Anticlimaxes, "Drama," and the webcomic world's F-word...

[itsmeyouidiot]

I've seen a decline in quality in OotS lately. It's not anything that horrible or annoying, I just feel like nagging tonight. I've always kinda liked the story, but it just seems odd that a stick figure comic would focus on anything other than humor.

I've been quite disappointed by the ending of the recent filler (the F-word!:smalleek:) story arc, and I kind of hoped to see some kind of spectacular fight scene. But instead, Cousin It comes along and just waves a hand, as though the whole thing never happened. We've been teased with the death or other non-breathing condition of a major character within a year's comic time (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0572.html), which could be decades, given how long it took the party to exit the first dungeon.

And we've got this whole "dead main character" thing. Yeah...

With this sort of "splitting the party" thing continuing, it seems almost inevitable that the comic will continue to focus on "small" story arcs, with the possibility of some taking place at the same time! How much do we really have to spend pulling new subplots out of nowhere just to extend the life of the comics? That's what prequels are for! Oh yeah, you forced me to illegally download buy your stupid comic books (http://www.giantitp.com/Shop.html) that are too nerdy to be seen in public with... Maybe I'm just too cheap to obtain legal copies of them insecure.

[Kaihaku]

Sigh. I, for one, am really wondering is all of this criticism is really necessary? It seems like everyone and their brother feels qualified to sharply critique and rail against Rich for "ruining" OotS. I'm sorry, it's not communal property. If you don't like it, don't read it. If you think it's being horribly mangled, go write your own comic and let's see if it does nearly as well.

Personally, there have always been bits of OotS that I didn't like but for the most part it's grand.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Sigh. I, for one, am really wondering is all of this criticism is really necessary? It seems like everyone and their brother feels qualified to sharply critique and rail against Rich for "ruining" OotS. I'm sorry, it's not communal property. If you don't like it, don't read it. If you think it's being horribly mangled, go write your own comic and let's see if it does nearly as well.

Personally, there have always been bits of OotS that I didn't like but for the most part it's grand.Dude...I think you missed the sarcasm.

[Kaihaku]

Dude...I think you missed the sarcasm.

Quite possible, I have a hard time telling online. If so, apologizes.

[Callista]

That's what prequels are for! Oh yeah, you forced me to illegally download buy your stupid comic books (http://www.giantitp.com/Shop.html) that are too nerdy to be seen in public with... Maybe I'm just too cheap to obtain legal copies of them insecure.Yeaaah... so... taking bets on how long it takes to get this one banned...

[Holammer]

Quite possible, I have a hard time telling online. If so, apologizes.

Not enough smilies if it's meant to be internet sarcasm imho also I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of the post is. Maybe it's the beer speaking, being Friday an' all :smallwink:

[itsmeyouidiot]

Quite possible, I have a hard time telling online. If so, apologizes.

Yeah, it's partly sarcastic... I don't really know what my real opinion is to be honest, a part of me loves OotS, but another part just feels so disappointed after such an enormous build-up.

Maybe it just feels awkward since, after all, Rich Burlew obviously didn't intend for this to be a story-driven comic.

I like it though. The sheer number of plot twists, characters, and other various ambiguities (the MitD is really a grue/the Domo-Kun/Osama Bin Laden/that thing from You Have to Burn the Rope (http://www.mazapan.se/games/BurnTheRope.php)!) make it really hard to follow sometimes, though.

I also think excessive use of parentheses are really confusing. :smalltongue:

[Kaihaku]

I also think excessive use of parentheses are really confusing. :smalltongue:

It's a bad habit.

[Finwe]

I've been quite disappointed by the ending of the recent filler (the F-word!:smalleek:) story arc, and I kind of hoped to see some kind of spectacular fight scene. But instead, Cousin It comes along and just waves a hand, as though the whole thing never happened. We've been teased with the death or other non-breathing condition of a major character within a year's comic time (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0572.html), which could be decades, given how long it took the party to exit the first dungeon.

What makes this story arc a 'filler' story arc? It's purpose is to explain how the party manages to get back together.



That's what prequels are for! Oh yeah, you forced me to illegally download buy your stupid comic books (http://www.giantitp.com/Shop.html) that are too nerdy to be seen in public with... Maybe I'm just too cheap to obtain legal copies of them insecure.

No one forced you to buy anything. Why do you read them if they're so stupid and nerdy?

[itsmeyouidiot]

What makes this story arc a 'filler' story arc? It's purpose is to explain how the party manages to get back together.

It's hard to tell if they're really on their way back, they're stuck on that island the whole time. They introduce a new villain, who I found quite interesting, yet ultimately somewhat clichéd. I didn't dislike it that much, they just seem to be introducing yet another forgotten-just-as-quickly-as-was-introduced character, along with a little imp. The imp, in turn, is working for a guy only briefly mentioned before.

I loved the fight scene, though. I like all of 'em, for some reason.




No one forced you to buy anything. Why do you read them if they're so stupid and nerdy?

It was a joke, I was trying to give excuses why I wouldn't buy them.

To be honest, I couldn't actually find a torrent for the books' image files, so I just read a summary, complete with me trying to imagine what they would look like...

Rich should put them online sooner or later, I'm sure he'll make money with T-shirts and advertisements... Pretty please? :smallfrown:

Then again, greed is a pretty hard sin to be forgiven from...

[Impikmin]

Oh yeah, you forced me to illegally download buy your stupid comic books (http://www.giantitp.com/Shop.html) that are too nerdy to be seen in public with... Maybe I'm just too cheap to obtain legal copies of them insecure.


I hope you get sued/banned for that. :smallmad:

[FoE]

I kind of hoped to see some kind of spectacular fight scene.

Dude, what would you call that battle with the giant devil?!

[Dacia Brabant]

Yeah, it's partly sarcastic... I don't really know what my real opinion is to be honest, a part of me loves OotS, but another part just feels so disappointed after such an enormous build-up.

Maybe it just feels awkward since, after all, Rich Burlew obviously didn't intend for this to be a story-driven comic.


Maybe not in the first 50 or so comics, no, it wasn't, but that hasn't been true since the Linear Guild, or at the very least the first battle with Xykon, which set up the whole premise of the gates, i.e. the A-plot.

"Gate? What gate?" :smalltongue:

[Half-blood]

If i might quote some other guys sig

"You not reading the comic won't make it any less awesome for the rest of us."

[Chronos]

"Once upon a time they all lived happily ever after. The end."

There's a nice concise story. Everything between that is filler. So?

[kpenguin]

I hope you get sued/banned for that. :smallmad:

For being sarcastic? If sarcasm were a legal offense, I would be broke from lawsuits by now.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

I... I don't think that we have to worry about the illegal downloading joke, guys. We all respect The Giant more than that. He's probably kidding for the sake of the strike-out gag.

I thought it was funny.

Of course, you guys are probably kidding about banning him ayway, making this a moot point and making me look like an idiot for not noticing, eheh...

On another note, I'm not sure how people are considering this development to be an anticlimax, or even a short circuit of the plot. You were looking forward to the trial of the century, but watching Elan struggle with the new problems that this poses can be just as good, and it demonstrates how frustrated V is with the mess they're all in.

Or maybe everyone's kidding about that, too! Indeed, it's quite possible that the entire internet exists as an elaborate practical joke designed to capitalize on my tendency to see people as being earnest and serious most of the time.

V, once recovered, may well look back on this and conclude that it was probably a little rash to vaporize Kubota based on such a sketchy assessment,* but that the result was still quite acceptable. The elf would then proceed not to dwell on it.

*Which it was. V is smart enough to consider that misleading circumstances tend to arise in Elan's presence, so it would have been prudent to at least ask whether this prisoner was truly a bad guy before ending him. That said, I imagine that V is simply too tired and irritable at this point to be expected to think anything through that far. Everyone's chaotic evil after 3 weeks of no sleep, heh.

In conclusion I think that the writing of OOTS is still quite good, and I tend to type exceedingly verbose rants on pathetically trivial subjects when I'm on the internet.

[keeperoflore]

people need to learn that sarcasm and the internetz dont work together. dont be sarcastic on the internet, people will only realize your sarcastic about 40% of the time if you do.

[SPoD]

If i might quote some other guys sig

"You not reading the comic won't make it any less awesome for the rest of us."

That would be me, and I agree.

If the first post is meant as a parody or sarcastic comment, it fails on account of the fact that you can't tell. There are posts on this board that say almost all of the same things that are being honest. So if you are attempting to make some sort of joke, you should try being, I don't know, maybe funny?

As far as criticizing Rich for publishing the prequels...you realize that every other author you read makes you pay for the whole thing, right? Unless you can name a fantasy novelist who puts 90% of his work online for free. It's ridiculous to attack Rich for making money off of his work.

[Forum Staff]

We also cannot tell whether this is intended as a spoof or parody of similar sentiments, or if it is meant legitimately.

If it sarcasm, spoof, parody, or other intent to get people to respond seriously to a false sentiment, then it is trolling. If it is a serious complaint, then there is already a thread on the same topic here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91597). Either way, though, this thread is closed.

Further, any encouragement or confession of criminal activities is an Inappropriate Topic, which includes illegally downloading copyrighted books.