NOTE: This villain used to be called "The Assistant", but on Jan 3, 2013 it was revealed that this was... misinformation and her name is really "Miss Information". Oh, the puns! So, be forewarned and don't be confused by a thread that refers to a villain by an old name.
So... anyone out there planning on running to their friends and saying, "Oh man, you GOTTA back this Kickstarter! I mean, we just hit a new reward level, and now we get to fight the superhero's executive assistant! Wicked!"? ;)
My wife thinks the new villain is creative, but I think you still need to leaven your creativity with awesomeness. This villain seems to have plenty of the former and be a bit lacking in the latter...
(I know an Assistant discussion has already started in one of the other many jumbled topics all related to the Kickstarter, but it's getting hard to find things, so I thought I'd separate this one out into its own thread).
This is the promo Villain - the Awesome, Epic, fear-inspiring ones will be those in the expansion (or I hope so).
We also have to remember that we know nothing but her name, picture, backstory and unflipped description -nothing about her game play. She is not the most awe-inspiring villain at first sight, but she may be our worst nightmare when we'll play against her :) Let's hope we'll know more about her gameplay (and the game play of each deck in the expansion) as we reach new updates...
But I agree that, right now, she is not an easy sell, but as a reward for fans, I think she works, by adding more backstory to the Freedom Five - and more drama.
I will say that, as of right now, the expansion has some absolutely epic, awesome, and brutal villains with some amazing new mechanics. I expect similar from The Assistant
I will preface all my statements by admitting that I hated the Argent Adept when I first saw him because I thought his name, costume, and concept were weak, but I've grown to enjoy him quite a bit. When I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Still, it seems like even if The Assistant were changed to be Kid Freedom, a sidekick who had the exact same thing happen to him (died in the future, went back to his past self to do... something), we'd have something along the lines of Syndrome from The Incredibles, and the awesome factor would be raised considerably.
Seriously though, if there end up to be one-shots where the villain deals (H-1) heroes coffee damage, or they get stuck doing filing and so have to skip their turn, I'll be very sad.
I'll be the first to admit that I was skeptical when I saw the Assistant. I've come to terms with her now and look forward to playing her. I just hope we can hit that extra environment.
Yeah, my initial thoughts were "How the heck is this going to work?" But when you think about it, this entry made second place. Here's the thing: I've seen a ton of good entries on the other threads that had awesome gameplay mechanics and terrifying villains to boot. So basically, I see it like this: The Assisant's level of terror is going to come from her deck. I think she's going to be holding people hostage, and sabotaging our things before we go out into battle.
Essentially, this villain is going to be all about themeing and story. She has decided to take revenge on the heroes, and she plans it out carefully. The battle against her is going to take place after she's done everything she needs to. So while we're tracking down this crazed-woman, suddenly, all of our equipment fails! She had prepared for that before she went off, possibly seeking out those five people we saved instead of her and killing them. She might be like Spite; tracking down victims like those five people (or even the heroes' families), but instead of a drug-powered killer, she'll just be a venegeful, unexpected killer.
When we're attacking her, we're not actually blasting her with fire or punches--we're tracking her down while she exacts whatever revenge she has planned.
Like I said: if this got second place, she's got to have something wicked in store, but she's hiding it very well.
I was quiet about it on the main thread since I had little to add, but I guess I can voice my opinion here since it is a thread dedicated to a mostly unknown villain.
Basically I wont go running to my friends and tell them about the new villain until I know what the gimmick is. I'm guessing she has intimate knowledge about the heroes, therefore she has very specific ways of dealing with them. Basically I'm hoping for something mechanically similar to Heist, a popular villain submission who was able to subdue heroes by changing their past.
I can picture the assistant messing with equipment, dampering powers and attacking heroes where they are vulnerable, since she knows their identities and weaknesses. Also I will pay an extra $1 if she suits up in Bunker Armor at some point... lol...
Seriously though, if there end up to be one-shots where the villain deals (H-1) heroes coffee damage, or they get stuck doing filing and so have to skip their turn, I'll be very sad.
Are you kidding, that sounds hilarious! Even better: skip your turn and sort your deck by card title in alphabetical order, and it hangs out as an ongoing that gives you "POWER: destroy this card to shuffle your deck."
Not every villain needs to be Apostate. Having a handful of less-serious comic relief type villains would be a good thing, IMO. Especially with all the crazy elseworlds-ish time bending stuff going on in ST, and with how heavy some of the other themes of the expansion are. There's a lot of comedy in the flavor text, but we haven't seen a really outlandish funny villain until now.
Plus, $5 says her flip side has her maniacally flipping out and it does look classically villainous. And suitably awesome.
Since her dying actually is in the future, maybe part of her plan is to kill those 5 people so she doesn't die in the future. That could be her victory mechanic possibly.
But I assume she'll have cards that send the heroes into a trap unprepared, has their equipment fail (some destroy equipment and possibly ongoing cards), counters their powers by knowing their weaknesses (no powers for a turn type card). Maybe her deck could include some of the typical planted evidence that turns the city against a hero? She probably will be immune to damage until revealed, then have low HP to represent her being a not so super villain.
All this assuming is my problem in a nutshell. It's not obvious why this villain is awesome, so people have to assume there's probably some as-yet-unrevealed reason why she'll be awesome. I want to believe, but am not quite there yet.
Do you have some reason, without assuming, to know that La Capitain will be awesome? To back a game early, you have to be trusting that the devs will do a good job, and from the Sentinels games I've played, they've earned the right to be a bit more off the wall (particularly with a non-core promo character).
Oh, and to avoid another A(E)mbuscade moment, if "La Capitain" is supposed to be French it should be "La Capitaine", if it is Spanish or in reference of swashbuckling it should be "La Capitan" (with an accent on the last a).
It is spanish, and it is 'La Capitán.' (Or, at least, I'm assuming it is, with any lack of accent due to the "complexity" involved with writing one with an American English keyboard. Or maybe it's just because accents aren't cool anymore.)
About the Assistant…I think it's cool to have such a variety of villains. You can go from a rampaging sentient robot factory to an alien warlord from another planet/galaxy, to a woman in a feathery mask who makes zillions of birds appear. If you think about it, the Matriarch doesn't look that threatening when she's just standing there. It's only when the skies darken that you start worrying, eh? The Assistant probably acts mainly through employing a variety of Sneaky Bastard tactics. And I bet she has/does something that really kicks arse :P.
Oh, something that's been bugging me about the Matriarch - why is she Tachyon's Nemesis? I re-read her biography in the Rook City booklet yesterday but it doesn't give any mention. As far as I can remember, all the other Nemeses make sense (eg Ra versus all the other Egyptian gods), or their reason for hating each othe is given in their bios. But the Matriarch has Tachyon's symbol on her card, yet neither references the other in their bios…well, Tachyon was around before the Rook City expansion came out, of course, so the Matriarch didn't exist then. But still…
I can't remember where I read it, but I seem to recall seeing it mentioned that The Matriarch and Tachyon are cousins. So The Matriarch kept hearing from her parents about why she can't be more like her successful scientist cousin.
Do you have some reason, without assuming, to know that La Capitain will be awesome?
I feel comfortable assuming that a time-travelling pirate will be awesome. Even if her mechanics turn out to not be awesome, her concept already is. If there's something awesome about The Assistant (even the name puts me to sleep), we have yet to see it.
Maybe her mechanics will make her the most incredible villain ever, but if potential customers don't get past the bland packaging to find out how great your product is inside, that's a fail. I want everything this company does to be awesome both outside and in so that it has the greatest possible chance at success.
Wow, three answers all at once, lol. Where does it say that, though? Was it posted on the forum somewhere? People seem to know a lot more about these characters than is given in their bios, so presumably more info has been released at earlier times (ie, before I joined this forum ;)) which the longer-standing members are more aware of. I can't even remember most of the heroes' real names ;).
The Assistant probably acts mainly through employing a variety of Sneaky Bastard tactics. And I bet she has/does something that really kicks arse :P.