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Lone Goat posted:One thing I might have missed or forgotten, why is it that Tristan is almost always "active"? I thought him and Byron were supposed to have an equal share of face time? Tristan is on Team Therapy but Byron is not. We see Tristan a lot because he spends his time doing this while Byron does... other stuff that we the reader don't get to see. They are twins. Its noted that its not unusual for twin triggers to get weird.
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Feb 28, 2018 18:53
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sunken fleet posted:I read up to volume 9 or 10 like a year ago and haven't picked it up again since. I agree with what you say here but will throw in that the whole story is kind of frustrating in that it feels to me kind of like a bait and switch. Because the story early on puts a lot of focus on Trissany and co - there is a huge ensemble cast but despite that they very much feel like the "main characters". Growing and learning and doing Cool Things together. But they aren't. I don't know if I would call Sweet the main character - but he's the very obvious author favorite who comes in out of nowhere and steals the show. Like literally you just start randomly getting interludes from his POV - it felt like reading two stories that were not connected. At all. For like 6 or 8 volumes until at one point the two different sets of main characters cross paths for all of like two chapters before splitting off again. It's indescribably frustrating when an author gets me invested into and liking a character or set of characters only to sideline them for some smarmy git who spouts bullshit philosophy and is only alive thanks to his plot armor. I feel the opposite about the cast. I really enjoy this format of having multiple stories with a large cast of characters going on at the same time. It's like having a shared story universe but with just the one story.
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Mar 1, 2018 04:08
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So I just got to the part of Mother of Learning where the nature of the time loop was revealed, and I find it a little strange that (probably not necessary since this is from chapter 50-something, but spoilers just in case) Zorian doesn't seem particularly bothered by the fact that all the non-Zach people he's interacting with, like Kirielle, Kael, etc, are all totally doomed and definitely gonna die.
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Mar 1, 2018 21:30
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Ytlaya posted:So I just got to the part of Mother of Learning where the nature of the time loop was revealed, and I find it a little strange that (probably not necessary since this is from chapter 50-something, but spoilers just in case) Zorian doesn't seem particularly bothered by the fact that all the non-Zach people he's interacting with, like Kirielle, Kael, etc, are all totally doomed and definitely gonna die. I don't think that they're all going to die is really the takeaway, it's more accurate to say they were never alive in the first place. They're all clones of their real selves that are still safe in the real world. In addition, at this point Zorian's been doing this for years so he's probably already had to somewhat come to terms with the fact that everyone he interacts with is going to "die" at the end of the month and not remember anything that happened. From his perspective if he makes it out it'll be just the same as starting a new loop and he can transfer all the knowledge the way he has been anyway. The ethics of the time loop are a little wonky, for sure, but that's not Zorian's fault, he's just stuck in it. In fact, if not for that soul magic at the start he'd just be another clone getting destroyed every month.
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Mar 1, 2018 21:53
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Ytlaya posted:So I just got to the part of Mother of Learning where the nature of the time loop was revealed, and I find it a little strange that (probably not necessary since this is from chapter 50-something, but spoilers just in case) Zorian doesn't seem particularly bothered by the fact that all the non-Zach people he's interacting with, like Kirielle, Kael, etc, are all totally doomed and definitely gonna die. He does like Phil did it in Groundhog Day, by not dwelling too much on what happens to everyone else after the loop reset. The nature of the loop itself doesn't really matter here, it's weird no matter what, but, likewise, there's nothing he can really do about it either.
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Mar 2, 2018 00:26
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M. Night Skymall posted:Pretty sure there's nothing in this that isn't covered by chapter 50 something. I think that previously he had been operating under the assumption that he might get to "keep" a loop at some point in the future, and that even if the people in the loop lost a month of memories they still existed in some real sense (and they basically do exist, since they're actual copies and not a simulation). Of course, you could argue that losing their memories is indistinguishable from death (which is basically what Taiven realized when she first learned of the loop), but from Zorian's perspective the possibility of "taking them with him" out of the loop would still seem to lead to more emotional investment. Then again, Zorian also reacted fairly well to the revelation that he isn't even the original Zorian. I guess he's just looking at things philosophically.
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Mar 2, 2018 00:41
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Just caught up to Practical Guide, I agree that it’s really good! Does it also update in Friday’s? The about page says Monday’s/Wednesday’s only but I saw some commenters talking about being excited for Friday
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Mar 2, 2018 08:00
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Yeah it recently started being updated on Fridays (starting like a month ago?)
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Mar 2, 2018 08:06
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It does in fact update on Fridays and we will probably see another dip in quality given that's exactly what happened when he switched to double updates.
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Mar 3, 2018 18:42
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That’s a lot of updating for a web serial, hope the writer doesn’t burn out
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Mar 3, 2018 20:55
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That's pretty much what happened to TGAB, the author burnt out and things started meandering a lot.
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Mar 4, 2018 04:06
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Is Pact worth reading? I’m about to start on Wandering Inn but I need more stuff to fill in the gaps in my free time.
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Mar 4, 2018 07:28
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It's generally regarded as the least of Wildbow's works, but nevertheless, I'm going through Pact right now. I'm only 4 or 5 arcs in so far but it's... uh, it feels a lot slower than I remember Worm being. That may be because the characters don't seem inclined to combat, unlike a superhero world where that kind of thing is pretty much built in. The premise does lend itself to Death Note style "now it is I standing behind you" antics, so I'm hoping it'll get nuts.
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Mar 4, 2018 09:04
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I always felt that Pact was simultaneously a massive improvement on Worm, and a big disappointment. His writing improved a lot relative to the early chapters in Worm, the world of Pact is interesting, and it seemingly has all the ingredients to make a really swell story. My spoiler-free criticism is that a) the pacing was really bad, b) I hated most of the cast for most of the story, c) I really didn't enjoy the story. At least for me personally, it came down to being a well-told story in an interesting world that I was completely disinterested in hearing about. I really wish he'd chosen to focus on a different story or character within the Pact universe, because I like that universe, I just don't like nearly any of the people or places Pact introduces us to within it. Edit to recommend: Argue posted:It's generally regarded as the least of Wildbow's works, but nevertheless, I'm going through Pact right now. I'm only 4 or 5 arcs in so far but it's... uh, it feels a lot slower than I remember Worm being. It's worth pressing on unless you're completely disinterested; you are very close to stuff happening, arc 8 is probably my single favorite part of the whole story. Omi no Kami fucked around with this message at 10:10 on Mar 4, 2018 |
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Mar 4, 2018 09:41
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Omi no Kami posted:I always felt that Pact was simultaneously a massive improvement on Worm, and a big disappointment. His writing improved a lot relative to the early chapters in Worm, the world of Pact is interesting, and it seemingly has all the ingredients to make a really swell story. My spoiler-free criticism is that a) the pacing was really bad, b) I hated most of the cast for most of the story, c) I really didn't enjoy the story. Yup. I really liked Pact up until... I remember I think a dragon and a troll showed up? I don't even remember how it ended. It also suffered from introducing a lot of cool ideas which it did nothing with. That's kind of the flaw of it: it had this really interesting world but didn't show much of it at all. The Wilbow Escalation Model also felt far more pronounced than it did in Worm. TBQH, I want to see a revised, edited Pact more than I want to see a revised, edited Worm. Argue posted:It's generally regarded as the least of Wildbow's works, but nevertheless, I'm going through Pact right now. I'm only 4 or 5 arcs in so far but it's... uh, it feels a lot slower than I remember Worm being. That may be because the characters don't seem inclined to combat, unlike a superhero world where that kind of thing is pretty much built in. The premise does lend itself to Death Note style "now it is I standing behind you" antics, so I'm hoping it'll get nuts. From what I remember, Pact felt really slow until it suddenly didn't and it just got faster and faster and faster.
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Mar 4, 2018 11:35
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I think another issue with Pact is that there simply weren't any stakes. Maybe other people liked Blake more than I did, but I found it impossible to get invested in his success or his family's, so most of the back half came off as watching a bunch of random jerks pick fights with each other for no reason. Apparently Mags was originally going to be the viewpoint protagonist, but WB changed his mind when he realized that she was basically just Taylor with goblins instead of bugs, and forced himself to write someone completely different. I appreciate the move as a writer and think it was probably to his net benefit, but as a reader it kinda bums me out; the arc we got from Mags' perspective was probably my very favorite part of the story. Spoilers since a few people mentioned that they're currently reading Pact: I also felt that keeping the camera on Blake after he died was a weird move, since he had literally nothing to do for almost the entire back half of the book. I was also surprised that the story took so long to reveal that the universe was literally rooting for him to fail, and that his grandmother had gotten basically the entire town on board with a secret plan to murder her heirs, complete with illustrated guides. This explains a lot of why Blake/Rose simply could not catch a break, but watching them get screwed over time and time again for seemingly no reason and not knowing there was a literal conspiracy against them made it feel like bad writing when it wasn't.
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Mar 4, 2018 13:33
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This is why authors rewrite books in drafts.
Megazver fucked around with this message at 13:49 on Mar 4, 2018 |
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Mar 4, 2018 13:34
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I enjoyed Pact more than Worm, even though its pacing was set to "acceleration". Part of that is my own bias towards fantasy over science fiction, but I felt another part of that is the significantly smaller scope. The setting was very intentionally small, and there was always this pushing sense of things much bigger in the world, and you knew it wasn't a story about winning, but survival. For all its flaws, that one factor made the story a lot easier for me to enjoy.
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Mar 4, 2018 15:42
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I didn't get super far into Pact, didn't like how this guy who was an heir to secret magic or whatever never actually seemed to be able to use magic. Since it's Wildbow the story was a series of escalating conflicts that never seemed to be resolved through the strength of the protagonist - he never cast magic missile and killed the bad guy; instead there would be some convoluted sequence where he trades his toenail to a fairy in exchange for a one time cast of magic missile and just barely resolves things. In short he seemed kind of weak and incompetent compared to pretty much any of Wildbow's other main characters. Maybe he gets better later in the story - like I said I didn't get very far in - but I mean in the first five chapters of Worm we know Taylor's powerset and she shows it off to great effect against Lung; we understand she's powerful and dangerous. This chump spends the whole part of the story I read three steps behind, just sort of desperately reacting as things happen to him while being condescended to by everyone around him for not knowing about magic or whatever.
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Mar 4, 2018 23:43
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You know the endless stairs thing with just a guy falling forever and hitting every step? That's Pact.
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Mar 5, 2018 00:38
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Prac Guide. Holy poo poo.
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Mar 5, 2018 09:18
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Tom Clancy is Dead posted:Prac Guide. Holy poo poo. That is indeed a thing that just loving happened.
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Mar 5, 2018 10:21
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Tom Clancy is Dead posted:Prac Guide. Holy poo poo. I become more sure by the chapter that Cat's real rival is Wandering Bard, and she's going to become a villainous counterpart. Possibly followed by breaking free of -that- and tearing down the system entirely, because gently caress yeah, militant atheism.
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Mar 5, 2018 17:27
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Tom Clancy is Dead posted:Prac Guide. Holy poo poo. I'm glad that Cat is finally getting out from under the shadow of Black. While he is a great character, as long as she was just blindly following his plans she was a character in HIS story, as opposed to making her own. That said, I'm still firmly in Black's camp regarding how to deal with the super-weapon, which makes the break from Black frustrating because I feel like she's doing it for the wrong reasons. I know that in this chapter she makes it about him using her without trusting her, but ultimately it comes back to his Destruction of the weapon and how he didn't listen to her perspective, as if she was willing to listen to his. Also, it seems like this book is going to wind down without a transition to a new Name which is such a lovely blueball by the author. Building up to a big reveal for months just so you can pull the rug out from under it at the 11th hour is just a kick in the nuts to your readers and I hate when any author does it, not just in this case. I hope it gets resolved soon to some degree because I find the mechanics of the Name magic and their Aspects much more interesting than "and now she has all the Fae powers."
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Mar 5, 2018 23:04
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Why aren't we talking about how rad the first big fight of Ward was and how badly we're looking forward to Vicky vs Advance Guard
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Mar 5, 2018 23:42
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BENGHAZI 2 posted:Why aren't we talking about how rad the first big fight of Ward was and how badly we're looking forward to Vicky vs Advance Guard Or how loving perfect Chris' mad anxiety form is?
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Mar 6, 2018 00:41
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Error 404 posted:Or how loving perfect Chris' mad anxiety form is? Now we know why Tristan went "goddammit man, really?"
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Mar 6, 2018 00:49
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I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't THAT.
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Mar 6, 2018 00:49
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TheRagamuffin posted:I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't THAT. screaming back and forth at love lost for 5 minutes was loving hilarious.
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Mar 6, 2018 00:55
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I'm probably being paranoid, but I keep worrying that we'll end up with a creepy and uncomfortable Assault/Battery-esque relationship between Vicky and Spright. But otherwise the chapter was great, and I am fully in favor of anything involving advanced guard looking like doofuses.
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Mar 6, 2018 05:31
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Omi no Kami posted:I'm probably being paranoid, but I keep worrying that we'll end up with a creepy and uncomfortable Assault/Battery-esque relationship between Vicky and Spright. But otherwise the chapter was great, and I am fully in favor of anything involving advanced guard looking like doofuses. In the past, for some reason I've assumed that Vicky is going to wind up in a relationship with Byron that turns out disastrously as foreshadowed by Moonsong. Vicky and Spright would be downright pleasant in comparison.
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Mar 6, 2018 05:36
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21 Muns posted:In the past, for some reason I've assumed that Vicky is going to wind up in a relationship with Byron that turns out disastrously as foreshadowed by Moonsong. Vicky and Spright would be downright pleasant in comparison. I like that because of how horribly creepy it would be; even if she and Byron talked things out with Tristan and got him to be okay with it, sleeping with someone while his orientation-incompatible family member experienced it through his senses is just so unsettling. Speaking of orientation-incompatible, back in the earliest bits of the story when Vicky was crushed that Yamada didn't have time to personally be her therapist I was wondering if "I need you" thought was a setup to Amy having not fully undone her brain-whammy, and Vicky being a psychologically straight woman whose brain was convinced she was gay. In retrospect that probably would've come off as trite and cliche, but it would've been a particularly vicious twist on top of her dysmorphia and general discomfort with everything tactile.
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Mar 6, 2018 05:42
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Omi no Kami posted:I'm probably being paranoid, but I keep worrying that we'll end up with a creepy and uncomfortable Assault/Battery-esque relationship between Vicky and Spright. But otherwise the chapter was great, and I am fully in favor of anything involving advanced guard looking like doofuses. This seems really odd because we hardly know anything about Spright, unless I missed something? AFAIK he literally just showed up last chapter. Fajita Queen fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Mar 6, 2018 |
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Mar 6, 2018 06:25
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The Shortest Path posted:This seems really odd because we hardly know anything about Spright, unless I missed something? AFAIK he literally just showed up last chapter. Wasn't he also the gross jerk who was standing next to Vicky at the construction site and making nonstop sexual banter until someone's brain exploded?
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Mar 6, 2018 06:35
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Oh poo poo, you're right. Good catch. Yeah if anything like that actually starts developing it'll be really gross and lovely.
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Mar 6, 2018 06:41
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Yeah, I'm sure I'm reading something into nothing, but he reminds me of Assault so much that it made me nervous; I'm assuming that's just the viewpoint character's paranoia rubbing off on me. 
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Mar 6, 2018 06:45
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Some lovely fanart of Chris from this most recent Ward chapter.  
Fajita Queen fucked around with this message at 08:06 on Mar 6, 2018 |
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Mar 6, 2018 08:04
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The Shortest Path posted:Some lovely fanart of Chris from this most recent Ward chapter. Yeah that's about how it sounded like it looked.  Plus, constant screaming.
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Mar 6, 2018 10:36
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TheRagamuffin posted:Yeah that's about how it sounded like it looked. Its horrifying but also hilarious. Like a stand-up routine in the middle of a john carpenter movie.
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Mar 6, 2018 10:59
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I don't really like Spright, but he isn't anything like Assault? Sure he starts with flirting, and Victoria responds in kind, and then when she turns him down he stops. Most of the time I don't really care about fanart, but the ones for Chris are actually nice. I've got a feeling that Spright looting Prancer's office for info is advanced guard's entire reason for showing up. It might have a connection to the hush job we've gotten references about from Prancer. AG is still a pile of dicks, because they obviously don't care about leaving a mess after they get what they're here for.
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Mar 6, 2018 11:25
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