np NP Friday, Jan 24, 2020

[hkmaly 490]

https://egscomics.com/egsnp/parable-060
That ... is pretty realistic kind of consequence. The ritual still working but the priest not trying ...

Reminds me Dominic Deegan, where not even first heresy of hell - and a WORKING one, with magical consequences - did not actually made a priest not-priest - or, only temporary - but it did made her doubt. Note that it might be because she said it mind-controlled, but more likely because it wasn't actually permanent.

However, I would add another twist: let's make possible for the hero to re-take the quest with different monk ... but only if they actively try to. Make not just possible but likely that the PLAYER will forgot this may be an option (because most of quests like this would NOT be repeatable). Maybe quietly add this option after the hero gets technically good as well.

Then make sure it's the only way the player can get 100% competition. Along with several others hard-to-notice stuff.

[mlooney 3,594]

I'm starting to dislike video game parodies and this one is a case in point.   

[hkmaly 490]

52 minutes ago, mlooney said:

I'm starting to dislike video game parodies and this one is a case in point.

Why? Not enough sex?

[mlooney 3,594]

6 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Why? Not enough sex?

No, I just don't like gamer comics and I include TTG based ones as well.

[Darth Fluffy 338]

7 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Why? Not enough sex?

All of EGS is about the least sexual comic around. Any hypothetical sex is implied, ambiguous, and off screen, like a pre-1960s romatic comedy. (Actually, more so; they had Fade to Black.) Any nuditity is covered up by arms, birds, or whatever else is handy. There's no EGS Slipshine; if Dan has drawn anything like that' he's kept it private.

I'm not seeing the game parodies as a whole lot different in that regard. Why would you think that specifically would be an issue?

[ChronosCat 158]

13 hours ago, mlooney said:

I'm starting to dislike video game parodies and this one is a case in point.   

If you feel like elaborating, I'd love to hear what you dislike about them - and about this story.

Personally, I'm not opposed to video game based stories per sey, but the execution is very important. I think they work best when you don't need to be familiar with the source material to follow what's going on or get most of the jokes, and when the story being told is a good one and not just an excuse to string jokes together. If the story itself isn't good, or familiarity with the source material is required, that's when I'd say there's a problem. EGS has examples of both; for instance I really enjoyed "Dan in the MUD" despite never playing RetroMUD or anything all that similar, but I found Dan's various Fallout parodies quite boring.

I wasn't too fond of this story in particular at first because I've never played the Fable games and I feel Dan's been relying too much on video-game stories in NP in the past few years. However I have warmed up to it a bit as it progressed. It has proven an interesting character study of this version of Susan (who I'm assuming is essentially the same as main-story Susan if she were playing a video game), and  many of the jokes are about tropes common in video games rather than being specific to Fable. I still wouldn't put it on my list of favorite stories, but I'm enjoying it enough I'm not anxiously waiting for it to end.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,619]

So the lesson we are supposed to take away from this comic is either

"People do things without thinking of the consequences"
Or
"People assume things, often the worst, and then make no effort to challenge or modify those assumptions"

I assume I'm right, and that everyone else on the internet is either awed, stunned, or annoyed by my brilliance

[mlooney 3,594]

1 hour ago, ChronosCat said:

If you feel like elaborating, I'd love to hear what you dislike about them - and about this story.

I don't play video games and I really don't play computer RPG.    I'm some what put out by the fact that when people say "I play RPG" they tend to mean computer RPG not table top RPG,  The fact that I have to specify "table top" as a modifier to Role Playing Game rubs me the wrong way.  I haven't liked this story line because it has way to much to do with the mechanics of Fable in particular and CRPG in general, i.e. the whole bit about the same models being used for different NPC.  I don't think is a good character study for Susan because, in my view, this character isn't acting like how I think Susan acts.  I could, of course, be wrong, but I don't see this as Susan in a new environment, but as a new character who sorta looks like Susan.  This is number 60 in a series, which means The Dan has spent 20 weeks on this story line and it's dragging, more so that even some of the main comic story lines dragged.   He has spent almost half a year on a story line that more  or less requires knowledge about the Fable games to fully understand.  It's not like he doesn't have a bunch of story lines from the main comic that need to be addressed.  

[Darth Fluffy 338]

12 hours ago, mlooney said:

I don't play video games and I really don't play computer RPG.    I'm some what put out by the fact that when people say "I play RPG" they tend to mean computer RPG not table top RPG,  The fact that I have to specify "table top" as a modifier to Role Playing Game rubs me the wrong way.

Culturally, those of us who remember the pen and paper version as being more mainstream are dinosaurs; it is quite the anomaly today. I am at a board game convention this weekend; there are hundreds of attendees. There are thousands, perhaps millions, in our metro area that couldn't care less as they play their video games.

[mlooney 3,594]

5 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Culturally, those of us who remember the pen and paper version as being more mainstream are dinosaurs; it is quite the anomaly today. I am at a board game convention this weekend; there are hundreds of attendees. There are thousands, perhaps millions, in our metro area that couldn't care less as they play their video games.

I am aware of all of that,  however being aware that the language about games has changed doesn't change how I feel about the change.  And as I said up thread, I generally don't like comics that make reference to game rules or are "Two guys on a couch, talking about a game".  The only "game" comics I read are "YAFGC" and "Full Frontal Nerdity".  YAFGC doesn't reference game rules, like as "Order of the Stick" does and FFN is more about the players than the games they are playing.

[hkmaly 490]

On 01/25/2020 at 1:16 PM, Darth Fluffy said:

On 01/25/2020 at 4:54 AM, hkmaly said:

Why? Not enough sex?

All of EGS is about the least sexual comic around. Any hypothetical sex is implied, ambiguous, and off screen, like a pre-1960s romatic comedy. (Actually, more so; they had Fade to Black.) Any nuditity is covered up by arms, birds, or whatever else is handy. There's no EGS Slipshine; if Dan has drawn anything like that' he's kept it private.

I'm not seeing the game parodies as a whole lot different in that regard.

Neither do I.

On 01/25/2020 at 1:16 PM, Darth Fluffy said:

Why would you think that specifically would be an issue?

I don't. But it's a common complain on different kind of comics.

... I forgot the smile again didn't I?

On 01/25/2020 at 6:22 PM, ChronosCat said:

It has proven an interesting character study of this version of Susan (who I'm assuming is essentially the same as main-story Susan if she were playing a video game), and  many of the jokes are about tropes common in video games rather than being specific to Fable.

... which is why the comment confused me. We knew from start what will be topic of this story ; and based on that, the execution is as good as it can be from the size-of-audience-who-gets-it point of view.

On 01/25/2020 at 7:59 PM, mlooney said:

This is number 60 in a series, which means The Dan has spent 20 weeks on this story line and it's dragging, more so that even some of the main comic story lines dragged. 

.... oh. So the complain isn't that the story is getting worse than you expected, just longer that you expected.

 

[mlooney 3,594]

3 hours ago, hkmaly said:

So the complain isn't that the story is getting worse than you expected, just longer that you expected.

Bit of both, but the length of time is an important part of my issues with it.

[ChronosCat 158]

On 1/25/2020 at 1:59 PM, mlooney said:

I don't play video games and I really don't play computer RPG.    I'm some what put out by the fact that when people say "I play RPG" they tend to mean computer RPG not table top RPG,  The fact that I have to specify "table top" as a modifier to Role Playing Game rubs me the wrong way.  I haven't liked this story line because it has way to much to do with the mechanics of Fable in particular and CRPG in general, i.e. the whole bit about the same models being used for different NPC.  I don't think is a good character study for Susan because, in my view, this character isn't acting like how I think Susan acts.  I could, of course, be wrong, but I don't see this as Susan in a new environment, but as a new character who sorta looks like Susan.  This is number 60 in a series, which means The Dan has spent 20 weeks on this story line and it's dragging, more so that even some of the main comic story lines dragged.   He has spent almost half a year on a story line that more  or less requires knowledge about the Fable games to fully understand.  It's not like he doesn't have a bunch of story lines from the main comic that need to be addressed.  

I suppose not playing video games would make it rather hard to enjoy a story about video games (particularly if said story required knowledge of video games to fully enjoy).

I was hoping to respond to your second point as well, but I can't put my thoughts into words I'm satisfied with. Instead I'll just say thank you for your elaboration.

As far as this Susan being like the main Susan, keep in mind that I specified "if she were playing a video game"; many of her actions only fit my conception of Susan if she knows that these are not real people she's interacting with and nothing she does has any consequences in the real world. Admittedly though, this is just my interpretation, and it's only a guess that main Susan would act similarly in those circumstances.

 

[hkmaly 490]

On 01/27/2020 at 6:57 AM, ChronosCat said:

As far as this Susan being like the main Susan, keep in mind that I specified "if she were playing a video game"; many of her actions only fit my conception of Susan if she knows that these are not real people she's interacting with and nothing she does has any consequences in the real world. Admittedly though, this is just my interpretation, and it's only a guess that main Susan would act similarly in those circumstances.

There is no "if" in that. She knows those are not real people and explicitly refered to them as non-player characters.

[ChronosCat 158]

That was part of my point. This Susan is aware she is in/playing a video game; if the main univeres's Susan was also in/playing a video game I believe she would act the same way, but if she were in a world she thought was real she would not act this way.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,619]

So am I allowed to act bizarrely or treat other people with extreme rudeness if I insist that none of this is real and we are all in a video game?

[mlooney 3,594]

1 hour ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

So am I allowed to act bizarrely or treat other people with extreme rudeness if I insist that none of this is real and we are all in a video game?

It's all ones and zeros any way...

 

[Darth Fluffy 338]

Computer, end simulation.

[hkmaly 490]

On 1/31/2020 at 11:43 PM, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

So am I allowed to act bizarrely or treat other people with extreme rudeness if I insist that none of this is real and we are all in a video game?

Are you?

Look again at the story. The ultimate proof it's not real is that Susan got away with it.

And, actually, she tried multiple times to NOT be rude just to find out it's not working.

Also, note that even if this is not real and we are all in a video game, you still shouldn't be rude to other players. It's only allowed to be rude to NPCs.

(However, I doubt that. I mean, seriously, noone would try story as improbable as real life.)