Sugar Shack 36: Exile Contact Missions: Grisaille: Generic Violence
Grisaille quietly holds a lonely court in a corner of one of MegaCity’s most swinging clubs, The Succubus, at -676, -6, 157. He seems young, confident, and violent, as though he’s trying to prove something. Yet he has little personality, really. He is a dapper cipher: mayhem wrapped in mystery in a suit. Unlike many clubs, Succubus has real personality in décor and theme, with its sultry candles and festive tombstones, and much could have been done with this to give him a backstory, or some motivation. For example:
“Silver once ragged on me, saying I was the most lifeless noob he had ever seen. Well, there is life in lifelessness, and I set out to be as energetically lifeless as possible. That’s why I have the tombstones and the mood candles. They burn forever without going out. That’s me! Have a drink!”
Or
“I saw all the undead and the vampires and the lupines, and stuff, and I wanted something that would attract them in for parties and off-site business meetings. So I went with the succubus theme, the tombstones, the red lights, and the candles and all. It’s way classier than some dump like Parallaxis or Jacob’s Ladder, don’t you think?”
1. Fade Away
Word, it seems, has gotten around (“Ah, so you’re that Sugaree person I’ve been hearing so much about. Well, time to prove your worth”) and he is ready to give me something substantial to do. No simple drop off a package mission here! Like many an Exile, Grisaille has a low boiling point, and the instant you talk to him, he starts blathering about revenge, “take them out, chip chop”. The targets have been tailed from Club Dante to some no-name place, where they are unknowingly waiting for their doom, perhaps planning their IRA contributions for the year. As the dust settles at the end, Grisaille nods approvingly, “Very well done, Sugaree. If you can do that, you can do anything.” Yah! Say it again!
2. A Quiet Conversation
Grisaille needs to have an Exile brought to him for a conversation about some information. As usual, the target is confident in her guards, and as usual her confidence is misplaced. She acquiesces, accompanies you, and soon finds herself in front of one of Grisaille’s agents. Fear dawns across her face. “Don’t fret, love. It’ll be over soon” he reassures her. Grisaille tells me to rest up and come to see him soon. What a guy! If you think that this mission is almost identical to Thallia’s last mission, you would be right.
3. Silent Scream
Nice title! This is perhaps the most ostensibly ambitious mission Grisaille gives you, but also the easiest. No that I am complaining, mind you! The target is Dynamic Network Products, guarded by machine enforcers. All we have to do is drop off a package, get a virus, drop off the virus, and flee. Quite straightforward, and you do not even have to kill everyone there! What’s not to like? The only thing is, what does Grisaille have against DNP? It all seemed quite unmotivated, like someone took a standard mish and threw it in here as filler. Perhaps he is doing this for someone else? As a favor? Because he owes them? Alas, there is no sign that such depth exists in Grisaille.
4. The Rest Is Silence
Remember the Exile we brought in two missions ago? Well, her value has come and gone, and now it is time for her to return to the Source. I fought my way through her new crop of guards only to be confronted by Grisaille’s sister, Rose! She has taken my target under her protection, it seems, and gives me a message for my employer: he cannot make his problems go away by killing innocents. Then, politely: “I suggest you leave, Sugaree…there is no reason for you to come to harm because of my brother’s actions.” After working with so many psychos and sociopaths recently, it was exquisite to bump into compassion. It must be a bug. Grisaille reassured me, “Not your fault”. Reasonableness must run in their family!
5. The Quiet Place
Like every Exile, Grisaille seems to have an inexhaustible supply of enemies, and now the time has come for the Crow Bars to embrace eternity. They all talked big, and they all went down noisily. I walked out into the smoky Stamos moonlight, carefully putting away my guns, smoothing my coat, thinking what to do next. Drinks? Gossip? Perhaps some blue rezzing? I decided to start with a smoke as I contemplated our unknown future. After the first, best long drag, I took a final call from Grisaille: “Feels good to work out your frustrations, huh?” He’s unflappable!
So, in conclusion, Grisaille’s missions lack any sort of a theme or driving pre-occupation as so many others do, such as the Chef and Lotus. No connection between him and his setting seems evident at all; this is true though, for most Exiles, and may not be held against him. It is merely a generic missed opportunity. On the positive side, the escort mission was not as diabolically difficult as so many others are, and the surprising conclusion of the fourth mission was pleasant. As most people doing missions are looking for action, Grisaille will certainly not disappoint them.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Sugar Shack 35: Exile Contact Missions: Thallia: Harsh Yet Fun
Sugar Shack 35: Exile Contact Missions: Thallia: Harsh Yet Fun
Thallia impressed me. I first came across her awesome top-floor Magog lair (348, 27, -344) purely by accident one day when I was looking for a mission site, but I lingered to marvel. I couldn’t help it: the lovely bookshelves, the capacious couches, the thick carpeting, the glass end-tables, the towering bamboo, the kitchen, the bedroom…this was a place fit to be a clan’s HQ. Or my home away from home. Back in beta, there was even a splendid fireplace! There are even some hangers-on, in various moods. Presiding over this is the lovely, wicked Thallia, standing in the middle of the living room, a perpetual stern look on her face. She favors a silvery catsuit (the kind no player would want to be seen in) with bulky thick gloves and a dark beret. The appearance is distinctive without being distinguished.
Compared to many Exiles, Thallia is cruel. But she is also subtle, as we will see. Her missions are definitely worth your time, for the insight they give into the crime world and the things they do to each other. Be sure to laugh at her jokes, few though they are; the last thing you want is to fall onto her dark side, which is deep. Her missions generally involve much violence, be sure to bring friends to make the work go faster. As Mr. Po would say, “Many hands make light work”.
1. Calculated Risk
The classic milk-run first mission! Pick up and drop off a package. She speaks with authority and formality: “There should be no complication, but should they arise you will be required to deal with them. Do we have an understanding?”. She was not opening to me at all yet. The initial pick-up is smooth (though Thallia nonetheless intervenes to tell you “Try not to waste any time”); but things become complicated at the drop-off, where your contact lies dead! After you have killed everyone there, Thallia seems positively smug: “Good. I suspected Mercury was moving against me, but this confirms it. Don’t worry about the package, it was only bait. You’ve proven to be very dependable.” I think that’s good news.
2. Applying Pressure
“Ahh, Sugaree, your timing isn’t awful.” With this cryptic greeting, the Mercury arc continues. In order to provoke him to an impetuous early implementation of his plans, she tasks you with attacking two of his labs and wiping out their staff and data. Well, not completely out; she wants you to leave a single survivor at each location, so the word gets back to Mercury. Like a calling card.
This is a straightforward kick-down-the-doors, shoot-up-the-targets mission. But you must be careful not to kill _every_one. Several times when doing this with clanmates, my partners got carried away and forgot this. I had the pleasure of telling Thallia we had screwed up. It was not a happy time. Thallia’s aggressive manipulation delighted me. Before I had left the building, I heard from her: “Perfect. Mercury has already contacted me with threats of retaliation….Sometimes, this is just too easy.”
3. Boiling Point
When Mercury’s forces attack Thallia’s, you move in from behind for a surprise counterattack. “Kill them all. Spare no one,” advises my Operator. Don’t have to say that twice! You slay at two sites, score a data CD which Mercury’s men have been after, and then drop it off. Thallia is clearly impressed. “You’re more useful than you look, Sugaree. I might have some…sensitive work for you in the future.” Along the way we hear this memorable line from Thallia: “Mercury couldn’t scheme his way out of a wet paper bag”. Wow, that was harsh. I’m sure she doesn’t talk that way about me when I’m not around….
4. An Offer They Can’t Refuse
“Sugaree, you haven’t managed to get yourself killed…yet”. That’s Thallia’s way of saying she is delirious to see me. This time, three informants need persuading. The first one is a former employee of Beryl. After I get into her super-locked room with a spare key, she reveals that Beryl has a nasty habit, with one of Argon’s men being her main contact. Hmm... Girl Scout thin mints?
The second one comes off as a tough cookie, to be sure. He swears not to cooperate, and then orders his Sears Rent-A-RSI simulacrum to attack me while he watches and sneers. After I trash it, he changes his tune. We discover that Raini is aware of Beryl’s narcotics habit, and wants the same thing. This only confirmed my low opinion of Raini, who devoted an entire mission to getting drugs.
Alas, the third one dies before you can reach him; someone has taken an interest in Thallia’s interest. This curiosity is not pursued.
5. Digging Deeper
Thallia is endlessly inquisitive, and finally tasks you with capturing an informant to find out more about Beryl and Raini. The target has surrounded herself with lupine mercenaries, and you must fight your way past them to get her, collect any disks she has, and deliver them all. Well, this sounded simple, but I was soon introduced the hard way to an ability called “backfist”. This dished out 4555 (1811 absorbed) damage to me! In one shot! Yow! I don’t know who has this, but I want it!
So, anyway, I finally escorted the reluctant informant past several dozen Blackwoods, who all seemed to be in a good mood, ‘cuz none of them felt like attacking us. What a miracle! As I left the drop-off, I could hear the woman wailing behind me, “Are you just going to leave me here with him? You can’t do that!” Counting my hard-earned cash, I thought, I sure can, honey. Thallia’s last call to me was sheer delight: she cooed, “Oh, this is priceless. Beryl and Raini won’t know what hit them. You performed admirably, Sugaree, I will certainly require your services in the future.” That’s what they all say!
So, what’s memorable about Thallia, you say? First, she has the best lair I have ever seen. It’s worth going there just to hang around and show it off to your clanmates. Besides this, she has strong motivation, and you really feel like you’re working with a personality, not a pudding of spun subroutines (like Raini, for example). I enjoyed exploring the interplay between her and Mercury, Beryl, and Raini. And she is creative in her cruelty. Working with her was far more satisfying than with many, many of the other Exiles.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Thallia impressed me. I first came across her awesome top-floor Magog lair (348, 27, -344) purely by accident one day when I was looking for a mission site, but I lingered to marvel. I couldn’t help it: the lovely bookshelves, the capacious couches, the thick carpeting, the glass end-tables, the towering bamboo, the kitchen, the bedroom…this was a place fit to be a clan’s HQ. Or my home away from home. Back in beta, there was even a splendid fireplace! There are even some hangers-on, in various moods. Presiding over this is the lovely, wicked Thallia, standing in the middle of the living room, a perpetual stern look on her face. She favors a silvery catsuit (the kind no player would want to be seen in) with bulky thick gloves and a dark beret. The appearance is distinctive without being distinguished.
Compared to many Exiles, Thallia is cruel. But she is also subtle, as we will see. Her missions are definitely worth your time, for the insight they give into the crime world and the things they do to each other. Be sure to laugh at her jokes, few though they are; the last thing you want is to fall onto her dark side, which is deep. Her missions generally involve much violence, be sure to bring friends to make the work go faster. As Mr. Po would say, “Many hands make light work”.
1. Calculated Risk
The classic milk-run first mission! Pick up and drop off a package. She speaks with authority and formality: “There should be no complication, but should they arise you will be required to deal with them. Do we have an understanding?”. She was not opening to me at all yet. The initial pick-up is smooth (though Thallia nonetheless intervenes to tell you “Try not to waste any time”); but things become complicated at the drop-off, where your contact lies dead! After you have killed everyone there, Thallia seems positively smug: “Good. I suspected Mercury was moving against me, but this confirms it. Don’t worry about the package, it was only bait. You’ve proven to be very dependable.” I think that’s good news.
2. Applying Pressure
“Ahh, Sugaree, your timing isn’t awful.” With this cryptic greeting, the Mercury arc continues. In order to provoke him to an impetuous early implementation of his plans, she tasks you with attacking two of his labs and wiping out their staff and data. Well, not completely out; she wants you to leave a single survivor at each location, so the word gets back to Mercury. Like a calling card.
This is a straightforward kick-down-the-doors, shoot-up-the-targets mission. But you must be careful not to kill _every_one. Several times when doing this with clanmates, my partners got carried away and forgot this. I had the pleasure of telling Thallia we had screwed up. It was not a happy time. Thallia’s aggressive manipulation delighted me. Before I had left the building, I heard from her: “Perfect. Mercury has already contacted me with threats of retaliation….Sometimes, this is just too easy.”
3. Boiling Point
When Mercury’s forces attack Thallia’s, you move in from behind for a surprise counterattack. “Kill them all. Spare no one,” advises my Operator. Don’t have to say that twice! You slay at two sites, score a data CD which Mercury’s men have been after, and then drop it off. Thallia is clearly impressed. “You’re more useful than you look, Sugaree. I might have some…sensitive work for you in the future.” Along the way we hear this memorable line from Thallia: “Mercury couldn’t scheme his way out of a wet paper bag”. Wow, that was harsh. I’m sure she doesn’t talk that way about me when I’m not around….
4. An Offer They Can’t Refuse
“Sugaree, you haven’t managed to get yourself killed…yet”. That’s Thallia’s way of saying she is delirious to see me. This time, three informants need persuading. The first one is a former employee of Beryl. After I get into her super-locked room with a spare key, she reveals that Beryl has a nasty habit, with one of Argon’s men being her main contact. Hmm... Girl Scout thin mints?
The second one comes off as a tough cookie, to be sure. He swears not to cooperate, and then orders his Sears Rent-A-RSI simulacrum to attack me while he watches and sneers. After I trash it, he changes his tune. We discover that Raini is aware of Beryl’s narcotics habit, and wants the same thing. This only confirmed my low opinion of Raini, who devoted an entire mission to getting drugs.
Alas, the third one dies before you can reach him; someone has taken an interest in Thallia’s interest. This curiosity is not pursued.
5. Digging Deeper
Thallia is endlessly inquisitive, and finally tasks you with capturing an informant to find out more about Beryl and Raini. The target has surrounded herself with lupine mercenaries, and you must fight your way past them to get her, collect any disks she has, and deliver them all. Well, this sounded simple, but I was soon introduced the hard way to an ability called “backfist”. This dished out 4555 (1811 absorbed) damage to me! In one shot! Yow! I don’t know who has this, but I want it!
So, anyway, I finally escorted the reluctant informant past several dozen Blackwoods, who all seemed to be in a good mood, ‘cuz none of them felt like attacking us. What a miracle! As I left the drop-off, I could hear the woman wailing behind me, “Are you just going to leave me here with him? You can’t do that!” Counting my hard-earned cash, I thought, I sure can, honey. Thallia’s last call to me was sheer delight: she cooed, “Oh, this is priceless. Beryl and Raini won’t know what hit them. You performed admirably, Sugaree, I will certainly require your services in the future.” That’s what they all say!
So, what’s memorable about Thallia, you say? First, she has the best lair I have ever seen. It’s worth going there just to hang around and show it off to your clanmates. Besides this, she has strong motivation, and you really feel like you’re working with a personality, not a pudding of spun subroutines (like Raini, for example). I enjoyed exploring the interplay between her and Mercury, Beryl, and Raini. And she is creative in her cruelty. Working with her was far more satisfying than with many, many of the other Exiles.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Sugar Shack 34: Exile Contact Missions: The Digger: The Matrix Excavated, Not!
Sugar Shack 34: Exile Contact Missions: The Digger: The Matrix Excavated, Not!
For me, the Digger has been something of a Holy Grail. He would never give me a mission on Recursion, and snootily blew me off times without number! My /CCRs and /bugs only seemed to embolden him! But on the QA server, I finally succeeded in approaching him, and entering his brief service. His dig in is Dannah Heights, in the basement of an unusually architected room, at 332,-2,-1008. The basement is amazing! It’s filled with junk: vases, pots, swords, boxes, busts, crates, canvases, statues, furniture, you name it. It looks like he’s been buying out garage sales or the past three iterations of the Matrix! He has a bookish demeanor, though he has a street edge to his voice.
His quest is indeed an evocative one, and he foreshadows the Archaeologist we all know and love from the four Pandora’s Box arcs. He believes in past iterations of the Matrix, and seeks to better understand them. There’s no backstory deeper than this! One might think that the machines would be the best source of information for him, but as an Exile, he cannot comfortably approach them, it appears. So he seeks everything through indirection, requiring your aid. I kind of liked him. But as a person, not as a mission contact.
1. Site of Interest
A nearby building has some areas which he wishes to research, about a previous iteration of the Matrix. The thing is, some inconvenient Exiles are hanging out there; he needs me to persuade them to move. This is surprisingly easy, since the Exiles in question are in two separate locations, and do not team up. However, it felt unfortunate to me that there was no easier way to free up the space for research (and it was a third and fourth floor apartment, so it’s not like he needed to actually, you, _dig_ or anything) some other way than killing everyone there. Surely the local crime lords could have been engaged to persuade them to leave. Or maybe they could have been paid off? Must everything come down to guns?
2. Passing Notes
He wants to pass his research notes on to Hypatia in exchange for access to some of her books. Three elite guards assault you at the drop-off though; they have killed Hypatia’s representative. “Sugaree’s here, just like he said,” one shouts; we are left wondering who “he” is. But the next stop is a successful drop off. The Digger gets his books access, and you get a pat on the back: “Good work, kid. I can keep going with my research, now I’ve got Hypatia’s books.”
By the way, I enjoyed seeing some win-win barter here. Usually Exiles kill everything in their way to get what they want (i.e., the first mission). I liked seeing someone a little more creative.
3. Safer Ground
Take his most valuable artifact, a statue, to The Collector to protect it from the avaricious Argon. I received a note from my Operator about a fight with some of Argon’s men, but it never actually happened. Not that I am complaining mind you. The suspicious soul in me wondered if this was a ploy meant to flush out the Digger’s best stuff to bring it to the Collector… I mean, it happened in a Sherlock Holmes story once. Overall, a quite simple, straightforward mission. Not like The Maltese Falcon, Indiana Jones or Gods, Graves, and Scholars at all! Perhaps more simple than such a key item might have been warranted.
4. Plug the Leak
You might think that the Digger is too arcane, and too ivory-towerish to have an organization. But you would be wrong. He does, and it comes complete with turncoats, one of whom you “snuff” in this mission. This was the one who set me up in the last mish, so it was personal. As a story this mish was leak. Basically, I traveled to a location to kill someone and his guards. There was no sense of why this person had betrayed, or what his goals, rewards, and motivation were. As I was fighting his last guard, he could have been going on about how he was going to get revenge finally, etc. Much more could have been done with this. It took a disk from him to an associate of the Digger’s and I was done. After I gave them to her, she kept asking if I had them. Curiously, the disk to be taken for safekeeping went to a building right next to his hangout!
5. A Collector’s Collection
Word of mouth rules! The Digger has mentioned me to Sirius, who wants to meet me personally before giving me an assignment. This involves rescuing one of Sirius’ people who has been taken by the Sculptress, whose interest in these guys can be imagined. Very tough fight here with no less than eight enemies (!) who attack you en masse. “Nice job, kid. Sirius was really impressed with your work”. The Digger himself, though, seemed to have run out of assignments for me.
In conclusion, these missions were disappointing. His speech style is a watered down version of the Jeweler. And oddly enough, only one or two of his missions has anything at all to do with his avocation: research into the past. All the others are the standard killing traitors, dropping off stuff, and rescuing people. For someone so preoccupied with the past, it is surprising how little time the Digger actually seems to spend on it. The dialog is very so-so. He makes no mention of his vast material wealth, which surprises since it means so much to him. Not only that, he says basically nothing about his research findings, which is immensely out of character; most people in his position talk to the hired help all day! In the end, this fascinating character is left undeveloped and unutilized. After traveling to a different world to meet him, I had expected more.
Many thanks to my clansister Illyria1 from The Collective, who helped me with these on the QA server. They would not have been nearly as good without her company.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
For me, the Digger has been something of a Holy Grail. He would never give me a mission on Recursion, and snootily blew me off times without number! My /CCRs and /bugs only seemed to embolden him! But on the QA server, I finally succeeded in approaching him, and entering his brief service. His dig in is Dannah Heights, in the basement of an unusually architected room, at 332,-2,-1008. The basement is amazing! It’s filled with junk: vases, pots, swords, boxes, busts, crates, canvases, statues, furniture, you name it. It looks like he’s been buying out garage sales or the past three iterations of the Matrix! He has a bookish demeanor, though he has a street edge to his voice.
His quest is indeed an evocative one, and he foreshadows the Archaeologist we all know and love from the four Pandora’s Box arcs. He believes in past iterations of the Matrix, and seeks to better understand them. There’s no backstory deeper than this! One might think that the machines would be the best source of information for him, but as an Exile, he cannot comfortably approach them, it appears. So he seeks everything through indirection, requiring your aid. I kind of liked him. But as a person, not as a mission contact.
1. Site of Interest
A nearby building has some areas which he wishes to research, about a previous iteration of the Matrix. The thing is, some inconvenient Exiles are hanging out there; he needs me to persuade them to move. This is surprisingly easy, since the Exiles in question are in two separate locations, and do not team up. However, it felt unfortunate to me that there was no easier way to free up the space for research (and it was a third and fourth floor apartment, so it’s not like he needed to actually, you, _dig_ or anything) some other way than killing everyone there. Surely the local crime lords could have been engaged to persuade them to leave. Or maybe they could have been paid off? Must everything come down to guns?
2. Passing Notes
He wants to pass his research notes on to Hypatia in exchange for access to some of her books. Three elite guards assault you at the drop-off though; they have killed Hypatia’s representative. “Sugaree’s here, just like he said,” one shouts; we are left wondering who “he” is. But the next stop is a successful drop off. The Digger gets his books access, and you get a pat on the back: “Good work, kid. I can keep going with my research, now I’ve got Hypatia’s books.”
By the way, I enjoyed seeing some win-win barter here. Usually Exiles kill everything in their way to get what they want (i.e., the first mission). I liked seeing someone a little more creative.
3. Safer Ground
Take his most valuable artifact, a statue, to The Collector to protect it from the avaricious Argon. I received a note from my Operator about a fight with some of Argon’s men, but it never actually happened. Not that I am complaining mind you. The suspicious soul in me wondered if this was a ploy meant to flush out the Digger’s best stuff to bring it to the Collector… I mean, it happened in a Sherlock Holmes story once. Overall, a quite simple, straightforward mission. Not like The Maltese Falcon, Indiana Jones or Gods, Graves, and Scholars at all! Perhaps more simple than such a key item might have been warranted.
4. Plug the Leak
You might think that the Digger is too arcane, and too ivory-towerish to have an organization. But you would be wrong. He does, and it comes complete with turncoats, one of whom you “snuff” in this mission. This was the one who set me up in the last mish, so it was personal. As a story this mish was leak. Basically, I traveled to a location to kill someone and his guards. There was no sense of why this person had betrayed, or what his goals, rewards, and motivation were. As I was fighting his last guard, he could have been going on about how he was going to get revenge finally, etc. Much more could have been done with this. It took a disk from him to an associate of the Digger’s and I was done. After I gave them to her, she kept asking if I had them. Curiously, the disk to be taken for safekeeping went to a building right next to his hangout!
5. A Collector’s Collection
Word of mouth rules! The Digger has mentioned me to Sirius, who wants to meet me personally before giving me an assignment. This involves rescuing one of Sirius’ people who has been taken by the Sculptress, whose interest in these guys can be imagined. Very tough fight here with no less than eight enemies (!) who attack you en masse. “Nice job, kid. Sirius was really impressed with your work”. The Digger himself, though, seemed to have run out of assignments for me.
In conclusion, these missions were disappointing. His speech style is a watered down version of the Jeweler. And oddly enough, only one or two of his missions has anything at all to do with his avocation: research into the past. All the others are the standard killing traitors, dropping off stuff, and rescuing people. For someone so preoccupied with the past, it is surprising how little time the Digger actually seems to spend on it. The dialog is very so-so. He makes no mention of his vast material wealth, which surprises since it means so much to him. Not only that, he says basically nothing about his research findings, which is immensely out of character; most people in his position talk to the hired help all day! In the end, this fascinating character is left undeveloped and unutilized. After traveling to a different world to meet him, I had expected more.
Many thanks to my clansister Illyria1 from The Collective, who helped me with these on the QA server. They would not have been nearly as good without her company.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Sugar Shack 33: Exile Contact Missions: Raini: Enfant Terrible
Sugar Shack 33: Exile Contact Missions: Raini: Enfant Terrible
Raini is a sedate, evil lass, standing off to the side in Jacob’s Ladder in Apollyon (637, 9, -1684), scene of dozens of swinging parties. No fool, she stands where she can see the customers coming in. She cultivates a Bohemian appearance, with the dark shades, the black skirt…and the fishnets! Everything about her shouts artiste! Before starting her mishes, I checked out the bar and had a couple of drinks, thinking about past good times, before everyone was a data-miner and everyone had been brewkoed. Here’s to Alfie and good friends gone MIA.
Raini’s mishes are shallow and violent. That being said, many people will find them entertaining, especially at lower levels when you are looking to score xps, loot, and a reputation, not a revelation. They are action-oriented, not story-oriented; not everyone will be disappointed by this.
First, though, something occurred to me while doing these. How come we can never call these Exiles up? How come they appear in our phone books, but we always have to traipse back to them to get the next mish? Did someone forget something with this?
1. Careful What You Wish For
“Recover high jacked data.” Is this an editing blemish? Or does this refer to a high-capacity jack-in mechanism? Does it foreshadow the role of drugs in these missions? Who can tell… In any case, the basic idea here is simple. Retrieve data from a lost courier, and complete the delivery. On Hard setting, there is a single site with three powerful foes and about as many computers to check. The file you need has “Thallia” in the name; I was not sure if this data had been stolen from Thallia, and her folks or a third party were interested in it, or, Thallia was behind the theft. Of course, knowing these guys, it could have played either way. But Raini’s only comment is she looks forward to enjoying the data. I guess. Your Operator seems detached from this mission as well, observing at one point, “I’ve always wanted to play Blood Tycoon 3. But that’s not what we came here for I guess.” You think?
2. Wetwork
To get some hot information from another Exile (a “nobody”), you need to kill two groups of Exiles. Those who relish 24x7 PvP will relish this mish. The Exiles make the mistake that so many do: they do not work as teams. They are scattered in their locations, and you can defeat them piecemeal. The second group took refuge in the home of two bluepills, killing one of them in the process. There seems to be no way to kill them without collateral-damaging the other bluepill, at least with AOEs. A howitzer build might have had better luck. Alas, doing good, or minimizing doing bad, is not incorporated in mission goals.
Some interesting points: one Exile shouts “Game over, man!” as he engages you; this brief homage to Aliens was a nice touch! Raini notes halfway through “Wow, you were brutal in there. Nice”, and gushes at the end, “Oh, man, that was awesome, thanks Sugaree”. I started to feel like I was talking to a child.
3. The Next Big Thing
Running her own businesses is not enough for Raini, it seems. She wants something more, something that is supposed to be “the ultimate extreme”. And she wants you to get it from a “cat” named Arkansas. Oh, hip, man! Like, this is starting to sound like an old 60s comedy routine, as when Arkansas peers at you and says, “Hey…hey, man. You’re looking for the stuff for Raini? I got it right here. Take it when you’re ready. If you think she can handle it…heh…” The delivery was mercifully brief: a 60-yard sprint to the building next door. I can see why Raini wanted a woman of my talents for this! There is a single wrinkle near the end of this surprisingly sedate mission. And then Raini dangles the offer of an invitation to one of her “private” parties if I keep up the good work. As if!
4. Always When You Are Not Watching
Later when I visited her for the next mish, she seemed considerably the worse for wear. Some goods had been stolen from her, and she was way fretful. “Dammit! Some gang of WORTHLESS Exiles thinks that they can steal from me! From ME!”. The dreary dirge of revenge and payback was about to start like a cheap jukebox….
You trip takes you first to the crime scene. Mostly ceremonial swords remain, with a few rifles, some weapons cages, a few bodies, and two survivors. One mourns; the other insists on coming with you (though he seems totally useless in a fight). Ironically, the thieves have chosen to hide their loot across the street from Jacob’s Ladder! What were they thinking? In the event, by the time you and your sidekick reach the thieves, the loot has been fenced across the city, and nothing remains but some hard-hearted revenge. A few polite yawns later and it was done.
5. Adrenaline Junkie
“I’m in a bind, and I _know_ you don’t want to see cute little me in a bind, do ya?” Yes, that’s how it starts. The powerful Exile, apparently an arms trafficker, now needs another fix, and wants you to score for her. Is this what they are coming to? Maybe Zion and the Machines hardly need to lift a finger against the Exiles; they just have to wait for the drugs to run out! Anyway, getting back, I was sent to visit one of Argon’s minions for a fix. He, however, is out of the business and won’t deal. This necessitates a visit to one of Beryl’s safehouses. Fortunately, you do not need to kill all of Beryl’s guards to get the drugs, which is a pleasant change. Just ignore them, take a few hits, make the grab and run. Raini talks big at the end, about how if you’re not living on the edge (by stealing your drugs, presumably), then you’re not living. That was good for a laugh. I had a couple of drinks, put them on her tab, and left Apollyon.
So, Raini is a pretentious, self-absorbed twit who thinks nothing of sacrificing others for her own perverse whims. But her bar is okay. She should go far in MegaCity, and I’ll bet that one day she gives the Merovingian a good run for his money. So, do her missions, and make sure you stay on her good side, which is not very spacious, especially if she thinks you might have drugs.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Raini is a sedate, evil lass, standing off to the side in Jacob’s Ladder in Apollyon (637, 9, -1684), scene of dozens of swinging parties. No fool, she stands where she can see the customers coming in. She cultivates a Bohemian appearance, with the dark shades, the black skirt…and the fishnets! Everything about her shouts artiste! Before starting her mishes, I checked out the bar and had a couple of drinks, thinking about past good times, before everyone was a data-miner and everyone had been brewkoed. Here’s to Alfie and good friends gone MIA.
Raini’s mishes are shallow and violent. That being said, many people will find them entertaining, especially at lower levels when you are looking to score xps, loot, and a reputation, not a revelation. They are action-oriented, not story-oriented; not everyone will be disappointed by this.
First, though, something occurred to me while doing these. How come we can never call these Exiles up? How come they appear in our phone books, but we always have to traipse back to them to get the next mish? Did someone forget something with this?
1. Careful What You Wish For
“Recover high jacked data.” Is this an editing blemish? Or does this refer to a high-capacity jack-in mechanism? Does it foreshadow the role of drugs in these missions? Who can tell… In any case, the basic idea here is simple. Retrieve data from a lost courier, and complete the delivery. On Hard setting, there is a single site with three powerful foes and about as many computers to check. The file you need has “Thallia” in the name; I was not sure if this data had been stolen from Thallia, and her folks or a third party were interested in it, or, Thallia was behind the theft. Of course, knowing these guys, it could have played either way. But Raini’s only comment is she looks forward to enjoying the data. I guess. Your Operator seems detached from this mission as well, observing at one point, “I’ve always wanted to play Blood Tycoon 3. But that’s not what we came here for I guess.” You think?
2. Wetwork
To get some hot information from another Exile (a “nobody”), you need to kill two groups of Exiles. Those who relish 24x7 PvP will relish this mish. The Exiles make the mistake that so many do: they do not work as teams. They are scattered in their locations, and you can defeat them piecemeal. The second group took refuge in the home of two bluepills, killing one of them in the process. There seems to be no way to kill them without collateral-damaging the other bluepill, at least with AOEs. A howitzer build might have had better luck. Alas, doing good, or minimizing doing bad, is not incorporated in mission goals.
Some interesting points: one Exile shouts “Game over, man!” as he engages you; this brief homage to Aliens was a nice touch! Raini notes halfway through “Wow, you were brutal in there. Nice”, and gushes at the end, “Oh, man, that was awesome, thanks Sugaree”. I started to feel like I was talking to a child.
3. The Next Big Thing
Running her own businesses is not enough for Raini, it seems. She wants something more, something that is supposed to be “the ultimate extreme”. And she wants you to get it from a “cat” named Arkansas. Oh, hip, man! Like, this is starting to sound like an old 60s comedy routine, as when Arkansas peers at you and says, “Hey…hey, man. You’re looking for the stuff for Raini? I got it right here. Take it when you’re ready. If you think she can handle it…heh…” The delivery was mercifully brief: a 60-yard sprint to the building next door. I can see why Raini wanted a woman of my talents for this! There is a single wrinkle near the end of this surprisingly sedate mission. And then Raini dangles the offer of an invitation to one of her “private” parties if I keep up the good work. As if!
4. Always When You Are Not Watching
Later when I visited her for the next mish, she seemed considerably the worse for wear. Some goods had been stolen from her, and she was way fretful. “Dammit! Some gang of WORTHLESS Exiles thinks that they can steal from me! From ME!”. The dreary dirge of revenge and payback was about to start like a cheap jukebox….
You trip takes you first to the crime scene. Mostly ceremonial swords remain, with a few rifles, some weapons cages, a few bodies, and two survivors. One mourns; the other insists on coming with you (though he seems totally useless in a fight). Ironically, the thieves have chosen to hide their loot across the street from Jacob’s Ladder! What were they thinking? In the event, by the time you and your sidekick reach the thieves, the loot has been fenced across the city, and nothing remains but some hard-hearted revenge. A few polite yawns later and it was done.
5. Adrenaline Junkie
“I’m in a bind, and I _know_ you don’t want to see cute little me in a bind, do ya?” Yes, that’s how it starts. The powerful Exile, apparently an arms trafficker, now needs another fix, and wants you to score for her. Is this what they are coming to? Maybe Zion and the Machines hardly need to lift a finger against the Exiles; they just have to wait for the drugs to run out! Anyway, getting back, I was sent to visit one of Argon’s minions for a fix. He, however, is out of the business and won’t deal. This necessitates a visit to one of Beryl’s safehouses. Fortunately, you do not need to kill all of Beryl’s guards to get the drugs, which is a pleasant change. Just ignore them, take a few hits, make the grab and run. Raini talks big at the end, about how if you’re not living on the edge (by stealing your drugs, presumably), then you’re not living. That was good for a laugh. I had a couple of drinks, put them on her tab, and left Apollyon.
So, Raini is a pretentious, self-absorbed twit who thinks nothing of sacrificing others for her own perverse whims. But her bar is okay. She should go far in MegaCity, and I’ll bet that one day she gives the Merovingian a good run for his money. So, do her missions, and make sure you stay on her good side, which is not very spacious, especially if she thinks you might have drugs.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Sugar Shack 32: Exile Contact Missions: Yttri
Sugar Shack 32: Exile Contact Missions: Yttri
Everything about Yttri shouts “I am special!”. The loopy braids, the white pantsuit outfit and halter. The bare feet! Her plush Achan lair at 606, 27, -39 (penthouse seems more appropriate for this one) is laid out in a very tasteful, balanced manner, with lots and lots of plants and decorative columns. Copies of “The Form of Art” and “Recipes” were placed here and there. And incredibly, an Exile with a bathroom! With two bathtubs! I stopped to wash my hands, and discovered that the mirror did not work, alas. Every time I set out on a mish for her, I thought of the irony: a barefooted aesthete with unimaginably refined musical tastes, surrounded on the rude streets by posturing swarms of “Madonnas” and “Janets”. No wonder she hired me; it must make her cry to set foot outside her door!
1. Code or Coda
Anyway, Yttri elaborates on a theme I first noticed with Lotus: that music can be a powerful behavior modifier. And she likes to steal things. In this standard break-and-enter, Yttri wants the only existing copy of a new, marvelous composition. The standard enemies opposed me, and were dealt with in the standard manner. Two ways to get it, find the combination in a desk for the safe, or hack a computer to disable the safe. To be on the “safe” side, I did both. Why the manuscript had to be purloined was unclear, since documentary materials have been clandestinely captured by cameras for almost a hundred years. Maybe she was also sending someone a message? Maybe she collects artifacts, like the Digger or Hypatia? We do not know. Walked in past a fidgety Bell Madonna, little knowing how soon I would be feeling fidgety myself, in the next mission.
2. Free Music
One thing leads to another, after savoring the work of this composer, Yttri craves more. Not only that, she wants to free his mind. This entails grabbing him and escorting him to a Zionist base for the Pill. And naturally, everyone for a kilometer around wants to frustrate this. For example, as I waited inside with the composer, two 51-level elite guards outside kept firing at me _through_ the door, and shrugged off my repeated devastation fields and code nukes. So, after one failure, I went out through the back door, obliterating every Bell from here to kingdom come, and got the composer safely to Zion. What memories it brought back, of other escort missions from hell!
3. An Instrumental
Yttri seemed quite serious about this; the air hissed with tension as she explained in a low, menacing voice. An instrument of hers has been stolen, and “I am charging you with its return. Do not fail me in this”. It reminded me of Hypatia’s first mission, where she wants you to retrieve a lent book. Unlike your sponsor, the target is no wilting aesthete, and within ten harrowing seconds I was on death’s door. I was tempted to buy a ukulele from a street vendor and say “Oh, he decompiled it and recompiled it, and this is how it came out”, but I persisted. It turns out that the malefactor has the instrument on his person, so it’s more likely to be a kazoo than a Stradivarius!
4. Blood Music
Remember the Coroner? The creepy guy from downtown? With the spooky experiments? Well, he’s back, and in possession of a street performer with some information about blood drinkers which Yttri wants. I paused before busting in, thinking of past missions, and many deaths, mostly mine. They were still unsettling. I came across a virus and on a whim put it into the station’s mainframe; the staff took a dim view of this. At the end I staggered to a phone booth and uploaded, and this is what I got: “The data is very interesting…very interesting indeed. Thank you.” Big deal!
The Bells were much in evidence here; several times I passed two Bell Madonnas standing mournfully over a fallen third.
5. Beat the Matrix
The freed composer has made a composition for Yttri, and now some of Tick Tock’s men have taken an interest in it and are searching for it. For someone with Tick Tock’s quiet obsessions, this seems out of character; maybe I don’t know him as well as I think. The task itself was simple: kill three foes and open one safe. At the end Yttri murmurs about how the works of a master are beautiful to behold and she is looking forward to examining this one. The thing is, composers seldom venture into hardware construction, so it’s hard to imagine how Yttri’s guy ever came up with this scheme. Especially for a metronome!
Initially interesting, this suite does not have the thematic depth of similar ones such as Lotus’s. Most of the missions are one-stop fights; three opponents, physically separated, are the rule, permitting easy divide-and-conquer. For missions set largely in Achan, mainly accessible to low-level adventurers, this is okay. The second mission is the most challenging, as escort missions usually are. The connections with the Coroner and Tick Tock add interest. The ubiquitous, vulgar Bells were festive, moody touches.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Everything about Yttri shouts “I am special!”. The loopy braids, the white pantsuit outfit and halter. The bare feet! Her plush Achan lair at 606, 27, -39 (penthouse seems more appropriate for this one) is laid out in a very tasteful, balanced manner, with lots and lots of plants and decorative columns. Copies of “The Form of Art” and “Recipes” were placed here and there. And incredibly, an Exile with a bathroom! With two bathtubs! I stopped to wash my hands, and discovered that the mirror did not work, alas. Every time I set out on a mish for her, I thought of the irony: a barefooted aesthete with unimaginably refined musical tastes, surrounded on the rude streets by posturing swarms of “Madonnas” and “Janets”. No wonder she hired me; it must make her cry to set foot outside her door!
1. Code or Coda
Anyway, Yttri elaborates on a theme I first noticed with Lotus: that music can be a powerful behavior modifier. And she likes to steal things. In this standard break-and-enter, Yttri wants the only existing copy of a new, marvelous composition. The standard enemies opposed me, and were dealt with in the standard manner. Two ways to get it, find the combination in a desk for the safe, or hack a computer to disable the safe. To be on the “safe” side, I did both. Why the manuscript had to be purloined was unclear, since documentary materials have been clandestinely captured by cameras for almost a hundred years. Maybe she was also sending someone a message? Maybe she collects artifacts, like the Digger or Hypatia? We do not know. Walked in past a fidgety Bell Madonna, little knowing how soon I would be feeling fidgety myself, in the next mission.
2. Free Music
One thing leads to another, after savoring the work of this composer, Yttri craves more. Not only that, she wants to free his mind. This entails grabbing him and escorting him to a Zionist base for the Pill. And naturally, everyone for a kilometer around wants to frustrate this. For example, as I waited inside with the composer, two 51-level elite guards outside kept firing at me _through_ the door, and shrugged off my repeated devastation fields and code nukes. So, after one failure, I went out through the back door, obliterating every Bell from here to kingdom come, and got the composer safely to Zion. What memories it brought back, of other escort missions from hell!
3. An Instrumental
Yttri seemed quite serious about this; the air hissed with tension as she explained in a low, menacing voice. An instrument of hers has been stolen, and “I am charging you with its return. Do not fail me in this”. It reminded me of Hypatia’s first mission, where she wants you to retrieve a lent book. Unlike your sponsor, the target is no wilting aesthete, and within ten harrowing seconds I was on death’s door. I was tempted to buy a ukulele from a street vendor and say “Oh, he decompiled it and recompiled it, and this is how it came out”, but I persisted. It turns out that the malefactor has the instrument on his person, so it’s more likely to be a kazoo than a Stradivarius!
4. Blood Music
Remember the Coroner? The creepy guy from downtown? With the spooky experiments? Well, he’s back, and in possession of a street performer with some information about blood drinkers which Yttri wants. I paused before busting in, thinking of past missions, and many deaths, mostly mine. They were still unsettling. I came across a virus and on a whim put it into the station’s mainframe; the staff took a dim view of this. At the end I staggered to a phone booth and uploaded, and this is what I got: “The data is very interesting…very interesting indeed. Thank you.” Big deal!
The Bells were much in evidence here; several times I passed two Bell Madonnas standing mournfully over a fallen third.
5. Beat the Matrix
The freed composer has made a composition for Yttri, and now some of Tick Tock’s men have taken an interest in it and are searching for it. For someone with Tick Tock’s quiet obsessions, this seems out of character; maybe I don’t know him as well as I think. The task itself was simple: kill three foes and open one safe. At the end Yttri murmurs about how the works of a master are beautiful to behold and she is looking forward to examining this one. The thing is, composers seldom venture into hardware construction, so it’s hard to imagine how Yttri’s guy ever came up with this scheme. Especially for a metronome!
Initially interesting, this suite does not have the thematic depth of similar ones such as Lotus’s. Most of the missions are one-stop fights; three opponents, physically separated, are the rule, permitting easy divide-and-conquer. For missions set largely in Achan, mainly accessible to low-level adventurers, this is okay. The second mission is the most challenging, as escort missions usually are. The connections with the Coroner and Tick Tock add interest. The ubiquitous, vulgar Bells were festive, moody touches.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Sugar Shack 31: Exile Contact Missions: Mr. Po and The Inner Light
Sugar Shack 31: Exile Contact Missions: Mr. Po and The Inner Light
Our sage stands on a quiet street corner in Kowloon (226, -4, 424), in dark robes, like Kwang Kai-chang from Kung Fu, baldheaded and bare-footed. His missions are some of the most absorbing I have ever run, due to the wisdom he dispenses, and the stories they tell. Most of the Exiles live their coded lives impervious to the life and deaths of the redpill population. That is, they fight us or they ignore us. Few do business with us or understand us, as Mr. Po does. He understands the cravings of the human heart as few do. This is indeed a classic suite of missions which absolutely no one should miss.
1. Shadow Play
“An inquisitive mouse finds many morsels the further afield he looks. I am an old and hungry mouse. Go to these addresses and search their computers for tasty bits.”
So starts this most exceptional mission. It has three parts, each building on the one preceding, which open your eyes to many a heart lost in the Matrix. Do them soon!
Part 1. You casually peruse three computers in an Exiles service agency. You discover a distraught redpill in tears as he tries to decide whether or not to return to his old life to visit the woman he left behind. Go, I told him, she would want you to. I glanced at the computer screen and saw her on a bed with a scrapbook of news stories about a missing man and the police search for him. As I stood there, feeling for her and for him, the Exile, a superb salesman, sidled up to me and said in a soft voice “Are you sure there isn’t someone you’d like to see? Mother? Father? A child perhaps? A lost lover?” I thought of my parents and family, and how I had left them with no warning. What had I been thinking, to do this to them? He asked me again, and I quickly left. No, actually I fled.
The next two computers there had more information about this. But nothing dramatic. Mr. Po’s take on this surprised me: “Nothing so lightens the heart as when a fool awakens from his folly. Still, more must be revealed. Continue your search”. Oddly enough, continuing my search took me right back to Mr. Po’s building.
Part 2. There I found a Machines office where they have been monitoring these services, apparently trying to run sweeps for indications of regret in the population. This leads my sponsor to intone “That which is hidden can never know the light. That which lives in the light will never know peace. The search continues.” Yes, Master.
Part 3. I met a kindred spirit. In an abandoned redpill extraction center, Captain Wasat and an aide maintain a lonely vigil. Reading his journals shows the bitterness he feels about his daughter, left unrecruited in the pods. Another computer shows records of multiple remittances from him to the Exile agency in Part 1. I tried hacking his computer to actually get the files (brashly, while he was standing next to me) and though I succeeded, he did nothing and I found nothing. I could tell he did not care what anyone did. I left him as I found him, waiting for some unknown release.
I felt shaken by all this, and left Kowloon to seek the reassurance of my clan. As I stood at the hardline, I heard Mr. Po intone “Wisdom lights the path and Strength walks it”. Perhaps this means the Cypherites know of these services…or run them…
2. Incubation
We plunge from the sublime in Mish 1 to the profane in Mish 2, an insufferable escort mish which took multiple tries to get right. I started to worry as soon as I heard Mr. Po’s suggestive directions: “One rabbit alone is a meal for an observant hawk. Many rabbits keep the hawk sated and still there are more rabbits. Retrieve the rabbit at this address”. I felt my ears growing.
As soon as you contact the bluepill in question, you are attacked. As soon as you leave the elevator, you are attacked. As soon as you leave the building, you are attacked. As you pass within a lightyear of any mob on the way to the destination, you are attacked. A single stray shot or ricochet or harsh word instantly kills the bluepill, and you get to start over. Any questions?
I tried leaving the bluepill in the elevator while I cleaned out the lobby. Then leaving her in the lobby while I cleared the way to the destination. By the time I had reached the destination and killed the mobs, the ones back at the starting point had regenerated. I tried tucking her in buildings along the way while I re-cleaned the route, and mobs inside the building killed her. Finally I gave up in disgust, and asked some friends to help me. This worked beautifully, and soon I was reading Mr. Po’s words, “The path to enlightenment begins with a single step. The purpose of the rabbit will become clear to you in time.” And perhaps his observation about a multitude of rabbits was a hint about the right way to approach this perverse mission.
3. Isolation
“A lone bird in a nest of vipers is surely dead. A broken nest offers an opportunity for escape.”
So begins this very well-constructed and very ingenious story. It starts out simple: rescue a redpill and return him to Zion. But when you do, they try to kill him! It turns out that there’s some “misunderstanding” and one Zionist captain holds this guy responsible for the death of his wife. So, his bridges burned with Zion, he decides to join Mr. Po’s organization, and you drop him off with some of Mr. Po’s operatives. They are not surprised at all. Somehow, they observe, things always seem to work out just right for Mr. Po and his plans. I was pondering this as Mr. Po paid us all off and observed, “opportunity is made, not found”. What wise words they are.
4. Leaders of Men
“As a diseased finger must be struck off, so must a toxin be rid from the body.”
After the intricacies of the earlier missions, now Mr. Po eases up. A traitor must be brewkoed, and that’s it. The first location is empty, but the second one yields the principal. The traitor is disgruntled because Mr. Po keeps him on such a tight leash; he cannot stray more than a short distance from a hardware tether. It was hard to blame him, but I fulfilled my mission nonetheless. After all, as Mr. Po reminds me at the end, “pain is a part of life”. Mr. Po, it seems, moonlights as a CSR….
5. New Dawn Fades
“A lamb has gone astray and a good shepherd knows to bring it back to the flock”
A Zionist operative wants to switch, and we must assist him. First I helped him get to a hardline (a vastly easier escort mish that #2, by the way). Then we help him in the Desert of the Real. This involved “that which all men fear”, which turned out not to be, umm, what I thought it would be. I purloined a virus (neat test tube graphic), uploaded it to incapacitate the defector’s old hovercraft crew, watched them fall like leaves, and left. Note: do not engage the Zionists; just go straight to the computer and upload the virus. This permitted another hovercraft to dock with them and take aboard the defector. Who knows what else they might have felt like doing? Operetta has been involved in this in some capacity; she seems to be at odds with Mr. Po.
At the end of this fascinating mission, Mr. Po nods at you and says with quiet strength, “Just so. We are whole”. And that is the end. How ironic that at this instant my connection with him broke, and forever after when I asked him for a mish, he blandly said he had no more work for me.
These missions have great emotional resonance, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. I love their backstories. They reminded me of being human, and of the life I had left behind when I took the red pill (accidentally in my case). I absolutely recommend them. But bring lots and lots of friends for the second one.
Special thanks go to Warboy from the MegaCity Police Department, and Sattakan, Brightangel, Calliente, and Roukan from The Collective for helping me with these. I doubt that I would ever have finished the second mission without them. And I enjoyed all of them much more with such great company. Mad props to them all!
This mission review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with previous reviews and other writings relevant to MxO.
Our sage stands on a quiet street corner in Kowloon (226, -4, 424), in dark robes, like Kwang Kai-chang from Kung Fu, baldheaded and bare-footed. His missions are some of the most absorbing I have ever run, due to the wisdom he dispenses, and the stories they tell. Most of the Exiles live their coded lives impervious to the life and deaths of the redpill population. That is, they fight us or they ignore us. Few do business with us or understand us, as Mr. Po does. He understands the cravings of the human heart as few do. This is indeed a classic suite of missions which absolutely no one should miss.
1. Shadow Play
“An inquisitive mouse finds many morsels the further afield he looks. I am an old and hungry mouse. Go to these addresses and search their computers for tasty bits.”
So starts this most exceptional mission. It has three parts, each building on the one preceding, which open your eyes to many a heart lost in the Matrix. Do them soon!
Part 1. You casually peruse three computers in an Exiles service agency. You discover a distraught redpill in tears as he tries to decide whether or not to return to his old life to visit the woman he left behind. Go, I told him, she would want you to. I glanced at the computer screen and saw her on a bed with a scrapbook of news stories about a missing man and the police search for him. As I stood there, feeling for her and for him, the Exile, a superb salesman, sidled up to me and said in a soft voice “Are you sure there isn’t someone you’d like to see? Mother? Father? A child perhaps? A lost lover?” I thought of my parents and family, and how I had left them with no warning. What had I been thinking, to do this to them? He asked me again, and I quickly left. No, actually I fled.
The next two computers there had more information about this. But nothing dramatic. Mr. Po’s take on this surprised me: “Nothing so lightens the heart as when a fool awakens from his folly. Still, more must be revealed. Continue your search”. Oddly enough, continuing my search took me right back to Mr. Po’s building.
Part 2. There I found a Machines office where they have been monitoring these services, apparently trying to run sweeps for indications of regret in the population. This leads my sponsor to intone “That which is hidden can never know the light. That which lives in the light will never know peace. The search continues.” Yes, Master.
Part 3. I met a kindred spirit. In an abandoned redpill extraction center, Captain Wasat and an aide maintain a lonely vigil. Reading his journals shows the bitterness he feels about his daughter, left unrecruited in the pods. Another computer shows records of multiple remittances from him to the Exile agency in Part 1. I tried hacking his computer to actually get the files (brashly, while he was standing next to me) and though I succeeded, he did nothing and I found nothing. I could tell he did not care what anyone did. I left him as I found him, waiting for some unknown release.
I felt shaken by all this, and left Kowloon to seek the reassurance of my clan. As I stood at the hardline, I heard Mr. Po intone “Wisdom lights the path and Strength walks it”. Perhaps this means the Cypherites know of these services…or run them…
2. Incubation
We plunge from the sublime in Mish 1 to the profane in Mish 2, an insufferable escort mish which took multiple tries to get right. I started to worry as soon as I heard Mr. Po’s suggestive directions: “One rabbit alone is a meal for an observant hawk. Many rabbits keep the hawk sated and still there are more rabbits. Retrieve the rabbit at this address”. I felt my ears growing.
As soon as you contact the bluepill in question, you are attacked. As soon as you leave the elevator, you are attacked. As soon as you leave the building, you are attacked. As you pass within a lightyear of any mob on the way to the destination, you are attacked. A single stray shot or ricochet or harsh word instantly kills the bluepill, and you get to start over. Any questions?
I tried leaving the bluepill in the elevator while I cleaned out the lobby. Then leaving her in the lobby while I cleared the way to the destination. By the time I had reached the destination and killed the mobs, the ones back at the starting point had regenerated. I tried tucking her in buildings along the way while I re-cleaned the route, and mobs inside the building killed her. Finally I gave up in disgust, and asked some friends to help me. This worked beautifully, and soon I was reading Mr. Po’s words, “The path to enlightenment begins with a single step. The purpose of the rabbit will become clear to you in time.” And perhaps his observation about a multitude of rabbits was a hint about the right way to approach this perverse mission.
3. Isolation
“A lone bird in a nest of vipers is surely dead. A broken nest offers an opportunity for escape.”
So begins this very well-constructed and very ingenious story. It starts out simple: rescue a redpill and return him to Zion. But when you do, they try to kill him! It turns out that there’s some “misunderstanding” and one Zionist captain holds this guy responsible for the death of his wife. So, his bridges burned with Zion, he decides to join Mr. Po’s organization, and you drop him off with some of Mr. Po’s operatives. They are not surprised at all. Somehow, they observe, things always seem to work out just right for Mr. Po and his plans. I was pondering this as Mr. Po paid us all off and observed, “opportunity is made, not found”. What wise words they are.
4. Leaders of Men
“As a diseased finger must be struck off, so must a toxin be rid from the body.”
After the intricacies of the earlier missions, now Mr. Po eases up. A traitor must be brewkoed, and that’s it. The first location is empty, but the second one yields the principal. The traitor is disgruntled because Mr. Po keeps him on such a tight leash; he cannot stray more than a short distance from a hardware tether. It was hard to blame him, but I fulfilled my mission nonetheless. After all, as Mr. Po reminds me at the end, “pain is a part of life”. Mr. Po, it seems, moonlights as a CSR….
5. New Dawn Fades
“A lamb has gone astray and a good shepherd knows to bring it back to the flock”
A Zionist operative wants to switch, and we must assist him. First I helped him get to a hardline (a vastly easier escort mish that #2, by the way). Then we help him in the Desert of the Real. This involved “that which all men fear”, which turned out not to be, umm, what I thought it would be. I purloined a virus (neat test tube graphic), uploaded it to incapacitate the defector’s old hovercraft crew, watched them fall like leaves, and left. Note: do not engage the Zionists; just go straight to the computer and upload the virus. This permitted another hovercraft to dock with them and take aboard the defector. Who knows what else they might have felt like doing? Operetta has been involved in this in some capacity; she seems to be at odds with Mr. Po.
At the end of this fascinating mission, Mr. Po nods at you and says with quiet strength, “Just so. We are whole”. And that is the end. How ironic that at this instant my connection with him broke, and forever after when I asked him for a mish, he blandly said he had no more work for me.
These missions have great emotional resonance, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. I love their backstories. They reminded me of being human, and of the life I had left behind when I took the red pill (accidentally in my case). I absolutely recommend them. But bring lots and lots of friends for the second one.
Special thanks go to Warboy from the MegaCity Police Department, and Sattakan, Brightangel, Calliente, and Roukan from The Collective for helping me with these. I doubt that I would ever have finished the second mission without them. And I enjoyed all of them much more with such great company. Mad props to them all!
This mission review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with previous reviews and other writings relevant to MxO.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Sugar Shack 30: Exile Contact Missions: Downtown in Review
Sugar Shack 30: Exile Contact Missions: Downtown in Review
Over on QA, Zurish from The Collective has been mowing down people in duels like he’s Agent Smith! (We may rename him The Lawnmower Man.) Alas, I haven’t had a chance to try his tricks yet since QA and I are seldom on at the same time. So, while waiting for QA to bounce back, I thought I’d look back over the downtown missions. First, though, some more thoughts on what constitutes a good mish, with reference to the downtown Exile crowd. (A more in-depth discussion of this takes place in Sugar Shack 18, from December 10 last year.)
Key Incredients:
1. Personality. The Weaver’s constant hectoring and complaining was fun! Madame T.’s engaging plays on words delighted me. The Chef’s irrepressible speculations about the culinary arts were great. You remember talking to them long after the missions are done. This needs only wit, which maybe explains why not all had it.
2. Good Story. The Chef’s search for perfect ingredients, the Bartender’s efforts to please the Merovingian, Tick Tock’s desire to penetrate Mr. Black’s organization. These are the hallmarks of a good mish suite. A good mish suite usually, but not always, comes from a well-developed personality.
3. Counter-intuitive Strategy. The Jeweler’s escort mission is the best example of this. There are few examples of this, understandably so. Bribes and bluffs and threats are too little used, usually the hard way is the only way.
4. Unexpected Encounters. Meeting Silver and the Chessman was cool. Delivering a gift to Beryl was fabulous! As a Machinist, running into Persephone was phenomenal.
5. A Sense of the Life of the Community. Sammy’s missions were pretty simple. However, seeing the effort to stop gang wars, and the efforts by the Hellions to undermine it, was cool.
6. Physical Settings. Nothing much was done with this that I noticed, except the cool (but almost identical) offices of the Jeweler and Nicky G.
With that in mind, here are my thoughts on the most memorable missions from downtown. All are worth doing, and all represent the content we say we crave, but you’re just nuts to miss the ones below.
Best Missions: The Jeweler (exceptionally challenging mission, and great personality!) and the Bartender (meeting Persephone and being called attractive!) and the Sculptress (fabulous artspeak and a gift at the end!) and the Chef (wonderful dialogue and everything goes awry, and surprisingly, no cake!).
Best Personality: The Chef, the Weaver, Madame T., the Jeweler, Hypatia. You remember how they talk, and what they seek long after the mishes are done.
Most Unsettling: The Coroner, by far. His experiments, and his requiring the sacrifice of the living, unsettled me. And the epic beta encounter from his first mish is something I will never forget! Nicky G., too, once you realize how cold and evil she is she is. The same goes for the Newsie.
Personal Fave: Hypatia. Like her, I love books, and I felt so close to her while doing her bidding that I wish she had another five. I even felt bad later when I was required to act against her for other Exiles. Plus, she looks like me. The Sculptress is a very close second.
Biggest Mysteries:
1. Madame T.: How did a redpill ever get so far? What was her secret? What is her story?
2. The Auditor: Just who’s trying to use memory leaks to being down the Matrix, anyway? This could be well-used to foreshadow future storyline events. We can only hope.
3. Mr. Black: What’s with his family, and why is it soooo dysfunctional?
4. Pepper: How did such an inveterate screw-up ever become an Exile with her own organization? And why on earth would anyone follow her?
5. Nicky G.: What is it with her and the Blue Book?
6. Clubs: Why do so many Exiles associate themselves with clubs and bars? And why do almost none of their missions ever reflect this?
Biggest Wish: I would like to see more backstory. It could be revealed in conversation, in stuff from the Operator, in offhand comments from miscellaneous NPCs. Especially, when I have to get books and pages and documents and letters, I would like to be able to skim them and get some sense of their highlights and key points. I want this soooo much. We see it in the documents from the Pandora’s Box missions; I would like to see it everywhere possible.
Final Thought: Exiles need not be enraging to be engaging. Sister Margaret from Mara is the perfect example of someone who assigns difficult mishes, yet you have a good feeling about them when you’re done: you help people, bring them together, etc. Good missions involving good deeds are very possible. Sammy’s and Lotus’s come close; it would be nice to see some more.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Over on QA, Zurish from The Collective has been mowing down people in duels like he’s Agent Smith! (We may rename him The Lawnmower Man.) Alas, I haven’t had a chance to try his tricks yet since QA and I are seldom on at the same time. So, while waiting for QA to bounce back, I thought I’d look back over the downtown missions. First, though, some more thoughts on what constitutes a good mish, with reference to the downtown Exile crowd. (A more in-depth discussion of this takes place in Sugar Shack 18, from December 10 last year.)
Key Incredients:
1. Personality. The Weaver’s constant hectoring and complaining was fun! Madame T.’s engaging plays on words delighted me. The Chef’s irrepressible speculations about the culinary arts were great. You remember talking to them long after the missions are done. This needs only wit, which maybe explains why not all had it.
2. Good Story. The Chef’s search for perfect ingredients, the Bartender’s efforts to please the Merovingian, Tick Tock’s desire to penetrate Mr. Black’s organization. These are the hallmarks of a good mish suite. A good mish suite usually, but not always, comes from a well-developed personality.
3. Counter-intuitive Strategy. The Jeweler’s escort mission is the best example of this. There are few examples of this, understandably so. Bribes and bluffs and threats are too little used, usually the hard way is the only way.
4. Unexpected Encounters. Meeting Silver and the Chessman was cool. Delivering a gift to Beryl was fabulous! As a Machinist, running into Persephone was phenomenal.
5. A Sense of the Life of the Community. Sammy’s missions were pretty simple. However, seeing the effort to stop gang wars, and the efforts by the Hellions to undermine it, was cool.
6. Physical Settings. Nothing much was done with this that I noticed, except the cool (but almost identical) offices of the Jeweler and Nicky G.
With that in mind, here are my thoughts on the most memorable missions from downtown. All are worth doing, and all represent the content we say we crave, but you’re just nuts to miss the ones below.
Best Missions: The Jeweler (exceptionally challenging mission, and great personality!) and the Bartender (meeting Persephone and being called attractive!) and the Sculptress (fabulous artspeak and a gift at the end!) and the Chef (wonderful dialogue and everything goes awry, and surprisingly, no cake!).
Best Personality: The Chef, the Weaver, Madame T., the Jeweler, Hypatia. You remember how they talk, and what they seek long after the mishes are done.
Most Unsettling: The Coroner, by far. His experiments, and his requiring the sacrifice of the living, unsettled me. And the epic beta encounter from his first mish is something I will never forget! Nicky G., too, once you realize how cold and evil she is she is. The same goes for the Newsie.
Personal Fave: Hypatia. Like her, I love books, and I felt so close to her while doing her bidding that I wish she had another five. I even felt bad later when I was required to act against her for other Exiles. Plus, she looks like me. The Sculptress is a very close second.
Biggest Mysteries:
1. Madame T.: How did a redpill ever get so far? What was her secret? What is her story?
2. The Auditor: Just who’s trying to use memory leaks to being down the Matrix, anyway? This could be well-used to foreshadow future storyline events. We can only hope.
3. Mr. Black: What’s with his family, and why is it soooo dysfunctional?
4. Pepper: How did such an inveterate screw-up ever become an Exile with her own organization? And why on earth would anyone follow her?
5. Nicky G.: What is it with her and the Blue Book?
6. Clubs: Why do so many Exiles associate themselves with clubs and bars? And why do almost none of their missions ever reflect this?
Biggest Wish: I would like to see more backstory. It could be revealed in conversation, in stuff from the Operator, in offhand comments from miscellaneous NPCs. Especially, when I have to get books and pages and documents and letters, I would like to be able to skim them and get some sense of their highlights and key points. I want this soooo much. We see it in the documents from the Pandora’s Box missions; I would like to see it everywhere possible.
Final Thought: Exiles need not be enraging to be engaging. Sister Margaret from Mara is the perfect example of someone who assigns difficult mishes, yet you have a good feeling about them when you’re done: you help people, bring them together, etc. Good missions involving good deeds are very possible. Sammy’s and Lotus’s come close; it would be nice to see some more.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Sugar Shack 29: Exile Contact Missions: The Newsie: Someone with Moxie!
Sugar Shack 29: Exile Contact Missions: The Newsie: Someone with Moxie!
Just finding the mission contact Nicky G. was no small matter, necessitating wandering through the upper, very non-intuitive reaches of Club Paradise. What a pleasure to find The Newsie so easily! He waits for you right by a newsstand in Park East, at -517, 13, 134. He seemed to be freezing, standing there in a sleeveless T-shirt in a snowstorm! He has intent dark eyes and the newspaper boy’s hat pushed forward. And while he looks like a kid, he runs his own news organization, as we soon (in the first mish) see. He thinks big, and he thinks violent. Data-Miners need not apply!
1. Scoop
A competitor has some files, and he wants me to steal them. (I went to college for this?) My operator said I should be able to sneak in and out, and this strategy worked fine until I ran into my first guard. That is to say, it didn’t work at all. One bluepill stopped to tell me I had pretty eyes, and as I stopped to screenshot this, I died. Apparently this was a strategy for distraction, and it worked. The next time I was able to run in, dodge bullets, avoid combat, and filch the file. The current owner of the information was a noisy, picky jerk, like the news editor in Spiderman, blowing up when someone forgets to put cream in his coffee.
In the end you drop off the file at the Newsie’s editorial offices where his folks are thrilled, as is their boss, who exclaims, “Nice job, Sugaree! Come see me later…I can use someone with moxie like you!”
2. Unhealthy Competition
After confessing that he has taken a shine to you, he wants you to kill a rival, Prior. It’s a curious lapse of professionalism, to say the least! It seems someone has been cutting into his regular sales. When I arrive at the heavily defended site, one lieutenant flunky crows about “you are so dead” until I smoked the guards. Then he begs you not to hurt him, and takes you right to Prior. Then he blurts out to Prior “I’m sorry. Sugaree made me do it! I was just so scared!”. His boss was not impressed. Of course when the fighting is over, he is nowhere to be seen. Nice details!
3. Home Delivery
Like most newspapers, the Newsie’s has specialized editions for different target readers. One such special edition goes to Dame White, who enjoys reading its news “that’s not, ah, generally available”. The Newsie likes her, calling her “a real classy broad”, and bidding you to make haste with her newspaper: “Move fast and she might even give you a nice big tip!”. Oh, the irony! Here I am, a ship’s Captain and a member of my clan’s Council, and I am reduced to delivering newspapers! But I am never one to turn down a chance for face time with a major Exile, so off I went!
It turns out that the Hellions are making a major move against Dame White. And amidst all this chaos, the Newsie still wants the paper delivered! I felt like Kevin Costner in The Postman! However, I took the liberty of saving Dame White first, scoring big points with her. I know she’ll be really nice to me when I get to her during the Pandora’s Box mishes.
4. To The Source
The Newsie is a curious amalgam of professionalism and fanaticism. After going the extra mile in the last mish to please a customer, now he is asking us to not just kill a competitor, but kill a _source_ for a rival newspaper! Where will this end? Burning the forests his competitors use for wood pulp? Shooting his rival’s customers? Blowing up the trucks his competitors use to ship newspapers?
In fact, this mish is surprisingly easy, which is a letdown. Just talk to enough people until one gives you something, and instantly your mission objectives tell you who to kill. Kind of a disappointment. This was basically a mystery, and it wasn’t very difficult. In fact, this was the easiest Newsie mish by far!
5. If It Bleeds, It Leads
If there’s not enough news, you just have to make your own. And killing bluepills doesn’t get headlines, whereas killing powerful programs does. You can see where this leads… Two very tough fights here, and it’s hard to get emotionally involved in this mere killing for attention. By the third murder you’re asked to commit, wiping out White Security (!), word has gotten out and you have to adjust your plans. Just look at the mission map for their areas when you arrive! The irony is that he stands on a corner surrounded by White Security, and now he wants to waste them all! The Newsie realizes his plan is not viable for the long term, and bids you farewell. At the end he did send me an enhanced suit jacket as a going away present, which was nice. But his unconscionable callousness left a bad taste in my mouth.
My two last downtown exiles were Nicky G. and the Newsie. And I have to say they were two of a kind. Both conscience-less, both supremely self-centered, and both monomaniacal. Fortunately they saw me as an asset, ‘cuz they would have slain me without a second thought. Their mishes are so-so on the scale of interest, and their personalities are their most memorable and most disturbing features. A final thought: more backstory would have been appreciated: who his competitors are, who his other special readers are, what the non-public news is for Dame White, how he handles the dynamics of e-news, etc. Some tie-in with The Sentinel seems so no-brainer here; I was shocked that nothing about it turned up. Nor was there any tie-in with another downtown Exile, the Network.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Just finding the mission contact Nicky G. was no small matter, necessitating wandering through the upper, very non-intuitive reaches of Club Paradise. What a pleasure to find The Newsie so easily! He waits for you right by a newsstand in Park East, at -517, 13, 134. He seemed to be freezing, standing there in a sleeveless T-shirt in a snowstorm! He has intent dark eyes and the newspaper boy’s hat pushed forward. And while he looks like a kid, he runs his own news organization, as we soon (in the first mish) see. He thinks big, and he thinks violent. Data-Miners need not apply!
1. Scoop
A competitor has some files, and he wants me to steal them. (I went to college for this?) My operator said I should be able to sneak in and out, and this strategy worked fine until I ran into my first guard. That is to say, it didn’t work at all. One bluepill stopped to tell me I had pretty eyes, and as I stopped to screenshot this, I died. Apparently this was a strategy for distraction, and it worked. The next time I was able to run in, dodge bullets, avoid combat, and filch the file. The current owner of the information was a noisy, picky jerk, like the news editor in Spiderman, blowing up when someone forgets to put cream in his coffee.
In the end you drop off the file at the Newsie’s editorial offices where his folks are thrilled, as is their boss, who exclaims, “Nice job, Sugaree! Come see me later…I can use someone with moxie like you!”
2. Unhealthy Competition
After confessing that he has taken a shine to you, he wants you to kill a rival, Prior. It’s a curious lapse of professionalism, to say the least! It seems someone has been cutting into his regular sales. When I arrive at the heavily defended site, one lieutenant flunky crows about “you are so dead” until I smoked the guards. Then he begs you not to hurt him, and takes you right to Prior. Then he blurts out to Prior “I’m sorry. Sugaree made me do it! I was just so scared!”. His boss was not impressed. Of course when the fighting is over, he is nowhere to be seen. Nice details!
3. Home Delivery
Like most newspapers, the Newsie’s has specialized editions for different target readers. One such special edition goes to Dame White, who enjoys reading its news “that’s not, ah, generally available”. The Newsie likes her, calling her “a real classy broad”, and bidding you to make haste with her newspaper: “Move fast and she might even give you a nice big tip!”. Oh, the irony! Here I am, a ship’s Captain and a member of my clan’s Council, and I am reduced to delivering newspapers! But I am never one to turn down a chance for face time with a major Exile, so off I went!
It turns out that the Hellions are making a major move against Dame White. And amidst all this chaos, the Newsie still wants the paper delivered! I felt like Kevin Costner in The Postman! However, I took the liberty of saving Dame White first, scoring big points with her. I know she’ll be really nice to me when I get to her during the Pandora’s Box mishes.
4. To The Source
The Newsie is a curious amalgam of professionalism and fanaticism. After going the extra mile in the last mish to please a customer, now he is asking us to not just kill a competitor, but kill a _source_ for a rival newspaper! Where will this end? Burning the forests his competitors use for wood pulp? Shooting his rival’s customers? Blowing up the trucks his competitors use to ship newspapers?
In fact, this mish is surprisingly easy, which is a letdown. Just talk to enough people until one gives you something, and instantly your mission objectives tell you who to kill. Kind of a disappointment. This was basically a mystery, and it wasn’t very difficult. In fact, this was the easiest Newsie mish by far!
5. If It Bleeds, It Leads
If there’s not enough news, you just have to make your own. And killing bluepills doesn’t get headlines, whereas killing powerful programs does. You can see where this leads… Two very tough fights here, and it’s hard to get emotionally involved in this mere killing for attention. By the third murder you’re asked to commit, wiping out White Security (!), word has gotten out and you have to adjust your plans. Just look at the mission map for their areas when you arrive! The irony is that he stands on a corner surrounded by White Security, and now he wants to waste them all! The Newsie realizes his plan is not viable for the long term, and bids you farewell. At the end he did send me an enhanced suit jacket as a going away present, which was nice. But his unconscionable callousness left a bad taste in my mouth.
My two last downtown exiles were Nicky G. and the Newsie. And I have to say they were two of a kind. Both conscience-less, both supremely self-centered, and both monomaniacal. Fortunately they saw me as an asset, ‘cuz they would have slain me without a second thought. Their mishes are so-so on the scale of interest, and their personalities are their most memorable and most disturbing features. A final thought: more backstory would have been appreciated: who his competitors are, who his other special readers are, what the non-public news is for Dame White, how he handles the dynamics of e-news, etc. Some tie-in with The Sentinel seems so no-brainer here; I was shocked that nothing about it turned up. Nor was there any tie-in with another downtown Exile, the Network.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Sugar Shack 28: Exile Contact Missions: Nicky G.: Sociopath
Sugar Shack 28: Exile Contact Missions: Nicky G.: Sociopath
For me, just finding Nicky G. seemed like the first mish in itself. Her last reported location, outside Club Paradise Hampton Green, was occupied by a Holiday Helper, so after loading up on cake for The Collective, I sauntered on in to look for her. Much rummaging turned her up on an upper floor above the Club Paradise, at -76, 275, -213 (take the elevator to the 31st floor). Red from her tinted hair to her pumps, she stands waiting to greet you as you walk in. Her office recalls the Jeweler’s almost exactly: the same kind of crowded bookcase, the sumptuous couch, the classy Ikea-style end-tables, and the moody lighting. Even the broken ceiling fan was the same!! The only real difference was the absence of a “Free Zion” poster; perhaps she did not feel she had to make a statement. She made up for this with a painting of dogs playing poker. Maybe that was her statement. After the racket from the Zionist party downstairs, the quiet was a pleasure.
Nicky G. is cagey, her eyes opaque. She assigns missions, but says little about why they matter. With the Jeweler (the comparison is inevitable) I always knew what he wanted and why. In contrast, there seems to be no “why” with Nicky, no drive, no purpose. Her goals were inarticulate, perhaps even to her. Her mayhem seems pointless.
1. Paper Trail (or was that “Paper Trial”?)
“There’s a piece of paper I need very much. It’s a page from a book.” Well, I thought, it doesn’t get much more trivial than this. I sighed and took it anyway. And was I surprised. Reader, I died, and not just once. However, a few Devastation Fields later I was in and had the document. Oddly, I noticed Agents and Blood Drunks on the same force, which I do not think I had noticed before. Overall, a simple mish with a single object at a single location, leaving me wishing there had been more depth: some sense of what was on the page, why it had been separated from the book, who had written it, why Nicky wanted it, etc.
2. Blue Book
Nicky craves a book owned by Mr. Black (this sounds like Hypatia!). First break into an office to sabotage a security feed going to Mr. Black. While looking for Nicky, I happened to interrupt a Zionist party with the FinkGothics and their hangers-on. Sorry, guys! It was for a good cause! Anyway, the first step is to disable Mr. Black’s security feeds with a virus. Then get the book. Finally, I took it to a specialist to vet its authenticity. The volume seems to be quite the hot potato; your operator says to get rid of it before it is traced to you. The expert wants you to leave before you are traced to him. It’s quite a paranoid world that the subdued, intense Nicky G. inhabits.
3. Betray an Exile Code Dealer
The book I stole was exactly what she wanted, but it needs a signature manipulator to unlock it (damn DRM!). Naturally, the Exile who has it (and who first sold the book to Mr. Black) expects a great deal for it. But Nicky has “an alternate plan. Kill him and take it”. The course of this mission is predictable. The interest, part from Nicky’s disturbing callousness, comes from the Exile and his colleagues, one of whom cries out “He was my brother!”. Things went kind of downhill after that.
But Nicky felt upbeat about everything. “Very very good, Sugaree. You might be one of my most effective freelancers.” As if there were any doubt!
4. Leaves
This seems inevitable: Nicky has reached out to supreme bibliophile Hypatia, who’s agreed to give her a few pages missing from the Blue Book. Someone failed to keep a secret, though, and the meeting location is jam-packed with Mr. Black’s folks. Of course they didn’t accept my story about selling Girl Scout cookies and tried to kill me. Hypatia, being no dummy, blew off the meeting. Total accomplishment: zero.
5. Bound for Success
Since last time, Hypatia’s got cold feet, and now we have to steal from her. After killing everyone in the first office, you discover the pages are not there! The second location is more fruitful, and then you simply drop them off with a cut-out. As I got in the elevator, feeling bad about crossing Hypatia, I got a call from Nicky: “You truly are amazing, Sugaree. I think I’m going to curl up with that book for a nice, long read. I’m afraid I won’t have any more work for you for the time being.” And that was it. The falling snow outside felt soothing and cleansing; I stood in it catching snowflakes on my tongue.
In the past I have done a lot of things for a lot of Exiles that I’m not especially proud of. But Nicky seems to me to be the first sociopath I have worked with. She wanted an Exile killed because she didn’t feel like paying him. A couple of dozen Exiles and guards die because she wanted a nice book to read. And rather than cajole Hypatia, she directed me to steal from her. All for a good read! What, haven’t the Exiles access to the Gutenberg Project? The irony in her casual cruelty is that any book could simply be photocopied or snap-lifted with a cell phone camera. Why the death? Why the theft? More on her backstory and the background of the book/pages would have been a superb pleasure.
Her repugnant character aside, she’s pleasant enough to interact with, as long as she doesn’t think you have something she wants. In addition, there’s a pleasant progression to the missions, from a few torn pages to entire texts to a few pages. And it’s cool to see the interaction between her and other Exiles. Also, the mishes avoided being too simple, as some of Sammy’s were. But maybe I’m just partial to bibliophiles. Or sociopaths.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
For me, just finding Nicky G. seemed like the first mish in itself. Her last reported location, outside Club Paradise Hampton Green, was occupied by a Holiday Helper, so after loading up on cake for The Collective, I sauntered on in to look for her. Much rummaging turned her up on an upper floor above the Club Paradise, at -76, 275, -213 (take the elevator to the 31st floor). Red from her tinted hair to her pumps, she stands waiting to greet you as you walk in. Her office recalls the Jeweler’s almost exactly: the same kind of crowded bookcase, the sumptuous couch, the classy Ikea-style end-tables, and the moody lighting. Even the broken ceiling fan was the same!! The only real difference was the absence of a “Free Zion” poster; perhaps she did not feel she had to make a statement. She made up for this with a painting of dogs playing poker. Maybe that was her statement. After the racket from the Zionist party downstairs, the quiet was a pleasure.
Nicky G. is cagey, her eyes opaque. She assigns missions, but says little about why they matter. With the Jeweler (the comparison is inevitable) I always knew what he wanted and why. In contrast, there seems to be no “why” with Nicky, no drive, no purpose. Her goals were inarticulate, perhaps even to her. Her mayhem seems pointless.
1. Paper Trail (or was that “Paper Trial”?)
“There’s a piece of paper I need very much. It’s a page from a book.” Well, I thought, it doesn’t get much more trivial than this. I sighed and took it anyway. And was I surprised. Reader, I died, and not just once. However, a few Devastation Fields later I was in and had the document. Oddly, I noticed Agents and Blood Drunks on the same force, which I do not think I had noticed before. Overall, a simple mish with a single object at a single location, leaving me wishing there had been more depth: some sense of what was on the page, why it had been separated from the book, who had written it, why Nicky wanted it, etc.
2. Blue Book
Nicky craves a book owned by Mr. Black (this sounds like Hypatia!). First break into an office to sabotage a security feed going to Mr. Black. While looking for Nicky, I happened to interrupt a Zionist party with the FinkGothics and their hangers-on. Sorry, guys! It was for a good cause! Anyway, the first step is to disable Mr. Black’s security feeds with a virus. Then get the book. Finally, I took it to a specialist to vet its authenticity. The volume seems to be quite the hot potato; your operator says to get rid of it before it is traced to you. The expert wants you to leave before you are traced to him. It’s quite a paranoid world that the subdued, intense Nicky G. inhabits.
3. Betray an Exile Code Dealer
The book I stole was exactly what she wanted, but it needs a signature manipulator to unlock it (damn DRM!). Naturally, the Exile who has it (and who first sold the book to Mr. Black) expects a great deal for it. But Nicky has “an alternate plan. Kill him and take it”. The course of this mission is predictable. The interest, part from Nicky’s disturbing callousness, comes from the Exile and his colleagues, one of whom cries out “He was my brother!”. Things went kind of downhill after that.
But Nicky felt upbeat about everything. “Very very good, Sugaree. You might be one of my most effective freelancers.” As if there were any doubt!
4. Leaves
This seems inevitable: Nicky has reached out to supreme bibliophile Hypatia, who’s agreed to give her a few pages missing from the Blue Book. Someone failed to keep a secret, though, and the meeting location is jam-packed with Mr. Black’s folks. Of course they didn’t accept my story about selling Girl Scout cookies and tried to kill me. Hypatia, being no dummy, blew off the meeting. Total accomplishment: zero.
5. Bound for Success
Since last time, Hypatia’s got cold feet, and now we have to steal from her. After killing everyone in the first office, you discover the pages are not there! The second location is more fruitful, and then you simply drop them off with a cut-out. As I got in the elevator, feeling bad about crossing Hypatia, I got a call from Nicky: “You truly are amazing, Sugaree. I think I’m going to curl up with that book for a nice, long read. I’m afraid I won’t have any more work for you for the time being.” And that was it. The falling snow outside felt soothing and cleansing; I stood in it catching snowflakes on my tongue.
In the past I have done a lot of things for a lot of Exiles that I’m not especially proud of. But Nicky seems to me to be the first sociopath I have worked with. She wanted an Exile killed because she didn’t feel like paying him. A couple of dozen Exiles and guards die because she wanted a nice book to read. And rather than cajole Hypatia, she directed me to steal from her. All for a good read! What, haven’t the Exiles access to the Gutenberg Project? The irony in her casual cruelty is that any book could simply be photocopied or snap-lifted with a cell phone camera. Why the death? Why the theft? More on her backstory and the background of the book/pages would have been a superb pleasure.
Her repugnant character aside, she’s pleasant enough to interact with, as long as she doesn’t think you have something she wants. In addition, there’s a pleasant progression to the missions, from a few torn pages to entire texts to a few pages. And it’s cool to see the interaction between her and other Exiles. Also, the mishes avoided being too simple, as some of Sammy’s were. But maybe I’m just partial to bibliophiles. Or sociopaths.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Sugar Shack 27: Exile Contact Missions: Sammy Wein: Nothing Ever Goes Just Right
Sugar Shack 27: Exile Contact Missions: Sammy Wein: Nothing Ever Goes Just Right
For an Exile at the nexus of several vicious gang rivalries, Sammy Wein seems quite serene. In fact, with his harshly-cut white hair and piercing dark eyes, he looks more like Andy Warhol or David Bowie, standing across from the entrance of Club Vault (Lamar at 249, 7, -61), raptly contemplating its shapely holiday assistant. He seems to work by himself. He does not have labs, he does not have swarms of assistants, all he has is manipulative ingenuity. His goal is to bring warring groups together, apparently in the belief that peace is good for business.
All his missions are simple and straightforward, but a couple of things make them stand out. First, they’re so straightforward! I mean, they have their wrinkles, but they are easily doable in a couple of hours. No swarms of bads, no out-of-the-blue attacks during escorts, etc. They felt like a breath of fresh air. Second, unlike so many Exiles, Sammy does not seem to just be in this for himself. In fact, most of his missions are related to brokering peace among street gangs. After working with Exiles obsessed with baking and booking, brokering was a pleasant change, believe me.
1. Odd Jobs
His consigliore tells him I’m good and he needs a package delivered. Someone tries to cut in and hijack the delivery. Does this sound familiar, or what? Well, it turns out this is a test. I pass it and he says to come back for some real work. In case I had not noticed, my operator tells me he is still a very dangerous program. Thanks, but isn’t this the kind of thing you should hear _before_ taking on an assignment? The Operator seemed quiescent and passive for these mission suite; maybe he was off playing Second Life or something.
2. Cleaning House
The “real work”. Almost half a dozen street gangs have been at each other’s throats, and Sammy wants to put an end to it. As a preparatory step to arranging a meeting, he needs you to check out a site for the talkfest. Alas! It turns out a sixth gang, the Bookwyrms, is there waiting to cause trouble. Kill three of them and you’re done! For a mission on Hard setting, I was surprised that so few were thrown at me, and that they waited separately in different rooms for me to defeat them piecemeal. Maybe this was the Classics Illustrated version of the Bookwyrms?
3. The Exchange
The Suits are holding a White Security gang member hostage, and the White Security folks have a disk they stole from the Suits. Sammy tasks you with arranging the exchange. I’ll admit I have extreme nerves about anything resembling an escort mission. Happily, though, the White Security hostage is dead, and you don’t need to escort him anywhere! Just kill everyone, take back the disk, and drop it off with one of Sammy’s folks.
There were many neat touches about this one. I spoke with the White Security folks, and one looked at me and answered “Nice shoes”, and then burst out laughing! (Nice foreshadowing, as we see at the end.) Sammy’s cut-out at the end shakes his head commenting about these stupid squabbling gangs. I love touches like this.
4. Keep the Peace
Someone once said that the best way to achieve peace is to kill all the bad people, and that’s exactly what you do here. First the Shades and then the Assassins. When I arrived at the third site, spattered with blood and smelling like a wicked hacker, the third group decided to be more accommodating. Sammy approvingly observes at the end:
“They fear you, Sugaree. That’s the most valuable asset you can have in business.” I purred in satisfaction.
5. Shell Game
Now the five-way negotiation is all set to begin! Three gang representatives are already waiting impatiently, and you need to escort two more to the confab. Strangely, this two-part escort mish is trouble-free! I kept expecting attacks from mobs, from lobby guards, from bystanders, from spontaneously-generating attackers, and from UFOs. But nothing happened. Until I got everyone together, that is. Then you discover that not everyone wants peace as much as Sammy does. Maybe they just don’t fear him enough…
Again, there were many nice touches: the comments of the principals, the way they stood tapping their feet and crossing their arms when you weren’t doing anything. And the escorts helped me in some fights, which was a welcome surprise! Oddly, though, in the final fight, they became wallflowers, standing around like they were waiting for Godot or something.
And so, in the end, peace was not achieved. The lovely downtown streets were safe for strife. The same gangs which hated each other were free to continue their pointless wars, just like at Mara. The only loser was Sammy lost cred with them by failing to enforce his peace, but he did not reveal his disappointment. Instead, he bravely spoke to me about taking a break from peacemaking, and who can blame him? But all was not lost; he gave me a super pair of indigo buffed pumps, as a parting gift. Maybe he was thinking of the long and winding road I have yet to travel.
It’s only recently occurred to me how some Exiles just never get things right. The Chef comes to mind as the best example of course. But like him, Sammy fails and is left gazing vacantly at the Club Vault, waiting with worried eyes for someone to come out and bring him a solution to his woes. I liked his style and I liked his shoes.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
For an Exile at the nexus of several vicious gang rivalries, Sammy Wein seems quite serene. In fact, with his harshly-cut white hair and piercing dark eyes, he looks more like Andy Warhol or David Bowie, standing across from the entrance of Club Vault (Lamar at 249, 7, -61), raptly contemplating its shapely holiday assistant. He seems to work by himself. He does not have labs, he does not have swarms of assistants, all he has is manipulative ingenuity. His goal is to bring warring groups together, apparently in the belief that peace is good for business.
All his missions are simple and straightforward, but a couple of things make them stand out. First, they’re so straightforward! I mean, they have their wrinkles, but they are easily doable in a couple of hours. No swarms of bads, no out-of-the-blue attacks during escorts, etc. They felt like a breath of fresh air. Second, unlike so many Exiles, Sammy does not seem to just be in this for himself. In fact, most of his missions are related to brokering peace among street gangs. After working with Exiles obsessed with baking and booking, brokering was a pleasant change, believe me.
1. Odd Jobs
His consigliore tells him I’m good and he needs a package delivered. Someone tries to cut in and hijack the delivery. Does this sound familiar, or what? Well, it turns out this is a test. I pass it and he says to come back for some real work. In case I had not noticed, my operator tells me he is still a very dangerous program. Thanks, but isn’t this the kind of thing you should hear _before_ taking on an assignment? The Operator seemed quiescent and passive for these mission suite; maybe he was off playing Second Life or something.
2. Cleaning House
The “real work”. Almost half a dozen street gangs have been at each other’s throats, and Sammy wants to put an end to it. As a preparatory step to arranging a meeting, he needs you to check out a site for the talkfest. Alas! It turns out a sixth gang, the Bookwyrms, is there waiting to cause trouble. Kill three of them and you’re done! For a mission on Hard setting, I was surprised that so few were thrown at me, and that they waited separately in different rooms for me to defeat them piecemeal. Maybe this was the Classics Illustrated version of the Bookwyrms?
3. The Exchange
The Suits are holding a White Security gang member hostage, and the White Security folks have a disk they stole from the Suits. Sammy tasks you with arranging the exchange. I’ll admit I have extreme nerves about anything resembling an escort mission. Happily, though, the White Security hostage is dead, and you don’t need to escort him anywhere! Just kill everyone, take back the disk, and drop it off with one of Sammy’s folks.
There were many neat touches about this one. I spoke with the White Security folks, and one looked at me and answered “Nice shoes”, and then burst out laughing! (Nice foreshadowing, as we see at the end.) Sammy’s cut-out at the end shakes his head commenting about these stupid squabbling gangs. I love touches like this.
4. Keep the Peace
Someone once said that the best way to achieve peace is to kill all the bad people, and that’s exactly what you do here. First the Shades and then the Assassins. When I arrived at the third site, spattered with blood and smelling like a wicked hacker, the third group decided to be more accommodating. Sammy approvingly observes at the end:
“They fear you, Sugaree. That’s the most valuable asset you can have in business.” I purred in satisfaction.
5. Shell Game
Now the five-way negotiation is all set to begin! Three gang representatives are already waiting impatiently, and you need to escort two more to the confab. Strangely, this two-part escort mish is trouble-free! I kept expecting attacks from mobs, from lobby guards, from bystanders, from spontaneously-generating attackers, and from UFOs. But nothing happened. Until I got everyone together, that is. Then you discover that not everyone wants peace as much as Sammy does. Maybe they just don’t fear him enough…
Again, there were many nice touches: the comments of the principals, the way they stood tapping their feet and crossing their arms when you weren’t doing anything. And the escorts helped me in some fights, which was a welcome surprise! Oddly, though, in the final fight, they became wallflowers, standing around like they were waiting for Godot or something.
And so, in the end, peace was not achieved. The lovely downtown streets were safe for strife. The same gangs which hated each other were free to continue their pointless wars, just like at Mara. The only loser was Sammy lost cred with them by failing to enforce his peace, but he did not reveal his disappointment. Instead, he bravely spoke to me about taking a break from peacemaking, and who can blame him? But all was not lost; he gave me a super pair of indigo buffed pumps, as a parting gift. Maybe he was thinking of the long and winding road I have yet to travel.
It’s only recently occurred to me how some Exiles just never get things right. The Chef comes to mind as the best example of course. But like him, Sammy fails and is left gazing vacantly at the Club Vault, waiting with worried eyes for someone to come out and bring him a solution to his woes. I liked his style and I liked his shoes.
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Sugar Shack 26: Exile Contact Missions: The Landlord: Building a Reputation
Sugar Shack 26: Exile Contact Missions: The Landlord: Building a Reputation
The Landlord waits for you, stolid and imperturbable, amidst the roar and dust of a busy construction site in Creston Heights (-1016, 13, 558). Unlike the elegant Oscar Wilde demeanor favored by some Exiles, like Mr. Black and the Auditor, the Landlord comes across as a burly, street-smart kind of guy. When I first saw him, thoughts of a personal trainer or a crack dealer came to mind more readily than Donald Trump. Yet despite his power, he needs third-party assistance, and welcomes you to his employ.
Most of his mishes seemed to me to be unusually difficult when run on Hard. In them you encounter large numbers of intelligent, high-level, well-armed Exiles who mass-attack you at the first opportunity. Uber-warriors like Sattakan or Upstream could handle them without difficulty. After a few trips to the loading area in Mission 2 I asked for help.
1. The Deed
Even the Landlord must bow to the lord of the land. He needs a building permit from the Merovingian and tasks you with paying for it; naturally he would never do this himself. Other Exiles of course seem to have an interest in this, and you discover that the deed custodian is held hostage by them. These fights were tough indeed. The enemies had good AI, and kept moving around so you could never count on them being someplace, waiting for you to Devastation Field them.
Oddly enough, the Custodian still demands payment for the deed, despite your rescue. That’s gratitude for you!
2. The Dirty Deed
The only thing better than success for yourself is ruining the efforts of your rivals. And that’s what you do here. There’s nothing personal, but the Landlord wants you to, you know, distract one of his competitors by killing off his staff and sabotaging his computer systems. Wow, that’s tough love! I don’t think even Steven Balmer would go this far! Notable features of this mission include dubious fashion choices for the Exile’s staff (cool outfits including chef hats!) and one of the Exiles crying out “Sugaree! It’s you! Wow, I’ve never had the chance to kill a famous person!” Alas his dream came true more than once.
At the end, the Landlord chortles, “Nicely done. It’s always better to stop the competition early.”
3. Just a Couple of Things
For one of his projects, the Landlord needs some specialist parts. In particular, he wants
a “code destabilizer” and an “asynchronous buffer loop” (sounded like Star Trek technobabble to me!), and he tasks you with getting them. Alas, only the Machines have access to rare items like this, and you must break into their well-staffed and well-protected storehouses to get them.
For me, a Machinist, this was a very hard mission. I could only hope that Agent Grey knew and understood and forgave.
The other thing that made this very hard was the defense! Nearly a dozen Agents and their friends, all north of 50! Naturally the areas containing the access computers and the actual loot were exceptionally well-staffed. The secret here was discovered by BrightAngel, who seemed to be on a first-name basis with many of the agents there. She did not lay a finger on them. She ran in, dodged fire, got the gear, and ran out. Her subtle approach made this a snap. If you plan on fighting your way through, set aside an afternoon. I cannot emphasize this enough!
The Landlord is smug at the end. “Good job. These are perfect for my needs”. I’m still not sure just what the two devices do.
4. Oh, I Almost Forgot
Just like me, after the Landlord does some shopping he realizes he forgot something and
has to go back to the mall. This time he needs a “Jungian Compiler” and a bundle of “cerebral disharmonizers”. I think the former is for recalcitrant interrogees (like Thomas Anderson) and the second is for weakening enemies.
Just when I was gearing up for another epic battle, BrightAngel ran in, snatched the items from a safe, and ran out! And that was it! Everything is at a single location! No one has to even be killed! In fact, this monster mish turned out to be snap, crackle, and pop! Not that I was disappointed, mind you.
5. Window Dressing
The Landlord has a new construct all done! It’s ready to go, needing only the attention of an interior decorator, who unfortunately has been kidnapped. The Landlord wants to get his consultant back, and he wants to send a message to would-be troublemakers: kill everyone. Except the decorator, that is. There’s quite the crowd of Blood Nobles and riffraff, as well as a blowhard named Arlon (a competitor of the Landlord) who crows about putting you down; it was satisfying to smash him. The inevitable escort mission at the end worried me greatly. But it was simple. No attacks from lobby guards or marauding Mervs or local mobs. Sometimes it’s wonderful when no one seems to care. And at the end we have a chance to listen to the Landlord pat himself on the back. What a treat!
No special benefits from him. No club discounts. No spa membership. No condominium discount. Just business as usual. I was left puzzled at the end wondering about the ties between the Landlord and the other Exiles, and why anyone would care about what he does. After all, getting a building permit from the Merovingian must mean something, besides being protection money. More backstory on the “competitors” of the landlord would have been appreciated. For example, Mr. Black refers (in one of his missions) to getting a building permit also, and to a building controlled by the Trainman. Yet the Landlord is quite close-lipped about his competitors, even though they are obviously on his mind.
Many, many thanks go to BrightAngel for helping me. I died several times soloing these, and if she hadn’t helped me, I would probably _still_ be doing them!
This mission review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with previous reviews and other writings relevant to MxO.
The Landlord waits for you, stolid and imperturbable, amidst the roar and dust of a busy construction site in Creston Heights (-1016, 13, 558). Unlike the elegant Oscar Wilde demeanor favored by some Exiles, like Mr. Black and the Auditor, the Landlord comes across as a burly, street-smart kind of guy. When I first saw him, thoughts of a personal trainer or a crack dealer came to mind more readily than Donald Trump. Yet despite his power, he needs third-party assistance, and welcomes you to his employ.
Most of his mishes seemed to me to be unusually difficult when run on Hard. In them you encounter large numbers of intelligent, high-level, well-armed Exiles who mass-attack you at the first opportunity. Uber-warriors like Sattakan or Upstream could handle them without difficulty. After a few trips to the loading area in Mission 2 I asked for help.
1. The Deed
Even the Landlord must bow to the lord of the land. He needs a building permit from the Merovingian and tasks you with paying for it; naturally he would never do this himself. Other Exiles of course seem to have an interest in this, and you discover that the deed custodian is held hostage by them. These fights were tough indeed. The enemies had good AI, and kept moving around so you could never count on them being someplace, waiting for you to Devastation Field them.
Oddly enough, the Custodian still demands payment for the deed, despite your rescue. That’s gratitude for you!
2. The Dirty Deed
The only thing better than success for yourself is ruining the efforts of your rivals. And that’s what you do here. There’s nothing personal, but the Landlord wants you to, you know, distract one of his competitors by killing off his staff and sabotaging his computer systems. Wow, that’s tough love! I don’t think even Steven Balmer would go this far! Notable features of this mission include dubious fashion choices for the Exile’s staff (cool outfits including chef hats!) and one of the Exiles crying out “Sugaree! It’s you! Wow, I’ve never had the chance to kill a famous person!” Alas his dream came true more than once.
At the end, the Landlord chortles, “Nicely done. It’s always better to stop the competition early.”
3. Just a Couple of Things
For one of his projects, the Landlord needs some specialist parts. In particular, he wants
a “code destabilizer” and an “asynchronous buffer loop” (sounded like Star Trek technobabble to me!), and he tasks you with getting them. Alas, only the Machines have access to rare items like this, and you must break into their well-staffed and well-protected storehouses to get them.
For me, a Machinist, this was a very hard mission. I could only hope that Agent Grey knew and understood and forgave.
The other thing that made this very hard was the defense! Nearly a dozen Agents and their friends, all north of 50! Naturally the areas containing the access computers and the actual loot were exceptionally well-staffed. The secret here was discovered by BrightAngel, who seemed to be on a first-name basis with many of the agents there. She did not lay a finger on them. She ran in, dodged fire, got the gear, and ran out. Her subtle approach made this a snap. If you plan on fighting your way through, set aside an afternoon. I cannot emphasize this enough!
The Landlord is smug at the end. “Good job. These are perfect for my needs”. I’m still not sure just what the two devices do.
4. Oh, I Almost Forgot
Just like me, after the Landlord does some shopping he realizes he forgot something and
has to go back to the mall. This time he needs a “Jungian Compiler” and a bundle of “cerebral disharmonizers”. I think the former is for recalcitrant interrogees (like Thomas Anderson) and the second is for weakening enemies.
Just when I was gearing up for another epic battle, BrightAngel ran in, snatched the items from a safe, and ran out! And that was it! Everything is at a single location! No one has to even be killed! In fact, this monster mish turned out to be snap, crackle, and pop! Not that I was disappointed, mind you.
5. Window Dressing
The Landlord has a new construct all done! It’s ready to go, needing only the attention of an interior decorator, who unfortunately has been kidnapped. The Landlord wants to get his consultant back, and he wants to send a message to would-be troublemakers: kill everyone. Except the decorator, that is. There’s quite the crowd of Blood Nobles and riffraff, as well as a blowhard named Arlon (a competitor of the Landlord) who crows about putting you down; it was satisfying to smash him. The inevitable escort mission at the end worried me greatly. But it was simple. No attacks from lobby guards or marauding Mervs or local mobs. Sometimes it’s wonderful when no one seems to care. And at the end we have a chance to listen to the Landlord pat himself on the back. What a treat!
No special benefits from him. No club discounts. No spa membership. No condominium discount. Just business as usual. I was left puzzled at the end wondering about the ties between the Landlord and the other Exiles, and why anyone would care about what he does. After all, getting a building permit from the Merovingian must mean something, besides being protection money. More backstory on the “competitors” of the landlord would have been appreciated. For example, Mr. Black refers (in one of his missions) to getting a building permit also, and to a building controlled by the Trainman. Yet the Landlord is quite close-lipped about his competitors, even though they are obviously on his mind.
Many, many thanks go to BrightAngel for helping me. I died several times soloing these, and if she hadn’t helped me, I would probably _still_ be doing them!
This mission review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with previous reviews and other writings relevant to MxO.
Monday, January 02, 2006
Sugar Shack 25: The Value of Intelligence: Who Cares?
Sugar Shack 25: The Value of Intelligence: Who Cares?
Now and then, it seems like someone has hacked us or our site, through foul or fouler means, like with Gothique abusing poor BlueLile, or Mek. The first few times this happened, I got kind of concerned. Then I started thinking about it more and more, and I concluded, what difference does it make?
I think we worry too much about this. Historically, in wars and organizational conflicts, knowing the adversary’s thoughts helps you get something:
1. Win decisive battles.
2. Get something before they do.
3. Prevent their strategic plans from realization.
4. Get access to resources.
If intelligence does not serve any of these purposes, it is strategically pointless. The worst it can lead to is transient embarrassment. When Gothique cruelly abused BlueLile’s account to learn of Lucen’s event plant and counterfeit it, this was a bitter embarrassment. Yet it was not like the Battle of Midway or something. After all, in MxO, there is no scarce resource that can be possessed or controlled (with one exception which our enemies are not aware of). And now no one thinks about this event that she ran. Ultimately, it was irrelevant.
Therefore, if an enemy knew everything we were thinking, what difference would it make, strategically? If Gothique or Prim3 could read everything on this site, they would see our internal dynamics, they would see our thinking on PvP, and they would see our unvarnished thoughts on applicants.
Would any of this help them more than one time to defeat us in PvP?
Would any of this help them to get something we want? Info? Frags? Boss drops?
Would any of this let them frustrate our clan’s hopes for the future?
Would any of this help them get access to resources that we seek?
To me, the answers are no. Their knowledge of anything we plan makes no difference in the game, unless we let ourselves feel nervous or embarrassed. That means it makes no difference unless we choose to let it make a difference. For example, Gothique’s theft of Lucen’s plan for an event was petty and vile. But it did not make her clan stronger, or us weaker.
In the current case, I do not believe that Prim3 was able to really retrieve anything from Sattakan’s account; his posting is a fabrication. But even if it were genuine, it only shows a division of opinion among us regarding Alfie’s departure. What, that’s news?
Forgive my rambling. In a nutshell, Clan discussions should obviously remain confidential among us so no worries about being sharing. But in the event that someone somehow gets hold of information, there is no reason to freak out. There is virtually no type of intelligence they can obtain which will make any lasting difference ingame whatsoever. Which is not to say we should not seek to deeply understand our partners and adversaries.
Now and then, it seems like someone has hacked us or our site, through foul or fouler means, like with Gothique abusing poor BlueLile, or Mek. The first few times this happened, I got kind of concerned. Then I started thinking about it more and more, and I concluded, what difference does it make?
I think we worry too much about this. Historically, in wars and organizational conflicts, knowing the adversary’s thoughts helps you get something:
1. Win decisive battles.
2. Get something before they do.
3. Prevent their strategic plans from realization.
4. Get access to resources.
If intelligence does not serve any of these purposes, it is strategically pointless. The worst it can lead to is transient embarrassment. When Gothique cruelly abused BlueLile’s account to learn of Lucen’s event plant and counterfeit it, this was a bitter embarrassment. Yet it was not like the Battle of Midway or something. After all, in MxO, there is no scarce resource that can be possessed or controlled (with one exception which our enemies are not aware of). And now no one thinks about this event that she ran. Ultimately, it was irrelevant.
Therefore, if an enemy knew everything we were thinking, what difference would it make, strategically? If Gothique or Prim3 could read everything on this site, they would see our internal dynamics, they would see our thinking on PvP, and they would see our unvarnished thoughts on applicants.
Would any of this help them more than one time to defeat us in PvP?
Would any of this help them to get something we want? Info? Frags? Boss drops?
Would any of this let them frustrate our clan’s hopes for the future?
Would any of this help them get access to resources that we seek?
To me, the answers are no. Their knowledge of anything we plan makes no difference in the game, unless we let ourselves feel nervous or embarrassed. That means it makes no difference unless we choose to let it make a difference. For example, Gothique’s theft of Lucen’s plan for an event was petty and vile. But it did not make her clan stronger, or us weaker.
In the current case, I do not believe that Prim3 was able to really retrieve anything from Sattakan’s account; his posting is a fabrication. But even if it were genuine, it only shows a division of opinion among us regarding Alfie’s departure. What, that’s news?
Forgive my rambling. In a nutshell, Clan discussions should obviously remain confidential among us so no worries about being sharing. But in the event that someone somehow gets hold of information, there is no reason to freak out. There is virtually no type of intelligence they can obtain which will make any lasting difference ingame whatsoever. Which is not to say we should not seek to deeply understand our partners and adversaries.
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Sugar Shack 24: Thoughts on Loot
Packing and delivering Christmas gifts has put me in a materialistic, yet expansive mood, and prompted me to think of loot and treasure in MxO. Obviously, by this I mean the stuff we accumulate from vanquished enemies and bosses and missions.
It seems to me that there are three basic principles with loot.
1. Loot should excite as much as possible. Otherwise, when you get to 50, why bother? (except for info. Except to help others. Except or the packrat impulse. Except for the buzz.)
2. But it must not imbalance the game. At all costs one must avoid the D&D Monty Haul Syndrome. We already have this so some extent, where everyone has a Direskin, Sakura Bandana, Ethereal Shoes, Widow's Moor Lenses, etc.
3. We should not ask for miracles from the devs. Much though I would like jewelry and smokes and handbags and dresses, it would be a serious time commitment for the devs to do all this while they're still trying to arrange candy corn for next Halloween. So I'm thinking small and tactical as much as possible.
With these three principles in mind, let me make some suggestions.
1. Some loot can be retired. Stakes, Silver Bullets, and Holy Water. I doubt that I have ever, ever seen anyone actually use these. Currently in this game, lower-level people who encounter vamps and succubi are likely to have upper-level buddies with them who engage these mobs. So these items seem to me to be totally superfluous. Low level pistols, catsuits, the cheap boots you can get at any vendor...stuff like this, can be kept, though no one ever uses them much.
2. Prestige loot could be introduced. Prestige items are the envy of all who behold them, but they do not instantly slay enemies or unbalance the game. But their desirability makes people work hard to get them. What are some possible ways to create prestige items?
2.1 Some looted items might be items which are normally strictly seasonal, like the party hats, would work year-round. Easy to engineer for a dev, yet rare to find.
2.2 Some items are variations on existing items. Color variants on clothes, like Black or White Lotus blouses. Open-toed shoes not in black. Maybe handguns or cellphones with different colors. Also not difficult to engineer, since some NPC already have these.
2.3 Other types of clothes, non-buffed. Existing clothes could have variations created with different patterns and colors. These would add value without changing the way the game works. In a tactical sense. Naturally, wholly new types of clothes would also be okay!
2.4 Documents/Story items. These would add background to characters in the story, maybe be just a couple of paragraphs, and be tragic or amusing. They would add depth, not direction.
2.5 Emotes. Perhaps some mishes might enable you to use a new emote if you find a piece of code or something.
2.6 Hair Tinting or Hair Style Kits. Who wouldn't fight her way to the bottom of Creston Heights Dungeon for some salon time? Especially if it were a _unique_ hairstyle, not available during the normal character creation process!
The above should not be insuperable to create. What can be done to make them rare? Prestige can be introduced in one or more of three ways.
2.1 They cannot be decompiled. If you want one, you must earn it.
2.2 They cannot be transferred. We already have this with some items.
2.3 They are only found on some missions or some mobs. Boss loot is already like this.
The benefit of prestige items is that they add measurably to the value of the game without ostensibly unbalancing what a character can do. And they should certainly be less difficult to architect than flies in amber or glimmers of the course. And they would be fun without being deadly, as opposed to more and more weapons, which can be deadly without being fun.
It seems to me that there are three basic principles with loot.
1. Loot should excite as much as possible. Otherwise, when you get to 50, why bother? (except for info. Except to help others. Except or the packrat impulse. Except for the buzz.)
2. But it must not imbalance the game. At all costs one must avoid the D&D Monty Haul Syndrome. We already have this so some extent, where everyone has a Direskin, Sakura Bandana, Ethereal Shoes, Widow's Moor Lenses, etc.
3. We should not ask for miracles from the devs. Much though I would like jewelry and smokes and handbags and dresses, it would be a serious time commitment for the devs to do all this while they're still trying to arrange candy corn for next Halloween. So I'm thinking small and tactical as much as possible.
With these three principles in mind, let me make some suggestions.
1. Some loot can be retired. Stakes, Silver Bullets, and Holy Water. I doubt that I have ever, ever seen anyone actually use these. Currently in this game, lower-level people who encounter vamps and succubi are likely to have upper-level buddies with them who engage these mobs. So these items seem to me to be totally superfluous. Low level pistols, catsuits, the cheap boots you can get at any vendor...stuff like this, can be kept, though no one ever uses them much.
2. Prestige loot could be introduced. Prestige items are the envy of all who behold them, but they do not instantly slay enemies or unbalance the game. But their desirability makes people work hard to get them. What are some possible ways to create prestige items?
2.1 Some looted items might be items which are normally strictly seasonal, like the party hats, would work year-round. Easy to engineer for a dev, yet rare to find.
2.2 Some items are variations on existing items. Color variants on clothes, like Black or White Lotus blouses. Open-toed shoes not in black. Maybe handguns or cellphones with different colors. Also not difficult to engineer, since some NPC already have these.
2.3 Other types of clothes, non-buffed. Existing clothes could have variations created with different patterns and colors. These would add value without changing the way the game works. In a tactical sense. Naturally, wholly new types of clothes would also be okay!
2.4 Documents/Story items. These would add background to characters in the story, maybe be just a couple of paragraphs, and be tragic or amusing. They would add depth, not direction.
2.5 Emotes. Perhaps some mishes might enable you to use a new emote if you find a piece of code or something.
2.6 Hair Tinting or Hair Style Kits. Who wouldn't fight her way to the bottom of Creston Heights Dungeon for some salon time? Especially if it were a _unique_ hairstyle, not available during the normal character creation process!
The above should not be insuperable to create. What can be done to make them rare? Prestige can be introduced in one or more of three ways.
2.1 They cannot be decompiled. If you want one, you must earn it.
2.2 They cannot be transferred. We already have this with some items.
2.3 They are only found on some missions or some mobs. Boss loot is already like this.
The benefit of prestige items is that they add measurably to the value of the game without ostensibly unbalancing what a character can do. And they should certainly be less difficult to architect than flies in amber or glimmers of the course. And they would be fun without being deadly, as opposed to more and more weapons, which can be deadly without being fun.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Sugar Shack 23: Exile Contact Missions: Madame T.: Like the Oracle, but Wittier
Sugar Shack 23: Exile Contact Missions: Madame T.: Like the Oracle, but Wittier
After struggling in vain to find some emotional connection with the taciturn, impassive TickTock, it was a great relief to work with Madame T. She continually refers to predicting the future; it is a delightful irony that this future-teller is located in the Historic District (!), at -1033, 1, -653. When I met her the other night, I was surprised to see this bare-shouldered woman in shades, with wild dark hair, standing resolute in a driving snowstorm, like Anna Karenina, so rapt in future visions that she was oblivious to the storm of the present. Above her left breast burned a heart tattoo, suggesting a dissolute life eventually redirected towards the world of the spirit. I could tell I was going to like her, and I was not disappointed.
In many respects she is reminiscent of Hypatia, with her ravenous desire for knowledge. However, Hypatia always had a lust for the physical book itself, the material index of knowledge. Madame T., on the other hand, simply seeks the insight itself, as we shall see.
One very, very unusual aspect of Madame T. is that she is not an Exile! One contact in her second mission observes: “She certainly is pushy for a redpill”. Wow, what a prospect this raises: perhaps one day some of us playing the game might be able to retire as Neighborhood Mission Contacts…I can see myself sitting at a table in a Chinese restaurant in Kowloon someday, passing out assignments in the form of fortune cookies…. *shakes head* Back to the task at hand! I almost forgot to mention: I ran all her missions on hard.
1. Starting Points
She just needs some data from a nearby security office. She has “seen” that we would be working together apparently, and says “I have anticipated” “I predict”, etc. Unfortunately I found myself fighting a machine captain, which went against my principles and the precepts of Agent Gray and made me feel guilty. For a minute or two, anyway.
This mish is simple, and entertaining. When I dropped off the data with a cutout, she told me, “wow, one of Madame T’s predictions actually came true!”. (Interestingly, all the cutouts and assistants I these missions are succubus in appearance, a nice touch.) Then, at the end, Madame T. foresaw many more opportunities for cooperation. I loved this cute ending.
2. Inquiring Minds
Madame T. wants some data from an exile, and whether it is given willingly or not is strictly secondary. The principal, though, moves around a lot, and you have to run around to find him. Kill all his very tough guards, and he becomes quite accommodating, commenting sourly, “She certainly is pushy for a redpill”. There are many amusing touches in this mission, such as reading the principal’s email inbox, and Madame T saying “I guess I should have seen that coming” and “I don’t need a crystal ball to see that this should be quite easy for you.”
One thing I would like to see in these get-the-data missions would be some indication of just what is all so important. It might be something urgent and desperate, like someone’s contact information. It might be something deeply personal, like the background on a missing relative. It might be something amusing, like a Victoria’s Secret catalog or a Christmas list. The Chef’s missions are wonderful examples of this.
3. Emerald Wishes
This mission was uncomfortable for me. Just last week it seems, I had been scoring accolades from The Jeweler. Now I was raiding his assets. It turns out that he has a mystic emerald Madame T wants, so that she can glimpse its secrets about the future. In this mission, we see that the Jeweler has some significant security and office assets he never told us about; and they put up a very spirited resistance. Then drop off the emerald and you are done.
More nice touches in this mish. When you drop off the emerald with a cutout, a guard remarks that he has heard of you, and compares your missions with his. Then a prediction from Madame T! “Wait…something is coming to me…I see you running many more fruitful missions for me. Nice work, Sugaree”.
One thing would have made this better. When you retrieve the emerald, your inventory just shows a box, the same generic display used for everything from tracking devices to PDAs. Some more representative artwork would have been wonderful for this.
4. Toil and Trouble
Hypatia, you may recall, has an awesome archive of all kinds of books and knowledge, and is always on the prowl for anything she does not already have. Well, it turns out that in order to unleash the power within the gem, Madame T. needs you to find an incantation in Hypatia’s archives, and then drop it off for an assistant to recite. I did this mission with a heavy heart, since Hypatia is the Exile closest to me in personality and appearance. But I was confident she had tape backup, and would only lose the physical form, not the data itself, so I went ahead.
After getting the incantation, you drop it off and go corral three assistants to help fire it off. Regrettably, they asked me to leave before running it. They were concerned for my safety. Or maybe they did not want their role-play disrupted.
5. Infosweep
Madame T. is overwhelmed by her visions from the gem and needs help from the Chessman (surely her polar opposite) in interpreting them. He has helpfully come downtown to meet you. This palaver, though, is interrupted by almost half a dozen competing operatives. Their attacks were well-coordinated, and the fight was not a breeze. On the way to the next mish location, to catch a data spike, I stopped to watch some Pit Vipers getting baptized in the pool, and was attacked! Of all the nerve! You can’t ever let your guard down!
And then it turned out that not one but two other teams were after the same data! Fortunately, they all attacked almost as soon as I got out of the elevator, which was considerate. After all, this way I didn’t have to go hunting for them. The massive data spike surged, overwhelmed the network, and miraculously fit right onto a single CD!
After I dropped it off, I hastened to the elevator, only to receive a high-urgency message from Madame T! She said, “Stop right where you are! Close your eyes. Concentrate….does anything feel different to you?” No, I confessed, just the warm heated air, fretting about agents descending on me. The she breathlessly whispered, “I see you succeeding in all your future endeavors”, and downloaded a “little something” into my inventory, bidding me to think of her when I used it. She signed off, and I walked out into the classical splendor of the Historical District, savoring the glorious, color-drenched full sun sky, with a dark blue sky and pink clouds vying for attention.
This was a great suite of missions. Well-written interactions, a distinct personality at the helm, interesting background, and neat connections with other Exiles, from The Chessman to Hyptia and The Jeweler. And the fact that Madame T. is a redpill means we should all be thinking big, big things for ourselves for the year to come.
And this is likely my last Sugar Shack for this year. Thanks to all who have read and responded. Most heartfelt thanks to my clan, The Collective, who have always supported and challenged and encouraged and listened to me. No one could ask for a better clan in the whole wide world. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to them and to all.
This mission review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with previous reviews and other writings relevant to MxO.
After struggling in vain to find some emotional connection with the taciturn, impassive TickTock, it was a great relief to work with Madame T. She continually refers to predicting the future; it is a delightful irony that this future-teller is located in the Historic District (!), at -1033, 1, -653. When I met her the other night, I was surprised to see this bare-shouldered woman in shades, with wild dark hair, standing resolute in a driving snowstorm, like Anna Karenina, so rapt in future visions that she was oblivious to the storm of the present. Above her left breast burned a heart tattoo, suggesting a dissolute life eventually redirected towards the world of the spirit. I could tell I was going to like her, and I was not disappointed.
In many respects she is reminiscent of Hypatia, with her ravenous desire for knowledge. However, Hypatia always had a lust for the physical book itself, the material index of knowledge. Madame T., on the other hand, simply seeks the insight itself, as we shall see.
One very, very unusual aspect of Madame T. is that she is not an Exile! One contact in her second mission observes: “She certainly is pushy for a redpill”. Wow, what a prospect this raises: perhaps one day some of us playing the game might be able to retire as Neighborhood Mission Contacts…I can see myself sitting at a table in a Chinese restaurant in Kowloon someday, passing out assignments in the form of fortune cookies…. *shakes head* Back to the task at hand! I almost forgot to mention: I ran all her missions on hard.
1. Starting Points
She just needs some data from a nearby security office. She has “seen” that we would be working together apparently, and says “I have anticipated” “I predict”, etc. Unfortunately I found myself fighting a machine captain, which went against my principles and the precepts of Agent Gray and made me feel guilty. For a minute or two, anyway.
This mish is simple, and entertaining. When I dropped off the data with a cutout, she told me, “wow, one of Madame T’s predictions actually came true!”. (Interestingly, all the cutouts and assistants I these missions are succubus in appearance, a nice touch.) Then, at the end, Madame T. foresaw many more opportunities for cooperation. I loved this cute ending.
2. Inquiring Minds
Madame T. wants some data from an exile, and whether it is given willingly or not is strictly secondary. The principal, though, moves around a lot, and you have to run around to find him. Kill all his very tough guards, and he becomes quite accommodating, commenting sourly, “She certainly is pushy for a redpill”. There are many amusing touches in this mission, such as reading the principal’s email inbox, and Madame T saying “I guess I should have seen that coming” and “I don’t need a crystal ball to see that this should be quite easy for you.”
One thing I would like to see in these get-the-data missions would be some indication of just what is all so important. It might be something urgent and desperate, like someone’s contact information. It might be something deeply personal, like the background on a missing relative. It might be something amusing, like a Victoria’s Secret catalog or a Christmas list. The Chef’s missions are wonderful examples of this.
3. Emerald Wishes
This mission was uncomfortable for me. Just last week it seems, I had been scoring accolades from The Jeweler. Now I was raiding his assets. It turns out that he has a mystic emerald Madame T wants, so that she can glimpse its secrets about the future. In this mission, we see that the Jeweler has some significant security and office assets he never told us about; and they put up a very spirited resistance. Then drop off the emerald and you are done.
More nice touches in this mish. When you drop off the emerald with a cutout, a guard remarks that he has heard of you, and compares your missions with his. Then a prediction from Madame T! “Wait…something is coming to me…I see you running many more fruitful missions for me. Nice work, Sugaree”.
One thing would have made this better. When you retrieve the emerald, your inventory just shows a box, the same generic display used for everything from tracking devices to PDAs. Some more representative artwork would have been wonderful for this.
4. Toil and Trouble
Hypatia, you may recall, has an awesome archive of all kinds of books and knowledge, and is always on the prowl for anything she does not already have. Well, it turns out that in order to unleash the power within the gem, Madame T. needs you to find an incantation in Hypatia’s archives, and then drop it off for an assistant to recite. I did this mission with a heavy heart, since Hypatia is the Exile closest to me in personality and appearance. But I was confident she had tape backup, and would only lose the physical form, not the data itself, so I went ahead.
After getting the incantation, you drop it off and go corral three assistants to help fire it off. Regrettably, they asked me to leave before running it. They were concerned for my safety. Or maybe they did not want their role-play disrupted.
5. Infosweep
Madame T. is overwhelmed by her visions from the gem and needs help from the Chessman (surely her polar opposite) in interpreting them. He has helpfully come downtown to meet you. This palaver, though, is interrupted by almost half a dozen competing operatives. Their attacks were well-coordinated, and the fight was not a breeze. On the way to the next mish location, to catch a data spike, I stopped to watch some Pit Vipers getting baptized in the pool, and was attacked! Of all the nerve! You can’t ever let your guard down!
And then it turned out that not one but two other teams were after the same data! Fortunately, they all attacked almost as soon as I got out of the elevator, which was considerate. After all, this way I didn’t have to go hunting for them. The massive data spike surged, overwhelmed the network, and miraculously fit right onto a single CD!
After I dropped it off, I hastened to the elevator, only to receive a high-urgency message from Madame T! She said, “Stop right where you are! Close your eyes. Concentrate….does anything feel different to you?” No, I confessed, just the warm heated air, fretting about agents descending on me. The she breathlessly whispered, “I see you succeeding in all your future endeavors”, and downloaded a “little something” into my inventory, bidding me to think of her when I used it. She signed off, and I walked out into the classical splendor of the Historical District, savoring the glorious, color-drenched full sun sky, with a dark blue sky and pink clouds vying for attention.
This was a great suite of missions. Well-written interactions, a distinct personality at the helm, interesting background, and neat connections with other Exiles, from The Chessman to Hyptia and The Jeweler. And the fact that Madame T. is a redpill means we should all be thinking big, big things for ourselves for the year to come.
And this is likely my last Sugar Shack for this year. Thanks to all who have read and responded. Most heartfelt thanks to my clan, The Collective, who have always supported and challenged and encouraged and listened to me. No one could ask for a better clan in the whole wide world. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to them and to all.
This mission review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with previous reviews and other writings relevant to MxO.
Sugar Shack 22: Exile Contact Missions: TickTock: Mechanical But Not A Machine
Sugar Shack 22: Exile Contact Missions: TickTock: Mechanical But Not A Machine
This is dedicated to Melt, the author of many a noteworthy text herself.
TickTock. You think of a ticking timebomb. Or a Swiss watch. Or background music on a game show. Something vaguely mechanical and autonomous. Perhaps this was what the devs were looking for when they were populating this part of downtown with Exiles; certainly this is what we have with Mr. T. This dweeb, who makes the Auditor look like David Chappelle, is perched on an exposed stairway corner in Maribeau, at -344, 13, -314. Since his first mission involves murder, it’s odd that he seems to be standing on a stairway corner, seemingly welcoming anyone with a gun who strolls by. Maybe he’s waiting for the popcorn vendor to return. Maybe he _is_ the popcorn vendor, trying to fake us out. Whatever the case may be, he is hardly dressed for the season, with a sports jacket over a T-shirt, and what seem to be flare slacks! As we see, he has some good schemes, but his heart does not seem to be in it. He hardly seems to respond to anything you do. How he made me yearn for the Seamstress and the Chef!
His missions were all run on Hard, and all center on a single scheme of his: infiltrating and then supporting an agent into the organization of Mr. Black.
1. Rolling Over
One of his men is going to defect to Mr. Black and needs to be killed. He is at the first location you go to, and he obligingly comes out to meet you. On Hard setting, he has the usual coterie of Elite Guards and Blood Nobles, all just begging for a Devastation Field. “Nice work” sums up TickTock’s rapturous response.
2. Trading Places
Here, we have a spy, inconspicuously named Zubenelgenubi, who needs to be prepared for insertion into Black’s organization. This is a notorious escort mission; the fledgling spy must be taken to a coder for some tagging. Miraculously, this escort mission was fight-free!! (Though I killed everything in my way, just to be on the safe side). And when I had dropped off the spy, TickTock got back to me, with:
“This could be a great opportunity for me, Sugaree”
I felt so happy to be a small part of his success.
3. Do the Wave
TickTock’s offices were raided, and you need to raid the raider, and insert a bogus RSI wavelength reading to protect the spy. It may be that the raid was a sucker ploy, intended to aid the insertion of dummy data into Black’s network, but this is never explained. Not all that tough, though after killing everyone onsite, the insertion of data is naturally not likely to go unnoticed by any staff with more intelligence than a starfish.
4. False Impressions
Get files from the spy, copy them, and get them back to the spy to replace. Actually, just have to upload them. As you “surreptitiously” enter the premises, you soon encounter a wailing bluepill. He may be safely ignored. A co-conspirator named Avarice decrypts and copies the disk; you just have to upload it. Surprisingly easy, overall.
5. Look Over Here
To aid the spy in replacing the purloined disk, you need to stir up some chaos and confusion as a distraction. What could be easier? Just go and kill everyone at one of Mr. Black’s offices, the same kind of subtle, unobtrusive thing you have done so many times before. And that’s it!
TickTock is intoxicated with delight at the end, and can’t control himself. He bursts out: “You have never let me down, Sugaree. I am impressed.” The passion in his voice was unmistakable. Yeah, that’s what I want to hear!
Now some people might make the argument that TickTock’s demeanor is perfect or a spymaster, never giving away anything and always seeming inscrutable. This is certainly true. But the professional spymaster seldom finds it necessary to resort to wetwork as easily and often as TickTock does. And very few things you do in this mission suite are likely to pass unnoticed.
So what interest is there for us in TickTock and his mechanical missions? XPs, some fights, and some loot, and a small insight into the world around Mr. Black which made me appreciate this premier Exile all the more. But like the clock his name emulates, TickTock’s missions exude order and system, without soul or spirit.
This mission review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with previous reviews and other writings relevant to MxO.
This is dedicated to Melt, the author of many a noteworthy text herself.
TickTock. You think of a ticking timebomb. Or a Swiss watch. Or background music on a game show. Something vaguely mechanical and autonomous. Perhaps this was what the devs were looking for when they were populating this part of downtown with Exiles; certainly this is what we have with Mr. T. This dweeb, who makes the Auditor look like David Chappelle, is perched on an exposed stairway corner in Maribeau, at -344, 13, -314. Since his first mission involves murder, it’s odd that he seems to be standing on a stairway corner, seemingly welcoming anyone with a gun who strolls by. Maybe he’s waiting for the popcorn vendor to return. Maybe he _is_ the popcorn vendor, trying to fake us out. Whatever the case may be, he is hardly dressed for the season, with a sports jacket over a T-shirt, and what seem to be flare slacks! As we see, he has some good schemes, but his heart does not seem to be in it. He hardly seems to respond to anything you do. How he made me yearn for the Seamstress and the Chef!
His missions were all run on Hard, and all center on a single scheme of his: infiltrating and then supporting an agent into the organization of Mr. Black.
1. Rolling Over
One of his men is going to defect to Mr. Black and needs to be killed. He is at the first location you go to, and he obligingly comes out to meet you. On Hard setting, he has the usual coterie of Elite Guards and Blood Nobles, all just begging for a Devastation Field. “Nice work” sums up TickTock’s rapturous response.
2. Trading Places
Here, we have a spy, inconspicuously named Zubenelgenubi, who needs to be prepared for insertion into Black’s organization. This is a notorious escort mission; the fledgling spy must be taken to a coder for some tagging. Miraculously, this escort mission was fight-free!! (Though I killed everything in my way, just to be on the safe side). And when I had dropped off the spy, TickTock got back to me, with:
“This could be a great opportunity for me, Sugaree”
I felt so happy to be a small part of his success.
3. Do the Wave
TickTock’s offices were raided, and you need to raid the raider, and insert a bogus RSI wavelength reading to protect the spy. It may be that the raid was a sucker ploy, intended to aid the insertion of dummy data into Black’s network, but this is never explained. Not all that tough, though after killing everyone onsite, the insertion of data is naturally not likely to go unnoticed by any staff with more intelligence than a starfish.
4. False Impressions
Get files from the spy, copy them, and get them back to the spy to replace. Actually, just have to upload them. As you “surreptitiously” enter the premises, you soon encounter a wailing bluepill. He may be safely ignored. A co-conspirator named Avarice decrypts and copies the disk; you just have to upload it. Surprisingly easy, overall.
5. Look Over Here
To aid the spy in replacing the purloined disk, you need to stir up some chaos and confusion as a distraction. What could be easier? Just go and kill everyone at one of Mr. Black’s offices, the same kind of subtle, unobtrusive thing you have done so many times before. And that’s it!
TickTock is intoxicated with delight at the end, and can’t control himself. He bursts out: “You have never let me down, Sugaree. I am impressed.” The passion in his voice was unmistakable. Yeah, that’s what I want to hear!
Now some people might make the argument that TickTock’s demeanor is perfect or a spymaster, never giving away anything and always seeming inscrutable. This is certainly true. But the professional spymaster seldom finds it necessary to resort to wetwork as easily and often as TickTock does. And very few things you do in this mission suite are likely to pass unnoticed.
So what interest is there for us in TickTock and his mechanical missions? XPs, some fights, and some loot, and a small insight into the world around Mr. Black which made me appreciate this premier Exile all the more. But like the clock his name emulates, TickTock’s missions exude order and system, without soul or spirit.
This mission review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with previous reviews and other writings relevant to MxO.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Sugar Shack 22: Exile Contact Missions: The Jeweler: Christmas Shopping with the Best
Sugar Shack 22: Exile Contact Missions: The Jeweler: Christmas Shopping with the Best
For Christmas, my thoughts turned to my shopping list, with its many stops in many malls. To make up for the jewelry which would not be coming my way next week, I decided to seek the next best thing: an Exile named The Jeweler.
He is to be found in a very well-appointed upper room at Club Cyclo in Morrell (-1430, 263, -244; take the club elevator to the 31st floor). I had the strong feeling of entering his world as I passed the burly guards, opened the double doors, and walked on in. He stood in the middle, with a crammed shelf of reference books behind him. Nearby there was a comfortable sofa, with plants, decorative vases, and a delightful grandfather clock. A “Free Zion” poster on a wall may have accounted for the fact that all the trouble in this mission suite came from Merovingian operatives. I have to say, the decoration in this game has come a long, long way, and is definitely too little praised. The only blemish was a defective ceiling fan, with only a “V” of blades, not even moving.
Amidst this elegance, the Jeweler seems like a diamond in the very rough. He speaks like a refugee from Brooklyn, brusque and distrustful one minute, and cajoling and laughing the next. Sometimes you can take the gem out of the dirt, but you can’t take the dirt out of the gem.
1. The Stones
In this first, show-your-worth mission, you get some uncut diamonds from his assistant and deliver them. I expected allusions to Mick Jagger and company, but none was forthcoming. After you receive the stones, there’s an NPC who attacks you (numbers depending on party size); a little skill gets you past the threat with ease. Skill not being my forte, I of course died the first time.
2. Just a Few Questions
Of the five Jeweler mishes, the second one is the stand-out. Initially a simple escort mission, it became one of the two or three most difficult missions I have ever undertaken. I failed repeatedly at it solo, and now believe that solo it is undoable. Only when I had a full mission team of outstanding players (Sattakan, Illyria1, Darklordmax, Shread, and Alysha) was it completable, and then only after several tries. Few other missions take the planning and strategy that this one does, believe me.
****SPOILER ALERT BEGINS****
Here’s why. You’re tasked with bringing in the assistant from the first mission for some questioning. The gems you picked up were bogus, and the Jeweler wants to find out what’s going on. The assistant, understandably, has surrounded himself with 6-8 bodyguards. Strangely, they show little interest in you, and seem quite bored when you talk to them about their client. In fact, you cannot engage them. When the assistant agrees to come with you, though, they all wake up and instantly start attacking. The client quickly falls in the crossfire. And AOE attacks seem to bring him down as well; hold off on Devastation Fields and Code Nukes.
The second time I tried this, I entered one office and set off the alarms, so I could control the terms of engagement. This set the guards to hostile, and I defeated them piecemeal, working my way to the jeweler’s office, using Ballista build rather than AOEs. This brought me to the final guard in the final room with the assistant jeweler. As soon as I spoke to him, however, the guard attacked, and the jeweler died in the crossfire. **bleep**!
But that’s not all! It got worse! Less then ten seconds after this, my operator said there were agents closing in on my location! By the time I reached an elevator, one had already materialized and winged me on the way out! Then he chased me out of the building! I hyperjumped, looking for a hardline, and he was everywhere I came down, taking a big bite out of me each time! I barely made it to a hardline and the blessed loading area, looking more like a piece of Swiss cheese than runner-up for the Ms. Sexiest Redpill!
At Stamos I sat on a bench to stop hyperventilating and re-consider my strategy. And I would still be sitting there, too, if I had not run into an exceptionally talented, fierce group of people (Sattakan, Illyria1, Darklordmax, Shread, and Alysha) who came to my aid. We attacked in a tidal wave of mayhem, quickly obliterating the guards. Then we cleaned out the lobby guards. But the instant I exited the building with the jeweler in tow, three or four more Merv mercenaries appeared out of nowhere and killed our man. Damn!
****SPOILER ALERT ENDS****
Eventually, through careful coordination, we got our client to the Jeweler’s interrogation team, some happy-go-lucky blood-drinkers. Then the client tried to chicken out. But by then it was too late. And good riddance!
3. Bright Shiny Objects
It turns out that the assistant you bagged last time had nothing to do with this! It was _his_ supplier that caused the problem, and in this simple mish you dish out doom to the duplicitous diamond double-dealer. At the end, the Jeweler is all smiles, and promises to take me out for a night on the town. I wish!
4. Fair Payment
This is “prime time”, and simple enough: getting payment from Exile Anti-M for a special piece of jewelry for her to give Beryl, Argon’s alleged girlfriend. You run into Anti-M (she looks as she did when I ran her missions ages ago) and she helps dispatch a few of the thugs who seek to break in and steal the payment. Anti-M seems quite involved in this mish, apparently not totally convinced of your reliability. Or maybe she just enjoyed the buzz, and wanted a good story to tell Beryl. She reached the final bad before you, in fact, and dispatches him on her own. You have to wonder how she gets around so quickly; the cell phone on a desk with her in the end-game room seems to have something to do with this. If only…if only…
5. A Girl’s Best Friend
Oddly, no fighting is really necessary for this final mission. Here, you just drop off the ring from Anti-M to Beryl. This goes fairly smoothly, except for Beryl initially giving us the wrong address; we seemed to stumble into a Blood Nobles Promise-Keepers convention. Eventually the delivery was completed. When you get here, don’t be in a hurry; Beryl’s pleas for the box are wonderful; I felt like I was talking to someone after my own heart. She thought it might be a new dress or the handmade chocolates she had ordered… She’s my kind of Exile! She was thrilled with the ring, and planned to wear it immediately, just to drive Argon nuts. You go, girl!
And with this, the Jeweler’s entrance to the big leagues of power and influence seems assured, or so he tells us. With his talent, he crows, he won’t need luck! And when he’s running the city, he’ll remember all the little people! Like us!
So what was memorable about The Jeweler?
- One of the hardest missions I have ever done, on a par with the Coroner’s first one, as done back in beta. Try this by yourself if you don’t believe me! Much delightful, unexpected challenge! Well, unexpected, anyway. The solution to the guards (using the alarm) was non-intuitive, and quite nice.
- The writing for the secondary NPCs was excellent.
- The phone interruptions from The Jeweler at various points along the way. The way he maddeningly swung from bluster to cajoling was great. He told me he loved me!
- The Jeweler’s setting was very well laid-out, much better than the usual pimp-on-a-corner, thug-in-a-club stuff. Even the broken ceiling-fan seemed cute.
Incorporating Beryl and Anti-M and Argon and their ménage-a-trois was great. Beryl was well-written, as was Anti-M.
- How _did_ Anti-M get around so much and so fast? Apparently from the cell phone we found near her in mish #4; this opens up some exciting possibilities about what Exiles can do.
- The way the Jeweler jovially blows you off at the end “I’ll be good to all the little people” indeed!
What could be better?
- The business card I was given in mish #1 could have had some text on it, described in the details, describing me generically (“another Trainman wannabee; see if this one can handle something with training-wheels before we assign anything that matters” or “This one has a hair-trigger temper and some powerful friends. Keep everything on a professional level.”).
- Other Exiles gave me stuff at the end of a mish. Usually it was junk, but I always figured it was the thought that counted. Maybe a nice ring or bracelet or earrings, or a brooch, or necklace or diadem or nose ring or ankle chain would have been thoughtful. Would that have been so hard? Something that goes better with a Red Lotus Blouse than, you know, a fly-in-amber! Something suitable for a night out at Succubus, like dark emeralds in a platinum setting for a bracelet…I mean, hey, it's Christmas!
- Maybe some customers hanging out, outside his office, chattering about this or that piece of jewelry. Then, when you go in, they say “Hey! No cutting in line!” and they reach for guns, before the guards at the door say “Cut it, you clowns, this one works here”.
- If we ever get more clothes or add jewelry, his missions would be a great way to start their distribution.
- His breezy condescension wore thin after a while.
- The opposition in this mission was all Merovingian. Imagine if one of their emissaries had approached us during the missions at some point and offered us a better deal to betray the Jeweler…with veiled threats if we did not acquiesce…
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with previous reviews and other writings relevant to MxO.
For Christmas, my thoughts turned to my shopping list, with its many stops in many malls. To make up for the jewelry which would not be coming my way next week, I decided to seek the next best thing: an Exile named The Jeweler.
He is to be found in a very well-appointed upper room at Club Cyclo in Morrell (-1430, 263, -244; take the club elevator to the 31st floor). I had the strong feeling of entering his world as I passed the burly guards, opened the double doors, and walked on in. He stood in the middle, with a crammed shelf of reference books behind him. Nearby there was a comfortable sofa, with plants, decorative vases, and a delightful grandfather clock. A “Free Zion” poster on a wall may have accounted for the fact that all the trouble in this mission suite came from Merovingian operatives. I have to say, the decoration in this game has come a long, long way, and is definitely too little praised. The only blemish was a defective ceiling fan, with only a “V” of blades, not even moving.
Amidst this elegance, the Jeweler seems like a diamond in the very rough. He speaks like a refugee from Brooklyn, brusque and distrustful one minute, and cajoling and laughing the next. Sometimes you can take the gem out of the dirt, but you can’t take the dirt out of the gem.
1. The Stones
In this first, show-your-worth mission, you get some uncut diamonds from his assistant and deliver them. I expected allusions to Mick Jagger and company, but none was forthcoming. After you receive the stones, there’s an NPC who attacks you (numbers depending on party size); a little skill gets you past the threat with ease. Skill not being my forte, I of course died the first time.
2. Just a Few Questions
Of the five Jeweler mishes, the second one is the stand-out. Initially a simple escort mission, it became one of the two or three most difficult missions I have ever undertaken. I failed repeatedly at it solo, and now believe that solo it is undoable. Only when I had a full mission team of outstanding players (Sattakan, Illyria1, Darklordmax, Shread, and Alysha) was it completable, and then only after several tries. Few other missions take the planning and strategy that this one does, believe me.
****SPOILER ALERT BEGINS****
Here’s why. You’re tasked with bringing in the assistant from the first mission for some questioning. The gems you picked up were bogus, and the Jeweler wants to find out what’s going on. The assistant, understandably, has surrounded himself with 6-8 bodyguards. Strangely, they show little interest in you, and seem quite bored when you talk to them about their client. In fact, you cannot engage them. When the assistant agrees to come with you, though, they all wake up and instantly start attacking. The client quickly falls in the crossfire. And AOE attacks seem to bring him down as well; hold off on Devastation Fields and Code Nukes.
The second time I tried this, I entered one office and set off the alarms, so I could control the terms of engagement. This set the guards to hostile, and I defeated them piecemeal, working my way to the jeweler’s office, using Ballista build rather than AOEs. This brought me to the final guard in the final room with the assistant jeweler. As soon as I spoke to him, however, the guard attacked, and the jeweler died in the crossfire. **bleep**!
But that’s not all! It got worse! Less then ten seconds after this, my operator said there were agents closing in on my location! By the time I reached an elevator, one had already materialized and winged me on the way out! Then he chased me out of the building! I hyperjumped, looking for a hardline, and he was everywhere I came down, taking a big bite out of me each time! I barely made it to a hardline and the blessed loading area, looking more like a piece of Swiss cheese than runner-up for the Ms. Sexiest Redpill!
At Stamos I sat on a bench to stop hyperventilating and re-consider my strategy. And I would still be sitting there, too, if I had not run into an exceptionally talented, fierce group of people (Sattakan, Illyria1, Darklordmax, Shread, and Alysha) who came to my aid. We attacked in a tidal wave of mayhem, quickly obliterating the guards. Then we cleaned out the lobby guards. But the instant I exited the building with the jeweler in tow, three or four more Merv mercenaries appeared out of nowhere and killed our man. Damn!
****SPOILER ALERT ENDS****
Eventually, through careful coordination, we got our client to the Jeweler’s interrogation team, some happy-go-lucky blood-drinkers. Then the client tried to chicken out. But by then it was too late. And good riddance!
3. Bright Shiny Objects
It turns out that the assistant you bagged last time had nothing to do with this! It was _his_ supplier that caused the problem, and in this simple mish you dish out doom to the duplicitous diamond double-dealer. At the end, the Jeweler is all smiles, and promises to take me out for a night on the town. I wish!
4. Fair Payment
This is “prime time”, and simple enough: getting payment from Exile Anti-M for a special piece of jewelry for her to give Beryl, Argon’s alleged girlfriend. You run into Anti-M (she looks as she did when I ran her missions ages ago) and she helps dispatch a few of the thugs who seek to break in and steal the payment. Anti-M seems quite involved in this mish, apparently not totally convinced of your reliability. Or maybe she just enjoyed the buzz, and wanted a good story to tell Beryl. She reached the final bad before you, in fact, and dispatches him on her own. You have to wonder how she gets around so quickly; the cell phone on a desk with her in the end-game room seems to have something to do with this. If only…if only…
5. A Girl’s Best Friend
Oddly, no fighting is really necessary for this final mission. Here, you just drop off the ring from Anti-M to Beryl. This goes fairly smoothly, except for Beryl initially giving us the wrong address; we seemed to stumble into a Blood Nobles Promise-Keepers convention. Eventually the delivery was completed. When you get here, don’t be in a hurry; Beryl’s pleas for the box are wonderful; I felt like I was talking to someone after my own heart. She thought it might be a new dress or the handmade chocolates she had ordered… She’s my kind of Exile! She was thrilled with the ring, and planned to wear it immediately, just to drive Argon nuts. You go, girl!
And with this, the Jeweler’s entrance to the big leagues of power and influence seems assured, or so he tells us. With his talent, he crows, he won’t need luck! And when he’s running the city, he’ll remember all the little people! Like us!
So what was memorable about The Jeweler?
- One of the hardest missions I have ever done, on a par with the Coroner’s first one, as done back in beta. Try this by yourself if you don’t believe me! Much delightful, unexpected challenge! Well, unexpected, anyway. The solution to the guards (using the alarm) was non-intuitive, and quite nice.
- The writing for the secondary NPCs was excellent.
- The phone interruptions from The Jeweler at various points along the way. The way he maddeningly swung from bluster to cajoling was great. He told me he loved me!
- The Jeweler’s setting was very well laid-out, much better than the usual pimp-on-a-corner, thug-in-a-club stuff. Even the broken ceiling-fan seemed cute.
Incorporating Beryl and Anti-M and Argon and their ménage-a-trois was great. Beryl was well-written, as was Anti-M.
- How _did_ Anti-M get around so much and so fast? Apparently from the cell phone we found near her in mish #4; this opens up some exciting possibilities about what Exiles can do.
- The way the Jeweler jovially blows you off at the end “I’ll be good to all the little people” indeed!
What could be better?
- The business card I was given in mish #1 could have had some text on it, described in the details, describing me generically (“another Trainman wannabee; see if this one can handle something with training-wheels before we assign anything that matters” or “This one has a hair-trigger temper and some powerful friends. Keep everything on a professional level.”).
- Other Exiles gave me stuff at the end of a mish. Usually it was junk, but I always figured it was the thought that counted. Maybe a nice ring or bracelet or earrings, or a brooch, or necklace or diadem or nose ring or ankle chain would have been thoughtful. Would that have been so hard? Something that goes better with a Red Lotus Blouse than, you know, a fly-in-amber! Something suitable for a night out at Succubus, like dark emeralds in a platinum setting for a bracelet…I mean, hey, it's Christmas!
- Maybe some customers hanging out, outside his office, chattering about this or that piece of jewelry. Then, when you go in, they say “Hey! No cutting in line!” and they reach for guns, before the guards at the door say “Cut it, you clowns, this one works here”.
- If we ever get more clothes or add jewelry, his missions would be a great way to start their distribution.
- His breezy condescension wore thin after a while.
- The opposition in this mission was all Merovingian. Imagine if one of their emissaries had approached us during the missions at some point and offered us a better deal to betray the Jeweler…with veiled threats if we did not acquiesce…
This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with previous reviews and other writings relevant to MxO.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Sugar Shack 21: Making QA Live Up To Its Potential
Sugar Shack 21: Making QA Live Up To Its Potential
As Walrus pointed out in locking a recent thread, CR2.0 is not the only thing to be tested on the QA server. This came as a surprise to me, even though I am not a PvPer at all. But it makes me wonder if there is a perception gap, or a gulf of expectations, between the people running the QA project, and people who will be on the QA server. As a result, if people log on and just PvP, or just do PBs or just dance and pray for cake,
most likely we'll all be missing something the devs have been working on and need feedback with.
So, I'd like to suggest some way for the devs to task players with specific tasks to try and make sure that things work correctly. These are kind of like test scripts. There might be tasks like trying an emote (like /afk!!) or trying one type of weapon against a mob or a boss. Or trying to email various types of items (common, boss drop, consumable, code frag, singleton, etc.), etc. Maybe my examples suck, but you get the idea.
The other benefit of this is that it involves the RPers and non-PvP types. Lots of people will be testing the daylights out of the combat system. But many of us would rather test other things, and there must be a lot of these other things which will need testing.
Clearly business as usual will test some features of the game. But it may be that there are other, more subtle things, that we need to check out too. So, if there were some way for the devs to ask people to test specific things, I think it would make the QA time more productive. The tasks might be posted on a daily basis in a QA forum, or they might be sent by email to people ingame. Or Flash Traffic could be used again. No window dressing for ingame world consistency would be needed for this.
My shortest Sugar Shack ever!
This post may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with neighborhood mission reviews and other writings relevant to MxO.
As Walrus pointed out in locking a recent thread, CR2.0 is not the only thing to be tested on the QA server. This came as a surprise to me, even though I am not a PvPer at all. But it makes me wonder if there is a perception gap, or a gulf of expectations, between the people running the QA project, and people who will be on the QA server. As a result, if people log on and just PvP, or just do PBs or just dance and pray for cake,
most likely we'll all be missing something the devs have been working on and need feedback with.
So, I'd like to suggest some way for the devs to task players with specific tasks to try and make sure that things work correctly. These are kind of like test scripts. There might be tasks like trying an emote (like /afk!!) or trying one type of weapon against a mob or a boss. Or trying to email various types of items (common, boss drop, consumable, code frag, singleton, etc.), etc. Maybe my examples suck, but you get the idea.
The other benefit of this is that it involves the RPers and non-PvP types. Lots of people will be testing the daylights out of the combat system. But many of us would rather test other things, and there must be a lot of these other things which will need testing.
Clearly business as usual will test some features of the game. But it may be that there are other, more subtle things, that we need to check out too. So, if there were some way for the devs to ask people to test specific things, I think it would make the QA time more productive. The tasks might be posted on a daily basis in a QA forum, or they might be sent by email to people ingame. Or Flash Traffic could be used again. No window dressing for ingame world consistency would be needed for this.
My shortest Sugar Shack ever!
This post may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with neighborhood mission reviews and other writings relevant to MxO.
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