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Greene is tough enough that he doesn’t need a lair or a datacenter to hang out in. He struts his stuff on a street corner in Manssen Park (-836. 1. -61), distantly surrounded by Disciples always posing but always careful to give him a respectful distance. He can see them, which seems to intimidate them no end. Protection is beneath Greene: he just wears a dark sleeveless T-shirt, some tight leggings, de rigueur fingerless gloves, and that’s it! No shades! No coat! No Panama hat! And no hair, either! I expected some tough-guy talk, like Robert Deniro (my dream come true), but he spoke with a British accent, and Anglicisms pervaded his speech: “bloke”, “quid”, etc. Even his name reflects this. It’s not “Green”; it’s “Greene”. Nice touch!

Greene seems to be the sponsor for the Disciples, and as such it’s mystifying that he does not share any of their traits: the long gloomy locks, the grey pallor, the surly demeanor, the cheap vests, the preoccupation with sanguine ceremonies. Is this supposed to be beneath him? Or has he recently taken them over, and not had time to re-make them in his image (or vice versa)?

Like all the other colors of the rainbow, he does not play well with his brothers and sisters, and almost everything he does seems oriented towards disrupting their plans. Regrettably, he seems so focused on what they are doing that he lacks any overall strategy of his own. So, while we might hear about Grisaille’s inane, insane scheme to take over the lakes in Westview, Greene never seems to think that big. In his unconscious, he is still at the breakfast table with them all, fighting over donuts. Let that be a lesson to us!

1. Special Delivery

An average, run-of-the-mill (or should I say “run-of-the-mille”?) courier mish. Drop off a code packet. Your contact is an “embedded program that performs counter-morale as a manager for a corporation located in this building”. Whatever that means! The contact is high enough level to have a polite assistant, Janeth Clark, who announced me and afterwards said that she hoped the meeting went well. I wished I had had a red pill to give her. Her boss merely validated the quality of the data. At the next stop, the recipient for the packet has a backstory: a former prime data miner for the Machines. He observes “Seems that he just cannot resist a chance to go after his siblings. Hell of a family, these people.” I love touches like this! Then I rushed to upload the data in one of Greene’s mainframes. There, the contact harangued me to hurry, and then as soon as I was done, she said she would be able to take a good look at the data tomorrow! Is that familiar or what?

N.B.: I did not have hacker loaded for this mish, so I was not able to get anything from the computers I found. There might have been codes or notes from Cerulean, as we find in the next mish.

2. You Get What You Pay For

The code did not live up to its billing and Greene wants the provider, Chilton, punished. Of course Chilton claims he did not know. After the work was done I rummaged around his computer and found a message from the “blue lady” (presumably Cerulean) warning him that trouble was on its way. I found that with Rifleman packed to the max, and then Hacker packed as far as it would go, I was able to easily dispatch my enemies, and at the same time hack any available computer. This helped me, for example, to open up locked rooms, which is always a good thing.
The big loose end here is how Cerulean knew I was on my way, so that she could send a warning. This would have been worth a mish of its own, to track down and identify the leak. In the missions I did for Cerulean, there was no indication of anything like this.

3. Unwelcome Guests

As part of her machinations, Cerulean has been amassing strength in Greene’s territory. The limey cannot abide this infringement, and sends you to wipe them out. Simple! No trouble finding them, or with any escaping. They’re simply hanging out, waiting for the world to end. Even with all the gunfire, they just sit in separate rooms, and do not come to each other’s aid. Baffling! It made me wonder if this is where Cerulean sent her lesser Boys to die, if their performance reviews were too far below normal.

4. Smash and Grab

The concept here is mildly ingenious. The father of all colors, Mr. Black, has given some rare item (a tracking device from the Machinists- yay!) to Cerulean. Greene tasks you with breaking in and stealing it. Why, you might ask? The clever Greene has two reasons: to embarrass his sister and get the item. This is fairly straightforward break-and-enter work. When you take the device to one of Greene’s flunkies for safekeeping, an assistant tells you that Greene is really impressed with you. As he should be!!

5. Triple Cross

“Sugaree, good you see you, old fruit.” He seems to be under some sort of stress here, judging from his fractured syntax. Cerulean and Grisaille are teaming up, and he wants to disrupt this with a bomb. (Careful readers will remember a mission of Cerulean’s involving brokering a truce with another gang.) First get the explosive from a bomb-maker who, it turns out, is very excitable, not what one might expect in such a line of work. “Here, man! Take a look at this bomb! It’s awesome! One of the best I’ve ever made!” Then, “I never get to use the bombs, just once I’d like to be there when they go off. BOOM!”.

Then go to the site, do some killing, put the bomb on one of the bodies, and that’s it! Greene’s hope is that the meeting will be disrupted (at least), and Cerulean and Grisaille will lose trust in each other. Sure, this makes the world a better place, but if this is a treble-cross, where was the double-cross?

There was one major disappointment. At the end of these give missions, Greene says he is thrilled with your work, and wants to give you a gift. Make sure you have enough inventory space! I did not, and will forever wonder what it was I missed!

Conclusion: Greene’s missions on the surface offer some variety from the Spectrum family squabbling. His faux-British congeniality is a pleasant change from most of his siblings. And there are no bugs or showstopper logic gaps with his missions. But at the end the feeling you have is that you have been helping someone fight with his brothers and sisters for their father’s attention. Most of us have been there and done that, and are more inclined to risk life and limb for something more meaningful.

This review and many others may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other writings relevant to MxO.

Amber’s hangout, Club Kaos (-552. -4. -611) is a grim place. It lacks the light and lively feel you get from some nightclubs; perhaps it is the green light everywhere. (Note to self: avoid green for the next Collective Machinist bash...) Over a tableau of bored barkeeps and listless dancers, the dark-eyed exile wears a dark pantsuit, setting off blonde, straggly hair. She seemed serious. And she seemed worried, too: swarms and swarms of her security staff massed outside, eager to do her bidding. But she did not want them. She wanted me. And who could blame her?

1. A Suspicious Character

Rogers way is Amber’s turf, and some guy has been showing too much silent interest in it. This is seldom a positive development, and she wants you to investigate him and his motivation. He’s not hard to find. But when you do enter his apartment, he says, “about time you got here. Tell Amber her response time sucks.“ Quite the surprise! Amber is not expecting this and directs you to take the disk to have it checked out.

When this is done, there is indeed more to him than meets the eye, as Amber confirms. She seems impressed. Your patron does not share the results, and you complete this mission without ever knowing who this guy is or what he is all about.

2. A Safe Place

Amber has an escort mish for you: an informant needs to be taken to a safe place. But the informant, aptly named “Craven”, refuses to emerge from her bedroom until you have killed everything else there: some big, bad vampires. Then, there is a long, eventful hike to the safehouse, with many mobs to slay. Be sure to bring some company for this. And when you get her to the safehouse, filled with Amber’s ASPs? She warmly responds, “What are you waiting for, a tip?”

I love this job!

3. Second Try

The bluepill we escorted last time is now missing, and needs rescue and escort. This starts with finding a dead exile, whose picture leads us to another location, where the straying informant is found. Both locations are those weird, maze-like buildings in Westview that are so trashy and filled with junk. I always get lost in them! Her escort involved much, much killing of local mobs. Paradoxically enough, these mobs you have to kill are the exact same mobs (ASPs) that Amber supposedly controls. How curious! Anyway, eventually you get her to the protection safe house again and you are done. She adds, “Look I know you have some sort of weird crush on me, but I want you to leave me alone.” With pleasure, my dear!

4. The Final Clue

Amber continues to fret about unfriendly efforts to cut into her turf. She needs to know who is behind this. The clue is found on a CD which is held by a band of fierce hackers. Not easy to take them all down, and I had to withdraw a few times to rest up. Eventually the CD is procured and delivered to Shingo, one of Amber’s lieutenants, who hangs out surrounded by Level-51+ level security staff. Glad I didn’t have to fight my way past them! Amber is pleased with the fast, efficient work. I was pleased to be alive.

5. Payback Time

Based on the last mission’s CD, Amber has determined that her mischievous brother Mandarin was behind the attacks, and wants payback, through a special virus placed in his systems. Getting into the room with the target computer involved a lot of gun fighting. I could overhear two guards speaking disparagingly of Mandarin being clueless “as usual”. Then I had planted the virus, and was fleeing for my life. This final, finale mission was surprisingly straightforward, not to say simple. Not that I complained!

And with this, all my Westview missions were over! This region ended well, with warm praise from Amber, claiming that “I won’t forget you, Sugaree; you’ll always have a home in Rogers Way.” How nice it would be if after you have completed all the region’s missions, the mobs of the last Exile lord would leave you alone, or even come over and /dap you! But I appreciated the warmth, after so much callous, crude behavior from the others.

Conclusion: One unusually interesting loose end, with the researcher from the very first mnission left unexplained. It drive me nuts! The informant's alternatingly arrogant and cowardly behavior was entertaining. And there were some tough fights, I must admit. Tough for me, anyway! Next will be an overview of the Westview mission lords. For now, thanks must go to my brother and sister from The Collective, Sattakan and Toulouet for their inestimable help. I could never have gotten the escort mission done without them. And the others would not have been nearly as much fun.

This review and many others may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other writings relevant to MxO.

Message Edited by sugaree on 06.11.2006 12:19 PM

Well! Another district come and gone! I seldom had the deep resonance with Westview that I felt with the downtown and Chinatown regions. It always seemed so slummy. But, really, when you compare it with some of the rogues gallery from Richland, maybe that’s unfair. After all, you don’t have the druggies and fruitcakes here that you do with Richland. And many of Dame White’s children seem to have taken up residence here, as well: of the nine known exiles in Westview, no less than eight are chromatic in nature (Mockingbird seems to be the sole exception). Why this might be remains a mystery, one of the many intriguing, unexplained aspects of this rough region.

Most Interesting and Most Fun: Rose, hands-down! The unconscious humor of her relentless striving to earn the respect of her siblings, and their scorn. Definitely worth doing! And her restless drive to earn respect lays the foundation for many, many more entertaining missions in the future. Bring them on!

Second-Most Interesting: Cerulean. Besides the cool name and her forlorn milieu, her efforts to broker a truce were great. And her speech style was curious. Both made her stand out from most of her brothers, sisters, and peers.

Most Frustrating: Mockingbird, obsessed with artifacts which are never explained or even visualized or even described. Agonizing! I know that detailed descriptions are not part opf the narrative style of this game, sure. Even so, Mockingbird or one of her flunkies could gave gushed a little. Something like this: (Mockingbird on her new candlesticks) "Look at the way the flame above them shimmers when you light them. And the way their russet wax glistens in their slow flame. When they have burned for a few seconds, you start to see the code bits flicker like tiny sparks around the columns; strange shapes form and flow within the code, and you can see people and things from other places. I don’t know what those places are, but I believe that a special gem will let me see them clearly. And that’s what I want in your next mission”.

Most Perplexing: Indigo. He seems to rule the roost around here but he cannot get it together to get ammo to his own folks fighting on his behalf. What’s with that? Considering how mortifying this would be, you would expect some comment from him or his troops about it. How can he ever hope to master the assets of Westview when he can’t remember to bring the hot dogs for the company picnic?

Toughest Mission: Indigo- Gang Rumble. Oddly, Indigo seems to control the actual lakes of the lake area, but we never see the background or the results of this. The backstory is crying out to be explained.

Most So-So: Many, really. Greene. Amber. Grisaille. Not bad at all, just not overwhelming.

Most Missed Opportunities: There are a lot. All the artifacts which Mockingbird wants. e whole business with Grisaille trying to take control of the lakes. The newspaper reporter that we never hear from elsewhere. Greene so strikingly dissimilar from his mobs (as well as the others). Whatever happened to Cerulean to make her look so weird and be so self-conscious about it? Mandarin has angered the Merovingian; what was happening with this? And with so many of their children in residence here, one would expect Dame White and Mr. Black to take more of an interest in this region and its affairs. It killed me not to know! Indeed, there are story leads aplenty scattered in the dark, dingy streets of Westview!

From a larger point of view, the most fascinating finding was the importance of the lakes as a strategic asset, some sort of reservoir of power. In light of this, of course, one must wonder why the Merovingian, that quintessentially power-driven man, takes no apparent interest in the lakes. It’s quite unlike him to leave anything so good so alone. Perhaps future story arcs will trace his efforts to gain control over it.

Conclusion: The Exiles of Westview are personal and intense. What they lacked in big-idea and big-personality missions (like the ones downtown) they make up for in the small-town, small-family qualities which pervade these. You don’t encounter major Exiles. You don’t see the world in danger. You don’t meet curious redpills. It’s more like Desperate Housewives than Star Wars. But the personalities are interesting, and there are intriguing hints of depths left in shadow.

This column, all my past ones, and other writings relevant to MxO may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com.

Message Edited by sugaree on 06.23.2006 10:10 AM

And now I turn my weary brown pumps to the Far East, the Asian glories of rice and seaweed, the last district to yield its exotic, exilic secrets to my inquiring heart. I feel excitement; I feel reluctance. Soon, the nine remaining Exiles will be documented and my cup will be drained. And then, what will there be? The Pandora’s Box suites? The construct missions? Player events? There seems so much to do, yet I feel anxiety. And soon I will feel remorse, satisfied or bitter I know not, for the final judgment lies hidden in a future I cannot discern. But go on I must, the code compels.

Dame White is the mother of the clashing colors we recently studied in Westview (Mr. Black is their father). Various archival materials, now long gone, recount how she and her husband were displaced by the Merovingian and Persephone; still others speak of Dame White as an aesthetic force tweaking the Matrix for beauty. A review of her current state inclines one to skepticism, though.

She resides in Shinjuku, in Club Masanume (-189. -6. 337), on the lower level. Above and outside, flocks of Jade Moons angrily mill about. I’ll admit it; I felt nervous approaching her. The club’s décor emphasized recessed green lights, and delightful landscape scrolls. For someone who’s had so many kids, I must say, she’s in fine form! In fact, give her a darker outfit and she could pass for Agent Pace! But the effect is marred once you talk to her. Doing a few of her mishes erodes it completely. Whatever she may once have been, the Dame White of the current age is loud as a loon, abrasive as a sandstorm, and grasping as a magpie. No wonder her husband lives so far away! Let us probe the darkness that is White.

1. Data Mining

If I were her, I’d want to know what my kids over in Westview were up to! But perhaps she read my mission reports and is up to speed on their mischief. At any rate, her inaugural instructions for me this afternoon are pertain to Kowloon and Shirabaka. “Yes, I know what you want and it just so happens that I do have a job for you.” I need to visit a couple of computers. I like her businesslike style.

The first one, in Shinjuku, is guarded by a cordial Blood Drunk, who cheerfully advises me that “You so much as touch that computer; I will gladly break your fingers”. After its data was uploaded, I gave Dame White an update, which was a poor decision on my part. She responded: “You mean you still don’t have the data on Shirakaba? Well, what are you wasting my time for? Go get it!” I cleared my throat and hung up. “Well, what are you wasting my time for?” I told my operator, “Go get the next site!”

The second computer was much harder to get to. There were five or six souped-up elite guards. Eventually I prevailed, got the disk, uploaded it, and was told…
“Hmm, yes… As I suspected, this data shows that… Eh? Well, what is it? You’ve got your pay, haven’t you? So stop pestering me!”

I’m beginning to see why her children have all fled so far afield.

2. Running Interference

Someone somewhere is delivering some item to somebody. That’s it! And Dame White wants it intercepted. You can reach the single site in this mish without much trouble, but it turns out you have been anticipated, and the item is nowhere to be found. Needless to say you come under attack.

Mrs. White is livid about this! She goes off about “some stinking, slimy, pathetic little weasel” tipped off the opposition. (Her imperturbable picture, perched above this tirade, is delightfully ironic!) She throws my money down on the ground, and then goes back to pondering death and destruction. I wish I had thought to ask her kids about her. What stories they could tell!

3. Polygraphic

Dame White tasks you with identifying and eliminating a traitor within her organization, by polygraphing four of her chief lieutenants. The first, Fraction, is clean, and takes the test without hesitation. Some of the White security forces hanging around her wonder if the Dame isn’t getting a little paranoid. They’ll pay for their impertinence! At the second site, looking for the second lieutenant, Dollar, I hear from an Enforcer, “Look, you want my advice? “Stick that thing on Dame White’s finger. Yeah, you heard me!” Then, “I didn’t say nothin’. We never had this talk.” Dollar herself (wearing the same golden gi as do all four) refuses the test until I kill three of her tough guards. Then she does so, loudly claiming it to be under duress.

The third one is a, ahem, dead end: the lieutenant and everyone there is dead. The fourth one is the target. Naturally, at the end, the Dame claims, “Hah, I knew it all along!”

This long mission is well-designed. When I heard there were _four_ suspects, I worried about this being tedious. But the four encounters are well-differentiated even though the four principals looked identical. Nice work!

4. Disk Jockey

With the traitor gone, it is back to business. She wants you to get two disks, from separate locations for her. Naturally there are the usual slugfests for the first one. After another fight at the second site, the disk is simply handed to you by a principal who says “It’s okay, they just think I’m the janitor.” I’m not sure what was going on with this. After all, if they thought this person was the janitor, then she could have simply smuggled the disk out in her overalls pocket. In any case, then it’s off to drop them off with one of the Dame’s operatives.

My patron was clearly overwhelmed with me! “Hm, you seem to be doing fairly well. For once.”

The White operative slated to receive the disks has been killed by a seething crowd of five or six blood drunks, nobles, and elite guards. They all started firing at me too, but their aim sucked, because I was able to put each disk in a computer and escape without being killed. Go figure! One taunted me with the usual “Fool! You have no idea of the power of the artifact you seek!” Yeah, whatever! Then Mrs. White had the information she needed and we were off to the next and final mish.

5. Paydirt

An artifact is soon to change hands, and a payment is soon to be made. Dame White wants both. This sounds like that the second mission was originally intended to be, before it went south. You are tasked with taking two of her aides to break up the transaction. You go to a single site and engage in extended mayhem. You end up with two packages, but zero aides. Then it got interesting.

I took the artifact to White’s hand-off. There were already many bodies in the building and lots of nervous security guards. The main contact was agitated, and couldn’t stop talking: “Come on now, don’t f-freak out on me. Give me one of the packages and put the other one in the wall safe. It’s easy. Easy.” And “Okay, okay. This is good. I like this. Okay, put the other package in the, uhh, wall safe over there. Yeah.” When I, cool as a cucumber, was done, the hand-off said, “Right. Okay, good. Yeah. The Dame’ll like this. Okay. Everybody’s okay.” I tipped my hat and sauntered out for a smoke.

Dame White, ever the generous one, contacted me to say that the artifact was better than they expected, and the captured payment was less. ”That being the case, I suppose…I suppose I might as well give the captured money to you. Just don’t cause me any more trouble for a while.” I could tell she liked me.

Conclusion. Dame White has the strong, abrasive, effective leadership style you would expect from one of MegaCity’s senior Exiles. And I have to say, it’s easy to see why she and her husband live in different districts; she cannot be easy to get along with. Yet for all her power and influence, she limits herself to the same kind of Maltese Falcon knock-off missions that are more suited for the Digger or Mockingbird, when you would expect her to be working on much vaster projects. She seems like the millionaire who cannot resist checking payphones for loose change.

On the other hand, there is a logical progression to these five missions which is quite satisfying: she learns of the trade (#1), she fails to intercept it (#2), she straightens out her organization (#3, #4), and finally succeeds with the heist (#5). With so many children, an estranged husband, and a preoccupation with “things”, Dame White is one of the most intriguing characters in the Matrix, and one begging for further development beyond her brief appearance in the Pandora’s Box arcs. Give her more! The Dame damns, but doesn’t disappoint!

This mission review, many others, and other writings relevant to MxO may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com.

After too many months in the Desert of the Real, I return to surveying the Exile contacts and their missions. They're a great way to get loot and info and xps, and learn more of the backstory of the Matrix. Today we meet a mover and shaker in Chinatown.

With an entire building bearing his name, you might think that Mr. Bishop (International, -195, 3, 87) would receive you in his office or board room. After all, he is certainly comfortable enough with redpills; why, our clan has hung out in his place since forever! But wealthy and influential though he is, when it comes to missions, he is suddenly cagey, and chooses to meet you outside his building, yet in a public place. It may be that, like HP, he is worried about leaks, and thinks that nothing is better hidden than in plain sight.

Be that as it may, Mr. Bishop has desires best barred from the boardroom. Like many an Exile, he savors the old and the antique, much like the aged who obsessively collect the trivia of their youth. And like many an Exile, he dares not pursue his love directly, and needs you as a go-between. All his missions place you in the role of procurer.

1. The Hunter

His first mish is standard, looking for some debris from his past. In this case, he craves a set of gems held by some Merovingian redpills, and a statue held by some machinists led by an Agent Jones. I averted my gaze from him as I fought; praying he would not recognize me and report me to my clan Council. These were both obtained after some straightforward gunplay. Then the purloined loot was placed into a wall safe. And thus Bishop laid his hands on them without actually laying his hands on anything: the general Exile pattern.

Alas, neither gems nor statue were vieweable, just some generic item avatars. If only we could behold them, perhaps we could feel what the Exiles feel for these things they endlessly pursue.

2. Unravel

Did I displease Bishop last time? Is that why he gave me such a trivial task for my second mish? All he asks me to do is pick up an already-paid-for package and drop it off. The kind of task you'd give you kids to do at school! Perhaps he is testing me....

I traveled to Chukokkula and received the package. As always I chatted with everyone there, and as we all hung out, grooving on the code, an Elite Guard took a long drag on a joint, looked out the window, and shared the following reflection:

"Destiny rules us all, even here in the Matrix. Do you find it strange that I believe in Destiny? Destiny is a system, a pattern of events carried out with precision and absolute certainty. Destiny is nothing but code applied to life, giving the illusion of choice. Here, everything is code, and this everything is ruled by Destiny."

"Destiny, schmestiny, who's bankrolling this?" I asked, and set off to find Bach, the recipient. I wondered if I should get an all-brown outfit for these UPS runs. On the other hand, the all-yellow was more appealing, and had the benefit of setting off my hair.

So, anyway, I found that Bach was being held hostage by some twit who wanted to hijack the delivery. Not on my watch! Harsh words were followed by harsh fighting. I was the only one standing when the smoke cleared, and I completed the drop-off to the grateful Bach. Interestingly, there was a door between her and me, which seemed openable by hacking, by killing one of the thugs and retrieving an access card from him, or, ironically, by getting a key from a drawer! I liked the ingenuity!

3. Heirloom

I loved the way this mission began, with Bishop purring "Your reputation grows, Sugaree." Say it again! Then, "I'd like you to go pick up an associate of mine and bring him to Chotte Brothers Imports Offices. His name is Jellyfish, deliver him unharmed if you don't mind". I loved the sly wit. I could tell we were really bonding; I started thinking about a corner office with an Ikea furniture upgrade.

From my operator I learned that "Jellyfish" contained some valuable code in his RSI. Kind of like steganography meets the Matrix, I guess. As I was looking at the non-descript JF, he looked right back and greeted me with: "What's wrong? You were expecting a bondage king? Not all of us Exiles dress like freaks, you know." I cleared my throat and hastily looked away, wondering what Raymond Chandler would have said.

Nearby, there was a computer with a message calling someone a bigot; I could imagine who had sent it... Naturally my escort mission was a fab success! Who would have suspected I was with an Exile! My fellow machinists chose to intervene, despite my protestation that I was on the team. Illyria, explain to the agents for me! The drop-off contact, after paying me off, explained that the Machines often intervened, inasmuch as Bishop and Chotte tend to traffic in materials which disrupt the current versions of the Matrix. I thought they and Anome would have a lot in common! And the Auditor downtown, always obsessing about memory leaks and the Matrix, would also have an interest.

4. Play Dead

No discussion of items traffickers would be complete without mentioning Digger and the Collector! I particularly enjoyed the backstory on this one: Digger has found something. The Collector wants it. So does Bishop, whose recipe for universal happiness involves paying Digger to give the Collector a fake.

But before I can get in to see Digger, his handler makes me fight a simulacra...perhaps to make me show I know my way around fakes? An alternate solution exited, involving getting a disk to a machine generating the replicas, but I was unable to figure it out, and uncharacteristically resorted to fighting, my least favorite form of defeating others. Honest!

After dealing in the past with mystic candy, enchanted candlesticks, and packets of numinous gems, I was expecting a lot from this item. A tiara? Shoes? A brooch? A ring, maybe? A Sword of a Hundred Truths? But instead, all I got from Digger was a tape. And a VHS tape at that! Apparently the elite personalities of the Matrix Exile community have a fondness for Days of Our Lives, Max Headroom, or I Dream of Jeannie. Go figure!

Before I had time to digitize it for my crew's amusement, I had to drop it off. This cut-out had a great backstory. She was an archiving program who had defected from the Machines to protect her daughter, threatened with deletion. This effort was unsuccessful, and she eventually came to Bishop's employ. She seems to have listened to the tape. She did not get much from the images (Crossfire? The Daily Show? Persephone as a weather reporter? The Merovingian with his own game show?) but said the voice was very familiar. I was dying from suspense, and was mercifully distracted by one of her colleagues, who went off on an absorbing, self-absorbed rant about the maternal program, the world they live in, and how real it is. I politely nodded as I counted my info, and absently waved to them as I left.

Bishop was on a high, I could tell. The pay was good, and he gushed, "with your help, my business grows even stronger". Say it again, big spender! Say it like you're Donald Trump!

5. Cold Sweat

An unexpected continuation of Play Dead! Bishop has tinkered with the artifact (perhaps redubbing it like What's Up, Tiger Lilly? Or overlaying the voice of Orson Welles?) and now wants _this_ artifact taken to the Collector, who has already received the fake. My mission was to break in, take the fake, and replace it with the altered original. Got that? Well, get this: the office with the wall safe is located in Bishop Imports!! Someone else must have thought about the incongruity of this, for when I arrived I discovered the item had been moved. Nonetheless, I tracked it down, laid waste to the defenders, and made the switch.

Logic Problem: If the Collector came back, found all his guardian staff dead, and the artifact still in the safe, not stolen, don't you think he would be suspicious? Or is it just me?

And that's it! This suite is worthy for the great backstory, the characters, and their reveries. Bishop is an intriguing character, though most of the intrigue takes place by inference (meaning I made it all up). But you get involved in the networking and schemes of some of the major players in the Matrix, and that can only be a beautiful thing. Let's hope it comes back to haunt us.

This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with previous reviews and other writings relevant to MxO.

I still have a bunch from way back when. Are these worth anything?

Operetta hangs out in Akasaka (227, 1, 67), in the basement of Pandora. For saomeone with such a strong sense of self-worth, it's odd that she does not hang out in a venue more suited to her ego, like some place downtown. But this mistress of the Western musical tradition chooses to secret herself in a fair-to-middling Eastern dive. Perhaps she does penance for some unknown sin. Perhaps she fears something. Perhaps, like so many Exiles, she craves that visceral excitement from bluepills bustling about their virtual lives. As I cautiously approached her, she hung out near the back wall, incessantly watching the dancers. Her ravenous face was narrow, and she looked to be wearing a Black Widow's Dress, except it wasn't black. Her face was narrow and intense, crossed by stray strands of hair. To be honest, she kind of reminded me of Midnight. Operatta is passionate about music, but not passionate about organization. Her people are in trouble. Music goes missing. She freaks out at non-glowing reviews. She needs an office manager to get things back on track. The classic diva. Until then, she has you.

1. Savior

"Oh, my dear! You just help me, you simply MUST. One of my best performers is in trouble. Get over there and help him right now!" Well, the negotiation was mercifully brief.

What a strange mission! I went to the site, and got into a fight with two Zionists. I killed one in short order, but withdrew to heal up. When I came back, the other, a Zionist Kungfu Grandmaster, was gone! Only a nervous Mr. Titelbaum milled about. I searched several times for the missing miscreant, all to no avail. I danced and waited: nothing. So, I gave up and left the building. And found him strolling in the yard outside! I had to follow him into the next building before we could get a fight going! Once he was killed, the mish ended itself. A patron in the bar looked at me and asked, "Why are you here?" Why, indeed!

Was this a bug, or a cool new feature? And what possible interest could Zion have in Exilix opera singers? Has it run out of weightier adversaries? Or was this a training mish gone awry? Only Lock knows for sure. I ran this mish a while back, and it may be that recent patches have tweaked some of the odd features of this suite.

2. Requiem

The backstory for the composer in this mission was interesting: a bluepill who accepts the way things are and composes for Operetta. "As a freed mind, surely you must understand. The Matrix is a symphony, programs and code working together to produce harmony. If you'd give up your hatred of it you would see the beauty". Something to think about... Don't forget to search for her computer. "I don't expect you to be sympathetic, but remember, this music is valuable. Don't be careless".

Oddly enough, the only opposition came from a lonely Zionist (again!) Karate master, who was not ready for me when I stormed out of the building past him. His jaw dropped, he reached for his gun, and the karate master, with predictably lamentable aim, sprayed stray shots around me as I left. Go back to the caves!

The stage manager is frantic when you arrive, and wails about how slow you are. It's very entertaining, so be sure to talk to him a couple of times. He and his twin groupies are in a suite reminiscent of the old redpill jackout mishes: lots of ugly gear and barely a table to be seen. They need an Ikea gift certificate.

At the end, the Stage Manager gushed: "Good, and you even managed to keep it more or less unwrinkled. You're far less incompetent than I first suspected."

All the while, his twin groupies idled about, speaking vacuously. Be sure to talk to them a few times as well for chuckles. Operetta says, "Yes, yes, you're doing fine. Fine as can be!" Whatever that may be. Not sure why this is called a requiem though. I mean, three missions yet remain. Nonetheless, fun, with plenty of character!

3. Chosen

Conveniently, Requiem ends up next door to Pandora, so you're all set for number 3. An understudy, Bessie Burr, has been kidnapped, and "I must have her back. I simply must!". I began to wonder if people harass Operetta just to listen to her freak out.

On rescuing her, I got a message- "Oh you precious darling". But after I dropped her off with the bodyguard Beagle, this is what I got: "Not terrible, Sugaree. Not good. But not terrible." But the check cleared, so I counted my blessings.

Note: One of the bads has a key to the room Bessie was in. But the door was unlocked!

Note: I had to lead Bessie past a couple of dozen hissing Brothers of Destiny who shot at us with everything they had. Mighty Bessie blanched, but took no damage. So this is a 220-meter escort mission through hostile territory, but it's not like Seraph's epic stat-hack mish. Or the even tougher Jeweler escort mish. Relax!

4. Fragments

Once again, the last stage of the preceding mish places you just a hundred meters from Pandora. Nice design! For this mission, you merely need to be a gofer, dropping off stuff for Operetta's agent. "My dear! You simply MUST help me!"

I get the docs to drop off, and an adjacent flunkie asks me to put a bug in the first target's desk for musical intelligence. Sure, why not? I'll always do something to help a band. This minor theme never really seems to go anywhere though. Perhaps in another exile suite this will assume some importance...

First drop off is to another diva. Her staff suffers. "You can't fire me, I quit!" "But I was told to do it this way!" Etc. Second drop off is to a talent agent who has creative differences with Operetta. As we shall soon see, this is a club with quite a few members.

5. Rubicon

As my operator observed, Operetta does not believe there is no accounting for taste. "My show was wonderful but SOME PEOPLE don't appreciate talent...."

Word has gotten to the critic that his days are numbered, and you must fight your way through a couple of guards. Then, you find an Agent protecting him! Who would have thought? What possible interest could my Machinist lords and masters have in something as vacuous as Operetta? Answers were not forthcoming, yet I finished the mish regardless.

"That will teach that cretin a lesson!" The xps for this mish were unusually low. As, I guess, it should be. I mean, what should you get for killing a bluepill? More could have been done with the critic, maybe some quotes by your operator from the review, mention of the Newsie, comments from the guards, etc.

Conclusion: I liked the consistency of personality and storyline here. The reflections from the composer and the stage manager were fun. The unpredictable nature of Operetta's emotions rang true. But what is a diva-istic ego like hers doing in a club like Pandora? In International? Would it not make more sense for her to be ensconced downtown, as are the Jeweler, Mr. Black, and the Bartender? Is she slumming? Also, the names for individual mishes in this group puzzled me. Perhaps in the ethereal realms of operatic aesthetics, where devs daydream, there is some significance. Finally, readers of these columns will remember Lotus and her preoccupation with music; it would have been very cool to have echoed them here, with each commenting on the work of the other.

This review and many others may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other writings relevant to MxO.

Unlike the run-of-the-mill exiles who lurk in seedy bars or tony nightclubs, Grace stands proud and tall in the open, in Archer Square, of Furihata (-541, 1, -255). It's a photogenic spot: a fountain gurgles at her back, and a gracefully whiplashing access node snaps in the breeze behind her. The square itself has lovely trees and red brick pavements. Catch this at sunset for a real treat. The recent red-tinged skies add a reflective, somber tone; let's hope Sati's sabbatical lasts a little longer.

Speaking of things red, redpill Grace is all in dark, with corncob hair like Stanislava and a bandana like Ebola. She does not stand alone. Around her mill a swarm of bristling Silver Dragons, argent from head to foot. They were not friendly to me, but ignored her. Reading their details, I was surprised to note that this gang was composed not only of Exiles, but Zion-rejecting redpills! This is unique for gangs, so far as I know. Not only that, Grace herself is an Exile! Like some members of the Dragons, she fell out with Zion, and subsequently partnered with the Dragons, eventually splitting with them as well. She claims to have helped their leader Long (different, by the way, from the leader Ginjiro listed in the gang's details) set up his current network, and she wants a piece of it. Her preoccupation could be from love, or could be from hate; who can tell the difference?

1. Hell hath No Fury

Grace seeks to penetrate the Silver Dragons organization through you. You will achieve this through successfully completing a mission for them. This task is to kill an enemy of theirs, one Arabis. This is easily done, and you are soon accepted into the Silver Dragons organization. You have, in effect, been blooded. At the end you discover that Arabis was a well-known software security engineer, who specialized in the detection of malicious software. This was one nice touch- when resisting me he used hacker attacks. The Silver Dragons, as we shall see, have a pronounced sense of humor; my Dragons contact initially gave me a folder with the identity of my target, and I saw my own name! She got a good laugh out of this, and soon directed me to a nearby computer which held the information I needed. This was an interesting feature- Exiles with a sense of humor.

2. Inside the Action

This seems simple. Pick up a disk, take it to an exile with information Grace desired. The site for the pickup was a Zionist extraction point, a nice nod to Grace's background. Several redpills there, allied with Grace, shared misgivings with each other about the wisdom of this project. I felt reassured. Then I went to drop off the information with one Zyskin, a blood-drinker-looking sort of guy with four or five burly bodyguards. Prast, one of Grace's staff, was there to help. After I dropped off the information and prepared to leave, she revealed she was a captive now, and appealed to me for help. I did, and soon all lay waste around me. With this part of the mish screwed, I was told to drop off Prast, and took her to a safehouse. "Safe" house might not be the right word for it though, since the folks there started speculating on the terrible things Grace had in mind for those who screwed up missions...."Hah! I heard that she's going to make her clean her hovercraft with a toothbrush", and "Hah! She's in for a world of hurt, that's for sure!" I bid Prast a fond farewell, put her out of my mind, pocketed my consultant's fee, and was on my way.

3. Second Time Around

After intervening to rescue Prast last time, there seems to be some uncertainty in the Dragons about where my loyalties lie. In this mission, I kill an enemy gang leader, making sure to leave a witness so the word gets around. This proved easier than I thought; even my operator commented that maybe this guy just sucked. Grace tells us that this gambit seems to have worked and my star with the Silver Dragons is on the rise.

4. Dark Side

This mission is billed as an effort to "delve deeper into the Silver Dragons' network". It involves having me "distribute and maintain network connections for the Silver Dragons secret network". Sounds like a good deal, but it translates into helpdesk work! This has two parts. In the first one, all you have to do is mix around parts from each of three computers to re-establish their network connectivity. There are two "perimeter monitor devices" and one "computer parts". The Silver Dragons may know a lot about networking, but when it comes to networks, they're hopeless! Perhaps they disdain such "mere hardware" issues and leave them as an exercise for others.

In the second part, I swing by another Silver Dragons site, and as I started to examine the ailing hardware, the elite guards and pale blood-drinker there all attacked me! They're Black Moons, and held me responsible for killing their leader las time! Eventually I put them down, and went back to my original mission, checking their computer. Its message was a dull, blinking "connection missing". You can say that again!

I was puzzled, to say the least. So was Grace, who rambled disjointedly as she counted out my consulting fee. She looked confused and said, "I didn't think any of the Black Moon gang would find you. We'll have to be more careful in the future. But I don't know what the Silver Dragons will think of all this". We will find out soon enough!

5. Password: Dragon

It seems that I have been promoted again, at least this is what Grace tells me. On the strength of this, she sends me to obtain a password from Long, which will give her access to their system. Simple enough, and builds on the goals she shared in the very first mission.

When I went to meet the Dragons, I talked to the ones there. One said, "You're here for the password? Ah, good!" and started laughing and laughing. And did not stop. This gave me cause for concern... Sure enough, Long springs his trap as soon as I talk to him, and a long fight ensues. At its conclusion, they are all dead, and Grace is furious: "Grr! Tricked me again! I'll show him! Someday, somehow, I will get my revenge!" Classic! At the end she gave me some level-50 clothes as a consolation prize, so it could have been worse. However, it could also have been better. Frankly, considering the loss of resources across these five missions, one might think that Long came off much the worse for wear. But Grace has a new reason for the anger and jealousy which propel her. As if she needs one!

Conclusion: I like a suite of mishes with character, and we certainly have that here, with an ex-Zionist handing them out. Mysteries abound. Who supports her logistically? What draws people to her side? How does she always seem to know what the Dragons are thinking and what there are concerned about with me? Does she have other sources in place already, perhaps? Despite this. She does not seem to be a good judge of character; misjudging the intentions in missions repeatedly, with the result that I walked into traps more than I expected. And as we see the Silver Dragons play her for a fool all along. How could she ever have reached her present station in life? All mysteries worth exploration. Why did the Dragons need her help, when no other gangs seems to have? Who leads them: Long or Ginjiro? All questions remaining for future elucidation.

I like the character of the Dragons, with their Chinese-style triad cloisteredness, and their odd sense of humor. They all make these missions memorable. And then loose ends offer promise for future missions and background exploration. What's not to like?

Special thanks to Blazinwolf and Idalia who helped me with these. I never would have been able to them so well or so pleasantly without them.

This review, and dozens of others, along with other writings relevant to MxO, may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com.

The Seamstress, one of the more sedate, less abrasive Exiles, may be found in Saikung, at 408. -10. -242. She is near the T-intersection, She wears that classic flat black gi, with Agent Pace hair and dark eyes. Tragically, the white boots spoil the effect, and really, she should know better. She seemed serene but watchful on the corner, under a red, un-Sati-ed sky, as twitchy pigeons picked at bits of dried rice on the ground. To either side, books were arranged temptingly on tables, idle pages adrift in the faint breeze. Further off, some Gold Bloods idled, perhaps awaiting their afternoon hsiu-hsi break. A bystander advised me to go see the pandas at the city zoo. "They're cute!".

1. Dressed for Success

"Why don't you just look previous!" she gushed when I got her attention, immediately following with "Could use a little change in your wardrobe though". After my icy silence, she sighed and explained that she needed a package of fabric picked up and delivered but is short on help. This first part is simple; traipse over and talk to one Gayle Clark. Gayle laments the delay and in convenience in a very, umm, unmanly way, and gives you a key to unlock the room holding it. An unexpected Elite Guard inside challenges you; apparently his crew has stolen the material. Clark panics and begs you to retrieve it. "All new designs" he wails.

The second location is entertaining. Full of Elite Guards, all of whom loudly deny any knowledge of the package. They've never heard of it. They think I'm in the wrong address, etc. It reminded me of one of the Jeweler's missions! Finally, of all people, a Merovingian Physician angrily denies any knowledge, and becomes incensed that your doubt her integrity as you nonetheless search the room. The packages falls to the ground, at which point she denies that is the one you were looking for. Nope, no package there! Fortunately, I could just pick it up and leave amid a whirlwind of abuse and bullets; I had worried I would have to fight my way out!

Finally, I dropped off the now-complete package. A Blood Noble kept chasing me on the way, but I ignored him. The recipient is in an office building; make sure to talk to each bluepill; they all have something to say! The final recipient of the package- Cretin Cravenus? Cletus Clavikus?- is in a hurry for you to go. I guess all the guns freaked him out. Not to mention the ghastly colors and styles of the buffed clothes we all wear. Seamstress calls me a doll and pays me in cash! This almost made up for her smarmy dig about my outfit at the outset!

Oddities: What's so special about the fabric that people are willing to kill for it? Why would a Merovingian Physician have the slightest interest in this?

More oddities: When I approached her for a second mission, she gave me the same one again! What, does this type of thing happen all the time for her?

2. Demanding the Supply

This second mish is fairly easy. The Seamstress has been plagued by "rogues and cut-throats", and needs you to make sure one particular shipment is delivered correctly and completely. Picking up the material is a breeze, and your client phones you to say she hopes you aren't "ambushed and brutally beaten", like the last one. Well, that makes two of us!

When you arrive at the office of the shipment's recipient, she demurs to accept it until you have cleared out the lurking thugs. They're a few blood drunks and a couple of elite guards.
The Seamstress adds, at the end, "Remind me to reward you one of these days". Sure thing, hun. That's what they all say!

3. Accessory to Murder

Besides high-end fashion, the Seamstress also provides a wide range of accessories, including purses!! Alas, the courier has been waylaid and requires rescue. In this mission, you must first rescue the waylaid courier, named Duboshin, and escort her to the original intended recipient of the shipment. Oh, and get the shipment, too, no small feat when one elite guard sneers, "You ain't getting this purse back!". But a woman will do anything for accessories, and soon the prize was in my awed grasp. I took an immediate liking to Duboshin, when unbidden, she gave me some health boosts before fights. My kind of courier! And her level was decent enough that random street mobs did not take her down while I brought her to the customer. A good thing, that.

However, not all was as well as I had expected, as I should have known when I saw the customer hanging out with blood nobles, who, as you may have noticed, seldom affect an interest in high-end fashion. I mean, just look at them. So, as soon as they have the purse, they all set upon me! Like five of them! Eventually my charm and rifle skills wore them down, and an abashed Duboshin stood trembling in front of me, like Aphrodite rising from a sea of blood. She had, it appeared, been in cahoots with these thugs to split the shipment, and disappear. Why they had to fight me to effect this is not entirely clear. But then, I don't get paid to understand cases, I get paid to crack them!

Anyway, Duboshin meekly follows me, giving me a health boost as we start off. The little *CENSORED* suck-up! She wound up improbably in Zion's hands (I guess they are trying to improve the lives of redpills everywhere with better fashion) at an extraction station. I could see the truce in action here; one Zionist joked about me needing a password, assuring me that she had been "just kidding". Duboshin was understandably glum. And that was it. All this, for a purse...

Conclusion: Major mysteries are being woven here. Why does the Seamstress have the time of day for Zion? Why would Exiles care at all about accessories, especially purses (perhaps this is an intended gift for Persephone)? Why does Zion care about her? How come I couldn't keep the purse, to better accommodate my own inventory? Why, oh why?

4. Eye of the Needle

Seamstress has caught wind of the location of her last lost shipment, and wants it back right now, before it profits anyone else. The last operative she ent, Porpoise, disappeared, and she sends you to follow in her footsteps, adding, "Oh, and help Porpoise if she's still alive, I suppose". Alas, she is not, as you discover in a gunfight. As I contemplated her fallen form, wondering where my own path would take me, the phone rang. "Do you feel safe? Search the computer now". The screen softly glowed, "Seek and ye shall find". I took and uploaded the map disk, and the final location was relayed to me. Very eerie, this was.

This led me to a scenic apartment, wherein waited a couple of drunks and elite guards, all thrilled to see me. They referred to a mysterious second force as I stepped off the elevator. It was the mysterious voice from earlier in the mish. He appeared and thanked me for getting the package for him. Needless to say, I had to kill him too, though he put up a tough fight and did not use his invisibility once, contrary to what you might have expected.

But all bad things must end, and soon I was dropping off the purloined package with a stunned recipient, and counting crisp info-notes from a frowning Seamstress, who reluctantly thanked me and contemplated inviting me to the fashion show soon to be dominated by her designs. But, she quickly corrected herself, "I'd have you get you something decent to wear". Please! I only dress like this for professional occasions! Give me a chance! But her mind was already whirling elsewhere.

5. The Show Must Go On

This is getting ridiculous! It's the day of a fashion show, and Seamstress's designs have been ripped off yet again! Naturally time is more of the essence than usual here. Seamstress sent me to a cool CEO who demanded that I kill all the thieves, not sparing a single one. She was quite adamant about this. After talking to her, be sure to check out the other, adjacent rooms; in one I found a Zionist Rifleman being directed through movements by two fashion-show workers!! He must have been prepping for the next sexiest redpill contest. I soon found myself fighting five or six or seven elite guards for control of an apartment, in which I found not package with the designs, but a packet of plans!

Bugged: Alas, dear readers, this mission was bugged, and I was only able to get beyond after many efforts. Here's what happened. On the building floor housing the thieves, you find three elite guards in one room, a couple of lupines in another, and a final lupine in a third. I killed all three elite guards in the room, but soon after I left, when I came back, there were only two bodies. I did not notice any such discrepancy with the other rooms o' thieves. This was repeatable. I'm guessing this has something to do with the thieves not showing as having been all killed. Nonetheless, I took the packet and uploaded it, but could not get to the next stage of the mish. The "Kill all thieves" box remained unchecked. I went back to the mission area: no thieves there. I hung around, I danced, I stood and afked...nothing. Maybe in the next patch.

That's where things were for days and days. Then I tried again, and found that if I killed all three of the elite guards in the same room, this section of the mish completed and I could move on. After uploading the plans, I found myself confronting the tough CEO I has seen earlier. Only her goals had changed in the meantime. And soon I had found another instance of the same bug: everyone around me dead on the floor, yet the mish demanded more. It was enough. I took the package, dropped it in front of the Seamstress, and left. "This one's on the house," I said, changing out of my killing clothes, and back into something more human.

Conclusion: Some humorous touches to this group of missions gave them special pleasure to run. At the same time, the improbability of rough-and-tumble Exiles fighting so hard for purses and accessories makes one gasp. Perhaps if there had been a hint of someone else showing interest in the outcome, such as the Weaver or Persephone or Hummingbird, this might make more sense. Or if the clothes had some special buffs or special background, then the frenzy might not seem so odd. Still, they're worth doing. And the last mission is worth debugging!

This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with dozens of other reviews and writings germane to MxO.

Has anyone else done this guy's missions? They were quite bizarre, a weird combination of slapdash character with no backstory, and ingenious exploration of the Exiles' world. At first I was immensely annoyed, but now i'm feeling differently. They felt very unusual. Anyone else?

In a certain not-very accessible byway of Shirakaba, stands Yuusuke Akayama (222, -4, 136). He looks like one of us: the open-necked shirt, the long coat, the dark eyes, and his world-weary expression. It's easy to feel close to him; he's just trying to run his business, like everyone else. He's the owner of the Paper Tiger Restaurant, and has a professional interest in knowing what is going on in his neighborhood, and what might affect his customers, suppliers and competitors. Like the Merovingian, he likes to traffic in information, and hates the thought that anything is happening that he doesn't know about. Hence his abiding interest in the Great Wall Security Agency. They seem so easy to spot. They seem to have a hand in so many things. They're easy enough to spot, since there's always a few of them hanging around Mr. Akayama, either to taunt him, or keep an eye on him. Perhaps this near-constant surveillance accounts for his need of outside contractors. Someone off their radar. Someone subtle. Someone who gets his message without it being spelled out on a blackboard. Someone like you.

1. In the Belly of the Beast

This simple, cakewalk mish seems to be a test more than anything else. You simply need to get a disk for him with a recording of a clandestine conversation. The only challenge is finding a recovery reboot disk, since at your first logon attempt the computer kills itself. This is the easiest Exile mish I can remember since Sister Margaret's first few!

2. Debug

For this scarcely more challenging lesson, you need to plant a virus (we should more properly call it malware). To achieve this, you need to get access to a computer surrounded by Great Wall staff. The challenge is that the person who can expedite this needs to be paid off, but helpfully notes that the guards often carry cash. Pay him off, plant the bug, and you're done!

Bug?: After I killed the guards, two of them had money. After I paid the bluepill, both packets of cash were gone. After I paid him, I got a good work message from my operator before the bluepill had given me the code. Don't know if this is a bug or simply non-elegant.

3. Tearing Down the Wall

"Ah, my new friend" purred the savvy Akayama when I showed up. I had to smile. We had an understanding. He needed a Great Wall outpost wiped out, to...distract them from his own operations. Just go to the target and kill everyone there. Easy enough.

Bug?: However, several times, I got to the site, killed the three guards I found, and found a single door which I could not open. Strangely, in each case, after I aborted the mish, suddenly I could open the door. Unfortunately, I could only view the details of the three guys inside. There was no option to talk or fight. Technically, I think this is what they call a bug.

On the fourth or fifth attempt, this time running it with someone else, I was able to kill all the guards (same as before, from my point of view) and a magnetically-sealed door then opened, and we found three higher-level thugs inside, planning some mischief. We killed two, talked with the survivor, and got three hitlists of targets. These we then took to an associate of Akayama's, who took one list and had us give the other two lists to two others in the room (including one wearing a stovepipe chef's hat!), one of whom commented, "Mr. Akayama doesn't pay me to read". That's between him and you, pal!

4. Insecurity

The Great Wall Security organization continues to annoy Mr. Akayama. Now he wishes you to escort a contractor spammer to a Great Valley office so she can spam a list of known hackers, to annoy them and attract their eldritch wrath to the Great Wall network.

After this, you escort her to another associate of Akayama's for safekeeping. The problem with the escort mission is not the Great Wall attackers who seek to thwart you. It's trying to find your way over the walls, canals, staircases, lattices, and physical obstacles which bar your way. Naturally, with an escort in tow, you can't just hyperjump a straight line. I mean, that would be too easy. The dialog with the spammer, her protector, and their security staff at the end is entertaining; make sure to talk to everyone before and after dropping her off.

5. Link Death

With the collective wrath of hackers trashing the network infrastructure of Great Wall Security, they're weak. This means it's the right time to hit them hard, and Mr. Akayama directs you to an outpost of Exiles in their service. After they've been laid waste, you find a cell phone, whose recent calls direct you to a larger Great Wall Security office. When we rolled in, there were around a dozen (!) Great Wall uniforms waiting, ranging in level from 50-52 (and this mish was on medium!). This led to a long, hard fight, reminiscent of some fights with massed simulacra in Pandora Box missions.

At the end, Mr. Akayama is thrilled. He's been able to deal Great Wall a deep, lasting blow in his region. And he effuses at your great success! He invites you to "stop by my restaurant some day: the Paper Tiger. Your abilities and initiative are truly commendable, and you may be able to find further employment for them through the influential patrons who frequent my humble establishment". Mighty warm words from a lasting friend, and word of mouth advertising like this is something that money can't buy. I'm making my reservations tomorrow.

Conclusion: After so many missions where the Exiles mixed thanks with scorn, or paid me off dismissively, or nagged during and after missions, it was a pleasure to find someone appreciative. Nonetheless, the apparent bugs in missions 2 and 3 were truly annoying.

Thanks go to Xboxster, Stanislava, AgtWeezer, and Sattakan for their help with these missions. I doubt I could have finished it at all without their help. And even if I had, it would not have been nearly as much fun.

This review may be found sat manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with dozens of other reviews and writings relevant to MxO

If you're like me, and have gotten used to the control-freak high-maintenance Exiles like the Weaver and The Jeweler, you're in for a big shock with this. Facing (at 90, 1, -300 in Kaede) the phlegmatic Sisters of Fate, oblivious to the spray of water dousing him from the nearby fountain, Rickshaw never seems to know what's going on. He wins, hands down, for the sloppiest Exile in any neighborhood, from the tatty hat to the out-of-step shoes. Obviously, he shops at Goodwill on its off days. In fact, in his obtuse cluelessness, he's right up there with Pepper and (less entertainingly) with Rose. When you show up, he says nothing about his story, or who he is or what he cares about. He just asks you to go run an errand. It's like walking into your father's study, and he gives you something to go mail. I took an instant dislike to him. He should have been one of the first Exiles I worked with, instead of one of the last; I'd have been more forgiving.

1. Mistaken Identity

"Hi, can you deliver something for a contact of mine?" That's how it starts: full of soul and connection. Rickshaw's slapdash, slipshod approach to his affairs is nowhere more evident that on this first mish. He gets the name wrong! Then when you arrive, you are greeted by a haughty Elite Guard who takes one look at you and sneers, "Feh. You don't look like you belong here, pansy". Most likely, he saves this for anyone working for Rickshaw. Eventually you connect with someone who knows nothing of Rickshaw or your mission, but demands to know your "sponsor". Rickshaw's feedback is: "Sure, fine, whatever. Hurry!" You have stumbled into a game played by Exiles, wherein they try to kill each other! The name is Exiles Underground Games (perhaps a reversal of the ancient, ancient GUE). It seems like something they'd play with paintball, if the paint was replaced by hot lead. Survive and you're done. Rickshaw mumbles some barely articulate thanks. This time I counted my money twice, mindful of his sloppy approach to everything. After all, maybe he would overpay.

2. Let the Games Begin

You make a delivery to one Caroline, identified as the leader of the Sisters of Fate. The Step-Sisters of Fate might be a better name, since their leader has fallen under the sway of your ultimate target in this mish, the Ventriloquist, who uses her to send you off on a side-quest for a CD (a trance dance mix, I think). You victory over him frees her, and sets you up for your next adversary, the Necromancer. A little predictable, but not a bad mish at all.

3. Replay

An "operative" of Rickshaw's, with a desired device, needs help. After a skirmish, you find out that she is dead. This sends you to the next scene, with Rickshaw crying "Kill more people! Go! Kill!". You discover that your adversary in this mission, the Necromancer, has revived and controls the operative, now a resurrected automaton that he sends to fight you. Eventually you put them both down, but it was an unsavory first to be killing undead Exiles for the sake of a repugnant game. On the other hand, it was quite satisfying for me to send the Necromancer to join his unwilling servants in the chilly sludge of the Source.

4. Out of Bounds

You may recall that your dossier from last time at the end identified your next target as the Chameleon. Since this meant he could be anyone, it made things quite easy! Once again the careless Rickshaw wails about his "stolen stuff" (how like a child!). This time your contact has a search of his own, for the "White Knight Virus" (an allusion to the Chessman that is not developed at all). You know how this goes. Break in, firefight, loot, and off to meet your contact. Your contact, predictably, is the Chameleon, and attacks you. When I phoned Rickshaw, breathless, he cut me off abruptly- "You got all my stuff back?" I was mightily temped to hurl it in the river.

But wait! There was some gold here! One contact looked at me, took a long drag on a scented smoke, and reflected "Humans hurt Exiles because they fear us. Exiles hurt each other because they fear everything." Great thought to ponder long after the game has run its dolorous course.

5. Game Over?

In this mish, you simply start by getting some lost plans from a safe, at which point you are pulled into your confrontation with the main adversary in this episode: Agent Lee and his minions. Agent Lee is quite engaging, and rather than fight invites you to take a chance with him and his two assistants. Give one of them the plans, and the door she represents is unlocked. Inevitably you get a fight, not a safe harbor. Just as inevitably Lee and his team engage you. As their banter suggests, Lee is (Big Spoiler coming!)...the Gambler, and aims to win at your expense. The dialog is well done, and there's more characterization in this encounter than in everything Rickshaw does. In fact, "Agent Lee" deserves his own suite of missions!

At the end, among the smoking, coding corpses, you alone stand alive to tell the tale. You, that is, and Rickshaw, who blurts "I like you, Sugaree! You do good work!" before he sinks into surfeited silence. At least he paid me.

Bugs?: In a couple of the missions I noticed that the text displayed out of order. That is, at the end I would read my operator's comments on what someone had said before I read the statements being commented on.

Conclusion: The concept of Exiles playing games with each other is ingenious. The observations about them and their motivations are unique. The plot machinations and speech of each adversary are well-done. In fact, they're far more engaging than sleezeball Rickshaw! And I liked the way you seem to stumble into the whole thing, reminiscent of The Game or even North by Northwest. These are all great strengths. On the other hand, Rickshaw as a character has nothing going for him: no backstory, no alliances or motivation. And the way he dresses! Getting missions from a vending machine would be about as personal and personable as this. His frenetic behavior covers up an inner void and bad teeth.

Afterthought: I felt so anxious in my skin throughout the rush of Rickshaw's pointless tasks. Everything was touched with foreboding. Only as I turned my back on him for the last time did it occur to me that a single Exile remained for me to do. And as much as I dreaded it, the end of the Exiles was fast approaching for me.

Check out my blog at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, for dozens of other mish reviews and writings relevant to MxO.

Maybe I've been missing something. What's the big deal with the Merovingian and the Oracle?

As the code trickled and faded last night from my eyes, I felt unaccountably nervous. I had done so many exile missions (hundreds!), made some friends, made some enemies, scored some trivial loot, found many answers and more questions, and now this was the end. I hesitated, feeling at a loss. Had Dorothy felt like this, confronting the Wizard? Synn impatiently beckoned to me from the opposite corner. Like all the Exiles, she could only imagine her own self. For her, I would come and go like a stray thought at a drunken revel.

Synn has no club, no bristling band of angry followers. She stood (-660, 339) on the corner across from the Murasaki NW hardline, watching from afar the idling Black Tigers in the Yeung Park. Like them, she favored dark colors: tightly-zipped, grey leather that drew attention to her busty form and quirky blonde hair. She seemed evilly, eternally young; her voice was distant and cold.

1. The New Plague

Her first, trivial, mish involved putting "virus trackers" on two Machine systems. The first was a "Machine sorting station" and the second was a "listening outpost" used to monitor bluepill behavior. More likely the latter was a spy outpost directed at Zion, to whom Synn was going to offer the take. But Agent Gray would soon read my report, and be able to send them all the dummy traffic he wanted. Nice try!

These were straightforward tasks that a child could have done. I was disgusted that in the first one, I had to kill a bluepill to get a key to a locked room. This went very much against my nature, and I wish there had been some alternative, as there would be in the next mission. There, at least I could complete the mish without killing everything I encountered.

After hearing about the carnage, Synn remarked in her clipped style, "So far so good. Come see me again when you need a job". Some new plague... "The New Pest" would have been more apropos.

Odd: One thing about this seemed strange to me. Sending me in through armed guards to insert viruses to steal information did not seem very stealthy. I can only surmise that this first, test mission was a diversion to distract Machine attention while a genuine mission took place elsewhere.

2. Crackdown

Last time Synn wanted the interception of important information. This time it's papers from a courier (a "low-level" program). And it's easier than it sounds! Go to the site and nose around. You discover a bluepill and an exile (named "Cockroach"!) planning to kill the courier. Explain this to him, and he gladly forks over the papers to you without a shot. Done! Alternately, you can kill him for the same papers, but why be direct? As Synn put it, "This just adds to your cred. Nice job." And the "crackdown" is...where?

Odd: After I got the papers, I swung by to taunt the schemers. They did not seem to even notice I had them! This seems odd; it would have made more sense for them to have attacked me.

3. In Her Fear

Ostensibly, this seemed annoying: I had to go talk to a candidate for Synn's organization. But when I arrived, the ostensible applicant attacked me! This led me to think that she would not be suitable material for Synn or for anyone else, and I definitely had no desire to watch her bob for apples at Synn's Thanksgiving party. So I killed her. I fretted about telling Synn the news, thinking that she might question my motives in killing the aspiring Synner. However, when updated, all Synn said was that I had "come out of that well".

Odd: For a serious plan to kidnap and interrogate me, I was puzzled that only one person had been sent. Am I so slightly regarded by Synn's enemies? I only rate a single attacker? Huff! And, as any reader of the first two mission reports can attest, there would not have been much to report.

Odd: Also, why kidnap and interrogate someone like me who had been so little in Synn's employ? Someone, somewhere, must be desperate to find out something about this fairly trivial exile. Perhaps she has an admirer who wants to know her favorite snack food or her shoe size.

4. Nudged

Once more, not very complicated, even though it's supposed to be part of a scheme of Synn's. Get some "incriminating evidence" from an obnoxious contact ("you're not exactly what I had in mind" he purred when I arrived), kill someone, and leave the "evidence" on him. The reason for all this was not made clear. And who was meant to discover this "incriminating evidence"? And do what? More generally, Synn never really explains the reason of her missions, and you never have the slightest sense of what their purpose is. You are always regarded as a hired contractor and an absolute outsider. But I am not doing these for love, so I turned in my report with one hand, accepted payment with the other, and felt the great wheel turn.

5. The Wheel

Now you learn that the previous mission was to set a trap, and t is about to close. Apparently a Merv crew has been causing trouble for Synn and "her operations" one time too many. The plant last time brought them all in, and now you will take them all out. They are separated across the floor, apparently looking for something, and you can take them down piecemeal. That's it! Synn remarks at the end, "you're getting quite good at this" but has no further work she is willing to entrust to you.

Odd: In one room there is a mysterious locked cabinet, but I did not have pick lock loaded, and none of the enemies had a key. Thus the cabinet was left unopened, but the mission was completed nonetheless. Not sure what was happening with this. Rumor has it that it contained three FM-1500s, but no one will ever know.

At the end I felt disappointed. What were Synn's "operations" which she was safeguarding? Who were her enemies? What did she seek? Did she have a larger plan or was she simply an idle schemer trying to be like others, like a less comely, less engaging version of Rose? Who even cared about her? For the life of me, after working for her I could not see why anyone would give her any thought whatsoever.

And that's how my survey of MegaCity's exile contacts ended: in puzzlement. Not that it was not a great ride, and in one of my next posts, I'll review the best on International. For now, her missions are worth doing, since there's a small amount of story behind them. However, of all the Exiles in International, hers and Rickshaw's are the absolute weakest.

Sugar Shack 63: Mercury Reloaded

A recent update shows the devs' pre-occupation with dotting i's and crossing t's. Though possibly 90% of the player population is level 50, they have been working to make things more accessible for new people, always a good thing. The collectors thronging the Uriah hardline are one example, and this cool new mish for Mercury is another. This new mission, designed for new redpills, is a very nice introduction to the world of the Exiles, showing quite well their diversity and their puzzling obsessiveness. I liked it.

I had forgotten just how accessible Mercury is. When I arrived at the Uriah South hardline, I saw things had changed. There was a new collector standing off to one side, a Codebase, looking for chopper keys of all things, and for no reason that I could see, pimping for the Machines (as if they needed help!).

Downstairs, I could see that Mercury had come up in the world. Of all the dozens of exiles scattered across the code-reefs of MegaCity, only he had rated a new mission all his own. And not only that, he had groupies now, too! As I approached him, I passed by no less than gushing attendants, eager to give me advice on staying in touch with him, and enlisting others to help me do his bidding: how to find him, run his missions, contact friends, etc. I never would have thought this from the first time I worked for him, but he obviously somehow caught the devs' eyes, and was firmly on the Exiles fast-track. No doubt he would soon have his own construct and line of work gloves!

But the good times have not corrupted him yet, and he remains as personable and balanced as always, without Silver's sinister obsessions. In fact, this new mish is all about the domestic and romantic entanglements of the Exiles. Very satisfying!

Honestly, this single adventure is more in the nature of an errand that a mission. Mercury is not just an inventor, he is a mechanic as well, and needs the keys to the car of his Exile girlfriend Pepper so he can finish working on it. She wants the car back quickly, apparently not being able to complete her unspecified "deliveries" downtown without it. Complicating all this is a third Exile, Raini, who's been nosing about Mercury's garage with a few members of her gang, the Five Points.

So what happens? You go, get the keys, fight some Five Points, and turn the keys over to one of Mercury's guys, fighting some more Five Points along the way. Mercury gives you a letter of commendation which you give to Codebase, who then gives you an Industrial Jacket in exchange. And for a new player, the Industrial jacket has some very nice buffs.

That's it! But other things unfold. The mission explores their personalities as well. Mercury is not the player he styles himself as (Raini dumped him, according to a mechanic, and good riddance!). Pepper is an impatient little twit, just as she is when you do her missions downtown. Raini is a menace that cannot let go. For a first mission, there are some very nice qualities to this:

1. Not too intimidating.
2. Introduces the Exiles, and gives you three names.
3. Not bad loot.
4. You learn about Mercury from his groupies.
5. You see the benefits of talking to everyone in an area before and after completing that area's task.
6. You see how personalities drive events in MegaCity along with the war between Zion and the Machines.

For new people who've been getting nothing but Tyndall's micro-managed missions this early in the game, this is a welcome change. Good variety, good background, and good loot. Nice work, and it makes me hope that other Exiles may be getting new missions and new background as well.

This review is available at manifoldmischief.bblogspot.com, along with dozens of other mission reviews and writings germane to MxO.

I was interested to read this in the recent story summary:

"The Exile Rose, having heard that the intruders had left, took a bold trip from her station in Southard to the heart of Downtown with the help of a couple operatives. "

Check out Rose's missions if you have not already. They are some of the funniest! She keeps trying to earn the respect of her related Exiles, and keeps screwing up. I am sure other Exiles will eventually come in and take notice of her efforts to play in their league.

I've been struggling with the Override Functions blocking Azuma. I can get one done by myself, but often another one shows up, and when I have the first one down to 10% health, the second one wipes me out with awesome Howitzer attacks. Anyone have any tips for overcoming these guys, or at least withstanding their Howitzers long enough to melee them down?

Any insight would be appreciated!

I'd like to trade for or buy 20 Function Data and 22 Overide Shells. If you have some to spare, please drop me a line on Syntax, where I'm MDafarge. Thanks!

There's a lot of great Elite Commando gear in the marketplace; props to whoever's been farming so well and so aggressively. I need some of the Elite Commando gear that's not listed; could the Elite Farmer(s) PM me? here or ingame on Syntax as MDafarge. Thanks in advance!

Already the new world of MxO has traditions, and one of the most enjoyable is the periodic Best-Dressed Competition. Its most recent iteration took place this past weekend, and was a meeting ground for all fans of fun and Lady Fashion.

The event was spread over two nights at Midian East’s Avalon, and was ably MCed by the vivacious Illyria1 of The Collective, with help from her coterie of agents-in-place. The first night was given to the men of MxO, who showed off savvy styles and rakish moves across the dance floor. Some sauntered, some somersaulted; all impressed and won cheers and whistles from the womenfolk present. From a strong field, Snyden (The Collective), Maius (Clan Darkstar), and EndlessVoid (no known clan) emerged as finalists.

Turnout surged for the second night. At least, so it seemed to a contestant, like me! As before we waited our turns in the balcony; I spent my time making sure I knew the way to the bottom floor. Many excellent performances were given; some people relied on presentation; others put their bets on poise and presence. And there were many last minute, surprise entrants, such as Leelu, Midnight1, Alysha, and Gothique! As may be expected, The Sirens were strongly represented.

Three finalists made the women’s cut: Aoife (The Collective), Melt (The Collective), and Rhiannon (The Sirens). Aoife and Rhiannon both favored basic white outfits that shimmered in the club lights and contrasted with their hair. Melt went with a strapless dark dress in russet clan colors. They joined the three men’s contestants, Snyden, EndlessVoid, and Maius for a sizzling run-off, with victory hanging on one’s answer to the simple question, “Why should you win the best-dressed competition?”. Responses ranged from the humble to the haughty. In the end, the loner EndlessVoid won the prize for the men, and Rhiannon walked away with the women’s first place. Each took home 60 million or so, enough for a new wardrobe. Not that they needed it!

Notes: One major improvement this time was having contestants wait in one of the club balconies, rather than the men’s/ladies rooms. It was less stressful, and more enjoyable to watch what everyone else was doing. And it minimized the chance of getting lost for people like me, who have no sense of direction!

Several people, like me, found their use of emotes crippled by lag or something. Some of the most basic emotes, like wave and cheer, were not working. For those who relied on the power of presentation, this was devastating; for those who relied on the power of poise, this was a non-event.

Congrats from the community go to all who worked on this event: the generous souls who drove the prize money over 120 million, Illyria1 for ably MCing the proceedings, and Sattakan, Calliente, and others who worked behind the scenes to make this event successful, including the dapper DJGinji from Awakened Radio! And thanks to the judges for the event: Ic3b3rg (The Restoration Society), Kabell (Devil’s Advocates), theconstant (Rakshas Evolution), Zurish (Nicodemus), and Freak3r.

Post-Script: Apparently one of Lillyria1’s groupies, Agent Green, was upset that he missed the first night and could not compete, and retired to Mara Center to look for some excitement. The fight lasted for hours....

Sugaree

One of the great things about the anniversary event is that yu can run missions which involve no fighting. The great benefit of this is that you can work through a mish in less than four minutes, allowing you to rush through many in an hour, helping you to make better progress with grinding.

I just ran a mish as follows:

- Got mish ticket and activated it.

- Ran to meet the Oracle, avoiding the fight with a smithling.

- Met with her and left.

- Got three brownies and 7500 xps and 15000 info. For a level one character this is not bad.

It took four minutes from beginning to end.

The downside of this approach is that you do not get xps, info, loot, and smith frags from the smithlings. The upside is you can rush through the mishes quickly wih great efficiency. And fight-free mishes are otherwise few and far betrween in this game!

Shoutouts to unkn0wnuser, makkuthemind, leenara, and others who have been working hard.

I'm a machinist. Recently I've been grinding merv on Syntax, so I can do the mishes for the Web Blouses (from the collector in Ikeburoko). Now I am up to 21 rep. My Machine and Zion rep are at "minimum".

However, I still flag as "Machines". And the Merovingian collectors won't give me the time of day!

So, if I have a merv rep of 21 (soon to be 31) and want to rate as merv for the mishes in Hampton Green and Ikeburoko, what the heck am I supposed to do?

Thanks for any insight!

My machine died. So with much help I re-installed Windows 2000 (up through SP4), found all the drivers and everything, and am almost back in business. Here's my problem.

I re-installed MxO and got all the updates.

After logging in and selecting a character, everything is fine until I start entering the world. Then, when it gets to the "Object Manager" message, it crashes. Just the game, not the machine.

Anyone have any idea on what might be causing this?

Thanks!

This may not be hardware-related, but since I get "failed" messages when trying to connect to support from within the game, please indulge me.

While hyper-jumping downtown, the game suddenly crashed and I was back on my desktop. Ever since, I have been unable to log on with that character. I select the name of the character, the process starts (you know, the regionserver, loading character. etc.), and just when it is saying "loading world" it crashes. All day so far. Other characters of mine on the same server do not have this problem, just this one.

Anyone else have this happen, or know of anything like this?

And if the ingame support was working, I wouldn't be putting this here. Telling me to try ingame support yet again would not constitute a solution...

We'd all like more of them. But until we have time and talent for new backstory and mish design for these dozens of NPCs, I have a suggestion:

Let us re-run the missions. Not a single one of these mssions gives any major, game-altering item. But many are fun. So why not let us run them again? By "run them again", I mean after completing the current suite of five, let it reset so we can start over.

We do the same thing with crits, except with the added donkey-work for the devs of making sure they don't affect our organizational standing, and of needing to design some new cute but non-unbalancing item for a reward.

What's not to like?

By the way, I'd like to be able to get rid ofn this whole singleton thing, and be able to hold multiple copies of any item. But that's for another post!

1. Remove "singleton" status from all items.

2. Make all items emailable across servers.

3. Give everyone two Translocation Programs to get Awakening Shades and Awakening Jackets.

4. Open up all constructs to all levels.

5. Add one collector (or awesomely buff Lolipor) to sell event items, from Bloue Sky shirts to Smith Brownies.

6. Unlock Halloween masks (repeat because it is so good).

Ideas 1-3 and 6 seem pretty easy to a non-expert like me.

I know I'm dreaming. But soon we will all sleep the big sleep, and I'm trying to get used to the idea.

Moved to Recursion General Boards.

For more than a year now I have played MxO, through various builds, character wipes, and twists and turns. Two things have struck me about the QA (quality assurance) evolution of the game: it has not evolved, and it is not effective. Fortunately, there are simply, relative cost-free solutions, which will help sustain the land we love. But some things done by the devs will need to adapt. Now, here I will be using the term devs broadly. Strictly speaking, the devs are the folks who sit and code features and content all day long, as distinct from content designers, artists, mission designers, world architects, combat architects, etc. For the sake of simplicity I’ll be referring to them all as devs: the people who provide the game.

To begin with, here are four examples from recent history. Believe me I could provide a whole lot more, but it would be painful and superfluous.

The SaiKung Shuffle: Endless running between three or four close buildings permitted people to rack up fast, vast xps. Apparently, the devs did not think about this. Since running from one place to another is not an exploit (nor, by the way, is efficiency), this must be attributed to bad planning and poor design.

Key problem: No tester thought like a player, to find a way to level as quickly as possible. Bingo! Lack of contact with customer!

Sudden instability in items. Walrus thoughtfully gives us a long list of items suddenly and silently affected by quick decay. “Lack of communication” prevented this from being conveyed until many people had seen items start to unravel almost before their very eyes. And these are items _not_on_Walrus’_list_.

Key problem (likely): No tester characters were prepped like real characters: with tons of junk. No one noticed the effects on other items. They only focused on the items on the list, and never thought about others. See the methodological problem here?

The mission timer. Remember this one? Players were penalized for being efficient, and rewarded for being disorganized and slow! Is there anywhere else in the universe where this happens? What were the devs thinking!

Key problem: No one played like players do, and no one thought about how players would respond to the hamhanded communications (or lack thereof).

The /afk emote. Remember this? Announced and documented, and DOA/MIA. How hard would it have been to test this and make sure it worked in the final patch build before sending the patch out? Apparently too hard, because no one did.

Key problem (likely): No one tested it, or no one communicated it. Either is a dismal choice.

These are to my mind representative, not definitive. And they have gone on for more then a year, so it’s hard to say “Oh, it was due to team turnover” or “management transition” or whatever. So, having pointed to a problem, I would like to suggest a solution.

One, the devs need to spent more time in the game.

We all occasionally hear of clans that claim to have devs or admins in them. Or, anyway, people who claim to be devs. Sure could have fooled me! Were this to be true, more realistic feedback to the devs would have prevented calamities like the ones I have described. Remember back in beta when some of the devs came in to play their own game, and got soundly whipped? That’s a symptom of a dev team inadequately experienced with their own creation. And it is seldom a recipe for success.

Two, the QA team needs to use characters for testing which model real characters.

In fact, they would do well to simply copy or model various existing characters from the game. This would have identified, for example, the problem with items decaying. Clearly they tested it with the items on the list. Clearly they did not test it with other items. Testing with characters outfitted the way real characters are would help avoid mistakes like this.

Three, in many areas the players know more then the devs do, when it should be the reverse.

For example, there are people in my clan and other clans who have spent months and months tinkering with builds to get the right combination of skills at the right level for any occasion. They are more cognizant of this than the devs are. The devs need to find a way to approach, learn, and assimilate this knowledge. Otherwise, they will be inventing the wheel, and there’s no guarantee that theirs will be round.

Four, the devs need to be more systematic and disciplined in QA and testing.

I believe most of the problems I have discussed so far stem from inadequate testing. But how can testing be improved? Make it more systematic and more realistic. In the Software Development LifeCycle, you have what is called unit testing. You try each piece of code or each process individually, and then in small combinations with others to make sure that they do what they are supposed to do, without unintended consequences. This is easy to do with a few modules. It’s very hard to do with dozens or hundreds. But there are standardized tools, called test scripts, test plans, and test cases, that help focus on likely problems. For example if you want to make sure that an item has an accelerated rate of decay, you might:

- Have a test character with the item and nothing else run in circles for hours and establish a baseline rate of decay.

- Have the same character with a new instance of the item run through 100 hardlines (25 from each major area) and see if the rate is present, and consistent.

- Have the same character use the teleporters in dungeons 100 times, and see if the rate is present, and consistent.

- Have the same character email the item back and forth 30 times and see if the rate is present, and consistent.

- Have the same character transfer the item to someone else and see if the rate is present, and consistent.

- Have the same character jack in and out a few dozen times with the same item and see if the rate is present, and consistent.

- Have a computer with the same character suddenly lose its network connection or get hard-rebooted a few dozen times, and see if the decay rate is present, and consistent.

- Have a coder decompile and recompile the item 10 or 20 times, and make sure the recreations are all uniform.

Then do the above with other buffed or non-buffed items to establish a real baseline, and make sure it works. Each of the above is a test case. All of them together form a test plan.

Maybe some of these cases are irrelevant, maybe the numbers of test instances are excessive, but you get the idea that you have to test something in as many relevant circumstances as can be imagined, in order to make sure that things go the right way. Monolith did some things along these lines in beta- remember the hordes of numbered little bots that ran around and did things? That was more server load testing, if I recall correctly. And there are many automated test tools available for quality assurance work.

Now, many people reading this will say this is too expensive and too much hassle. I encourage them to review the performance blunders noted above, and reconsider. After all, in life the cost of not testing is all too often much higher than the cost of not testing. Think of the Pinto, the O-Rings, and any number of air crashes.

These approaches will yield a better game. But there is likely no budget for more testers (assuming there are any!). But who needs more paid testers when they have us?

How can the community help? If SOE ever re-establishes a QA server, we need to invest serious time on it. But simply having us all transfer our characters over there is of limited value. A flood of 50s tells the devs nothing about how low, intermediate, and developing levels experience any proposed changes, and they are the new markets the game must cultivate. I’m willing to roll up a new character for this (named prettyprettyprincess), and I hope others are as well.

So I would like to challenge the devs to prepare tasks for us on the QA server. Try new abilities in various combinations. Try new items in various actions and combinations. Try new mishes individually and with groups. Try emailing this and that. Etc. In essence, simply opening a QA server will not yield the input the devs need, They need a more disciplined, systematic approach to QA. There is likely no budget for a flood of testing staff (even timeshared with other SOE games), but careful and constructive use of the user community can achieve much the same effect.

This might all sound negative, so let me hasten to say they have done some things well. The Halloween stuff, very tightly focused, went very smoothly. And the Pandora’s Box mish arcs have been well-planned, imaginatively conceived and written, and not unbalancing at all. Grats grats to all involved, for showing that it can be done! There has clearly been some QA success in MxO; we can only hope that some best practices are percolating through the rest of the game team.

Conclusions:

Devs need more time ingame. Serious time!

QA has been dismal, and needs a radical re-think.

QA needs to be systematic and disciplined.

The QA server is a fabulous opportunity but it must also be used in a systematic manner.

This will avoid past calamities, enhance dev control and contribute to excellence in execution. What’s not to like?

Note: this and other SugarShacks are available on my MxO blog at: manifoldmischief.blogspot.com

Message Edited by sugaree on 11-24-2005 11:21 AM

Long, long before my turn at beta ever came up, I used to peruse the MxO site regularly, studying every word that Tyndall wrote about Megacity and its inhabitants. I longed to learn more of the Library and its books that would open portals to realms unknown, and dreamed of indenturing myself to the Librarian to learn his secrets. (To this day, I believe the construct access books were originally intended to be obtained from him, not some random bookstore.) Others too, caught my fancy in those dark days of ignorance, illuminated only by my imagination. The foremost of these was Lotus, sultry songstress of the International.

Tyndall herself admitted to fascination with Lotus and her haunting slogs; I daydreamed of meeting her on missions and talking to her, imagining myself sitting in the tea house, sipping Formosa Oolong, intoxicated with her melodies, perhaps studying the Librarian’s mysteries… Oh, what a rush it was, like reading Keats while listening to Enya or something!

Alas, I got into beta, stayed with the game for more than a year, and never had either opportunity. The Librarian is nowhere to be seen, and until very recently, Lotus was merely a cut-out for Tyndall. And when she turned up at The Jade Room (Jurong, -120, -6, -199) recently, I could not bring myself to talk to her initially, so great was the inner burden of my expectation. But speak to her I did, and give me critical missions she did. I report on them below. This was a very special occasion for me.

Mish 01: Carry a Tune

This is fairly straightforward; I was tasked with carrying a music CD from Bouzerah to Minnie. Minnie, it turns out, has been seriously injured during a fight with enemies of Lotus, and _needs_ the power of Lotus’ compositions, Track 9 in particular, which possess a healing effect. This is a very creative idea; it would be good to see more done with imaginative notions like this.

Mish 02: Change of Tune

In this mish, initially quite similar to the first, you recover an illegal copy of Lotus’ music from a server and take it to someone who needs its palliative effects. However, this copy has been tainted, so instead of healing it does something quite different! You must stop it before too much harm is done. This time, Lotus is angry! And who wouldn’t blame her? It’s as if you put on a CD labeled Tracey Chapman, and out comes Eminem!

Mish 03: Dissonance

You plant a bug (perhaps using the Sony rootkit!), and then find the thieves who have stolen the mix. You find them and get the tape. But others need its healing immediately, and you must quickly get it to them.

Mish 04: Suicide Notes

Lotus has heard of some experimental work being done with the neural network effects of music, and needs you to obtain some samples for her. These are then delivered to some other appreciative exiles, who don’t show the congenial response you might expect.

Mish 05: Crescendo

This mish must be a record industry executive’s fantasy. Together with a team of Lotus’ operatives, you must overcome a group which has been pirating Lotus’ work. “You’re the only one I can count on” Lotus breathlessly told me. There was a crunch with Blood Drunks, and many a /throat gesture. Them, when the tape has been put on, one burly Elite Guard blurts “I like flowers” (apparently some mods in some games take their inspiration from the elite guards- go figure!). In addition to eliminating the pirates, you must reboot their server. Then everything is done and Lotus can stop worrying about people leaking modified versions of her music to the Internet, which makes the world safe for rootkits on CDs!

At the end the cryptic Lotus gushed to me, “You’ve exceeded my expectations again, Sugaree. There’s something special about you, I just cannot put my finger on it”. I wish I could say the same about this suite of missions. Granted, my expectations were so inflamed with anticipation that perhaps no one could have satisfied me. But more feedback from Lotus during the mishes would have been nice. And more backstory would have been nice: why people were stealing her music, what her goals were, her relations with other exiles, etc. The textual allusions to music, mostly in the mission titles, were witty. If the designers had actually, you know, _used_ some special music for these mishes (just two or three five-second segments), the effect would have been delightful. Also, since the story brims with parallels to the music industry’s efforts to squelch music sharing, some more direct allusions, ironic or heartfelt, would have been good.

One logical objection to all this is that Lotus could simply have emailed her music to any and all who needed it. Perhaps she was worried about network traffic analysis, and wanted the human touch to minimize the chances of detection. But making excuses for mission features is outside the scope of this review.

This and other SugarShack posts may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com

Argon is located near a bar on one of the upper floors of Club Duality, in Kedemoth (587/181/-913). Sugar Shack readers know him well, from my reports on the mish suites for Beryl (his girlfriend) and Anti-M (his rival), but when I approached the young-looking, demanding Exile, he did not seem to know of my past. He accepted me as a hired gun, and immediately gave me work against the very people who had recently employed me. I felt a vague twinge of conscience, sure, but work is work. His mishes were nothing out of the ordinary, and I kept thinking that more could have been done to liven them up and make them interesting. But perhaps the bland mishes are meant to reflect the bland simple malice of their sponsor. Well, it’s a charitable interpretation!

1. Bug the Broad

When we meet Argon for the first time, he tells us, “Listen up, Sugaree. I heard you been helping the other Exiles; well, I’ll let you know right now: you’ve been dealing with chumps. I’m the real deal, right?” And all his mishes underline the image of an aspiring Al Capone, seeking respect and validation. Here, in this first one, we must plant a bug in Beryl’s network because Argon worries about her and Anti-M (as well he should!). The entry and execution is straightforward, and at the end, as I was counting my info, he burst out, “You actually did it? Ahh, I mean, yeah, great work there, Sugaree!”. Thank for the confidence, bro!

2. The Phone List

Argon informs me at the outset that he worries that Beryl has been two-timing him. The distrustful gangster wants to know about Beryl’s social circle and socializing, which requires you to retrieve a copy of her contact list. Most people would hack for this, no? But Argon wants the personal touch, and perhaps some intimidating visuals as well. Otherwise, a break-and-enter. Having done all the mishes for Beryl and Anti-M, I could have just told him, but figured it would be better for him to find out for himself.

3. Dig Up Something Good

Exile Digger is on Argon’s blacklist, and your task is to steal three files from him. Not all the files are obviously accessible, but otherwise the mish is a standard break-and-enter. This is a notable mish because it is the only time we learn of Argon’s connections with other major Exiles. Tragically, we cannot read the contents of the files, and I was left dying to know what was in them. Argon’s praise – “Hey, that’s great, Sugaree. Top job.” – did little to satisfy my consuming curiosity.

4. Sending a Message.

Argons continues to feel the need to assert his disapproval of his rival. This time, he asks you to assault one of her offices and kidnap a beancounter. For this he wants someone who cannot be traced, and that’s you. Plus, Argon informed me, “he’s just a pencilneck and he knows better than to cross someone like you.” Yeah! What he said! This is an escort mish, and you have to keep your ward alive. It took me more than one try.

5. Set Her Up The Bomb

Now it’s time to “get serious” with Anti-M, says Argon. He then tasks you with planting a bomb in one of Anti-M’s operation centers. Nothing mind-bending: you travel there, deal with some guards, and plant the explosive.

These mishes are straightforward, bread-and-butter. We learn little of the relations among the exiles other than from his suspicions. And though Argon clearly styles himself “the real deal”, it’s not clear at all who he works with or against. It might be that these five mishes were originally viewed as preliminary, and once I had proven my worth from small domestic chores, he would accept me into the operations of his professional activities. But this has not come to pass. Basically, he seems like a thug. In essence, Argon’s mishes are lightly-adapted standard mishes, still a diversion from the standard ones while helping people powerlevel.

What could have made these even more enjoyable? Well, I had already done the mishes for his girlfriend and rival before contacting him. If the AI detected this and reflected this in its responses, it would be even better. More of a departure from the standard mish format would have been nice. More on Digger and the contents of the files would have wonderful. And some responses from Argon reflecting his surroundings in Club Duality would have been great, something like inviting me to have a drink, talking expansively about his business, etc. Standing impassively in the purple mists of Club Duality, he could have styled himself like the Merv, etc.

This review maybe found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.

I wanted to go and retrieve some of my excellent old posts from the beta archives and now cannot find them! (the archived forums that is) Could some kind soul please direct me to their current location?

If this has been covered previously, apologies in advance.

The Coroner

In past mishes I worked with gangsters and two-timers. With cold-hearted killers and hot-blooded flirts. But nothing prepared me for The Coroner. He stands out on the street in BaldwinHeights (-179/19/433) waiting for you to do his bidding. He looks like a butcher taking a smoke break, with the apron and the dour, fish-eye look. And he doesn’t make small talk. Other Exiles, like Beryl, always seemed to be by my side, offering insights and praise. Not so the Coroner. I ran his missions on hard, and found they lived up to the name. In fact, the first mission of his was one of the scariest times I’ve ever experienced in this game. More on this later.

1. Knock, Knock

For some Mengelian experiments, the Coroner requires rare materials. Unfortunately, these must be extracted from corpses. Worse, as he sheepishly admits, “these cadavers are not yet dead. Well then on your way.” All for science! The first target is a retired policeman with many elite guard friends; Devastation Field helped a lot here. The second is a 51+ level blood noble, an ancient guy who does not go kindly into the night. After these exhausting fights, the final hit, on a bunch of dog pounders, seems like a walk in the park. This mish features very hard fights, and lots of running around. And I have to admit that I did not feel happy about what I had done at the end. Maybe it’s cuz he didn’t pay all that well.

“Knock, knock” also has the distinction of being the scariest mish I ever ran in beta; more on this later in a separate installment of Sugar Shack to follow this one.

And maybe a bug remains. I killed the blood noble in one room with a guard. Apparently he had been wandering. Then I wandered into “his” room, saw a random corpse, and only then got the message that he was dead.

2. Falling Into Place

The Coroner specializes in weird science; he lets others handle the details. In this case, two incriminating surveillance tapes must be purloined and erased. These are stored in safes, so access keys must be obtained. This mish features some tough fighting with security folks. And not all that much running around, unlike the first one. Now, back in beta, this mish was famously bugged, and it is a serious pleasure to finally have everything running so smoothly. Our endless bug reports were not in vain, everyone!

3. The Last Time (significance of the name is not clear)

His lab is under attack (perhaps relatives of his subjects from the first mish?) and you need to stop it. At “Hard”, you are up against eight or so three-chevron Level 51s, who have awesome viral resistance. This maxed-out hacker died several times. We learn the story of their leader: Crow, a captain who left Zion to take up a mercenary’s life, apparently in the service of the Merovingian. She offers you a chance to walk away from this with no hard feelings; of course I spurned her gesture and slew her. There was much fighting in this mish and not all that much loot. And by the time you’re level 50, what do xps matter? So as I stood amidst the carnage, I was left with little except the satisfaction of making the world safer for the Coroner, a wan pleasure indeed.

4. The Plan

One of his journals has been stolen by Hypatia, and the Coroner wants you to get it back from her storehouse before its encryption is broken. This involves substantial fighting, after which the encrypted journal just has to be dropped off. Not bad! Finally one where I don’t feel bad about winning!

5. Payback

Like every affronted Exile, the Coroner wants payback. In this case it is a little more imaginative than most. Hypatia will soon in negotiations with The Chef for something, and the Coroner wants to get him a file which will publicly and deeply embarrass her. You must deal with an organization called “The Network” to get the file. Some cute moments. One outspoken bluepill wonders what life is like in our world. Another claims to be the real brains behind a world-famous chef and her TV show. Finally, after much running around for substantial distances, the “meddlesome bookworm” has been dealt with.

And that’s it! No praise, no thanks, no nothing. Your patron barely glances at you as he returns to his bizarre researches. So, The Coroner’s mishes are not for the faint or heart or the weak of level. Completists will seek them out. Anyone loving tough action will enjoy them. And compared to many mishes, I found these quite intense, in tone as well as action. And they contributed to one of my most memorable experiences ever in MxO, as I will explain in the next edition of Sugar Shack.

Note: Special thanks go to my brothers and sisters in arms last night for their help with the last two mishes: Sattakan, Illyria1, Seraya, Roukan, and Blackfir3. They turned bloody drudgery into fun.

This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.

My Scariest Encounter Ever

The creepiest mission contact, bar none, is The Coroner, last seen downtown near BaldwinHeights. And why is he creepy, you ask? Most exiles want money or power or intel, things we can all understand and empathize with. Not him. The Coroner tasks you with killing exiles and innocent bluepills solely to supply him with materials for his experiments. Be careful before taking his missions on; they are not a walk on the dark side, they’re a hyperjump! Only the first mission worked, but it was enough to give me the biggest freakout of my MxO career.

One day I was killin and chillin at BaldwinHeights when I ran into one of the people I admire most, the savvy and generous Lshink, from Children of Zion. He told me about a killer mission from the Coroner that had defeated him several times and invited me along for the fun. How could I turn down a chance like that?

The mission has three parts. Part one required us to seek and kill a retired policeman. His handful of tactical security guards did little to delay two upper-30s players like us. Part three only required us to kill some greyed out (!) gang members.

However, part two required the killing of a Level-50 vampire exile resident in a downtown high-rise. This exile had beaten Lshink before; we approached his office and started talking about how best to take him down.

While we were considering our strategy, he ran out and engaged us (Freakout #1). Together we got him down to 50% before we both died. I returned in and went to wait outside the mission area while Lshink made his way and the death effect wore off. But as soon as I stepped out of the elevator the vampire was waiting for me and immediately engaged me (Freakout #2). After a couple of exchanges I was down to less than 10% hit points, and I staggered into the elevator and headed for the second floor lobby to sit and rest up (no chairs/couches on the ground floor). Lshink was getting another friend, the awesome SthenViper (from the Jokerz) to help. I was okay with that and waited while my red line slowly, slowly crept back.

Suddenly the vampire was in front of me (Freakout #3)! He was fidgeting back and forth, moving to and fro, as though he couldn’t see me clearly. I didn’t dare move. I team-messaged Lshink and SthenViper, who asked me if I knew where the vampire was. “I don’t think finding him will be a problem,” I wrote back.

They were having trouble finding a way up, and I was freaking out as the vampire walked back and forth right in front of me. When he got stuck in a corner, I rose to run and jump down to the ground floor. But as soon as I stood, the vampire was on me; he’d lured me out (Freakout #4)! I fought. I did a little damage. I died. I watched my friends rush in over my dead body. We failed again.

I reconstructed and went back to the high-rise to wait for the team to regroup and my death effect to fade (this was starting to sound familiar!). While I was standing there waiting and looking at my nails, the vampire came charging out of the building and engaged me (Freakout #5)! Flabbergasted, flat-footed, death-effected, I fumbled my defense as he hacked away at me for a third time. In a few seconds I was down to less than 10% hit points, and Lshink rushed in, taking on the fell monster singlehandedly and telling me to get out. From a distance, SthenViper poured hacker fire down. I hyperjumped to a building top to sit for a few seconds, and jumped back down to rejoin the fight as they finished off the uber-vamp. The third mission was an absurd anti-climax.

This second encounter was an absolutely brilliant piece of work. At every turn the vampire was one step ahead of us, and he consistently out-thought us. We only won through sheer mass; we never out-smarted him. Props to the devs for such brilliance. But devs, please remember that brilliance is best in small doses.

Anyone else care to share scariest moments?

This memoir may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.

Sugar Shack 13: Mission Reviews: Hypatia: Sultry Bookworm Gone Nuts!

Over this series we have encountered Hypatia before: she stole journals from The Coroner, and caused trouble for Sister Margaret and The Sculptress by withholding resources. Having seen her handiwork from afar, I decided to explore her first-hand. Unlike many Exiles, Hypatia does not work the streets, looking for rubes and noobs. Instead, she may be found in Chelsea, at 63/-6/-583, in the basement of the dumpy Club Messiah where, like Lotus and Argon, she quietly, watchfully holds court. Appropriately, the streets outside the Club Messiah swarm with bookwyrms. Nice design touch! Some see coincidence; I see purpose.

Shockingly, there was something familiar about Hypatia. The dress, the hair, the specs, the saucy pose…I was flabbergasted! She looked just like me! And maybe this is why I felt drawn to her and her magpie acquisitiveness. She must complain about her inventory too. I felt a connection with her that I have felt with no other Exile contact. Was this coincidence? Or was it providence? Was I meant to do these missions?

1. Past Due

But enough of me! Like so many people, Hypatia lends books and then has trouble getting them back. Of course, she says, it's not like the book is important or anything, it's just, you know, the principle. So she tasks you with getting it back at all costs, killing anyone who resists, and leaving a single Exile as a witness to spread the word. Just, you know, on principle. Every bibliophile out there will warm to this.

In this mish we learn of a rogue group of Exiles who style themselves “The Book Club”. They’re former academics, though you sure couldn’t tell from looking at them. Their leader claims the book is awesomely valuable and rare, and no way is it going back! Well, a polite word and a Devastation Field gets you more than just a polite word. The volume is then returned to another of Hypatia’s flunkies; apparently she does not want you to know its ultimate destination: her kitchen table. The Exiles here have some great lines, and some pathos at the end. A tough, good mish on solo.

2. Thieves in the Night

This mish is deliciously ironic. After recovering a notebook for the Coroner just a few days ago, now I’m tasked with stealing one from him! Hypatia is curious about his “Frankenstein” experiments on reviving bluepills, and would like to study his journal. Along the way, you might as well kill his scientists, she adds as an afterthought. Note to self: stay on her good side.

3. The Wrong Hands

An exile named The Collector has a book with dangerous information; Hypatia tasks you with replacing it with a safer, dumbed-down ersatz copy, and destroying the original.

We pick up the ersatz book from an Exile counterfeiting expert who is currently trying to copy herself. One copy gravely asked us “Do you like pie?” Then Hypatia, apparently as an afterthought, directs us to kill everyone at the site with the book, “to make it look good”. So on we go to slay and mislead for our patroness. But in the end she praises us, saying we have made the Matrix a better, safer place. But be careful to destroy the real book, and place the genuine fake back. Or something like that.

4. Pre-Emptive Action

This mission is uncharacteristically simple. Hypatia has learned of a plan to attack her (so she says, anyway), and directs us to disrupt it. This involves two groups of Exiles, all of whom must be wiped out. Again, carnage and blood; in the end Hypatia is quietly gleeful that her books are safe. Inside a safe, we found a gold coat!

5. In Pursuit of Knowledge

An Exile named Alvarez has infuriated the phlegmatic Hypatia. He not only acquired a rare book of Exile lore which she does not have, the fiend destroyed it before she could read it!! But he memorized the content, or at least all the important parts. We must guide him to a meeting with Hypatia so they can have a conversation about this.

This is more complicated that it seems. When we go to get him, we find he has been kidnapped. Then we fight our way to him, only to discover he has been killed. But Hypatia is nothing if not resourceful, and she will not be denied his knowledge….

Intelligent and bookish though Hypatia is, she seems like one of the easier ones to manipulate. Her thirst for knowledge would be easily kindled and directed against almost anyone. It is best to satisfy her when you run her missions; I would hate for my name to be written down in the wrong book of hers…..

Note: Ages and ages ago, in Beta, Tyndall wrote on the MxO site about one Exile called The Librarian, whose Library included many a rare volume of arcane lore. Today, there seems to be a Library downtown, which is never open. There are many “bookwyrms” but with no known leader. There are certain rare texts for sale which transport you to the constructs. And with Hypatia we have an Exile who will stop at nothing to get books, or get them back. It’s hard not to wonder if in Hypatia we have the debris of The Librarian, recycled for some reason from a major figure downtown into an Exile contact. Why this may have been done is another mystery for the ages. In other Exile contact mission suites, Hypatia is similarly acquisitive, but without this bibliomania focus. At some point she seems to have been re-done. Or perhaps merely progressed in her personal evolution.

Of the various Exiles with their missions some, like Argon, are just self-seeking egos with no depth of their own. On the other hand, ones like Hypatia and the Sculptress are well-characterized with individual motivations, and their mishes have real content. This group is definitely worth doing, and soon!

Many thanks to Sattakan, Illyria1, Ebola, and Roukan, whose help made these missions so enjoyable.

This review maybe found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.

After getting so sucked into Hypatia’s book-lined world last week, I wanted something more detached and less emotional, and sought it in Weaver, who may be found at South Vauxton (-1377, 1, -781). The Weaver has business dealings with the Seamstress, of course, and we should expect Scarlett to figure in this as well! The gentle, aesthetic Weaver starts off strong:

“Sugaree, huh? Never heard of you. And to be honest, I don’t like what I see. I mean, look at those cheap knockoff clothes….but I guess you will have to do”.

As if! One look at her gaudy, gauche, over-colored outfit would make anyone start asking why the pot was calling the kettle black. But I persevered for the sake of you, dear reader.

1. Warp and Weft

The Seamstress will buy some special fabric from her, but she needs silk from The Mothman. And he in turn needs some gang members snuffed. Got that? The attack site is a convenient stone’s throw from her street corner, but the Sleepers are not your average sleepers; they’re way tough. At the end The Weaver sighs, “It takes scum to deal with scum, I guess”, but concludes “Come back soon! I can always use good day labor.” Thanks! I think.

2. Danger Looms

The Weaver needs a critical piece of code for a Loom upgrade she has in mind, but does not want to pay the Pheasant (a local smuggler) for it. You can see where this is going, I’m sure! Two tough fights and a quick upload later, she warmly thanks you, “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it? Maybe next time you can show a little more initiative”. Why do I even bother?

3. To Rose with Love

In this short mish, you pick up silk from a bluepill tasked with holding it for Weave. However, the bluepill dies and you have to go visit his brokenhearted wife. Weaver, as always, is a fountain of sympathy for the lost and struggling: “I wonder what you were like as a bluepill? I can’t even imagine where you’d start in order to rise to your current level of incompetence.” And this for a successful mission!

4. Shuttle Mission

The silk from last mish has not been turning out as planned, and Weave wants you to take a sample for analysis to find out why. It turns out she has made a “novice” mistake, and you need some code to rectify things. This brings you into conflict with the area’s Runners gang, who have an unexplained interest in the code. Witty operator comments.

5. Devil in the Details

Weaver now wants retribution against the Seamstress for canceling an order! Talk about vindictive! This starts with wiping out a safe house for her, and then going to another Seamstress facility to drop off a virus and wipe out her server. She appreciates your work: “Well, it seems that when mindless killing is called for, you’re the person to talk to.”

When this is done, the Weaver has lost her patience with you, and gives you a “trinket” and dumps you unceremoniously. “Quite frankly, you’re a liability”. For my 50th level character, this was some enhanced gloves, suitable for a level 16 character. But it was the thought that counts, I guess. As if!

Overall, these mishes do not have the feeling for a deep storyline as some mishes do. But the missions are all thematically related. The interaction with her is delightfully written, and she comes off as a genuine character. And her missions are all within a small area; no running kilometers in any direction. However on a Hard setting, there were sometimes more Elite Guards than you could shake a stick at, so some company is best. And set your skin for thick, and your ego for strong, if you want to come through this unscathed.

This time I benefited from the ingenuity, companionship, and courage of Zurish, my clanmate.

This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.

Mindful of my first complete year in MxO, I thought I would share some reflections.

I am so grateful to Sattakan, FAE, and everyone who listened to me ramble during my interview to join The Collective. And to the Council Members of that distant time who voted to accept me. I have worked so hard not to disappoint them.

Some memorable things from this year:

1. The beta character wipes. This is my first and only MMORPG, and I felt each one hard.
2. The end of beta. Living and dying with a clan was never so memorable.
3. Working my way into The Collective. It was not an easy process, and I worked at it very systematically, like everything I really want.
4. Setting a former paramour on fire at the end of beta. I'm still sorry for the hassle this created for my clan's elders, but it seemed like the right thing at the time. And I swear I did not read the order to not move!
5. Endless, endless failures in the sexiest/redpill contests.
6. One of my crew, who shall remain nameless, having a meltdown ingame during the summer. It was immensely embarassing, let me tell you.
7. Illyria1 helping me as XO (Executive officer), and then going on to helm her own hovercraft. So richly deserved!
8. The cool people I have gotten to know in and out of the clan.
9. Whispered conversations with LET wannabees like Methusaleh and Nevrosa. They were fake, but they were fun for RPers like me. Thanks, whoever!
10. Helping to architect a truce with the Sirens.
11. Watching twits corrode it, for no good reason whatsoever, except a superabundance of aggressive impulses.
12. Watching the bold entry into our world by a leading machinist clan from Iterator, and its unexpected fate. They came on with a bang!
13. Watching the bold entry into our world by a leading Zionist clan from Iterator, and its cruel, callous treatment of others.
14. All the new people that have seen value in our clan in recent months; I appreciate this so much.
15. RemagDiv signing on as my XO; he's the best, and the perfect one for my ship.
16. The addition of ingame email; the more I use this the more I love it.
17. The Exile Contact Missions; I am really getting into them.
18. The "Search For" events that we worked on.
19. Lots of added content to the game, in the form of the PB arcs, the Halloween stuff, and all the added background for buildings and offices: paintings, furniture, plants, posters, etc. Really, this has come a long way and few people have commented on it, but I savor it.
20. The successful hunt for DummyBug, and then his trying to explain his way out of getting killed and sleeze his way out of paying for it. How typical and characteristic. Too bad Penguin wasn't around then to lock the thread when it got ugly. But somehow we all got by....
21. Going through so many episodes of being called exploiters by everyone, just because we are so good at getting things done. Fortunately, the devs know exploiters when they see them.
22. Doubling Inventory. This was such a small thing but such a wonderful thing.
23. Watching manipulation of players during the Hunt for Morpheus, and working to overcome it.
24. Meeting Persephone and the Merv during mishes. They are such memorable characters, and so clearly superior to anyone associated with Zion or even, I hate to say it, the Machines.
25. Galadriel giving me i300 million one day in Mara in beta.
26. Children of the Code coming to our world, and showing that they could play the game their own way and succeed; I respect them and their creative integrity so much.
27. Seeing my old clan, AE survive (barely), go on to become a longterm success, and field some of the best PvPers in the game, like Carbuncle. I feel so proud for them.
28. Watching RIP go ballistic when a character wipe had been announced, and later when their banning had been announced.
29. All the people who have kept the faith this year and endured, like Sattakan, Illyria1, DeBarlo, Lady3Jane, Traxada, Rage, Sneaker, Ic3b3rg, Baelfor, Kayaus, RemagDiv, MidoriMegami, Orexis, DelDotStar, LtDarkstar, Waspeth, WeasselGirl, Midnight1, Leelu, Zurish, Azyanna, Partizan, and others; I have come to respect them so much for their perseverance.
30. Walrus, who must cater to the community of customers, while satisfying the minions of management and the deities of development, and taking flak from all. It's not an easy job, I'm sure. He should budget himself some more oysters on The Collective's tab.
31. All the player content, from player-events, to comix, to radiostations and MxO DJs. You guys do not receive nearly as much recognition as you deserve, but we all respect you for it immensely.

That's 31. I would hate to leave with a prime number, so here's one more.

32. The cool moon; I should take more time to appreciate it.

This review may be found at manifoldmischief.blogspot.com, along with other reviews and writings relevant to MxO.

Message Edited by sugaree on 12-10-2005 04:24 PM

Message Edited by sugaree on 12-10-2005 04:26 PM

Maybe I am missing something, but some items seem just totally useless.

Has anyone here ever used Holy Water against a Succubus or anyone else?

Has anyone ever used a Stake against a foe rather than a Devastation Field, Code Nuke, or Bulldog?

Has anyone found off-label uses for these?

Can anyone think of other items which could be dispensed with?

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.

10:03 AM

MxO is full of things happening. Player events. Wars at Mara. QA mayhem. Clan mergers. People gin up controversy about trivia and players leave in disgust. Who wants be assaulted every day by the latest charges of exploiting and trashtalk? We need to have clear strategic goals for ourselves if we are not to be distracted by provocations such as this. In the past my clan, The Collective, has let itself be distracted by twits and trivia, to our chagrin. Here are some suggestions that help us keep our eyes on the goal.

We need to remember what makes a clan great in this game. We need to look at these and ask ourselves how we are striving for excellence. Responding to baiting from perpetual foes (and I know I have been on rare occasions guilty of indulgence in these areas) will not earn leadership. Other things will. I can think of eight, and talk a little bit about them below. Clan greatness comes from these factors, and yes, I will include PvP. Naturally, this is not to say that every clan needs every one of these to be great. It’s just that if a clan has no more than one or two of these, its days may be numbered.

1. Longevity. We must be around to be acknowledged. We must last and have steady inflow of new blood to replace those who are repulsed by Brewko or burn out or are overcome by life. This seems obvious, but some clans I considered great at one time have fallen by the wayside. A clan must attract new blood by being present ingame and by presenting itself well in the forums and other venues I explore below. Hint: endless trashtalk is a sign of Tourette’s Syndrome, not greatness.

2. PvP. PvP is not necessary to being a great clan, as The Sirens and The Devil’s Advocates have demonstrated. It can, in fact, contribute to being a scummy clan, as RIP and dolts the world over have shown. However, PvP, to contribute to greatness, must show a clan at its best. Otherwise it’s just a bunch of banzai kamikaze wannabees (i.e., zergs) which does not reflect well on a clan. It seems like many of us have made progress in this respect. But we all need more practice, planning, and discipline. And trashtalking your adversaries to bait them into hating you to fight you…enjoy it while you can, ‘cuz when you start middle school, it stops being cool.

3. Diversity. Some clans attract nothing but PvPers and people who want to be feared and hated. I say, let them have the violent and the insecure! A great clan satisfies many types of people. If people as different as Nanohaxial and Seraya have been satisfied in TC, then we have truly been successful because we have a broad base of talents. If we have different types of people, we will attract different types of people, and earn the respect of different types of people. If we are nothing but a PvP clan, we are weaker than we need be. If we are nothing but a role-play clan, we are weaker than we need be.

4. Community Events. Also, Story Events. When a clan organizes community events, as the Sirens and the Kings of Never and Fallen Horizon have done so well, and when others even just participate in them, we show we care about the community and reaching out to others. Others appreciate this. This is one way The Sirens have been so successful, even though they hardly ever PvP, and don’t even obsess very much about levels. Yet they are a great clan. The more community events a clan attends and sponsors, the better off it is. As someone once said, the only thing worse than being seen and talked about is not being seen and talked about.

5. Classiness of Members and Their Posts. Compare posts by various people on the MxO forums. Who’s articulate? Who’s worth reading? People judge clans by their words. What do ours on the forums say about us? Silence is not an option, or someone else’s blather will be all people see. Few people from jerk clans post in the forums. Even fewer post intelligently. My own clan is blessed with some great posters, like Lucen, Sattakan, Garutachi, Melt, and Calliente. Other clans have great posters, like Symmetric, Alicethepattern and Ic3b3rg. Just really impressive. In posts I work to craft a distinct style of speech (except when I’m mad) because it contrasts so much with 3l33tspeak. It helps us to stand out and be different. Stupidfly did this too, of course, but in the opposite direction, “keeping it gangsta”. What this lacked in classiness is compensated for in the next item on the list.

6. Name Recognition. There is no such thing as bad publicity. Well, maybe that’s not completely true, but you can see what I mean.

7. Recognition from the Devs. How many clans have achieved this? Fallen Horizons certainly has! Midnight’s name is hard-wired into the game! Upstream’s alter ego, Downstream, appears in numerous missions. Few others have achieved this. This is one of the most sublime forms of greatness: recognition and affirmation by the gods. I’m not sure how to achieve this, and hope that Midnight can enlighten us.

8. Community Service. Contributing back to the community takes many forms. Think of all the radio stations rocking away out there. The great writeups many people have done on CR 2,0, attributes, and abilities. My neighborhood exile mission reviews. Weaselgrrl’s countless, creative, witty posts. DrippingCheese’s witty posts and sigs. Kings of Never’s great events. These are all examples of giving back. Ages ago, helping new players was a big thing; when we have more new players I hope this returns as well.

Each of us has skills and energy, as do our crews. If we choose to, we can focus them in areas which achieve and demonstrate greatness. If we focus on these areas, others will froth and foam, but in impotent insignificance. If we reduce ourselves and become a one-strength clan like they are, we will lose all pretence to greatness.

Most important for every leader and captain here, we must CHOOSE which strengths to enhance for our clan. We MUST NOT choose by reaction and in effect become what someone else chooses for us. In the case of The Collective, some adversary clans seek to reduce us to PvP rag dolls. But there is much more to us and to our clan than this. We are absolutely stupid if we only become what someone else wants us to be. Everything begins with choice, and leaders must choose the types and routes to greatness which best suit their clans.

I held off for months on making this post available outside the clan, since thinking along these lines can give immense strategic advantage over others. But at this point I think we are all better served by numerous strong, great clans, and I share this in that spirit.

The party with the Effectuator last week was cool, light-hearted, and fun, not things I always associate with Recursion. In particular, I was struck by Ps10n's classy, community-building shout-outs, welcoming one and all, including any visiting members of the press. It came off so well, and so polished.

My compliments. And I hope I got his name right.