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.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
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.
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