No end of chapter message? Yep- This chapter is running long!
Artificial Incident
No end of chapter message? Yep- This chapter is running long!
Nyna is finally coming into her own. Good by bad guy!
Uhhm- Actually- She’s lying. She’s bluffing. That’s the point of the whole line of “I have to hide it- use it.” and then immediately saying that her friend Told her the secret to her power- but no one did that, that never happened. If it had- at the very least I would have done it as a flashback!
No, she’s taking a play from Kaylin’s book to try and improve her odds. Make him think he’s not getting anywhere, show it hand, and find a way to end him for good.
That may not be what he meant, but Nyna IS coming into her own; playing him for time, bluffing him, & demoralizing him are all to her advantage, & points only matter if you survive.
So I guess raids were’t tiered in this? I remember EQ2 had some lvl 16 raids where a level 60 could come back and solo them.
I mean, this doesn’t exclude that- Nyna’s mom was/is one of the hardest Raid Bosses in the game- we only know of one higher difficulty, and that one had an undefeated record when the glitch happened. As it stands Nyna IS being solo’d, but also not confident using Raid Boss Mode atm so there’s an open question of how strong she could be.
See my reply to Terry above – I knew some people would have trouble with getting this, and it will be explained a bit later. For people who read into dialogue more or have less issues with understanding subtleties in dialogue, Nyna is bluffing. That fire cat thing- is nothing even new. She’s always had it- it was even in the cover art for her first appearance chapter, this is just one of the first times it’s manifested this much and prominently.
Well written fight scenes do consume time, …
And I really do like this.
I guess nobody ever told him that cats have nine lives 😉
It’s good that there’s no “end of chapter” message on this page or fighting a ‘raid boss’ by yourself would be the least of your problems 😉
Last post for today, promise…maybe…
I can’t help but wonder if her saying he isn’t a ‘real adventurer’ is deliberately intended to goad him into making a serious mistake.
Kaylin said similar, and it seemed to resonate with him – so nyna is trying to use that too. She’s repeating descriptions and terms Kaylin has used. It would be appropriate for her to throw out the label elite in there too, since it’s what Kaylin called her when they met!
Since Nyna can’t see her own flickering label, she scores unintended bonus points by repeating the word ‘raid’ here. Maybe this guy will have heard the phrase ‘raid boss’ from his benefactor and that connection will make her bluff even more effective! Like Kaylin said, blending a little truth makes the lie more convincing.
The most effective lie is one that is told with the truth. “A solo adventurer could never beat a raid boss. And you aren’t even a real adventurer.” Both true statements, only the claim of control is a lie (for now).
the art looks incredible
heere kitty kitty kitty
As a complete non-player – I think the last videogame I ever attempted was the arcade version of Tail Gunner – I am nevertheless doing my best to make sense of the rules here. And meanwhile just enjoying the great visuals and character interaction.
to be fair this story uses MMO rules so any information you might have gleaned from Tail Gunner is completely useless
Good point!
Not just MMO RPG rules, but hybrid near-future hypothetical AI driven Table-Top-like rules. Where the “game balance” is a little fuzzier, and the “expression” of the rules try to hide that these are purely artificial.
Talithar is playing by “Adventurer” rules. Mostly, and with a deeper knowledge of how those rules work. And he’s using rules of a borderline broken setup, a “Gorgon” (Rune Aria, this setting, jargon), that is ideal for “Solo” play. So no real weaknesses, lots of power. And what few he has, he’s covering with additional Player skills and items.
Nyna is playing by “Monster” nekomata rules, but also partly her mother’s “Phantom Cat” Raid Boss rules. As discussed back in Hunted, Raid Bosses get special rules in MMOs. Such as blocking/countering even while stunned. Things that make them harder for an organized group of Players to deal with, and virtually impossible for someone solo.
Like “skill crushing” Talithar’s Auto-potion skill. Which would make his Solo-play “Gorgon” build collapse almost instantly. And would probably have his big named attacks turned back on him. It would turn into a Jaguar vs Tortoise, and the Jaguar has a hydraulic press.
https://www.artificialincident.com/comic/hunted-08/
I think this ‘game’ is a proprietary one set well in the future with the players connected directly to their ‘computers’ and the rules of today’s games don’t really apply exactly, except maybe in very general terms.