NP Friday April 1, 2016

[Stature 96]

Happy April Fool's!

http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp.php?id=441

Sure, name one character with a popped up collar that is actually trustworthy, except Sunny Jim over here.

[partner555 170]

Are pooped up collars common? I never noticed.

[Aura Guardian 57]

And so Grace is about to face another challenge to her pacifist run, then? ... I think it would be an interesting character development if she finally decided to break the run.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

I have always had an odd love-hate relationship with Karma meters. I like the idea and it does add variation to the games, but sometimes the choices are so STUPID. For example, in classic KotOR where you play a force sensitive character you keep getting choices between Light and Dark Side. In one situation you meet a man being mugged by gangsters. You can elect to save the man (Light Side), ignore the event (Dark Side) or kill the muggers because they irritate you (Dark Side.) Okay, no problem. But afterwards you can either help the man a bit more (Light Side) or extort all his money from him (Dark Side.) Er, what?

Let's say you were trying for a Darth Vader style character feel. I can totally see him kill some muggers because they irritated him. But can I see him taking the victim's money afterwards? No. Why not? Because it is TOO SODDING PETTY. It is so much beneath Vader's dignity that it is ridiculous. And that is the problem with Karma meters. They all too often oversimplify, or worse yet, do evil for evil's own sake, purely for the muhahahaaa of it. If I play a villain, I'd like my evil to at least make sense.

This can also be a problem with Good, but in my experience Evil tends to be the more egregious of the two. (Or Light and Dark Side, or in the case of Mass Effect, Blue and Red.) Sigh.

[Sweveham 65]

Grace is being very cheerful and friendly for walking around in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, isn't she?

Also, I love how upfront this guy is about being a violent criminal. Even if he's not trustworthy, he is at least honest.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

From Dan's Commentary.

Quote

"...but my point is that wasteland justice is more commonly "you've done wrong, so we're going to shoot you."

Really?  I thought wasteland justice was more like "I've done wrong, but I'm going to shoot you and tell people I shot you because you were the one doing wrong."

 

[The Old Hack 2,448]

1 hour ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Really?  I thought wasteland justice was more like "I've done wrong, but I'm going to shoot you and tell people I shot you because you were the one doing wrong."

No no no no no. Wasteland justice is, "We've all done wrong, but the special effects team and the director is on my side, so I am gonna kick your behinds."

[hkmaly 490]

7 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

But afterwards you can either help the man a bit more (Light Side) or extort all his money from him (Dark Side.) Er, what?

There is option missing, obviously. Darth Wader would look at the man in a way which would make him escape.

But yes, binary choices can't really help looking stupid, because the world is not binary.

6 hours ago, Sweveham said:

Also, I love how upfront this guy is about being a violent criminal. Even if he's not trustworthy, he is at least honest.

He may not be trustworthy, but you can trust him

6 hours ago, Sweveham said:

Grace is being very cheerful and friendly for walking around in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, isn't she?

Why not? She's player. She's not in real danger.

[Matoyak 51]

42 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

6 hours ago, Sweveham said:

Grace is being very cheerful and friendly for walking around in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, isn't she?

Also, I love how upfront this guy is about being a violent criminal. Even if he's not trustworthy, he is at least honest.

Why not? She's player. She's not in real danger.

If you die in the game, you die in real life.

[hkmaly 490]

24 minutes ago, Matoyak said:

If you die in the game, you die in real life.

I'm pretty sure Fallout is not one of those games.

[Scotty 1,061]

Yeah, this is Fallout, not Sword Art Online.

[Wildcat 37]

Now I want to watch that show again

[InfiniteRemnant 141]

meh.

SAO always felt like a pretty, but shallow, rehash of other anime series. It starts off looking like it's going to be all complex and deep and get inside your head at first... only to follow through with a generic damsel in distress subplot, questionable characterization choices making several characters feel like the kind of people who never would have bought an MMO in the first place, a main plot that feels rushed, and constant dissonance between the running subplots and the THREAT OF IMPENDING DEATH.

That said, i may be a bit... biased.
Kinda a big fan of .Hack//, so somewhat predisposed to hate something that feels like a mockery... 

[Wildcat 37]

Having seen some of .Hack// and not gotten into it, I'd say SAO is more a similar genre for a different audience.

The second arch was definitely not the best.

[InfiniteRemnant 141]

You mean where it abruptly changes theme to a gunslinger game and looses what little dramatic tension it had due to the stakes being much lower and the main character's skill higher? haven't watched that one, and from what I've read about it, no way in hell am i going to.

[Wildcat 37]

I mean the damsel in distress bit, actually. I see we are of dramatically different opinions of the show in general.

[InfiniteRemnant 141]

I don't like jarring setting changes, so that was what stood out to me the most in the reviews. and again, haven't watch anything beyond the first season, only read reviews.

[Scotty 1,061]

Could always do what a couple friends of mine do and watch SAO Abridged.

[Matoyak 51]

2 hours ago, Scotty said:

Could always do what a couple friends of mine do and watch SAO Abridged.

If it's one of the parody "Make fun of the show" shows like YU-Gi-Oh Abridged or DBZ Abridged, that's not really a replacement for the show, and doesn't fill the gap if someone was hoping for something to be good, but ended up disappointed. And (not saying this is what you're doing in this case, but I've seen it a fair bit on other forums) sometimes suggesting watching them as a replacement can come across as a way to brush aside the criticism of the show, in a "If you don't like it, go watch the thing that makes fun of it. Obviously you're THAT type and thus I can ignore your criticism" dismissive kind of way.

(As an aside, I also really dislike those kind of parodies in general. I just don't find them funny at all).

[Scotty 1,061]

It was just a suggestion. I saw Wildcat and InfiniteRemnant saying that they didn't like how the show was going, and I figured I'd throw in something that I thought might be entertaining based of what friends thought about it.

[Wildcat 37]

I actually really like the show. It just has a lot of flaws.

After talking to a friend about it for a while, we've come to the conclusion that the third arc (gun gale) brings most of them out, and makes them worse. It fails to resolve any of the issues the second arc brings up (world tree/damsel in distress thing, I have a lot to say about this that sums up to it was justified, but the character needed to be given a chance to redeem herself and wasn't), and makes the harem aspect that never should have been in the show to start with worse.

I thought it was fun anyway, but if you didn't really like the show in the first place, it's probably not worth it.