‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 344

And Danni gets recognized!

EDIT: For fun, here's a sneak preview (it's a vote incentive) of a panel in tomorrow's update.

33 Comments

I have a feeling that what Kat has in mind will be a fair bit more interesting than “gathering plants”

Not if she wants to maintain her version of a ‘hero’.

I dunno how someone can call gathering magical plants that control demons while floating in microgravity ‘boring’, but then I’m one of those people who doesn’t understand how anyone can consider riding around in a thousand pound metal cage that’s designed to crumple on impact, and that’s operated by burning the hundred million-year-old remains of suboceanic creatures to slam pistons at speeds faster than the eye can see, either ‘safe’ or ‘enjoyable’. So, maybe it’s just me!

It’s designed to crumple on impact in order to BE safe. The passenger compartment is not designed to do so. a = delta v/delta t. Longer time of collision results in less acceleration subjected to the passengers.

Now the times when my brain clicks how close below me the ground is speeding by? yeah, I agree at times.

I know, I know. It just only makes sense to design something to crumple on impact in order to make it safer if the impact occurs at an inhumanly high speed. Our evolution only really went as far as ‘survive a sheer drop from the lower branches of a tree; or a collision with a tree, the ground, or another person while sprinting at top speed’. That’s as far as my comfort zone goes, definitely.

All those safety features actually make cars less safe in a lot of prehistorically common situations. Stampedes, riotous mobs, rolling into a gorge, being hit with rocks… Ah, well! I guess it’s fortunate that the (first)world has gotten tame enough that we seldom have to worry about those things anymore, even if it makes us invent new ways to get in crazy life-threatening situations to fill the gap.

I’m a lot more cool with air travel, really. There’s nothing to collide with within miles, and that’s a really nice air bag. Most people I know find it scarier than road travel, though. For people who don’t spend as much time obsessing about stuff as me, how scared they are of something seems to be inversely proportional to their familiarity with it. For me, it tends to be based more on how many fears it simultaneously triggers.

Ooh, look who’s checking up on Kleya – “hackers got to her” – yeah, right, sure, as if that’s your real motivation…

The crowd, on the other hand, do raise quite a few valid points – as well as more hints that there’s more to TENka than meets the eye (beyond the fact that the “anti-hacking program” is actually one of D’s subroutines and while they’re interested in Kleya, they don’t want the enigmatic “him” knowing).

As for Erbana being boring, since we’ve been told that no-one’s really tried it for the past couple of years, there’s probably more to it than gathering plants, but most people don’t remember the complexities so are basing their judgement on the alignment allocation level.

“Ooh, look who’s checking up on Kleya – “hackers got to her” – yeah, right, sure, as if that’s your real motivation… :)”

I’m afraid I don’t recognize the character who started talking to Danni. She doesn’t look like Kim’s avatar at least.

I feel like they are soon going to learn exactly how Erbana can be interesting…

I concur, did you see how she ‘tamed’ the fiendii, or whatever it’s called? That’s just the tip of the iceberg too, imo.

F*** yes, Erbana gameplay looks the most amazing so far.
Alchemy <3
Taming wild animals / enemy mobs <3
and if it is there
DIPLOMACY

aaaaaa I want a game with this route )=

Yeah, it’s the reason because nobody ever does it that it has potential to be entertaining. Nobody around at this point has probably ever seen or still remembers the full Erbana style of gameplay, so who knows what might happen

Are hackers still around? Well it’s really just this one, but she’s got like hacking super powers. She’s like that guy from Watch_Dogs but on steroids and she has anger issues so…

From what I remember of Watchdogs, the main character is supposed to be reaaaally good at his craft (yeah… well the hacking minigames don’t show that) and is a jerk with anger issues. Didn’t finish the game so I don’t know if that changes in the end, but the main difference between Kat and Aiden is that Kat tries to redeem herself while Aiden is only pursuing revenge. I can’t say I like him.

Hmm, a thought just occurred to me. The Game could work out very much in Kleya’s favor if she makes a Tri-Gun type story. In fact, this actually sound really interesting to me now, we’ve got Kleya/Kat as Vash, a pacifist who will only raise arms in defense of another and never by hurting her enemies if at all possible, Jane as Knives or Legato, someone who knows what they are and enjoys it too much to change even if they do have regrets on occasion, Jake/Bandit as Wolfwood, with strong ethics and loyalties that will inevitably conflict, Danni fits best as Meryl, a foil and motivator for Kleya who is quite capable in her own right, while the Dude/Brandon is Milly Thompson, in this case a hanger-on for Jake who keeps everything honest.

Honestly, the erbanna route strikes me as rom-com or rom-drama fodder if its done pure, i.e. not with a villainous group backing it. Running around, gather plants, making potions/items, occasionally taming random beasts, talking your way through confrontation, this is not good television, there’s no conflict, there’s nothing to get the audience on the edge of their seats. Unless you’ve got some character interraction and investment, there’s no draw, you may as well watch a cooking show, and that would take far fewer resources than something like the Game. Even in a show like Psych or CSI its the cop at the end, the potential gun fight at any point, the short moments of visceral action that gives the show that tension that holds an audience enthralled.

As it is, with a mostly villainous group, this could work out as action-drama, unfortunately, that can go two ways. Either it works out something like Trigun, with Kleya being a reluctant action star but a genuine hero, or she becomes the token pacifist that is more the butt of a lot of bad jokes and she get’s killed off by the end of the first season for the sake of ratings (continuing my television analogy).

Wow. I completely love your analysis, as well as your Trigun reference. Not only that, but you bring up some pretty great points. Kit might be a novelty now, the first few times she does things differently, but she’ll need to do something exciting to keep people watching – not that she realizes she really needs to do that, yet.
…and now, I’m seeing Vash talking excitedly to Kit with that grin on his face, while she’s staring at him kind of blank faced. …and now instead of avatars, I’m seeing the exact same thing playing out with their real selves, only Vash is showing off his version of cybernetics (well, by showing off… I mean some adorable type of empathizing scenario, not actually proclaiming the awesomeness of having his arm turn into a gun or whatever. Geez, it’s been to long wince I last watched that show…). Kit, of course, does not respond. : )

Regarding the token pacifist side of things, I imagine Kleya’ll be taking it more along the lines of the technical pacifist (For example, consider how she had launched herself non-violently at Jake back in the trial with her Nice Special, then rotated past and let go, and put her hands up to trigger the emotional mechanics of the system) whereupon she uses the fact that she can tame enemies and not attack other enemies to redirect aggro for the tamed enemies at the attacking enemies – basically unravelling The Game’s rules so that she stays at 100% Erbana because even on the villain’s team, she’s not *technically* the one inflicting all the damage on opponents – they’re doing it to themselves. Maybe even throw in some “Redirect momentum to get you to hit your teammates or yourself” for variety.

*That* would be interesting to see – especially as the situations ramp up even more. Up against an army with archers with ballistas? No problem – break them all the day before the fight at night so that they all malfunction the day of the fight, and potentially let them shoot themselves with the arrows when firing.

I don’t think this will mesh well with Kleya’s intention to “be nice”. Although she already seems to have a pretty dim idea of what that means… I’m just saying that Jake publicly sexually assaulted her, and her retaliation against him, especially given that she /was/ using direct nerve connection, should not be taken as her strategy for Game as a whole.
The deathmatch to get to the Game is generally not a good event to base your expectations of usual strategy of a pacifist on :\

The game is multiplayer! They don’t need to be a villain group to get some good Trigun-style action for Kleya
(h*** f***ing yes Vaaaaash he is super fun and interesting to watch BECAUSE he refuses to harm his enemies and would save their lives, not DESPITE)

Reading people’s reactions reminds me of reading political discussions on the internet.

I’m still waiting for one of them to say this whole thing was (president)’s fault.

You must have missed the part of the discussion where it was proposed that the President, who needs a safe room to get online, is Kleya’s dad, who is obviously to blame for most if not all of her problems.

Reading the comments gets me excited to see the game really be played. It’s all about entertainment like that group that remains popular because they’re funny. Pacifism is just as viable as any other route as long as you put on a good show.

I am pretty sure Kat does not do “boring” regardless of what style she plays. If she’s a pacifist, she’ll make a show of being pacifist and make yellow&pink the latest fashion. You don’t have to literally blow stuff up to produce similar emotional effect with your actions.

I gather she kinda forgot what happened to her in the first round of the Game Trials. Of course, she may have a skewed definition of “hacker” that leaves out the less-skilled ones.

I don’t think she ever learned about that. Kleya handled it.

Just caught up with the archive. Came here via an advertisement from El Goonish Shive’s main page. Greatly enjoyed.

am I the onlyone overly joyed that your back to srawing L.I.F.E and it wont take so d*** long?

No, you are very much not!

Me three!

Just found the comic and read through the entire archive and it is awesome…
Is there an update schedule? Or should I just check back at regular intervals in-case?

Tuesdays and fridays, I believe. Welcome to the “flock” of hungry hungry readers…

Tuesday and Fridays is correct! Welcome, welcome!

I think these two words will sum up a lot of Kleyas specials nicely: Mind Control

Just saw an advertisement on THE first page of Homestuck. So that’s certainly exciting. I don’t see ads for NaV that often anymore.

Not A Villain Webcomic

Webcomic of a semi- reformed hacker trying to redeem herself in a post- apocalyptic world she may have created.

‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 344