|
Ytlaya posted:I am legitimately baffled by the fact that the people in the comments seem to think Ryoka is really cool and awesome. I keep wanting to return to the stuff with Erin and the potential repercussions of teaching these Antinium workers chess. Ryoka's a misanthropic badass smart hot asian nerd, she's like a checklist of what awful nerds think is cool and good. Getting clowned on and learning to be less of a shitheel makes her way more tolerable, but up until that point it's kind of ugh. Turns out that even if you're good at punching and running, suffering from impulse/anger control issues just drives people away and makes you miserable, and often less effective than people who make connections and think ahead and have actual experience with the poo poo they're preparing for. Who knew? But even after she starts getting better a lot of her narration is insufferably grandiose.
|
#
¿
Sep 13, 2017 11:45
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 01:04 |
|
|
Man, the latest prac guide chapter is kind of lame. I'm hoping Sabah's death is a double bluff or something because dying off-screen, third aspect unkown and unused(?) is a bit of a wet fart. It's been so heavily foreshadowed I feel like the only satisfying direction it can go in is for her to still be alive. Usually the stories being explicit parts of the setting thing is fine, and seeing the ways characters use that is good. The calamities got really far by being aware of the stories and being careful to not fall into their traps, as well as really good at what they do. Setting up this long thing of story logic that says yes, captain is definitely going to die, building up to it with the Calamity chapters in three parts, leading with the quote about monsters dying and then going yeah, it was the obvious thing everyone saw coming, nothing really clever going on here, just got story'd out in-universe and in the meta sense just sucks. I'm having trouble articulating exactly what bothers me about it, but it's just unsatisfying. No one was clever except for the Bard, offscreen, using information unknown to the reader and characters until after the fact. Everything went as foreshadowed. Great. I would've liked it if Sabah pulled through by just being better than the Champion, but Black wound up unexpectedly dying because an angel personally swatted him down in his moment of triumph. Fits with Black's whole rage against the heavens thing, pulls one over on everyone involved, fucks things up in potentially interesting ways and I think would've worked decently as some narrative irony. The character that meticulously plans everything dies because he didn't plan around a rule he couldn't know, screwing everything up for everyone else. Also gives Cat an excuse for a power bump going into the diabolist confrontation, but whatever. Anyway, I'm hoping and slightly expecting the next chapter to reveal that Captain's alive. Only the Bard states onscreen that she isn't, and Warlock trails off before making a definitive statement. If you're going to play everything else by the numbers may as well hit that old miscommunication cliche too. The Bard has reason to lie or might be wrong, and it still fucks with Black because the emotional reaction stays so plan worked either way. But probably not. Wow that was way too many words.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 4, 2017 14:07
|
|
|
sunken fleet posted:But what did Trickster do wrong? He was mean to Vista that one time at the end of the wards' interlude. Bad guy imo I started thinking about King's power and now I'm wondering what it looks like. Like if he gets shot, does the bullet just stop and someone else gets a gun wound? What if he gets exploded? Does some rando get thrown across a room? Would he be invincible for a day if he touched crawler? Does it work if the injury being transferred would go to a prosthetic? Does 'among' mean 'shared equally between'? So many questions. What if he just held his breath for a real long time? That'd be hosed up. If he touched enough people would it even matter? How the gently caress did it make him immune to grey boy? That doesn't make any drat sense. Being in a time loop isn't really physical harm. Gitro fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Feb 11, 2018 |
|
#
¿
Feb 11, 2018 15:40
|
|
|
ZypherIM posted:The Simurgh is closer to bullshit than anyone with powers, but I think it is over credited on what things are possible (think of it like pool trick shots, some things just aren't possible, but with perfect knowledge and a precise hit you can do a lot). The stuff with Echidna is a good example. It seems a lot more likely that the Simurgh's actions are much more: pull these guys from other earth, pull these vials from cauldron, mind whammy them until noel is in the right state of mind to take half a vial. After that the plan doesn't need anything else, Trickster will keep her alive and eventually she'll lose control. Not some super spiral that ends with the events happening exactly as they did in the story, but launching that time bomb into the world. Especially since the only purpose for the end bringers is to give Eidolan a challenge where Echidna ends up doesn't matter, he'll still be able to go there to deal with it. Simurgh also sets up the events that result in Cody killing accord, which is a bit bigger on the fine details. I think something like the pool metaphor is specifically used in the bit of writing from the simurgh's perspective though, something about understanding people and tuning events to evoke the right reaction/s at the right time.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 12, 2018 00:12
|
|
|
Omi no Kami posted:I think that Amy was definitely net in the wrong, but I'm not sure that Taylor is the fairest comparison; Amy had to contend with the triple threat of emotionally absent parents (her dad was super-duper depressed and her mom was Carol), long-term exposure to Victoria's aura messing with her, and her passivity ticking off her shard to the degree that it started goading her towards more active uses. Taylor was incredibly close to her shard from the beginning and only got more in-tune with it as the story went on, and had both a loving dad and several early opportunities/invitations to join the wards, yet she still decided that the best path forward was forging the Undersiders into an incredibly terrifying psychological and unconventional warfare team who acted as the enforcement branch of a criminal syndicate whose business model she and Tattletale both explicitly compared to the Yakuza. I think that's being unfair to the depth of Taylor's pathologies. She was failed by basically every authority figure and power structure she was supposed to rely on - the legal system didn't get her much by way of justice, the school did nothing about her bullies, she appears to have some resentment towards her mum for dying and her dad neglected her pretty badly in the immediate aftermath of that death. Then her best friend turned into a vicious bully out of nowhere, and she's betrayed and socially isolated. She falls in with the first group of people around her age that seem to like her and want her around even though she's definitely for real going to rat them out. Armsmaster is harsh with her when she tells him her monumentally stupid plan and because of her dysfunctions this moves him from 'ok adult authority figure' to 'mean awful power abuser bully'. And rereading that part he did handle it very poorly, and he's the adult in that situation. (Also her immediate thought of 'I'm going to rob the gently caress out of that bank' is something). One of the wards opportunities is after the heroes are somewhat justifiably unkind to her after she gets her back broken being unambiguously heroic and finds out they're sheltering one of her main tormentors, she wasn't exactly primed to like their offer. The first time she delays accepting it because she's exhausted after nearly dying and doesn't want to commit to anything in that state, then armsmaster is a meany and she has friends for the first time in a couple years. I can't think of others but I didn't reread much before Levi. Like obviously she doesn't make good decisions, but I think it's pretty understandable why she winds up where she does. My favourite Taylor moment is the arc she's outed when she's thinking of slowly murdering Emma with her bugs and how shed probably enjoy it then goes 'hm, in the context of a high school dispute this is a bit monstrous.' E for effort, Taylor.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 18, 2018 14:07
|
|
|
Error 404 posted:Holy gently caress I never realized this until just now. Yeah Taylor goes full circle from being wrecked by having her mom's death brought up to killing a god-alien by (in-part literally) throwing the death of the person he's closest to in his face. I completely forgot she told Sveta to do that and it loving owns, gw Taylor and your weird hosed up ideas.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 26, 2018 02:59
|
|
|
Obviously this is all a giant red herring and it's referring to the music. Gonna put on a rousing performance and win Foil's heart.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 14, 2018 05:41
|
|
|
ZypherIM posted:Shortest Path started a spoiler line before that, we were just following along. Wait, what physical mutations? I can't remember her undergoing any that aren't shard-brain-control related (and losing a chunk of arm).
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2018 10:18
|
|
|
I liked Ward a lot more when I thought it was going to be Victoria doing some sort of freelance/contracting with a bunch of established capes, exploring this new society and how the role of capes has changed post-apocalypse, as well as Vic's character and her friend's/occasional team. Maybe because I thought the first bunch were interesting, and Crystal clear's interlude was real good, and then it's just some randos and sveta. I also dug them being on the periphery of the big stuff, instead of instigators or really involved.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 9, 2018 10:17
|
|
|
Ytlaya posted:This is funny, because Sveta is easily my least favorite of the main group. She's nice and all, but not particularly interesting. Sveta helped dunk on Scion incredibly hard, so she's alright in my book.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 10, 2018 04:04
|
|
|
I'm really loving sick of this fallen conflict still dragging on and I'd like the story to move on to literally anything of interest.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 15, 2018 07:37
|
|
|
I actually really liked the previous bits with rain and the fsllen, what if weirdo apocalypse cult but with superpowers is neat. Rain, as a not-lovely person raised in an awful environment coming to terms with the lovely things he did and their consequences was good, and hammered very hard on one of the throughlines in Worm. Im just really tired of 'I punched some fallen (not too hard tho) and tried not to get shot' and 'here's a cool sounding power that's a pita to visualise anyway it's gone now'. The bit where the biker woman gets choked out would be cool and tension building if we didn't already know what mama did, but interludes aside there were three, maybe four interesting things that happened in 5 and none of the are going anywhere until this interminable loving fight is over with. It's setup intermingled with tedious, pointless action for a full arc. e: also the fallen seem really Christian and I'm still not sure where the endbringer worship/veneration fits in. Like I can think of a few ways but it's weird how it's just been biblical stuff and nothing else aside from the timefriends and valefor, unless I missed something. e2: also I don't like the lines about the fallen potentially becoming a major threat with agents everywhere but this post is long enough. The stakes around them felt very personal and I dug that, hints at more is entirely unnecessary. Gitro fucked around with this message at 16:08 on Apr 15, 2018 |
|
#
¿
Apr 15, 2018 15:49
|
|
|
There's a bit in twig, I think it's arc 11 or 12, where sy and jamie run around and do some crimes and blow up a necrophile rapist's shop and the story doesn't move at all until the contractors at wildbow's place finish working and he can focus on writing properly. Iirc it leads into the outbreak of the red plague. This is a whole arc and counting of the former. Maybe my tolerance for action scenes is just lower than it used to be but it's Victoria and friends beating up nameless fallen for large chunks of text. They're probably not going to lose, but if they do at least it'll mean a break from more empty action sequences.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 15, 2018 16:41
|
|
|
PetraCore posted:I don't think the action sequences are empty even if it's not my favorite thing to read. And this seems like it is going to have long term consequences. The reveal of a new branch of the Fallen based around Khonsu is huge not least because it implies a Tohu/Bohu gang (shakers and trumps, maybe?), and while I'm not surprised that the organizational structure of the Wardens might be compromised, that's also something with huge long-term consequences for the setting, since the Wardens seem to be the closest thing to a governmental structure right now. It's not surprising that got compromised, but it's not good, especially with things hovering on the brink of war. I'm calling them empty because I feel like, aside from March's introduction and some aspects of Rain's cluster, you can fairly cleanly divide the bits that are action from the bits that are setup. Like Ashley killing BoB at the end/start of a chapter, and then she leaves and that's as resolved as it can be for the moment and lets go beat up more fallen. One or two interesting things happen per chapter, confined to a handful of paragraphs at the start or end, and I'm really over it. It's maybe an unfair impression, but the bits that stick out certainly aren't the parts where Victoria et al. are hitting things. Also i don't really like the fallen being some sort of widespread secret cult. The stakes surrounding them were always pretty personal and it just feels unnecessary to try to raise them. They're lovely and should be disbanded, even forcibly, but the hollow point gangs were going to hurt people that didn't deserve it, plus Rain and Erin and all that. There, I care about the conflict, I care about the Fallen and it feels like the extra stuff is typical wildbow escalation. There's lots of big things going on already - hell, hollow point isn't even resolved at this stage - the fallen can afford to be a (relatively) small one. I think this is a sequence I'd really enjoy if we knew much less about the fallen group and Victoria was discovering stuff about mama and whoever alongside the reader. Milky Moor posted:At this point I'm not sure whether he can or he's just knowingly feeding his hardcore fans what they want to read. I was really stoked at the start of Ward when it seemed like it'd be a small scale, kind of introspective thing about post-apocalyptic society and the distance between what I thought it would be and the current arc is certainly contributing to some disappointment.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2018 02:57
|
|
|
PetraCore posted:Normally I'd agree but given they started out as a small cult preaching the apocalypse and then the apocalypse happened and they were prepared to get their hooks into stuff as soon as they could, them having massively expanded makes a lot of sense. They're also not really a secret cult... although the Speedrunners thing threw me for a twist. But really, the Mathers branch is going to be the one playing secret mindgames, given the founding worship of the Simurgh. I meant more secret members infiltrating powerful organisations than the cult itself being a secret. Actually I guess the story says 'allies', but same dif imo. Its not implausible they expanded or anything, but they could just as easily not have. I guess it's a chance for team therapy to do some counterops surveillance poo poo but the story isn't lacking for conflict and avenues to go down without it. Milky Moor posted:I don't like talking about my work but, really, if you're looking for that you're likely to find it in Not All Heroes. I say this only because minutes ago I just got a lengthy review calling it an 'introspective action thriller' among other things and positive remarks on WebFictionGuide. I will probably check it out at some point, I can always use more stuff I can read from my phone.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2018 04:26
|
|
|
PetraCore posted:In Ward, the amount of things that have changed availability or production is such a massive shift that assuming containment foam wasn't used because the author forgot about it is a bigger stretch than assuming it wasn't used because the characters don't have it or are rationing a supply. Not everything needs to be explicitly spelled out because that's boring to read. Sorry? Yeah this is a post-apocalyptic world in which things like lovely packaged lollies or w/e those were are rare and sought after as old world luxuries. Of the several complaints I've had lately (and 6 has been way better so far), not having access to high-tech non-lethal weaponry that needs like multiple stages of production and distribution is really not one of them.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 23, 2018 09:31
|
|
|
Omi no Kami posted:Does the writing in Mother of Learning ever get better? I like the idea of wizard groundhog day, but the clunkiness and general lack of polish and editing in the first few chapters are throwing me off. It's always read to me like english isn't the author's first language, and unless it took a drastic upturn in the past update or 3 it's the same all the way through.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 12, 2018 04:24
|
|
|
OK so one thing that's been bothering me about prac guide: did they ever refer to the dead king as the Hidden Horror before ten or so chapters ago? Because I'm pretty sure they didn't, and now it's almost all they call him.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 25, 2018 06:50
|
|
|
tithin posted:Whereas I'm finding TWI to decline in quality drastically. If that's also the one where Erin is comically courted by a bunch of people then I'm reasonably sure that's the low point and never happens again, having read to the start of vol 4. It's a real bad chapter though
|
|
#
¿
Aug 10, 2018 14:36
|
|
|
There's a bit from Akua in the first few books saying her name lets her scheme better than she should be able to given her age and Hierarch has stuff explicitly about knowing what to say to sway people to specific views so it's a safe bet Malicia has something going on.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 31, 2018 04:51
|
|
|
Lone Goat posted:I'm partway through book 4 of Void Domain and what the gently caress is going on here are they playing Starcraft or something in the theatre demon's doman??? Yeah, I'm on book 8 now but that part sucked, I skimmed most of it. Completely pointless and nothing really happens until the very end of that section. In 8 there's a bit where one of the characters 'removes an iv needle' puts it back in afterwards. It's not really a problem with the story but cannulas just don't work like that and it bugs me. I'll preface this by saying I don't have experience with US hospitals and I'm not a cannula expert, but from a quick Google PIVCs look pretty much the same as here. 1) They have dressings on, they don't really stay in on their own. Have fun taking that off without claw marks, Eva 2) There's no needle after it's inserted, it's a small plastic tube that sits in the vein. Maybe there's some variants that leave needles, but that sounds unsafe. 3) I admit I've never tried to get them back in, but it's a small, flexible tube and a very small hole and I can't imagine it's easy to do. 4) There's a dressing on them. If you muck up taking it off, you'll have to get a new one, and the character definitely didn't take a quick jaunt to replace it (or take one off in the first place because the author doesnt/didnt know how IVCs work). I know it's completely inconsequential and needless pedantry but almost every part of that interaction was wrong and it bugged me way too much.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2018 08:39
|
|
|
Omi no Kami posted:I gave void domain a try, but after finishing book one I don't think it's for me... could someone spoil me about what the deal was with arachne's obsession with/attachment to Eva? That's the one outstanding thingie I'm somewhat curious about. She just really likes Eva.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 8, 2018 17:27
|
|
|
Ytlaya posted:Completely unrelated to anything recent, but I'm genuinely curious how in the hell the fight between Ranger and the Summer Queen transpired. Like, how in the hell could Ranger have dealt with the Summer Queen just incinerating everything? I guess she might have some other dangerous aspects or something (we know one is Learn, that apparently resulted in her becoming some sort of fighting savant after having it for such a long life). Apparently the Summer Queen came out better in the exchange, with Ranger being injured badly enough that she needed to recover, but I'm still curious how she put up a fight in the first place. Ranger's aspects are learn, perfect and transcend or a word that means the same thing, they're mentioned in her PoV chapter. I skimmed the toc for it and the name didn't leap out, might be one of the bonus chapters that only shows up in the next/previous thing. She does some name stuff to cut the burning sky or something and unfreeze time, so I guess she does name nonsense like the Saint can. Also I think one of the Saint's lines implies she and Ranger fought before? She recognises Catherine's style as similar to Ranger's and comments on it, I took that as meaning they've tussled before.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 2, 2018 02:29
|
|
|
I like reading Ward spoilers because every time I do it makes me feel better about choosing to stop.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2019 02:14
|
|
|
sunken fleet posted:in fairness thinking up a zillion unique super powers isn't exactly easy. there's bound to be a few duds Very much a self-inflicted problem, and also what Nighthand said.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2019 02:34
|
|
|
Expecting it is a major part of the problem.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2019 04:24
|
|
|
Kefahuchi_son!!! posted:I keep seeing these opinions about ward, and it baffles me a little because people act like it is something new. The torture-horror-porn was present from the earliest parts of worm and it was always one of the things where you could see him trying too hard. I'd hope that after like 3(?) million words and Twig being body horror: the setting he'd have worked that impulse out a bit. I don't think anyone was acting like it's new, more expressing surprise at how dire it is in ward.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2019 15:41
|
|
|
Flesnolk posted:He basically has a nervous breakdown whenever he receives criticism, however mild, so that won’t happen. I can do both, buster, and you can't stop me!!!
|
|
#
¿
Mar 26, 2019 01:15
|
|
|
Omi no Kami posted:On the other hand, Australia ended up being pretty cool so maybe it'll all work out. This is demonstrably untrue
|
|
#
¿
Apr 7, 2019 07:22
|
|
|
a debased nation, that would elect such a man to lead them
|
|
#
¿
Apr 7, 2019 12:07
|
|
|
Silynt posted:I liked the extra chapter this month in Practical Guide. It took me a second to process that it was the extra chapter, I thought they might be waking him up for the trip. It's what Cat promised Larat in Book 3 to get him to show up with Winter's armies. When they captured the summer princess she said ominous things about how it would be bad if he got it, but refused to specify. I wish my memory would do this for actually useful things.
|
|
#
¿
May 2, 2019 02:52
|
|
|
violent sex idiot posted:i think he's going for the other dad no? that's what the forcing hellstuff together and blowing it up over and over was I was always under the impression it was this, and after checking his extra chapter Papa refers to devil dad and I'm pretty sure that's what he said in whichever one of the recent ones it was.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 6, 2019 11:30
|
|
|
prac guide's rough on grammar and prose, especially the first few chapters holy poo poo, (welcome to web serials i guess) but it's pretty good on not being sexist or w/e imo. it's the only serial i still follow regularly, and very long. Into The Mire was recced somerwhere here too, it's alright but it updates pretty infrequently and a lot of the earlier chapters feel like half a chapter. Check it out and then maybe put it down for a while if you like it and have a habit of binging. Been noticing a lot of croaking happening for a while now in prac guide, but at least people have started missing beats again. oh yeah and an incantation, a magic incantation, with a badass last line hasn't happened for ages now, i think, it's great.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 27, 2019 13:25
|
|
|
i love reading roman sounding names this chapter was one of the best in the whole work gently caress you all
|
|
#
¿
Jul 1, 2019 12:02
|
|
|
Anomalous Blowout posted:I write Into the Mire and I’m a chick! A gay chick even. So yes, I have some Opinions about how a lot of webfic handles ~the female/lesbian experience.~ I try not to get too preachy because it’s all just fiction and we’re all just here to have a good time, but you can definitely tell when a straight dude who has no clue how lady bodies work is writing that stuff, lol. Oh neat, I liked Mire a fair bit. I think I ran out of chapters in January and decided to put it down and let it build up, I'll definitely get back to it now.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 6, 2019 10:30
|
|
|
I'm sexually aroused by bad grammar so it's win win here
|
|
#
¿
Jul 7, 2019 10:21
|
|
|
Chillyrabbit posted:unless you slipped in an egregious sex scene for the sake of making a character gay, people are just dumb. I may jsut be sick and cranky and not reading this charitably enough but it soudns a lot like you do have a problem with queer representation if you feel it's only acceptable when it serves a plot purpose, rather than sometimes just being an incidental facet of characters in the same way heterosexuality is.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 17, 2019 06:36
|
|
|
yeah i'm probably reacting unfairly negatively to the phrasing, and obviously representation can be done poorly, but at the same time saying queer representation has to be justified by making it serve some greater purpose than just a thing that some people are sometimes, that fiction should reflect, annoys me. some characters should be queer just because. In fact all characters should be queer just because.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 17, 2019 08:13
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 01:04 |
|
|
SERIALsly disappointed by the actions of lowtax, SERIAL domestic abuser, owner of this WEBsite. TO BE FAIR, it might be salvageable if he BOWs out of the community. I don't think it's WILD to assume he might do it, but my UNDERSTANDing of him is a man who, in addition to being an abusive piece of poo poo, does not HAVE A VERY HIGH IQ.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 25, 2020 08:33
|
|