Captain Vor And Mercury's Lore [Wall Of Text Warning]

[KitMan1973]

Update 9 has been implemented with the long awaited addition of lore into the game, plus a revamped version of the existing Captain Vor boss battle.

I was away when U9 was shipped and so I only learnt about the new additions via hearsay. When I got back, knowing that Mercury now had its own lore, I immediately jumped into doing missions in Mercury, expecting a drastic difference... There wasn't one.

My first major problem is the new Pre-Game dioramas. Now don't get me wrong I'm a huge fan of these, they generally look pretty awesome and give you a little taste of what that mission will involve. But with the exception of Tolstoj the other 6 missions on Mercury use exactly the same dioramas as every other mission in the solar system of that type. Terminus, for example, is indistinguishable from Cytherean or Lares and in those missions you aren't even fighting Grineer!

Attacking a Corpus reactor on a supposedly Grineer sabotage mission.

 

Considering they said that they would be adding the lore in increments, namely doing one planet at a time, I'm somewhat disappointed to see that Mercury isn't fully 'lored' out. The reason so many players wanted lore to be introduced in the first place was for motivation: "Why are we here?" "Who are we capturing?" "Why are we destroying this reactor?" And yet I'm seeing none of that, the missions are still very much: get dropped in, Lotus states the mission objective with no rhyme nor reason behind it, go do the mission objective and then get to extraction with the only titbits of information being given in the moderately filled out Assassination missions.

I think that the missions leading up to Vor should feel necessary, we've already seen in the tutorial that our 'starter' frame cannot beat Vor head on. Destroying the reactor on Terminus should do something, maybe heavily damage a machine that Vor has been using to fuse Orokin materials with Grineer tech [similar to the Seer pistol he carries] M Prime should have you gathering information on the whereabouts of Vor and the weaponry he possesses [The aforementioned Seer and the Void key he carries on his chest] Caloris can have you fighting your way through Vor's Elite Orokin infused Grineer thus introducing a new enemy type who are localised to Mercury and will play a big part in the fight with Vor on Tolstoj. Ellion has you rescue someone who is on your side and has been used as a bargaining chip by the Grineer; but who is this person? Why do they have a gun and yet never use it? And why do they look exactly the same as every other person we rescue in the solar system. [Rescuing them provides information about them and begins to reveal, in turn, information about the Lotus and the Tenno]

Who is this person and why are they so important?

 

After you accomplish these tasks you finally face Vor and instead of just some guy who happens to be hunting you and seems a little bit more powerful than the other Grineer you've been cutting your way through, he is a full fleshed out character in this universe. You know the weaponry he carries, you know about his fascination with Orokin Tech and you have an insight into what the fight will be like and what to expect as rewards from said fight; not only in the form of The Seer and Cronus blueprints but what killing him will mean for the Solar system. [This all being learnt from the currently nameless, faceless, voiceless prisoner you rescued and permanently added to the Lore section of the players account]

 

As for the fight with Vor itself I really like the changes that have been made, he feels much more distinct compared to the regular grunts surrounding him and thus has much more of a boss like air to him. There are two big floors with him however, one which is really a flaw with most of the game the other one which I feel came about through a rushed deadline.

Firstly: the Tile you fight him in is the same one we've been fighting Grineer bosses in for ages, it says nothing about Vor and is in all honesty extremely boring and annoying to traverse. Vor's back story has nothing to do with mining, so why is he in a big cavern surrounded by mining equipment? He should be in a purpose built tile which fits with his back story and his 'interests'. DE have expressed their wish for the bosses to work in any tile they are put into, in other words we will never have to use the environment to kill the boss. But all I'm asking for is one new tile for each boss, killing the boss does not need be dependent on the tile but the tile has to make sense for the boss to be in.

Secondly: a bosses Intro animation is very important, it gives the player a sense of that bosses personality and their relationship with the Tenno. Vor's one feels rushed and very out of character. It is obvious that it was mocaped and this is what leads me to believe it was done last-minute.

Your legs appear to be a little submerged!

 

In the small cutscene that plays prior to fighting Vor he comes across as an angry dog; lunging towards the camera swatting his hands at the player in that odd jerky fashion which can only be achieved through mocap. This is completely contrary to the Captain Vor we are introduced to in "The Call" trailer where he is depicted as a calm, calculating  older member of the Grineer ranks not an brash, angry new recruit.

Vor should be introduced facing away from the player, arms crossed behind his back, surrounded by an his elite guard. He turns nonchalantly to the player and taunts them with an air of 'no matter how hard you try you're going to lose' and then the fight begins. But instead of leaping straight into combat with Vor, he starts out in his impenetrable bubble shield [still with his arms crossed, smugly surveying the battlefield] and the player must clear the room of his Guard before he realises that he must engage you himself. At this point the boss fight plays out exactly as it does at the moment, save him summoning in elite Grineer rather than standard grunts. Upon death Lotus congratulates you and then hints at what will be required of you in the next system after Mercury; Venus.

With changes akin to what I've suggested, the world of Warframe may begin to be much more compelling and provide that much needed motivation boost to anyone looking to Warframe for a story driven experience.

 

TL;DR

The missions that take place leading up to that systems Assassination mission need to feel necessary to fighting the boss and should actually tell a story as you progress through them. What's more the individual levels need tiles and dioramas that set them apart from the rest of the game.

 

Of course any feedback is greatly appreciated, plus any ideas for Lares' and Apollodorus' segments would be brilliant to hear.

Edited August 6, 2013 by KitMan1973

[Ghobe]

Upon death Lotus congratulates you and then hints at what will be required of you in the next system after Mercury; Venus.

I encourage you to pay closer attention to his body when you "kill" him ;)

[KitMan1973]

I encourage you to pay closer attention to his body when you "kill" him ;)

Oh I know about that. But that hints to something that will happen much later in the game, not on Venus.

Edited August 5, 2013 by KitMan1973

[Ghobe]

It wouldn't surprise me that it gets fixed when Venus' lore arrives.

[CaptainohCaptain]

I second every word. We have more plot in GTA:SA aside from "Sup, my $&*(#, time to Grow street to get back!".

What comes to Lares, it could be that our previous action is nothing - Grineers gonna fix everything in no time. But, if we will stop the resource flow, fixes will take longer. Yes, station is polluted by technocyte plague, but we can crib it on high level of automatization. What comes to Apollodorus, there should be no changes except Crewman being changed to some Grineer technician, they can simply use unarmed Ballista as a target. 

 

On the venus, first mission should be against Grineer, but with guaranteed Corpus attack. This would explain reason how the hell we even crossed with them.

 

Still, there will be obviously no full-time lore. Just look at these ships, they don't even have canteen, barracks or cryopods, Corpus labs looks absolutely the same as storage and dressing room... We don't even have seats in there, definitely only Orokin had asses to sit on them.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Icouldjustkissyou

[E.R.I.C]

why excalibur has finger on his feet? that really bug me alot.

[KitMan1973]

What comes to Apollodorus, there should be no changes except Crewman being changed to some Grineer technician, they can simply use unarmed Ballista as a target. 

 

On the venus, first mission should be against Grineer, but with guaranteed Corpus attack. This would explain reason how the hell we even crossed with them.

 

Still, there will be obviously no full-time lore. Just look at these ships, they don't even have canteen, barracks or cryopods, Corpus labs looks absolutely the same as storage and dressing room... We don't even have seats in there, definitely only Orokin had asses to sit on them.

These three points are excellent, but I think Apollodorus needs something. Maybe move the link to Venus from Tolstoj to Apollodorus and have a Grineer Navigator who you must capture to learn the way to Venus.

[Ariarch]

why excalibur has finger on his feet? that really bug me alot.

Called toes.

[Madotsuki]

I really like these ideas, though I suppose having lore on every single mission would be hard. Maybe just on Mercury?

[Estred]

I really like these ideas, though I suppose having lore on every single mission would be hard. Maybe just on Mercury?

I think the "keystone" lore approach works here. Basically extremely minor lore only relevant to the planet delivered mostly through Lotus briefings. Until you hit the Boss Planet where all that tid-bitting had to come to a head. I love his idea for Vor and how the fight could be approached.

 

Granted he should not spawn Heavy Units. A group of 5 would be death for low-rank Tenno and well, a party for High Ranked. Maybe that whole starts in his shield with 2 Elite-Rank Heavies (basically a mini-boss fight). Vor would have to do more damage though the Tesla's he shoots are PAINFUL. Once engaged Vor summons Elite-Grineer (the higher damgae dealing ones) but only the ones he summons, regular grunts just kinda slowly flow in through the whole fight. We should never be out of stuff to shoot during a Boss Encounter unless the Boss is such a threat that none of his Faction wish to be in the same room with him (see Raptor).

[Volume]

I will very much agree that his intro animation is absurdly silly.