Death of a Statesman

The recent schizophrenic nature of City of Heroes really start to show up when you compare SSAs with Itrials. I suspect that the developer base has been divided into two teams. The 'systems' people went ahead and did the itrials, which are amazing mechanistically, but end up little more than a paper-thin story covering what is really a constant spam of gimmicks that the lab-rat players must navigate.

The people who like to make stories get to run wild with the SSA...ending up with lots of cut scenes, lengthy dialogue trees, exposition, but a wreck in terms of anything novel in terms of playability. You kill mobs or kill a boss, then talk/watch a cutscene, kill more mobs or kill a boss, talk/watch a cutscene...and so on. They are definitely in the style of Going Rogue and First Ward, except with less polish and direction. (First Ward started out strong, then got confused in the middle. SSA start out confused and continue being confused. Does this say something about development schedules and content quality? Hmmmm...)

 Anyway, Statesman is dead, although he's still in Independence Port.

 You start out at a seedy bar (ignore the force field generator in the picture willya?)...expecting to meet the Back Alley Brawler. There, the two of you are supposed to investigate the lair of Darrin Wade. Darrin who? It's a level 20-30 villain contact added in issue 13. He was pretty much a nobody, but now he's the Big Bad.

Skanky bar...

Whoopeedo. You find Back Alley Brawler there, in a stand-off with some of the Vindicators. Ms Liberty wants to go smack up Darrin Wade, and Back Alley Brawler won't let them. He doesn't move to follow me either...I guess the moment he moves, the four sidekicks are going to charge forward. So off I go.

BAB is having an argument with the Vindicators. Swan is thankfully missing.

At this point, you fight your way through some tunnels, and see a fake image of Darrin Wade taunting you. But it turns out to be just a ploy to get me away from topside, because at this point I get an SOS call from BAB. And like any good magic trick, they had switched the scene while I was gone. The Vindicators and BAB are having a stand-off with the villain sidekicks. Insults are traded, and a fight begins. With help from yours truely, the villains are beaten back.

Then the contact, Glacia, sends me to where Darrin Wade's lair is actually located. Again, I fight through some tunnels, and kill three Rularru bosses to unseal the way to Wade's lair, and there you have it. I think it's quite funny, because it really does look like a supergroup base, with a bunch of teleporters, energy and control items, etc. Wade isn't around, but you pick up some clues that indicate he has figured out how to drain Statesman of his power! Zomg! Well, and of course, like any good evil mastermind, this is his villain exposition. He lets you see all of his plans because he is already carrying them out and there's no way you're going to be able to stop him. Muhahaha!

Darrin Wade's one-person supergroup base, showing very poor aesthetic sense.

You rush to current-day Cimerora, now in ruins...

If this place looks familiar, we usually see it when it was spiffy and shiny.

But zomg, it's too late! Statesman has found Darrin Wade. And he declares Wade is going to go to jail and rot forever. But Statesman doesn't kill, so he's not going to tear Wade into widdle bits. Too bad, says Wade, Statesman does not kill, but he does.

Statesman points a finger...well four fingers at Darrin Wade.

Uhoh...it's a trap! Dear old Statesman has somehow, obligingly, walked over to the middle of the amphitheatre or what do you call it. But it's ok, we know he was dense.

"WAAAAaaaarrrrgh!"

At this point, we're treated to a cutscene of what flashes through Statesman's mind when he dies. He sees his grand-daughter, his ex-best friend Lord Recluse, and his wife. (Curiously, no daughter.) At this point, Darrin Wade and yours truly fights, but hurt him a little and he decides to run off, in true evil mastermind fashion. Instead, he summons an aspect of Ruladak the Strong to deal with me. I wish I could give you a nice screenshot, but here the wonky game mechanics started to fall apart. The aspect of Ruladak the Strong, the incarnation of other-dimensional world-eater godlike anger, is terrified of me. He keeps running off the edge of the amphitheatre. Maybe it's the caltrops. Or the acid mortar. A long, tedious fight dragged out where he kept fleeing in terror and I had to chase him. Once he went off the edge, he would get stuck in the geometry and I could not hit him...so on and so forth...

The Aspect of Ruladak the Strong, that terrifying moster, is scared of caltrops and has run to the opposite side of the map (the tiny red glow in the distance).

Stuck in geometry...again. He can hit me, I can't hit him.

Finally, I offed the annoying fellow, and checked on Statesman's corpse. Nope, can't rez him. I guess he got fed up and refuses to get rezzed anymore. You can imagine everyone making fun of him. "Lolzor nub, u walked on top of a trap." "Ok whatever, I'm not getting up. Screw u!"

And that's that.