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PA Comic: Wednesday March 7th: Priorities

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edited March 2012 in The Penny Arcade Hub
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  • King RiptorKing Riptor Registered User regular
    This sums up so many sidequests in Mass effect.

    I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    Man every game. Trying to ensure the survival of all possible realities. Hey I bet you'd really like this pretty great sword. That'll be 1million gold.

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  • NeuroskepticNeuroskeptic Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    It happens in every game, but I find it more acceptable when it's a fantasy. I can believe that some peasant who lives in a one-room shack in Starttown, Skyrim would be more interested in his missing sock than in the main plot. But not someone in the future who's got access to the TV.

    Neuroskeptic on
  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    Shepard's wearing his classy duds.

  • Vargas PrimeVargas Prime King of Nothing Just a ShowRegistered User regular
    Weird that they misspelled "Shepard"

    Anyway yeah, this joke can basically apply to just about every RPG in recent memory.

    "Save the world/universe! But first, would you be so kind as to deliver these reports to Captain Whatsisface at Outpost Bumblefuck?"

  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    Weird that they misspelled "Shepard"
    That's not weird at all. Shepherd is the natural way to spell a word that sounds like "shepherd."

  • AnosognosAnosognos Who wants to play video games?Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Weird that they misspelled "Shepard"

    Anyway yeah, this joke can basically apply to just about every RPG in recent memory.

    "Save the world/universe! But first, would you be so kind as to deliver these reports to Captain Whatsisface at Outpost Bumblefuck?"

    That's true, which I think is part of the joke. It's just thrown into ultra-sharp relief in this game because civilization is being destroyed as they speak and the game keeps (rightfully) reminding you of that. Most RPGs, despite having some terrible danger that must be thwarted, do a pretty good job of allowing you to forget about it for hours on end.

    Also, it's funny because it's a volus.

    A volus with expressive eyebrows on his suit.

    Anosognos on
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  • AurichAurich ArizonaRegistered User regular
    Sometimes I think the inhabitants of Mass Effect are out to get decked by Shepard. Maybe there's some kind of prestige associated with it.

  • fightinfilipinofightinfilipino Angry as Hell #BLMRegistered User regular
    Weird that they misspelled "Shepard"
    That's not weird at all. Shepherd is the natural way to spell a word that sounds like "shepherd."

    sure, except the character's name is actually "Shepard." i know it's an easily made typo though.

    i chuckled at the comic, but yes, this is a well-worn trope of RPGs. it's even worse in JRPGs.

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  • vsovevsove ....also yes. Registered User regular
    Weird that they misspelled "Shepard"
    That's not weird at all. Shepherd is the natural way to spell a word that sounds like "shepherd."

    sure, except the character's name is actually "Shepard." i know it's an easily made typo though.

    i chuckled at the comic, but yes, this is a well-worn trope of RPGs. it's even worse in JRPGs.

    I liked that you could call out a merchant in FFX, when he sold you items to help you defeat the giant dragon that was about to destroy your airship (that he was also riding in).

    'Look, I'm -so- confident that you're going to win, I feel that 'business as usual' is an entirely acceptable tactic.'

    WATCH THIS SPACE.
  • FandeathisFandeathis Registered User regular
    I feel like they did this comic before, or maybe I'm just so used to it from every game that I feel like it's been done on PA before.

    You fuck wit' Die Antwoord, you fuck wit' da army.
  • MilknutMilknut Registered User regular
    Fandeathis wrote: »
    I feel like they did this comic before, or maybe I'm just so used to it from every game that I feel like it's been done on PA before.

    They do tend to comment on these sorts of things. For instance, Batman collecting trophies when he should be rescuing people who are getting mugged. That said, the gold for me in this strip is the way they scripted it. It's original in its delivery and so funny! "That's not a good enough reason." !!! :D

    Twenty million kids are eaten by bats every second.
  • TaramoorTaramoor Storyteller Registered User regular
    Milknut wrote: »
    Fandeathis wrote: »
    I feel like they did this comic before, or maybe I'm just so used to it from every game that I feel like it's been done on PA before.

    They do tend to comment on these sorts of things. For instance, Batman collecting trophies when he should be rescuing people who are getting mugged. That said, the gold for me in this strip is the way they scripted it. It's original in its delivery and so funny! "That's not a good enough reason." !!! :D

    My personal favorite strip like this:
    254126408_82Zob-L-2.jpg

  • 0blique0blique Registered User regular
    I heard that some of the sidequests on a timer where they disappear unless you do them right away. This would make these scenarios even weirder, in that doing the sidequests becomes more important than advancing the main plotline.

  • GalacticGalactic Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Shopkeepers are always hilarious. I'm the guy that just saved your life and the lives of everyone you love from those dragons/marauders/Lavos but you're gonna charge me 50 gold for this health potion? Really?

    Galactic on
    ^_-;

    Too Galactic for you.
  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    On the other hand they do let you barge into their house and talk to them at all hours of the night, even when they're sick in bed, and rummage through all their belongings to take the most valuable ones.

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  • PhyphorPhyphor Building Planet Busters Tasting FruitRegistered User regular
    Aurich wrote: »
    Sometimes I think the inhabitants of Mass Effect are out to get decked by Shepard. Maybe there's some kind of prestige associated with it.

    I'm Commander Shepard and this volus is my favourite person to punch on the Citadel!

  • jothkijothki Registered User regular
    Of course, when you consider what the Mass Effect series would be like if it didn't have a ton of sidequests...

  • Victory63Victory63 Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    [edited by Jacobkosh]

    Jacobkosh on
  • SwashbucklerXXSwashbucklerXX Swashbucklin' Canuck Registered User regular
    Heh, just called my husband over to see this comic after I heard him yelling at the game on just this topic. "Civilization is falling apart and you want me to do what?"

    Want to find me on a gaming service? I'm SwashbucklerXX everywhere.
  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    I like how Tycho managed to Tychpo the name another entirely different way in the newspost.

  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    Gaslight wrote: »
    I like how Tycho managed to Tychpo the name another entirely different way in the newspost.

    To me, this is on the same level as the Mega Man X fiasco.

  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    0blique wrote: »
    I heard that some of the sidequests on a timer where they disappear unless you do them right away. This would make these scenarios even weirder, in that doing the sidequests becomes more important than advancing the main plotline.

    Unless I'm missing a big part of the UI, the whole quest organization seems like a big step back from ME2. You get like one sentence per quest in your journal, with almost no indication of progress or where (for example) in the Citadel you're supposed to go for the next step. You have to open up the map and look on every level for the new name.

    Plus the fact that when you get a new email asking you to meet someone, apparently that doesn't get added to your journal either. And you can't look at your email except when you're on the ship.

  • GaslightGaslight Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Henroid wrote: »
    Gaslight wrote: »
    I like how Tycho managed to Tychpo the name another entirely different way in the newspost.

    To me, this is on the same level as the Mega Man X fiasco.

    Thank you, I had forgotten that episode and it was well worth revisiting.

    Gaslight on
  • ThanatosiaThanatosia Registered User regular
    I don't think this is a very legitimate jab at ME like it would be in most RPGs. The type of quest they are mocking (including the volus artifact one they are depicting) don't have the quest giver going "SHEPARD! SHEPARD! A MOMENT OF YOUR TIME!", instead they are just having conversations with a companion or into some cell-phone like communicator that you overhear if you linger around them and you choose to get involved - they are not trying to draft or hire you. There might be an odd exception here or there, but about every quest where the NPC makes an active attempt to recruit your efforts does involve legitimate war effort issues.

  • fortyforty Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Weird that they misspelled "Shepard"
    That's not weird at all. Shepherd is the natural way to spell a word that sounds like "shepherd."
    Don't be such a dullherd.
    Taramoor wrote: »
    My personal favorite strip like this:
    254126408_82Zob-L-2.jpg
    That is the correct opinion, as this is by far the best PA comic based on the trope.

    forty on
  • KalTorakKalTorak One way or another, they all end up in the Undercity.Registered User regular
    This one is good too:

    215520584_5qVNo-L-2.jpg

    If only because you can read half of it in the "WHADDYABUYIN?" voice.

  • XaquinXaquin Right behind you!Registered User regular
    When does PA take over PvP for a week?

    I thought it was this week, but no dice

  • CambiataCambiata Commander Shepard The likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
    Thanatosia wrote: »
    I don't think this is a very legitimate jab at ME like it would be in most RPGs. The type of quest they are mocking (including the volus artifact one they are depicting) don't have the quest giver going "SHEPARD! SHEPARD! A MOMENT OF YOUR TIME!", instead they are just having conversations with a companion or into some cell-phone like communicator that you overhear if you linger around them and you choose to get involved - they are not trying to draft or hire you. There might be an odd exception here or there, but about every quest where the NPC makes an active attempt to recruit your efforts does involve legitimate war effort issues.

    I agree. While the comic did make me laugh (probably because Volus are inherently funny, and Shepard punching people or on the verge of doing so is also funny), the fetch quests in ME3 are actually pretty well thought out. Very few people actually ask you for help, and the ones that do ask you do save people who will unquestionably die without your help. The artifact quests are just people talking to each other, with one of them saying that if their people had such-and-such artifact it would boost morale or provide a tactical advantage in the overall fight.

    "If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
  • NeuroskepticNeuroskeptic Registered User regular
    On the other hand they do let you barge into their house and talk to them at all hours of the night, even when they're sick in bed, and rummage through all their belongings to take the most valuable ones.
    Not in Skyrim. If you start shopping at say 5 pm, and spend a few Skyrim-hours doing it, as soon as you finish talking to them they decide it's past their bedtime so they're like "What are doing here?!" and call the guards.

  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    On the other hand they do let you barge into their house and talk to them at all hours of the night, even when they're sick in bed, and rummage through all their belongings to take the most valuable ones.
    Not in Skyrim. If you start shopping at say 5 pm, and spend a few Skyrim-hours doing it, as soon as you finish talking to them they decide it's past their bedtime so they're like "What are doing here?!" and call the guards.
    Yeah, that's pretty great. Though I did do a couple Thieves Guild quests by standing stealthed on someone's counter and then waiting until 1 AM for them to go to sleep.

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