Phew! Was that a long week for anybody else? I bet that was a long week for Tuna, for sure!
As of poll's close, we had 91 votes (Nice! Lot of lurkers out there! Much love. <3) at 70% Spare and 30% Kill.
(Aren't those some Fort Minor lyrics?..)
Anyway! I'm in the middle of moving. Next week will be a filler page -- it MIGHT be the non-canon KILL version of this page! It might be. We'll see. I'd insert some Jim "OMG!" reload save scumming panels to explain it but Y'ALL I'M LAZY. GODDAMN.
Anyway! The fate of the Tortoise Book is decided. It will have an impact, and the consequences of your decision will ripple (ha, gotta get these water puns out while I can) across the comic.
Hope you made the right choice!
Also, Atari was so fucking scared you guys were gonna kill Tuna, he fucking loves her.
I'm surprised there wasn't a knock out, even without a kill. Must have shifted to a cutscene at that point. Otherwise, I'd be wary for another cast of Alpheidae.
Alternatively... Tuna never did answer the 'Why' question from 699. Maybe it was "Because I need you alive for the book to not implode. One last contingency your father left." (Odds at at 0.002% that that's her reason)
As for using the alternate version as a bonus/filler page, I see no reason not to. - Especially since both would have needed to be done by today.
I wonder how much was different in the alternative version? If it's the minimum 2.5 panels/7, that's about the ratio of 'kill' in the poll.
--
Side humor: there was no right choice to make. Only top or bottom. ;)
Good luck with the move! May it go smoothly, with no injuries along the way!
I feel good about this outcome. I'm confident that keeping Tuna alive will pay off later, and I can't imagine the Skuuba would have taken her being killed lying down. And besides, everyone knows that you usually get locked out of the good ending by choosing to execute a named NPC when given the option not to!
Tuna: Couldn't you just use a phoenix down or two instead of carrying them?
Reka: Those don't work during cutscenes and you KNOW that!
Tuna: Also you could just inventory the sword...
Reka: I'm trying to be dramatic here dammit!
This could actually galvanize the Skuuba against South Corp in the long run. Their whole reason for this is that humans consider them a monster race, and if they leave their city random adventurers will kill them indiscriminately (reminds me a bit of the Fishmen and Mermaids from One Piece.) But here we had a group of adventurers with every reason to kill their high priestess but refused to. It can show the Skuuba that the humans in general aren't enemies and South Corps' desire to eliminate them is a bad thing.
This is one of the biggest reasons I was in favour of sparing her. Killing her would have only drove the Skuuba deeper into South Corp's arms. Tuna's survival could show them that there's a better way.
Aye, that is a good point. I don't want it to be an arbitrary thing. Though I thought a "good reason" is already apparent:
The Skuuba are aligned with South Corp. Well... one of the things that helps make the "bad guys" compelling is when they are not simple cardboard villain cut outs. So, just having South Corp keep promises and the Skuuba clearly and obviously benefit, seems like it would be a simple but substantial reason. Tuna may hate it, but it ain't like the rest of humanity has proven themselves to the Skuuba. Indeed, it would just take a few betrayals by other humans between then and now to undermine our heroes actions.
Said late game boss encounter could even be seen as an act of mercy on Tuna's part. We near end game, and whoever the "final" boss of the game is, they are
1) Not openly threating to destroy the planet, wipe out all humans, etc.
2) Are strong enough that Tuna doesn't think the heroes have a realistic chance of winning but a strong chance of dying in the confluct.
So Tuna gets permission to stop them. Most of the battle, Tuna is not trying to kill the party, just stop and/or slow them down. Only in the final phase would she start really going all out, because at that point she's determined to sacrifice herself in a bizarre act of atonement and preparation for the party. She keeps her people's word while doing the only thing she feels she can to prepare the party.
Oh, and this would also require Tuna herself be much stronger by this point. Maybe we can bribe Atari by pulling an anime-esque "Last Minute mini-arc" that would highlight what all Tuna had been doing behind the scenes at this point. ;)
I'm really glad that the Turtle book got away. Both the Phoenix and the Tiger books gave their readers weird powers and made them crazy. I shudder to think what would have happened to Reka or Cherry if they'd been allowed to keep it.
...And I look forward to the new villain we see spring forth when the book actually does get read. And the continued backlash of throwing away that Hex tool, since I'm betting one of the Turtle Book's effects is huge physical defense!
...Still a bit bitter about FF13-2. That didn't even make sense!
Hero: so not only did I lose my sword.... I also didn't gain any XP?
Cherry: She stole ma book. Stealing is wrong!
But for realzies, I am so very happy that Tuna made it out alive.
Alternatively... Tuna never did answer the 'Why' question from 699. Maybe it was "Because I need you alive for the book to not implode. One last contingency your father left." (Odds at at 0.002% that that's her reason)
As for using the alternate version as a bonus/filler page, I see no reason not to. - Especially since both would have needed to be done by today.
I wonder how much was different in the alternative version? If it's the minimum 2.5 panels/7, that's about the ratio of 'kill' in the poll.
--
Side humor: there was no right choice to make. Only top or bottom. ;)
Good luck with the move! May it go smoothly, with no injuries along the way!
I feel good about this outcome. I'm confident that keeping Tuna alive will pay off later, and I can't imagine the Skuuba would have taken her being killed lying down. And besides, everyone knows that you usually get locked out of the good ending by choosing to execute a named NPC when given the option not to!
Reka: Those don't work during cutscenes and you KNOW that!
Tuna: Also you could just inventory the sword...
Reka: I'm trying to be dramatic here dammit!
Also Hero lacks junk in his trunk.
Now for Phase 2: Convince as many as I can that Tuna needs to return as the ultra difficult, optional boss fight late game![/u]
Hey, nothing says Tuna will be happy about it either... but I think it makes for an excellent bit of storytelling should it happen this way. ;)
If done well, it could make for some great storytelling.
Perhaps corrupted by one of the books?
(As mentioned in my long comment on the previous page, I also think it could also be interesting to have a Reka mega-boss)
The Skuuba are aligned with South Corp. Well... one of the things that helps make the "bad guys" compelling is when they are not simple cardboard villain cut outs. So, just having South Corp keep promises and the Skuuba clearly and obviously benefit, seems like it would be a simple but substantial reason. Tuna may hate it, but it ain't like the rest of humanity has proven themselves to the Skuuba. Indeed, it would just take a few betrayals by other humans between then and now to undermine our heroes actions.
Said late game boss encounter could even be seen as an act of mercy on Tuna's part. We near end game, and whoever the "final" boss of the game is, they are
1) Not openly threating to destroy the planet, wipe out all humans, etc.
2) Are strong enough that Tuna doesn't think the heroes have a realistic chance of winning but a strong chance of dying in the confluct.
So Tuna gets permission to stop them. Most of the battle, Tuna is not trying to kill the party, just stop and/or slow them down. Only in the final phase would she start really going all out, because at that point she's determined to sacrifice herself in a bizarre act of atonement and preparation for the party. She keeps her people's word while doing the only thing she feels she can to prepare the party.
Oh, and this would also require Tuna herself be much stronger by this point. Maybe we can bribe Atari by pulling an anime-esque "Last Minute mini-arc" that would highlight what all Tuna had been doing behind the scenes at this point. ;)
...And I look forward to the new villain we see spring forth when the book actually does get read. And the continued backlash of throwing away that Hex tool, since I'm betting one of the Turtle Book's effects is huge physical defense!
*laughs* Of course Atari loves her, look at how she’s drawn. :P
…wish I had been drawn that well.
Very glad Tuna survived in spite of the worrisome kill comments on last week's comic!