Licinia '7 is more powerful than the sun' Vinici
To be honest there was actually a glimmer of promise to this character. Not in the concept because obviously the concept is over-the-top and way too try-hard but I mean, I can even respect that. It's a product of the time and of the writer culture of the time, and Licinia is at least internally consistent, for a while anyways her narrative manages to sell the vision of her character by being refreshingly brusque, with little tidbits of interesting language and an airs of detachment. Yes, blah blah, the backstory is stupid and the profile sucks, I'm aware, but that's just typical V2 fare anyways.
The first thread is just two posts, but they're two decent ones. Good little narrative framing device with the fly bouncing around on her still body, a little awkward language and some typos but all stuff I can overlook! I honestly thought Licinia had promise by the time I was done. The prose sold her character very well, Waffle seemed to have an at least adequate sense of narrative timing and effective and efficient usage of his words to paint a picture.
Squandered come next thread, it's all more or less thrown away. I get the sense that Waffle was working better with Licinia back when he actually didn't know what he wanted to do with her or was keeping it under wraps, but the moment she starts to lay out her vision and buy into all the angry repressed mysterious tragic girl tropes the quality of the writing takes a significant turn for the worse. Waffle had a sort of prose while working with Licinia (and I think Garry as well, from the snippets of him I saw) where when there wasn't much to explain some good qualities showed through: economy of words, a capacity for interesting visuals and narrative snippets (not so much in the way of interesting turns of phrase, the narrative style is too straightforward), and good sense of dramatic timing. But when Licinia does have a goal, that of being the vengeful killer, her writing just becomes a ton of to-the-point and super dull info dump about her motivations and backstory. Waffle cannot sell that in particular, and that is what Licinia becomes for the remainder of her two threads.
So anyways, she meets Paris, randomly opens up despite supposedly being pathologically antisocial due to implied and explicit abuse and trauma. Now I could buy this, I hypothesized that her opening up was a pseudo-hysterical manner of coping/implying the loosening of her inhibitions but the prose does not sell that, doesn't even imply it, it barely gives it lipservice at all. She has an awkwardly shoehorned in 'diary entry' sequence that is not well set up. Paris and Licinia get the team up going despite barely talking. Licinia, funnily enough, does the bulk of the conversating and prompting.
They fail transition into the residential area but getting DZ-blocked from the Lighthouse. Paris betrays Licinia and it's only really set up on his end, Licinia's own narrative pretty much fails to acknowledge the betrayal in any meaningful way. The lamest 'we are family' revelation ever with a clumsy handlercest between Garry and Licinia, and to be honest there were some interesting moments of narrative blurring of the lines between the characters that I did appreciate, I just failed to appreciate the larger whole of the posts due to bad dialogue, awkward timings, so on and so on. The death is in it's very last sentence at least poignant, which once more enforces the theory I had running headlong with my delve into Waffle's character: Waffle is a good writer, has a sense for it, but has certain bad habits that are ubiquitous at the time of V2 (infodump and a lack of respect for the dramatic impetus of major character actions like, I dunno, dying) that drag down at the very least Licinia (Garry also seemed to be a flawed entry from what I could tell).
I kind of liked Licinia to be honest, at least for the potential, but the execution got worse and worse and she was a pretty substandard read by the time I was done with her. There isn't much to say. Just a lame read, over the top concept with weak execution.
A full set of my live notetaking while reading can be found here.
The V2 Read-o-thon
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2564
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2564
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
Well, turns out I already sorta read Kyle Rizea, since he was the rando guy I mentioned Bryan Calvert killing in my Matty Drew review. Also turns out that Kyle RIZea is actually v2 Riz, as in based on the same guy v3 Riz was! Also this doesn't really "turn out" since this should be obvious to anyone, but the combination of "Riz", "born in Waterloo Ontario" and "weakness: women" means this is most certainly a Dan character. Not complaining there!
Speaking of women and Waterloo, Kyle's first thoughts: "Fuckin eh! My god damn head hurts. Both of them"
He then thinks about how much he hates Italian soccer players. He reads through the manual and in effect, decides that not killing folks is for pussies even if it's the smarter way and so why not go bloodily murder some folks? It starts raining though so he sensibly decides to instead look around with his binoculars until that stops.
Matty Drew and Rob (also handled by Dan) and Anna (inactive at this point) come in but don't do anything but follow from a distance. Calvert also arrives, and Kyle sees him and decides to sneak attack him and kill Bryan with his own shotgun, owing to the fact that Kyle can't die because he'll soon be a millionaire soccer player. I'm guessing that won't work, Kyle. This scene has been handled with some decent suspense thus far, people converging on the industrial sector in the rain while a guy scopes them out and plans to ambush them. He hits Bryan with a half-brick and the others react to the sounds of sudden fighting, with Rob saying he'll check it out.
So Bryan rises towards Rizes, pissed now, and Kyle decides to take off. He tries to scrabble up a fire escape, but slips in the rain and Calvert comments on the dumbness of that before yanking Kyle down, giving him a headbutt, and beating his face in in a rage. THE END.
Hey. For a one-thread v2-era wonder, you can't ask for too much more than that. Yes, Kyle has no character, decides to be a player for no reason, and turns out pure fodder for Bryan. It's all competently written and no one gets their genitals bitten off. I don't complain.
One more.
Speaking of women and Waterloo, Kyle's first thoughts: "Fuckin eh! My god damn head hurts. Both of them"
He then thinks about how much he hates Italian soccer players. He reads through the manual and in effect, decides that not killing folks is for pussies even if it's the smarter way and so why not go bloodily murder some folks? It starts raining though so he sensibly decides to instead look around with his binoculars until that stops.
Matty Drew and Rob (also handled by Dan) and Anna (inactive at this point) come in but don't do anything but follow from a distance. Calvert also arrives, and Kyle sees him and decides to sneak attack him and kill Bryan with his own shotgun, owing to the fact that Kyle can't die because he'll soon be a millionaire soccer player. I'm guessing that won't work, Kyle. This scene has been handled with some decent suspense thus far, people converging on the industrial sector in the rain while a guy scopes them out and plans to ambush them. He hits Bryan with a half-brick and the others react to the sounds of sudden fighting, with Rob saying he'll check it out.
So Bryan rises towards Rizes, pissed now, and Kyle decides to take off. He tries to scrabble up a fire escape, but slips in the rain and Calvert comments on the dumbness of that before yanking Kyle down, giving him a headbutt, and beating his face in in a rage. THE END.
Hey. For a one-thread v2-era wonder, you can't ask for too much more than that. Yes, Kyle has no character, decides to be a player for no reason, and turns out pure fodder for Bryan. It's all competently written and no one gets their genitals bitten off. I don't complain.
One more.
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2564
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
Edgars only pregame thread is the murder-mystery thread, which is fairly painful to read due to formatting issues and gaps in the narrative due to lost posts. Edgar seems like a decent guy, strangely unfazed by the fact that one of his classmates just died, but then again, so are most people in that thread, seemingly. Ill give him a pass there, since Ill just assume that having classmates die is a regular occurrence in the crime ridden slum that is Denton, New Jersey.
I liked his waking up post. He prays for protection and regrets going on the trip, seeing as he didnt want to leave his mother back home and had to be talked into going by his father and grandmother. I was really relieved at this point that I had finally found a religious character who wasnt going to be an insane stereotype. The thread goes like a normal, modern SOTF thread almost, at least until Mariavel walks in. The thread becomes rather chaotic, with multiple arguments going on simultaneously and weapons being pointed at various people in a sort of tense standoff. Things begin cooling down, and Edgar quickly cements himself as my favourite character in the thread by acting as the voice of reason to the other characters wild accusations and threats. He turns down Mariavels offer of an alliance and exits the thread, resolving not to compromise his morals by committing murder.
My one gripe is that throughout the thread, Edgar refers repeatedly to an unnamed half-brother who isnt mentioned in his profile, and who apparently was abducted during SOTF V1. This normally wouldnt be too bad, by V2 standards, but Ive reread his posts several times and I cant figure out who this half-brother was. Its rather annoying.
In the next thread, Edgar encounters what is probably the worst Christian stereotype that Ive seen thus far (and Ive seen quite a few), Anthony Ainsworth. Coming in right after Anthonys rant about how God must have sent them into the game to have them slaughter godless heathens as a test of character, Edgar shuts him down right away. Edgar, operating under the very understandable assumption that God had abandoned him, is immediately set upon by Anthony, who assumes that he is possessed by a demon. Edgar decides, quite reasonably, that it wouldnt be wise to stick around with the lunatic who has now begun to attempt an exorcism upon him, and gets the hell out of dodge.
It was at this point that riserugu left the site, and Cyco takes over as Edgars handler for his final post. While his character does shift to become a bit more introspective, the adoption is handled way better than any other adoption Ive seen from V2 so far. He has a quiet moment as he sits in the dark, questioning his faith yet afraid to abandon what is at the moment the only source of stability in his life. After a moment of reflection, he is ambushed by Dan Johnson, who after a brief fight injects...something into Edgar from a syringe, which rapidly kills him. As his consciousness fades away, Edgar ends his time on the island just as it began, with a prayer.
In the announcement where Edgars death is mentioned, it is revealed that his half-brother is...Hawley Faust. Youd think this would have been mentioned in his profile, but nope. I vaguely remember Hawley having a brother back in V1, but Ive only read bits and pieces of his storyline so I wouldnt have been able to make the connection.
Overall, I think Edgar was a pretty good, down-to-earth character, and one of the few examples of a character whose religious beliefs influenced his character in a realistic way, rather than being used as an excuse for him to murder people. His narrative was fairly interesting to read, and I like that he was willing to shut down the over-the-top hysterics of some of his more unstable classmates. Unfortunately, the Hawley Faust connection doesnt do much for the character, and I think its pretty ridiculous to expect the reader to be familiar with the backstory of a character from a previous version in order to understand whats going on with your character. The handler didnt have to give me Hawleys entire backstory or anything, just put a line in Edgars profile or something saying This guy is Hawley Fausts half-brother, and the story would have made a lot more sense. Thankfully, she seems to recognize this and ditches that plotline after Edgars first thread, though since the thread in question takes up more than half of Edgars total time on the island, its a little too late for that.
I think the character is easier to recommend to readers who are already familiar with Hawley Faust, but regardless, I feel like Edgar was a solid addition to the V2 roster and one of the better characters on the island.
Ill take another character.
I liked his waking up post. He prays for protection and regrets going on the trip, seeing as he didnt want to leave his mother back home and had to be talked into going by his father and grandmother. I was really relieved at this point that I had finally found a religious character who wasnt going to be an insane stereotype. The thread goes like a normal, modern SOTF thread almost, at least until Mariavel walks in. The thread becomes rather chaotic, with multiple arguments going on simultaneously and weapons being pointed at various people in a sort of tense standoff. Things begin cooling down, and Edgar quickly cements himself as my favourite character in the thread by acting as the voice of reason to the other characters wild accusations and threats. He turns down Mariavels offer of an alliance and exits the thread, resolving not to compromise his morals by committing murder.
My one gripe is that throughout the thread, Edgar refers repeatedly to an unnamed half-brother who isnt mentioned in his profile, and who apparently was abducted during SOTF V1. This normally wouldnt be too bad, by V2 standards, but Ive reread his posts several times and I cant figure out who this half-brother was. Its rather annoying.
In the next thread, Edgar encounters what is probably the worst Christian stereotype that Ive seen thus far (and Ive seen quite a few), Anthony Ainsworth. Coming in right after Anthonys rant about how God must have sent them into the game to have them slaughter godless heathens as a test of character, Edgar shuts him down right away. Edgar, operating under the very understandable assumption that God had abandoned him, is immediately set upon by Anthony, who assumes that he is possessed by a demon. Edgar decides, quite reasonably, that it wouldnt be wise to stick around with the lunatic who has now begun to attempt an exorcism upon him, and gets the hell out of dodge.
It was at this point that riserugu left the site, and Cyco takes over as Edgars handler for his final post. While his character does shift to become a bit more introspective, the adoption is handled way better than any other adoption Ive seen from V2 so far. He has a quiet moment as he sits in the dark, questioning his faith yet afraid to abandon what is at the moment the only source of stability in his life. After a moment of reflection, he is ambushed by Dan Johnson, who after a brief fight injects...something into Edgar from a syringe, which rapidly kills him. As his consciousness fades away, Edgar ends his time on the island just as it began, with a prayer.
In the announcement where Edgars death is mentioned, it is revealed that his half-brother is...Hawley Faust. Youd think this would have been mentioned in his profile, but nope. I vaguely remember Hawley having a brother back in V1, but Ive only read bits and pieces of his storyline so I wouldnt have been able to make the connection.
Overall, I think Edgar was a pretty good, down-to-earth character, and one of the few examples of a character whose religious beliefs influenced his character in a realistic way, rather than being used as an excuse for him to murder people. His narrative was fairly interesting to read, and I like that he was willing to shut down the over-the-top hysterics of some of his more unstable classmates. Unfortunately, the Hawley Faust connection doesnt do much for the character, and I think its pretty ridiculous to expect the reader to be familiar with the backstory of a character from a previous version in order to understand whats going on with your character. The handler didnt have to give me Hawleys entire backstory or anything, just put a line in Edgars profile or something saying This guy is Hawley Fausts half-brother, and the story would have made a lot more sense. Thankfully, she seems to recognize this and ditches that plotline after Edgars first thread, though since the thread in question takes up more than half of Edgars total time on the island, its a little too late for that.
I think the character is easier to recommend to readers who are already familiar with Hawley Faust, but regardless, I feel like Edgar was a solid addition to the V2 roster and one of the better characters on the island.
Ill take another character.
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2564
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
Well fuck me sideways and call me Sally, I got Bryans first kill!
Dans appearance is good for V2. I dont have much more to say. His profile is good. Dan is good. Its unrealistic, but its good.
Dan has no pregame.
Dan does have island though.
Its good. He and Bryan have a fight and then Bryan shoots Dan. They have a heart to heart as Dan bleeds out. Its good.
Conclusion: Dan is pretty good I guess, though youll end up reading him if you read Bryan.
As you might be able to tell, Im getting a bit burned out, so Ill refrain from asking for another. FOR NOW .
Dans appearance is good for V2. I dont have much more to say. His profile is good. Dan is good. Its unrealistic, but its good.
Dan has no pregame.
Dan does have island though.
Its good. He and Bryan have a fight and then Bryan shoots Dan. They have a heart to heart as Dan bleeds out. Its good.
Conclusion: Dan is pretty good I guess, though youll end up reading him if you read Bryan.
As you might be able to tell, Im getting a bit burned out, so Ill refrain from asking for another. FOR NOW .
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2564
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
I didn't enjoy Debrah Dollop.
She only had a couple of posts in pregame, the only notable event of which was when she gave someone an erection by licking her lips in her very first post. Seriously, why were so many v2 characters obsessed with sex?
On the island, she was obsessed with finding her sister Deliah, and it was emphasized in almost every post of hers. Once she does get some information from Melanie DeSilva, she kills her immediately afterward. Granted, Melanie was begging Debrah to kill her, but the fact that Debrah feels no guilt for doing so, and the narrative outright states that she saw Melanie as someone who had outlived her use to her doesn't put her in a good light.
Once Debrah finds Deliah is when things really go off the rails, though. You see, Deliah was pregnant, and the stresses of the island caused her to miscarry right in front of her sister. The miscarriage is described in disgusting detail, and Debrah kills Deliah afterward in a fit of rage and despair. This scene made me incredibly uncomfortable, and I have absolutely no intention of going back to read it at any point in the future.
Once Deliah is dead, Debrrah takes her severed hand and wanders the island in full-on freakout mode for two more threads before suddenly deciding to make a heroic stand against Vesa Turunen and getting killed for it.
I do not recommend Debrah Dollop. She spends her entire story being obsessed with her sister, making her come off as a very flat, limited character. The fact that her story involves an incredibly disgusting scene does not do her any favors either. If you're reading v2, I'd say you should give her a skip.
Another character, if you please.
She only had a couple of posts in pregame, the only notable event of which was when she gave someone an erection by licking her lips in her very first post. Seriously, why were so many v2 characters obsessed with sex?
On the island, she was obsessed with finding her sister Deliah, and it was emphasized in almost every post of hers. Once she does get some information from Melanie DeSilva, she kills her immediately afterward. Granted, Melanie was begging Debrah to kill her, but the fact that Debrah feels no guilt for doing so, and the narrative outright states that she saw Melanie as someone who had outlived her use to her doesn't put her in a good light.
Once Debrah finds Deliah is when things really go off the rails, though. You see, Deliah was pregnant, and the stresses of the island caused her to miscarry right in front of her sister. The miscarriage is described in disgusting detail, and Debrah kills Deliah afterward in a fit of rage and despair. This scene made me incredibly uncomfortable, and I have absolutely no intention of going back to read it at any point in the future.
Once Deliah is dead, Debrrah takes her severed hand and wanders the island in full-on freakout mode for two more threads before suddenly deciding to make a heroic stand against Vesa Turunen and getting killed for it.
I do not recommend Debrah Dollop. She spends her entire story being obsessed with her sister, making her come off as a very flat, limited character. The fact that her story involves an incredibly disgusting scene does not do her any favors either. If you're reading v2, I'd say you should give her a skip.
Another character, if you please.
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2564
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
Kasumi's story is an extremely brief read, so I was able to breeze right through it.
Kasumi's pregame is incredibly shortand doesn't really amount to much of anything, so I'll skip right over it.
On the island, Kasumi starts in the church, prays for guidance, and tries to play peacemaker with the surprisingly large group that wound up gathering there. However, she very quickly goes inactive and winds up getting blown up when the chapel becomes a danger zone.
Kasumi is an extremely minor character in the grand scheme of things, and has no real effect on anyone outside of her boyfriend Lance. As such, even though she isn't particularly poorly written, I can't really recommend her because there's almost no substance at all in her story.
Another character, if you please.
Kasumi's pregame is incredibly shortand doesn't really amount to much of anything, so I'll skip right over it.
On the island, Kasumi starts in the church, prays for guidance, and tries to play peacemaker with the surprisingly large group that wound up gathering there. However, she very quickly goes inactive and winds up getting blown up when the chapel becomes a danger zone.
Kasumi is an extremely minor character in the grand scheme of things, and has no real effect on anyone outside of her boyfriend Lance. As such, even though she isn't particularly poorly written, I can't really recommend her because there's almost no substance at all in her story.
Another character, if you please.
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2564
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
Our first introduction to Michael has him throwing a temper tantrum, smashing everything that he can find nearby, while blaming somebody named Shane Moyer for getting him sent to the island. Theres no indication of who Shane Moyer is, other than the fact that Michael thinks that hes a faggot and a preppy bitch. Off to a good start, I see.
He then stumbles upon a conversation between Alexander Bee, Edgar Judah, and Anthony Ainsworth(who I complained about a bit in my review of Edgar). Still not a fan of Anthony, by the way. Michael then disappears for several rounds of posting (I guess post order just wasnt a thing in V2) before briefly interjecting with an swing of his golf club at a nearby bottle before realizing that acting aggressive around a clearly insane person probably isnt a good idea. Michael is however unable to stop himself from laughing at Anthonys ridiculous attempt to perform an exorcism on Edgar. Seeing that Anthony clearly isnt about to calm down any time soon, Michael decides to take his chances elsewhere and runs off into the rain.
He then is killed off in a Mariavel Massacre.
Overall, he wasnt too bad of a character, but his run isnt anything really worth looking at. He only has 4 short posts to his name, and most of his time is spent reacting to Anthonys lunacy rather than doing anything interesting of his own. Id lean towards not recommending him, as hes little more than fodder, unfortunately.
Ill take another character. Looks like we've almost reached the end.
He then stumbles upon a conversation between Alexander Bee, Edgar Judah, and Anthony Ainsworth(who I complained about a bit in my review of Edgar). Still not a fan of Anthony, by the way. Michael then disappears for several rounds of posting (I guess post order just wasnt a thing in V2) before briefly interjecting with an swing of his golf club at a nearby bottle before realizing that acting aggressive around a clearly insane person probably isnt a good idea. Michael is however unable to stop himself from laughing at Anthonys ridiculous attempt to perform an exorcism on Edgar. Seeing that Anthony clearly isnt about to calm down any time soon, Michael decides to take his chances elsewhere and runs off into the rain.
He then is killed off in a Mariavel Massacre.
Overall, he wasnt too bad of a character, but his run isnt anything really worth looking at. He only has 4 short posts to his name, and most of his time is spent reacting to Anthonys lunacy rather than doing anything interesting of his own. Id lean towards not recommending him, as hes little more than fodder, unfortunately.
Ill take another character. Looks like we've almost reached the end.
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2564
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
why do people write like thisWhile his light blue eyes gleam with arrogance, and are strangely intimidating in their confidence,
anyway Franco Sebberts comes genuinely recommended, has 13 threads, and got two BKAs. but he dies of inactivity and also taser rape so it's a tossup.
tl;dr/final thoughts: I actually really liked a lot of Franco, especially if you kinda leave your brain at the door and don't try to take him too seriously. he's a competently written (for the most part; there's plenty of typos but not ones bad enough to bug me) flamboyant villain who displays some real emotion and character in between killing people and saying ridiculous shit. that is, until you get up to his later threads (starting with Humanity), where it just feels like he's trying to outdo his own villainy and do horrible things for the sake of it rather than because it's what his character would do. so would i recommend franco? Yeah, actually, but just stop after Restraining Order: Part Two. actually you can stop after In Order to Survive since Restraining Order: Part Two really doesn't need franco in it at all. so yeah read his pregame and his first seven topics on-island and then make up a better ending for him with no taser rape. i believe in you.
my hands are tired. give me another one
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2564
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
Christian Cohen is... something.
Christian's profile is pretty out there, mostly because the vast majority of it revolves around his relationship with his girlfriend, who he married at age sixteen and currently lives with in a storage room where they frequently play music and have parties. This setup doesn't make sense to me, and after spending a long time questioning it I just decided to try to move on and not let it bother me.
Christian's time on the island was very short, as his only appearances came in the form of two one-shots and he never encounters any other characters aside from those written by his handler. Christian makes his debut by getting in a brief scuffle with Jonathan Michaels and getting a few pretty good jabs at his character flaws and coming off almost as a philosopher of sorts for a moment or two. They eventually wind up playing rock-paper-scissors to see who gets Jonathan's gun, and Chris wins. He takes the gun, runs away, and fires a long-range shot at Jonathan on the way out.
Christian's next appearance is at the scene of Jonathan Michaels' death, where the boxer is flayed by Brandon Cuthbert. Disturbed by this sight, he tries to shoot down Brandon, but winds up being subdued and vivisected by the pint-sized sadist. A disturbing end for a character that certainly didn't deserve it.
Christian had a pretty out-there concept, but compared to the people that he interacted with in-game, he was downright agreeable. However, despite me not disliking him as a character, I still wouldn't recommend reading him since he never interacts with any characters worth following, and his death scene is very unpleasant.
Another character, if you please.
Christian's profile is pretty out there, mostly because the vast majority of it revolves around his relationship with his girlfriend, who he married at age sixteen and currently lives with in a storage room where they frequently play music and have parties. This setup doesn't make sense to me, and after spending a long time questioning it I just decided to try to move on and not let it bother me.
Christian's time on the island was very short, as his only appearances came in the form of two one-shots and he never encounters any other characters aside from those written by his handler. Christian makes his debut by getting in a brief scuffle with Jonathan Michaels and getting a few pretty good jabs at his character flaws and coming off almost as a philosopher of sorts for a moment or two. They eventually wind up playing rock-paper-scissors to see who gets Jonathan's gun, and Chris wins. He takes the gun, runs away, and fires a long-range shot at Jonathan on the way out.
Christian's next appearance is at the scene of Jonathan Michaels' death, where the boxer is flayed by Brandon Cuthbert. Disturbed by this sight, he tries to shoot down Brandon, but winds up being subdued and vivisected by the pint-sized sadist. A disturbing end for a character that certainly didn't deserve it.
Christian had a pretty out-there concept, but compared to the people that he interacted with in-game, he was downright agreeable. However, despite me not disliking him as a character, I still wouldn't recommend reading him since he never interacts with any characters worth following, and his death scene is very unpleasant.
Another character, if you please.
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2564
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
MY FAVORITE V2 HANDLER RETURNS TO RESCUE ME.
Dan Johnson's profile is totally kosher. okay he has "good shot" as an advantage because he spends time at a shooting range which always sets alarm bells off in my head but it's not super unrealistic. he's a big dude who's apparently a hockey star who now has a bad knee. mostly he just seems like a regular jock kid. fine by me
he's got no pregame and five island threads. his first post references v1 which i don't really care for since i haven't read v1, but it's nothing major: he had a favorite in v1 and rooted for her and then had to slowly watch her go mad from the circumstances. he's a lot more chill than i'd necessarily expect but it comes across more as a mix between shock and disbelief than just apathy. next thread he starts threatening Adrian Grey for his weapon. hm. i mean to be fair Adrian lobs a rock at him first, but it still seems like a quick jump to violence. actually to be fair i just went back and reread dan's profile and being kinda quick to jump to fighting as a solution, so i'll let it slide. he uses the word "Dan-kebab", which amuses me. Ernest Decarteret walks in and Dan starts immediately being a dick to him too. okay Dan's profile does say that he "rubs people the wrong way" but honestly at this point i feel like he must've been a school bully or something. Adrian Dies accidentally and ernest doesn't care and dan cares slightly but mostly he cares that ernest isn't respecting his authoritah, and ernest leaves and dan does too and idk what to say about it
dan's third thread is one fairly meaningless post about where he's heading to ride out the incoming storm and how he doesn't care about the names he recognizes on the announcement. fourth thread is another one shot where Cyco also takes over Edgar Judah for his death, and it's well done and kind of emotional. on edgar's side, anyway. dan just kinda finds edgar and decides to kill him. i mean edgar does shoot at him w/ a taser first but that's because dan snuck up on him?
last thread and it's at this point i realize dan is killed by R. Kelly.
they fight, dan gets hit with two flashbangs and then stuck with his own syringe, he dies. this is quick because i don't know what else to say
tl;dr/final thoughts: i'm disappointed. Cyco is a really good writer and Dan is written just fine, he just isn't a particularly interesting dude since he never connects with anyone else on the island and never really shows any emotion outside of "imma fight you". just because of the quality of the writing he was a Fine Read i guess but i wouldn't really recommend him. Cyco has way better characters.
next kid please!
Dan Johnson's profile is totally kosher. okay he has "good shot" as an advantage because he spends time at a shooting range which always sets alarm bells off in my head but it's not super unrealistic. he's a big dude who's apparently a hockey star who now has a bad knee. mostly he just seems like a regular jock kid. fine by me
he's got no pregame and five island threads. his first post references v1 which i don't really care for since i haven't read v1, but it's nothing major: he had a favorite in v1 and rooted for her and then had to slowly watch her go mad from the circumstances. he's a lot more chill than i'd necessarily expect but it comes across more as a mix between shock and disbelief than just apathy. next thread he starts threatening Adrian Grey for his weapon. hm. i mean to be fair Adrian lobs a rock at him first, but it still seems like a quick jump to violence. actually to be fair i just went back and reread dan's profile and being kinda quick to jump to fighting as a solution, so i'll let it slide. he uses the word "Dan-kebab", which amuses me. Ernest Decarteret walks in and Dan starts immediately being a dick to him too. okay Dan's profile does say that he "rubs people the wrong way" but honestly at this point i feel like he must've been a school bully or something. Adrian Dies accidentally and ernest doesn't care and dan cares slightly but mostly he cares that ernest isn't respecting his authoritah, and ernest leaves and dan does too and idk what to say about it
dan's third thread is one fairly meaningless post about where he's heading to ride out the incoming storm and how he doesn't care about the names he recognizes on the announcement. fourth thread is another one shot where Cyco also takes over Edgar Judah for his death, and it's well done and kind of emotional. on edgar's side, anyway. dan just kinda finds edgar and decides to kill him. i mean edgar does shoot at him w/ a taser first but that's because dan snuck up on him?
last thread and it's at this point i realize dan is killed by R. Kelly.
they fight, dan gets hit with two flashbangs and then stuck with his own syringe, he dies. this is quick because i don't know what else to saytl;dr/final thoughts: i'm disappointed. Cyco is a really good writer and Dan is written just fine, he just isn't a particularly interesting dude since he never connects with anyone else on the island and never really shows any emotion outside of "imma fight you". just because of the quality of the writing he was a Fine Read i guess but i wouldn't really recommend him. Cyco has way better characters.
next kid please!
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2564
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
y'know if I wasn't gonna get Paris i was hoping for a short one at least. but noooo. nothing's ever easy
LadyMakaze is one of the better v2 writers so i'm hoping this goes well. Matthias's profile is fine. a lot of it is dedicated to an incident where he was supposed to be watching his sister and she wandered off and got kidnapped but was thankfully rescued before she got too far, which made Matthias go from apathetic brother to super protective brother. he has a Lot of interests and one of his advantages is basically that he's "well-rounded". he's believable enough though I don't get a whole lot of personality from his profile? he's basically a calm cool and collected sort of guy who's like average levels of social and according to his disadvantages would feel bad about killing people. good to know
he has two pregame threads and they're both on the old site. instead of going thru them i'm just gonna give you my general impression: Matthias is a Nice Dude. like, he's nice. he's so nice you guys. i mean he does get in a fight because some asshole breaks his saxophone but what're you gonna do Not fight people who break your shit? nah. also he loves his sister very much and i love her too. she's adorable.
island. apparently jodeen was there when the franklin kids got taken, but she's not actually on the island? so matt is freaking out about finding her but we already know that's a dead-end plot which is not great. but he also wakes up near Whitney and they had a relationship in pregame already and they're so happy to see each other and it's so sweet and genuine and i love them already. except for no reason whatsoever tanesha lexx decides they need to JUST DIE! and throws a flashbang at them. thanks obama. mariavel shows up (LE A VE M E A LONE) and i'm going to save this one for posterity
mariavel and tanesha are yelling at each other and matt's thoughts are basically "what the actual fuck is going on." i'm with you buddy.
for once i'm not going to go into a play-by-play of how the rest of this goes because 1. matt's character is pretty well summed up by the first thread and 2. he's actually pretty good and you should read him yourself. but basically he falls into the role of Whitney's protector pretty quickly. he thinks about his sister and finding her but thankfully (seeing as she's Not In The Game) his handler doesn't focus on that too much. they run into Eric Silvstedt, the guy matt got in a fight with in pregame, and they Fight after eric provokes him by bringing up his sister, and no one dies because matt is too good to kill anyone basically
then matt and whitney separate, for good apparently, so so much for me being able to sum him up easily. the narration says that they split up and i guess they didn't make a good plan to find each other again? whoops. also he's back to mostly worrying about his sister, and i hate that his sister isn't actually here, it gives matt's whole story an emotional dead end. also worth noting that Megami is writing Matt now and doing a perfectly good job of it; i actually didn't notice he had a new handler at first. maybe thats why he and Whitney split up, so Megami wouldn't have to write them together? wait no whitney spends the entire rest of the game with ricky callahan and he's megami's also that wouldn't make sense. i am getting distracted.
now i can Actually sum up the rest of matt's game pretty quickly: he's looking for his sister. he meets people and asks if they've seen his sister. it's very unfulfilling because we Know he'll Never Find Her. it makes me sad. he continues to be well-written but i am still sad. why couldn't he stay with whitney. i'm irrationally blaming ricky callahan for this. then mariavel shoots him. why must mariavel destroy things i love?? she mostly misses and matt tries to reason with her which is a Bad Mistake. do not try to reason with mariavel. do not feed rabid animals. it works eventually and mariavel starts crying about her brother or something but at that point matt is already bleeding to death. i want to be sad but his death is in songpost form which just ruins the moment big time?? and it jumps to matt's family's house for Added Emotional Impact. i am happy to actually see jodeen (i was kind of afraid the terrorists had just decided she was in the way and killed her) but it's super emotionally manipulative when combined with the songpost.
... i'm still kinda sad tho.
tl;dr/final thoughts: matt is a really good character with really solid writing and a really great first few threads that i'd recommend to anyone. up through Headhunter, his third thread, he's probably the best character i've read so far. after Megami adopts him, though, things go downhill, and it's by no means the fault of Megami's writing, which is still great. it's just at this point he loses any motivation that isn't "find my sister", and (i know i keep saying this but Seriously) that's a pointless plot to harp on when the audience Knows she isn't on the island! there's no reason to write the story so that he thinks she Is there when she Isn't and his story could have been more interesting! also his death is kind of a wash, it's a combination of "mariavel kills someone for basically no reason" and "tragic songpost death" and it makes me itch. overall i'd say he's worth a read, even though he starts out stronger than he ends up (and not just because he ends up dead lmao)
a n o t h e r
LadyMakaze is one of the better v2 writers so i'm hoping this goes well. Matthias's profile is fine. a lot of it is dedicated to an incident where he was supposed to be watching his sister and she wandered off and got kidnapped but was thankfully rescued before she got too far, which made Matthias go from apathetic brother to super protective brother. he has a Lot of interests and one of his advantages is basically that he's "well-rounded". he's believable enough though I don't get a whole lot of personality from his profile? he's basically a calm cool and collected sort of guy who's like average levels of social and according to his disadvantages would feel bad about killing people. good to know
he has two pregame threads and they're both on the old site. instead of going thru them i'm just gonna give you my general impression: Matthias is a Nice Dude. like, he's nice. he's so nice you guys. i mean he does get in a fight because some asshole breaks his saxophone but what're you gonna do Not fight people who break your shit? nah. also he loves his sister very much and i love her too. she's adorable.
island. apparently jodeen was there when the franklin kids got taken, but she's not actually on the island? so matt is freaking out about finding her but we already know that's a dead-end plot which is not great. but he also wakes up near Whitney and they had a relationship in pregame already and they're so happy to see each other and it's so sweet and genuine and i love them already. except for no reason whatsoever tanesha lexx decides they need to JUST DIE! and throws a flashbang at them. thanks obama. mariavel shows up (LE A VE M E A LONE) and i'm going to save this one for posterity
i'm no expert but i don't think that's how sex works!! anywaysFucking all the boys made you smell like tuna, and Mariavel fucked all the boys.
mariavel and tanesha are yelling at each other and matt's thoughts are basically "what the actual fuck is going on." i'm with you buddy.
for once i'm not going to go into a play-by-play of how the rest of this goes because 1. matt's character is pretty well summed up by the first thread and 2. he's actually pretty good and you should read him yourself. but basically he falls into the role of Whitney's protector pretty quickly. he thinks about his sister and finding her but thankfully (seeing as she's Not In The Game) his handler doesn't focus on that too much. they run into Eric Silvstedt, the guy matt got in a fight with in pregame, and they Fight after eric provokes him by bringing up his sister, and no one dies because matt is too good to kill anyone basically
then matt and whitney separate, for good apparently, so so much for me being able to sum him up easily. the narration says that they split up and i guess they didn't make a good plan to find each other again? whoops. also he's back to mostly worrying about his sister, and i hate that his sister isn't actually here, it gives matt's whole story an emotional dead end. also worth noting that Megami is writing Matt now and doing a perfectly good job of it; i actually didn't notice he had a new handler at first. maybe thats why he and Whitney split up, so Megami wouldn't have to write them together? wait no whitney spends the entire rest of the game with ricky callahan and he's megami's also that wouldn't make sense. i am getting distracted.
now i can Actually sum up the rest of matt's game pretty quickly: he's looking for his sister. he meets people and asks if they've seen his sister. it's very unfulfilling because we Know he'll Never Find Her. it makes me sad. he continues to be well-written but i am still sad. why couldn't he stay with whitney. i'm irrationally blaming ricky callahan for this. then mariavel shoots him. why must mariavel destroy things i love?? she mostly misses and matt tries to reason with her which is a Bad Mistake. do not try to reason with mariavel. do not feed rabid animals. it works eventually and mariavel starts crying about her brother or something but at that point matt is already bleeding to death. i want to be sad but his death is in songpost form which just ruins the moment big time?? and it jumps to matt's family's house for Added Emotional Impact. i am happy to actually see jodeen (i was kind of afraid the terrorists had just decided she was in the way and killed her) but it's super emotionally manipulative when combined with the songpost.
... i'm still kinda sad tho.
tl;dr/final thoughts: matt is a really good character with really solid writing and a really great first few threads that i'd recommend to anyone. up through Headhunter, his third thread, he's probably the best character i've read so far. after Megami adopts him, though, things go downhill, and it's by no means the fault of Megami's writing, which is still great. it's just at this point he loses any motivation that isn't "find my sister", and (i know i keep saying this but Seriously) that's a pointless plot to harp on when the audience Knows she isn't on the island! there's no reason to write the story so that he thinks she Is there when she Isn't and his story could have been more interesting! also his death is kind of a wash, it's a combination of "mariavel kills someone for basically no reason" and "tragic songpost death" and it makes me itch. overall i'd say he's worth a read, even though he starts out stronger than he ends up (and not just because he ends up dead lmao)
a n o t h e r
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2564
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
What can I say about Shae Arnav?
Well according to his profile, his only hobbies are reading and research. Okay. Appearance-wise you could be forgiven for thinking that some sort of terrifying cyborg was being described, what with a "cold light" resonating from his "optical orbs". But no he's just a wiry skelly-man, and usually dresses in baggy clothes so people won't be spooked by his skin-and-bones appearance. Supposedly wearing anything branded is against his "core beliefs" though. tl;dr he's average height and super skinny, blond hair, amber eyes, really unhealthy skin, doesn't wear logos. Moving onto the biography, we get more about his appearance; Shae has a moral objection to gluttony and is scared of the Illuminati contaminating his food, so he only eats what he prepares himself, and is super lazy so he doesn't eat very much. Apparently he doesn't skip leg day, instead he skips arm day, so while he has no stamina he can run fast and jump high... this athletics stuff feels like it should be in hobbies and advantages/disadvantages too, but whatever.
Oh good now we get to the good stuff, surprise surprise he has paranoia and schizophrenia, which is why he thinks the government is putting chemicals in the water that turn the friggin frogs gay. Unfortunately the writer doesn't seem to know what schizophrenia is, I'm no expert but I don't think it's this; "while the schizophrenia adds a whole new layer of complication to his emotions. It is essentially the more uncivilized part of him, the disdain for all human life other than his own, the anger at others existence, the lust to slowly peel the flesh from those around him and bathe in their agony." Anyway instead of seeing a therapist he decides to just not have emotions or talk to anyone. Healthy! Also his parents are distant because they work a lot, very sad. Apparently they're spooks though, which is his excuse for being paranoid about the Freemasons or whomever it is that's poisoning his food.
He goes off on a tangent at this point about the pregame murder, obviously he's a super sleuth who worked it all out by getting testimonies from multiple sources despite never talking to anyone because everyone thinks he's a scary emotionless skeleton man. Apparently he respects the killer for their ruthless self-improvement. What?
Anyway Light Yagami's advantages and disadvantages are about what you'd expect. He's wisely suspicious of everything and knows how to go it alone, but hes cuh-rayzee and the stress might push him over the edge. Yawn, I've seen premade psycho killers before. It's a wonder he hasn't already killed someone already, for being a Knights Templar spy or something.
He doesn't have a pregame, because doing all that L detective work for real must've been too much effort, so let's jump to the island's Expressway in the imaginatively titled B51 Start! Shae is an "entity enveloped in thought", yet again reminding us how not human he supposedly is. We're treated to a lengthy first person diatribe about his arrival on the island after successfully faking drinking the tranquilliser water with no repercussions from the terrorists at all. Being a super genius he immediately identifies his weapon not as a weird curved sword but by its proper name, a Da Dao. Guess that's his research hobby coming into play? There is a nice little moment where he sees his designation on the side of his bag, and dwells on how he's just a number to the terrorists, so points for that.
Anyway it seems this oneshot is in parallel with another thread containing some kids he's going to shadow for... safety? Not sure how he figures that's going to work, but let's have a look into You Can Feel What You Don't See... which I'm now finding is actually in the residential area. Was he actually nearby or am I going mad? Does V2 even have a map? Oh, from skimming the early part of the thread I learn that a group just came into the thread from the Expressway too, that must be Shae's so-called Quartet. He doesn't turn up until page 3, after a big fight broke out and Jackie Kovacs died. He just kind of stares at them from a distance, remaining dispassionate about the death and not speaking to anyone, true to his profile's content. Everyone else dutifully ignores him, and they all eventually leave.
Shae contemplates his next move, using lots of big words to show the reader how intelligent he is. He eventually settles on parting ways with the not-a-quartet-any-more and heads towards the Mall in search of shelter from the rain. He also decides to collect some rainwater in hopes of boiling it to drink later (how?) and briefly considers cannibalism because sure that's a sensible option instead of looting rations. He has no real objection to eating people other than that it'll turn on his schizophrenia evil side? What?
Final thread, Cyco now writes Shae at the School Building, appearing on page 3 of 5 of We survive by friendship. He does a good job of it too, even keeps the original handler's grey colour formatting for thoughts, which is nice. Not sure what a textbook example of a drowned rat is supposed to be though. Anyway we start with his journey; all his previous targets are danger zones so he heads east, and winds up following a guy in hopes of taking his gun. Gun guy makes it to a shed outside the school and holes up in there, and Shae decides against trying to attack a guy with a gun in a building with one entrance. So he heads into the school, reasonable, it's still raining and he's skinny and cold. He finds a freshly stabbed corpse and takes solace in the assumption that her killer didn't have a firearm, and goes to check if they're still lurking around before setting up camp. Sensible.
Except instead he then decides, nah, I've got a good viewpoint here, maybe I should carve up the corpse and eat it. So he strips off her jeans, pausing of course for Cyco to make totally unnecessary mention of the dead girl's panties, then tries to saw off a leg with his sword.
Here's where Bryan and friend start to notice the sound of Shae trying to snap through her femur by kicking it, and go out to investigate. Shae eventually succeeds, but feels uncomfortable. It's weird to think of your meat as formerly human, I guess, so he takes off the sock. Then decides he needs to take off the whole foot. Or maybe he should just halve it at the knee. This is written so matter-of-factly it's actually immensely disturbing, and props to Cyco I think that's intentional. Naturally he doesn't hear Bryan and his SPAS-12 en route to check out the noise Butcher Pete is making as he hacks, whacks and chops that meat.
Having gotten two bits of leg, Shae was going to pack up his grisly new rations, but why stop there? Apparently a heart is very nutritious. Thankfully he isn't into fondling corpses and leaves the dead girl's bra on in favour of going up under the ribs. Bryan appears here, still unseen and unheard by Shae, who yanks out the heart with some degree of difficulty, only to hallucinate it still beating.
Then with very little ceremony, Bryan buries a hatchet in Shae's jaw, splitting his head vertically from below and killing him instantly. A bit of an anti-climax after all that gruesome set up.
Conclusion? Shae was a cliched pre-made psycho killer, his handler presumably couldn't convince anyone to let him kill them though, so he goes inactive, Cyco commendably plays along with where his trajectory was clearly going, then very perfunctorily kills him.
Not that bad a read, quite short and sweet, with decent enough prose. The content is generically stoic disaffected automatic player fare, but in this version that's hardly offensive. Just bland. Shae's okay and has a bit of wasted potential, though not much of it. Meh/10, no great loss.
Well according to his profile, his only hobbies are reading and research. Okay. Appearance-wise you could be forgiven for thinking that some sort of terrifying cyborg was being described, what with a "cold light" resonating from his "optical orbs". But no he's just a wiry skelly-man, and usually dresses in baggy clothes so people won't be spooked by his skin-and-bones appearance. Supposedly wearing anything branded is against his "core beliefs" though. tl;dr he's average height and super skinny, blond hair, amber eyes, really unhealthy skin, doesn't wear logos. Moving onto the biography, we get more about his appearance; Shae has a moral objection to gluttony and is scared of the Illuminati contaminating his food, so he only eats what he prepares himself, and is super lazy so he doesn't eat very much. Apparently he doesn't skip leg day, instead he skips arm day, so while he has no stamina he can run fast and jump high... this athletics stuff feels like it should be in hobbies and advantages/disadvantages too, but whatever.
Oh good now we get to the good stuff, surprise surprise he has paranoia and schizophrenia, which is why he thinks the government is putting chemicals in the water that turn the friggin frogs gay. Unfortunately the writer doesn't seem to know what schizophrenia is, I'm no expert but I don't think it's this; "while the schizophrenia adds a whole new layer of complication to his emotions. It is essentially the more uncivilized part of him, the disdain for all human life other than his own, the anger at others existence, the lust to slowly peel the flesh from those around him and bathe in their agony." Anyway instead of seeing a therapist he decides to just not have emotions or talk to anyone. Healthy! Also his parents are distant because they work a lot, very sad. Apparently they're spooks though, which is his excuse for being paranoid about the Freemasons or whomever it is that's poisoning his food.
He goes off on a tangent at this point about the pregame murder, obviously he's a super sleuth who worked it all out by getting testimonies from multiple sources despite never talking to anyone because everyone thinks he's a scary emotionless skeleton man. Apparently he respects the killer for their ruthless self-improvement. What?
Anyway Light Yagami's advantages and disadvantages are about what you'd expect. He's wisely suspicious of everything and knows how to go it alone, but hes cuh-rayzee and the stress might push him over the edge. Yawn, I've seen premade psycho killers before. It's a wonder he hasn't already killed someone already, for being a Knights Templar spy or something.
He doesn't have a pregame, because doing all that L detective work for real must've been too much effort, so let's jump to the island's Expressway in the imaginatively titled B51 Start! Shae is an "entity enveloped in thought", yet again reminding us how not human he supposedly is. We're treated to a lengthy first person diatribe about his arrival on the island after successfully faking drinking the tranquilliser water with no repercussions from the terrorists at all. Being a super genius he immediately identifies his weapon not as a weird curved sword but by its proper name, a Da Dao. Guess that's his research hobby coming into play? There is a nice little moment where he sees his designation on the side of his bag, and dwells on how he's just a number to the terrorists, so points for that.
Anyway it seems this oneshot is in parallel with another thread containing some kids he's going to shadow for... safety? Not sure how he figures that's going to work, but let's have a look into You Can Feel What You Don't See... which I'm now finding is actually in the residential area. Was he actually nearby or am I going mad? Does V2 even have a map? Oh, from skimming the early part of the thread I learn that a group just came into the thread from the Expressway too, that must be Shae's so-called Quartet. He doesn't turn up until page 3, after a big fight broke out and Jackie Kovacs died. He just kind of stares at them from a distance, remaining dispassionate about the death and not speaking to anyone, true to his profile's content. Everyone else dutifully ignores him, and they all eventually leave.
Shae contemplates his next move, using lots of big words to show the reader how intelligent he is. He eventually settles on parting ways with the not-a-quartet-any-more and heads towards the Mall in search of shelter from the rain. He also decides to collect some rainwater in hopes of boiling it to drink later (how?) and briefly considers cannibalism because sure that's a sensible option instead of looting rations. He has no real objection to eating people other than that it'll turn on his schizophrenia evil side? What?
Final thread, Cyco now writes Shae at the School Building, appearing on page 3 of 5 of We survive by friendship. He does a good job of it too, even keeps the original handler's grey colour formatting for thoughts, which is nice. Not sure what a textbook example of a drowned rat is supposed to be though. Anyway we start with his journey; all his previous targets are danger zones so he heads east, and winds up following a guy in hopes of taking his gun. Gun guy makes it to a shed outside the school and holes up in there, and Shae decides against trying to attack a guy with a gun in a building with one entrance. So he heads into the school, reasonable, it's still raining and he's skinny and cold. He finds a freshly stabbed corpse and takes solace in the assumption that her killer didn't have a firearm, and goes to check if they're still lurking around before setting up camp. Sensible.
Except instead he then decides, nah, I've got a good viewpoint here, maybe I should carve up the corpse and eat it. So he strips off her jeans, pausing of course for Cyco to make totally unnecessary mention of the dead girl's panties, then tries to saw off a leg with his sword.
Here's where Bryan and friend start to notice the sound of Shae trying to snap through her femur by kicking it, and go out to investigate. Shae eventually succeeds, but feels uncomfortable. It's weird to think of your meat as formerly human, I guess, so he takes off the sock. Then decides he needs to take off the whole foot. Or maybe he should just halve it at the knee. This is written so matter-of-factly it's actually immensely disturbing, and props to Cyco I think that's intentional. Naturally he doesn't hear Bryan and his SPAS-12 en route to check out the noise Butcher Pete is making as he hacks, whacks and chops that meat.
Having gotten two bits of leg, Shae was going to pack up his grisly new rations, but why stop there? Apparently a heart is very nutritious. Thankfully he isn't into fondling corpses and leaves the dead girl's bra on in favour of going up under the ribs. Bryan appears here, still unseen and unheard by Shae, who yanks out the heart with some degree of difficulty, only to hallucinate it still beating.
Then with very little ceremony, Bryan buries a hatchet in Shae's jaw, splitting his head vertically from below and killing him instantly. A bit of an anti-climax after all that gruesome set up.
Conclusion? Shae was a cliched pre-made psycho killer, his handler presumably couldn't convince anyone to let him kill them though, so he goes inactive, Cyco commendably plays along with where his trajectory was clearly going, then very perfunctorily kills him.
Not that bad a read, quite short and sweet, with decent enough prose. The content is generically stoic disaffected automatic player fare, but in this version that's hardly offensive. Just bland. Shae's okay and has a bit of wasted potential, though not much of it. Meh/10, no great loss.
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2564
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
So what happens is that Sera Wingfield wanders into the mansion ruins, finds Wanda Lovett's body, reads her suicide note, and moves on.
Wanda is literally a prop for Sera's story to strengthen her resolve to find the Sisterhood and to make her aware of the realities of the game. There's literally no character here, so there's no point in reviewing the profile or anything. From the note in the post, I guess Wanda was submitted by her handler went inactive so she was just killed off.
There's nothing here, so I have nothing else to say.
Wanda is literally a prop for Sera's story to strengthen her resolve to find the Sisterhood and to make her aware of the realities of the game. There's literally no character here, so there's no point in reviewing the profile or anything. From the note in the post, I guess Wanda was submitted by her handler went inactive so she was just killed off.
There's nothing here, so I have nothing else to say.
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2564
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
one of the Infamous Ones and it can't even be paris i see how it is
i'm half asleep and i already know how this is going to go so lets make this quick. Stacy's profile is mostly about how pretty she is. like SO pretty you guys. also if she doesn't get what she wants she'll do anything. ANYTHING. she almost murdered her music teacher apparently so that's nice. oh and she's bulimic. that's stuck at the bottom of her profile because it's obviously unimportant. her advantages are that she's Smart and Beautiful and Manipulative and would Kill A Man and her disadvantages are that she gets mad when she doesn't get her way and would Kill A Man. this seems fine and balanced so far
no pregame thank god so island
i remember as i read her first island thread that she's where Franco Sebberts gets his taser from and so i already irrationally dislike her. anyway she's excited to kill people because
next thread (the first one is a failed attempt at a starting thread, a oneshot w/ no resolution) is- goddammit this is anthony ainsworth's intro thread why do i have to deal with him again. right this is the girl he calls a filthy heathen whore with hands of death!! suddenly i don't blame him so much for trying to get away from her. also, to be fair, i skimmed her posts the first time around and this time i can confirm that shes being a v2 succubus. when he ditches her she breaks random shit and decides to go looking for victims. yay
i went to do something else for a while because this is boring where was i
next thread is a one post pass-through where she sees Jenna Cassidy looking at a corpse (one of sam sorenson's postmortem victim's i'm pretty sure. uuugh) and is more horrified by how unattractive Jenna is than by the body. lovely. mvoing on next thread her thoughts are in blue which i Hate please don't do this amd she decides to act innocent and sweet while loudly thinking about how stupid Blake Ross is for being upset over seeing a corpse. she tries to woo him and he isn't having it and then suddenly she's like DO I HAVE FEELINGS FOR THIS BOY because she's displaying basic human decency which to be fair is weird for her. then in the next post she's back to thinking about how stupid he is for feeling bad about murder. blake leaves by himself which is a smart move on himself which leaves stacy impotently flailing about how he isn't allowed to say no to her because she's Too Pretty
last thread here we go i know how this one goes. basically she sees franco and tries to attack him and her reasoning is that hitting on people hasn't worked so far and so she should just kill people instead. then she gets crushed to death and her taser moves on to bigger and worse things.
tl;dr/final thoughts: Stacy Holorson isn't Sam Sorenson but she's bad. like from moment one on the island she's excited to kill people and then she just hits on boys and gets mad when they don't immediately fall for her and then she dies. don't read her
another,,
i'm half asleep and i already know how this is going to go so lets make this quick. Stacy's profile is mostly about how pretty she is. like SO pretty you guys. also if she doesn't get what she wants she'll do anything. ANYTHING. she almost murdered her music teacher apparently so that's nice. oh and she's bulimic. that's stuck at the bottom of her profile because it's obviously unimportant. her advantages are that she's Smart and Beautiful and Manipulative and would Kill A Man and her disadvantages are that she gets mad when she doesn't get her way and would Kill A Man. this seems fine and balanced so far
no pregame thank god so island
i remember as i read her first island thread that she's where Franco Sebberts gets his taser from and so i already irrationally dislike her. anyway she's excited to kill people because
i get what the point here is but 1. it's a bad point and 2. it's confusingly written afShe thinks to herself I will prove that I will win this game and show those idiots who really is the best person in here. Not only is she jealous, but she also resents them so much do to the fact she sees some of them as stupid and inferior to herself. She sees them as so, because of the fact that sex can change almost any man into a slave. For this they need to be punished, cause it makes them weak.
next thread (the first one is a failed attempt at a starting thread, a oneshot w/ no resolution) is- goddammit this is anthony ainsworth's intro thread why do i have to deal with him again. right this is the girl he calls a filthy heathen whore with hands of death!! suddenly i don't blame him so much for trying to get away from her. also, to be fair, i skimmed her posts the first time around and this time i can confirm that shes being a v2 succubus. when he ditches her she breaks random shit and decides to go looking for victims. yay
i went to do something else for a while because this is boring where was i
next thread is a one post pass-through where she sees Jenna Cassidy looking at a corpse (one of sam sorenson's postmortem victim's i'm pretty sure. uuugh) and is more horrified by how unattractive Jenna is than by the body. lovely. mvoing on next thread her thoughts are in blue which i Hate please don't do this amd she decides to act innocent and sweet while loudly thinking about how stupid Blake Ross is for being upset over seeing a corpse. she tries to woo him and he isn't having it and then suddenly she's like DO I HAVE FEELINGS FOR THIS BOY because she's displaying basic human decency which to be fair is weird for her. then in the next post she's back to thinking about how stupid he is for feeling bad about murder. blake leaves by himself which is a smart move on himself which leaves stacy impotently flailing about how he isn't allowed to say no to her because she's Too Pretty
last thread here we go i know how this one goes. basically she sees franco and tries to attack him and her reasoning is that hitting on people hasn't worked so far and so she should just kill people instead. then she gets crushed to death and her taser moves on to bigger and worse things.
tl;dr/final thoughts: Stacy Holorson isn't Sam Sorenson but she's bad. like from moment one on the island she's excited to kill people and then she just hits on boys and gets mad when they don't immediately fall for her and then she dies. don't read her
another,,
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Ruggahissy
- Posts: 2564
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:13 pm
Another kid with four threads. Thankfully, this guy doesn't have any pre-game, so I don't necessarily have to torture myself with invisionfree godawful blue. Then again, having some pre-game time is usually good for establishing a voice for a character - did they not have memory threads back then? - so we'll see how this affected the kind of kid that Darren turned out to be. He also might be the first kid I've had during a read-a-thon to ever have one consistent handler all the way through, but, we'll see.
Darren is fifteen years old, and he's my third kid in a row from Bathurst. His only hobby or interest is sleep, which already doesn't bode well for him as a character, though a pro-sleeper student would be extremely entertaining as comic relief. He seems like a normal enough kid, looks-wise, though the "lady-killer smile" rings a few alarm bells in my head, but, eh, another oddity that you can chock up the weirdness of the version as a whole.
Darren is an orphan, along with his younger brother Maximilian three years his junior, who have been orphans ever since their parents died "in a car accident," though the true cause of their death is left ambiguous to the reader for reasons unknown. Eventually, they're put into the care of the Stevonsons (yes, it's spelt that way), two loving foster parents who accept them as their own, and the family lives happily until middle school. When their foster mother dies in an accident, their foster father turns to alcohol to cope with the emotional pain. Caught between supporting his family financially, earning good grades, and looking after his brother, Darren teters on the brink of a mental and physical breakdown at any moment.
...this all feels oddly familiar
Well, anyways, the obvious immediate downside here is that, because we don't have any pre-game of Darren, we have no way of actually seeing the dynamic between him and his brother outside of flashbacks during the game. My guess is that during his death scene he has one of these very flashbacks, and it is all very emotional and touching, and that's how it is because it is.
Darren is thrown onto the island with a dulled katana and a bag of supplies and his wits. Let's see which of these three pillars falls away first.
Upon awakening in the farmhouse, he lies down in the dirt and convinces himself that he's still asleep while his mind drifts to various topics of interest, until he eventually comes around to thinking about his brother, springs up, and finds the resolve to make it off the island at any cost. This all comes to pass within the space of three paragraphs, four if you're being generous. Regardless of whether or not this idea needed more time to visibly fester in the mind of the character, this gives him a solid motive for returning home, and a goal to work towards for the rest of his short stay on the island.The rest of the thread is him finding the katana, trying to slice some nearby corn stalks with it, and panicking when he finds out that it's dull.
He makes his way over to the river, where he runs into Seth Malvice, who just got done speaking to Tori Johnson. Seth's unmoving presence on the bridge over the river startles Darren, but he manages to keep his cool largely in part because he can't see a body anywhere, so that must mean that Seth isn't a killer. Isn't this supposed to be an honor roll student here? I understand the distinction between book-smarts and street-smarts, but underestimating a possible opponent is never smart, neither on paper nor in practice, so I was hoping that Darren would recognize that, at the very least.
Darren tries to be cool, and introduces himself. Seth responds in kind, and tries to reach into his bag to show Darren that he isn't dangero-
No, no, I'm not kidding, that's the train of thought that Seth actually had, right here, right now.
Darren, of course, interprets this as a threat, and tries to swing the katana at Seth, but Seth manages to spot it and dodge out of the way, swinging his bag at Darren and catching him square in the head. Darren manages to recover for a second attack, but is unable to find it, as Seth runs away into the Forest. Disappointed in his inability to kill, Darren continues to walk along the river, worrying that he'll never find his way off of the island if he can't bring himself to kill another human being.
Further down the river he runs into Venus Gwendolyn, while lost in thought about how unarmed Seth Malvice actually was. How he managed to sleuth this out is just "intuition" basically, but that train of thought is entirely unimportant, because he spots Venus drinking from the river on the bank across from him and decides that his chivalrous ass has to help her, because something must be wrong if she's drinking straight river water. Venus tries to lure him over, and succeeds, because the boy with the "lady-killer smile" is just so oblivious to not recognize what's going on here. The word "survive" comes up in conversation, which is enough to remind Darren of his original goal, so he swipes at her with the katana all of a sudden. I don't understand how exactly he forgot about this, or why he so instantly reverted back to attacking people, but part of me feels like Darren didn't really know that either.
Venus tries to get out of the situation by stalling, trying to talk him out of it, with the thought of seduction in the back of her mind, but Darren just answers her question of "Have you comp-letley [sic] lost your mind?" with an honest response, and tries to slash at her again. She counters by using her trademark move, Cry, which as a Water move is super-effective against Ground-types like Darren. He's lured in, has a "What have I done?!" moment, and while Venus hugs him out of thanks for sparing his life, she steals his katana and bonks him on the head with the hilt before running off.
He has a flashback - no, an imaginary mind-sequence now - where he sees Maximilian, who makes fun of him for losing to a girl. Darren snaps out of it, realizing he's still standing, and makes one last grab for the girl. Venus, however, gets around this attack, managing to steal his sheath as well before sprinting away. Darren realizes just how useless he is, but also manages to rally himself to kill someone unarmed by befriending them and then betraying them, like Venus apparently did to him.
This is less likely to work for Darren, for reasons that I don't feel like I need to state.
For his final thread, Darren wanders into the residential district, looking for people by knocking on the doors of houses. He rings the doorbell of the house that Paris Persphone, the Gossip King, had been sleeping in, which also contains Nessy Guthrie, unbeknownst to either of them. Darren asks to be admitted inside, and Paris, for some reason, allows him in, showing him kindness. So far, it actually looks like Darren's plan is working out!
Then, Garry Dodd shows up, covered in blood. He greets Paris with an ominous "We meet again," and is still invited in by Paris. All of this plays out while Nessy watches through a hole in the door, waiting around for something to happen. Garry reveals that the blood on him isn't entirely his own, and Paris throws some of the room's glass christmas ornaments at him, trying to cut Darren with one of the glass shards as well. After stunning Darren with the ornament, he tries to choke him with the plug-in cord thing for the tree lights, or something. Eventually, Paris relaxes his grip, and Darren elbows him off, stands up, but then gives out, basically already dead.
Darren's death is incredibly confusing to me and if anyone can explain what exactly happened I'd be willing to hear it.
Would I recommend this kid? He kind of just flounders around for a bit and then dies without doing much of anything, and you'll see all of him there is to offer if you read some of the other more notable kids from this version. He doesn't do much of anything at all except die, and he doesn't explore many of the plot-lines and threads that were available to explore were there time in pre-game for him. For these reasons, I'm not sure what there is to gain from reading Darren. He isn't the worst kid from V2 - you could argue that he's not really bad through any fault of his own - but he's far from the best or even noteworthy.
A quick one before the eternal worm devours us all, please.
Darren is fifteen years old, and he's my third kid in a row from Bathurst. His only hobby or interest is sleep, which already doesn't bode well for him as a character, though a pro-sleeper student would be extremely entertaining as comic relief. He seems like a normal enough kid, looks-wise, though the "lady-killer smile" rings a few alarm bells in my head, but, eh, another oddity that you can chock up the weirdness of the version as a whole.
Darren is an orphan, along with his younger brother Maximilian three years his junior, who have been orphans ever since their parents died "in a car accident," though the true cause of their death is left ambiguous to the reader for reasons unknown. Eventually, they're put into the care of the Stevonsons (yes, it's spelt that way), two loving foster parents who accept them as their own, and the family lives happily until middle school. When their foster mother dies in an accident, their foster father turns to alcohol to cope with the emotional pain. Caught between supporting his family financially, earning good grades, and looking after his brother, Darren teters on the brink of a mental and physical breakdown at any moment.
...this all feels oddly familiar
Well, anyways, the obvious immediate downside here is that, because we don't have any pre-game of Darren, we have no way of actually seeing the dynamic between him and his brother outside of flashbacks during the game. My guess is that during his death scene he has one of these very flashbacks, and it is all very emotional and touching, and that's how it is because it is.
Darren is thrown onto the island with a dulled katana and a bag of supplies and his wits. Let's see which of these three pillars falls away first.
Upon awakening in the farmhouse, he lies down in the dirt and convinces himself that he's still asleep while his mind drifts to various topics of interest, until he eventually comes around to thinking about his brother, springs up, and finds the resolve to make it off the island at any cost. This all comes to pass within the space of three paragraphs, four if you're being generous. Regardless of whether or not this idea needed more time to visibly fester in the mind of the character, this gives him a solid motive for returning home, and a goal to work towards for the rest of his short stay on the island.The rest of the thread is him finding the katana, trying to slice some nearby corn stalks with it, and panicking when he finds out that it's dull.
His unspecified job mentioned in his profile turns out to be at a steel plant, and this grants him with the knowledge that even dulled steel can cut if you want it to, a fact that he takes great comfort in. Galvanized, he sets off away from the sun, katana in hand."Fuck! It's dull... ducking dull..."
He makes his way over to the river, where he runs into Seth Malvice, who just got done speaking to Tori Johnson. Seth's unmoving presence on the bridge over the river startles Darren, but he manages to keep his cool largely in part because he can't see a body anywhere, so that must mean that Seth isn't a killer. Isn't this supposed to be an honor roll student here? I understand the distinction between book-smarts and street-smarts, but underestimating a possible opponent is never smart, neither on paper nor in practice, so I was hoping that Darren would recognize that, at the very least.
Darren tries to be cool, and introduces himself. Seth responds in kind, and tries to reach into his bag to show Darren that he isn't dangero-
No, no, I'm not kidding, that's the train of thought that Seth actually had, right here, right now.
Darren, of course, interprets this as a threat, and tries to swing the katana at Seth, but Seth manages to spot it and dodge out of the way, swinging his bag at Darren and catching him square in the head. Darren manages to recover for a second attack, but is unable to find it, as Seth runs away into the Forest. Disappointed in his inability to kill, Darren continues to walk along the river, worrying that he'll never find his way off of the island if he can't bring himself to kill another human being.
Further down the river he runs into Venus Gwendolyn, while lost in thought about how unarmed Seth Malvice actually was. How he managed to sleuth this out is just "intuition" basically, but that train of thought is entirely unimportant, because he spots Venus drinking from the river on the bank across from him and decides that his chivalrous ass has to help her, because something must be wrong if she's drinking straight river water. Venus tries to lure him over, and succeeds, because the boy with the "lady-killer smile" is just so oblivious to not recognize what's going on here. The word "survive" comes up in conversation, which is enough to remind Darren of his original goal, so he swipes at her with the katana all of a sudden. I don't understand how exactly he forgot about this, or why he so instantly reverted back to attacking people, but part of me feels like Darren didn't really know that either.
Venus tries to get out of the situation by stalling, trying to talk him out of it, with the thought of seduction in the back of her mind, but Darren just answers her question of "Have you comp-letley [sic] lost your mind?" with an honest response, and tries to slash at her again. She counters by using her trademark move, Cry, which as a Water move is super-effective against Ground-types like Darren. He's lured in, has a "What have I done?!" moment, and while Venus hugs him out of thanks for sparing his life, she steals his katana and bonks him on the head with the hilt before running off.
He has a flashback - no, an imaginary mind-sequence now - where he sees Maximilian, who makes fun of him for losing to a girl. Darren snaps out of it, realizing he's still standing, and makes one last grab for the girl. Venus, however, gets around this attack, managing to steal his sheath as well before sprinting away. Darren realizes just how useless he is, but also manages to rally himself to kill someone unarmed by befriending them and then betraying them, like Venus apparently did to him.
This is less likely to work for Darren, for reasons that I don't feel like I need to state.
For his final thread, Darren wanders into the residential district, looking for people by knocking on the doors of houses. He rings the doorbell of the house that Paris Persphone, the Gossip King, had been sleeping in, which also contains Nessy Guthrie, unbeknownst to either of them. Darren asks to be admitted inside, and Paris, for some reason, allows him in, showing him kindness. So far, it actually looks like Darren's plan is working out!
Then, Garry Dodd shows up, covered in blood. He greets Paris with an ominous "We meet again," and is still invited in by Paris. All of this plays out while Nessy watches through a hole in the door, waiting around for something to happen. Garry reveals that the blood on him isn't entirely his own, and Paris throws some of the room's glass christmas ornaments at him, trying to cut Darren with one of the glass shards as well. After stunning Darren with the ornament, he tries to choke him with the plug-in cord thing for the tree lights, or something. Eventually, Paris relaxes his grip, and Darren elbows him off, stands up, but then gives out, basically already dead.
Darren's death is incredibly confusing to me and if anyone can explain what exactly happened I'd be willing to hear it.
Would I recommend this kid? He kind of just flounders around for a bit and then dies without doing much of anything, and you'll see all of him there is to offer if you read some of the other more notable kids from this version. He doesn't do much of anything at all except die, and he doesn't explore many of the plot-lines and threads that were available to explore were there time in pre-game for him. For these reasons, I'm not sure what there is to gain from reading Darren. He isn't the worst kid from V2 - you could argue that he's not really bad through any fault of his own - but he's far from the best or even noteworthy.
A quick one before the eternal worm devours us all, please.