Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

[StoneSlinger88]

Actually that's how I play most video games. Let's see, I'll go here, and here, take out this guy, then this one, sneak over here, grab the objective, sneak over there, take out those two...

*five minutes later*

CHARGE!!!

BJ seems to have adopted this strategy.

[Overthepacific]

Actually that's how I play most video games. Let's see, I'll go here, and here, take out this guy, then this one, sneak over here, grab the objective, sneak over there, take out those two...

*five minutes later*

CHARGE!!!

BJ seems to have adopted this strategy.

Guns blazing is the best way to go about most video games, since it is just plain fun as hell when you get some good guns. But when you get to actually feeling pain and dealing with the physical trauma, this option becomes less logical. BlackJack no longer has to deal with that with the augmentations, so I find a bit of the realism of the struggles of wasteland combat are lost, much more than with pre-augmentation.

Although, I do think the scenes with psalm are pretty badass, and she seems to go in guns blazing, but it does seem like a bit more of a massacre since no one sees it coming.

[WavemasterRyx]

Hnng, that is adorable! Boo deserves all the birthday hugs. My only criticism would be that you can't see Boo's forelegs - she looks a little like a bowling pin. I forget: have you drawn Lacunae before? She looks lovely.

Thank you. Actually I was joking about her looking like a bowling pin in the stream while coloring it (and my mom was joking about Blackjack's leg looking like a... not a leg...), but when I tried to add her legs, I couldn't get them to look right. *shrugs a little* It's a problem I'll leave for actual artists to worry about, I'm not going to let it bother me.

I've drawn her a few times, but nothing really special.

and Rampage says: "Don't do drugs, kids!"

Actually I believe she's already said that to Glory. While eating Mint-als.

All I can think of now is Boo, wearing a
business suit, holding a pointer in her mouth against a chalkboard with
the rest of the team at a table. BJ is asleep, P-21 fiddling with a
grenade, Glory and Scotch looking interested, Rampage adjusting her
power hooves, and Lacunae looking at BJ.

It sounds like an adorable picture if Ryx were to draw it.

Consider it considered. Though I would probably make it a whiteboard.

Ryx could draw anything and make it adorable.

Fear her.

I do still have an "adorable Deus" to draw sometime.

[Snipehamster]

Hnng, that is adorable! Boo deserves all the birthday hugs. My only criticism would be that you can't see Boo's forelegs - she looks a little like a bowling pin. I forget: have you drawn Lacunae before? She looks lovely.

Thank you. Actually I was joking about her looking like a bowling pin in the stream while coloring it (and my mom was joking about Blackjack's leg looking like a... not a leg...), but when I tried to add her legs, I couldn't get them to look right. *shrugs a little* It's a problem I'll leave for actual artists to worry about, I'm not going to let it bother me.

I've drawn her a few times, but nothing really special.

D'oh.

In my defense, you haven't drawn her in colour before!

[SilentCarto]

...I remembered something about the fic that SilentCarto didn't?
What kind of bizzaro world have we stumbled into, here?

Uh... uh... wait... just give me a... AH HAH!

That's the only time the serious head injury is mentioned, and apparently BJ gets away with only a headache. Now granted we don't see any medical treatment because of the time skip, (and I'm not sure Glory's clear for surgery when she's high on Dash,) but BJ's head being a weak spot used to be significant in earlier chapters (since she doesn't always have a helmet on). Really, none of this would be a problem if BJ was wearing a helmet this chapter. That's my recommendation: Give BJ a helmet two hundred chapters ago.

Recall that even BJ's "fleshy" parts have augmentations. When her face got half-melted in Hippocratic, it exposed a (presumably bulletproof) mesh underlay, not to mention her adamantium bone lacing (ch. 34 perk). She might as well be wearing a helmet already, right?

The first time she faces mooks with .50 cal rifles, the only thing saving her life was the helmet even after her first round of augmentations. Did she get extra skull reinforcement during the latest batch of chrome?

Crap! I... you're right. It's all gone. I can't... I can't do this anymore.

[SilentCarto]

'Reaper Mode' also bothered me, mostly because of the stupid name, but it was tiny compared to other things. I didn't see it as any sort of power up, just Blackjack letting go of all her preoccupations and distractions and hangups about trying not to hurt her opponent and finally letting loose and honestly fighting to kill.

I agree. To quote Superman, "I feel like I live in a world made of cardboard. Always taking constant care not to break something, to break someone. Never allowing myself to lose control even for a moment, or someone could die. But you can take it, can't you, big man? What we have here is a rare opportunity for me to cut loose and show you just how powerful I really am."

No, it isn't just you. It seems to be a vicious cycle of becoming near invincible to her past enemies, only to have to make up for it by bringing in even more powerful enemies. Where will it end?

It's almost like she's a character in a video game, who keeps leveling up until the enemies she was facing at the beginning are completely unable to hurt her...

[jacky2734]

No, it isn't just you. It seems to be a vicious cycle of becoming near invincible to her past enemies, only to have to make up for it by bringing in even more powerful enemies. Where will it end?

It's almost like she's a character in a video game, who keeps leveling up until the enemies she was facing at the beginning are completely unable to hurt her...

Yeah, but the thing is that at a certain point in a videogame, your character should have leveled up so much that even the biggest, toughest badguy in the game is nothing more than a nuisance. Take FO:NV for example, by the time you hit lvl 50, you can basically challenge a deathclaw alpha to a bout of fisticuffs and win.(Note: Do NOT try this in the Divide, the Deathclaws there level up differently and will Destroy you if you don't take them on at a distance.)

[O. Hinds]

It's a problem I'll leave for actual artists to worry about, I'm not going to let it bother me.

As I've said before: my stick figures come out crooked. You seem quite like an actual artist to me.

Yeah, but the thing is that at a certain point in a videogame, your character should have leveled up so much that even the biggest, toughest badguy in the game is nothing more than a nuisance. Take FO:NV for example, by the time you hit lvl 50, you can basically challenge a deathclaw alpha to a bout of fisticuffs and win.(Note: Do NOT try this in the Divide, the Deathclaws there level up differently and will Destroy you if you don't take them on at a distance.)

You've just made your own counterpoint, though: Yes, some enemies, those who level up in certain ways or don't level up at all, are going to be nothing more than nuisances. Others, ones still leveled above you or who level up with (or faster than you)?

[Overthepacific]

No, it isn't just you. It seems to be a vicious cycle of becoming near invincible to her past enemies, only to have to make up for it by bringing in even more powerful enemies. Where will it end?

It's almost like she's a character in a video game, who keeps leveling up until the enemies she was facing at the beginning are completely unable to hurt her...

Correct me If I'm wrong here, but I'm pretty sure she reached maximum level at 34. So I dont think this quite holds true any more.

Unless...:

[OneMoreDaySK]

Though to be honest, her rage mode isn't any sort of power up. It's more like her turning off all her safeties and ignoring damage. While that allows her to focus more on fighting, it can lead up to her not noticing her losing her legs or something like that.

One question, if Flank became a wretched hive of drug fiends, what happened to the Doc Scalpel there and the Daft Punk Ponies? *hoping that they gtfo'd when they could*

[Overthepacific]

One question, if Flank became a wretched hive of drug fiends, what happened to the Doc Scalpel there and the Daft Punk Ponies? *hoping that they gtfo'd when they could*

I would like to think they created an impervious party fortress to fend away the bad element and keep in the magical music and dancing.
Or they made a techno fighting arena...Yeah, that'd be cool.

[Moodyman90]

I'm all for the techno fighting arena idea.

[Overthepacific]

I'm all for the techno fighting arena idea.

Hmmm... Give me a couple days. I might be on to something.

Which chapter was it that had them in it? I wanna say it was 15 or 16, but I think Imma fall asleep before I'll find it.

[OneMoreDaySK]

@Overthepacific
Yeah they feature there.

But seriously, I like when stories mingle with other stories, like that crossover with Littlepip. I'd really like to see some other heroes freeing Paradise Falls for example. Not everything should be done by Blackjack.

Heh, I've some wriggling thoughts at having a set of characters roam the wasteland doing things. What do y'all think of the names Snapshot, Spell Weaver, and Wish Dancer?

[Caoimhe]

Geiger Counter

[The Holy Tuna]

Wait in line, SK, I've called dibs on doing the stuff other protagonists never got around to.

[WovenTales]

No, it isn't just you. It seems to be a vicious cycle of becoming near invincible to her past enemies, only to have to make up for it by bringing in even more powerful enemies. Where will it end?

It's almost like she's a character in a video game, who keeps leveling up until the enemies she was facing at the beginning are completely unable to hurt her...

Yeah, but the thing is that at a certain point in a videogame, your character should have leveled up so much that even the biggest, toughest badguy in the game is nothing more than a nuisance. Take FO:NV for example, by the time you hit lvl 50, you can basically challenge a deathclaw alpha to a bout of fisticuffs and win.(Note: Do NOT try this in the Divide, the Deathclaws there level up differently and will Destroy you if you don't take them on at a distance.)

That may be what happens, but I wouldn't say that it's what would ideally happen. Sure, there's some fun in cruising through the world when absolutely nothing can touch you, but I'd argue that it's more engaging to still be as powerful relative to what you're going up against, so you can't just run into the middle of the enemy camp guns blazing and hope to get out on top. Yeah, Blackjack has been able to do something close to that for a bit now, but she's been fighting the same enemies she used to; of course she can handle them better when she's more powerful. The Legate, Dawn, and probably the Brood of Coyotl or however it's spelled are the next tier, the enemies that still require strategy—and probably even more powerful equipment—to consistently win the advantage.

As for whether it's a valid model to follow for the story, I'm thinking it is. For how long PH is (another argument altogether), Any emotional development would be rather slow if Somber tried to make that the main character arc over all five volumes. Something has to grow to keep the plot from feeling stagnant, and Blackjack's strength is a reasonable way to do it. Maybe it's not the most original path, but it works and Somber writes it more believably than a number of others do.

[Quotidian]

Wait in line, SK, I've called dibs on doing the stuff other protagonists never got around to.

Just stay away from Honest Hearts. It's MINE. MINE I SAY. Someday I'll finish Stormfront and then you'll see! YOU'LL ALL SEE!

[Downloaded Skill]

I hope the Daft Ponies come back. I can see it already. BJ and the team break into Shadowbolt tower in the middle of an energetic techno rave. The Enclave can provide their own lasers!

[Icy Shake]

Here's what I thought about the sword, courtesy of the Wayback Machine (some of the chapter numbers might have been wrong, though):

So, regarding the sword, here's much of the important stuff we've seen.

CH 11: I had seen a sword, but not just any sword. A sword twenty percent cooler than any sword I could ever have imagined, a sword made of white silver metal and decorated with etched unicorns.

CH 26: She reared above me and brought her forehooves down in a crushing blow. I lifted my sword horizontally, catching her hoofclaws as she glared down at me with murder in her eyes. I didn’t have Mallet’s magical strength and had to press my forehooves to the flat side of the single-edged blade. She was stronger and heavier, and her head tilted down to point that helmet saber right at my throat.

Ch 31: I drew my sword and swung it like a baton before me.

The tip slipped through his spiked armor to his throat, and I felt a supreme sense of satisfaction as I sliced his artery.

Ch 38: The sword would probably be too long and ungainly if wielded in my mouth.

I made a lunge to try and spear her face but she ducked low, launched forward, and dragged her claws along my exposed throat.

The sword pierced through the shoulder of her severed limb, emerging out the far side before her thrashing body tore the weapon from my mouth.

41: Then I plunged the sword straight into her chest up to the hilt.

My sword was tougher.
I stabbed it through the armor covering, and the mare inside screamed. With all the strength I could manage in my horn, I ripped the blade down completely through her wing, and we tumbled together end over end.

So we know it has one cutting edge, and the tip can be used for thrusting. Based on the first quote from 41, I'm imagining a straight-edged sword, as well.
Going off of the comparisons to use of a baton, one might make a case that it's a single-handed weapon.

At a guess, about the closest I can suggest is that it's a backsword with false edge near the tip on the backside, to enhance thrusting efficacy.

Anyway, it's always nice to be reminded of the "World of Cardboard" speech. And I agree: the depiction of Reaper Mode just seemed like a change in mindset to me.

[CD]

I'm all for the techno fighting arena idea.

Can't you guys get Beyond Thunderdome?

[StoneSlinger88]

Two ponies enter, one pony leaves!

(Actually, wouldn't the duel cage in the Reaper place count as that?)

[Overthepacific]

Two ponies enter, one pony leaves!

(Actually, wouldn't the duel cage in the Reaper place count as that?)

Yeah, but were gonna make a better one in Flank!
and its gonna have Blackjack and hookers!

Spoiler:

[Kippershy]

I've decided that if there was ever a mascot for PH that comes from outside the story, it's Jebediah Kerman.
Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, he'll always support you through it all - thus, the perfect mascot.

[Overthepacific]

I've decided that if there was ever a mascot for PH that comes from outside the story, it's Jebediah Kerman.
Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, he'll always support you through it all - thus, the perfect mascot.

What the blueberry fuck did I just read?

Furthermore, what in a twisted iced over hell am I looking at?

[Kippershy]

Both are jokes you won't understand without knowing the source material, and both jokes are very easy to misunderstand and I run the chance of being misunderstood very easily if I explain.

So I'll play it safe.

[Overthepacific]

Both are jokes you won't understand without knowing the source material, and both jokes are very easy to misunderstand and I run the chance of being misunderstood very easily if I explain.

So I'll play it safe.

Well, I t...

I can not take you seriously with that, I'm sorry.

[Kippershy]

*Smiles*

Welcome to stage one, feel free to mingle with everyone else in the room.

[Caoimhe]

Par for the course here it seems.

Also 1000 posts, woo!

[Sindri]

Par for the course here it seems.

Also 1000 posts, woo!

Right, who's in charge of dragging this one into the Vats?

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