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AnoHito posted:It made the bit where V just offed Kubota rather than deal with any more of his bullshit incredibly satisfying, though.
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May 27, 2021 18:19
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Yes, but unfortunately he targeted a PC cleric instead of some third string NPC bad guy.
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May 27, 2021 18:28
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oobey posted:That said, the whole Azure City Exiles sailing arc drags rear end even on a reread. It was really hard for me to not just skip over pages at a time during that segment. Glad to hear I am not the only one that feels that way.
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May 27, 2021 18:37
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Rogue AI Goddess posted:Come to think of it, isn't that what Redcloak tried to do? There's a difference between executing a captive, and trying to kill an envoy in middle of peace talks.
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May 27, 2021 19:28
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ZearothK posted:Glad to hear I am not the only one that feels that way. HOWEVER, it builds up to the apex of V selling their soul, so it is important.
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May 27, 2021 19:57
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your irritation as a reader makes you empathize with V's irritation as a character!
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May 28, 2021 02:19
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There's a narrative point to strips where "nothing happens". It shows short amounts of time passing. Which allows for a reader to feel it's believable when something time consuming has been done off panel. Be it Sirini making an elaborate trap, Xykon and Redcloak clearing a dungeon entirely, it won't feel out of place if there's down time.
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May 28, 2021 04:12
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ikanreed posted:There's a narrative point to strips where "nothing happens". This but also like, you should like spending time with these characters while they dick around? That's kind of the foundation of the comic? Though I will admit the split party arc is definitely the biggest slog on a reread, specifically Elan's bit.
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May 28, 2021 05:47
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I don't think the issue was this strip being filler. The issue was it was kind of boring.
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May 28, 2021 15:51
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ronya posted:your irritation as a reader makes you empathize with V's irritation as a character! Yeah. While rereading I honestly kinda dug how what felt like genuine problems with the storytelling at the time were obviously building up to some of the most cathartic and horrifying moments in the comic. It would not have worked remotely as well without a whole book's worth of setup.
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May 28, 2021 23:33
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The only part I felt really dragged was the big desert confrontation with Tarquin. In part because I thought he'd had quite enough screentime and in part because Vampire Durkon was just kinda hanging out in the background, and it was obvious that whatever would happen when the story got around to him would be amazing. That did also wind up to a slam dunk of a conclusion and holds up much better as part of a full book.
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May 28, 2021 23:43
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Zulily Zoetrope posted:That did also wind up to a slam dunk of a conclusion and holds up much better as part of a full book.
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May 28, 2021 23:50
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I was never fully in love with the Godsmoot stuff, like it's important to the story but it felt like an abrupt shift at the time and a lot of the main cast didn't have a lot to do in it. I'm not sure why it didn't work for me as much as other diversions. And again it probably reads better all at once.
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May 29, 2021 02:06
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Maxwell Lord posted:I was never fully in love with the Godsmoot stuff, like it's important to the story but it felt like an abrupt shift at the time and a lot of the main cast didn't have a lot to do in it. I'm not sure why it didn't work for me as much as other diversions. I jumped back in at that point where Roy and the vampire were fighting and it read okay
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May 29, 2021 11:10
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Wolfsheim posted:Its funny that this thread is almost fifteen years old and people are still saying this, same as it ever was It's been like 2 years since anyone other than durkon really did anything.  I'm just hoping we'll get some kind of payoff before the end of the year. Cup Runneth Over posted:iirc people said it was from one of the books? Quippie, an Osquip that belonged to Kandro's grandfather, that Logann got when Kandro died and pawned off to Haley. Acerbatus fucked around with this message at 22:02 on May 30, 2021 |
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May 30, 2021 21:54
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World Famous W posted:Elan gets probably one of the best lines in the whole drat story here I agree but am curious which of his three consecutive extremely good lines in that part you're referring to
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May 31, 2021 00:12
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ConfusedUs posted:Disintegrate. The best bit about that is it fulfills v's prophecy too: the right 4 words (since kubota was an rear end) to the right person (see above) for all the wrong reasons (v just wanted to progress the story). A few strips later, bam ultimate power.
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May 31, 2021 13:51
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sebmojo posted:The best bit about that is it fulfills v's prophecy too: the right 4 words (since kubota was an rear end) to the right person (see above) for all the wrong reasons (v just wanted to progress the story). A few strips later, bam ultimate power. Book 4 author commentary: Rich said in the commentary that the right four words were: "I...I must succeed." when accepting the Fiends offer. The repeated "I" is important because it emphasizes V's flaw of ego - needing to succeed on their own without admitting that their magic can't solve everything.
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May 31, 2021 16:51
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Book 4 author commentary: Rich said in the commentary that the right four words were: "I...I must succeed." when accepting the Fiends offer. The repeated "I" is important because it emphasizes V's flaw of ego - needing to succeed on their own without admitting that their magic can't solve everything. I think I like sebmojo's take better. DEATH OF THE AUTHOR!
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May 31, 2021 16:56
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THE BAR posted:DEATH OF THE AUTHOR! You should be well on your way to ultimate power now.
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May 31, 2021 16:58
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Killing Kubota was mostly fine even if it wasn't lawful. Killing him without bothering to understand why was probably worse, but still not the lynchpin in any arc.
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May 31, 2021 17:14
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THE BAR posted:DEATH OF THE AUTHOR! Don't say that!  i hope rich is okay
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May 31, 2021 17:17
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THE BAR posted:I think I like sebmojo's take better. I'm undecided, myself: Kubota: - The right four words mattered. Anything other than a perma-death could have resulted in Kubota's retainers or family resurrecting him (and we know from the desert arc that Disintegration + scatter the ashes is the go-to permadeath tool in the OotsVerse) - The right person mattered, totally. - The wrong reasons... not so much. Whatever his reasons for killing Kubota, the imp would still have selected V as the most powerful and therefore best next temptation target. Fiends: - The right four words... eh. Any affirmation (or none at all) would have worked. Not an issue of choice of words at all. - The right person(s), well, that too, kinda obvious though. - The wrong reasons, yes, absolutely. Without those wrong reasons he likely wouldn't have received the offer in the first place. I guess the issue is that killing Kubota was very disconnected from the apotheosis, so it feels more dramatic (in a classical sense), but less personally meaningful. If the prophecy refers to the Fiends, it becomes a more explicit warning: "you will not achieve it under your own power, but as someone else's puppet".
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May 31, 2021 17:35
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I'm sure there'll be another four words uttered by V before the conclusion of the story. Is a three-way soul splice truly "ultimate power"?
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May 31, 2021 17:36
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Ultimate power as defined by V, I would say probably yes
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May 31, 2021 17:47
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SKULL.GIF posted:I'm sure there'll be another four words uttered by V before the conclusion of the story. It (probably) made them the most powerful living magic user at the time if you go by sheer number of high level spells.
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May 31, 2021 18:08
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Realistically V probably should have won that fight if they weren't dangerously overconfident and unused to fighting high level caster battles.
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May 31, 2021 18:20
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That's the point of Xykon's speech; power they weren't used to and couldn't fully control wasn't actually was never actually theirs. Xykon's doesn't understand or accept the idea of sharing power and non-coercive cooperation, and so he's spend his entire existence ensuring that he's the best at those sort of confrontations. fool of sound fucked around with this message at 18:27 on May 31, 2021 |
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May 31, 2021 18:25
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Also Xykon is actually pretty well built to fight other casters
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May 31, 2021 19:03
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Who What Now posted:Also Xykon is actually pretty well built to fight other casters His entire build is anti-caster. It's not a bad choice, honestly -- casters are powerful.
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May 31, 2021 19:06
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Colonel Cool posted:Realistically V probably should have won that fight if they weren't dangerously overconfident and unused to fighting high level caster battles. And if he hadn't lost 40% or so of their power before the fight even started.
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May 31, 2021 19:45
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A big part of the reason that fight happened in the first place was because otherwise there would be endless arguments of who would win in a fight, Xykon or Darth V? Xykon. Xykon would. For the very reasons he outlined as he was choking the life out of V's battered body. Haerta's soul would not have made the difference. Xykon's whole history, such as it is, is him slaughtering wizards who are objectively more powerful than he is, because he understands their limitations as well as his own.
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May 31, 2021 21:19
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Yeah, Xykon seems to have spent his entire life before meeting Redcloak wandering the world dunking on high level wizards who dismissed him as a threat because he was a sorcerer. poo poo, he even used an epic spell slot on Superb Dispelling, which is a straight up caster duel weapon.
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May 31, 2021 21:27
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That "power is power" formulation is both borderline nonsensical and genuinely profound, i've thought about it a lot.
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May 31, 2021 21:35
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sebmojo posted:That "power is power" formulation is both borderline nonsensical and genuinely profound, i've thought about it a lot. It's Rich's contribution to "People die when they are killed" and I love it.
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May 31, 2021 21:40
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SKULL.GIF posted:I'm sure there'll be another four words uttered by V before the conclusion of the story. I think Rich wrote some commentary on how the splice fulfills V's specific prophecy question.
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May 31, 2021 22:10
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mmkay posted:I think Rich wrote some commentary on how the splice fulfills V's specific prophecy question. He did, E: oh sorry, I misread this. sebmojo fucked around with this message at 22:25 on May 31, 2021 |
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May 31, 2021 22:13
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SlothfulCobra posted:Killing Kubota was mostly fine even if it wasn't lawful. Killing him without bothering to understand why was probably worse, but still not the lynchpin in any arc. Yeah, this. Killing Kubota was not the catalyst for the breakup of the sub-group. Elan was shocked at the killing, but not really angry about it and evensaid "it's probably for the best". The catalyst happened when Elan got angry when V belittled the death of Therkla who literally died in his arms, and then V accused Elan of not caring about Haley. mmkay posted:I think Rich wrote some commentary on how the splice fulfills V's specific prophecy question. Yeah, it's "literal genie"/"exact words" stuff. V had a complete set of all three Soul Splices, so could use all their spells (the sum total of their magic), and had more total spell levels than any other caster, giving them the ultimate set of arcane powers.
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May 31, 2021 22:21
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I think all the prophecies, bar Elan's "happy ending" one, have been explicitly fulfilled since vampire Durkon invaded his hometown. You could even make a case that Elan's was fulfilled when he hooked up with Haley at the end of the arc or with Girard's ultimate phantasm, if you want to predict Elan coming to a tragic end.
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May 31, 2021 22:30
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Belkar's is still waiting to drop.
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May 31, 2021 22:40
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