In which I brace myself for the worst
Looks like I'm back for more, so lets get to it!
Chapter 3:
- Stuffing a whole dress into your Saddlebags? Bag of Holding at its finest. I guess that's the video game mechanics at work again. Pip is just collecting Vendor Trash.
- Man why is is that bad guys never go for killing the hero in their sleep? I guess they enjoy a victim that can fight back.
- How to use a grenade 101: Don't throw it if the fuse is long enough for them to throw it back.
- Pip's Body Count: 1
- Again with the terrible sniper. The raiders really need to fire that guy.
- The Watcher seems friendly enough. That little bot certainly packs a punch.
- A book in the library about the Wasteland? That's a bit recent for it to be in the library, isn't it?
- Well, there's the gore. No comment.
- At least somepony's grateful for the help.
- Pip's Body Count: 2. Justified by regarding the raiders as something less than a pony, which I'd say works pretty well.
- And now she's making Spider Man-esque combat quips.
- Healing potions make thing much less complicated, don't they?
- I'm guessing the zombie pony was a ghoul?
- And now Pip's Hyperspace Arsenal is beginning to grow. I wish I had bags like that.
- That's a great way to win a hostage situation. I guess hyper-competent Pip is here to stay.
- And so ends the saga of Terrible Sniper Pony (or TSP, for short). So pathetic he didn't even get an on-page death. May he forever rest in irrelevance.
- At least Big Mac died a war hero.
- Ditzy (I've always liked Derpy better, but this was before the name was canon) wrote a survival guide? She lived long enough after the end for the wasteland to become inhabitable enough that she could even write a survival guide for it? Sure, I'll roll with it.
Thoughts on Chapter 3: Lots of gore, lots of hyper-competency, and a Bag of Holding. I guess this is Pip's established baseline skill level, and that's that. Aside from the distasteful bits, though, the fights were well done and entertaining, and it was nice to see ponies being grateful for the help. No new friends, though, which was odd. At least this was the worst of the gore from what I understand.
Chapter 4:
- Creepy talking robots? Why in the world would ponies even invent those?
- Self-levitation is apparently quite difficult. Makes sense, as most unicorns have never been shown lifting anything greater than or equal to their weight. Twilight being the exception here, of course.
- Wow, they really do use real brains. That's... a bit much. I don't even want to try to think about how that could even work.
- Invisibility Spell? Gotta love random loot. It puts the best things in the weirdest places.
- Applejack's personal gun? Talk about epic loot.
- I guess Apple Bloom's voice was the recording that Velvet had. Makes sense, seeing as she was the first Overmare of that Stable.
- Yay, more depressing skeletons!
- Sparkle Cola? Really?
- Pinkie Pie is Big Sister? Lovely. I can't wait to see what the justification for that is.
- I'm with Pip on this. How does identifying yourself with one of the Elements of Harmony help anything?
- Just how easy are those Sprite Bots to hack, anyway? Also, I guess growing up in the Stable makes you unable to recognize obvious propaganda when you hear it, considering that said propaganda was what staved off depression in the first place.
- Ah, looks like we have a competent sniper now. Poor TPS, getting upstaged already.
- Friendly fire's a bitch, ain't it?
Thoughts on chapter 4:
Certainly some interesting stuff, and far less Fridge Logic than before. The robots were bizarre, and I can't really see Braeburn running a factory, much less a weapons factory. Come a long way from using Apple Pies, hasn't he? At least we finally get to meet non-hostile ponies who don't immediately run off. The quality seems to be improving overall, but now I'm becoming concerned for the characterization of the canon ponies. Hopefully they aren't botched too horribly.
Comments
storyyeller
Since: Dec, 1969
May 8th 2012 at 7:22:22 PM
Actually Sweetie Belle was the overmare. Apple Bloom was sending her instructions.
Also, the Bag Of Holding gets abused far more later. As does mass telekinesis, though at least Pip trains first for that.
Seraphem
Since: Dec, 1969
May 8th 2012 at 7:27:49 PM
not at all, they are very very true to cannon, yes there is some deviation, but nothing that can't be explained by several years of constant warfare and stress from trying to save as many ponies as they can while ending the war.
Only watcher can actaully hack them and take control of one to communicate both ways, and Red Eye can doa blanket Hack now and then that just uses them to relay his broadcast....which was the original purpose of the sprite bots, serve as an Equestria wide means of rapidly sending important messages that every pony needs to know. Basicly the Equestrian emergency Broadcast system.
As to Breaburn, since this was before it became cannon that EP's had innate magic, FOE EP's don't instead they are the most tech savvy.
lil'macintosh, yeh she scored big with that, once she gets a decent ammo supply for it it becomes her go to weapon.
Seraphem
Since: Dec, 1969
May 8th 2012 at 7:29:35 PM
oh yeah forgot the overmare part. though the bag of holding's not completely ridiculous, they do occasionally end up with more vendor trash then they can carry and need a pit stop to sell some, but ti's way more then any pony should be able to carry.
Sereg
Since: Dec, 1969
May 9th 2012 at 3:47:11 AM
Most of what I would say has already been mentioned, but yeah, most of this is explained later. As said, the earth ponies are almost all technolgical geniuses in FOE having invented pretty much everything. So despite your earlier concerns, we don't have unicorn master race syndrome here. Also, remember that a parrelal role doesn't indicate a parrelal attitude here. Pinkie has noble reasons for being Big Sister and similar situations will turn up later in the story.
PerpetualLurker
Since: Dec, 1969
May 9th 2012 at 7:18:28 AM
Well, having all Earth Ponies be technologically savvy doesn't sit well with me either. Being good at engineering is a mental attribute, which their race should really have any effect on. It implies that a unicorn or a pegasus are naturally dumber than Earth Ponies, even when the story itself shows otherwise. I mean, Pip is incredibly good with tech, and was even a technician back in the Stable. Is Pip just special, or something?
Sereg
Since: Dec, 1969
May 9th 2012 at 1:49:58 PM
Nah, finicky jobs like repair are better suited for unicorns so Littlepip is quite ordinary there (though you'll meet a character who has a special talent not typically associated with his race). Earth ponies are better at building new things. And even then, it's just a rough guideline. It's less to do with the earth ponies being smarter than it is to do with the races thinking slightly differently. Earth ponies are imaginitive and grasp how to make things.
storyyeller
Since: Dec, 1969
May 9th 2012 at 6:26:43 PM
There's actually a debate near the end about Earth pony superiority.
Seraphem
Since: Dec, 1969
May 9th 2012 at 6:36:45 PM
yeah the over all stance of the fic is that all three races have there own pros and cons, but that they are all equally important, that only when all three races are balanced and in harmony do things really work right.
