RaptorZefier wrote:Ahem, Gentlemen? *Fixes tie*

http://th09.deviantart.net/fs23/300W/f/2007/336/9/7/TF2___Spy_1_by_clickmon.png

Gentlemen...

Grats on beating the fastest time on Valley of the Mist - I suspect you probably had an easier time than me because I have a rocket-launcher and a Huge desire to use it.

Rythmear wrote:

RaptorZefier wrote:Ahem, Gentlemen? *Fixes tie*

http://th09.deviantart.net/fs23/300W/f/2007/336/9/7/TF2___Spy_1_by_clickmon.png

Gentlemen...

Grats on beating the fastest time on Valley of the Mist - I suspect you probably had an easier time than me because I have a rocket-launcher and a Huge desire to use it.

Actually, if you read my review on Valley of the Mist, I beat you by making Ze Sandvich. (No exaggerating, I went up and made one while waiting on the mission time limit. )

Why did I quote this? Picture's relevant to my next review.

Calsonettes - VX Virus Great

I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The thing that needs to be set on the table right now is this is no mission for un-leveled captains. Have utility abilities they will save your butt. Stealth and Jump in particular.

Pros: Ok, atmosphere is wonderful. Like I said in the Valley of the Mist review, standing in one place gives you a feeling of safety and comfort. It detracts from the horror that is going out into the unknown, alone, and be hunted. The creatures are detailed and terrifying, but made in such a way you can never really see them in the mist, there's always something obscured. . . For example, upon closer inspection you can see that the Decaydent, the basic enemy, has its face covered by hair, and it's crawling along the ground. Usually all you'll see is a hand and a hair covered face leaping at you from the mist.

Critique: First act is simple, you're in a base, you talk to guy, guy gives you mission. However the dialog immediately kind of hooks you and keeps you interested, and it explains quite a bit on the plot immediately. All in all a good buildup for a story. You can listen in on what some of the NPCs around have to say, adding more to the story.

Act 2 comes around, make your way to the lab. This part consists of most of the game. It's tough, yet absorbing. There's monsters scattered in the mist that you never see until they're coming at you, and a few side areas to check out which add to the plot and offer health packs for your troubles.

Now, as to progression, you fight increasingly difficult enemies as you go. The Lab guard and final boss inevitably being able to practically one-shot you if you're not careful. However, as said there's stops along the way. On my first playthrough I bumped into a small outpost in the lake with a bridge leading out to it. Computers there have some info on the plot and a health pack. Now, the problem, is that the bridge isn't level with the floor and it's hard to get up into. This wasn't a problem with me and my bad jet-packing self, but most people with no jump skill are going to find it impossible to get inside. With monsters on your tail like the grass monster Sunke, it can get really bothersome. . .

At this point you get some good additional story in the outpost, also hints about a horrible monster in the lake which I wasn't stupid enough to leap in and see. (We've all played RE4. . .)

Now, this is where I died, I made a beat run for the lab after downing Sunke and replenishing my health. Unfortunately I didn't realize just how powerful the Lab-guard was and ended up jet-packing into an oncoming missile. Needless to say, I died there and then.

Next playthrough, I decided I would use some tact and use probably the biggest exploit in this level. Stealth.

Stealth is a wonderful ability, even before GA it was my ability of choice. It tucked me in at night when the epics came knocking at the door and fed me with fresh eggs stolen from nests without the parents ever noticing or being able to do anything. So needless to say I abuse this ability horribly in GA. Especially as my captain's backstory is -built- on stealth.

Sneaking pass ALL the enemies, is a breeze, there's no 'Kill this guy' quests, so there's no reason to get out of stealth and fight. You can just slip pass the lab guard and go inside, which I have a feeling was the intended effect. . .

Now, finally, comes the big bad boss. Who makes his obligatory big bad boss monologue! Telling you and outlining his plan rather well. This led to the brawl, which. . . I have to say was a little anti-clematic. One thing I'll say is he's up on a stand which you need to go up a ramp to get too. Which you may need jump for. . . Anywho.

You see, he has a power shield, as does my Captain Goral from my own adventures I've made and I know one important fact about it: If you hit it, it really drains the NPC's energy. So I went in claws ablazin', and stopped him from being able to use any sort of ability aside from his basic bite.

Little did I know I'd stumble across another nasty glitch. I fell down about half way down the stand he was on, so I was below his level but not touching the ground. He couldn't attack me at this level, but I sure as hell could hit him!

So, at this point, I generally beat on the defenseless blob until he went down. The next act involves going back to base in the cleared up outside for your congratulations. (Fission Mailed, ah what a nice MGS quote that gave me a chuckle) All in all you get kind of a cryptic ending as it points out the final plot hole, you still have no idea where the final boss came from. . . Possibly leading into a sequel.

All in all, it earned a great for its atmosphere, complexity, well thought out plot and cast. It probably could have been deeper, still having half of the complexity meter at your disposal, and the level could be less utility heavy requiring stealth and jump. But, all in all, still an awesome adventure worth a good play.

Nice review, man! I was a bit worried you were actually going to review my 'Megaspore - Prologue' adventure, since that was what was up in the original post.

A few other points; the mission can definitely be done with a combat captain as well, and there are strategies for each of the boss characters; Sunke you will want to take out at a distance, while the Lab Guard and Biomass you will want to definitely melee.

If at any point you run out of health pick-ups on the way to the lab, one can simply run back to the original outpost and use the heal capsule there. And of course, certainly, out of all the abilities for this level, sneak is going to come in a lot of handy, as this review, and a comment from another player revealed to me.

Hi again raptor,I'd liek you to review my latest,I think you'll like this one.Also before putting down the review,try doing the mission and then doing it again but just exploring. :
http://www.spore.com/sporepedia#qry=usr-omgimonfire%7C2251492196%3Asast-500385791918

Demonic Apocalypse V2 Good

I have to admit, anything with the word 'Demonic' in it gives me a foul taste in my mouth. Probably stemming from years of forum Roleplaying and-- Ah never mind I wont get into it. So, how's this measure up? It's good, enjoyable with a rather epic ending.

Pros: It's different, as an adventure it really stands out. There's few out there where you don't actually touch the ground like this and instead rely entirely on floating platforms. It can be disorienting, and if you mess up even once it's fatal. But, that's half the challenge isn't it? Attention to detail is spectacular, and all in all it's a nice mission. Though, once again, you'll need a good leveled champ before doing this.

Critique: Ok, Act 1, I made the joke today of the Epics that would beat me down in Act 1 of one of these adventures just to surprise me. Well, thankfully, this wasn't that adventure but still it does start you off by launching you off launch pads off the bat!

Admittedly it's a nice wake up call, it's different from 'Talk to this guy and get the story', it's like your thrown into immediate utter chaos going, "Who!? What?! When!? Where?! How?!" as you're getting tossed around like a rag doll back and fourth between jump pads. Eventually they launch you into a portal which belches you out onto a twisting ramp you have to go up, onto another jump pad and into a floating pavilion with a speed boost disguised as bubbles, then to go across a railingless, narrow, twisting stone bridge to another portal disguised as fire.

So, then you get spit out into an island with, what else on it but SQUIRRELS?!

. . .Yeah I gave up on making a feasible story out of this. . .

I digress, squirrels, while set to aggressive don't attack as they're on an artificial surface. This is Maxis's fault, honestly I can't ream you for what should rightfully be functional. I really hope Maxis fixes it in the next patch because so far it's been a thorn in the side of us -all-. So, after going pass said passive aggressive squirrels, you go down a small waterfall and are faced with another portal.

Now, my first playthrough I made a horrible mistake and didn't talk to Sipio below, I didn't realize he was there! He's too small, and blends in with the shadows and dark portal. Also for some reason it doesn't mark him on the minimap, so you don't have the quest objective for him. Some kind of marker or something would be nice.

Yes it's, somewhat frustrating. . . Sipio tells you that a horrible demon came through a portal and did what demons do best. Random senseless destruction and turning the world into a lifeless lava pit.

. . .In hindsight I should have said something witty about traveling with a priestess and falling down a lot but I digress. . .

Act II! So you go through the portal and. . .

I have to admit it. . .

Demnis is the single most awesome boss I've ever seen in a GA adventure ever. A disproportional winged monstrosity of blades and seething hatred, claws and horns. I was a bit awestruck and terrified until I realized I can't aggro him due to the glitch on artificial land. Meaning I could walk up and shake his hand, as long as I didn't attack him I'd be fine.

So, I took care of another part of the quest, inspecting the dead corpse of Mayor Fibble who is impaled with a sword. Ok I admit that was a nice effect. So, comes the battle with Demnis.

I decide to test the water, by stepping back on the opposite side of the map and firing a single blast at him. He proceeded to close the distance between us in less then a second and one-shotted me despite my careful preparation.

. . .So, yeah, in summary Demnis is a wee bit Overpowered. . .

However, I'm never one to simply give up without a second attempt. This time, I was going to be clever. Oh and how clever I was. . . You see, there's some rocks near Demnis, and by association of common sense the rest of this mission had rocks are man's best friend.

So, I wedged myself inside the rocks knowing an important factor, Demnis was big. . . If he couldn't reach me, he couldn't hit me, if he couldn't hit me, he couldn't kill me. So, I crossed my fingers and pulled the trigger. Much to my blatant amazement it actually -worked-. Demnis couldn't fight back except to fire the off fireball which didn't do much damage. I pecked him to death with my level 3 blaster and won the adventure. Thus ending the mission rather gracefully.

Summary? Good mission, Demnis needs a nerf. . . You could probably add more to the adventure, you only used up two complexity dots. However whatever you do, don't add more plot! The chaos and insanity is half the charm of this short 'un.

I updated the Swarm. Blackclaw's AI is fixed, and I made the Jawheds easier.

You can try the improved version here: http://www.spore.com/sporepedia#qry=sast-500385826427

Well well, that Calsonettes - VX Virus Adventure sounds like a bit of alright... I'll have to give it a go!

Updated survival planet to make some of the goals more clear... ^_^

omgimonfire wrote:Hi again raptor,I'd liek you to review my latest,I think you'll like this one.Also before putting down the review,try doing the mission and then doing it again but just exploring. :
http://www.spore.com/sporepedia#qry=usr-omgimonfire%7C2251492196%3Asast-500385791918

Since raptor has his hands ull at the moment,do you guys want to try it and tell me what you think ( I'll still like your review )?

Has anyone put the ones Rated Good or better into a sporecast? I might otherwise, but didn't see a need to replicate.

I updated my adventure, the newer one will be in a new post.

I'm turning in after this one, I can barely keep myself awake. However, I promise not to disappoint.

For now we have. . .

Arkanay's adventures

This is a two parter, reviewing the two adventures he gave me to review. So, lets dig into our first one.

LAF Assault Fair

Ok, this mission. . . Well, it's biggest downfall is it's short, two acts. Not many at all, I'll get into this in the critique.

Pros: It's lively, never a dull moment, forces fighting everywhere in a mass war. Actually it's entertaining to sit back and watch even if you don't get a mission to fight the enemies at all. Combat's interesting and frankly all in all it's an ok adventure.

Critique: It's biggest flaw is it's short, as I said. Two dots on the complexity meter. I wish I could give a long lengthy critique of this, but there just isn't much too it. You start off by. . . You guessed it. . . Talking to your commander. He tells you "Flank the enemy forces!" Ok, simple. . . You follow two landmarkers in the first act, move to a strange rock, then a strange skull. . . Then you go to some funky coral rock. . .

Then you find a bag, which apparently has money the rebels stole. Then you talk to a guy and your mission ends, you won. Two acts, three tasks, all short and very easy. You don't have to fight a thing, just run from point A to point B. In fact fighting anything is ill advised, all it does is slow you down considering you're not going to be backtracking anyway.

Enemies consist of basic Rebel Troops, Basic Pirate troops, basic vehicles, and then your allies who you'll never see as you pass them running through the battlefield.

So, really, it's short. There's no particular challenge, just a beat run from point A to point Z. For two ping complexity, it requires more depth and honestly more story to delve it out. There's no boss, no real fights, just running. Bland. I know I'm being harsh, but given your next adventure, I've earned the right to be harsh to you.

Because you're capable of doing so much better.

Endless Hope Epic

I don't know if this is sleep deprivation talking, my own personal taste or insanity finally setting in. However I just could not settle for this being simply 'Great'. It's an Epic, a rare gem. The flaws are few and far between, what flaws there are, are more or less maxis flaws that really need to be fixed via patches. Ok, enough trying to justify myself by explaining what 'Epic' means, I'm going to have to show -why- it's epic in critique.

Pros: Musical score -always- matches the situation, -always-. It never fails, not once. I was hesitant about a locked captain, but I had no idea you made the story based -around- said captain as a Necromancer. Which, really, blew me away. Every single creature and building just -fits- into place and adds to the horrifying atmosphere of being trapped in hell with armies of unforgiving demons waiting to rip you apart from one and and armies of the undead marching on your own. Effects are use superbly to set the mood and create amazing things you just take for granted. (Like the Flies that are over the 'Wight zombies' The story is good and you actually start to feel for the necromancer at around the sixth act.

Now, Critique: Ok, from the start my aspirations for this were low. No preview image is usually a bad sign, the default planet was deceiving. From the get-go act one had a resounding Meh when I first stepped out of the teleporter, until I stopped to look around at the wasteland. . . The large demons looming over the horizon, the flame effects and details in every single monster that just made them work right and give them their own unique attitude while still making them look menacing and horrifying.

The Necro-Mage was incredibly well made, The costume layout works incredibly well. Your zombie minions and scarab zombie crew only add to it. Act 1's text is short and to the point, they've been expecting you and they have unholy ground nearby for them to rest and talk about their next move. . .

As the acts go on more and more of the plot unfolds, I don't want to blow much of it, but it really evolves on its own and you kind of start to find out not everything's as it seems. So, plot aside, lets get into the combat.

Good lord so many demonic enemies, at least 3 mini bosses, with two semi-final bosses, followed by the main boss which resolves in an epic one on one.

The ability layout is impressive. Laser claws, bug swarm and freeze. The infamous Bug Swarm and Freeze combo not only can but should be abused here.

Every single creature and building are well made and freaky, often taunting you with cryptic messages and horrifying visages. As said everything's well made and works very well together to create the grand illusion of being trapped in hell itself.

Glitches, I ran across a few, but I attribute these to Maxis. . . When I got to the towers I hit an impassible wall, somehow the 'yellow' tower, the teleporter that's in front of the door was moved back inside of the door, I couldn't use it. . . And believe me I tried really, -really- hard to. I eventually had to stop and move it so I could get in. However, someone else before me completed this mission 100%, so I'm attributing it to a graphics glitch. (Kind of like how NPCs appear inside of floors after transfers.)

The Spire Orbs you have to kill suffer from the 'I'm on artificial flooring and thus can't attack' glitch, but you'd probably lock them down with the freeze/bug swarm combo anyway.

The combats kind of un-challenging I learned later, the enemies usually don't do enough damage to really get you in a bad situation unless you do something stupid. However, spamming your combos and the visuals of the battle actually tends to make up for it. It's very deep and really, I think it's earned an Epic standing. Anyone can challenge me on it, add their own critique, but it's really the way I saw it. The Complexity meter is almost completely used and, honestly except maybe peppering in a FINAL final boss, I can't think of what else to do with this.

It's just well made, and worth some good plays. It's a shame it kind of fell into obscurity.

Anyway, I'm off to bed, lets see if I don't regret this in the morning.

Epic eh?

Definitely need to try this one...

Can you rate this adventure? I think you will like this one, RaptorZefier!

Its called: War-Field

Link:

http://www.spore.com/sporepedia#qry=usr-FabriMan%7C2266792328%3Asast-500385923185

RaptorZefier wrote:Demonic Apocalypse V2 Good

Thank you,the reason I made him so hard was in the first version the boss was way too easy.I tried to even it's strength out by making the captain have more health. In the first one the creature actually attacked you and followed you around,that sucks that they never attacked..

I was afraid that the adventure would be impossible right off the bat since I tried it with my high leveled captain and he was to fast when he hit the jumps. Thank you for the great review!