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I just hope that with the seemingly endless parade of new characters and plotlines, the comic doesn't buckle under it's own weight and just stops unresolved like SFP.
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Nov 11, 2018 01:11
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Frankly SFP wasn't anywhere close to the total structural collapse Erfworld has been laboring under for years. Like Tetsuo in Akira, it's just all random organs and heaving masses of text. Sometimes I feel like I can hear the plot and character arcs wheezing "Kill... me..." when I get around to reading updates.
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Nov 11, 2018 01:50
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Maybe there'll be a time skip, as we deal with whatever this Generica business is, and by the time we get back to what we left behind, we'll be on the next turn? 
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Nov 11, 2018 16:10
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XkyRauh posted:Maybe there'll be a time skip, as we deal with whatever this Generica business is, and by the time we get back to what we left behind, we'll be on the next turn? The next turn and each side will inexplicably have 4 more casters/warlords all with wacky character traits. Also they'll all be point of view characters in different cities.
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Nov 11, 2018 18:42
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As long as we get Cubbins' explanation of why Hat Magic is the pivot of the universe (and how much he wants to smooch Ace Hardware) I don't care.
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Nov 11, 2018 18:50
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Rand Brittain posted:As long as we get Cubbins' explanation of why Hat Magic is the pivot of the universe (and how much he wants to smooch Ace Hardware) I don't care. It'll turn out that Erfworld's own Signamancy borrows heavenly from Pratchett and the world is thus balanced on top of 4 elephants, standing on top of a space turtle. The turtle wears the elephants and the hex-map as a hat.
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Nov 11, 2018 20:40
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The only good hat metaphysics is totally destroying Signamancy by wearing an important object as a hat. Total recontextualization, like in Starslip Crisis' best storyline.
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Nov 11, 2018 21:07
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What is SFP
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Nov 14, 2018 11:47
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ninjewtsu posted:What is SFP A dead webcomic that showed some promise in the beginning only to turn to complete mush. It went from  to 
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Nov 14, 2018 12:47
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Joe Slowboat posted:The only good hat metaphysics is totally destroying Signamancy by wearing an important object as a hat. I love Starslip Crisis so intensely and so rarely get a chance to say so. To have a web comic as a good and complete and satisfyingly concluded story sitting on my shelf, with no chance for future less good updates to retroactively ruin anything is such a rare and precious thing,
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Nov 16, 2018 20:53
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I'd have let this interlude of "everyone gets a Temple" slide had it just been edited into a single update. We really didn't need two updates worth of  about some probably trivial side in order to get there, especially when we're all worn out from the slog of character bloat and plot creep.I really hate Tondy a lot because she was a prime example of it. How many updates did we have getting to know a character who died and won't be important unless she gets decrypted, which will be so far from the time she died they might as well have saved most of her backstory for after she's decrypted. ninjewtsu posted:What is SFP A miserable pile of Clevin.
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Nov 17, 2018 13:36
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I stopped reading this for about 6 months, came back and caught up on it all over the past few days and just... jesus christ. I can't even summarize what happened, everything is so needlessly complicated yet nothing happens as a result of it. These recent pages have been so dense and pointless that I actually remember less of the main character's names than I did before I started. I had to look them up to write this post. Wanda's dead, I guess, that would have been fine as the end of the book last year, but now I'm left wondering why all this was necessary to lead up to that. There were plenty of opportunities to have "the dirtamancers find a way to dig bedrock, head down, catch and kill wanda" happen, but for some reason we need 100 pages to get there. The thing is, though, that I don't feel anything about her dying. Who gives a poo poo, the reason I hated her was because she kept spouting her fatalistic bullshit and now it seems like every member of the cast believes the same thing, so what does that leave her with for unique personality traits? If you figure it out, let me know. Every single member of the main cast is just loving brain dead suddenly, and if they ever try anything it doesn't work. Parson, who has explicitly been fighting against fate this whole time, has an entire page where he thinks to himself "fate is a fucker, it is out to get me, my bracer is actively lying to me in service of fate, so let's just go along with it I guess it'll probably work out" all so we can bullshit a way that he will be taken away from the action. Jack gets a lot of screen time and inner monologues just to end up literally standing in a corner going "oh?" whenever someone talks and then getting effortlessly shoved aside when he finally makes the decision to do SOMETHING. Stanley and Sizemore have spent the entire book I think sitting in the loving basement. Maggie at least gets to do something, but only through the power of other characters, also none of it ends up mattering. I'm not gonna comment on the "side" characters and temples beyond "I really don't give a poo poo about any of them and their inclusion actively makes the story worse". I'm gonna quit this again but just like the last time I swore it off I'm sure ill come binge read it again in 6 months. sirtommygunn fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Nov 17, 2018 |
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Nov 17, 2018 20:33
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At this point, after a long, slow falling-away I follow this thread instead of reading the extended web-novel I never signed on for about the uninteresting yet overcomplicated inner lives of Hat Magicians. And then I go read a specific update when it seems like it might have something interesting in it and usually it wasn't worth it.
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Nov 17, 2018 21:00
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super sweet best pal posted:I really hate Tondy a lot because she was a prime example of it. How many updates did we have getting to know a character who died and won't be important unless she gets decrypted, which will be so far from the time she died they might as well have saved most of her backstory for after she's decrypted. Tondelayo is... actually pretty important as a window into Charlie's less heartless side? Like, it's a big deal that the five people who actually know him really do care about him as a person, and he cares about them more than you might think he was capable of doing.
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Nov 17, 2018 21:04
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Rand Brittain posted:Tondelayo is... actually pretty important as a window into Charlie's less heartless side? Like, it's a big deal that the five people who actually know him really do care about him as a person, and he cares about them more than you might think he was capable of doing. See, I have to disagree: This matters only in the context of a story that does something with it. Otherwise, structurally, you've built a robust setting, not a robust story. Everyone has their sides and facets, but, only the parts that enrich the story matter. Charlie's own perspective, with his addictions and his paternalistic relationship with his side, do enough to humanize him for what's actually been done with him. This is sort of the overarching issue I have with all the extra characters - many of them serve to flesh out the setting in a way that's fine for a bonus for the fans, but doesn't in any way shape the actual narrative. And when these asides HAVE been brought in to be vital to the story, it's in clumsy and uninteresting ways like 'everything to do with Strings' and the puppet guy. Characterization for the sake of filling out pages, or just filling gaps in the setting, is a garnish - it shouldn't be the main course.
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Nov 17, 2018 21:22
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Basically we need to start a petition to pull Balder off this comic and replace him with Brandon Sanderson.
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Nov 17, 2018 23:22
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The occasional "this is the life of a random stabber" page was pretty cool in book 2 It now feels like a majority of pages are like that
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Nov 17, 2018 23:53
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Phenotype posted:Basically we need to start a petition to pull Balder off this comic and replace him with Brandon Sanderson. Imagine the Sanderson conclusion of a chaotic event, rapidly jumping between viewpoint characters, where they only succeed because of everyone's unique skills.
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Nov 18, 2018 01:45
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Joe Slowboat posted:See, I have to disagree: This matters only in the context of a story that does something with it. My own guess, this kind of thing is what happens when the author spends too much time building the setting and not enough time planning the plot.
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Nov 20, 2018 08:24
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One thing I will say for Erfworld. As disgruntled as I am with the meandering plot, I can't quit it or give it a few months off. I check it habitually. I accidentally quit gunnerkrigg court and that comic is intriguing, beautiful and well paced. But even with Erfworld hiatuses, slow pace or bad update schedule I'm still a crow in a cage pecking for food pellets hoping surely one will drop this time.
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Nov 21, 2018 02:36
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https://www.erfworld.com/blog/view/61963/state-of-the-erf-part-2 posted:Hoo boy. Yeah, let's do this one first. Let the bummers continue. I'd feel bad if I hadn't scoffed at this from the start. Don't base your finances on buttcoins.
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Nov 30, 2018 05:03
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I want to feel bad for them, but cryptocurrency is obviously a ponzi scheme and ever since I found out it existed I've felt like anyone who gets into it was only hoping to dupe someone further down the line.
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Nov 30, 2018 05:37
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Goodness. Balder wrote about it with such confidence and seems generally smart enough that I sort of thought he had some kind of solid investment plan. Like, he was going to sell the ethereum while it was riding high, or something. Instead, he held until it was valueless. Rough stuff.
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Nov 30, 2018 10:25
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Android Blues posted:Goodness. Balder wrote about it with such confidence and seems generally smart enough that I sort of thought he had some kind of solid investment plan. Like, he was going to sell the ethereum while it was riding high, or something.
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Nov 30, 2018 10:51
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LOL just LOL if erfworld ends up (nearly) dying again cause he was so convinced cryptocurrency was the wave of the future.
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Nov 30, 2018 10:53
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Most shocking news for me was that Balder is nearly 50. I'd assumed he was close to Parson's age.
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Nov 30, 2018 11:08
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love too go to a once a week update schedule, and count a blog post about falling for crypto scams as an “update,” and also split it in two so it counts as two updates
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Nov 30, 2018 13:05
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DAD LOST MY IPOD posted:love too go to a once a week update schedule, and count a blog post about falling for crypto scams as an “update,” and also split it in two so it counts as two updates I’m fairly sure he didn’t charge people for either of the past two blog post updates, judging by how he mentioned “four missed updates” or some such.
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Nov 30, 2018 13:20
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quote:But at this point in the telling, there's a hitch. At this turn in the series, Erfworld becomes extremely demanding on the illustrators. Minor spoilers below, but if you are caught up with updates, you should probably read on. sigh
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Nov 30, 2018 13:42
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“Erfworld fans— we’ve heard you. We understand why you got into the comic in the first place, and we understand we’ve been moving away from that. We apologize. Erfworld is nothing without our fans, and we owe you everything. Therefore, I want to make a very special announcement that’s sure to please all of you: we’re going to an even slower update schedule, and those updates will all be rambling pun-clogged anecdotes about people you’ve never met before in parts of the world that have nothing to do with the main story. We’re really proud of this new* direction for Erfworld and can’t wait to explore it with you. Please buy my bitcoins.”
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Nov 30, 2018 13:50
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If Erfworld had a regular Patreon with a fixed monthly cost then I'd support it in a heartbeat. The whole Toolshed thing feels like an unnecessary expense to maintain and I'm not keen on supporting something on a per-update basis when the number of updates can vary at any time. The same felt true of the cryptocurrency thing - the way it was implemented felt needlessly complicated for something that should have been simple.
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Nov 30, 2018 14:20
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He needs needlessly complicated systems to justify having an entire "web team" that he needs money for. He's a job creator!
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Nov 30, 2018 14:53
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Ugh. So 12 to 20 updates introducing new sides. At the 2 update a week schedule with no missed updates, that would be 6 to 10 weeks, or 1.5 to 2 months. But he's also introducing a "significantly slower update schedule". So maybe one update a week? That means we're going to be spending 3 to 6 months on this. Not only does it mean that we're not going to get to see what happened to Jack or Maggie or Parson or Wanda or Marie or even (ugh) Jillian for a few months, but each of these intro pieces are going to be about the awakening of temples (now called Tutelaries) in those sides. Which means that they're going to be happening at the same time as Shirley and Huehue were created. Which means that they're all going to be set during the same turn that we've been on for two years already*. The sad part is that I would have been absolutely fine with more side stories if the end of Book 4 hadn't been such a wet fart. I liked the backer stories. But they came after the end of Book 2, which wrapped up cleanly with the end of a battle, a game-changing move from Parson, and a 25-page epilogue. Meanwhile, Book 4 ended with contract-fu, the sudden suicide of Caesar, the death of Wanda and the birth of the Arkenpliers, the failure of the portal-rigging that had been teased for a hundred pages, a bunch of tower asspulls, and a four-page epilogue. It doesn't really feel like things have been wrapped up at all. *Yes, I went back and looked. That turn started on Book 4, page 66, which was posted on Nov 15, 2016.
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Nov 30, 2018 18:49
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DAD LOST MY IPOD posted:“We’re really proud of this new* direction for Erfworld and can’t wait to explore it with you. Please buy my bitcoins.”
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Nov 30, 2018 23:37
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NihilCredo posted:Most shocking news for me was that Balder is nearly 50. I'd assumed he was close to Parson's age. Maybe back when the strip started.
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Nov 30, 2018 23:49
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So if I come back around June, the temp crap will have passed and we're back to the main plot? Cool. Also while Balder is good at writing, he's terrible at managing a business. His crew is too big and he's spending money in stupid ways. What's wrong with Amazon Marketplace, what's the idea with whatever the loyalty points are and crypto mining to replace ads? He obviously has at least somewhat successful product and it hurts me to see the core of the entire thing suffer from silly business ideas. Special mention towards whoever the webmaster is because the site looks real busy and confused.
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Dec 1, 2018 00:48
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DeadBonesBrook posted:If Erfworld had a regular Patreon with a fixed monthly cost then I'd support it in a heartbeat. The whole Toolshed thing feels like an unnecessary expense to maintain and I'm not keen on supporting something on a per-update basis when the number of updates can vary at any time. You can do Patreon per-update though...
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Dec 1, 2018 01:02
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Ugh, I feel bad but I kept thinking that half these pitfalls could have been avoided. Maybe look up how much health insurance costs in Maryland before you move there. Maybe check out the costs of shipping all your product before you settle on an out-of-the-way warehouse. Maybe you can just run ads from a reputable network that doesn't hijack your phone? I dunno. (I was gonna add "maybe don't count on paying a couple months of cancer treatment out of pocket till the health insurance kicks in", but that's maybe getting too personal. But honestly, that seems like an outrageously expensive decision.) I was also surprised to find out he was fifty, I always assumed he was in his thirties.
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Dec 1, 2018 01:07
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Like Erfworld, Balder thrives on the needlessly complex. Unlike Erfworld, Balder doesn't have acces to Deus Ex Machinae or Plot.
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Dec 1, 2018 01:38
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Phenotype posted:Ugh, I feel bad but I kept thinking that half these pitfalls could have been avoided. Maybe look up how much health insurance costs in Maryland before you move there. Maybe check out the costs of shipping all your product before you settle on an out-of-the-way warehouse. Maybe you can just run ads from a reputable network that doesn't hijack your phone? I dunno. (I was gonna add "maybe don't count on paying a couple months of cancer treatment out of pocket till the health insurance kicks in", but that's maybe getting too personal. But honestly, that seems like an outrageously expensive decision.) As I understand it, the moving was to get closer to the hospital where the wife is getting her treatment. Half the problems he's dealing with are forced errors due to the necessities of the treatment. His business planning is on the unusual side but maybe it would have worked better had the cancer not entered the picture. No matter how reputable an ad network is there will always be advertisers doing their best to slip in bad ads. Pretty much every small site I've seen running ads will lament how impossible it is to get an advertiser that pays worth a drat without ruining the site periodically.
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Dec 1, 2018 01:46
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