Love Epidemic 2012

[AngharadTy]

Yeah, sure, I totally buy the idea that having a physical problem with his jaw makes him speak in third person. About the only positive thing I have left to think is that Fantine must love Skitters more than I do if she's willing to look past chatspeak. (It's not totally his fault. The instant I saw the chat image come up, I did a facepalm. Don't care who I'm talking to, that is not how I want to advance a plot on a pet site.)

[Ierosbats]

I agree that easily the worst part of the event so far has been the pacing, which is actually sort of impressive given how embarrassing the dialogue has been. I think if you spend an entire plot saying it's all just preparation for next year's happenings, you sure as heck better deliver next year. Well, it's next year, and nothing's happening. It's like we're stuck in Prologue: Part 2. It feels self-indulgent at this point. No event needs this much build-up.

Let's face it, these are not hard tasks. There's no strategy involved. You just click a bunch of sequential links. They aren't even hard to find. They're giving us the link that leads to the other links. This kind of stuff works as an intro, but at this point, the intro should be done. Everyone already had to wait a few days for their disease to progress. That kind of waiting I understand. But this? Who needs two days to click on three links? You could start the plot from the beginning today and be done in under fifteen minutes. (Edit: Actually, I just realized, is that true? Or is it coded in a way that you have to wait a day or two for Skitters to contact you with the next step, even if it's already been released? That would be... absolutely ridiculous.) This kind of filler would have been fine if it had happened as our diseases were progressing, when we had nothing else to do. (Just make up some line about Skitters giving us a special pass to the Underground even though we aren't a full zombie yet, or whatever. The way it's been written so far, no one wants us down there anyway. Might as well have let us go when we were still mostly human.) That way, all the slow stuff finishes at the same time, and you're free to move on to something more interactive and exciting.

There's no point in drawing a plot out just for the sake of making it longer. That's just obnoxious. Keep it short and sweet, don't let people get bored each step of the way. This seems especially obvious considering how soon the Masquerade and Vesnali are. It doesn't hurt to have a couple weeks off in between each holiday. Rather than have the Survival on slow-burn for a month, and then have the Masquerade start up almost immediately after, make it an intense two weeks, then have a couple weeks for cool down.

That said, as always, most of the art has been great. The new maps of the Underground are especially nice. I don't understand why they aren't linked together to make it easier to navigate, but maybe that's coming. The body part replacement shop is a great idea, and the new alchemy stuff seems promising too. It's a shame those things are being overshadowed by some of the more frustrating aspects of the event.

[bonecrivain]

You don't have to wait between the steps. I started the plot a few days late and was able to catch up in a surprisingly short amount of time. I assumed I would be way behind, but nope. Clicked around for a while, and now I'm on the same page as everyone else.

Speaking of pages...as nice as the journal art is (I like the touches like the squashed fly), am I really supposed to be stopping to write silly thoughts in my notebook in the middle of conversations? Look at the pacing of the dialogue next to the journal. The journal notes are written more like thoughts, or an internal dialogue. No wonder all the zombies hate me, when I pause in the middle of a conversation to scribble down things like, "This dude is so shady."

[Slugawoo]

This whole event is coming off as incredibly sloppy to me, as if it was put together at the very last minute even though it's been said on the boards it wasn't. All the effort I'm seeing is in the artwork (which is wonderful), but that's all. I like the addition of body-part surgery and alchemy too. It'll be interesting to see what new options come out for those two in the future. But as for the plot itself...

With exception to finding evidence in Fantine's kitchen and that awful bug-swatting game, the entire plot has been clicking through dialogue, which I can no longer be bothered to read because "my" responses just sounded ridiculous for a stage 8 zombie. Perhaps the plot was supposed to start sooner, but didn't? I believe the excuse for this was they wanted to start it on a weekend? (But why? What's the point if you have days to complete the first step which is just click-click-click anyway?) But even so, out of what I have bothered to read, I must have found two or three typos by now. Did no one bother to proof read? And I recall the notes in my notebook didn't actually... fit. In the notebook. But that seems to have been taken care of. Don't even get me started on Skitters. It all gives the impression that this plot was written on the fly and it comes off like a bad self-indulgent fanfic. It's... very disappointing considering last year's build-up. I know Subeta is capable of so much more after that Blake Steele plot.

It's also disappointing that the candy hearts and kissing, which have nothing to do with the plot, were still released so late. If the plot's going to consist of two days of nothing between incredibly short and easy steps, at least give the userbase something else to do.

[Officer 1BDI]

The journal notes are written more like thoughts, or an internal dialogue. No wonder all the zombies hate me, when I pause in the middle of a conversation to scribble down things like, "This dude is so shady."

FWIW I'm actually highly amused by those parts because that's eerily similar to how I transcribe stuff in my own personal journal. It never occurred to me that those thoughts were being written during the interviews; I'd assumed my HA was writing them between discussions with various NPCs.

(Edit: Eh, I just reread Thursday's entry and I see what you mean now. :/ )

Buuut I concur that those sorts of things probably don't belong in a journal meant to document one's investigation of potential criminal activity.

[Wingsrising]

I've never liked the love epidemic because I just don't like zombies. (Don't hurt me. )

[Gumdrops]

I don't like zombie's either.

I hate the Baker's Kiss disease. It's so gross looking. I should've gotten the disease that makes you into stone. At least then I'd be a statue, which I could deal with.

[Wingsrising]

I think that's what I have. I agree, it's really gross.

So... new plot steps, some battling, an annoyingly-programmed jigsaw puzzle, some clicking, it looks like possibly nothing else will be happening until the 29th.

[Aqua]

Has battling changed in some significant way that I don't know about? I tried battling one of the puppets (Senor Fuego) and didn't cause any damage, so ended up losing. Might have to give up here. :P

[11th]

Each one of the puppets is weak to a different element. The rest won't damage it.

http://subeta.net/forums/view/838431/93#18649099

[Seerow]

I rather liked this latest step. It wasn't all just clicking through dialogue. The battle opponents were easy enough that everyone should be able to beat him and then there's the bonus hard guy (which sadly is too hard for me). The jigsaw may not have been the best programmed one around but it was serviceable and a nice change of pace. I kinda wish we had been able to beat up on the chicken though! Or were able to keep the flyer as an item.

[Marah]

So vacation? Is there a pause in the plot? (Maybe staff is overwhelmed with CW's?)

And I guess we won't be getting normal Fantine back if she is moving to the underground. *sad*

[Officer 1BDI]

The jigsaw may not have been the best programmed one around but it was serviceable and a nice change of pace. I kinda wish we had been able to beat up on the chicken though! Or were able to keep the flyer as an item.

Yeah. I got excited when I saw the chicken, and then disappointed when it never actually showed up as a character.

I (well, Albia) also can't beat Nacho. If I had the right shield I might be able to swing it, but it looks like the best shield for the job is a Cash Shop item. :/

[AngharadTy]

Mezzanine can't beat Nacho either. Probably if I had better defenses. I dunno. Battling is so expensive, why do I keep training her? I'm leaking money for the purpose of... nothing.

[Seerow]

Mezzanine can't beat Nacho either. Probably if I had better defenses. I dunno. Battling is so expensive, why do I keep training her? I'm leaking money for the purpose of... nothing.

I feel that way all the time! Ishka is just under level 700 and has over 1.7k in all stats....but she can't beat a lot of opponents. I even have some good weapons. Not god ones, but the second best. Just hoping someday it will pay off. /offtopic