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Does anyone have any good non Wildbow web serials to recommend? Preferably something that is less dark and less serious than Wildbow's works.
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Jul 19, 2015 00:11
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Drashin posted:Does anyone have any good non Wildbow web serials to recommend? Preferably something that is less dark and less serious than Wildbow's works. Look here: http://qntm.org/fiction Fine Structure and Ra were web serials that are now finished.. The other short stories there are pretty good, too. Fine Structure is kinda hard to describe. Maybe someone else can try. Ra is about modern day with functional magic. In fact, it's so functional, you need university training to use it, and it basically a combination of physics and computer science.
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Jul 19, 2015 01:31
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Neurosis posted:Also, cut out Contessa altogether or rework her power majorly. I think a minor detail can easily make her power more workable. She can't see Endbringers in her path right? Make anyone that has been affected by the Simurgh a semi-blind spot. This allows for Cauldron to be immensely powerful in the early part of the setting, allowing them to gather the vast resources they have but ensures that by the time of Taylor Contessa can't just steamroll nearly everyone. Also makes more sense that Cauldron would be more OK with an early end-of-the-world; besides losing capes to Endbringers after a while it just gets too complicated and impossible to keep properly Contessa-manipulating everyone.
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Jul 19, 2015 10:42
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lmao the twist in ra is so bad
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Jul 20, 2015 06:08
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Samog posted:lmao the twist in ra is so bad It's not that it's bad, it's that it's executed terribly. "Magic" being the only way to talk to an insane, wish-granting god is a cool idea. Magic being constructed by egotistical, lazy humans as a way to force their corrupted god to continue granting wishes, at the cost of weakening its prison is a cool idea. Our entire existence being a fabrication constructed as a consolation prize for the terrible few that managed to seal their god away at the cost of all of humanity is a cool idea. Elaborating on all of these cool ideas by making it future-tech from the year eleventy billion and introducing a war between real humans and virtual-reality humans is dumb, as is a lengthy expository flashback to that war. Removing all agency from the main characters except as a way to clumsily advance the machinations of beings far more powerful than they are is dumb. The ending where the virtual humans win despite us never actually seeing them at all is dumb, and having the only scraps of victory the "good guys" can get being secured not by the protagonists but by a super-powered side character is really loving dumb. It honestly felt like the author had one idea for what the big twist was through the first part of the story, then halfway through decided he had a way better idea and ran with that instead.
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Jul 20, 2015 17:15
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The guy who writes them is like that, he wanders off into multiple/parallel universes and super deep future stuff in a lot of his stories and it usually ruins it.
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Jul 23, 2015 14:42
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It's a shame, because his standalone stuff was really enjoyable. I gave up on Ra waaay before anything like that twist came up; after a while I realized I didn't know who anyone was or what their motivations were, and that I had no interest in finding out.
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Jul 23, 2015 17:31
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http://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/363ww4/question_about_taylors_dad_spoilers/craj0yfquote:
- Wildbow Calef fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Jul 25, 2015 |
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Jul 24, 2015 18:21
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 Well ok then.
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Jul 24, 2015 18:39
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Nettle Soup posted:
If you read the linked thread he's probably just loving with people, but I wanted to share the moment of gut-wrenching grief that accompanies not yet realizing that.
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Jul 24, 2015 20:43
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I think what he is suggesting makes a degree of sense - the Earth Aleph Alec sighting is just weird and doesn't serve much of a purpose otherwise.
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Jul 25, 2015 03:05
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Yeah, it makes a lot more sense and I think I like that idea more, just, he really needed to make it a little bit less subtle. Catching up on Twig again, poor Jamie. I guess maybe, in a way, he's also a spy on the Lambs, if they can take out and read what he's seen in some other way, without asking him directly. Things are starting to get interesting though; with the drugs in the water their chemical leashes are suddenly a lot looser, I wonder what's going to happen to them if the Academy falls. Nettle Soup fucked around with this message at 20:10 on Jul 25, 2015 |
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Jul 25, 2015 13:21
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It would make more sense if she had just been killed outright.
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Jul 25, 2015 20:11
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I hope it's just wildbow trolling. "It's all a dream" is really dumb, ad it would make Contessa a total poo poo. I mean, I don't know if anyone is really in a position to condemn Taylor's actions at the end of worm. Bu if there is, it's definitely not Contessa.
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Jul 25, 2015 20:21
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There are a few things that make the reading not work. Most notably Dinah. But based on the reaction it got out of me before I got a chance to think about it/read wildbows comment It's still a heck of a good troll.
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Jul 25, 2015 21:52
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Wittgen posted:I hope it's just wildbow trolling. "It's all a dream" is really dumb, ad it would make Contessa a total poo poo. I mean, I don't know if anyone is really in a position to condemn Taylor's actions at the end of worm. Bu if there is, it's definitely not Contessa. I don't know if one part of an epilogue with small hints of unreality quite falls into the it was all a dream cliche Why does it make contessa a poo poo Taylor was dangerous and needed to be disabled or killed
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Jul 26, 2015 01:21
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NecroMonster posted:There are a few things that make the reading not work. Most notably Dinah. What about dinah makes it not work i'm not totally sold on the idea either, but i think given the convoluted way powers work and interact in worm it's a bit difficult to cavalierly dismiss an idea with superficial plausibility, as there's a high chance any issues can be hand waved away as to mccrae's follow up comment... he does this poo poo all the time. i don't think the follow up comment necessarily nixes the idea again i'm not convinced but there's some logic to it Neurosis fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Jul 26, 2015 |
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Jul 26, 2015 01:23
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Why would you need to keep Dinah from knowing Taylor is still alive, and thus thinking she bears responsibility for Taylor's death, if You can just show her Vegetable Taylor and be all "look what you did!"?
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Jul 26, 2015 01:56
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I think it does qualify as "it was just a dream" type storytelling because it portrays a dreamworld as real. It's not the entire story, but it is something that is never grappled with as a dream. It makes Contessa a poo poo because with all her power, that's what she chooses to do to Taylor? It's not just putting down someone super dangerous. It's passing judgement. It's condemning someone to a solipsistic coma state. I don't think anyone is in a position to condemn Taylor for her actions at the end of worm, but Contessa is the absolutely least qualified. They're probably the two people who did the most to save humanity. They also share a lot of traits. Goal oriented. Master tacticians but questionable strategists. Willing to make impossible choices in the pursuit of their goals. Trust issues. They share a lot in common, so for Contessa to decide that is the fate Taylor deserves? poo poo.
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Jul 26, 2015 03:19
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This also stuck out for me more than anything:Wildbow posted:Brain surgery with a bullet isn't really possible, come on.
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Jul 26, 2015 20:19
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Yeah, that kind of irks me. I mean, I know I like wildbow's dark and gritty thing, but sometimes it's a bit... much... and I thought the ending of Worm was tonally just about right, if the bullet-surgery thing was a bit of an rear end-pull even for Contessa. I choose to ignore the author's intent on this.
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Jul 26, 2015 20:44
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Pierson posted:This also stuck out for me more than anything: That read to me as just a bit of poking fun. The comments section for the last few Worm entries were full of arguments over what really happened and I'm pretty sure I read that sentiment verbatim several times. Wildbow says later in the same thread that the Worm ending is whatever it needed to be for you. My instinct is that he posted this whole explanation as a joke because he knew it would make people double-take.
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Jul 26, 2015 21:34
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I don't have any problem with the idea that Contessa could perform bullet surgery, I just don't like that she did, because I really disliked the epilogue.
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Jul 26, 2015 21:35
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Contessa used her power, realized that no, she couldn't beat Taylor, and did the best she could with what she had. I choose to believe that Taylor died, and her epilogue on Earth-Aleph is the afterlife. She'd saved the universe, and got to rest in peace, knowing it was safe.
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Jul 27, 2015 19:00
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Pierson posted:This also stuck out for me more than anything: I think it's possible for Contessa's version of the Path to Victory shard to autopilot her body to perform the precise actions to fulfill victory conditions, either through canon (story) or word of god (Wildbow's posts outside of the story itself). I don't have a reference, but there are some good resource threads (Ack's being a notable one) that do a good job of summarizing info like that on SpaceBattles. If you follow the subreddit you might notice Wildbow enjoys trolling with ambiguous answers from time to time, especially yes or no questions. I think in the end the consensus around that was that it wasn't canon or definitive WoG. That said, an interlude explaining Parian's power is apparently finally in the works, in between Twig, Worm editing work, etc., and that isn't a troll.
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Jul 27, 2015 19:27
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I thought Parian was the cloth-golems person, I wasn't ever particularly confused about her power? What's the confusion with it?
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Jul 27, 2015 22:34
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thespaceinvader posted:I thought Parian was the cloth-golems person, I wasn't ever particularly confused about her power? What's the confusion with it? There's apparently some super-secret clever-usage of her power that (WoG half-spoiler)would have possibly turned the tide in a Behemoth fight. Thread is here where wildbow shoots down everyone's guesses. It isn't actually revealed what it is in the thread, but Wildbow does sort of say the context in which it would have been used. I suspect it's using her power to control dead bodies. It's the only thing the wildbow doesn't shoot down, and even mildly hints at in one of the comments.
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Jul 27, 2015 22:59
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Senerio posted:Contessa used her power, realized that no, she couldn't beat Taylor, and did the best she could with what she had. Eh, shooting someone in the head sort of qualifies as beating them.
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Jul 27, 2015 23:42
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(Non-Wildbow-related content) I just binged on a web serial called Mother of Learning over the last two days. Without spoiling too much, it involves time travel (of sorts), and takes place in what I might call a "rational magical" setting. Highly recommended – it's an easy and enjoyable read. Ongoing.
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Jul 28, 2015 14:46
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NecroMonster posted:Why would you need to keep Dinah from knowing Taylor is still alive, and thus thinking she bears responsibility for Taylor's death, if You can just show her Vegetable Taylor and be all "look what you did!"? If the coma thing is true, then it makes sense that TT and Co. would be doing everything in their power to keep her body safe and her survival secret. Disregarding the awful things some very unhinged people might want to do to her in revenge; imagine what could happen if someone like Bonesaw, Valkyrie, or possibly Teacher got their hands on her. Honesty, I wasn't the biggest fan of the "LOL JK, turns out you can separate the shard from the rest of the brain, all you need is bullets! Now go live your life free of major consequence!" ending so I'll take what I can get, but I really feel the story would be best served just lopping off the last two epilogues altogether.
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Jul 30, 2015 04:29
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What are you talking about Worm ended with Taylor being shot dead.
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Jul 30, 2015 04:53
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Nope, I'm staying in denial. Taylor lived happily ever after.
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Jul 30, 2015 12:14
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taylor doesn't deserve to be happy
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Jul 30, 2015 12:19
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Yeah it's not like she saved all humans in existence or anything
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Jul 30, 2015 15:10
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Cryophage posted:If the coma thing is true, then it makes sense that TT and Co. would be doing everything in their power to keep her body safe and her survival secret. Disregarding the awful things some very unhinged people might want to do to her in revenge; imagine what could happen if someone like Bonesaw, Valkyrie, or possibly Teacher got their hands on her. But it didn't come out of nowhere, as the possibility is hinted at quite some time beforehand: Snare 13.09 posted:She ran her fingers over my exposed scalp, massaging it, as if she were feeling the shape of my head. “The size, shape and location of the Corona and the Gemma changes from parahuman to parahuman, but it tends to sit between the frontal and the parietal lobe. Beneath the ‘crown’ of the head, if you will. They can’t really lobotomize the Corona in criminals. Some of that’s because the location and shape of the Corona depends on the powers and how they work, and trial and error doesn’t work with the scary bad guys who can melt flesh or breathe lasers.” Also Contessa *is* working with Teacher, and in 30.7 Teacher conveys to Queen Administrator acting as Taylor that using his power would allow for speech, so Contessa talking to Taylor afterwards might be because of that. Also, Dinah and Lisa don't necessarily know she's survived, because 1) Assuming they didn't witness her after her bullet surgery, if they even saw that, who would have told them? and 2) She ends up sequestered in a different, closed-off reality, something Teacher was able to do earlier, too. She isn't necessarily free of consequence especially if Teacher is involved and if Abaddon (entity #3 which caused Eden's death by trading the PtV shard and distracting her) is still out there. Piell posted:Yeah it's not like she saved all humans in existence or anything Pretty sure an autistic Master with total control and perfect tactics on account of near-infinite multitasking is worthy of a kill order, despite having gotten to that point by saving the world. Doctor w-rw-rw- fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Jul 30, 2015 |
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Jul 30, 2015 17:44
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Doctor w-rw-rw- posted:
Only because despite her repeated requests throughout the entire work, those motherfuckers just wouldn't work together, even in the face of total extinction. Also how is that different from any other war ever? Are parahuman lives more worthy or something? Pretty sure preventing the total wipeout of humanity (multiple versions of humanity in fact) was worth the way lesser evil of killing a hundred or two forcibly conscripted parahumans, since there was only her option or Scion victory to choose from.
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Jul 30, 2015 18:59
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DarkCrawler posted:Also how is that different from any other war ever? Because there is exactly one person still standing at the end on whom everyone else can assign the majority of their fear and gratitude, so she gets an insane amount of blame and credit, and the parahumans at this point in time surround her, have power, and may be willing to use it. She was dangerous enough to eliminate Scion, and she is no longer in her right mind.
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Jul 30, 2015 19:03
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Doctor w-rw-rw- posted:She was dangerous enough to eliminate Scion, and she is no longer in her right mind. That's a good point. You could argue that she only did what needed to be done against an unstoppable enemy; ends justifying the means but then you could say the exact same thing about Contessa taking her out.
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Jul 30, 2015 21:46
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Why in the gently caress would Contessa leave her in a coma rather than just kill her? And are we really supposed to assume that no one, including Contessa, ever learned a loving thing over the course of the whole story despite Taylor trying to teach them and get them to see reason over and over again?
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Jul 31, 2015 06:13
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NecroMonster posted:And are we really supposed to assume that no one, including Contessa, ever learned a loving thing over the course of the whole story
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Jul 31, 2015 07:12
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