Re: Fallout Equestria: Murky Number Seven

[Moodyman90]

@swicked: Just because I said Shackle is planning a total take over of the slaves doesn't mean I ever thought he was going to succeed. Redeye most likely has Shackle under near constant watch and is just a word away from having that problem removed.

In fact, Protégé telling Murky that he needs ponies like Shackle could very well have been him quoting what Redeye told him when he asked a similar question. So Shackle is a tool to them, and the moment his usefulness is outweighed by him being a problem they'll get rid of him.

Course that's just what I think and I freely admit this was something I came up with over the course of 20 minutes to justify the last thing I said. Honestly I hope I am wrong about this part because this takes all the piss out of Shackle as a threat, except as one directly for Murky, because Shackle was already doomed by canon from FoE.

Spoiler:

[Fuzzy]

Played, no, but I do know of the formula. : P

It's what made the 'extra strength jet' in Fallout 3 absolutely hysterical to create.

[RoboRed]

I finished chapter 10 the other day.

Between Twilight's message, Sunny, and the newfound link between Sundial and Weathervane, I has a bit of a sad.

I honestly don't expect Murky to tell him what happened, though, unless he gets directly confronted about it (Murky would not hold up under the interrogation). Letting Weathervane know will likely make him go feral, and that wouldn't be good for anyone. I expect him to let Glimmer know when they're alone elsewhere, though.

Poor Sunny. I'm with swicked's sentiments, though. I expected her to be a lot more broken, and my grimdark/tragedy-loving side would like to see Chainlink Shackles completely "unchained".

I really don't see Twilight's message to be that out of character, but it is still a bit odd.

Mister Peace was hilarious.

Also, I absolutely <3 Glimmerlight.

(Skits)

Many lulz were had.

[OneMoreDaySK]

@Derpmind Lucky you. Out for a week, now on page 8 for PH thread...

Also, can't help but imagine all of Murky's dialogue using Fluttershy's voice.

@swicked
Skits are awesome and hilarious as always.

[Fuzzy]

swicked - Yeah I've read those from your devart, that is one warped, insane and absolutely hilarious sense of humour that is going on in them. I'd never be one to say "stop it." Everyone has their own sense. :p

Robored - Thanks so much for your comments, I always geta little "Eee!" moment when people love Glimmer. She really has shot up in popularity lately which really makes me happy to see.

Shackles has so much more he'd like to do, that much is obvious. I won't go too much into detail for fear of spoilers and the relationship between Shackles and Protégé is very much a subject of theory and debate. But I will simply say that yes, he is somewhat 'bound' by the rules right now...without them he would be an absolute monster. Sunny's condition is only after a few hours or so, a day at most. He wouldn't want to waste it all immediately...he knows he has her for a long time now.

OneMoreDay - Funnily enough, I kinda hear it in the colt Butterscotch voice that was done for the "My Little Bronies" recordings. Not exactly though...but very close. He definitely has a few bits of Fluttershy in him though.

[O. Hinds]

I think that I spotted two minor errors in the latest chapter:

Potential Spoilers for Chapter 11:

[Fuzzy]

Right you are, Hinds. Thanks for grabbing them. Fixing now.

[Moodyman90]

I really enjoyed the chapter.
I want Barb dead. Deader then dead. Want him gloating about how ruthless and stealthy his is only for Brim or hell, even Shackle to seemingly just appear behind him and crush him. But that's just me.

Also, Brim in full battle armor, HIS battle armor and weapons... those raiders where too dumb to live.

[O. Hinds]

I really enjoyed the chapter.
I want Barb dead. Deader then dead. Want him gloating about how ruthless and stealthy his is only for Brim or hell, even Shackle to seemingly just appear behind him and crush him. But that's just me.

See, while I'd settle for Brim or Shackles or whoever doing it, what I'd really like to see happen to Barb? A stealth kill.

[Moodyman90]

Well I wanted him gone before, but I wasn't even half way before I wish death upon him.
Can't say he was especially horrible, just happened to hit the right cords this chapter.

[RoboRed]

Ah, finally a new chapter. I don't have much to say, except I am so glad that Brim's back, I feel sorry for Glimmer, and I really, REALLY want Barb dead.

[OneMoreDaySK]

Caught up with story and discussion, then computer dies...
Anyways, yeah Barb is evil, but I also agree that Sunny seems a little too okay by Philly standards in relation to SHOOTING Shackles. Mentally traumatized, quite possibly, but we haven't seen to much on the physical spectrum.
Mr. Peace is hilarious, dunno why I like all these large hams in the stories (Trixie, Stronghoof, etc) quite possibly be due to the absurdity of the statements in the scenarios.

Kinda hope that Barb just gets beaten, but not killed so he shows up later.
Hm, so it's pretty mch confirmed that Murky is Unity 2.0 plan B at this point then.
One thing to note is that the antagonists in the story are doing this as a necessary evil (Redeye/Protoge) or just being evil because (Shackles/Barb). I know for a character trying just to survive it's not really important, but I kinda wanna see some backstory for the villains.

[Fuzzy]

I apologise mightily that I haven't been as readily responsive over this chapter. Most of my time has been spent lying in bed making various groanin-

Wait a minute, that sounds very misinterpretable.

I've been very sick, basically. Hence the lack of time up and around things. But I'm really glad for the feedback here. Particularly that people are beginning to see some real 'love to hate' or badass liking of Barb. That's excellent.

Although swicked's headcanon about Barb's backstory still makes me laugh. It would explain his need to act as arrogant and in control, wouldn't it? xD

I have to agree that Glimmer's "myself" is a little cheesy. But frankly, I kinda knew it while writing. I just...felt...that line and knew that people would probably go "Awww come on! You coulda so used to big classic trope line there!" It still works, just for people who know the cliché, I guess you could call it a deliberate nod. :p

Very glad you like Coral Eve, that scene was oddly tough as (hospital appearance non-withstanding) I had to get across a whole ton about her character...while talking entirely about Glimmer. It's a deceptively difficult balance to strike. Too far one side and she just whines about her own life, too far to the other and it's straight up (I dislike swearing but here we go) 'bitching'. Hopefully she struck the chord right. I am very pleased with her name though, so I'm glad you liked it!

By "twisted sense of right and wrong" it was sort of hinting at the kind of sick mind who, while doing unspeakable things is still liable to have a weird sense of honesty. That if they tell you one thing, they will stick to it, as horrible as it is. Brimstone's a little like that on his raider side, a kind of corrupted honesty, perhaps? Just go give an idea of what I was shooting for with that line.

Barb subverts it in that noone really knows what he'll do, who he'll give a chance to or who he'll just kill despite saying he needed them. He doesn't play by any set of rules. Not even his own.

Yes, swicked. Glimmerlight definitely hopes that everypony/species swings that way. It's her, after all. xD

"Back door favours" - ...*facepalm*

Did you delete one of your skits about Glimmerlight highlighting Murky's strange ability to end up becoming the centre of robotic attention? I did have a good ol' laugh at that one, it really sounded like something she'd tease him about.

[OneMoreDaySK]

@swicked
Now I'm trying to imagine him meeting Cerberus or the Sneaking suit. The amusement to be had...

[Moodyman90]

I think I can die happy now because of that.

I'd come back to life just to finish Project Horizons and this fic, but I can die happy now haha.

[OneMoreDaySK]

@swicked
<3

Wait, is there an equivalent for Liberty Prime yet? Bwhahaha.

[Fuzzy]

Gods, swicked, that had me in stitches. xD

...which isn't all good as my throat and sinuses hurt terribly from sickness when I laugh. But I regret nothing!

[Derpmind]

@swicked
Now I'm trying to imagine him meeting Cerberus or the Sneaking suit. The amusement to be had...

Brim: "Two gallons of whiskey."
Cerberus: "VERY WELL, YOU UGLY, STINKING ZEBRA-PAINTED TRAITOR!"
Glimmer: "A glass of scotch would be perfect, thank you."
Cerberus: "IF I MUST, YOU PUTRID PILE OF OUTCAST FILTH!"
Murky: "Um, uh... water?"
Cerberus: "WHATEVER YOU SAY, YOU LOVELY, BEAUTIFUL, SHINING EXAMPLE OF PONYKIND"
Murky... and everyone else in the bar: o_o
Cerberus: "...WHAT DID I JUST SAY. YOU! YOU HAVE CONFOUNDED MY PROGRAMMING, OH GRACEFUL, AMAZING ONE. MAKE THIS STOP THIS INSTANT BEFORE I HAVE TO HUG YOU AND COVER YOU WITH KISSES!"
Murky and everyone again: O_O
Cerberus: "D... DAMN THIS COMBAT INHIBITOR!" *flees*

[Derpmind]

@Swicked

The thing with Dragon Age 2 is that, from what I can tell from your post, it has horrible writing. Every form of entertainment that includes some aspect of writing in it can be made or broken by the quality of that writing. The actual narrative gameplay of you playing a character who effortlessly kills hundreds or thousands of humans in most videogames is confined to just the gameplay, the challenge of taking cover against bullets or deflecting sword thrusts and whatnot. Basically these are the generic Bad Guys who might as well be robots or aliens or paper cut-outs. They're not humans with an actual history or reason for making you need to kill them. There's not much wrong with that, besides maybe being a bit shallow, since it's obviously fake. In many DARK 'N GRITTY SRS multiplayer games, you can replace all the bullets and blood with laser tag and still have the same gameplay, so these single player games might be compared to laser tag against a moving target range.

But as you've said in your post, apparently you're supposed to believe that you're killing actual people instead of polygon robots. Even worse, the actual dialog breaks immersion by clumsily juggling morality that clearly does not fit in at all. It raises the issue- you kill hundreds of people, but then there's this random girl is more important than all of them, and from what you've said the game never actually addresses it. I don't think that you're loosing your ability to dehumanize, it's just that among the many video games that don't have believable human enemies, Dragon Age 2 bumbles along and says "Dude, you're killing hundereds of people!" when in absolutely all ways they're just generic monsters who happen to be human-shaped. It's confusing because the 'writing' is crap. If you're playing Modern Black Ops: War Generic, then you don't give two craps about the russian space terrorists you're killing. They don't need generic backstories because the game you're playing is just a gritty-realistic Rambo movie.


Ok, sorry, just, I'm not going to try and edit what I've written above, it's a mess. I wrote that on-and-off over a few hours between doing AFK stuff, and it's just a complete blob of writing. It's painfully bad, and I'm cringing at the idea of trying to make it more coherent. Y'all kinda get what I mean, which is the important part, but I'm still sorry for rambling.


*Ahem* So anyways, I recently got Fallout: New Vegas, and besides a couple of hours spend on Fallout 1 it's basically my first time playing a Fallout game. Among the gecko-things, giant bugs and zombies are human enemies. Some of these humans you can talk to, some of them you can't. There are generic Power Gangers enemies who have about three lines of meaningless dialogue, and there are others who you can have long conversations with. They may not feel like people, and I might end up killing hundreds in my playthrough, but the humans do feel like characters who have histories, motivations, and personalities. Even the generic "bad guys" are distinct groups with reasons for doing bad things. My avatar is willing to murder, and the part of that is immersed in the game kinda believes that too. Even though I can just go on a random rampage or other stupid believability-breaking things and then reload later, the game itself does try and humanize it's characters. From what little I know, Dragon Age 2 seems to only pay lip-service to the idea that you're killing people.

One last thing: A realistic game where the morality of the avatar-character and other characters is the most important part... is a game that requires spectacularly exceptional writing and direction in every aspect. At that level, I'm not sure if I'd prefer to just read it as a story or have it made into a game.

P.S. Rereading your post, Swicked, I think I may have missed the point of what you were trying to say. You actually meant that MN7 has cased more introspection in you, and I kinda didn't talk about that at all. Whoops. I give up, I've written too many wordzzzz with too little thinking/brain-power behind them to go back and fix everything, so here's a messy jumble that I can eventually look on and laugh, but right now makes me feel absolutely bleaugh. I'm just gonna post this and wait for the smart parts of my brain to turn back on. Derp.

[Moodyman90]

Makes you feel any better Derpmind, while Fallout New Vegas hasn't caused me to go "the people I'm killing had hopes and dreams" it has reinforced my not wanting to use drugs.
Hadn't touched them until I got into a fight I thought I would need an edge in, so I shotgun'd a bunch of them.... actually all of them just like how Rampage did. After the fight settled down I talked to my companion and she busted me. I mean yelled at me and showed real anger and worry at my drug use.

[O. Hinds]

Makes you feel any better Derpmind, while Fallout New Vegas hasn't caused me to go "the people I'm killing had hopes and dreams" it has reinforced my not wanting to use drugs.
Hadn't touched them until I got into a fight I thought I would need an edge in, so I shotgun'd a bunch of them.... actually all of them just like how Rampage did. After the fight settled down I talked to my companion and she busted me. I mean yelled at me and showed real anger and worry at my drug use.

Ah, that must be Cass; I've heard that she does things like that. None of the others seem to mind, though...

[RoboRed]

*Ahem* So anyways, I recently got Fallout: New Vegas, and besides a couple of hours spend on Fallout 1 it's basically my first time playing a Fallout game. Among the gecko-things, giant bugs and zombies are human enemies. Some of these humans you can talk to, some of them you can't. There are generic Power Gangers enemies who have about three lines of meaningless dialogue, and there are others who you can have long conversations with. They may not feel like people, and I might end up killing hundreds in my playthrough, but the humans do feel like characters who have histories, motivations, and personalities. Even the generic "bad guys" are distinct groups with reasons for doing bad things. My avatar is willing to murder, and the part of that is immersed in the game kinda believes that too. Even though I can just go on a random rampage or other stupid believability-breaking things and then reload later, the game itself does try and humanize it's characters. From what little I know, Dragon Age 2 seems to only pay lip-service to the idea that you're killing people.

I just started NV not too long ago. It's my first Fallout game too. Gotta say, I now see and understand the Fallout Equestria universe in a whole different light.

Also, the game has successfully made me feel like a horrible person. I had to pass through some town that was ransacked and on fire, and the first person I run into is some crazed scrawny Powder Gang member screaming something about winning the lottery/hitting the jackpot. Now, I was already displeased with the Powder Gang to begin with, and my brain figured that that maniac and his group had something to do with the town burning and his "jackpot" was any spoils he got from the place. So after I finished talking to him and he ran off, I pulled out my trusty repeater and blew his head into oblivion.

Then I went into the first building I saw, and learned from the guy in there that the guy I killed was the lucky winner of a lottery held by Caesar's Legion, who were the ones who really attacked the place and killed everyone. His prize was that he got to leave unscathed.

Boy, did I feel like shit after that.

[Moodyman90]

@Hinds. Yes, that was Cass. I love how the hard drinking woman calls you out on drug use, but I think that help hit me as how much I fsked up with her.

With the exception of Mentats and PTMs, and I guess Med-X if I have the sneak suit on, I sell all my drugs. Funny enough I don't drink in game.

@Robo. Ah yes, Nipton. First time going through there I was operating on Blackjack logic of "Red is dead, yellow be mellow." He never went red so I let him live. Same with the Legion troops but that was more because they would have slaughtered me.

[RoboRed]

It may be first person, but it in no way handles like a regular FPS, I can say that for sure. Frustrated the hell out of me in the beginning. (WHY THE FUCK CAN I NOT HIT/KILL THIS THING IN THE HEAD WHEN I'M POINTING RIGHT FUCKING AT IT?!?!)

[Stringtheory]

Makes you feel any better Derpmind, while Fallout New Vegas hasn't caused me to go "the people I'm killing had hopes and dreams" it has reinforced my not wanting to use drugs.
Hadn't touched them until I got into a fight I thought I would need an edge in, so I shotgun'd a bunch of them.... actually all of them just like how Rampage did. After the fight settled down I talked to my companion and she busted me. I mean yelled at me and showed real anger and worry at my drug use.

I seriously need to force myself to play this game. The only thing stopping me is my hate of FPS and my inability to decide on what initial stats I want. So far the furthest I've gotten is to complete the initial tutorial and gotten to the point where I'm about the leave the village and they say my stats will be finalized once I do.

yeah, that's one of the reasons I don't/can't play RPG's I can't figure out how stats work, plus while I can play games like WoW and Borderlands, I could never really get into Fallout NV or Skyrim, it's either the shear open world-ness or the amount of options you have at your disposal that overwhelms me...and yes that sounds pathetic looking back

[RoboRed]

@Robo. Ah yes, Nipton. First time going through there I was operating on Blackjack logic of "Red is dead, yellow be mellow." He never went red so I let him live. Same with the Legion troops but that was more because they would have slaughtered me.

I killed every last one of those fuckers. It was worth the hurt.

[OneMoreDaySK]

Bah, in my mostly pacifist run I tried to keep as many as possible alive.
When screwing around I keybound "summon deathclaw" and watched as the Legion freaked out.

[O. Hinds]

Re Chapter Twelve:
I say, that was certainly a tense chapter. Quite exciting.

Spoiler:

[tylertoon2]

There are few stories that get me literally yelling at the computer screen in anger.


...And even fewer where that is a good thing.

I sincerely hope the Master gets a true karmic death.

Well done Fuzzy.

[Cptadder]

Must read update, falling behind on Murky by a month now.
*Goes and reads

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