Who is that Crazy Guy??

God save us from the 2:00am inspirations. Somewhat punchy, I was playing yet another test character and thought, "yaknow, it's a wonder some of these civilians don't get fed up with all the crime around here and just start chasing Hellions with a board." With this concept running wild through my exhaustion-addled brain, "That Crazy Guy" was born. A natural tanker (he has to have some chance of lasting through a fight), that crazy guy runs around Galaxy City, in his dirty wife beater and jeans, punching out criminals. And I do mean "punching out." The only "power" he's using is Brawl. No flaming fists... no giant stone mallets... no super strength punch... Just plain old Brawl. There are going to be rules here. That crazy guy is nothing more than a normal bum who's fed up with crime. Therefore, he'll never level (beyond 2nd, which I had to do to get Rest), he'll never use any powers beyond Brawl (and maybe that throwing knife beginning characters get... I haven't decided yet), he'll never use contacts, he'll never slot anything, and he'll never use Inspirations. Ever. No matter what. If that crazy guy ever gets beat up, he'll go to the hospital just like, well, some crazy guy who gets in fights.

I was somewhat bemused to find that it wasn't really difficult to beat up +1 level leutenants and groups of equivelant level thugs by just repeatedly punching them. (Brawl is set on auto-activate; we just select a target, and off we go, punching until someone falls.) And so far, while he's gone down to literally zero Health, he hasn't fallen yet. It's a sad statement on the capabilities of Paragon's villains really. There's a grittiness to this approach, and a little bit of a thrill knowing he doesn't have super powers to swing the odds in his favor. (I've even scrolled the camera angle up real close, giving things more of a tight, in-your-personal-space feel.) Eventually he's going to stake out a little neighborhood that he likes and just hang out there, keeping it spotlessly clean of crime.

So watch out for some crazy guy, who looks like any other working stiff in Paragon City, as he runs around meating out two fisted vindication on the faces of the criminal element. Marvel at the size of his balls in fighting villainy with his bare hands, and wonder... who is that crazy guy??