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my dad posted:Well, considering Durkula's grin and Roy's utter lack of subtlety, I'm going with this, too. I read that expression as sincere (read: oblivious) rejoicing, not evil grin. That's what it has stood for throughout the comic as far as I'm aware. Elan pulls the same exact face in this old strip when talking of his beloved twin brother.
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Aug 31, 2014 14:39
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Eifert Posting posted:Excuse me I now we are all tense but I can not brook you insinuating an OOTS member would pass their listen check. I hope that, in time, you'll realize what an idiot you've been. Durkon's trapped, anguished soul probably heard nothing at all, if that makes you feel better. ...does thinking about Durkon's trapped, anguished soul make you feel better? Does it make you all warm and fuzzy inside? I bet it does, you loving monster.  Seriously though, unless Burlew has some twist planned and is just playing around with our expectations in the meantime (which he may well be), it seems likely that no one in the party is going to figure out that Durkula's a threat at all until he does something drastic like murdering Belkar and destroying the dwarven homeland or whatever. Which means that until we get to that we're in for a bunch of strips about everyone missing clues and drawing wrong conclusions to the point that we're just sitting here after every update cringing about what idiots they all suddenly are. I pretty much have never seen an OOTS strip I didn't like but I have to say I'm not really looking forward to this. Even though I get that the audience knows way more than the characters in this case so maybe it's not fair to want to slap them all so hard, it's still going to be annoying to sit around for the next however many months waiting for them to finally start figuring things out. 'Wacky misunderstandings' driving a plot is not something I'm really a fan of in any medium, and especially in this case where the whole thing with Durkon's soul is kind of too horrible for me to ever really find jokes about the abomination puppeteering his body around all that funny.
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Aug 31, 2014 18:46
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sebmojo posted:This. The terrible joke was a vehicle for the character chat. Yes, a vehicle for terrible character chat. I'll never get tired of strong female characters talking about how strong and female they are and I'm probably not alone. I think when all is said and done the strip's audience will hate all these Mechane characters as opposed to people like, for example, Lien who just go out and do stuff without having to talk about how hard or important it is. Cliff Racer fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Sep 1, 2014 |
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Aug 31, 2014 19:00
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What the gently caress are you talking about?
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Aug 31, 2014 19:08
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The last two updates and how awful they were!
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Aug 31, 2014 20:09
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Cliff Racer posted:Yes, a vehicle for terrible character chat. I'll never get tired of strong female characters talking about how strong and feeble they are and I'm probably not alone. So we have one lesbian who's got no problem suddenly being ship captain because hell yeah, and one engineer who gets the creeps from having a vampire on board, and this is sufficient fodder for complaining about strong female characters talking instead of beating someone up? I'm totally behind "these strips are boring and hamhanded character development right now" but I don't see why some of the characters being female suddenly makes it somehow worse than it would be otherwise.
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Aug 31, 2014 22:42
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Ursine Asylum posted:I'm totally behind "these strips are boring and hamhanded character development right now" but I don't see why some of the characters being female suddenly makes it somehow worse than it would be otherwise. 
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Aug 31, 2014 23:09
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Zoe posted:Durkon's trapped, anguished soul probably heard nothing at all, if that makes you feel better. ...does thinking about Durkon's trapped, anguished soul make you feel better? Does it make you all warm and fuzzy inside? I bet it does, you loving monster. Given all of this, I can't help but wonder: What if Rich had omitted that last strip from the previous book (and obviously changed the strips that rely on us knowing that he's not the real Durkon)? In other words, let the audience try puzzling it out for themselves along with the characters, maybe show Durkula do something to give a false sense of security that he's the real deal, then turn on the Stick when his goal is in reach, with a denouement strip that goes through all of the subtle clues you might've picked up on up to that point.
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Sep 1, 2014 00:54
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I think this strip has more to do with Rich having the spergiest audience ever, and if he doesn't start showing how the Order is doing the right investigations but coming up with the wrong answers, his forums will go even more to poo poo with whining about how unrealistic the situation is. Not that that excuses such a lame strip.
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Sep 1, 2014 01:55
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Ursine Asylum posted:So we have one lesbian who's got no problem suddenly being ship captain because hell yeah, and one engineer who gets the creeps from having a vampire on board, and this is sufficient fodder for complaining about strong female characters talking instead of beating someone up? The issue isn't the characters themselves. It's that the dialog has been very poor (stilted, over-explaining) recently. It could be that Rich is just off his game, but another possible explanation is that he's dumped in some new female characters and is finding it hard to write interesting women when they don't just yell "BITCH!" all the time. (As lampshaded in #959.)
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Sep 1, 2014 01:58
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Eschers Basement posted:I think this strip has more to do with Rich having the spergiest audience ever, and if he doesn't start showing how the Order is doing the right investigations but coming up with the wrong answers, his forums will go even more to poo poo with whining about how unrealistic the situation is. It's a shame he can't just add DM notes on the forums to say "Offscreen, Roy was concerned enough to listen to Durkon praying for spells, but unknowingly failed his listen roll and misheard "Hel Knows Thor Will Go" as "Hell No Thor Won't Go". Durkon intentionally chose this oddly-worded prayer so that he could pray in a valid manner to his diety and just say "oh you misunderstood me" if anyone heard him." Oh well.
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Sep 1, 2014 04:08
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Ursine Asylum posted:It's a shame he can't just add DM notes on the forums to say "Offscreen, Roy was concerned enough to listen to Durkon praying for spells, but unknowingly failed his listen roll and misheard "Hel Knows Thor Will Go" as "Hell No Thor Won't Go". Durkon intentionally chose this oddly-worded prayer so that he could pray in a valid manner to his diety and just say "oh you misunderstood me" if anyone heard him." The less Rich does to cater to pedantic assholes the better.
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Sep 1, 2014 04:32
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Who What Now posted:The less Rich does to cater to pedantic assholes the better. Well, point being he could do that instead of blowing his once-a-month comic schedule on "explaining poo poo to pedantic assholes". I'd rather have spergin'  than spergin' comics.
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Sep 1, 2014 05:07
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Ursine Asylum posted:It's a shame he can't just add DM notes on the forums to say "Offscreen, Roy was concerned enough to listen to Durkon praying for spells, but unknowingly failed his listen roll and misheard "Hel Knows Thor Will Go" as "Hell No Thor Won't Go". Durkon intentionally chose this oddly-worded prayer so that he could pray in a valid manner to his diety and just say "oh you misunderstood me" if anyone heard him." Comics are a visual medium, you do this and you end up like that Erfworld guy who literally gave up doing the comic portion or something.
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Sep 2, 2014 00:36
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YouTuber posted:Comics are a visual medium, you do this and you end up like that Erfworld guy who literally gave up doing the comic portion or something. mcbain.gif
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Sep 2, 2014 00:52
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YouTuber posted:Comics are a visual medium, you do this and you end up like that Erfworld guy who literally gave up doing the comic portion or something. This is all poo poo that doesn't have to actually be explained at all. So instead of wasting time drawing comics explaining non-existant plotholes he could just explain them to the only audience that cares while actually covering ground in his comics. He spends way too much loving time worrying about idiots on his forums.
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Sep 2, 2014 01:09
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YouTuber posted:Comics are a visual medium, you do this and you end up like that Erfworld guy who literally gave up doing the comic portion or something. If it lets you skip 10 comics worth of bullshit to appease the people saying "Well if I was the party leader, I wouldn't just take it at face value, I'd listen in to his prayer sessions and catch him praying to Hel, this entire arc is based on a flawed premise  " then I'm all for it
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Sep 2, 2014 01:50
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Usually, though, Rich picks "decent writing" over "appease a moron."
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Sep 2, 2014 06:51
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Well, in any case, I hope he's ok.
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Sep 9, 2014 11:06
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YouTuber posted:Comics are a visual medium, you do this and you end up like that Erfworld guy who literally gave up doing the comic portion or something. Didn't that happen because the artist had a family tragedy or something and took a hiatus? I can't blame him for keeping the comic going as best he could under the circumstances.
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Sep 9, 2014 15:09
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ArchRanger posted:Didn't that happen because the artist had a family tragedy or something and took a hiatus? I can't blame him for keeping the comic going as best he could under the circumstances.
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Sep 9, 2014 16:30
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Poison Mushroom posted:That's the point where you look for other, temporary or replacement artists. And it's long since gone past the point of "just making due", since many of the actual important (and stupid) plot twists were hidden in those "optional" text updates. Like, for example, that Charlie is literally the Wizard of Oz. While there have been important plot points in the text updates I really doubt that's one of them, I think that's the author trying (and failing) to be clever, or the running theme in a lot of webcomics of cramming in as many references as possible. I disagree on temporary artists being better however. If the author has someone in particular he feels comfortable working with I don't really see a problem with them updating their story in a different format temporarily rather than taking a complete hiatus.
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Sep 9, 2014 16:49
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Poison Mushroom posted:That's the point where you look for other, temporary or replacement artists. And it's long since gone past the point of "just making due", since many of the actual important (and stupid) plot twists were hidden in those "optional" text updates. Like, for example, that Charlie is literally the Wizard of Oz. Any idea which text update this is in? I'd like to read that but I hate slogging through all of them.
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Sep 9, 2014 20:35
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Yeroc2 posted:Any idea which text update this is in? I'd like to read that but I hate slogging through all of them.  to figure out exactly where, though.
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Sep 9, 2014 20:43
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Yeroc2 posted:Any idea which text update this is in? I'd like to read that but I hate slogging through all of them. It was in this one.
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Sep 10, 2014 03:53
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That was in the main comic too, eventually, in the epilogue for Book 2.
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Sep 11, 2014 08:55
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 New comic, #962.
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Sep 11, 2014 11:01
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I am not quite sure I can get used to Durkon having character development.
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Sep 11, 2014 11:05
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The spirit's message about his mission in the second to last panel definitely foreshadows Hel's role in the plot, but what's she aiming for? Continue existence so she can keep harvesting souls? Hasten the Snarl's release so she can collect a lump sum of souls? Take the Snarl for herself by slaying Redcloak and giving Durkula the divine half of the ritual? (Unlikely against a living cleric who's an expert at manipulating sentient undead.) The spirit implies that Durkon will understand why he was used, even if it is "too late," so maybe the mission isn't justified only from an evil standpoint?
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Sep 11, 2014 11:54
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Well, at least in mythology, Hel's not really evil, just (rather justifiably) not particularly happy with the gods. Or in general. She actually tends to be pretty fair and reasonable, people just don't like her because she's ugly and rules over the realm of those who died of sickness and old age. Also her father's kind of a dick. Assuming there's a similar thing going on here and the dwarf perspective of Hel is biased (which is a fair assumption, they're not exactly reasonable about other things, and Thor's an rear end in a top hat), she could have an agenda beyond "be evil and do bad things".
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Sep 11, 2014 12:15
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Ugh, the way hands look now just does not look good. The new art style might be less stick figurey but that doesn't make it better.
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Sep 11, 2014 15:01
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Was that a celebrity photo leak reference at the end there?
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Sep 11, 2014 17:45
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Celebrity photo leak reference at the end there. I'm sure that will stay relevant.
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Sep 11, 2014 17:51
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Kajeesus posted:Celebrity photo leak reference at the end there. I'm sure that will stay relevant. To be fair they joke would make sense at any point in the last several decades, it's just slightly more relevant right now because of the news.
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Sep 11, 2014 18:09
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Kajeesus posted:Celebrity photo leak reference at the end there. I'm sure that will stay relevant. Don't worry, it will.
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Sep 11, 2014 18:12
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So I guess this means Durkon's mum was a gamer?
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Sep 11, 2014 18:41
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Pretty sure the flashback to Durkon's childhood is a joke about this strip. Smite the tree with a thunderclap. Durkon learned not to be a stickler for the rules.
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Sep 11, 2014 19:53
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Cat Mattress posted:Pretty sure the flashback to Durkon's childhood is a joke about this strip. Smite the tree with a thunderclap. Durkon learned not to be a stickler for the rules. Even if it's not, I like the dots you draw.
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Sep 11, 2014 20:34
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New Comic Pretty sad strip overall, really. It's time for the sound of goblins to be heard again! e X fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Sep 14, 2014 |
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Sep 14, 2014 03:49
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e X posted:
You're a monster, you know that? Though that is pretty drat sad news for lovers of quality webcomics.
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Sep 14, 2014 03:53
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