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90s Cringe Rock posted:clearly happened after the leek, so it'll be easy enough to deal with. Maybe a few tears. Thanks, I hate it! Good form, well done
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Mar 2, 2020 21:22
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Omi no Kami posted:I liked how much of the new WtC was spent on goofy nonsense and slice of life stuff instead of oppressive levels of depression and angst. I'm amazed that the clone thingie went as well as it did; given how 90% of their friendship consists of brutal violence punctuated by failures to communicate, I figured that either the clone was lying about not merging with the original or that they'd switched places while Juniper's back was turned so Amaryllis could figure out what the heck his deal was. Both would've been awful cliches and (further) alienated Juniper, so it's prolly for the best that it was played straight. Jade Mage posted:The cliffhanger for this WtC is also real good, because does that break the terms of the duel?
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Mar 2, 2020 21:35
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Cicero posted:What I didn't get was the clone talking about "keeping" her existence by choosing not to merge. Isn't that just...dying? Or is the implication that the next time Mary uses the same entad, it'll be the same clone-existence that pops out? I assumed it was just a peculiar turn of phrase, yeah- instead of getting reabsorbed she keeps her individuality and poofs. I also forgot to mention, but holy crap did the mention of Fenn at the trial freak me out- I thought it was headed towards, like, "Were you aware that your dead ex-girlfriend was also a serial puppy-kicker with a litany of terrible acts under her belt?" I'm also wondering if the story is starting to sneak up on an ending. I know they (fairly) recently chatted with the DM who said it was about half over, but Juniper noting that gaining Anglecynn's support and resources would let him skip a ton of quests and go straight to his dumb lack of a plan to kill Arthur-I-mean-fel-seed feels like the author realizing that he has, like, twenty narrative balls in the air, five of which still fit naturally in the story.
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Mar 2, 2020 21:52
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Omi no Kami posted:I love how Katalepsis manages to simultaneously be a super-duper messed-up supernatural horror story and also a wonderfully happy and upbeat comedy about the river in the desert that is Evelyn's Home For Thirsty Wizards. I'll have you know I take this as the highest of compliments.
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Mar 2, 2020 22:29
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WTC: It's possible I'm a chapterbatch behind (and I *definitely* missed the Valencia interlude), but the author's showing his hand a bit on why this is a 'rationalfic'-adjacent thing: it's examining, at least a bit, how various value systems and various warpings of value systems can do Bad Things. and how nobody likes moral philosophers Goatse James Bond fucked around with this message at 03:18 on Mar 3, 2020 |
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Mar 3, 2020 02:59
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Hungry posted:I'll have you know I take this as the highest of compliments. Then you're taking it in the way it's intended!  I'm picturing the distant future, where a much older Heather and Raine are tucking their daughter in, revealing that the entire thing was a bedtime story. "The true horror story," they say, "Is the relationships everyone made along the way." (And then an enlightened kid goes "Huh, so that's why I have like 20 cool aunts.")
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Mar 3, 2020 03:50
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And look—it gave me this.” She pointed at her bare stomach, proudly. It flexed and Garia glanced up at Numbtongue, perhaps hoping for an impression. The Hobgoblin stared blankly at Garia’s abdomen. Then he pulled up his shirt, and pointed. “Fine. See?” “Oh. Oh. Wow!” Numbtongue had abs too. 
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Mar 3, 2020 09:32
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Cicero posted:I mean isn't it the case that [spoiler]the duel was over at that point, since it was to the death? Yes definitely. However, it might be the Practical Guide talking, but I didn't expect the Lost-King's Court to play fair
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Mar 3, 2020 15:10
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Kingfisher Prince just shot WAY up in the coolness rankings in pracguide.
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Mar 3, 2020 16:32
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Yeah Kingfisher II was an excellently crafted chapter. Also some nice cribbing of Tolkien. lurksion fucked around with this message at 19:50 on Mar 3, 2020 |
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Mar 3, 2020 19:39
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Goddamnit, pirateaba. "I'm gonna write daily short chapters, a tenth of my usual length! Oops." Also the mages are cowards afraid of gay moonwalking.
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Mar 4, 2020 08:54
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Tom Clancy is Dead posted:gnoll refugees getting killed by some villagers makes a bunch of nations who are enemies of the King of Destruction instead declare war on Lyfelt where they died, despite xenophobia against the gnolls even from the people in Reim. It's not believable, it's plot points about Flos warping the story. They declared war on Belchan because they're trying to deny him XP by conquering it first.
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Mar 4, 2020 22:53
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90s Cringe Rock posted:And look—it gave me this.” 
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Mar 4, 2020 22:58
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TWI Patreon: Wow I can’t believe Mrsha just discovered class consciousness.
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Mar 5, 2020 03:17
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So I caught up with HWFWM, and man, does anyone else get the feeling that the author is the only person who likes Sophie as a character? Heck, in today's chapter he straight-up defends her externalizing her personal issues on Jason and physically beating him as healthy, 'cause Jason would fight back if he wanted to. Like, wtf, where did the goofy comedy story go?
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Mar 6, 2020 07:32
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Omi no Kami posted:So I caught up with HWFWM, and man, does anyone else get the feeling that the author is the only person who likes Sophie as a character? Heck, in today's chapter he straight-up defends her externalizing her personal issues on Jason and physically beating him as healthy, 'cause Jason would fight back if he wanted to. Like, wtf, where did the goofy comedy story go? I felt like it was played for laughs and was kind of funny. On a non-funny level, I think she’s really worried that his respect act IS an act and she acts the way she does to get him to go “mask off” because then she would know for sure where she stands.
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Mar 6, 2020 08:16
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I can definitely see it being intended to come off as funny, but I dunno- their dynamic as a whole has really failed to engage me as the story went on. Maybe it's because the thing with Cassandra actually felt like a reasonable, low-key adult relationship, but in contrast their whole thing feels simultaneously forced and bizarrely anime-adjacent to me. Maybe that's just me reading too much into it, though- cut the physical abuse angle and take out the romance, and I think she'd work perfectly fine as the one friend in his social circle who regularly calls the party's resident jerk on his BS. But between the amount of weight her story has received and the relatively shallow and lackluster utility it provides the rest of the story, the whole thing feels like a speedbump in what is otherwise a very decently executed goofy comedy. (Then again, why the heck am I even criticizing structure? HWFWM is very unapologetically being made up as it goes, live before a studio audience, so I guess I should be more amazed that the rest of it works as well as it does.)
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Mar 6, 2020 08:52
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Slight hwfwm patreon spoiler Clive calls her out on it in a later chapter So either the author got wise to what he was doing or it was planned that way?
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Mar 6, 2020 12:10
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Omi no Kami posted:So I caught up with HWFWM, and man, does anyone else get the feeling that the author is the only person who likes Sophie as a character? Heck, in today's chapter he straight-up defends her externalizing her personal issues on Jason and physically beating him as healthy, 'cause Jason would fight back if he wanted to. Like, wtf, where did the goofy comedy story go? Well... First: I wouldn't really call HWFWM a 'goofy comedy story'. There is a lot of funny banter, but the theme of the dangers of becoming an rear end in a top hat is, y'know, in the title. Second, portrayal is not endorsement. He explains why the character does what does does and also calls it 'an unhealthy [expression of her feelings]'. Actions of a character can be believable and also not cool. Personally, I like the character and also think the scene doesn't quite work. The author is trying to do a bit more than just quips and power fantasy and, this being a web serial with a frantic update schedule, doesn't always pull it off. But eh, whatever.
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Mar 6, 2020 14:17
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"The author doesn't always pull it off, but whatever" is actually a pretty decent review of HWFWM. There's a lot to like about the story, but every so often (at least for me) it stumbles over something the Sophie thing where I can see it's not the author being a weirdo, it's just a story beat not quite landing or the tone not matching what's happening in the story. It's definitely not just a goofy comedy thingie, but I think that nearly all of the roughest sections have tried to involve drama or darker, serious-er nonsense, which the author seems to struggle writing cleanly more than the funny bits.
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Mar 6, 2020 14:54
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A lot of people liked to compare it to an abusive girlfriend, but the unfortunate truth is that Jason's still in a position of absolute, terrifying power over her, and it's understandable that even as good as he's been to her, she still has completely understandable, if irrational, issues and resentments over it. Plus, the norms for what's considered acceptable violence for 'roughhousing' among friends is probably completely different among adventurers who spar with each other constantly and also have obscene, superhuman resilience compared to even the toughest baseline human.
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Mar 6, 2020 15:17
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Affi posted:Slight hwfwm patreon spoiler Clive calls her out on it in a later chapter Some of both. He reposted a comment in RR from the patreon discussion. Unfortunately his comment turned out to be grosser than the raw text in my opinion. HWFWM author posted:
Boiling out the weasel words that reads a heck of a lot like - it's okay to beat up your loved ones. Especially if you don't kill them and the doctor can fix them up afterwords. Yes, nuance is important, but excusing domestic abuse, much less holding it up as something cool and good, is gross.
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Mar 6, 2020 19:45
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LLSix posted:Some of both. He reposted a comment in RR from the patreon discussion. Unfortunately his comment turned out to be grosser than the raw text in my opinion. HWFWM: That's a lot of what bugged me with the most recent thing. Sophie and her general dynamic with Jason both feel really shallow to me relative to the amount of time and attention they've gotten, and most of the time it's not really a problem, just a noticeable weakness in the story. But stuff like yesterday's update really rubs me the wrong way. Like, it's a comedic web serial and I'm already verging on over-analyzing it, but sheesh- nothing about the way they were behaving last chapter is okay, and the author's justification combined with the story itself trying to play it for comedy comes off as super-gross.
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Mar 6, 2020 22:44
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He is very obviously doing it as a 'she has a thing for Jason so she hits him'. You are all way over thinking it.
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Mar 6, 2020 23:06
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Well, it's addressed further in the very next chapter, which is now out.
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Mar 6, 2020 23:10
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HWFWM's is pretty blatantly a fic by someone who invested time in basic psychology (maybe a educational hobby or a minor in college) and feels the need to justify it. I'm sure the author means for it to be semi-serious and reasonable but it's so far into making the message clear, usually in ridiculous ways that resolve themselves in an extremely contrived manner, that every time something like that comes up it's just cringy in execution.
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Mar 6, 2020 23:45
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nessin posted:HWFWM's is pretty blatantly a fic by someone who invested time in basic psychology (maybe a educational hobby or a minor in college) and feels the need to justify it.
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Mar 7, 2020 00:41
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TBH I find all the "Jason is totally a master manipulator" stuff a lot more cringe than any of this Sophiegate stuff.
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Mar 7, 2020 00:47
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LLSix posted:Some of both. He reposted a comment in RR from the patreon discussion. Unfortunately his comment turned out to be grosser than the raw text in my opinion. Two people in an adventuring party with superhuman strength who aren't even in a relationship aren't a 'couple' though. They spar against each other, too. A closer comparison is someone taking a cheap shot, in a dojo or gym, with training equipment on. She was out of line, but it wasn't 'domestic abuse'.
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Mar 7, 2020 00:50
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LLSix posted:Some of both. He reposted a comment in RR from the patreon discussion. Unfortunately his comment turned out to be grosser than the raw text in my opinion. That author quote bothered me more than I expected. Maybe it wasn't intentional, but it came across as something I'd hear from someone trying to normalize abuse. It feels like a somewhat similar comparison to the recently revealed abuse against Johnny Depp by Amber Heard. Direct quote from a transcript from a conversation between them: quote:
I don't mean to dramatize this, it's just a story and they're definitely not directly comparable scenarios. Depp's situation is much more serious imo, Sophie and Jason aren't in a relationship so it's not really domestic abuse, etc. It just evokes a similar feeling to me. Sorry if pulling up the Depp abuse is crossing a line for a story like this. I do like the story otherwise, but that was kind of a gross comment to see from the author.
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Mar 7, 2020 01:02
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They aren’t in a relationship so domestic abuse is just loving dumb to imply. Also they probably never will be because there isn’t any solid indication of either of them being interested in the other. That’s Jason’s whole idea; he’s not saving here because he wants to gently caress her hes saving her because he’s in a position to do it. It’s more like a slave hitting their master or a cheap shot in a dojo or friends roughhousing going too far. Or yeah it might even edge into actual assault.
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Mar 7, 2020 10:34
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So as a newcomer to web series but with plenty of fantasy books under my belt, is HWFWM a good intro to the 'genre'?
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Mar 7, 2020 14:31
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Stereo posted:So as a newcomer to web series but with plenty of fantasy books under my belt, is HWFWM a good intro to the 'genre'? I'd go with Practical Guide to Evil personally but you could do much worse than HWFWM. Its pretty solid especially for someone frantically placing rails in front of a moving train
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Mar 7, 2020 14:40
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Jade Mage posted:I'd go with Practical Guide to Evil personally but you could do much worse than HWFWM. Its pretty solid especially for someone frantically placing rails in front of a moving train I'll read the first 5 chapters of both and then pick a first one! Thanks for the recommendation.
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Mar 7, 2020 15:20
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TWI Patreon: Ants Ants Revolution
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Mar 7, 2020 16:59
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I don't remember how rough it was at the beginning, but at this point, Practical Guide is some of the finest fantasy around, period (other than the typos). HWFWM is good, but it's not really on the same level.
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Mar 7, 2020 17:50
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.Z. posted:TWI Patreon: Ants Ants Revolution The poison of freedom
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Mar 7, 2020 19:08
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Katalepsis: I love you Praem, so glad you're back.
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Mar 7, 2020 20:00
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Cicero posted:I don't remember how rough it was at the beginning, but at this point, Practical Guide is some of the finest fantasy around, period (other than the typos). I, usually, like HWFWM a lot, and I agree. Practical Guide to Evil is on another level.
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Mar 7, 2020 20:11
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LLSix posted:I, usually, like HWFWM a lot, and I agree. Practical Guide to Evil is on another level. I mostly agree, but prac guide can rub some people the wrong way, so even if it's a better story in a more objective sense, it's a different KIND of story. The only other serials I could really mostly recommend on a similar level are Mother of Learning, which is finished now, and maybe Super Minion, which is actually real interesting despite the generic name/terrible cover art but that updates so slowly (once a month, if that), that although it has a decent sized backlog it's still obvious that the story will take many years to finish at the current rate and as such is harder to recommend.
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Mar 7, 2020 21:06
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