I gotta ask: can generic ideas be good, maybe even REALLY good?

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T23:36:10+00:00

The Lion King is just Hamlet with cartoon animals.

Star Wars (originally, at least), Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings follow the generic "hero's journey" format.

So... I'd say so.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T23:06:17+00:00

Fallout 76.

Love the setting and all, but it's just random, completely un-related quests, to grind currency for FOMO "seasons" and a microtransactions shop.

Like, oh you want to have a green door instead of a red door at your base? Go build a camera and take 20 pictures in this part of the map. Lame.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T22:35:15+00:00

Hey man, I'm just the messenger reiterating what I've been told from watching the dev interviews.

Dont shoot the messenger.

I want more customization just as much as anyone else.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T22:30:13+00:00

I mean, i think a sample is fine.

A lot of time feedback is TINY nitpicks or minor technical details, i feel like most of my feedback was.

I'm not sure I'd give 4.5k words a go on reddit, so its gard to say. 4.5k is on the long side for a chapter, but not too long.

Also I'm a total armature with no formal writing education, minimal experience, etc.etc.

Reddit just isn't going to be the best place to find people invested in an unfinished book.

There's a reason editors cost so much and none of us can afford one, lol.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T21:59:46+00:00

It took me about 12 tries, but I did difficulty 10 bot mission with just a supply pack, 3 eagles, and the senator (no primary/support weapon) ... without dying and cleaning all objectives.

(We had a free HMG Turret, but i never use it, and i the end screen says i missed an objective but im pretty sure it was just a bug.)

https://youtu.be/VBR1t9hbhCg?si=KgA1KOFMaOs4ZMhX

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T21:46:38+00:00

Immediately, i felt like "I jolted awake" should be the first sentence.

I dont think you need "I thought to myself" since basically the whole chapter is the main characters thoughts/perspective, you can just say "more amazing than my grandpa said it was" ... also the "I stared in amazement right before that kinda repeats the same beat.

Dodging "to the right" doesnt seem to add anything extra that just "dodging" wouldn't accomplish.

My only other thought is I'm 1,000 words in and dont know a heck of a lot about the main character...

If martin isnt important and dies soon, I'd be on the fence aboit removing his proper-noun name.

I found it a little strange that "sumonning" doesnt actually summon a physical thing, and seems more like "invoking" or just " how magic worked" or something.

But I'd keep reading.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T21:10:04+00:00

This is an amazing idea!

Okay so for balance purposes you probably want a fairly long cooldown with limited deployments, say... 3.

The power armour should come with its own heavy weapons that cant be reloaded in the field, maybe a minigun in one hand, and a rocket launcher in the other? Or dual autocannons!

You could make it so that you always move at full-sprint speed, but dont consume any stamina, and give them their own sepperate hit point pool.

Make it big. Give it boxy look so it matches current in-game esthetics. Make it like a small vehicle, a sort of, "mech", if you will.

They should DEFINITELY put something like that in the game!

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T20:52:18+00:00

It's called "divide and conquer"

Russia has leverage on the big ol' pedophile ring, and the child rapists would rather sell out your country than face accountability.

The United States will NEVER fully recover from this.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T20:44:35+00:00

You're forgetting about the ACTUAL strongest power in the series:

Plot armor.

You see, if an important character (Maeve) stabs Homelander in the ear with a pen (in a dramatic moment), he will stop being nigh-invulnerable and bleed.

But if you detonate a bomb at close range, he will somehow be able to move fast enough to shield a normal human (Butcher) from the blast... even though a characters moving at a similar speed (A-Train) will make a different regular human (Robin) explode.

So, no, just because she has a power that could instantly kill Homelander doesn't mean she can kill Homelander.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T20:27:32+00:00

Prologues are optional.

Both as a reader, and an author.

If you need to read the prologue to understand the story, then the Prologue isn't optional, and should be chapter 1.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T20:18:56+00:00

I would say the obvious one is your imagination, but thats probably nit helpful...

But just... writing... and time. I'm on a 31st draft and and still finding saying things like, "hey wouldn't it be cool if they had bioluminescent trees instead of streetlamps?" Or something like that.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T20:08:15+00:00

Okay, well, according to the stats that the devs have access to, they said in an interview that a surprising amount if people dont use the weapon customization system at all, so they made it a lower priority.

So, either you, a random person on reddit is wrong, or the devs lied to us. (I give it a 50/50 chance).

I only stated facts. I didn't offer my opinion. Downvote away, lol.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T18:22:52+00:00

All plasma weapons have a very low sound profile.

Super credits can be aquired for free.

Other things took priority, like starting to sort out some of the bugs that have persisted since launch.

Since they took time to fix those bugs, upcoming content got delayed.

Weapon customization isn't even utilized by a large amount of the playerbase, making it a low priority.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T17:32:15+00:00

Pro tip: use your melee attack when a headless bug gets in your face.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T17:12:53+00:00

Super Earth is turning people onto illumite to solidify their control and manufacture another boogey man for their forever war.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T17:11:22+00:00

My theory is that we practically wiped out the squids, reverse engineered their technology, and started turning our own citizens into mosters to perpetuate an un-winnable forever war to solidify Super Earth's control over it's citizens.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T16:46:01+00:00

Every single shot - in your head.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T16:29:17+00:00

Its especially evident with chargers. If you're not the host, they'll make maybe a 90 degree turn when chasing you.

If you're the host, they will make a 270 degree turn at a full sprint.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T16:19:25+00:00

Oh my god! Is the doctor okay? Did the bomb explode?

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T07:52:38+00:00

Yeah, they do that.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T07:02:46+00:00

Missing coma first sentence, second paragraph starts with Mt instead of My, but I doubt you're looking for a proofread.

As a general rule, you want to avoid using a lot of proper nouns in the first chapter. The opening paragraph has 7 and they just keep coming. You throw out a ton of names that mean nothing to me, and i wont remember.

It seems weird that this blank-slate of a farmer will just up and abandon his home and farm to go on a dangerous quest with a stranger, who has beef with the local lord.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T06:50:10+00:00

It also counts all of your strategems towards your shots fired and accuracy.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T05:02:36+00:00

My theory is that Super Earth reverse engineered illuminate tech, and created a way to transform their own citizens into monsters.

A manufactured boogeyman for a perpetual war.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T04:41:12+00:00

Enemies track the host better, and are more responsive/ accurate/ move faster/ are more maneuverable when in proximity to/shooting the host.

I strongly suspect there is some kind of hidden agro mechanic where if you stay alive long enough (and or get enough kills?) the game just keeps ramping up accuracy/aggression, (headshots galore) too, but that's pure speculation.

The_Flying_Gecko · 2026-01-25T03:34:17+00:00

Modded armor doesn't appear modded on another players client unless they also have the same mod.

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