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Question about Masteria Through Time
So in the first act, the NLC mayor was telling Foxwit that he doesn't need to know what he's planning, and Foxwit also says he has a surprise for the mayor. I thought at first this was a foreshadow to the mayor's later importance to the plot but we never saw him again. Also, what's up with the thief girl Lireni? Why did she run away?
Comments
I could be wrong (or remembering incorrectly) but think the Foxwit/Mayor part of the dialogue related to NLC content with the Alien Invasion (either pre or post) and doesn't hold significance now.
Think she ran away because in order to destroy the Antellion, they would have to sacrifice their lives and I don't think she wanted to die? (Again could be remembering wrong.)
The part with Mayor Slinm and Foxwit had nothing to do with aliens, but never amounted to anything anyway. As for Lireni, she was too cowardly to sacrifice herself (contradicting the original lore but I digress).
I disagree,
Although I will admit that the storytelling was not flawless.
The way I saw it, is that Masteria through time wanted to cover a lot of ground but did not always fill in the gaps all the way or when the blockbuster did manage to answer a question, it often led to more questions.
The part with Lireni was not explicitly explained but was left open to interpretation. This could be for some unknown future reason or it could indeed be bad writing. The audience does not know for certain.
The exchange between the Professor and the Mayor was a little different. Lots of people like to imagine their elected leaders as honest and good and stuff but what if they were not? Like adding a dose of conspiracy theory into NLC? Although even so, I would still like to believe the Mayor was just being secretive rather than nefarious. I could say the same for Foxwit, in this scene he has no problems as long as he still gets paid. But if the Mayor tries something fishy then the professor might just have a few surprises of his own.
Mostly the feeling I got was the blockbuster could be a good launching point for any sequels/ prequels or future developments for Masteria, if it ever came up again. We could say that the story could have done more but it is already on the long side. (and I was just happy to find out about Crimsonheart and ancient Krakia)
That was my take away at least.
To me, the story came across at bad fanfiction. You know how some people despise the Star Wars prequels, I'm certain; that's how I feel about this storyline. I say this because there are huge contradictions between Masteria's original lore and the blockbuster. For example:
The original lore also mentioned that Subani and Naricain were opposing forces since before Crimsonheart was born, and that Subani was the one who rose the entire continent in present day, trusting Icebyrd Slimm to take care of it (and thus, he has to stay on the continent for the rest of his life). In the blockbuster, all of them are the adoptive children of Crimsonheart, and Subani is killed by the second act, leading to a massive plothole regarding the return of the continent.
I also don't recall Lukan being a grandmaster (though I admittedly could be wrong about this one), but I know for sure the NPCs were not all Versalian.
And even when not considering the original lore, there are other issues with the story.
I get what they were trying to pull with Mayor Slimm, but they should have either saved that for possibly the end/later in the story, or not dropped it entirely, since it was clear they weren't going to continue on this lore again, considering Nexon forgot to re-release CWKPQ 2 years in the future, as opposed to "later this year".
As for Dr. Jang, everyone in the present acts like she's crazy/delusional for wanting to search for Naricain, when the Barricade brothers have devoted years to researching the keep and knowing that he did exist. The attempt to make Dr. Jang a sympathetic character fell flat ("Nobody loved me when I was growing up, I was all alone"), because of how cliched it was.
Also, a couple minor nitpicks: at the end of Act 3, no matter what choice you pick, you end up with the same result: Dr. Jang saying "I respect your choice" and attacking you. I know it changes the rewards, but the outcome of the story is the exact same otherwise. The Phantom Forest also didn't exist in the past, as it was called Crimsonwood Forest, while the "Phantom" came from all the trees becoming possessed. And what's the purpose of making the Lukan in Phantom Road into "Nameless Warrior"? We know it's him, and there's no reason for him to hide his identity at this point.
I'm not going to hold it against you if you like it, but I can't bring myself to agree.
As for the blockbuster itself, I have my gripes with it, but it honestly didn't feel as grandiose as the other blockbusters. It also didn't have a major boss battle like the rest; instead you just fight Dr. Jang on a robot and that's it, no epic boss battle (especially none that would become unlocked afterward, like Lotus/Damien).