ChronosCat

The whole issue with names and voice acting was the main reason that for several years I thought that voice acting in video games was a bad idea. Of course I now realize I was overlooking games where they don't let you change the character names; in those cases voice acting works fine (though old-school gamer that I am it still feels like an unnecessary embellishment to me). I still think that games where you can change the names are better off without voice acting (or with very limited voice acting); after all if the names you give the characters aren't used in the game, what's the point in naming them in the first place? (To this day, it still bugs me that Zelda calls the player character "Link" no matter what you named him in the first quest of the original Legend of Zelda.)

Flinstones, BC, Chrono Trigger's stone age, the first story arc of classic Doctor Who. Frankly the cave-person trope (crude fur outfits with little or no basis in science included) is so prevalent I never really thought about where it originally came from. Newspapers may be dropping in circulation (with many papers going out of business), but they are still very much a thing. As has been mentioned before, there are still video stores around too, but admittedly they're getting rare (there aren't any in my town, just a few redbox machines). At any rate, I prefer to think of the comic as being set in the late 00 to early 10s, which makes those things (and many others) not feel so anachronistic. The clothes seen recently at MSHS still don't fit that setting though. (At least I don't think so...) Actually though... Honestly I don't really know what clothes are "in" either. I mainly just have a vague notion of what clothing is common among people who aren't trying to be super fashionable, and that idea hasn't changed all that much in the past twenty years (in my defense, we never seem to get the most distinctive and outlandish fashions in this area, so what most people wear from year to year varies a lot less than in more fashion-conscious areas). For most of the run of the comic, most of what the characters have been wearing have been within the range I've come to think of as "normal", but these days not so much. The idea of a timeline divergence resulting in different fashions does appeal to me, though I think the explanation has to be a little more complicated than just "Magic"; after all magic has existed in the EGS world from time immemorial, but thanks to the Masquerade the world still looked pretty similar to ours. And the collapse of the Masquerade didn't really start until less than a year ago in-universe and hasn't completed yet; I know fashion trends can move quickly, but unless a fashion designer was inspired by Pandora's TV appearance and the rumors coming out of Moperville (or perhaps the designer lives in Moperville themselves) it seems a little soon for fashion trends to have changed drastically. I was going to raise that point too, but then I remembered the current story is set in winter, so the beaches should be pretty deserted. (Does it loose much romanticism if both people are bundled up in bulky coats, boots, and other winter gear?)

Nanase's outfit looks like an 80's reinterpretation of a cave-woman outfit. I kind of like it, but I don't think it suits Nanase. Diane's outfit is great, but seems a little fancy for everyday wear. Also, I still haven't gotten used to the fact that fashions in EGS no longer fit what one would expect to see in the present-day (or '00s) real world. Well, may places have lakes, but I think the sandy beaches in such places are usually man-made (they certainly are in my area) so the sandy area will be only as large as required for the swimming area. (In my area none of the sandy beaches are large enough for a long walk.)

More fuel for the OT3 shipping! (Though it would have been better if Tedd wasn't in such an awkward position.) ...Speaking of Tedd, I don't really think that combo of shirts looks good on him (I'm not sure if someone else could pull it off). That's the second time this storyline that Dan has drawn an outfit I didn't like. I wonder if it's just coincidence, or Dan and my taste in clothing styles is diverging?

Yeah, they didn't really show very much of Dimension X until season 4, so if you stopped watching before then* the only location you'd be familiar with would be the "Unnamed rocky Dimension X world', which does rather give the impression of an inhospitable post-apocalyptic place. * It's entirely possible the station you were watching on didn't play the entire series. The first 3 seasons and parts of 4 and 7 were syndicated, but at least in the US the rest of the series was exclusive to CBS; and from what I've heard in many countries some parts of the series were never shown at all.

If we're still talking about TMNT, we actually see many planets and planetoids in Dimension X. Some are barren (and may or may not have always been that way), some have clearly been devastated by war, some still have thriving civilizations on them, and a few are even lush and fairly untouched by civilization & war. So I guess there are places within Dimension X that might count as post-apocalyptic, but you can't really say the entire dimension is post-apocalyptic. Actually, in TMNT Adventures, there were planets in Dimension X known as "Eden Worlds" which served as nature preserves. Of course the likes of Krang wouldn't respect such things, so I'm not sure how they survived; perhaps there were some defenses put in place by the mysterious "Elder Races" that created the Eden Worlds.

Well, it's certainly war-torn, but my impression is that either Dimension X has always been in a state of war, or that the warring factions are continuations of pre-war civilizations, not new factions that arose following some catastrophe. (Note that this is based on the 1987 & 2012 animated versions, and the Archie TMNT Adventures comic; I haven't seen the latest movie or the IDW comics, which I understand also have Dimension X in them.) Of course, the final result is still pretty bleak anyway, so this may just be a matter of how one defines the term "post apocalypse'.

Why would their being from Dimension X make them a good post-apocalyptic example? (Are you suggesting Dimension X is post-apocalyptic?) At any rate, the Turtles themselves may not be from Dimension X, but in several continuities (in particular the 1987 and 2012 animated series) the mutagen that transformed them originated there.

"giant mutant skunks"? Just how giant and how mutant are we talking about here? I wonder if they will look like Nioi and/or Kaoli? Or maybe Grace will need to find a way to pacify Skunk-zilla?

http://egscomics.com/egsnp/fantasywasteland-16 That's a pretty impressive background in panel one. I'm surprised Dan went through the trouble, and that it didn't delay the comic (I'm guessing it might have been different if it wasn't the weekend).

http://egscomics.com/comic/party-012 [space for spoilers] Imaginary Jedi Justin is right, and in fact I hate it when viewpoint characters lie in fiction, but I still kind of wish they had decided to make this a celebration of Ellen's creation. I think that's something that ought to be celebrated, but seeing as how I don't think Dan is likely to do two party storylines close together, the fact that this isn't it suggests either there isn't going to be one or it's only going to be mentioned in passing.

I had figured that stories of the pre-apocalypse medieval world had been passed on through the "all civilized people in hiding" period, but when people tried to re-establish the old society, the stories didn't provide enough info and people made wrong guesses. In the specific case of the town criers, my head-canon is that the tales mentioned their existence but not where they got their information, and Carol decided they must find out out the news themselves (like what we would call a reporter), and set out to do just that. And because she is not just parroting the official line, she is vulnerable to those in power trying to silence her, a fact she is aware of (how she is aware of it, and whether it makes sense in the world of the game for her to be aware of it, would require more information about the setting and her history to determine). While this concern is one good reason (out of many) why we should try to avoid the a collapse of civilization extensive enough to destroy the current technological base worldwide, I have to wonder if the route our civilization took to get to our current level of technology is really the only way. (Also, in the case of many resources other than fossil fuels, our use of them did not destroy them, so it might just be a matter of "mining" landfills and the ruins of old cities to get them back.) And of course, all of this only applies if the pre-apocalypse world was similar to our own (give or take a few centuries). If the pre-apocalypse was medieval, or something akin to Roman (which would be fitting for this story seeing as how the middle ages followed it), or pseudo-Atlantean, then the loss of resources wouldn't be nearly as extensive.

The apocalypse was caused by dragons (nuclear dragons, but still dragons), and we have not yet seen any game elements that don't have a medieval feel. I suspect this was a medieval fantasy world even before the apocalypse, in which case literacy levels probably weren't that high to begin with.

So, Liz is clearly pretty unhappy with this situation - and Dan hates to leave his characters unhappy. I predict that by the end of the school year Liz will have been let in on the Magic Masqurade and the fact that Elliot and his friends (and now Ashley too) can use magic. (This may or may not wind up being related to the magic mark Liz was implied to have.) I wouldn't even be hugely surprised if she winds up invited to this party (though I still think it more likely Dan will try to keep the number of guests down to the main 8 plus Ashley).

Not in the games I play. Mind you, filling-in-as-you-go is not uncommon - it's just that maps-as-items and maps-that-you-start-with are equally common (and there's also a sizeable number of games that don't have maps at all). Of course, the majority of games I play were made in the 80s or 90s; I don't play enough recent games to be able to say what's normal (or default) for today's games.

Regarding in-game maps, I prefer it when you either acquire the map through the story, or it fills in as you go along (as if you were making the map yourself, but without the hassle). It's a little immersion breaking when you start with the map for a place your character never visited before and had no reason to have a map for. Similarly, I prefer when map markers are justified in story; telling you where to go when the player character wouldn't know is immersion breaking. I'm not usually too concerned with maps and markers making the game too easy, though if the map's too thorough it can ruin the fun of exploration, and sometimes the map markers point out destinations so obvious it feels insulting. (I'm reminded of Metroid: Other M, where they put in goal markers every few rooms - and this in a game where most of the major areas were comprised largely of long series of rooms and corridors with no branches.)

*Note: Spoiler for the May 8 NP ahead.* I never thought I'd be one to complain about the fanservice in EGS, but I've gotten really tired of the "Magic Tea" effects. I mean the wavy hair and more curves thing can look good (I liked the look on Dan's avatar), but the figure alterations often go further than I like, and the tea also usually causes the drinker's clothing to shrink in ways that I feel make the clothing not look very good. I also find some of the implied mental effects creepy... And there was a period where there were so many pinups involving it that it lost all novelty. I bring this up now because from a visual standpoint the spell Sarah used in the latest NP is virtually identical to the effects of the tea, and my first thought on seeing the third panel was "Ugh, not this again!"

I'm tempted to write Dan to let him know that some people (well at least this one) were confused by the previous comic even after reading the commentary and following the links. (Incidentally it's very strange to be in the "confused by the comic because I forgot things from previous strips" camp; I guess I need to re-read the last few years of the comic.) I'm glad the comic points out why Grace was so distracted, though I still think it would have been better for those of us reading it as it comes out if it had been explained in the previous comic or commentary (it won't be much of an issue for those reading it in the archives). (I also still wish Dan wasn't jumping around in the timeline so much.) As for Grace's goodness, Justin wouldn't be so surprised she doesn't see herself that way if he knew about how she reacted to her part in Damien's death. Of course her feeling guilt over a foe's death is a sign of her goodness, but it also means her assessment of her own goodness will not be as high as that of an outside observer. And while the most dramatic instance, that was hardly an isolated incident; Grace is well aware she is a flawed individual, and the flaws she sees in herself weigh heavily on her. Incidentally, I hope Justin was just kidding about Grace defending her "title". For one thing, bragging about being the most good individual around is not the sort of thing one would expect the most good individual around to do. For another, when used seriously "goody-two-shoes" is an insult, usually directed at those perceived as self-righteous - not exactly a title most people would want to fight for.

That was a mistake. Not searching through the archives (beyond the links in the commentary and on Ashley's page on Shivepedia) was a conscious decision to conserve my precious time, and based on what I knew then I still consider it the right choice. Not asking here was an oversight, but in my defense I have a lot on my mind right now. At any rate, it all worked out in the end. (BTW, thanks for the link.)

Both Dan's commentary links and Shiveapedia have failed me. I remembered that Kevin called Ashley weak; I had forgotten that Arthur had said she was average for a non-wizard. I had also forgotten that Arthur suspected that her becoming a wizard was the result of her absorbing power from the diamond; in fact since reading Monday's comic I'd been wondering when it had been established that Ashely absorbed power from the Diamond (the comic from this scene Dan links obviously wasn't it), but wasn't quite curious enough to ask or search through the archives for it.

My only knowledge of Louise the Zero comes from a crossover fanfiction I read years ago, and taking a quick look at what it says about her on wikipedia just now. I do remember the situation with Tedd quite well, however. Dan has already gone the "seems weak but is actually really strong" route with not only Tedd, but Rhoda and (if you count her S-Rank spell) Sarah. I would find it annoyingly repetitive if he did it again. Personally I'd much prefer to see Ashley start low-leveled and slowly build up her power over time. With the emphasis on practice and experience-building in the EGS magic system it seems to me that starting out weak doesn't mean she can't eventually become strong, she just has further to go than most; once she's over her current issues I expect Ashely to be more than willing to put in the effort required.

I'm not sure how her power compares to the average non-magic user, or the average of magic-users and non-magic users combined, but as wizards go she's incredibly weak.

I'm really disappointed in Nanase; I thought she had more fashion sense than that! I mean, that top combo is unusual but it could work for something akin to a retro-80s look, however that skirt simply does not go with it. This reminds me of Lucy's armored-skirt and plain modern-style shirt combo, which clashes in a similar way. I think that maybe when Dan designs a new outfit not based on something from real life, he should get a second opinion before drawing it in the comic; personally I find these strange and unflattering clothing choices distracting (and I'm the sort who normally doesn't even think about fashion). Oh, that makes sense! I wonder if Dan's going explain that in an upcoming comic? (I'm a little surprised he didn't say something in the commentary of this one.) ...I really wish Dan hadn't jumped around in the timeline so much. One should not need to keep careful notes (or read a fan-made timeline) to know what order important events in a story happen in relation to one another.

In the commentary for the first comic you linked, Dan says "I guess it's POSSIBLE some of these panels from Pandora's past shouldn't be taken literally...?" So that implies that there weren't really dragons in the main universe in Blaike's day. (I have to admit I was disappointment by this.)