[GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

WovenTales wrote:

swicked wrote:

Valikdu wrote:I've found something really interesting.

This is a liveblog on TVTropes which is basically a Let's Read for the original FoE. The author is a (very) caustic critic, but raises a lot of valid points.

...good. It isn't  that good, particularly on its own.
What it really sells is a world; the rest is average to sub-par.

I definitely agree with that. Kkat (there are a lot of "Kat"s around) did manage to join the worlds of Fallout and MLP much better than anyone imagined was possible, but the story itself isn't as good. Its the recursive fanfiction that really makes Fo:E worth the read; as good as PH, MN7, and All that Remains are, they all need knowledge of the war and the wasteland. PH could probably stand on its own, but a lot of the details of the ministries (and the Stable Dweller jokes) would have to be inferred, and it helps to know Filly and Red Eye's roles in Equestria when following Murky. All that Remains is probably the most easily detachable, but even so, it's written to explore the other side and liking the zebras is much more meaningful when we know the war. "The best thing about Fo:E is that it allows you to read these other, completely amazing stories" isn't much praise (and is perhaps not giving it quite enough credit), but as much as I enjoyed the original (and the second reading I'm giving it), that's pretty much how I feel.

That's part of the reason I don't quite get people complaining about how Somber changes the backstory. It might have been one of the strongest parts of Fo:E, but there's still room for improvement. What PH tells us about the war turns it from a terrible (but somewhat abstract) event to a tragedy. Kkat gave us war; Somber makes us part of it. Ponies aren't trying their best and failing, they're trying their best at something ultimately worthless or unproductive. I remember tearing up a couple times in Fo:E at a character's death (Rarity, Zecora) or at a particularly well-described ruin (Ponyville, I think), to name a few, but I never had the same sense of crushing inevitability that PH gave me a couple times (most notably during the Littlehorn dream). Besides, how is tweaking a few details of the war era so much worse than, for example, saying that Fluttershy was banging Cloud Kicker during flight camp?

Maybe not the best time to say it, but it's late and we're already on the subject of annoying complaints about PH, so what the heck. Why do people insist on saying it's too long, or too slow, or not focused enough on the main storyline? It's not a novel, and I'd be surprised if it was ever intended to be. It's a serial, and you can't try to force it into a novel. Sure you can still make the same complaints, but they don't have the same weight. A serial is supposed to be long, and PH is just able to fill a large number of issues without (I guess arguably) artificially postponing the plot. Likewise, it's not supposed to be telling the story of EC-1101 to Project horizons from Point A to Point D, taking into account a few intermediate stages to slightly hide the linearity, plus three or four sidequests. It's a character piece that explores Blackjack and the wasteland, using EC-1101 to keep from feeling completely directionless but never pulling it before the main focus. If nothing else, it should be compared to something with a similar aim, rather than the standard modern fantasy template.

So that's a unnecessary rant over. Sorry.  The fact that I wrote the entire thing probably means I should have been asleep a while ago. Good night/morning/whenever!

swicked wrote:Pannic?

WovenTales wrote:Yeah, we have, but there's a lot of people in other places that don't get that, and the rant was directed at them rather than anyone here. It just seems that they are sometimes able to recognize that PH isn't following the standard story, but rather than (at least trying to) like it for what it is, they condemn it for being original. Sorry, just find that really annoying. Plus I get rather wordy when I'm tired.

ARoundCorner wrote:Saw Batman... thought of Project Horizens...

The Black Lance Rises

Somber wrote:Wow.  Thanks for sharing that.  Now I wonder what Pannic would make of PH... and I'm scared to ask.

Some text:

Caoimhe wrote:Pink Eyes is the real memey one right?

One of my criticisms of PH is that it's too short. I want it to go on forever and ever amen.

Editing:

Derpmind wrote:I forgot that the first few chapters of Pink Eyes were fun. Stupid, but fun. (Is that joke still funny?)

I think I stopped reading around when Puppysmiles got semi-possessed by the spirit of Nightmare Moon.

SilentCarto wrote:

Editing:

swicked wrote:He likes Pink Eyes?

Yeah, no, I don't think I will be reading his blog...

Evilgidgit wrote:I read Pink Eyes from beginning to end and I thought it was really fun and unique to see the world of Fallout Equestria from the eyes of a whatever-age-Puppysmiles-is-year-old.

O. Hinds wrote:Sorry, but why?  As far as I can tell, those two are equivalent in meaning and equally valid.

SilentCarto wrote:

swicked wrote:He likes Pink Eyes?

Yeah, no, I don't think I will be reading his blog...

I giggled because it's true...

SilentCarto wrote:I noticed a little mistake when I was looking back at the description of Folly in Ch. 5.

It loaded from a breech like a break action shotgun, but clearly it’d been engineered for precision.

Should be "but it had clearly been".

SilentCarto wrote:

O. Hinds wrote:Sorry, but why?  As far as I can tell, those two are equivalent in meaning and equally valid.

http://faculty.washington.edu/marynell/grammar/AdverbPl.html
Adverbs of certaintly, such as "clearly", go after state of being verbs and before other verbs. "Had been" becomes "had clearly been". (In this case, it doesn't go between "been" and "engineered" because it hasn't been "engineered" in a "clear" way, it is "clear" that it has "been engineered".)