. This cut-out had a great backstory. She was an archiving program who had defected from the Machines to protect her daughter, threatened with deletion. This effort was unsuccessful, and she eventually came to Bishop’s employ. She seems to have listened to the tape. She did not get much from the images (Crossfire? The Daily Show? Persephone as a weather reporter? The Merovingian with his own game show?) but said the voice was very familiar. I was dying from suspense, and was mercifully distracted by one of her colleagues, who went off on an absorbing, self-absorbed rant about the maternal program, the world they live in, and how real it is. I politely nodded as I counted my info, and absently waved to them as I left.
Bishop was on a high, I could tell. The pay was good, and he gushed, “with your help, my business grows even stronger”. Say it again, big spender! Say it like you’re Donald Trump!
5. Cold Sweat
An unexpected continuation of Play Dead! Bishop has tinkered with the artifact (perhaps redubbing it like What’s Up, Tiger Lilly? Or overlaying the voice of Orson Welles?) and now wants _this_ artifact taken to the Collector, who has already received the fake. My mission was to break in, take the fake, and replace it with the altered original. Got that? Well, get this: the office with the wall safe is located in Bishop Imports!! Someone else must have thought about the incongruity of this, for when I arrived I discovered the item had been moved. Nonetheless, I tracked it down, laid waste to the defenders, and made the switch.
Logic Problem: If the Collector came back, found all his guardian staff dead, and the artifact still in the safe, not stolen, don’t you think he would be suspicious? Or is it just me?
And that’s it! This suite is worthy for the great backstory, the characters, and their reveries. Bishop is an intriguing character, though most of the intrigue takes place by inference (meaning I made it all up). But you get involved in the networking and schemes of some of the major players in the Matrix, and that can only be a beautiful thing. Let’s hope it comes back to haunt us.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Sugar Shack 51: Dame White: Loud as a Loon
And now I turn my weary brown pumps to the Far East, the Asian glories of rice and seaweed, the last district to yield its exotic, exilic secrets to my inquiring heart. I feel excitement; I feel reluctance. Soon, the nine remaining Exiles will be documented and my cup will be drained. And then, what will there be? The Pandora’s Box suites? The construct missions? Player events? There seems so much to do, yet I feel anxiety. And soon I will feel remorse, satisfied or bitter I know not, for the final judgment lies hidden in a future I cannot discern. But go on I must, the code compels.
Dame White is the mother of the clashing colors we recently studied in Westview (Mr. Black is their father). Various archival materials, now long gone, recount how she and her husband were displaced by the Merovingian and Persephone; still others speak of Dame White as an aesthetic force tweaking the Matrix for beauty. A review of her current state inclines one to skepticism, though.
She resides in Shinjuku, in Club Masanume (-189. -6. 337), on the lower level. Above and outside, flocks of Jade Moons angrily mill about. I’ll admit it; I felt nervous approaching her. The club’s décor emphasized recessed green lights, and delightful landscape scrolls. For someone who’s had so many kids, I must say, she’s in fine form! In fact, give her a darker outfit and she could pass for Agent Pace! But the effect is marred once you talk to her. Doing a few of her mishes erodes it completely. Whatever she may once have been, the Dame White of the current age is loud as a loon, abrasive as a sandstorm, and grasping as a magpie. No wonder her husband lives so far away! Let us probe the darkness that is White.
1. Data Mining
If I were her, I’d want to know what my kids over in Westview were up to! But perhaps she read my mission reports and is up to speed on their mischief. At any rate, her inaugural instructions for me this afternoon are pertain to Kowloon and Shirabaka. “Yes, I know what you want and it just so happens that I do have a job for you.” I need to visit a couple of computers. I like her businesslike style.
The first one, in Shinjuku, is guarded by a cordial Blood Drunk, who cheerfully advises me that “You so much as touch that computer; I will gladly break your fingers”. After its data was uploaded, I gave Dame White an update, which was a poor decision on my part. She responded: “You mean you still don’t have the data on Shirakaba? Well, what are you wasting my time for? Go get it!” I cleared my throat and hung up. “Well, what are you wasting my time for?” I told my operator, “Go get the next site!”
The second computer was much harder to get to. There were five or six souped-up elite guards. Eventually I prevailed, got the disk, uploaded it, and was told…
“Hmm, yes… As I suspected, this data shows that… Eh? Well, what is it? You’ve got your pay, haven’t you? So stop pestering me!”
I’m beginning to see why her children have all fled so far afield.
2. Running Interference
Someone somewhere is delivering some item to somebody. That’s it! And Dame White wants it intercepted. You can reach the single site in this mish without much trouble, but it turns out you have been anticipated, and the item is nowhere to be found. Needless to say you come under attack.
Mrs. White is livid about this! She goes off about “some stinking, slimy, pathetic little weasel” tipped off the opposition. (Her imperturbable picture, perched above this tirade, is delightfully ironic!) She throws my money down on the ground, and then goes back to pondering death and destruction. I wish I had thought to ask her kids about her. What stories they could tell!
3. Polygraphic
Dame White tasks you with identifying and eliminating a traitor within her organization, by polygraphing four of her chief lieutenants. The first, Fraction, is clean, and takes the test without hesitation. Some of the White security forces hanging around her wonder if the Dame isn’t getting a little paranoid. They’ll pay for their impertinence! At the second site, looking for the second lieutenant, Dollar, I hear from an Enforcer, “Look, you want my advice? “Stick that thing on Dame White’s finger. Yeah, you heard me!” Then, “I didn’t say nothin’. We never had this talk.” Dollar herself (wearing the same golden gi as do all four) refuses the test until I kill three of her tough guards. Then she does so, loudly claiming it to be under duress.
The third one is a, ahem, dead end: the lieutenant and everyone there is dead. The fourth one is the target. Naturally, at the end, the Dame claims, “Hah, I knew it all along!”
This long mission is well-designed. When I heard there were _four_ suspects, I worried about this being tedious. But the four encounters are well-differentiated even though the four principals looked identical. Nice work!
4. Disk Jockey
With the traitor gone, it is back to business. She wants you to get two disks, from separate locations for her. Naturally there are the usual slugfests for the first one. After another fight at the second site, the disk is simply handed to you by a principal who says “It’s okay, they just think I’m the janitor.” I’m not sure what was going on with this. After all, if they thought this person was the janitor, then she could have simply smuggled the disk out in her overalls pocket. In any case, then it’s off to drop them off with one of the Dame’s operatives.
My patron was clearly overwhelmed with me! “Hm, you seem to be doing fairly well. For once.”
The White operative slated to receive the disks has been killed by a seething crowd of five or six blood drunks, nobles, and elite guards. They all started firing at me too, but their aim sucked, because I was able to put each disk in a computer and escape without being killed. Go figure! One taunted me with the usual “Fool! You have no idea of the power of the artifact you seek!” Yeah, whatever! Then Mrs. White had the information she needed and we were off to the next and final mish.
5. Paydirt
An artifact is soon to change hands, and a payment is soon to be made. Dame White wants both. This sounds like that the second mission was originally intended to be, before it went south. You are tasked with taking two of her aides to break up the transaction. You go to a single site and engage in extended mayhem. You end up with two packages, but zero aides. Then it got interesting.
I took the artifact to White’s hand-off. There were already many bodies in the building and lots of nervous security guards. The main contact was agitated, and couldn’t stop talking: “Come on now, don’t f-freak out on me. Give me one of the packages and put the other one in the wall safe. It’s easy. Easy.” And “Okay, okay. This is good. I like this. Okay, put the other package in the, uhh, wall safe over there. Yeah.” When I, cool as a cucumber, was done, the hand-off said, “Right. Okay, good. Yeah. The Dame’ll like this. Okay. Everybody’s okay.” I tipped my hat and sauntered out for a smoke.
Dame White, ever the generous one, contacted me to say that the artifact was better than they expected, and the captured payment was less. ”That being the case, I suppose…I suppose I might as well give the captured money to you. Just don’t cause me any more trouble for a while.” I could tell she liked me.
Conclusion. Dame White has the strong, abrasive, effective leadership style you would expect from one of MegaCity’s senior Exiles. And I have to say, it’s easy to see why she and her husband live in different districts; she cannot be easy to get along with. Yet for all her power and influence, she limits herself to the same kind of Maltese Falcon knock-off missions that are more suited for the Digger or Mockingbird, when you would expect her to be working on much vaster projects. She seems like the millionaire who cannot resist checking payphones for loose change.
On the other hand, there is a logical progression to these five missions which is quite satisfying: she learns of the trade (#1), she fails to intercept it (#2), she straightens out her organization (#3, #4), and finally succeeds with the heist (#5). With so many children, an estranged husband, and a preoccupation with “things”, Dame White is one of the most intriguing characters in the Matrix, and one begging for further development beyond her brief appearance in the Pandora’s Box arcs. Give her more! The Dame damns, but doesn’t disappoint!
Dame White is the mother of the clashing colors we recently studied in Westview (Mr. Black is their father). Various archival materials, now long gone, recount how she and her husband were displaced by the Merovingian and Persephone; still others speak of Dame White as an aesthetic force tweaking the Matrix for beauty. A review of her current state inclines one to skepticism, though.
She resides in Shinjuku, in Club Masanume (-189. -6. 337), on the lower level. Above and outside, flocks of Jade Moons angrily mill about. I’ll admit it; I felt nervous approaching her. The club’s décor emphasized recessed green lights, and delightful landscape scrolls. For someone who’s had so many kids, I must say, she’s in fine form! In fact, give her a darker outfit and she could pass for Agent Pace! But the effect is marred once you talk to her. Doing a few of her mishes erodes it completely. Whatever she may once have been, the Dame White of the current age is loud as a loon, abrasive as a sandstorm, and grasping as a magpie. No wonder her husband lives so far away! Let us probe the darkness that is White.
1. Data Mining
If I were her, I’d want to know what my kids over in Westview were up to! But perhaps she read my mission reports and is up to speed on their mischief. At any rate, her inaugural instructions for me this afternoon are pertain to Kowloon and Shirabaka. “Yes, I know what you want and it just so happens that I do have a job for you.” I need to visit a couple of computers. I like her businesslike style.
The first one, in Shinjuku, is guarded by a cordial Blood Drunk, who cheerfully advises me that “You so much as touch that computer; I will gladly break your fingers”. After its data was uploaded, I gave Dame White an update, which was a poor decision on my part. She responded: “You mean you still don’t have the data on Shirakaba? Well, what are you wasting my time for? Go get it!” I cleared my throat and hung up. “Well, what are you wasting my time for?” I told my operator, “Go get the next site!”
The second computer was much harder to get to. There were five or six souped-up elite guards. Eventually I prevailed, got the disk, uploaded it, and was told…
“Hmm, yes… As I suspected, this data shows that… Eh? Well, what is it? You’ve got your pay, haven’t you? So stop pestering me!”
I’m beginning to see why her children have all fled so far afield.
2. Running Interference
Someone somewhere is delivering some item to somebody. That’s it! And Dame White wants it intercepted. You can reach the single site in this mish without much trouble, but it turns out you have been anticipated, and the item is nowhere to be found. Needless to say you come under attack.
Mrs. White is livid about this! She goes off about “some stinking, slimy, pathetic little weasel” tipped off the opposition. (Her imperturbable picture, perched above this tirade, is delightfully ironic!) She throws my money down on the ground, and then goes back to pondering death and destruction. I wish I had thought to ask her kids about her. What stories they could tell!
3. Polygraphic
Dame White tasks you with identifying and eliminating a traitor within her organization, by polygraphing four of her chief lieutenants. The first, Fraction, is clean, and takes the test without hesitation. Some of the White security forces hanging around her wonder if the Dame isn’t getting a little paranoid. They’ll pay for their impertinence! At the second site, looking for the second lieutenant, Dollar, I hear from an Enforcer, “Look, you want my advice? “Stick that thing on Dame White’s finger. Yeah, you heard me!” Then, “I didn’t say nothin’. We never had this talk.” Dollar herself (wearing the same golden gi as do all four) refuses the test until I kill three of her tough guards. Then she does so, loudly claiming it to be under duress.
The third one is a, ahem, dead end: the lieutenant and everyone there is dead. The fourth one is the target. Naturally, at the end, the Dame claims, “Hah, I knew it all along!”
This long mission is well-designed. When I heard there were _four_ suspects, I worried about this being tedious. But the four encounters are well-differentiated even though the four principals looked identical. Nice work!
4. Disk Jockey
With the traitor gone, it is back to business. She wants you to get two disks, from separate locations for her. Naturally there are the usual slugfests for the first one. After another fight at the second site, the disk is simply handed to you by a principal who says “It’s okay, they just think I’m the janitor.” I’m not sure what was going on with this. After all, if they thought this person was the janitor, then she could have simply smuggled the disk out in her overalls pocket. In any case, then it’s off to drop them off with one of the Dame’s operatives.
My patron was clearly overwhelmed with me! “Hm, you seem to be doing fairly well. For once.”
The White operative slated to receive the disks has been killed by a seething crowd of five or six blood drunks, nobles, and elite guards. They all started firing at me too, but their aim sucked, because I was able to put each disk in a computer and escape without being killed. Go figure! One taunted me with the usual “Fool! You have no idea of the power of the artifact you seek!” Yeah, whatever! Then Mrs. White had the information she needed and we were off to the next and final mish.
5. Paydirt
An artifact is soon to change hands, and a payment is soon to be made. Dame White wants both. This sounds like that the second mission was originally intended to be, before it went south. You are tasked with taking two of her aides to break up the transaction. You go to a single site and engage in extended mayhem. You end up with two packages, but zero aides. Then it got interesting.
I took the artifact to White’s hand-off. There were already many bodies in the building and lots of nervous security guards. The main contact was agitated, and couldn’t stop talking: “Come on now, don’t f-freak out on me. Give me one of the packages and put the other one in the wall safe. It’s easy. Easy.” And “Okay, okay. This is good. I like this. Okay, put the other package in the, uhh, wall safe over there. Yeah.” When I, cool as a cucumber, was done, the hand-off said, “Right. Okay, good. Yeah. The Dame’ll like this. Okay. Everybody’s okay.” I tipped my hat and sauntered out for a smoke.
Dame White, ever the generous one, contacted me to say that the artifact was better than they expected, and the captured payment was less. ”That being the case, I suppose…I suppose I might as well give the captured money to you. Just don’t cause me any more trouble for a while.” I could tell she liked me.
Conclusion. Dame White has the strong, abrasive, effective leadership style you would expect from one of MegaCity’s senior Exiles. And I have to say, it’s easy to see why she and her husband live in different districts; she cannot be easy to get along with. Yet for all her power and influence, she limits herself to the same kind of Maltese Falcon knock-off missions that are more suited for the Digger or Mockingbird, when you would expect her to be working on much vaster projects. She seems like the millionaire who cannot resist checking payphones for loose change.
On the other hand, there is a logical progression to these five missions which is quite satisfying: she learns of the trade (#1), she fails to intercept it (#2), she straightens out her organization (#3, #4), and finally succeeds with the heist (#5). With so many children, an estranged husband, and a preoccupation with “things”, Dame White is one of the most intriguing characters in the Matrix, and one begging for further development beyond her brief appearance in the Pandora’s Box arcs. Give her more! The Dame damns, but doesn’t disappoint!
Friday, June 23, 2006
Sugar Shack 50: Westview: The Best and the Rest
Well! Another district come and gone! I seldom had the deep resonance with Westview that I felt with the downtown and Chinatown regions. It always seemed so slummy. But, really, when you compare it with some of the rogues gallery from Richland, maybe that’s unfair. After all, you don’t have the druggies and fruitcakes here that you do with Richland. And many of Dame White’s children seem to have taken up residence here, as well: of the nine known exiles in Westview, no less than eight are chromatic in nature (Mockingbird seems to be the sole exception). Why this might be remains a mystery, one of the many intriguing, unexplained aspects of this rough region.
Most Interesting and Most Fun: Rose, hands-down! The unconscious humor of her relentless striving to earn the respect of her siblings, and their scorn. Definitely worth doing! And her restless drive to earn respect lays the foundation for many, many more entertaining missions in the future. Bring them on!
Second-Most Interesting: Cerulean. Besides the cool name and her forlorn milieu, her efforts to broker a truce were great. And her speech style was curious. Both made her stand out from most of her brothers, sisters, and peers.
Most Frustrating: Mockingbird, obsessed with artifacts which are never explained or even visualized or even described. Agonizing! I know that detailed descriptions are not part opf the narrative style of this game, sure. Even so, Mockingbird or one of her flunkies could gave gushed a little. Something like this: (Mockingbird on her new candlesticks) Look at the way the flame above them shimmers when you light them. And the way their russet wax glistens in their slow flame. When they have burned for a few seconds, you start to see the code bits flicker like tiny sparks around the columns; strange shapes form and flow within the code, and you can see people and things from other places. I don’t know what those places are, but I believe that a special gem will let me see them clearly. And that’s what I want in your next mission”.
Most Perplexing: Indigo. He seems to rule the roost around here but he cannot get it together to get ammo to his own folks fighting on his behalf. What’s with that? Considering how mortifying this would be, you would expect some comment from him or his troops about it. How can he ever hope to master the assets of Westview when he can’t remember to bring the hot dogs for the company picnic?
Toughest Mission: Indigo- Gang Rumble. Oddly, Indigo seems to control the actual lakes of the lake area, but we never see the background or the results of this. The backstory is crying out to be explained.
Most So-So: Many, really. Greene. Amber. Grisaille.
Most Missed Opportunities: There are a lot. All the artifacts which Mockingbird wants. The whole business with Grisaille trying to take control of the lakes. The newspaper reporter that we never hear from elsewhere. Greene so strikingly dissimilar from his mobs (as well as the others). Whatever happened to Cerulean to make her look so weird and be so self-conscious about it? Mandarin has angered the Merovingian; what was happening with this? And with so many of their children in residence here, one would expect Dame White and Mr. Black to take more of an interest in this region and its affairs. It killed me not to know! Indeed, there are story leads aplenty scattered in the dark, dingy streets of Westview!
From a larger point of view, the most fascinating finding was the importance of the lakes as a strategic asset, some sort of reservoir of power. In light of this, of course, one must wonder why the Merovingian, that quintessentially power-driven man, takes no apparent interest in the lakes. It’s quite unlike him to leave anything so good so alone. Perhaps future story arcs will trace his efforts to gain control over it.
Conclusion: The Exiles of Westview are personal and intense. What they lacked in big-idea and big-personality missions (like the ones downtown) they make up for in the small-town, small-family qualities which pervade these. You don’t encounter major Exiles. You don’t see the world in danger. You don’t meet curious redpills. It’s more like Desperate Housewives than Star Wars. But the personalities are interesting, and there are intriguing hints of depths left in shadow.
Most Interesting and Most Fun: Rose, hands-down! The unconscious humor of her relentless striving to earn the respect of her siblings, and their scorn. Definitely worth doing! And her restless drive to earn respect lays the foundation for many, many more entertaining missions in the future. Bring them on!
Second-Most Interesting: Cerulean. Besides the cool name and her forlorn milieu, her efforts to broker a truce were great. And her speech style was curious. Both made her stand out from most of her brothers, sisters, and peers.
Most Frustrating: Mockingbird, obsessed with artifacts which are never explained or even visualized or even described. Agonizing! I know that detailed descriptions are not part opf the narrative style of this game, sure. Even so, Mockingbird or one of her flunkies could gave gushed a little. Something like this: (Mockingbird on her new candlesticks) Look at the way the flame above them shimmers when you light them. And the way their russet wax glistens in their slow flame. When they have burned for a few seconds, you start to see the code bits flicker like tiny sparks around the columns; strange shapes form and flow within the code, and you can see people and things from other places. I don’t know what those places are, but I believe that a special gem will let me see them clearly. And that’s what I want in your next mission”.
Most Perplexing: Indigo. He seems to rule the roost around here but he cannot get it together to get ammo to his own folks fighting on his behalf. What’s with that? Considering how mortifying this would be, you would expect some comment from him or his troops about it. How can he ever hope to master the assets of Westview when he can’t remember to bring the hot dogs for the company picnic?
Toughest Mission: Indigo- Gang Rumble. Oddly, Indigo seems to control the actual lakes of the lake area, but we never see the background or the results of this. The backstory is crying out to be explained.
Most So-So: Many, really. Greene. Amber. Grisaille.
Most Missed Opportunities: There are a lot. All the artifacts which Mockingbird wants. The whole business with Grisaille trying to take control of the lakes. The newspaper reporter that we never hear from elsewhere. Greene so strikingly dissimilar from his mobs (as well as the others). Whatever happened to Cerulean to make her look so weird and be so self-conscious about it? Mandarin has angered the Merovingian; what was happening with this? And with so many of their children in residence here, one would expect Dame White and Mr. Black to take more of an interest in this region and its affairs. It killed me not to know! Indeed, there are story leads aplenty scattered in the dark, dingy streets of Westview!
From a larger point of view, the most fascinating finding was the importance of the lakes as a strategic asset, some sort of reservoir of power. In light of this, of course, one must wonder why the Merovingian, that quintessentially power-driven man, takes no apparent interest in the lakes. It’s quite unlike him to leave anything so good so alone. Perhaps future story arcs will trace his efforts to gain control over it.
Conclusion: The Exiles of Westview are personal and intense. What they lacked in big-idea and big-personality missions (like the ones downtown) they make up for in the small-town, small-family qualities which pervade these. You don’t encounter major Exiles. You don’t see the world in danger. You don’t meet curious redpills. It’s more like Desperate Housewives than Star Wars. But the personalities are interesting, and there are intriguing hints of depths left in shadow.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Sugar Shack 49: Amber: The End of Westview
Amber’s hangout, Club Kaos (-552. -4. -611) is a grim place. It lacks the light and lively feel you get from some nightclubs; perhaps it is the green light everywhere. (Note to self: avoid green for the next Collective Machinist bash...) Over a tableau of bored barkeeps and listless dancers, the dark-eyed exile wears a dark pantsuit, setting off blonde, straggly hair. She seemed serious. And she seemed worried, too: swarms and swarms of her security staff massed outside, eager to do her bidding. But she did not want them. She wanted me. And who could blame her?
1. A Suspicious Character
Rogers way is Amber’s turf, and some guy has been showing too much silent interest in it. This is seldom a positive development, and she wants you to investigate him and his motivation. He’s not hard to find. But when you do enter his apartment, he says, “about time you got here. Tell Amber her response time sucks.“ Quite the surprise! Amber is not expecting this and directs you to take the disk to have it checked out.
When this is done, there is indeed more to him than meets the eye, as Amber confirms. She seems impressed. Your patron does not share the results, and you complete this mission without ever knowing who this guy is or what he is all about.
2. A Safe Place
Amber has an escort mish for you: an informant needs to be taken to a safe place. But the informant, aptly named “Craven”, refuses to emerge from her bedroom until you have killed everything else there: some big, bad vampires. Then, there is a long, eventful hike to the safehouse, with many mobs to slay. And when you get her to the safehouse, filled with Amber’s ASPs? She warmly responds, “What are you waiting for, a tip?”
I love this job!
3. Second Try
The bluepill we escorted last time is now missing, and needs rescue and escort. This starts with finding a dead exile, whose picture leads us to another location, where the straying informant is found. Both locations are those weird, maze-like buildings in Westview that are so trashy and filled with junk. I always get lost in them! Her escort involved much, much killing of local mobs. Paradoxically enough, these mobs you have to kill are the exact same mobs (ASPs) that Amber supposedly controls. How curious! Anyway, eventually you get her to the protection safe house again and you are done. She adds, “Look I know you have some sort of weird crush on me, but I want you to leave me alone.” With pleasure, my dear!
4. The Final Clue
Amber continues to fret about unfriendly efforts to cut into her turf. She needs to know who is behind this. The clue is found on a CD which is held by a band of fierce hackers. Not easy to take them all down, and I had to withdraw a few times to rest up. Eventually the CD is procured and delivered to Shingo, one of Amber’s lieutenants, who hangs out surrounded by Level-51+ level security staff. Glad I didn’t have to fight my way past them! Amber is pleased with the fast, efficient work. I was pleased to be alive.
5. Payback Time
Based on the last mission’s CD, Amber has determined that her mischievous brother Mandarin was behind the attacks, and wants payback, through a special virus placed in his systems. Getting into the room with the target computer involved a lot of gun fighting. I could overhear two guards speaking disparagingly of Mandarin being clueless “as usual”. Then I had planted the virus, and was fleeing for my life.
This final, finale mission was surprisingly straightforward, not to say simple. Not that I complained!
And with this, all my Westview missions were over! This region ended well, with warm praise from Amber, claiming that “I won’t forget you, Sugaree; you’ll always have a home in Rogers Way.” How nice it would be if after you have completed all the region’s missions, the mobs of the last Exile lord would leave you alone, or even come over and /dap you! But I appreciated the warmth, after so much callous, crude behavior from the others.
Conclusion: One unusually interesting loose end, with the researcher from the very first mnission left unexplained. It drive me nuts! The informant's alternatingly arrogant and cowardly behavior was entertaining. And there were some tough fights, I must admit. Tough for me, anyway! Next will be an overview of the Westview mission lords. For now, thanks must go to my brother and sister from The Collective, Sattakan and Toulouet for their inestimable help. I could never have gotten the escort mission done without them. And the others would not have been nearly as much fun.
This review and many others may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other writings relevant to MxO.
1. A Suspicious Character
Rogers way is Amber’s turf, and some guy has been showing too much silent interest in it. This is seldom a positive development, and she wants you to investigate him and his motivation. He’s not hard to find. But when you do enter his apartment, he says, “about time you got here. Tell Amber her response time sucks.“ Quite the surprise! Amber is not expecting this and directs you to take the disk to have it checked out.
When this is done, there is indeed more to him than meets the eye, as Amber confirms. She seems impressed. Your patron does not share the results, and you complete this mission without ever knowing who this guy is or what he is all about.
2. A Safe Place
Amber has an escort mish for you: an informant needs to be taken to a safe place. But the informant, aptly named “Craven”, refuses to emerge from her bedroom until you have killed everything else there: some big, bad vampires. Then, there is a long, eventful hike to the safehouse, with many mobs to slay. And when you get her to the safehouse, filled with Amber’s ASPs? She warmly responds, “What are you waiting for, a tip?”
I love this job!
3. Second Try
The bluepill we escorted last time is now missing, and needs rescue and escort. This starts with finding a dead exile, whose picture leads us to another location, where the straying informant is found. Both locations are those weird, maze-like buildings in Westview that are so trashy and filled with junk. I always get lost in them! Her escort involved much, much killing of local mobs. Paradoxically enough, these mobs you have to kill are the exact same mobs (ASPs) that Amber supposedly controls. How curious! Anyway, eventually you get her to the protection safe house again and you are done. She adds, “Look I know you have some sort of weird crush on me, but I want you to leave me alone.” With pleasure, my dear!
4. The Final Clue
Amber continues to fret about unfriendly efforts to cut into her turf. She needs to know who is behind this. The clue is found on a CD which is held by a band of fierce hackers. Not easy to take them all down, and I had to withdraw a few times to rest up. Eventually the CD is procured and delivered to Shingo, one of Amber’s lieutenants, who hangs out surrounded by Level-51+ level security staff. Glad I didn’t have to fight my way past them! Amber is pleased with the fast, efficient work. I was pleased to be alive.
5. Payback Time
Based on the last mission’s CD, Amber has determined that her mischievous brother Mandarin was behind the attacks, and wants payback, through a special virus placed in his systems. Getting into the room with the target computer involved a lot of gun fighting. I could overhear two guards speaking disparagingly of Mandarin being clueless “as usual”. Then I had planted the virus, and was fleeing for my life.
This final, finale mission was surprisingly straightforward, not to say simple. Not that I complained!
And with this, all my Westview missions were over! This region ended well, with warm praise from Amber, claiming that “I won’t forget you, Sugaree; you’ll always have a home in Rogers Way.” How nice it would be if after you have completed all the region’s missions, the mobs of the last Exile lord would leave you alone, or even come over and /dap you! But I appreciated the warmth, after so much callous, crude behavior from the others.
Conclusion: One unusually interesting loose end, with the researcher from the very first mnission left unexplained. It drive me nuts! The informant's alternatingly arrogant and cowardly behavior was entertaining. And there were some tough fights, I must admit. Tough for me, anyway! Next will be an overview of the Westview mission lords. For now, thanks must go to my brother and sister from The Collective, Sattakan and Toulouet for their inestimable help. I could never have gotten the escort mission done without them. And the others would not have been nearly as much fun.
This review and many others may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other writings relevant to MxO.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Sugar Shack 48: Greene: Piddling Sibling Rivalry
Sugar Shack 48: Greene: Piddling Sibling Rivalry
Greene is tough enough that he doesn’t need a lair or a datacenter to hang out in. He struts his stuff on a street corner in Manssen Park (-836. 1. -61), distantly surrounded by Disciples always posing but always careful to give him a respectful distance. He can see them, which seems to intimidate them no end. Protection is beneath Greene: he just wears a dark sleeveless T-shirt, some tight leggings, de rigueur fingerless gloves, and that’s it! No shades! No coat! No Panama hat! And no hair, either! I expected some tough-guy talk, like Robert Deniro (my dream come true), but he spoke with a British accent, and Anglicisms pervaded his speech: “bloke”, “quid”, etc. Even his name reflects this. It’s not “Green”; it’s “Greene”. Nice touch!
Greene seems to be the sponsor for the Disciples, and as such it’s mystifying that he does not share any of their traits: the long gloomy locks, the grey pallor, the surly demeanor, the cheap vests, the preoccupation with sanguine ceremonies. Is this supposed to be beneath him? Or has he recently taken them over, and not had time to re-make them in his image (or vice versa)?
Like all the other colors of the rainbow, he does not play well with his brothers and sisters, and almost everything he does seems oriented towards disrupting their plans. Regrettably, he seems so focused on what they are doing that he lacks any overall strategy of his own. So, while we might hear about Grisaille’s inane, insane scheme to take over the lakes in Westview, Greene never seems to think that big. In his unconscious, he is still at the breakfast table with them all, fighting over donuts. Let that be a lesson to us!
1. Special Delivery
An average, run-of-the-mill (or should I say “run-of-the-mille”?) courier mish. Drop off a code packet. Your contact is an “embedded program that performs counter-morale as a manager for a corporation located in this building”. Whatever that means! The contact is high enough level to have a polite assistant, Janeth Clark, who announced me and afterwards said that she hoped the meeting went well. I wished I had had a red pill to give her. Her boss merely validated the quality of the data. At the next stop, the recipient for the packet has a backstory: a former prime data miner for the Machines. He observes “Seems that he just cannot resist a chance to go after his siblings. Hell of a family, these people.” I love touches like this! Then I rushed to upload the data in one of Greene’s mainframes. There, the contact harangued me to hurry, and then as soon as I was done, she said she would be able to take a good look at the data tomorrow! Is that familiar or what?
N.B.: I did not have hacker loaded for this mish, so I was not able to get anything from the computers I found. There might have been codes or notes from Cerulean, as we find in the next mish.
2. You Get What You Pay For
The code did not live up to its billing and Greene wants the provider, Chilton, punished. Of course Chilton claims he did not know. After the work was done I rummaged around his computer and found a message from the “blue lady” (presumably Cerulean) warning him that trouble was on its way. I found that with Rifleman packed to the max, and then Hacker packed as far as it would go, I was able to easily dispatch my enemies, and at the same time hack any available computer. This helped me, for example, to open up locked rooms, which is always a good thing.
The big loose end here is how Cerulean knew I was on my way, so that she could send a warning. This would have been worth a mish of its own, to track down and identify the leak. In the missions I did for Cerulean, there was no indication of anything like this.
3. Unwelcome Guests
As part of her machinations, Cerulean has been amassing strength in Greene’s territory. The limey cannot abide this infringement, and sends you to wipe them out. Simple! No trouble finding them, or with any escaping. They’re simply hanging out, waiting for the world to end. Even with all the gunfire, they just sit in separate rooms, and do not come to each other’s aid. Baffling! It made me wonder if this is where Cerulean sent her lesser Boys to die, if their performance reviews were too far below normal.
4. Smash and Grab
The concept here is mildly ingenious. The father of all colors, Mr. Black, has given some rare item (a tracking device from the Machinists- yay!) to Cerulean. Greene tasks you with breaking in and stealing it. Why, you might ask? The clever Greene has two reasons: to embarrass his sister and get the item. This is fairly straightforward break-and-enter work. When you take the device to one of Greene’s flunkies for safekeeping, an assistant tells you that Greene is really impressed with you. As he should be!!
5. Triple Cross
“Sugaree, good you see you, old fruit.” He seems to be under some sort of stress here, judging from his fractured syntax. Cerulean and Grisaille are teaming up, and he wants to disrupt this with a bomb. (Careful readers will remember a mission of Cerulean’s involving brokering a truce with another gang.) First get the explosive from a bomb-maker who, it turns out, is very excitable, not what one might expect in such a line of work. “Here, man! Take a look at this bomb! It’s awesome! One of the best I’ve ever made!” Then, “I never get to use the bombs, just once I’d like to be there when they go off. BOOM!”.
Then go to the site, do some killing, put the bomb on one of the bodies, and that’s it! Greene’s hope is that the meeting will be disrupted (at least), and Cerulean and Grisaille will lose trust in each other. Sure, this makes the world a better place, but if this is a treble-cross, where was the double-cross?
There was one major disappointment. At the end of these give missions, Greene says he is thrilled with your work, and wants to give you a gift. Make sure you have enough inventory space! I did not, and will forever wonder what it was I missed!
Conclusion: Greene’s missions on the surface offer some variety from the Spectrum family squabbling. His faux-British congeniality is a pleasant change from most of his siblings. And there are no bugs or showstopper logic gaps with his missions. But at the end the feeling you have is that you have been helping someone fight with his brothers and sisters for their father’s attention. Most of us have been there and done that, and are more inclined to risk life and limb for something more meaningful.
This review and many others may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other writings relevant to MxO.
Greene is tough enough that he doesn’t need a lair or a datacenter to hang out in. He struts his stuff on a street corner in Manssen Park (-836. 1. -61), distantly surrounded by Disciples always posing but always careful to give him a respectful distance. He can see them, which seems to intimidate them no end. Protection is beneath Greene: he just wears a dark sleeveless T-shirt, some tight leggings, de rigueur fingerless gloves, and that’s it! No shades! No coat! No Panama hat! And no hair, either! I expected some tough-guy talk, like Robert Deniro (my dream come true), but he spoke with a British accent, and Anglicisms pervaded his speech: “bloke”, “quid”, etc. Even his name reflects this. It’s not “Green”; it’s “Greene”. Nice touch!
Greene seems to be the sponsor for the Disciples, and as such it’s mystifying that he does not share any of their traits: the long gloomy locks, the grey pallor, the surly demeanor, the cheap vests, the preoccupation with sanguine ceremonies. Is this supposed to be beneath him? Or has he recently taken them over, and not had time to re-make them in his image (or vice versa)?
Like all the other colors of the rainbow, he does not play well with his brothers and sisters, and almost everything he does seems oriented towards disrupting their plans. Regrettably, he seems so focused on what they are doing that he lacks any overall strategy of his own. So, while we might hear about Grisaille’s inane, insane scheme to take over the lakes in Westview, Greene never seems to think that big. In his unconscious, he is still at the breakfast table with them all, fighting over donuts. Let that be a lesson to us!
1. Special Delivery
An average, run-of-the-mill (or should I say “run-of-the-mille”?) courier mish. Drop off a code packet. Your contact is an “embedded program that performs counter-morale as a manager for a corporation located in this building”. Whatever that means! The contact is high enough level to have a polite assistant, Janeth Clark, who announced me and afterwards said that she hoped the meeting went well. I wished I had had a red pill to give her. Her boss merely validated the quality of the data. At the next stop, the recipient for the packet has a backstory: a former prime data miner for the Machines. He observes “Seems that he just cannot resist a chance to go after his siblings. Hell of a family, these people.” I love touches like this! Then I rushed to upload the data in one of Greene’s mainframes. There, the contact harangued me to hurry, and then as soon as I was done, she said she would be able to take a good look at the data tomorrow! Is that familiar or what?
N.B.: I did not have hacker loaded for this mish, so I was not able to get anything from the computers I found. There might have been codes or notes from Cerulean, as we find in the next mish.
2. You Get What You Pay For
The code did not live up to its billing and Greene wants the provider, Chilton, punished. Of course Chilton claims he did not know. After the work was done I rummaged around his computer and found a message from the “blue lady” (presumably Cerulean) warning him that trouble was on its way. I found that with Rifleman packed to the max, and then Hacker packed as far as it would go, I was able to easily dispatch my enemies, and at the same time hack any available computer. This helped me, for example, to open up locked rooms, which is always a good thing.
The big loose end here is how Cerulean knew I was on my way, so that she could send a warning. This would have been worth a mish of its own, to track down and identify the leak. In the missions I did for Cerulean, there was no indication of anything like this.
3. Unwelcome Guests
As part of her machinations, Cerulean has been amassing strength in Greene’s territory. The limey cannot abide this infringement, and sends you to wipe them out. Simple! No trouble finding them, or with any escaping. They’re simply hanging out, waiting for the world to end. Even with all the gunfire, they just sit in separate rooms, and do not come to each other’s aid. Baffling! It made me wonder if this is where Cerulean sent her lesser Boys to die, if their performance reviews were too far below normal.
4. Smash and Grab
The concept here is mildly ingenious. The father of all colors, Mr. Black, has given some rare item (a tracking device from the Machinists- yay!) to Cerulean. Greene tasks you with breaking in and stealing it. Why, you might ask? The clever Greene has two reasons: to embarrass his sister and get the item. This is fairly straightforward break-and-enter work. When you take the device to one of Greene’s flunkies for safekeeping, an assistant tells you that Greene is really impressed with you. As he should be!!
5. Triple Cross
“Sugaree, good you see you, old fruit.” He seems to be under some sort of stress here, judging from his fractured syntax. Cerulean and Grisaille are teaming up, and he wants to disrupt this with a bomb. (Careful readers will remember a mission of Cerulean’s involving brokering a truce with another gang.) First get the explosive from a bomb-maker who, it turns out, is very excitable, not what one might expect in such a line of work. “Here, man! Take a look at this bomb! It’s awesome! One of the best I’ve ever made!” Then, “I never get to use the bombs, just once I’d like to be there when they go off. BOOM!”.
Then go to the site, do some killing, put the bomb on one of the bodies, and that’s it! Greene’s hope is that the meeting will be disrupted (at least), and Cerulean and Grisaille will lose trust in each other. Sure, this makes the world a better place, but if this is a treble-cross, where was the double-cross?
There was one major disappointment. At the end of these give missions, Greene says he is thrilled with your work, and wants to give you a gift. Make sure you have enough inventory space! I did not, and will forever wonder what it was I missed!
Conclusion: Greene’s missions on the surface offer some variety from the Spectrum family squabbling. His faux-British congeniality is a pleasant change from most of his siblings. And there are no bugs or showstopper logic gaps with his missions. But at the end the feeling you have is that you have been helping someone fight with his brothers and sisters for their father’s attention. Most of us have been there and done that, and are more inclined to risk life and limb for something more meaningful.
This review and many others may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other writings relevant to MxO.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Sugar Shack 47: Mandarin: Man of Many Mysteries
Orientally-named, but Occidentally-themed, the Mandarin hangs out in his club, the Lynch Pin (-256. 1. -306), in the rancid dumpiness of Lucero Point. Despite this inauspicious venue, though, he is a fine host, and just outside his club there is a profusion of vendors of every sort. The inscrutable Mr. M. hangs out in the back of his bar, perfectly positioned for endless flirting with the bartenders. Or for stopping endless flirting, as the case may be. Curiously, in his dapper elegance, he looks like my XO, RemagDiv! Not only this, his speech patterns evoked British English! Who would have expected this from someone with a name like that? In his missions there is a pleasing variety and ingenuity.
1. Angels and Daemons
In this first mission, once again someone wants rare data. However, “I can’t spare any of my own people. I’ve always found you reddies to be an eager sort.” We first seek Taylot Yamin, a librarian program who is good at tracking down things. As the Operator tells us, “nearly every string of inanimate code passes through her systems at some point”. Sounds like a good person to get to know! I looked forward to a awesome networking opportunity.
It was not to be. I got to the librarian’s apartment, but it was filled with attacking simulacra. No guiding hand is apparent. Yamin is nowhere to be found, but someone else is, one Elwood Meritel, or something like that. He refuses to emerge from the room until the simulacra are all gone. He’s such a wuss! And he knows nothing! Yamin seems to have disappeared. The big mystery is twofold: Who killed the simulacra in the room with the wuss (check for a CD)? And what happened to Yamin? Yamin never turned up, and this absence was never noted by operator or exile, so I assume it to be a mission blemish.
We track down the simulacra to on Aitken, a 50th level master of coding. After I decommissioned his minions, he was very amenable, and agreed to take me to the storehouse where Mandarin’s stuff has been placed. A few of the local thugs attacked us, but Aitken easily withstood them (a nice change!), and I easily dispatched them.
Aitken brings us to the storehouse, and unlocks for us the information Mandarin wants. One room is locked and needs the Pick Lock ability and tool, neither of which I brought to the party; nonetheless I was able to complete the mission; opening the door was not necessary for mission objectives completion. Once everything is over, then when I checked out Aitken, I had the option of fighting with him! I couldn’t resist, and put a couple of slugs into him to remember me by. But I didn’t kill him. I swear! As I moped my way to the elevator, Mandarin told me “You’re not bad for a reddie. Come back soon and I’ll have another job for you”.
Mysteries: Where was the ostensible librarian? Editing blemish? Who killed the simulacrum in the same room with the cowering Elwood? What was going on with the locked room which was superfluous to mission success? What was the significance of being able to shoot Aitken at the end?
2. Broken Connection
One of Mandarin’s contacts broke off contact in mid-call; see what’s going on. Seems fairly straightforward. Oh, there’s a data disk that he wants retrieved. Everyone you were looking for is dead, and Mandarin instructs you to go ahead and kill everyone left there. You find out that the contact owed money to the folks who killed him. Guess this explains why he was in a hurry for me to pay him, Mandarin glumly noted. So, anyway, I found a CD that has to be dropped off with Arachne. When I arrived, I mistakenly spoke to Ananke, who gave me the warm greeting, “Talk to Arachne and get out. We were busy, you know.” And a few seconds later, “Aren’t you done yet?” Arachne is much better when I give him the CD: “Awesome. You can leave. NOW.” Mandarin was a serene island of warmth: “Excellent! The artifact is almost within my grasp! Uhh, I mean, you did a good job”.
Good news! This mission ends up right next to the same building as Mandarin’s club!
3. Far From Home
More artifact mania. “My stupid, stupid, STUPID sister is nosing around after my artifact. Amber just wants what belongs to ME!” To distract Amber, I was sent to kill some of her men, and send the head of their leader to one of her chief lieutenants. Unfortunately, when you kill the target, and “get his head” there is still a head on the figure lying on the ground. When I arrived at the dumpy building used by Amber’s folks, I was surprised to see an Agent accosting me! Does Amber have contacts I did not know about? The agent asked if I had an appointment!! Perhaps it was just someone wearing an agent disguise? The advisor was impressed with my delivery: “What’s this? OH GOD! It’s Adzhimushdjkaj! You animal! What have you done?” I thought that would have been pretty clear. At the end, Mandarin was pleased. “Nice application of violence, Sugaree. That’s what I pay you for.” And we end up right next to his club again!!
Being accosted by an apparent Agent while doing an Exile’s bidding was counter-intuitive. So was the head on the headless figure, especially since all one had to do for the right effect was have the target fall so his “head” was inside the wall, giving the impression of headlessness.
4. Flutter Away, Little Bird
Mockingbird (the artifact magnet) has some information about Mandarin’s artifact of interest. As he puts it, “Mockingbird thinks she knows everything about artifacts. She’s all superior with her talk talk talk.” This is reasonably straightforward, and soon you end up with a business card. That’s it! The most interesting part of this mission took place at the drop-off. Two other exiles interrogated me. One asked me why humans reject the Matrix, and then followed this up with “Like it or not, we programs are a species capable of free thought and feeling. Think about that next time you take an action that harms the Matrix.” I’m a Machinist! Why am I getting this lecture! After the drop-off, Mandarin affirms, “Very very, very good. We’re almost there!”
5. Compression Artifact
The artifact Mandarin so craves is hidden in a crate at a warehouse; we need to find out which one. This involves two locales. The first warehouse eventually yields the location; the second yields the artifact. The exile holding it, Nightingale, reluctantly turns it over, with a stern warning that this is not over. It turns out that the artifact is simply some candy from a previous iteration of the Matrix. Candy! More detail, and a description, would have been wonderful for this: the color, shape, form, and texture, not to mention the taste! Oddly enough, once the handoff was done, I had the option of shooting at Nightingale or fighting with her. I took a few shots at her to let her know I wasn’t scared. Then I ran off to give the artifact with a contact, who remarked, “After he is presented with this gift, perhaps The Merovingian will finally forgive Mandarin.” The meaning of the mission title is not clear, unless it somehow refers to the candy?
Mandarin made no mention of this when he said “Thank you, Sugaree. I cannot thank you enough for recovering this artifact”. But people often hide their true motivations, treat big things small, and small things big, so this was not a huge surprise.
Conclusion. Overall, loose ends galore with these missions, but generally ones which intrigue, not annoy. Even so, since everything seems to work towards procuring the “artifact”, there’s a satisfying internal consistency throughout the suite. The NPCs are definitely above average in this suite, make sure to talk to all of them before and after you do things. The biggest mystery is the backstory at the end: what happened between Mandarin and the Merovingian? Perhaps future critical missions will shed light.
This review and many others may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other writings relevant to MxO.
1. Angels and Daemons
In this first mission, once again someone wants rare data. However, “I can’t spare any of my own people. I’ve always found you reddies to be an eager sort.” We first seek Taylot Yamin, a librarian program who is good at tracking down things. As the Operator tells us, “nearly every string of inanimate code passes through her systems at some point”. Sounds like a good person to get to know! I looked forward to a awesome networking opportunity.
It was not to be. I got to the librarian’s apartment, but it was filled with attacking simulacra. No guiding hand is apparent. Yamin is nowhere to be found, but someone else is, one Elwood Meritel, or something like that. He refuses to emerge from the room until the simulacra are all gone. He’s such a wuss! And he knows nothing! Yamin seems to have disappeared. The big mystery is twofold: Who killed the simulacra in the room with the wuss (check for a CD)? And what happened to Yamin? Yamin never turned up, and this absence was never noted by operator or exile, so I assume it to be a mission blemish.
We track down the simulacra to on Aitken, a 50th level master of coding. After I decommissioned his minions, he was very amenable, and agreed to take me to the storehouse where Mandarin’s stuff has been placed. A few of the local thugs attacked us, but Aitken easily withstood them (a nice change!), and I easily dispatched them.
Aitken brings us to the storehouse, and unlocks for us the information Mandarin wants. One room is locked and needs the Pick Lock ability and tool, neither of which I brought to the party; nonetheless I was able to complete the mission; opening the door was not necessary for mission objectives completion. Once everything is over, then when I checked out Aitken, I had the option of fighting with him! I couldn’t resist, and put a couple of slugs into him to remember me by. But I didn’t kill him. I swear! As I moped my way to the elevator, Mandarin told me “You’re not bad for a reddie. Come back soon and I’ll have another job for you”.
Mysteries: Where was the ostensible librarian? Editing blemish? Who killed the simulacrum in the same room with the cowering Elwood? What was going on with the locked room which was superfluous to mission success? What was the significance of being able to shoot Aitken at the end?
2. Broken Connection
One of Mandarin’s contacts broke off contact in mid-call; see what’s going on. Seems fairly straightforward. Oh, there’s a data disk that he wants retrieved. Everyone you were looking for is dead, and Mandarin instructs you to go ahead and kill everyone left there. You find out that the contact owed money to the folks who killed him. Guess this explains why he was in a hurry for me to pay him, Mandarin glumly noted. So, anyway, I found a CD that has to be dropped off with Arachne. When I arrived, I mistakenly spoke to Ananke, who gave me the warm greeting, “Talk to Arachne and get out. We were busy, you know.” And a few seconds later, “Aren’t you done yet?” Arachne is much better when I give him the CD: “Awesome. You can leave. NOW.” Mandarin was a serene island of warmth: “Excellent! The artifact is almost within my grasp! Uhh, I mean, you did a good job”.
Good news! This mission ends up right next to the same building as Mandarin’s club!
3. Far From Home
More artifact mania. “My stupid, stupid, STUPID sister is nosing around after my artifact. Amber just wants what belongs to ME!” To distract Amber, I was sent to kill some of her men, and send the head of their leader to one of her chief lieutenants. Unfortunately, when you kill the target, and “get his head” there is still a head on the figure lying on the ground. When I arrived at the dumpy building used by Amber’s folks, I was surprised to see an Agent accosting me! Does Amber have contacts I did not know about? The agent asked if I had an appointment!! Perhaps it was just someone wearing an agent disguise? The advisor was impressed with my delivery: “What’s this? OH GOD! It’s Adzhimushdjkaj! You animal! What have you done?” I thought that would have been pretty clear. At the end, Mandarin was pleased. “Nice application of violence, Sugaree. That’s what I pay you for.” And we end up right next to his club again!!
Being accosted by an apparent Agent while doing an Exile’s bidding was counter-intuitive. So was the head on the headless figure, especially since all one had to do for the right effect was have the target fall so his “head” was inside the wall, giving the impression of headlessness.
4. Flutter Away, Little Bird
Mockingbird (the artifact magnet) has some information about Mandarin’s artifact of interest. As he puts it, “Mockingbird thinks she knows everything about artifacts. She’s all superior with her talk talk talk.” This is reasonably straightforward, and soon you end up with a business card. That’s it! The most interesting part of this mission took place at the drop-off. Two other exiles interrogated me. One asked me why humans reject the Matrix, and then followed this up with “Like it or not, we programs are a species capable of free thought and feeling. Think about that next time you take an action that harms the Matrix.” I’m a Machinist! Why am I getting this lecture! After the drop-off, Mandarin affirms, “Very very, very good. We’re almost there!”
5. Compression Artifact
The artifact Mandarin so craves is hidden in a crate at a warehouse; we need to find out which one. This involves two locales. The first warehouse eventually yields the location; the second yields the artifact. The exile holding it, Nightingale, reluctantly turns it over, with a stern warning that this is not over. It turns out that the artifact is simply some candy from a previous iteration of the Matrix. Candy! More detail, and a description, would have been wonderful for this: the color, shape, form, and texture, not to mention the taste! Oddly enough, once the handoff was done, I had the option of shooting at Nightingale or fighting with her. I took a few shots at her to let her know I wasn’t scared. Then I ran off to give the artifact with a contact, who remarked, “After he is presented with this gift, perhaps The Merovingian will finally forgive Mandarin.” The meaning of the mission title is not clear, unless it somehow refers to the candy?
Mandarin made no mention of this when he said “Thank you, Sugaree. I cannot thank you enough for recovering this artifact”. But people often hide their true motivations, treat big things small, and small things big, so this was not a huge surprise.
Conclusion. Overall, loose ends galore with these missions, but generally ones which intrigue, not annoy. Even so, since everything seems to work towards procuring the “artifact”, there’s a satisfying internal consistency throughout the suite. The NPCs are definitely above average in this suite, make sure to talk to all of them before and after you do things. The biggest mystery is the backstory at the end: what happened between Mandarin and the Merovingian? Perhaps future critical missions will shed light.
This review and many others may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other writings relevant to MxO.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Sugar Shack 46: Mockingbird: Pointless Passion
Some Exiles have their own newspapers. Some Exiles have their own nightclubs. Some Exiles have their own businesses. Others don’t. Like Mockingbird. Mockingbird perches in the middle of a forlorn, anonymous block in Gracy Heights (-720, 1, -1507) like a streetwalker scouting for tricks. And when you see her, you just have to shake your head at her fashion sense. Camo green baggy pants, a silver V-top halter, open-toed heels, and, improbably, long combat gloves! Heaven help her! What a disappointment! I felt like buying her lunch or telling her to check out my clan’s web site, for a better life. But all she wanted was a few missions.
1. All We Ever Wanted. Ever notice how your reputation is never good enough? She expects you to steal a couple of candlesticks for her to show your ability. It’s one of the standard first missions. So, you get to the provider, and discover that two other “buyers” have beat you to it, and aren’t very inclined to give up the candlesticks unless you can make them a better offer. Normally I love wheeling and dealing like this, but there was no hint about what they wanted, and there was also no option to give them anything. So we killed them.
The provider was very cooperative after this. I mean, we had what we came for, and had killed everyone else in the room, so his leverage was kind of limited by this point. For some reason, I had the option of killing him, too. But I was feeling generous, and spared him. After all, it was Mother’s Day.
Then a huge hike to the Mockingbird’s cutout for the candlesticks. There, we were greeted as pizza delivery by the security guards. Then the cutout saw fit to give us a lecture about greed. I never! We spared her too, reluctantly, and left.
The idea of candlesticks which can bend light is delightful! Alas, nothing was done with this! And no demonstration of this effect was given. No backstory on their origin, provenance, or raison d’etre was provided, or even why Mockingbird wanted them. Some tie-in with the Pandora’s Box quests would have been natural, and could easily have been retrofitted. Umm, and the meaning of the title was not very clear.
2. All We Ever Wanted. Yes, you have not read wrong. The mission name gets used again here. This time, Mockingbird wants me to get some information on a different artifact. This starts imaginatively, with me speaking to a sort of traffic control program knowledgeable about the flow of items (almost like a mission operator in herself). She says “tell the Bird” that Digger had the item but it has been stolen. Others in her office think about different matters of importance; one guy wails about problems with the copier. I feel your pain!
This lead took me to a total dump of a building, where I found my next contact, the reluctantly cooperative Alvarez, who curtly answers my question and then sics his team on me. Thanks for nothing! The object of Mockingbird desire is a cat statue of fine amber. It’s rare. It’s amber. It’s also cursed. I’m told to stay away from it. Like that’s going to stop me! Mockingbird has the right attitude: “This is all starting to make sense….good”. The mission ends up with me a stone’s throw from Mockingbird for the next mish. Now that’s what I call good mission design! Points for that! However, the title is no more clear this time than the first time. Points off!
3. Dark Entries. For this mission, you need to steal a painting from Digger so you can trade it to Hypatia for the Circle of Cernunnos. Got that? The subtle approach (sneak in and disable the computer-controlled lock, etc.) does not work. I killed everyone there. The painting itself is rumored to contain a sentient being (and why not?). “Not bad for an organic” Mockingbird concludes. As I left with the painting to drop it off for safekeeping, she and the operator say virtually identical things about Digger getting on my trail; this seems like another editorial blemish.
After you retrieve the painting, you take it to a genuinely interesting character: Man Kempner. He runs art galleries, and has created reputations for several obscure bluepill artists. He would be a perfect tie-in with The Sculptress from downtown! He would hide this just for the pleasure of being able to examine it. While I wait to see him, his assistant tells me about a gallery show opening by a new artist with great mechanical beasts. This seems like an obvious lead-in, but it never seems to have gone anywhere. He explains that the painting is part of the human emotion monitoring system for the Matrix, but with a bit of a bug: it projects emotion rather than recording it. Intriguing!
Alas, no such minimal backstory for the Circlet of Cernunnos. And Hypatia, who is easily one of the most interesting of the neighborhood contacts, makes no appearance. Disappointment!
4. Exquisite Corpse. For this mission, you collect the Circlet for Mockingbird. However Digger has brought in mercenaries to intervene (and who can blame him?). They have killed Mockingbird’s Crushers, so you have to put them down, and collect all the items. These are then deposited in a safe. “If I play my cards right, Hypatia will think that Digger has the circlet. And I get to keep the painting as well! Thanks for your good work, Sugaree!” Someone’s thinking! Too bad they weren’t thinking about the opaque title!
5. In the Night. For this mission, you steal the cat statue from Amber’s guys. “I’m not finished with you yet. Remember the amber cat statue? The kitty needs to be brought in, and guess who has it? That’s right, Amber.” The toughest part of this is figuring out the instructions. The artifact is in a locked safe in a sealed room, with two computer commands necessary to unlock it (the room, that is). The entire site is guarded by Daggers, who greeted me with “Death to you!” and “I wonder how your bones will taste!”, obviously meant to lull me into a state of false confidence.
The cat, once procured, is taken to Mockingbird’s flunky, the fretful Davis Thjarden. He starts off as soon as you arrive: “Do you have it? I mean, do you have IT? I mean, the statue, did you bring it with you? It’s not hurt is it? Did you drop it? You didn’t drop it, did you? No bullet holes or anything? Mockingbird would be very upset if it were shot.” Then, “If you have it, give it to me! What are you waiting for? I need to inspect it. I need to make sure that it’s okay.” Once I gave it to him, he was subdued and said I could go while he “documented” a few things.
Mockingbird is pleased! “Good, very good. You have talents I can use. You have impressed me with your hard work. If I have anything in the future, I will contact you.” But she remains as much a mystery as when I first met her.
Conclusion. In retrospect, this seems like a suite in need of some work. The same mission name gets used twice. Messages from Mockingbird and my operator are almost verbatim identical. Not only that, the personal touch is oddly missing here; Mockingbird (whose name cries out for explanation) seems to want for the sake of simply having, with no social or strategic purpose to her mad acquisitiveness. She is just like her flunky, Davis Thjarden, albeit less frenzied. The opportunities for tie-ins between the art gallery owner and The Sculptress (or other exiles) are absolutely missed. Hypatia never appears, as she does in other missions.
There’s more. The materialism of the Exiles is always perplexing. More seriously, why the weird fascination with items from previous iterations of the Matrix? Is it like collecting Pokemon cards? Or do they offer some special power? Is this one original, forgotten task for some exiles, to act as defraggers, hunting and gathering loose bits of code in the codestream? No clue is forthcoming here; these missions explore mad desires, but not their reasons.
Thanks to the formidable RemagDiv who gave me invaluable assistance with doing these. This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
1. All We Ever Wanted. Ever notice how your reputation is never good enough? She expects you to steal a couple of candlesticks for her to show your ability. It’s one of the standard first missions. So, you get to the provider, and discover that two other “buyers” have beat you to it, and aren’t very inclined to give up the candlesticks unless you can make them a better offer. Normally I love wheeling and dealing like this, but there was no hint about what they wanted, and there was also no option to give them anything. So we killed them.
The provider was very cooperative after this. I mean, we had what we came for, and had killed everyone else in the room, so his leverage was kind of limited by this point. For some reason, I had the option of killing him, too. But I was feeling generous, and spared him. After all, it was Mother’s Day.
Then a huge hike to the Mockingbird’s cutout for the candlesticks. There, we were greeted as pizza delivery by the security guards. Then the cutout saw fit to give us a lecture about greed. I never! We spared her too, reluctantly, and left.
The idea of candlesticks which can bend light is delightful! Alas, nothing was done with this! And no demonstration of this effect was given. No backstory on their origin, provenance, or raison d’etre was provided, or even why Mockingbird wanted them. Some tie-in with the Pandora’s Box quests would have been natural, and could easily have been retrofitted. Umm, and the meaning of the title was not very clear.
2. All We Ever Wanted. Yes, you have not read wrong. The mission name gets used again here. This time, Mockingbird wants me to get some information on a different artifact. This starts imaginatively, with me speaking to a sort of traffic control program knowledgeable about the flow of items (almost like a mission operator in herself). She says “tell the Bird” that Digger had the item but it has been stolen. Others in her office think about different matters of importance; one guy wails about problems with the copier. I feel your pain!
This lead took me to a total dump of a building, where I found my next contact, the reluctantly cooperative Alvarez, who curtly answers my question and then sics his team on me. Thanks for nothing! The object of Mockingbird desire is a cat statue of fine amber. It’s rare. It’s amber. It’s also cursed. I’m told to stay away from it. Like that’s going to stop me! Mockingbird has the right attitude: “This is all starting to make sense….good”. The mission ends up with me a stone’s throw from Mockingbird for the next mish. Now that’s what I call good mission design! Points for that! However, the title is no more clear this time than the first time. Points off!
3. Dark Entries. For this mission, you need to steal a painting from Digger so you can trade it to Hypatia for the Circle of Cernunnos. Got that? The subtle approach (sneak in and disable the computer-controlled lock, etc.) does not work. I killed everyone there. The painting itself is rumored to contain a sentient being (and why not?). “Not bad for an organic” Mockingbird concludes. As I left with the painting to drop it off for safekeeping, she and the operator say virtually identical things about Digger getting on my trail; this seems like another editorial blemish.
After you retrieve the painting, you take it to a genuinely interesting character: Man Kempner. He runs art galleries, and has created reputations for several obscure bluepill artists. He would be a perfect tie-in with The Sculptress from downtown! He would hide this just for the pleasure of being able to examine it. While I wait to see him, his assistant tells me about a gallery show opening by a new artist with great mechanical beasts. This seems like an obvious lead-in, but it never seems to have gone anywhere. He explains that the painting is part of the human emotion monitoring system for the Matrix, but with a bit of a bug: it projects emotion rather than recording it. Intriguing!
Alas, no such minimal backstory for the Circlet of Cernunnos. And Hypatia, who is easily one of the most interesting of the neighborhood contacts, makes no appearance. Disappointment!
4. Exquisite Corpse. For this mission, you collect the Circlet for Mockingbird. However Digger has brought in mercenaries to intervene (and who can blame him?). They have killed Mockingbird’s Crushers, so you have to put them down, and collect all the items. These are then deposited in a safe. “If I play my cards right, Hypatia will think that Digger has the circlet. And I get to keep the painting as well! Thanks for your good work, Sugaree!” Someone’s thinking! Too bad they weren’t thinking about the opaque title!
5. In the Night. For this mission, you steal the cat statue from Amber’s guys. “I’m not finished with you yet. Remember the amber cat statue? The kitty needs to be brought in, and guess who has it? That’s right, Amber.” The toughest part of this is figuring out the instructions. The artifact is in a locked safe in a sealed room, with two computer commands necessary to unlock it (the room, that is). The entire site is guarded by Daggers, who greeted me with “Death to you!” and “I wonder how your bones will taste!”, obviously meant to lull me into a state of false confidence.
The cat, once procured, is taken to Mockingbird’s flunky, the fretful Davis Thjarden. He starts off as soon as you arrive: “Do you have it? I mean, do you have IT? I mean, the statue, did you bring it with you? It’s not hurt is it? Did you drop it? You didn’t drop it, did you? No bullet holes or anything? Mockingbird would be very upset if it were shot.” Then, “If you have it, give it to me! What are you waiting for? I need to inspect it. I need to make sure that it’s okay.” Once I gave it to him, he was subdued and said I could go while he “documented” a few things.
Mockingbird is pleased! “Good, very good. You have talents I can use. You have impressed me with your hard work. If I have anything in the future, I will contact you.” But she remains as much a mystery as when I first met her.
Conclusion. In retrospect, this seems like a suite in need of some work. The same mission name gets used twice. Messages from Mockingbird and my operator are almost verbatim identical. Not only that, the personal touch is oddly missing here; Mockingbird (whose name cries out for explanation) seems to want for the sake of simply having, with no social or strategic purpose to her mad acquisitiveness. She is just like her flunky, Davis Thjarden, albeit less frenzied. The opportunities for tie-ins between the art gallery owner and The Sculptress (or other exiles) are absolutely missed. Hypatia never appears, as she does in other missions.
There’s more. The materialism of the Exiles is always perplexing. More seriously, why the weird fascination with items from previous iterations of the Matrix? Is it like collecting Pokemon cards? Or do they offer some special power? Is this one original, forgotten task for some exiles, to act as defraggers, hunting and gathering loose bits of code in the codestream? No clue is forthcoming here; these missions explore mad desires, but not their reasons.
Thanks to the formidable RemagDiv who gave me invaluable assistance with doing these. This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Sugar Shack 45: Violet: Another Color in the Rainbow
Violet hangs out in a VIP room at Club Daemon (-210, -2, -1252), in the demimonde of Sobra Shores, where the sun never seems to shine. She watches as you come in, past a burly bodyguard (apparently she is sponsor to the buff Legions), and her eyes are sharp and cold; you feel like she knows all about you before you start to speak. Unlike some Exiles, she does not task you with testing yourself; she seems to know of you, and has an assignment all ready the instant you come in. She is all business in her violet gi, tight ponytail, and bizarrely incongruous combat gloves. Perhaps, like the killer in one Judge Dee mystery, she has burned her hands and does not want us to see them? But I liked her shoes.
1. Violent Pacification. Remind a straying exile of where his best interests lie… This is a mish you may have done before for someone else. You show up, and the principal laughs you off, ands tells his friends (an elite guard and a blood drunk) to dispatch you. Bulgey, the principal in this case, was more boastful and arrogant than most. And when his friends lay slain in front of him, he seemed angrier and more upset that I had killed them. Or maybe it was my imagination. But the message seems to have been sent. Interestingly, I had the option to engage him in combat. The mish, however, told me to let him live. Pity stayed my hand. Pity that I would blow my payment by sending him to join his friends.
2. Wages of Sin. Some of the buff, burly Legions who serve her and safeguard her inventory have been holding back, and examples must be made of them. Her warehouse came up short with a shipment of the exile-lethal White Knight virus. This mish took me to a really splendidly appointed condominium, where I proceeded to lay waste. One succubus gave me a “succubus kiss” which took me aback, but only dished out a single point of damage! It helped her not a bit. The dropoff contact for the virus disc is a redpill named AlCol; when we met he started to reflect back on his life with the mervs. Whatever! Nicely, this mish ends up right next to Violet’s club. I like little touches like that.
3. Problem Addict. It turns out that another redpill crew, Zionist this time, has stolen some White Knight and must be put own. The Zionists pleaded with me to abort, to try and understand their motivation, etc. I listened to them. Then I opened fire. Afterwards, I took the virus to a machinist datamining operation in Apollyon, so as to cause distraction from Indigo and his Guinness Lake operations. The attending agents did not take kindly to my visit, despite my exemplary machinist credentials. I mean, it was just a virus, just a little virus.
4. Drawn and Quartered. Violet has come across a curious program which she wants to examine. Problem is, it has been broken into three scattered pieces. One piece is on a bluepill’s computer, and you have to navigate through a domestic drama to get to it. A bemused sailor is standing in the middle of it all! Fun! The second piece has been captured by other exiles, and they must be fought. Violet sighs, “Fortunately for me, you value $information more than your life”. Curiously, in the second site there was a locked file cabinet which I could not open, and which seemed to have no bearing on the narrative flow whatsoever. The third piece is controlled by a Machine outpost; fortunately I was able to get it without killing everyone there.
At the end, you have three disks which you upload. That’s it; there’s no hint of what’s so special about this program. Violet does worry what it would do in less restrained hands. This made me wonder if maybe I should have held onto it.
5. Underneath the Surface. It turns out that the program I found was very important to someone someplace at some point; now a group of Exiles is looking for it. Preventing their recovery of it involves dropping it off with Indigo’s data warehouse guy. This dataminer turns out to be a total wuss, and I must rescue him from an attack. As a reward he gifts me with a black cowboy hat. A black cowboy hat!! Do I look like Buffalo Gal? I was moved beyond words. While I was trying to figure out which way was front with the hat, Violet called to thank me. She was not totally thrilled about Indigo getting this program, but “A smart warrior picks their fights”. I forgave her broken syntax and counted my money.
Conclusion: Bug-free, smooth missions. The variety was decent, and there was some nice characterization with the Zionist crew, the dataminer, etc. Yet there is no feeling what motivates Violet; she’s just another exile without an agenda. Why did she choose to support Indigo? The broken-into-three-parts program could be the beginning of something big for a future adventure. The options for killing the straying exile, the superfluous locked file cabinet, etc., could be bugs or they could have been simply loose narrative ends. Who can know? Who can know?
1. Violent Pacification. Remind a straying exile of where his best interests lie… This is a mish you may have done before for someone else. You show up, and the principal laughs you off, ands tells his friends (an elite guard and a blood drunk) to dispatch you. Bulgey, the principal in this case, was more boastful and arrogant than most. And when his friends lay slain in front of him, he seemed angrier and more upset that I had killed them. Or maybe it was my imagination. But the message seems to have been sent. Interestingly, I had the option to engage him in combat. The mish, however, told me to let him live. Pity stayed my hand. Pity that I would blow my payment by sending him to join his friends.
2. Wages of Sin. Some of the buff, burly Legions who serve her and safeguard her inventory have been holding back, and examples must be made of them. Her warehouse came up short with a shipment of the exile-lethal White Knight virus. This mish took me to a really splendidly appointed condominium, where I proceeded to lay waste. One succubus gave me a “succubus kiss” which took me aback, but only dished out a single point of damage! It helped her not a bit. The dropoff contact for the virus disc is a redpill named AlCol; when we met he started to reflect back on his life with the mervs. Whatever! Nicely, this mish ends up right next to Violet’s club. I like little touches like that.
3. Problem Addict. It turns out that another redpill crew, Zionist this time, has stolen some White Knight and must be put own. The Zionists pleaded with me to abort, to try and understand their motivation, etc. I listened to them. Then I opened fire. Afterwards, I took the virus to a machinist datamining operation in Apollyon, so as to cause distraction from Indigo and his Guinness Lake operations. The attending agents did not take kindly to my visit, despite my exemplary machinist credentials. I mean, it was just a virus, just a little virus.
4. Drawn and Quartered. Violet has come across a curious program which she wants to examine. Problem is, it has been broken into three scattered pieces. One piece is on a bluepill’s computer, and you have to navigate through a domestic drama to get to it. A bemused sailor is standing in the middle of it all! Fun! The second piece has been captured by other exiles, and they must be fought. Violet sighs, “Fortunately for me, you value $information more than your life”. Curiously, in the second site there was a locked file cabinet which I could not open, and which seemed to have no bearing on the narrative flow whatsoever. The third piece is controlled by a Machine outpost; fortunately I was able to get it without killing everyone there.
At the end, you have three disks which you upload. That’s it; there’s no hint of what’s so special about this program. Violet does worry what it would do in less restrained hands. This made me wonder if maybe I should have held onto it.
5. Underneath the Surface. It turns out that the program I found was very important to someone someplace at some point; now a group of Exiles is looking for it. Preventing their recovery of it involves dropping it off with Indigo’s data warehouse guy. This dataminer turns out to be a total wuss, and I must rescue him from an attack. As a reward he gifts me with a black cowboy hat. A black cowboy hat!! Do I look like Buffalo Gal? I was moved beyond words. While I was trying to figure out which way was front with the hat, Violet called to thank me. She was not totally thrilled about Indigo getting this program, but “A smart warrior picks their fights”. I forgave her broken syntax and counted my money.
Conclusion: Bug-free, smooth missions. The variety was decent, and there was some nice characterization with the Zionist crew, the dataminer, etc. Yet there is no feeling what motivates Violet; she’s just another exile without an agenda. Why did she choose to support Indigo? The broken-into-three-parts program could be the beginning of something big for a future adventure. The options for killing the straying exile, the superfluous locked file cabinet, etc., could be bugs or they could have been simply loose narrative ends. Who can know? Who can know?
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Sugar Shack 44: Indigo: Senior Exile
Long-time redpills know that there is more to Indigo than meets the eye. Naturally, this made it all the more interesting to meet him and do his missions! This senior Exile hangs out in the shadowed depths of Dante’s Inferno, in Guinness Lake (-781, 1, -1009). Looks grim with his dark beanie and dark outfit in the club’s basement. And maybe it’s just me, but it seemed that I always got stuck in lag in this part of MegaCity. Maybe it was his distortion field, or the effect of his code on the codestream around me, maybe it was the influence of all the water and all the power lines….
1. Interference
The classic first mish: go and step on my rival’s schemes. But in this case there is a wicked family twist. Indigo’s brother, Grisaille, is up to some couriering mischief in Indigo’s territory: blitz it and get a package from the courier! There’s some witty dialog from Grisaille’s troops, and some engaging fighting even after you drop it off with one of Indigo’s folks. And at the end, the great Indigo himself weighs in on your side: “Hm. It appears at least some of the stories about you are true.” Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, buddy!
Notice, by the way, how even the run-of-the-mill interference mission gets much more interesting when there is a family angle to it. Imagine if in the future, fighting broke out among the Indigo family to get some artifact or please some person, and various organizations needed to get involved. When there’re personalities involved, the adventure writes itself.
2. Spyware
Remember the package you just captured? Well, now you return it to one of Grisaille’s men who is really working for Indigo. Got all that?
Your contact says “Let’s see…medium height, weird clothes, kind of stupid-looking…yep, you must be the courier Indigo described”. “Come on, take the package. Geez, maybe you really are as dumb as you look.” Really, I could feel the love!
When I dropped off the package, Rocky, the recipient, paid me off by directing his men to shoot at me. Yes, it’s great when we’re all on the same page! This was kind of a disappointment, but Indigo was thrilled at how well his “brilliant plan” worked out, and crowed about showing it to his mother sometime. Like she has nothing else to think about!
3. Pulling the Trigger
Indigo has another man inside Grisaille’s organization, and this one seems to be holding out. Our mission is to pay a courtesy call, and make sure he understands where his interests lie.
At the site, my operator told me he thought this should be an easy mish. I looked up at the objectives (kill any hostile guards) and thought differently.
And, really, how could it be otherwise? The contact resists, the guards attack, and I slay. When the dust has settled, the contact swears tearfully to never hold back on Indigo, and the data has been delivered. I scowled at him as I left so he knew I would remember him.
4. Pegged
By the way, did you know that the Guinness Lakes Reservoir is a strategic asset? And that Indigo controls it? And “that bastard” Grisaille wants it? Read on!
So, once more into the breech. Go, fight, get data. But there’s more. The data must be taken to a reporter for Network Media as an anonymous informant without answering her questions. Oddly, two of Grisaille’s toughs show up in her kitchen (!) looking for trouble when you arrive. According to my notes, she was wearing a chef’s stovepipe hat; perhaps she was the food editor, looking to transfer to the local news beat…. More oddly, she ignores them to challenge you about where you got the scoop (!). At the end, Indigo is pleased that Grisaille’s latest daffy scheme will soon be tabloid fodder. Poor Grisaille! How will I face him when I go to the next Sirens party at the Succubus?
Lots and lots of hiking for this mish, never a good thing. But the ingenuity in Indigo’s plan was laudable. And the reporter could be a fine continuing character, and become a mission contact in her own right, though as a bluepill, not as a Neighborhood Exile contact such as the Newsie. They have a natural competition, and there is a natural motivation for more story development.
5. Gang Rumble
You might think that there is no such thing as bad publicity, but Grisaille differs. Now he is on an angry roll, and has contracted with Amber for some backup to take the fight to Indigo. Grisaille’s “Crow Bars” and Amber’s “ASPs” will be the muscle in this. In response, the dour Indigo wants you to lead his folks into battle. So far, so great!! However, when you rendezvous with them, you discover that Indigo has neglected his logistics, and they have arrived without ammunition! Major d’oh! And they are looking to you for help!
This was exceptionally tough on solo, since the enemies attack in force, and by the time I killed one and got the ammo, I was dead. And again. And again. Eventually I slipped past the sleezes and skanks and got the ammo to Indigo’s guys, who promptly mopped the floor with the Crow Bars and ASPs (mostly because I had already severely depleted their ranks).
Conclusion: Overall, this was very enjoyable. The missions have great variety, imagination, and backstory. And as you start to understand and navigate the complexities of the family ties, there just seems to be so much that you can do with this. Perhaps a missing Exile member of the family, named Fuschia, will surface, and she will have a plan to capture all the color-code exiles and re-merge them…..
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with past mission reviews, and other writings relevant to MxO.
1. Interference
The classic first mish: go and step on my rival’s schemes. But in this case there is a wicked family twist. Indigo’s brother, Grisaille, is up to some couriering mischief in Indigo’s territory: blitz it and get a package from the courier! There’s some witty dialog from Grisaille’s troops, and some engaging fighting even after you drop it off with one of Indigo’s folks. And at the end, the great Indigo himself weighs in on your side: “Hm. It appears at least some of the stories about you are true.” Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, buddy!
Notice, by the way, how even the run-of-the-mill interference mission gets much more interesting when there is a family angle to it. Imagine if in the future, fighting broke out among the Indigo family to get some artifact or please some person, and various organizations needed to get involved. When there’re personalities involved, the adventure writes itself.
2. Spyware
Remember the package you just captured? Well, now you return it to one of Grisaille’s men who is really working for Indigo. Got all that?
Your contact says “Let’s see…medium height, weird clothes, kind of stupid-looking…yep, you must be the courier Indigo described”. “Come on, take the package. Geez, maybe you really are as dumb as you look.” Really, I could feel the love!
When I dropped off the package, Rocky, the recipient, paid me off by directing his men to shoot at me. Yes, it’s great when we’re all on the same page! This was kind of a disappointment, but Indigo was thrilled at how well his “brilliant plan” worked out, and crowed about showing it to his mother sometime. Like she has nothing else to think about!
3. Pulling the Trigger
Indigo has another man inside Grisaille’s organization, and this one seems to be holding out. Our mission is to pay a courtesy call, and make sure he understands where his interests lie.
At the site, my operator told me he thought this should be an easy mish. I looked up at the objectives (kill any hostile guards) and thought differently.
And, really, how could it be otherwise? The contact resists, the guards attack, and I slay. When the dust has settled, the contact swears tearfully to never hold back on Indigo, and the data has been delivered. I scowled at him as I left so he knew I would remember him.
4. Pegged
By the way, did you know that the Guinness Lakes Reservoir is a strategic asset? And that Indigo controls it? And “that bastard” Grisaille wants it? Read on!
So, once more into the breech. Go, fight, get data. But there’s more. The data must be taken to a reporter for Network Media as an anonymous informant without answering her questions. Oddly, two of Grisaille’s toughs show up in her kitchen (!) looking for trouble when you arrive. According to my notes, she was wearing a chef’s stovepipe hat; perhaps she was the food editor, looking to transfer to the local news beat…. More oddly, she ignores them to challenge you about where you got the scoop (!). At the end, Indigo is pleased that Grisaille’s latest daffy scheme will soon be tabloid fodder. Poor Grisaille! How will I face him when I go to the next Sirens party at the Succubus?
Lots and lots of hiking for this mish, never a good thing. But the ingenuity in Indigo’s plan was laudable. And the reporter could be a fine continuing character, and become a mission contact in her own right, though as a bluepill, not as a Neighborhood Exile contact such as the Newsie. They have a natural competition, and there is a natural motivation for more story development.
5. Gang Rumble
You might think that there is no such thing as bad publicity, but Grisaille differs. Now he is on an angry roll, and has contracted with Amber for some backup to take the fight to Indigo. Grisaille’s “Crow Bars” and Amber’s “ASPs” will be the muscle in this. In response, the dour Indigo wants you to lead his folks into battle. So far, so great!! However, when you rendezvous with them, you discover that Indigo has neglected his logistics, and they have arrived without ammunition! Major d’oh! And they are looking to you for help!
This was exceptionally tough on solo, since the enemies attack in force, and by the time I killed one and got the ammo, I was dead. And again. And again. Eventually I slipped past the sleezes and skanks and got the ammo to Indigo’s guys, who promptly mopped the floor with the Crow Bars and ASPs (mostly because I had already severely depleted their ranks).
Conclusion: Overall, this was very enjoyable. The missions have great variety, imagination, and backstory. And as you start to understand and navigate the complexities of the family ties, there just seems to be so much that you can do with this. Perhaps a missing Exile member of the family, named Fuschia, will surface, and she will have a plan to capture all the color-code exiles and re-merge them…..
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with past mission reviews, and other writings relevant to MxO.
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Sugar Shack 42: Molly B: A Force For Good For a Change
Sugar Shack 42: Molly B: A Force For Good For a Change
Even for an Exile, Molly B. seems odd. In a driving rain she stood alone in a park in the Moriah Projects (745,6,-259) surrounded by politely milling Crossbone Bumboos. In her brown-gold gi, heels, with carefully coiffed corncob-style hair and her complexion, she reminded me of Azyanna from Artificial Intelligence. In a warm, even voice, she explained that the Matrix is big enough for everyone to get along well. She claims to not work with the bristling ego that makes so many Exiles such a pain, and I have to say she is worlds removed from the kleptomaniacs, plutomaniacs, and just plain maniacs I have worked with so much. She’s much closer to Sister Margaret.
1. Saving Blue
An interesting first mission: a self-actualizing bluepill needs to be protected. Then I groaned when I realized it was an escort mish! As I reluctantly stepped into the blue’s apartment, she jumped up from her lonely Chinese takeout and Oprah rerun, and cried, “I’ve seen you before! I knew you were coming to save me! …. You are my savior!” I told her to take her time, that it was the last good meal she would ever have. Other than that I was encouraging, and got her safely to her destination, decommissioning a good number of Exiles along the way. Molly B. was pleased; I could see I had won her trust: “Thanks for taking care of that for me, Sugaree. You’re a keeper.” For sure!
2. The Prelude
“The Matrix is still an enigma to you. I can sense your inner turmoil, even if you deny it.” I am the last person to deny this, and appreciated someone who could sense how I felt. I sighed deeply as I read through the mission description. I am asked to protect someone, who has an important role to play in the future. This reminded me a little of Madame T.’s missions downtown.
For such a pacific mission, this one started out with a bang.
While I was still reading through the mission description, I came under attack! And as I jumped away to heal, I could see a malevolent little red dot following far, far below, waiting for another bite. This did little for my inner turmoil. The escort component of the mission goes well, as long as you take care to kill everything between you and the destination before leading the principal from the building.
Eventually I got her to the destination, and a woman looking a lot like Molly B. took her over for me. I felt puzzled as I left, wondering how in a world where everything begins with choice, one could see the future at all. Molly B.’s warm voice interrupted my reveries: “Your actions shall reap rewards you cannot yet know.” As I start doing my taxes this week, I’ll bear this in mind….
3. No Go Boom
Argon has some characteristically destructive plan which needs Molly B.’s intervention. This mission takes the form of confiscating four detonators disguised as cell phones, each secreted within a different box in one of Argon’s offices. This can be done without killing everyone there, but uncompromising slaughter does make things more convenient. When you are done at this single location, Moll B. sends praise your way: “Your services have saved innocent lives, Sugaree”. And scored some coin and xps along the way!
4. Data Points
“Silver is so obsessed with the perfection of his creations that he often cannot understand the long-range implications of what he is building” So we have to disrupt them.” Escort a scientist associate of Molly’s to plant false data. Getting her there safely takes some serious escorting skill. On the other hand, once you reach Silver’s research site, it turns out that there are no guards and no locks! Go figure! And then when you are done, the scientists elaborately yawns and says she will find her own way out and no further escort is necessary. She didn’t have to say that twice!
5. Grab the Boom
After absconding with Argon’s detonators, now we return to finish the job and steal his explosives! But we are not alone for this mission; the bluepill we escorted earlier has grown into a capable 50th level partner for us (What? Three hours to 50? Someone ccr this scheming sploiter!!)! Interestingly, the building she is in is surrounded not just by the area’s indigenous Crossbones, but by a pair of Furies as well!
She turns out to be a mixed blessing. Twice she pulled me into fight I wanted to avoid. But on the other hand, she did some great buffing for me as well. And the mobs didn’t dare even look at her! Once you have her, all you need to do is get some cardkeys, and then break into Argon’s storage center and kill all his guards. But without injuring the bystanders. Molly B has a team who will move in to do the rest, i.e., actually get the explosives. I left my protégé in the elevator while I did the killing; I did not want to risk her being injured, and I did not want to risk her witnessing me kill any bystanders who got in my way.
Overall, the fifth mission was the most interesting and ambitious of all. The returning bluepill, the varied locations, the back and forth to get the cardkeys, and the merit in thwarting Argon’s plan all made this a pleasure.
Conclusion: Some good writing, and an unusual character. Challenging missions. The physical simplicity of most will appeal to many. And best of all, it’s nice to be doing something good for a change.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with past mission reviews, and other writings relevant to MxO.
Even for an Exile, Molly B. seems odd. In a driving rain she stood alone in a park in the Moriah Projects (745,6,-259) surrounded by politely milling Crossbone Bumboos. In her brown-gold gi, heels, with carefully coiffed corncob-style hair and her complexion, she reminded me of Azyanna from Artificial Intelligence. In a warm, even voice, she explained that the Matrix is big enough for everyone to get along well. She claims to not work with the bristling ego that makes so many Exiles such a pain, and I have to say she is worlds removed from the kleptomaniacs, plutomaniacs, and just plain maniacs I have worked with so much. She’s much closer to Sister Margaret.
1. Saving Blue
An interesting first mission: a self-actualizing bluepill needs to be protected. Then I groaned when I realized it was an escort mish! As I reluctantly stepped into the blue’s apartment, she jumped up from her lonely Chinese takeout and Oprah rerun, and cried, “I’ve seen you before! I knew you were coming to save me! …. You are my savior!” I told her to take her time, that it was the last good meal she would ever have. Other than that I was encouraging, and got her safely to her destination, decommissioning a good number of Exiles along the way. Molly B. was pleased; I could see I had won her trust: “Thanks for taking care of that for me, Sugaree. You’re a keeper.” For sure!
2. The Prelude
“The Matrix is still an enigma to you. I can sense your inner turmoil, even if you deny it.” I am the last person to deny this, and appreciated someone who could sense how I felt. I sighed deeply as I read through the mission description. I am asked to protect someone, who has an important role to play in the future. This reminded me a little of Madame T.’s missions downtown.
For such a pacific mission, this one started out with a bang.
While I was still reading through the mission description, I came under attack! And as I jumped away to heal, I could see a malevolent little red dot following far, far below, waiting for another bite. This did little for my inner turmoil. The escort component of the mission goes well, as long as you take care to kill everything between you and the destination before leading the principal from the building.
Eventually I got her to the destination, and a woman looking a lot like Molly B. took her over for me. I felt puzzled as I left, wondering how in a world where everything begins with choice, one could see the future at all. Molly B.’s warm voice interrupted my reveries: “Your actions shall reap rewards you cannot yet know.” As I start doing my taxes this week, I’ll bear this in mind….
3. No Go Boom
Argon has some characteristically destructive plan which needs Molly B.’s intervention. This mission takes the form of confiscating four detonators disguised as cell phones, each secreted within a different box in one of Argon’s offices. This can be done without killing everyone there, but uncompromising slaughter does make things more convenient. When you are done at this single location, Moll B. sends praise your way: “Your services have saved innocent lives, Sugaree”. And scored some coin and xps along the way!
4. Data Points
“Silver is so obsessed with the perfection of his creations that he often cannot understand the long-range implications of what he is building” So we have to disrupt them.” Escort a scientist associate of Molly’s to plant false data. Getting her there safely takes some serious escorting skill. On the other hand, once you reach Silver’s research site, it turns out that there are no guards and no locks! Go figure! And then when you are done, the scientists elaborately yawns and says she will find her own way out and no further escort is necessary. She didn’t have to say that twice!
5. Grab the Boom
After absconding with Argon’s detonators, now we return to finish the job and steal his explosives! But we are not alone for this mission; the bluepill we escorted earlier has grown into a capable 50th level partner for us (What? Three hours to 50? Someone ccr this scheming sploiter!!)! Interestingly, the building she is in is surrounded not just by the area’s indigenous Crossbones, but by a pair of Furies as well!
She turns out to be a mixed blessing. Twice she pulled me into fight I wanted to avoid. But on the other hand, she did some great buffing for me as well. And the mobs didn’t dare even look at her! Once you have her, all you need to do is get some cardkeys, and then break into Argon’s storage center and kill all his guards. But without injuring the bystanders. Molly B has a team who will move in to do the rest, i.e., actually get the explosives. I left my protégé in the elevator while I did the killing; I did not want to risk her being injured, and I did not want to risk her witnessing me kill any bystanders who got in my way.
Overall, the fifth mission was the most interesting and ambitious of all. The returning bluepill, the varied locations, the back and forth to get the cardkeys, and the merit in thwarting Argon’s plan all made this a pleasure.
Conclusion: Some good writing, and an unusual character. Challenging missions. The physical simplicity of most will appeal to many. And best of all, it’s nice to be doing something good for a change.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with past mission reviews, and other writings relevant to MxO.
Sugar Shack 43: Richland’s Finest
Sugar Shack 43: Richland’s Finest
Well, with another 14 Contacts whirled behind me, it’s time to wrap up yet another distract. Richland is where we all start life in the red, and many of its clubs and hangouts are seldom alone. Mara, Uriah, Sanguine, Parallaxis…who hasn’t spent many an hour there? And the crispy Blackwoods and the juicy 88s and the saucy Furies…what a place!
Not to its resident Exiles. In fact, in contrast with the rich psychological ecology of the Downtown area, many of the Exiles here are quite bland. Few, in fact, have any agenda outside immediate gratification. Some have great lairs (Thallia and Yttri). The personal relations among some of them (Molly and Argon, Ruth and Silver, Argon/Anti-M/Beryl) are interesting. The writing for some missions is quite good, like the Chessman’s. Nonetheless, the stories of the missions seem shorter and less sophisticated that the downtown ones; this may be due to the lower expected level of the people meant to do them. Probably the plan originally was for players to finish all the Richland missions before venturing to other regions, and the downtown missions would be the last ones to be done. If so, this is yet another case of the players rushing ahead of the game. In my case, the first region I completed was downtown.
So, what can be said about the Exiles of Richland? There are distinctive personalities, to be sure. They have their intense little social circles, and they mostly seem to be very into each other. But mostly they are into themselves, and one of the remarkable aspects of the Richland crowd is that there some committed agents for good among them. I doubt that any of the Downtown crowd could make that claim. So, who stands out?
Most Interesting: Silver. Mr. Meat. The distinctive style, blunt personality, strange lair, and clear agenda for his missions were finely done. The most abrasive but the most interesting of the Richland Exiles, and one of the few to venture to other districts.
Most Bewitching: Thallia. Great lair, weird outfit, great personality, and a devious mind as expressed in her missions. It’s hard not to like the way she thinks.
Most Frustrating: Digger. There is immense promise in the way he talks and in his loot-strewn lair. But his missions were very simple, and he said very little about the previous incarnations of the Matrix. I was immensely unsatisfied when I was done with him.
Most Benevolent: Sister Margaret. Interesting force for good, and surprisingly this imperative gave great variety to her missions. I mean, after a while, you get tired of bursting into an apartment and killing everyone in sight. Well, I do, anyway.
Most Cute: Beryl. Lush, narcissistic personality. You could not help but like her!
Weakest Characters: It’s a tough race to the bottom here: Yttri, Raini, Anti-M, Argon. Molly and Ruth seem interchangeable; I can barely remember how they differ from each other! The Bag Lady similarly seems totally dispensable.
Most So-So: Mercury and the Chessman are kind of in the middle. Interesting personalities, some good thought and writing, yet bland on their missions.
Most Missed Opportunities: There are a lot! Such as:
- Exiles could speak more about their surroundings.
- They could have talked about how they got to be where they are, which mystifies me, given their deficits in the charisma and leadership departments.
- Why The Bag Lady works so hard for the Collector.
- And who is The Collector, anyway?
- Why some of them have clubs and some lurk in apartments they never leave.
- Why Silver chose such a total dump for his datacenter.
- Mercury has a total corporate look for his datacenter and seems located nearby the power grid to boot. Something with this and the MegaCity Department of Energy is crying out to be done.
- What all that other stuff is that belongs to the Digger, and what it represents.
- The Chessman’s pieces never actually seem to move, despite Tyndall’s writing about them.
- What’s the deal with Zia and Lemone having no Exile Contact? Couldn’t there at least have been some Contacts-in-Training?
- Everyone seems to have it in for Silver, yet he seems unaware of this. Is he really so oblivious? Or should he have more payback missions?
I have a feeling that more material was written for their backstories, but logistics prevented the devs from incorporating it all. If only there were some way to get access to more of this.
So, the Richland Exile missions are worth doing for the variety alone. Some of the Exiles here have exceptional personalities and writing, and few have inventive missions. Some left me hungry, but all gave me something to think about.
Well, with another 14 Contacts whirled behind me, it’s time to wrap up yet another distract. Richland is where we all start life in the red, and many of its clubs and hangouts are seldom alone. Mara, Uriah, Sanguine, Parallaxis…who hasn’t spent many an hour there? And the crispy Blackwoods and the juicy 88s and the saucy Furies…what a place!
Not to its resident Exiles. In fact, in contrast with the rich psychological ecology of the Downtown area, many of the Exiles here are quite bland. Few, in fact, have any agenda outside immediate gratification. Some have great lairs (Thallia and Yttri). The personal relations among some of them (Molly and Argon, Ruth and Silver, Argon/Anti-M/Beryl) are interesting. The writing for some missions is quite good, like the Chessman’s. Nonetheless, the stories of the missions seem shorter and less sophisticated that the downtown ones; this may be due to the lower expected level of the people meant to do them. Probably the plan originally was for players to finish all the Richland missions before venturing to other regions, and the downtown missions would be the last ones to be done. If so, this is yet another case of the players rushing ahead of the game. In my case, the first region I completed was downtown.
So, what can be said about the Exiles of Richland? There are distinctive personalities, to be sure. They have their intense little social circles, and they mostly seem to be very into each other. But mostly they are into themselves, and one of the remarkable aspects of the Richland crowd is that there some committed agents for good among them. I doubt that any of the Downtown crowd could make that claim. So, who stands out?
Most Interesting: Silver. Mr. Meat. The distinctive style, blunt personality, strange lair, and clear agenda for his missions were finely done. The most abrasive but the most interesting of the Richland Exiles, and one of the few to venture to other districts.
Most Bewitching: Thallia. Great lair, weird outfit, great personality, and a devious mind as expressed in her missions. It’s hard not to like the way she thinks.
Most Frustrating: Digger. There is immense promise in the way he talks and in his loot-strewn lair. But his missions were very simple, and he said very little about the previous incarnations of the Matrix. I was immensely unsatisfied when I was done with him.
Most Benevolent: Sister Margaret. Interesting force for good, and surprisingly this imperative gave great variety to her missions. I mean, after a while, you get tired of bursting into an apartment and killing everyone in sight. Well, I do, anyway.
Most Cute: Beryl. Lush, narcissistic personality. You could not help but like her!
Weakest Characters: It’s a tough race to the bottom here: Yttri, Raini, Anti-M, Argon. Molly and Ruth seem interchangeable; I can barely remember how they differ from each other! The Bag Lady similarly seems totally dispensable.
Most So-So: Mercury and the Chessman are kind of in the middle. Interesting personalities, some good thought and writing, yet bland on their missions.
Most Missed Opportunities: There are a lot! Such as:
- Exiles could speak more about their surroundings.
- They could have talked about how they got to be where they are, which mystifies me, given their deficits in the charisma and leadership departments.
- Why The Bag Lady works so hard for the Collector.
- And who is The Collector, anyway?
- Why some of them have clubs and some lurk in apartments they never leave.
- Why Silver chose such a total dump for his datacenter.
- Mercury has a total corporate look for his datacenter and seems located nearby the power grid to boot. Something with this and the MegaCity Department of Energy is crying out to be done.
- What all that other stuff is that belongs to the Digger, and what it represents.
- The Chessman’s pieces never actually seem to move, despite Tyndall’s writing about them.
- What’s the deal with Zia and Lemone having no Exile Contact? Couldn’t there at least have been some Contacts-in-Training?
- Everyone seems to have it in for Silver, yet he seems unaware of this. Is he really so oblivious? Or should he have more payback missions?
I have a feeling that more material was written for their backstories, but logistics prevented the devs from incorporating it all. If only there were some way to get access to more of this.
So, the Richland Exile missions are worth doing for the variety alone. Some of the Exiles here have exceptional personalities and writing, and few have inventive missions. Some left me hungry, but all gave me something to think about.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Sugar Shack 41: Silver: Mazy Meatless Menace
Sugar Shack 41: Silver: Mazy Meatless Menace
Naturally, Silver’s appearance matches his name: bright grey hair, a steel-grey shirt under a dark jacket. He has some sort of Borg eyepiece for his right eye. We have seen him before downtown for some of the Pandora’s Box mishes; we all know that he is quite seriously ambitious.
However, you could never tell it from his lair. To meet Silver (1006, -16, -520), you have to navigate your way through one of the labyrinthine dumps of Camon Heights, turning every few steps, sweeping spider webs, stepping over pizza boxes and beer bottles. Look for stained stairs going down, down, down. Eventually you find a sparkly datacenter where he stands right in the center, master of all he surveys.
All Silver’s missions relate to his research. Studying field fluctuations, rare code frags, other people’s inventions, etc. He’s like an evil, aggressive version of Mercury. He has the restless mind of a Benjamin Franklin, but without the personal charm. In fact, Silver never regards you with anything more than relaxed contempt. Suck it up; that’s the price we pay for xps and info: we don’t have to like our clients; we just have to collect from them.
1. Meet the Meat
Like most first mishes, this one is simple, if not exactly easy. Silver is “studying the field density fluctuation of the Matrix and how it is affected by ‘free roaming redpills’ like you”. To measure this, he wants you to pass through an area and kill everything there. Works for me! As an afterthought, he genially sneers, “Even you ought to be able to handle that.” I guess he has been talking to the Weaver.
After our powerful team laid waste to every single Exile there, Silver nodded curtly, ”Passable performance, meat. I suppose I can use you again.” “Curb your enthusiasm,” I said.
2. Software Run
This second mission is actually one of his easiest. You have to run in, insert a virus, and run for your life. “It’s very easy so you should be able to do it,” Silver reassured me, adding, “Oh, and don’t get killed by the guys that run the place.”
As instructed, I ran in, inserted the virus in the computer in the guards ready room (the one right next to the elevator), leaped past the guards over the counter, ran for the elevator, and died one foot from it, five hot slugs in my back. But we got credit for a success, so what’s not to like?
3. For Tat
In this most fascinating mission, Silver needs help in a deal with the cool, bewitching Hypatia from downtown. She wants someone killed, and thought of Silver, who thought of us. In exchange, she’ll help him with some research on some unusual code frags which have appeared recently. The hit is straightforward. The most interesting thing was meeting Hypatia. She complimented us on work well done, and invited us to look her up in Chelsea if we were looking for work.
Silver was characteristic: “At least you didn’t drool on Hypatia’s feet”. I think he is falling in love with me.
4. Mercury Sabotage
Silver hates Mercury as much as Mercury hates him. He thinks that the “lesser inventor” has been scheming to steal his research, and wants to discourage this interest. A nice virus, nicely inserted, does the trick. And for this mish, we just had to run in, pop in a disk, and run for our lives. Our powerful band was able to do this.
5. Just a Peek
But Silver is not done with Mercury yet. Now he tasks us with stealing one of his prototypes. Not that he needs it, mind you, he is simply “curious”. We found the location, we broke in, we killed all the guards, we got the prototype, and we dropped it off with a huffy, impatient aide of Silver’s. While we were running around, Silver barraged us with reflections. About how the Truce is a bad thing. About how scummy humans are. About how unclean he feels to be working with us. I can’t tell you how encouraged I felt, and how much it made me want to please him.
And when it was all over? Silver looked up from approving our timesheets, sighed, and barked: “You know, I’m sick of working with meat; it is more trouble than it is worth. Why don’t you go bother someone else?”
And that was it! He turned away and went to optimize a database or something. Love us and leave us, why don’t you? At least his check cleared.
So Silver’s missions have interesting connections with other Exiles. To me, this is always a good thing. Besides this, there are some noteworthy story components. And the fights were okay. Best of all, there were no escort missions!
These missions were unusually easy. Not because I was so strong, but because I was working with a very strong team. Special thanks go to S3per from Vidar’s Soldiers, and to my brothers and sisters from The Collective: BrightAngel, Cammara, Blackfir3, and Freez, who just hit 50 recently. Way to go!
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with past mission reviews, and other writings relevant to MxO.
Naturally, Silver’s appearance matches his name: bright grey hair, a steel-grey shirt under a dark jacket. He has some sort of Borg eyepiece for his right eye. We have seen him before downtown for some of the Pandora’s Box mishes; we all know that he is quite seriously ambitious.
However, you could never tell it from his lair. To meet Silver (1006, -16, -520), you have to navigate your way through one of the labyrinthine dumps of Camon Heights, turning every few steps, sweeping spider webs, stepping over pizza boxes and beer bottles. Look for stained stairs going down, down, down. Eventually you find a sparkly datacenter where he stands right in the center, master of all he surveys.
All Silver’s missions relate to his research. Studying field fluctuations, rare code frags, other people’s inventions, etc. He’s like an evil, aggressive version of Mercury. He has the restless mind of a Benjamin Franklin, but without the personal charm. In fact, Silver never regards you with anything more than relaxed contempt. Suck it up; that’s the price we pay for xps and info: we don’t have to like our clients; we just have to collect from them.
1. Meet the Meat
Like most first mishes, this one is simple, if not exactly easy. Silver is “studying the field density fluctuation of the Matrix and how it is affected by ‘free roaming redpills’ like you”. To measure this, he wants you to pass through an area and kill everything there. Works for me! As an afterthought, he genially sneers, “Even you ought to be able to handle that.” I guess he has been talking to the Weaver.
After our powerful team laid waste to every single Exile there, Silver nodded curtly, ”Passable performance, meat. I suppose I can use you again.” “Curb your enthusiasm,” I said.
2. Software Run
This second mission is actually one of his easiest. You have to run in, insert a virus, and run for your life. “It’s very easy so you should be able to do it,” Silver reassured me, adding, “Oh, and don’t get killed by the guys that run the place.”
As instructed, I ran in, inserted the virus in the computer in the guards ready room (the one right next to the elevator), leaped past the guards over the counter, ran for the elevator, and died one foot from it, five hot slugs in my back. But we got credit for a success, so what’s not to like?
3. For Tat
In this most fascinating mission, Silver needs help in a deal with the cool, bewitching Hypatia from downtown. She wants someone killed, and thought of Silver, who thought of us. In exchange, she’ll help him with some research on some unusual code frags which have appeared recently. The hit is straightforward. The most interesting thing was meeting Hypatia. She complimented us on work well done, and invited us to look her up in Chelsea if we were looking for work.
Silver was characteristic: “At least you didn’t drool on Hypatia’s feet”. I think he is falling in love with me.
4. Mercury Sabotage
Silver hates Mercury as much as Mercury hates him. He thinks that the “lesser inventor” has been scheming to steal his research, and wants to discourage this interest. A nice virus, nicely inserted, does the trick. And for this mish, we just had to run in, pop in a disk, and run for our lives. Our powerful band was able to do this.
5. Just a Peek
But Silver is not done with Mercury yet. Now he tasks us with stealing one of his prototypes. Not that he needs it, mind you, he is simply “curious”. We found the location, we broke in, we killed all the guards, we got the prototype, and we dropped it off with a huffy, impatient aide of Silver’s. While we were running around, Silver barraged us with reflections. About how the Truce is a bad thing. About how scummy humans are. About how unclean he feels to be working with us. I can’t tell you how encouraged I felt, and how much it made me want to please him.
And when it was all over? Silver looked up from approving our timesheets, sighed, and barked: “You know, I’m sick of working with meat; it is more trouble than it is worth. Why don’t you go bother someone else?”
And that was it! He turned away and went to optimize a database or something. Love us and leave us, why don’t you? At least his check cleared.
So Silver’s missions have interesting connections with other Exiles. To me, this is always a good thing. Besides this, there are some noteworthy story components. And the fights were okay. Best of all, there were no escort missions!
These missions were unusually easy. Not because I was so strong, but because I was working with a very strong team. Special thanks go to S3per from Vidar’s Soldiers, and to my brothers and sisters from The Collective: BrightAngel, Cammara, Blackfir3, and Freez, who just hit 50 recently. Way to go!
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with past mission reviews, and other writings relevant to MxO.
Sugar Shack 40: Ruth: Not a Total Jerk
Sugar Shack 40: Ruth: Not a Total Jerk
Right there in the middle of the Projects (1007, 04, -1411), Ruth loiters. It’s what she wants, she says. She eschews the “high and mighty crap” that other Exiles like so much. You know, the ones like Silver and the Jeweller, not to mention the Merovingian She prefers to be “down here in the think of the action with the bluepills”. Basically, she likes slumming 365 days a year. You see it in her appearance too, the clinging dark blouse and the baggy dark pants; the shock locks going every which way. Everything about her outfit seems like a casual afterthought. Far from dressing for success, Ruth affects a tough-guy, street-smart image.
To join the Grrls’ Club, you have to “prove yourself to me by rescuing a bluepills from an Exile gang’s threats”.
1. Rescue Blue
A bluepill is being harassed by five bullies, for no obvious reason. They seemed to have camped out in his apartment, perhaps intending it as a base for operations. So I killed two, sat down for some milk and chow mein (bad combination!), and the slew the rest. The bluepill was overjoyed; Ruth less so: “That wasn’t bad, Sugaree. You might have some good moves.”
2. The Viper’s Nest
Strike against Thallia’s network. She is a social "viper" who needs to be “taken down a peg”; she tears down other Exiles to make herself look better to the Merovingian, so Ruth says. And I have to say, this is quite consistent with that I saw of her during her missions. Ruth’s idea is to put a small virus in her network that will throw her social calendar into disarray. This will have her showing up at all the wrong events; the worst kind of hell for her. And the mish is simple enough: run in, insert disk, and run out. “You’re a pretty competent one, Sugaree.” The apparent squalor of Thallia’s office surprised me, especially considering how luxurious her lair is! Perhaps Ruth is not the only one that likes to slum.
3. Gadget Grab
Silver’s been up to some mechanical mischief, and now Ruth wants to know about it. This mission was surprisingly difficult. Four very tough Machine staff awaited me, and my membership card for The Collective did not carry much weight with them. Eventually I killed enough to get a key, and ran past the others to reach my goal. “Sharp moves, Sugaree”, judged Ruth.
4. Poison the Well
Silver has been up to some serious trouble-making, even for an Exile. He has come up with “some sort of prototype decompiler that works on bluepills”. It would permit Silver to take apart bluepills for their raw code. Yes, I agreed, this would not be a good thing. Ruth bids me insert a virus into his network (as usual). But this is not the usual, garden-variety, format-the-hard-drive virus. That would precipitate tape restorations, after all. This virus simply adjusts the data flow imperceptibly so that things do not work correctly. Nice thinking, Ruth! She agrees: “You’ve saved some innocent lives today, Sugaree.” More than “some”, I should think.
5. Both Ends Against the Middle
The last mission was a half-way measure to delay Silver. The next step is to distract him. This is done by exposing his research to Tick Tock, a wily intelligence-oriented Exile from downtown (we did his missions a while back). If they start fighting, this will slow them both down. However, complications arise. Your contact for Tick Tock has been killed, and someone else impersonates him and tries to brewko you. Eventually you put the ersatz ally down, and upload the file and folder, but the identity of the third party is never clear. Who tried to cut in? How did they find out? What was their interest? All is not clear, though I would put my money on Hypatia, who has an unparalleled thirst for knowledge of anything and everything.
Ruth’s missions can all be done in an hour, so they’re perfect for an evening of action that leaves time for hanging out and socializing. When you are working on them you have the feeling that you are making the world a better place for pills of both colors, which is very gratifying. And there are interesting connections between Ruth and other exiles, which is always satisfying. You don’t have the feeling that Ruth exist in dumpy vacuum, as you do with some others, such as the Auditor. Ruth does not have the rich personality that some other Exiles do, but she does have a vision, her missions are satisfying and quite varied.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with past mission reviews, and other writings relevant to MxO.
Right there in the middle of the Projects (1007, 04, -1411), Ruth loiters. It’s what she wants, she says. She eschews the “high and mighty crap” that other Exiles like so much. You know, the ones like Silver and the Jeweller, not to mention the Merovingian She prefers to be “down here in the think of the action with the bluepills”. Basically, she likes slumming 365 days a year. You see it in her appearance too, the clinging dark blouse and the baggy dark pants; the shock locks going every which way. Everything about her outfit seems like a casual afterthought. Far from dressing for success, Ruth affects a tough-guy, street-smart image.
To join the Grrls’ Club, you have to “prove yourself to me by rescuing a bluepills from an Exile gang’s threats”.
1. Rescue Blue
A bluepill is being harassed by five bullies, for no obvious reason. They seemed to have camped out in his apartment, perhaps intending it as a base for operations. So I killed two, sat down for some milk and chow mein (bad combination!), and the slew the rest. The bluepill was overjoyed; Ruth less so: “That wasn’t bad, Sugaree. You might have some good moves.”
2. The Viper’s Nest
Strike against Thallia’s network. She is a social "viper" who needs to be “taken down a peg”; she tears down other Exiles to make herself look better to the Merovingian, so Ruth says. And I have to say, this is quite consistent with that I saw of her during her missions. Ruth’s idea is to put a small virus in her network that will throw her social calendar into disarray. This will have her showing up at all the wrong events; the worst kind of hell for her. And the mish is simple enough: run in, insert disk, and run out. “You’re a pretty competent one, Sugaree.” The apparent squalor of Thallia’s office surprised me, especially considering how luxurious her lair is! Perhaps Ruth is not the only one that likes to slum.
3. Gadget Grab
Silver’s been up to some mechanical mischief, and now Ruth wants to know about it. This mission was surprisingly difficult. Four very tough Machine staff awaited me, and my membership card for The Collective did not carry much weight with them. Eventually I killed enough to get a key, and ran past the others to reach my goal. “Sharp moves, Sugaree”, judged Ruth.
4. Poison the Well
Silver has been up to some serious trouble-making, even for an Exile. He has come up with “some sort of prototype decompiler that works on bluepills”. It would permit Silver to take apart bluepills for their raw code. Yes, I agreed, this would not be a good thing. Ruth bids me insert a virus into his network (as usual). But this is not the usual, garden-variety, format-the-hard-drive virus. That would precipitate tape restorations, after all. This virus simply adjusts the data flow imperceptibly so that things do not work correctly. Nice thinking, Ruth! She agrees: “You’ve saved some innocent lives today, Sugaree.” More than “some”, I should think.
5. Both Ends Against the Middle
The last mission was a half-way measure to delay Silver. The next step is to distract him. This is done by exposing his research to Tick Tock, a wily intelligence-oriented Exile from downtown (we did his missions a while back). If they start fighting, this will slow them both down. However, complications arise. Your contact for Tick Tock has been killed, and someone else impersonates him and tries to brewko you. Eventually you put the ersatz ally down, and upload the file and folder, but the identity of the third party is never clear. Who tried to cut in? How did they find out? What was their interest? All is not clear, though I would put my money on Hypatia, who has an unparalleled thirst for knowledge of anything and everything.
Ruth’s missions can all be done in an hour, so they’re perfect for an evening of action that leaves time for hanging out and socializing. When you are working on them you have the feeling that you are making the world a better place for pills of both colors, which is very gratifying. And there are interesting connections between Ruth and other exiles, which is always satisfying. You don’t have the feeling that Ruth exist in dumpy vacuum, as you do with some others, such as the Auditor. Ruth does not have the rich personality that some other Exiles do, but she does have a vision, her missions are satisfying and quite varied.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with past mission reviews, and other writings relevant to MxO.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Sugar Shack 39: What Makes a Clan Great?
MxO is full of things happening. Player events. Wars at Mara. QA mayhem. Clan mergers. The game changes and players change. Some come, and some go. People gin up controversy about trivia and players leave in disgust. Who wants be assaulted every day by the latest charges of exploiting and trashtalk? We need to have clear strategic goals for ourselves if we are not to be distracted by provocations such as this. In the past my clan, The Collective, has let itself be distracted by twits and trivia, to our chagrin. Here are some suggestions we’ve developed to help keep our eyes on the goal.
We need to remember what makes a clan great in this game. We need to look at these and ask ourselves how we are striving for excellence. Responding to baiting from perpetual foes (and I know I have been on rare occasions guilty of indulgence in these areas) will not earn leadership. Other things will. I can think of eight, and talk a little bit about them below. Clan greatness comes from these factors, and yes, I will include PvP. Naturally, this is not to say that every clan needs every one of these to be great. It’s just that if a clan has no more than one or two of these, its days may be numbered.
1. Longevity. We must be around to be acknowledged. We must last and have steady inflow of new blood to replace those who are repulsed by Brewko or burn out or are overcome by life. This seems obvious, but some clans I considered great at one time have fallen by the wayside. A clan must attract new blood by being present ingame and by presenting itself well in the forums and other venues I explore below. Hint: endless trashtalk is a sign of Tourette’s Syndrome, not greatness.
2. PvP. PvP is not necessary to being a great clan, as The Sirens and The Devil’s Advocates have demonstrated. It can, in fact, contribute to being a scummy clan, as RIP and dolts the world over have shown. However, PvP, to contribute to greatness, must show a clan at its best. Otherwise it’s just a bunch of banzai kamikaze wannabees (i.e., zergs) which does not reflect well on a clan. It seems like many of us have made progress in this respect. But we all need more practice, planning, and discipline. And trashtalking your adversaries to bait them into hating you to fight you…enjoy it while you can, ‘cuz when you start middle school, it stops being cool.
3. Diversity. Some clans attract nothing but PvPers and people who want to be feared and hated. I say, let them have the violent and the insecure! A great clan satisfies many types of people. If people as different as Nanohaxial and Seraya have been satisfied in TC, then we have truly been successful because we have a broad base of talents. If we have different types of people, we will attract different types of people, and earn the respect of different types of people. If we are nothing but a PvP clan, we are weaker than we need be. If we are nothing but a role-play clan, we are weaker than we need be.
4. Community Events. Also, Story Events. When a clan organizes community events, as the Sirens and the Kings of Never and Fallen Horizon have done so well, and when others even just participate in them, we show we care about the community and reaching out to others. Others appreciate this. This is one way The Sirens have been so successful, even though they hardly ever PvP, and don’t even obsess very much about levels. Yet they are a great clan. The more community events a clan attends and sponsors, the better off it is. As someone once said, the only thing worse than being seen and talked about is not being seen and talked about.
5. Classiness of Members and Their Posts. Compare posts by various people on the MxO forums. Who’s articulate? Who’s worth reading? People judge clans by their words. What do ours on the forums say about us? Silence is not an option, or someone else’s blather will be all people see. Few people from jerk clans post in the forums. Even fewer post intelligently. My own clan is blessed with some great posters, like Lucen, Sattakan, Garutachi, Melt, and Calliente. Other clans have great posters, like Symmetric, Alicethepattern and Ic3b3rg. Just really impressive. In posts I work to craft a distinct style of speech (except when I’m mad) because it contrasts so much with 3l33tspeak. It helps us to stand out and be different. Stupidfly did this too, of course, but in the opposite direction, “keeping it gangsta”. What this lacked in classiness is compensated for in the next item on the list.
6. Name Recognition. There is no such thing as bad publicity. Well, maybe that’s not completely true, but you can see what I mean.
7. Recognition from the Devs. How many clans have achieved this? Fallen Horizons certainly has! Midnight’s name is hard-wired into the game! Upstream’s alter ego, Downstream, appears in numerous missions. Few others have achieved this. This is one of the most sublime forms of greatness: recognition and affirmation by the gods. I’m not sure how to achieve this, and hope that Midnight can enlighten us.
8. Community Service. Contributing back to the community takes many forms. Think of all the radio stations rocking away out there. The great writeups many people have done on CR 2,0, attributes, and abilities. My neighborhood exile mission reviews. Weaselgrrl’s countless, creative, witty posts. DrippingCheese’s witty posts and sigs. Kings of Never’s great events. These are all examples of giving back. Ages ago, helping new players was a big thing; when we have more new players I hope this returns as well.
Each of us has skills and energy, as do our crews. If we choose to, we can focus them in areas which achieve and demonstrate greatness. If we focus on these areas, others will froth and foam, but in impotent insignificance. If we reduce ourselves and become a one-strength clan like they are, we will lose all pretence to greatness.
Most important for every leader and captain here, we must CHOOSE which strengths to enhance for our clan. We MUST NOT choose by reaction and in effect become what someone else chooses for us. In the case of The Collective, some adversary clans seek to reduce us to PvP rag dolls. But there is much more to us and to our clan than this. We are absolutely stupid if we only become what someone else wants us to be. Everything begins with choice, and leaders must choose the types and routes to greatness which best suit their clans.
I held off for months on making this available outside the clan, since thinking along these lines can give immense strategic advantage over others. But at this point I think we are all better served by numerous strong, great clans, and I share this in that spirit.
We need to remember what makes a clan great in this game. We need to look at these and ask ourselves how we are striving for excellence. Responding to baiting from perpetual foes (and I know I have been on rare occasions guilty of indulgence in these areas) will not earn leadership. Other things will. I can think of eight, and talk a little bit about them below. Clan greatness comes from these factors, and yes, I will include PvP. Naturally, this is not to say that every clan needs every one of these to be great. It’s just that if a clan has no more than one or two of these, its days may be numbered.
1. Longevity. We must be around to be acknowledged. We must last and have steady inflow of new blood to replace those who are repulsed by Brewko or burn out or are overcome by life. This seems obvious, but some clans I considered great at one time have fallen by the wayside. A clan must attract new blood by being present ingame and by presenting itself well in the forums and other venues I explore below. Hint: endless trashtalk is a sign of Tourette’s Syndrome, not greatness.
2. PvP. PvP is not necessary to being a great clan, as The Sirens and The Devil’s Advocates have demonstrated. It can, in fact, contribute to being a scummy clan, as RIP and dolts the world over have shown. However, PvP, to contribute to greatness, must show a clan at its best. Otherwise it’s just a bunch of banzai kamikaze wannabees (i.e., zergs) which does not reflect well on a clan. It seems like many of us have made progress in this respect. But we all need more practice, planning, and discipline. And trashtalking your adversaries to bait them into hating you to fight you…enjoy it while you can, ‘cuz when you start middle school, it stops being cool.
3. Diversity. Some clans attract nothing but PvPers and people who want to be feared and hated. I say, let them have the violent and the insecure! A great clan satisfies many types of people. If people as different as Nanohaxial and Seraya have been satisfied in TC, then we have truly been successful because we have a broad base of talents. If we have different types of people, we will attract different types of people, and earn the respect of different types of people. If we are nothing but a PvP clan, we are weaker than we need be. If we are nothing but a role-play clan, we are weaker than we need be.
4. Community Events. Also, Story Events. When a clan organizes community events, as the Sirens and the Kings of Never and Fallen Horizon have done so well, and when others even just participate in them, we show we care about the community and reaching out to others. Others appreciate this. This is one way The Sirens have been so successful, even though they hardly ever PvP, and don’t even obsess very much about levels. Yet they are a great clan. The more community events a clan attends and sponsors, the better off it is. As someone once said, the only thing worse than being seen and talked about is not being seen and talked about.
5. Classiness of Members and Their Posts. Compare posts by various people on the MxO forums. Who’s articulate? Who’s worth reading? People judge clans by their words. What do ours on the forums say about us? Silence is not an option, or someone else’s blather will be all people see. Few people from jerk clans post in the forums. Even fewer post intelligently. My own clan is blessed with some great posters, like Lucen, Sattakan, Garutachi, Melt, and Calliente. Other clans have great posters, like Symmetric, Alicethepattern and Ic3b3rg. Just really impressive. In posts I work to craft a distinct style of speech (except when I’m mad) because it contrasts so much with 3l33tspeak. It helps us to stand out and be different. Stupidfly did this too, of course, but in the opposite direction, “keeping it gangsta”. What this lacked in classiness is compensated for in the next item on the list.
6. Name Recognition. There is no such thing as bad publicity. Well, maybe that’s not completely true, but you can see what I mean.
7. Recognition from the Devs. How many clans have achieved this? Fallen Horizons certainly has! Midnight’s name is hard-wired into the game! Upstream’s alter ego, Downstream, appears in numerous missions. Few others have achieved this. This is one of the most sublime forms of greatness: recognition and affirmation by the gods. I’m not sure how to achieve this, and hope that Midnight can enlighten us.
8. Community Service. Contributing back to the community takes many forms. Think of all the radio stations rocking away out there. The great writeups many people have done on CR 2,0, attributes, and abilities. My neighborhood exile mission reviews. Weaselgrrl’s countless, creative, witty posts. DrippingCheese’s witty posts and sigs. Kings of Never’s great events. These are all examples of giving back. Ages ago, helping new players was a big thing; when we have more new players I hope this returns as well.
Each of us has skills and energy, as do our crews. If we choose to, we can focus them in areas which achieve and demonstrate greatness. If we focus on these areas, others will froth and foam, but in impotent insignificance. If we reduce ourselves and become a one-strength clan like they are, we will lose all pretence to greatness.
Most important for every leader and captain here, we must CHOOSE which strengths to enhance for our clan. We MUST NOT choose by reaction and in effect become what someone else chooses for us. In the case of The Collective, some adversary clans seek to reduce us to PvP rag dolls. But there is much more to us and to our clan than this. We are absolutely stupid if we only become what someone else wants us to be. Everything begins with choice, and leaders must choose the types and routes to greatness which best suit their clans.
I held off for months on making this available outside the clan, since thinking along these lines can give immense strategic advantage over others. But at this point I think we are all better served by numerous strong, great clans, and I share this in that spirit.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Sugar Shack 38: Mercury: Tries Harder
Sugar Shack 38: Mercury: Tries Harder
Really, it seems to me that Mercury basically does not want to be found. Master of his datacenter administration room, he waits, secluded in Uriah Industrial park at -50, -14, 271. The room itself is a recluse’s dream, only accessible by long stair walks up and down. When you walk in, you can feel the cold dry air, and hear the monstrous humming behind him and all around you, and feel the load-balancing struggle. I wish there had been one server rack named Recursion, one Syntax, etc. It would have been the perfect touch. Mercury stood there, tense in my presence, with big eyes and bigger hands. I could tell that he would never demean himself to hawk himself on a cold corner downtown like The Newsie or Madame T. He’s not a people person, clearly. For the slightest task involving other people, he needs outside help. He stood in front of me and despite his power and presence, he seemed uncomfortable, like he would rather be juggling cinderblocks or something.
1. Turnabout is Fair Play
This first missions is a fine example of Mercury’s endless anxiety. He bids you steal some files from the obsessive, possessive Silver’s network, and blurts out at the end that he is a better inventor. This mish is fairly straightforward; Mercury’s ingenuity does not extend, it appears, to narrative design…. My partner for this mish, Blackfir3 from The Collective, was so high-powered that by the time I had found my way to the mish site, he had the whole things wrapped up! Whoah!
2. A Prize for Molly B
In this brief mish, you travel to a nearby location to get a package for Mercury from one of Molly B’s guys, and then drop it off. The contents are not disclosed, and nothing else ever seems to happen with this mish. I think the technical term is “filler”, though when I do Molly B’s missions, maybe a connection will emerge.
3. Component Parts
He has a shipment of some parts that needs to be escorted for safety’s sake. He’s buying some stuff from The Collector, and needs to make sure it gets safely to his storehouse. The contact looks like a clone of Mercury, and tells me to get out and stop bothering him as soon as I plucked the items from their cardboard box! What a team! Then I evaded an attack, and dropped off everything with some grateful aides of Mercury. Their boss has been keeping an eye on things, and calls at the end: “Nice work, Sugaree. Not too tough, eh?”
4. Company Secrets
Silver is not one to give up easily, and Mercury needs someone to protect his warehouse. Silver seems to be interested in a prototype, and we need to discourage them. One thug says “I think it just got a little dumber in here” and another chirps, “So, I suppose Mercury sent you to stop us, huh?” I always love these little touches; they show someone brought their imagination to work.
All things considered, fairly easy and fairly entertaining. And it’s all located within the same building at Mercury’s lair, so the commute it great! “That’ll show them,” he says at the end, “Good work, Sugaree.”
5. The Tick Tock Box
Clearly Mercury has come to like me. He got worked up and greeted me as soon as I came in, “Hey, hope you’re doing okay.” The target for today is a technical work commissioned by Tick Tock, which needs to be delivered. Naturally enemy forces are interested as well, and must be wiped out prior to the delivery. This went smoothly enough. The recipient, though, looks at it critically, and seemed puzzled, commenting, “Thanks. Uh, what the hell is this thing? This isn’t a cell phone. Well, never mind. Thanks again.” I have no idea what it is or where this is going, but I like the way these details are worked into the story. Nice work!
Mercury has come to rely on me. He brings his toughest problems to me for solutions. Now, with things quieted down, he takes a deep breath and relaxes. I could tell he liked me, as he started to gush. “Thanks, Sugaree. You have done great. I don’t have any more jobs for now, but if anything comes up, you’ll be the first one I come to.” Unlike all the other dozens of Exiles who have said this over the months, I kind of believed him.
There are good things about these missions. Their convenience. The connections to other Exiles. The brisk battles. Mercury’s personality. The mystery of the item for Tick Tock. On the other hand, the unexplained mission involving Molly B disappointed. Overall, still worth doing.
Many thanks to BlackFir3 from The Collective and Alixander for their help with these missions. Their help and company were most welcome.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Really, it seems to me that Mercury basically does not want to be found. Master of his datacenter administration room, he waits, secluded in Uriah Industrial park at -50, -14, 271. The room itself is a recluse’s dream, only accessible by long stair walks up and down. When you walk in, you can feel the cold dry air, and hear the monstrous humming behind him and all around you, and feel the load-balancing struggle. I wish there had been one server rack named Recursion, one Syntax, etc. It would have been the perfect touch. Mercury stood there, tense in my presence, with big eyes and bigger hands. I could tell that he would never demean himself to hawk himself on a cold corner downtown like The Newsie or Madame T. He’s not a people person, clearly. For the slightest task involving other people, he needs outside help. He stood in front of me and despite his power and presence, he seemed uncomfortable, like he would rather be juggling cinderblocks or something.
1. Turnabout is Fair Play
This first missions is a fine example of Mercury’s endless anxiety. He bids you steal some files from the obsessive, possessive Silver’s network, and blurts out at the end that he is a better inventor. This mish is fairly straightforward; Mercury’s ingenuity does not extend, it appears, to narrative design…. My partner for this mish, Blackfir3 from The Collective, was so high-powered that by the time I had found my way to the mish site, he had the whole things wrapped up! Whoah!
2. A Prize for Molly B
In this brief mish, you travel to a nearby location to get a package for Mercury from one of Molly B’s guys, and then drop it off. The contents are not disclosed, and nothing else ever seems to happen with this mish. I think the technical term is “filler”, though when I do Molly B’s missions, maybe a connection will emerge.
3. Component Parts
He has a shipment of some parts that needs to be escorted for safety’s sake. He’s buying some stuff from The Collector, and needs to make sure it gets safely to his storehouse. The contact looks like a clone of Mercury, and tells me to get out and stop bothering him as soon as I plucked the items from their cardboard box! What a team! Then I evaded an attack, and dropped off everything with some grateful aides of Mercury. Their boss has been keeping an eye on things, and calls at the end: “Nice work, Sugaree. Not too tough, eh?”
4. Company Secrets
Silver is not one to give up easily, and Mercury needs someone to protect his warehouse. Silver seems to be interested in a prototype, and we need to discourage them. One thug says “I think it just got a little dumber in here” and another chirps, “So, I suppose Mercury sent you to stop us, huh?” I always love these little touches; they show someone brought their imagination to work.
All things considered, fairly easy and fairly entertaining. And it’s all located within the same building at Mercury’s lair, so the commute it great! “That’ll show them,” he says at the end, “Good work, Sugaree.”
5. The Tick Tock Box
Clearly Mercury has come to like me. He got worked up and greeted me as soon as I came in, “Hey, hope you’re doing okay.” The target for today is a technical work commissioned by Tick Tock, which needs to be delivered. Naturally enemy forces are interested as well, and must be wiped out prior to the delivery. This went smoothly enough. The recipient, though, looks at it critically, and seemed puzzled, commenting, “Thanks. Uh, what the hell is this thing? This isn’t a cell phone. Well, never mind. Thanks again.” I have no idea what it is or where this is going, but I like the way these details are worked into the story. Nice work!
Mercury has come to rely on me. He brings his toughest problems to me for solutions. Now, with things quieted down, he takes a deep breath and relaxes. I could tell he liked me, as he started to gush. “Thanks, Sugaree. You have done great. I don’t have any more jobs for now, but if anything comes up, you’ll be the first one I come to.” Unlike all the other dozens of Exiles who have said this over the months, I kind of believed him.
There are good things about these missions. Their convenience. The connections to other Exiles. The brisk battles. Mercury’s personality. The mystery of the item for Tick Tock. On the other hand, the unexplained mission involving Molly B disappointed. Overall, still worth doing.
Many thanks to BlackFir3 from The Collective and Alixander for their help with these missions. Their help and company were most welcome.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
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