It was just something that popped into my head about how The General's been handled the last couple of subchapters.
What started out as THE bad guy, the 'biggest threat to zion since the war', the one who had been behind pretty much all the troubles inside the Matrix, the arch villain of the pre-written storyline kinda lost all his standing in a long drawn out crippling defeat.
Personally i think it was quite a sad way to handle the character. I mean, yes he was obviously gonna be defeated but for such a build up it was far too easy and one sided. He had absolutely no up points after the peak of 6.3. His access points, his choppers, his stealth, his communications were all getting pwnd by the Machines. He was getting pushed into a deadly corner with the Merv, having to rely upon him more and more. Zion were off kicking *CENSORED* with uber Seraph. Then he was utterly destroyed in the real and made to take a final weak escape straight into the clutches and direct control of the Frenchman.
I dunno, like i said, i just feel it was too one sided and not in tune with the seriousness his character was handled in the past.
I cant speak for everyone but after the big foreboding 'i'm bringing this house of cards down' speech and first appearence of the eilite commandos in 6.2 i was ready for a difficult struggle to save the Matrix. Instead everything about that got devaluated far too quickly. Especially the elites who just got used as 'normal enemies'. I say there shouldnt have been any 1 or 2 chev versions of them and they'd act as the 'leaders' of the normal commandos. That wouldve kept their integrity as deadly fighters instead of more cannon fodder.
But yeah, just some feedback for the future and points for community discussion.
He left with a whimper not a bang, that is for sure. There is suggestion/hope for him to have some influence in the future....as he is really the first legitimately 'matrixy' character the game has introduced I hope we haven't seen the last of him.
Well keeping in mind he's completely powerless now the Merv has remote control over his forces. As it stands he's a helpless puppet.
I'm sadder now than when i first posted...come to think of it that was the only plot thread that still interested me.
Like Batman Begins maybe the time is ripe for a reimagining of the game...
Introduce (cus he hasnt appeared before) a proper Morpheus, let that iconic and charismatic figure lead a storyline that is about man and machine trying to forge a new future togther.....a real continuation of the events after Revolutions, alternatives to human power, food convoys, allcations of resources, plugging powerleaks, simulation within the matrix..... Rival orgs should redefine themselves, Meros out for themsleves power wealth and corruption in spades, Cypherites wanting to revert back to the old order - they should want to force the machines to put man back in the pods (they should wrest control of the agents program for themselves) and another human revenge themed organisation that just wants out (not EPN which would be an insult to the original movies). These three organisations should be the antagonists to the central story protagonists of the core truce and they should lead the threats to the matrix, no need to introduce a stream of new characters except in that some may be used/abused or tainted to one orgs ends over another. Events should use players to forge conflicts rather than taking one org and generating a load of npc's (npc's should be used to balance encounters and support or place a bias on where the story goes (when there arent choices). Generate benefits and consequences to being in an organisation (its not always good news but you should be made to feel you belong).....
Meh I think I posted all that 3 years ago
I don't know. A rogue program like the General really couldn't establish much of a base on Earth without the machines knowing about it.
