To be clearer, I am disappointed. I really enjoy what they are doing and where they want to go (getting rid of the duality Amarr/Caldari vs Gallente/Minmatar). I am just disappointed how all of this is handled. Do we really want to get rid of TonyG approach or what ? All I see here is the exact same story pattern and tropes, with big explosions and empires invading each other and CONCORD doing nothing (have they turned into some kind of UN joke at some point by the way ?). The only difference is that we do not have superweapons, for now. For that, I am grateful.
I can accept a hell of a big event like the battle for Caldari Prime once of twice. It reminds us that Eve is epic, and they needed something like this for the Dust side of CP. I have difficulties to cope with that kind of things twice or more in a single month. If you want an armageddon just go full scale war between every empire and turn New Eden into ashes, it will make more sense. What I loved in Eve primary setting was its dark, convoluted and grey politics, plots, and cultural skirmishes. Before TEA we didn't have all that... "hollywood" stuff with big and shiny explosions everywhere, with official navies clashing like if it was ok and then slapping each other in the back and saying "it was good fun, let's do it again in the future shall we ?". It was a lot more subtle, be it Tetrimon, Doriam assassination, the campaign in the Bleaks, etc.
Also, what is it with assassinations attempts ? It is like we have the storyline going all Anders Breivik at every opportunity. Heth, Midular, Doriam and I am probably forgetting other ones as well. One of two, maybe, but two in a row... I think it's the most common plotline just before the usual random terrorist attack.
I understand that live events need pew pew - not that sure of that actually, it could also involve industry and exploration and various other stuff as well - but please, not always to that scale. It completely breaks suspension of disbelief eventually.
For the leaders : - Jamyl is the worst character by far in my opinion. Even if our characters are not supposed to know all the zombie things that are behind, we the players, do. We see the character in more or less a full light and it's not pretty. She is probably beyond repairs, unlike Midular. Just get rid of her, and why not bringing change ? Change is good, as long as it remains credible and does not break suspension of disbelief. The Amarr Empire has not really been hurt and not much has to be salvaged, so that's mostly a character issue.
- Heth is not a bad character I think. Not sure for you all but I almost pity him. I do not find him completely 2 dimensional and even with all the "Hethler" tropes around him, I find him to be a modest, naive, abrasive forklift syndic that eventually do stupid things because he is not very smart, but still has qualities as a character. With his disease behind, it gives him depth and explains a lot the struggle of the base caldari worker. CCP could even put the emphasis on that specific point someday, it could prove interesting in the harsh, corporate world of the Caldari State. Quite similarly, the disassociated, too. The issue is not Heth, the character himself, the issue is that TEA really disfigured the State, the faction (quite the opposite of the Amarr Empire imo). Where it could have turned into a struggle between social classes in the State, something without any precedent, we had instead the rise of Hethler and the Hethlerjugend. I am not going to expand on this as we have already had countless discussions about how the State got harmed in the process. I would also like that they flesh out a little every CEO of the major megas. It could give a lot to players of KK, Lai Dai, Ishukone, etc, to identify themselves to.
- Roden. I am mostly fine with him, but I would really like to see more of him. His corporate interests, his lobbying, or anything. I would expect him to be very shady as a president. I would also like to hear back of Foiritain. As much as like Midular he fell in disgrace, he can still wield a lot of political power. It is definitly not unheard of and actually quite common to see politicians stained by various scandals to get popular again and win elections. Recently I heard a politics expert speaking about that phenomenon (about
Gaston Flosse recent affair), calling them political phoenixes, even corrupt, fallen, or whatever, they can get back in force because people will sometimes think that even with their flaws, they were better than the new ones. I would also like to hear again of other political figures like Celes Agard. If there is something we never hear about, it's the Federal Senate. That's not big explosions everywhere, and that's a central part of gallentean politics, so, where is the damn Senate ? Why are we hearing a lot of about Amarrian heirs, but not political opponents for the Fed ?
- Shakor. I am fine with him, but like Roden, would like to know a little more of him. He remains very superficial for now. And since the Midular case, he sure made the Republic look like fools to the eyes of everybody else. Difficult times ahead for the Republic on intergalactic politics. I also hope they will continue to flesh out all the tribal leaders.
- Minor factions : still completely lost in the mist. For now we only get major faction vs another major faction, except on the Amarrian side where for now, it's internal (and that's very appreciated). I know that we already had a discussion on this, and that it's still the beginning of everything so we have to give them time, which I agree. What I do not like however, is that they choose a plotline and a few main actors, and they stick to them until the end. For example, in the Midular case, we had Shakor and Roden, and nobody else. In the CP battle, we had Roden/Blaque, Heth, and Yanala. And that's it. Even if the plot is going to span over months, always the same characters. Nobody else enters in the spotlight, even if that's for a few days only. And that's my grief precisely, because that would be the exact good thing to do to involve minor factions without creating whole stories just for them.
AddendumWorking myself in a similar position IRL, I have to admit when I read the forums it often makes me smile to read people speculating or speaking about things, since often they do not have all the pieces of the puzzle to figure it out and often speak a little out of ignorance, which is expectable. You often want to tell them that they got it wrong because if only they knew this or that...
So yes, maybe I got it all wrong because I do not see the full picture yet. I am just worried and well, not enjoying the plot to its fullest since the last events.
Author
Topic: Republic/Federation skirmish: Colelie (Read 7513 times)