The Dreadful (from Nuklear Power)

Plot development engenders less fervent commentary than action scenes, I'm afraid.

Well it's no big deal really, it's just that there's always a different kind of response here than on NPF and I like hearing from you all.

It's not just plot development: it's plot development that pretty much spells itself out. There's not much TO discuss when the comic spells almost all of a scene out.

So what you're saying is the comic is so AMAZEBALLS that you're all left speechless!

Yup. I totally approve of that. Continue on!

It is self-explanatory.

Yup, I'm struck speechless. Which shouldn't have any impact on writing things on the Internet, but hey, them's the breaks.

Looks like the image for 274 isn't up. Edit: looks like the page itself is gone now.

edited 30th Jul '14 1:33:43 PM by fellow

It was reposted here.

Part of me is hoping that the JDA goons aren't that easily fooled.

Haw.

Well, she got the height right at least.

Think less sex kitten, more Uruk-Hai.

Yeah, I think the newspaper Umami read may have overly sexualized Jeanne for the sake of selling copies...

It's a good thing nothing like that happens in real life!

My first thought with the looming shadow was "Oh crap, Umami is dead, and I liked her too".

Glad you like Umami

She's fun, and not because she's an expy of Ayane (that's kind of an inside-joke anyway. Besides, any resemblance Umami has to Ayane stops at the superficial level. Any further similarities are unintentional).

I was kinda worried she didn't have enough personality to be likeable yet, but it's nice to know that's not the case!

also i c wut u did thar with the dummy

I know almost nothing about Ayane besides her name, that I like her character design, and that she's like an ultra-sexualized 16 year doing pole dances when she's not playing bikini volleyball ^note Some fighting game and Ninja Gaidan are also somehow mixed up with fanservice party. Like Kasumi is the same boat, I know her name and what she looks like, and I remember her best for a line in Excel♡Saga about a cosplayer putting Excel in the costume.

But yeah, Umami is fun. She's probably one of the weirdest parts of the story so far—POOF! Ninjas!—but it's fun having somebody so out of place with the old western setting.

Also: the Sandbox draft is still in ssslllloooooooooooooooowwww progress. How is it looking so far? Ready to be moved to Recap as a work in progress?

edited 30th Jul '14 10:58:57 PM by Rotpar

I liked Ayane a lot from Dead or Alive because, when you cut away all the sexualization, her story was actually pretty tragic and she's one of the few fighting game characters who has developed over the years (Sagat being the only other one I can think of).

She developed in a way that made sense based on how she grew up and what she's been through (unlike a lot of characters who go from good to bad or bad to good Because Reasons). She's complicated, and she's also "hated/shunned for no good reason" which is something that appeals to me (underdog character).

When DOA 5 came out, I was really disappointed that they didn't develop her character more and instead fell back on boring, 1-dimensional Kasumi (and the rest of the rest of the cast is pretty boring as well).

So I made a joke to a friend on Skype that I was going to put Ayane in The Dreadful since Tecmo/Koei didn't know what to do with her, and we started coming up with random ideas about her character. They began pretty goofy and then and they slowly became good. Then somehow I managed to tie her really well into the Shew Stone plot, and I wanted a mage/illusion character (suitable for a ninja).

I changed some stuff around so she wasn't a flat-out Ayane copy (though I kept a few things), and Chinami Umami was born!

edited 31st Jul '14 5:13:24 AM by ExMile

SABUESO

His first appearance many a year ago.

edited 31st Jul '14 10:59:50 AM by ExMile

oh my god the memories of the Liefeld-parody

Soul Calibur, fanservice aside, does a good job with evolving its characters. Siegfried, Ivy and, surprisingly, Lizardman come to mind.

x3

I actually showed that to my sister's boyfriend the other day, waiting for way too long in a line. I as explaining the horrors of Liefeld art and used that as one of the parody examples, along with Bloodpouch.

It is odd to think that Kit and Sabueso occasionally Go-Karting with Bowser for a paycheck.

I've heard Dead or Alive is a solid fighting game but it always looked like very soft-core porn to me. Didn't they have an ad about panty-shots? Before their main contribution to the fighting genre became breast jiggle physics? Soul Calibur used to be pretty good for story and characters...until they advertised SCV with a closeup of Ivy's cleavage.

So, yeah, I know nothing of DoA story or its characters.

So far, if there's any tragedy in Umami's life, is that she's an expy of the wrong franchise, and clearly all the other ninja dislike her for not being a Final Fantasy look-alike.

As far as "creator doesn't know what to do with their characters" goes, that describes my relationship with UQ Holder!. So much wasted potential.

edited 31st Jul '14 1:10:31 PM by Rotpar

I've mained Ayane ever since DOA 2. I started off liking her due to her QCF + K move, which at the time had insane priority and could not be countered. That's been toned down, but replaced with crazy back-stance mind games. I was also upset that she got so little time in DOA 5's story mode. Then again, I only play the story mode once. The rest of my DOA 5 time has been spent watching Ayane kick everyone's butt. :)

Glad her expy lives on in The Dreadful!

Story Modes in fighting games are an abomination and need to be stopped. I don't know who I have to kill to achieve this, but if someone knows, tell me.

I hate not being able to pick my own person. Seems like 90% of the time the writers decide to have you play as the most boring character in the game. Blegh.

Save the "story modes" for rpgs, developers!

(luckily these games still have an Arcade mode, and to be honest, I haven't even touched Story Mode in DOA 5 because I 100% know I'll hate it).

Anyway, my playstyle in fighting games is rushdown, which is great because that's how Ayane plays. I was sorta into DOA 5 U for awhile, and getting okay with her, but I lost all heart when Tecmo/Koei released "Phase 4". So I quit.

A lazy ass clone of the most boring character in the game? And they expect people to pay 7$ for it? No. Just...no. I can't bring myself to invest time/effort into a game if they're gonna do that...(It's sorta like them flat-out admitting the franchise is a sinking ship).

I know it's probably weird to harp on stories/characters in a fighting game, especially one as cheesecake heavy as DOA. And I agree! But the thing is, if they insist on making the stories and characters be a part of their game, then I think criticism is warranted when they screw it up (like if a game has bad music or whatever). If it's "not important", my question to the developers is: Why do you still have it in your game then?

Erm...anyway... This forum-space is supposed to be about some webcomic so I guess I'll let us get back to it. Sorry for going off on a tangent!

(I like videogames. A lot.)

edited 31st Jul '14 5:45:08 PM by ExMile

Fighting games have story modes that aren't a story for each character now? Only one I have is Soul Calibur II.

edited 31st Jul '14 6:48:15 PM by rikalous

SCV reverted to one story mode only.