test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Options
Champions Online too Safe?
itsbrou
Posts: 1,778 Arc User
I've started to notice something consistent across content in this game through the years. Cryptic appears to be afraid to put the Champions in any situation that could cause serious harm. With the exception of VB Apocalypse, the Champions are practically impervious to actual harm, and I feel this limits possibilities.
When a major character is captured, seriously injured, or even killed, it makes a story interesting. It makes being a superhero feel dangerous, and adds humanity to a story. Can't there be just a little bit of reality?
Why is there so much resistance to letting a little bit of tragedy into this game? Why does everything have to be perfectville or a Saturday morning plot? Where is the cliffhanger; the "to be continued" with a triumphant villain? Where is the bleak situation where we aren't sure we'll save the day?
When a major character is captured, seriously injured, or even killed, it makes a story interesting. It makes being a superhero feel dangerous, and adds humanity to a story. Can't there be just a little bit of reality?
Why is there so much resistance to letting a little bit of tragedy into this game? Why does everything have to be perfectville or a Saturday morning plot? Where is the cliffhanger; the "to be continued" with a triumphant villain? Where is the bleak situation where we aren't sure we'll save the day?
Brou in Cryptic games.
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
because when you kick azz ... you feel super.
game delivers.
working as intended.
.
---- FIRE EVERYTHING ! ----
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
I blame the writers for shoehorning in every meme and pop culture reference they could into the game.
They ain't exactly the Justice League here.
They seem, at least in the Online World, to hold their positions as the Premier Superteam by means of being the most Photogenic.
I mean, Sapphire got mind controlled by FOXBAT for Thrakials' sake!
Making it through a public speaking engagement without any embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions is about all the danger they can handle.
And half the time Witchcraft can't handle THAT.
'Wen considered the nature of time and understood that the universe is, instant by instant, recreated anew. Therefore, he understood, there is in truth no past, only a memory of the past. Blink your eyes, and the world you see next did not exist when you closed them. Therefore, he said, the only appropriate state of the mind is surprise. The only appropriate state of the heart is joy. The sky you see now, you have never seen before. The perfect moment is now. Be glad of it.' Terry Pratchet The Thief Of Time
Agreed. VB crisis is easily my favorite part of the game essentially due the real threat going on and the resulting casualities (as poorly acted they are xD). Drama is what make it interesting and engaging. You see one of your fellow hero fall and feel that much more determined to stop the big baddie.
I made the same reflection as you did when Lemuria invasion came out and later Forum Malvanum. The storyline of those event felt so tamed. I couldn't help but image how cool it would be to have a scenario in which there would be a serious plot to permanetly cripple the champions and so heroes would turn up harmed/dead/kidnapped/turned evil all over the world and your role would be to try and figure out what's going on before it's too late. That would be far more involving than just going into an alert and killing the massive amount of HP waiting for you at the end.
In its current state everything feels impervious, and a world where no lasting damage can be done is a world without tension - and subsequently a world in which the player can have no emotional investment in. Sure, you want to feel all powerful while playing but that doesn't you can't have difficulties thrown at you. If you've ever picked up an actual comic book in your life, you know superheroes aren't invincible (well for the most part) and they can still lose battles and lose friends and family alike... Superman died, so did Cap America, Batman got is back broken and so on. They sprung back in the end, but, damn, if you didn't feel some sort of emotion reading these stories then I don't know what will! That's involving.
Unfortunately, CO seems to be set in a Golden Age era type of setting meaning good guys always win, bad guys are generally unthreatening goofs and all is right with the world by then end of the day. Lets face it, VB crisis only happened the way it did because they knew perfectly well everything would be reverted back to normal once completed, and so, again, no real consequences would come out of it.
In the end, its a mixed bag. There are players who love darkness and those who don't. I'm glad there is a game where its even an issue instead of the current theme to be so always dark and gloomy. I'll resist the urge to rant on Green Lantern and how that movie was so dark.
So, disagree, but there is nothing wrong with wanting the darkness. I just prefer the light.
Well, I'd love to see this happen, but the full consequences would be pretty hard to pull off. Say Defender winds up biting it, brutally killed at the hands of Dr. Destroyer.
- Replace every occurrence of Defender within the game with another Champion.
- Add in new dialogue mourning Defender's death.
- Add in consequences of Defender dying, i.e. Destroid invasions, Defender memorials placed around the city
- Make a whole story around it to hammer in the fact that Defender is deader than dead and the heroes of MC must carry on his legacy rather than allow Defender's death to herald the falling of the Champions.
- Introduce rookie replacement Power Armor Champion???
>_> seriously they have to listen to Sapphires voice everyday that enough danger for them.
Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
One of my favorite bits of CO is Aftershock and that's a fairly dark story. I'm also quite fond of the VB Apocalypse.
But if the whole game was that way I don't think I'd enjoy it as much.
More variety can only be a good thing.
Well, maybe I don't think highly of comics, but... whatever, there's all types.
(At this point, obligatory Foundry meep. Meep)
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
exactly.
Think many writers take the shortcut and go straight for darkness=drama path. While it can be interesting it can get (and have been in movies) boring. "Oh look, another depressed hero avenging a death in the family. *yawn*. There is nothing else that can prod a hero into action besides depression and a death of family member. It's just not possible."
I think CO have a good mixture of both. Ya have the cheesy from Foxbat and his ilk, to serious like the VB stuff and a couple of the comic series (Although when that good for nothing Witchcraft summon that little demon was funny as hell. Me and the demon key was thinking the same thing although he put it in better words.) to everything in between.
CoH had some elements if you squinted (Hamidon, I suppose?) but the influences weren't as obvious.
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Does Qujibo count?
You need to change the tutorial;
You need to change Demonflame;
You need to change the Monster Island Crisis;
Vibora Bay Crisis;
You need to change the Forum Malvanum event (although that wouldn't be too tragic...).
If it's Ironclad instead of Sapphire, there's that whole VB mission arc that needs changing, as well as her anniversary concert.
If you were to do this with a minor character, the impact wouldn't be felt in the setting. The basis of CO's story doesn't seem to have been made with that dynamic in mind. it's why the only tragic/risque things you see are either the VB Crisis or Resistance. The former resets and the latter is "a different dimension". You can do anything in those because it doesn't mess with the status quo.
I don't think it's playing it safe because they want to maintain a corny Saturday Morning atmosphere. The game has been (thankfully) moving away from that for quite a while successfully. I think it's just a matter of it not being practical and being too resource intensive. Not to mention that the team that handles CO changes quite often. They'll miss things. They'll kill off Defender and then forget to remove him from something like UNITY missions.
The only instances where you'll see a big shift from "too safe" is in standalone storylines, like "It was all just a dream", or "it's an alternate universe" and things that won't mess up the established missions. If you're optimistic, you might see it if Cryptic does a global revamp in the style of WoW's Cataclysm. If you're (somewhat) realistic, it'll likely be in Champions Online 2 if it ever happens.
Real Soviet Damage PRIMUS Page | Soviet Might Build | Artwork of my Characters | I wrote a book called "The Ring of Void"
Think about it, if Super Boy Scout Defender died what would happen?
- Emotional Instability of Witchcraft, trying every spell to try and resurrect him. She turns to darker magic to bring him back and people like DEMON and Circle of the Scarlet Moon or Talisman take advantage of this and say they will help her to try and bring him back, and in her unstable state, she helps them summon some crazy powerful entity and ends up joining them or killing herself.
- The Champions Team would likely disband, I cannot see any one of them turning into a leader any time soon.
- Wouldn't killing one of them off help speed up VB Apoc in some strange alternate reality/ timeline shift way?
In the VB Apoc, killing them off had a seriously detrimental effect on each of them (if you talk to them), Defender was like "o_o" after Witchcraft died, I'm not even sure HOW he continued on tbf.
As for them being kidnapped? Sure that would be fun. Just don't make it Kinetik to be captured or something AGAIN. It should be someone like Defender or Ironclad.
I think they are the only two I haven't seen in some sort of hostage situation. (I know I am not going to list Defender being put out of action by Black Talon's Tanglecoil launcher hehe)
Witchcraft - Nemesister mission - Talisman
Sapphire - Voodoo control by Foxbat in Bridezilla mission
Kinetik - Pre On Alert Tutorial was so slow he got captured by a giant bug.
Kidnapping, Seriously injured or Missing in Action (but not dead) would be a great addition...
Even making *someone* hack Defender's Armor Systems and making him fight us
#UsethisforFATALERR0RMaybe? :rolleyes:
My Characters on PRIMUS
[#]WeNeedHeroicFashion - <Aura Suggestions> - <CO Wiki (WIP)> - <Crowd Control Discussion> - <Telepathy in Champions Online> - How to review The Force Power Set - Join the Champions Online: On Alert Discord!
I am @RavenForce in game
__________________________
Are we sure?
Yea, great story. But where is it? What happened? Thanks On Alert! You made the game more darker...
Getting him "into the game" didn't seem to change or make anything better/worse.
Kill Defender, Nighthawk could prove to be the new leader of Champions. Taking Champions to a darker path.
Dress the Champions in black leathers. That makes the game feel abit darker/grittier. Like it did X-Men....
And playing by myself since Aug 2009
Godtier: Lifetime Subscriber
nighthawk?!
alert
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
Valid points.
My Amazon author page
How to build a freeform character...the Kenpo way
Demon Keypo's Building Guide
Freeform Builds Directory (Last updated: 04/23/2016)
Serving since September, 2009 / 65 Characters, 63 Level 40's
Exactly. CO is the whole Silver/Golden age mindset, with giant robots and goofy aliens and steely-eyed caped men and women of might and valor dedicated to protecting the innocent.
You want grim and gritty risk-life-and-limb stuff, go start up Liefeld Online (Now with even MORE muscle sliders and pouches!)
Or que for hero games. You can pretend BASH is some weird alternate dimension of CO where all heroes have been replaced by "dark" anti-heroes who are all fighting some chaotic civil war with each other.
Champions Online: Be the hero you wish you could be in a better game.
Westside has been in ruins/having construction crews for years now. DR. D has left a huge wake that will never be fixed.
CO can be plenty dark.
It's just other stuff, too.
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
You mean this Golden Age pre comic code where Batman was shooting people and throwing them off the roof to their deaths? And there were comic books like The Shadow and The Spirit?
And you completely skipped everything between first issue of Fantastic Four and Watchmen, the whole Bronze Age.
Which is what most of people here remembers in reality, not a real SilverAge (unless you are really old, or avid collector of old comic books).
Really, there is more in superhero comic books than Silver Age and Rob Liefield extremes, though many people here seems to fail to realise it when they are playing experts...
Defender dies in some heroic adventure - now we need a new instance of Mil Cit where Defenders replacement is hanging around the Ren Centre.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
The one who can't shut up formerly known as 4rksakes
About the @handle - it's a long story.
Profound quote.. "I'm not a complete idiot - several parts are missing."
In the beginning, the Bat-Man killed the Joker. Twice that I know of. It didn't take.
In fact, the only dead-dead character I can think of offhand is Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle. And he had to die a couple of times before it became permanent.
(Yes, I know one of the Robins - Damien, I think? - was "killed" in the pages of Batman not long ago. Bets on how long it will be until he rises from one of Grandpa's Lazarus Pits?)
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Positron and Manticore can swear on every holy text revealed to man that they won't do it. NCSoft can open the Omega Team portal inside the Frost Tomb to try to hide the lore away from every other studio. Somebody, somewhere, is gonna bring back City of Heroes, and when they do, they'll resurrect Statesman and Sister Psyche. (Matt, Sean, if you're lurking: Search your feelings. You know it to be true.)
They're not there in the beginning, but when your story ends / Gonna last with you longer than your friends
Allow me to educate you, because you seem to be falling into the group of people who believe there are only two ages in comics (1-Good stuff, 2- Leifeld).
As a matter of fact- he didn't do a whole lot of writing. Darker, more 'edgy' themes were common in the Bronze Age -that era between the Silver Age and Iron Age where writers were able to grow some balls and write something that wasn't for children.
Batman was dark, edgy, and gritty before the Silver Age, and that 'oh-so-great' age RUINED the character and reduced him to a clownish father-figure. Remember, all the wholesome goodness of the Silver Age was because someone invented a Comics Code that was a solution to a problem that didn't really exist.
Your precious Silver Age didn't allow understandable, well-written villains. It did not allow the portrayal of divorce or broken homes. Heroes were heroes because they were the best McCarthy-Approved white men and women and did their homework and loved Jesus. In other words, no real person outside of a child could identify with a Silver Age hero.
Furthermore, CO's 'Silver Age' is far from it. It's more a parody.
So, when someone asks for something outside of CO's blatant comical jab at comics, something written for someone who wants a good story, something where good guys can die and bad things can happen- they're not asking for 'Leifeld Online'. If this is your answer to what is asked, your knowledge of comics is secondhand internet talk born of the Hollywood Era of comics- where most of the 'knowledge' came from Wikipedia articles.
Like a villain makes you lose all your powers somehow but you still power through fighting against supernatural enemies with whatever you got left, bleeding and crawling but still managing to beating the villain.
Grappling/Wrestling Power Set Suggestion 2012-2013
How a Wrestling Power Set Can Work
Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i42e87p2DSI/Te2f1tucquI/AAAAAAAAFc0/EQ6BFsYwlsU/s1600/alanscott1.jpg
Either him or the lords of edom swallow earth into qliphoth.
I see the end of the Vibora Bay Apocalypse with Thrakial and Shadow Destroyer destroying each other and the entire world with them.
'Wen considered the nature of time and understood that the universe is, instant by instant, recreated anew. Therefore, he understood, there is in truth no past, only a memory of the past. Blink your eyes, and the world you see next did not exist when you closed them. Therefore, he said, the only appropriate state of the mind is surprise. The only appropriate state of the heart is joy. The sky you see now, you have never seen before. The perfect moment is now. Be glad of it.' Terry Pratchet The Thief Of Time
And playing by myself since Aug 2009
Godtier: Lifetime Subscriber
Nah it would have to be Dr.D exploding things so he could scream the line....
JAMES HARMON FACE MEH!
.... of course me being evil I will have been warned by Dr.D and will be sitting safely on the outskirts on a fold up chair with a flask of coffee and a bacon sammich. Maybe I'll bring my Ludo board have a game with Grond or something .
Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
Take Whiteout for example, the blood-stained bunkers there would just be par the course in many games and not really worth a second look, but because you go in with the assumption of general lightheartedness that most of the game has the darkness is more of a shock, at least the first time.
Yeah it makes the game feel like an Halloween episode of The Simpsons.
Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
Other folks feel differently, I guess, but I find it fun.
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
After seeing significant chunks of Westside ripped from Big Trouble in Little China, it warmed my John Carpenter movie-loving heart to see Whiteout pay homage to The Thing.
They're not there in the beginning, but when your story ends / Gonna last with you longer than your friends
What if the intro to the mission had your superhero/superheroine dreaming of some vague Qliphothic nightmare and a voiceover (like a telephone answering service) informed you that...
"You have 2 minutes to the end of all things" you would then wake up and be informed you have a new message from Witchcraft/Major Boudreau.
As an end scene your character would be congratulated by Witchcraft and Boudreau for having saved life as we know it and then you wobble into the bathroom and throw up.
Realistically this is good and would add a little to the atmosphere of the quest but and it's a big but..
There would be awesome clipping issues given the variety of characters and sizes we have, it's little things like that that can mess up an otherwise neat idea. I've already mentioned the problems of killing off NPCs. There are technical difficulties to be addressed in any kind of cutscene involving characters or overall plot events involving major NPCs, and it's not like we have a lot of techs on CO.
Hmm hope this is clear
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
The one who can't shut up formerly known as 4rksakes
About the @handle - it's a long story.
Profound quote.. "I'm not a complete idiot - several parts are missing."