Skill ceiling is right for him at least.
The fighting is kinda lackluster, animation is brilliant, voice acting is well above average, story telling leaves a bit to be desired, characters other than Mako are cool, plot is good and that's my opinion.
I was too busy to get anything out by the first deadline because of exams but I'm really glad there is a second chance for me in the form of this extension as I pretty much do nothing but character drawing. Biggest problem is that I can't really decide whether to go with my most recent obsession or an earlier and slightly nicer looking design. Current safety saves below. Juliet Casey- A main character from an old dead project, only just recently given a physical form for a newer one http://i.imgur.com/2t55x.png Details/Notes: She's probably going to be wearing a bullet proof vest in the final version or at least a bandolier and that is a Double Eagle. I'll definitely be playing with the angles a bit. Depending on detail level in this image I might forego color and make it a short animation showing better what's happening on the opposite side of the wall. Tabitha Jung-PC from Mahou Shoujo GURPS http://i.imgur.com/XIf7J.png Details/Notes: Still missing the potentially badass robot leg and a few frills like color and shadows. Rather than doing a full scene with bg and everything I decided to have her normal shoujo form next to her and have her character sheet between them or something. I guess this thread is here for discussing the topic more than helping out with technical issues but I figured I might as well throw this out there in case anyone was bored enough to indulge me.
Whichever you do end up going with, I feel you should have this in the background the whole time. Your fault, not mine.
Astraea and Garl are some of the few bosses that I just didn't want to kill, they seemed so tragic and pitiable. So the fight wasn't the hardest technically but it was the hardest for me to carry on through and finish. It even affected my gameplay afterwards. After that battle I talked to Sage Freke's apprentice and heard him spewing crap about Astraea. I killed him. I pulled out my wand, selected my strongest spell and burnt him to a crisp. That move ruined my soul tendency but I didn't care, seeing that little bastard die was more important at that point. Also, Saxton Hale. What the actual fuck?
I'm gonna knock you all out.
Our hero's in trouble now! You're too slow! This is a real friggin' embarassment.
I come back after exams and this is what I see.
I don't have time to be talking to you, I've got an exam later today.
Dinny Grayson- It's a brilliant example of water colors. The gradient from one tone to another is blended so that it seems at once amorphous and definitive. I personally feel like a slightly more stylized approach could have allowed for a more expressive character but the overall composition is good and the actual execution is more or less without fault. pheonixkh93- While you're definitely lacking depth and detail here, the colors and shading turned out well and your intent was carried across all the same. All the Pretty Faces- I like the general look here and some of the visual effects but I can't really judge execution or anything as I kinda just don't get it. Sorry if that sounds a little boorish or rude.
Haven't used IE since 2006. What's it look like now?
Is it bad that I still half expect at least one responder to say roughly this every time I see a thread or post concerning rep?
What is this salty discharge?
No .
What's my age again?
Best thing about this song is you can just go right into More Than a Feeling without changing your chords.
I feel weird saying I missed all the drama given how long I've been coming here but I guess there are rocks to live under no matter where you go. I wish that I was around for all this stuff sometimes though...
2-3 Spoiler It was late, without the bright glow of the city there would be no finding one's own way. Even in the back alleys it looked as though the sun was only just set, the lingering light still permeating the crisscrossing corridors giving everything a faint glow. It was warm too, just hinting at the summer to come while still carrying the soothing scent of spring on the light breeze. Deeper into the alleyway the darkness began to creep in at the edges of everything, blurring and obscuring detail. The steady step of the rubber soles echoed clearly over the distant rumble of engines, tires and conversation. Then a more erratic, disjointed, skipping step of leather soles joined in about a block behind. For a moment to two walked in each others' echoes without so much as a word passing between them, then as if some signal had been made, both took off at a full sprint. Minutes of running later led them both to meet in the center of a derelict shopping arcade. The pursuer grins and so does the pursued. The lights flicker to life for a fleeting moment and it begins. Suddenly. Blood. Shadows flickering in the dim light of the fading halogen lamps. Blood. The sound of footsteps slipping and sliding across the slick surface. Blood. The maddened screams of a deranged lunatic in a slow crescendo towards beastliness. Blood. The screech of metal being torn. Blood. The look in his eyes like a dead fish, still staring out into the sun long after he's stopped seeing. Blood. The pain of shrapnel entering the skin preceding his razor talons. Blood. The feel of his bones creaking and crunching beneath a rain of blows. Blood. The scent of death engulfing everything. Blood. The taste of defeat numbing the mind. Blood. The end of the battle. Blood. Staining everything a dim red in the final seconds of light and consciousness. All that was left was... Blood. Erica suppressed a scream as her eyes snapped open and she sat up straight in bed. She was soaking in cold sweat and her eyes were tearing up. The hand she held over her mouth was violently shivering as her hot breath fell over it in gasps escaping through her clenched teeth. Finally, she realized that she'd woken up. So she sighed and let herself fall limply back on the uncomfortable bed, shaking. It had been months since she'd had a dream about Raven. In the hospital they had told her that it was post traumatic stress that was getting to her and that she might never be rid of these nightmares, all she could do was try to overcome her fears. Erica smiled wryly. “I'm still dead scared of him. I killed him, and I'm still frightened by the very thought of him. Overcome your fears? I overcame him and I'm still scared.” She murmured as she pulled her knees to her chin and buried her face in her skirt. “You talking about the one who gave you those scars?” Kuroko asked quietly. Erica quickly turned with a start, only to find her nose inches from Black's, which was sitting comfortably in front of a soft gaze from the elder girl who leaned over the end of the bed as far as her body would allow. After a moment spent composing herself, Erica replied, “Yeah.” “Do you mind?” Black asked as she mimed sitting on the bed. Erica shook her head. “Why would I mind, I owe you everything I've got here, don't I?” She sighed. “No reason not to be polite.” Replied the elder simply. “Fair enough.” “Are those scars on your neck getting agitated by the environment down here or--” “These?” Erica asked, running her fingers over two faint scars, one across the left side of her neck and the other running down her right. “I cover them up with makeup usually. I just haven't bothered to bring along anything like that. No one to fool down here. Right?” “Doesn't it bother you, though?” “Not really. I only cover them so that other people don't get worried, even if I didn't have them I wouldn't feel any different. I'd still remember, I'd still be scared and ashamed regardless of whether or not I had something to look at.” Erica turned her head away slightly. Was that really true? Or was she just punishing herself again to make herself feel like she had been right all along? “I'm assuming you don't want to talk about it.” Kuroko replied, somewhat awkwardly, she wasn't exactly a people person and it showed especially clearly when she tried to be kind. “I'm assuming you don't want to hear about it.” “Not entirely true. Though our relationship is predicated on the fact that we don't know too much about each other in order to stay on good terms, your past is intriguing in a way.” She said more loosely, as if a disconnected interest was more palatable to her than the possibility of a genuine connection. Erica couldn't help but feel similarly however, after all, her connections with other people are what got her here, perhaps stepping back and taking a look at the larger picture would be easier. “What do you want to know, then?” “Who was it? The person who you killed?” “It wasn't a person really, it was a demon. They're not like the devils down here, they're more like nature spirits or something. This one's name was Raven, because he was a raven spirit, I assume. He was fairly weak in the grander scheme of things because he gave his demon skin, like his true form, to his master to make him stronger. At least that's what I overheard. I supposed I'd be dead and he alive if it weren't the case though.” “How'd you manage it?” “You see this?” Erica held up the demon ward Hughes had given her. “It's a demon ward and weakens any demon within a certain range of it, I wrote over five thousand copies of this one and set them up in an abandoned garage. I got him to chase me there and then we fought...” Erica dipped her head again, thinking to herself momentarily. “You don't need to go on.” “No, you seemed interested. I just was thinking of a way to say it, alright?” Erica snapped back a little more defensively than she meant to. “Alright.” “He didn't go down immediately, obviously. He fought like a total bitch, by the way. The scars are from the claws he grew when he revealed that he'd taken a weaker transformation in exchange for his old one. God, just talking about it reminds me of how damn scared I was. How scared I still can be. Pathetic, right?” “I don't really know what it feels like to fear any one person. However, you handle the almost dying thing better than a lot of hardened criminals and military men that I've met, so I wouldn't feel too bad about it.” “Well, I'll keep that in mind.” “So how'd it end?” “I punched him to death, then staggered off into the middle of the street where some people call an ambulance for me, then woke up about two weeks later in a hospital bed covered in scars. I heard that the world hadn't ended and that I wasn't in my hometown anymore so I went back to sleep and that's all there is to the tale.” “So... that's what happened?” “To the best of my knowledge. I can't tell you what happened for sure because the whole thing felt oddly like a nightmare at the time and I keep dreaming about it. No one even knows it happened other than me so maybe I just made it all up...” “You can't deny the scars, no car accident or normal accident could do something like that.” “I guess...” “Be confident, you're a badass for such a mopey little wimp. You should seriously put some effort into letting people know that.” “Like I could do that.” “Well, think about it, the world is made of all sorts and I think you're mistaking which sort you are. And speaking of all sorts, we're going to be meeting an odd sort today.” “Yeah?” “She's an old friend, I guess you could say. So up, up, up kiddo. You've got ten minutes.” Black chirped, cheerier than Erica had seen her. With that, Black rose to her feet and strode out smoothly. Erica rose soon after and began doing what preparation that her meager quarters would allow. When Erica was finally ready to head out the two left town headed on a course for what looked like this world's equivalent of east. Erica could only imagine who it was that was waiting at the end of their ride and how they'd even find them for that matter, and so she did. She'd felt a strangely pleasant emptiness since the nightmare about Raven, like she'd been opened up and all her emotions and feelings were simply scooped out and tossed away. To keep herself from filling the space with the everything she'd managed to escape, she avoided thinking about serious things. Wondering about a new unknown person is much better than looking back over the past and replaying every little detail over and over again even if neither really achieved anything of value. Just as Erica began to become aware of her decision the vehicle stopped. Black shrugged her off like an old blanket and dismounted before putting her ear to the ground and nodding to herself. “She's here.” Kuroko declared confidently. “I'm not even going to bother asking how you know.” Erica had learned quickly that Kuroko was, for the lack of a better phrase, different. She wasn't the kind of hero that Hughes and Kira were. In fact, while it was obvious that she was the main character of this little adventure she acted anything but heroically. She ran from fights, deceived, threatened and did all other kinds of things that Erica had hardly expected of the person who'd saved her that first day. However, every story was different, Erica had learned; and when everyone was finally out, no matter what had happened down here, Kuroko would be the one everyone thanked and celebrated. That's how the world worked. “Good, because I don't know either.” For the most part. Soon, from the dusty wilderness emerged a figure dressed even more strangely than the Black Fang even. Erica quickly realized it was a woman but could still hardly believe that she was really there. Her attire consisted of a set of heavy boots the tapered into what appeared to be a pair of stockings by the time it reached the middle of her thighs. Over the top of these she wore a skirt the most resembled a gigantic blue bell flower. Moving further up the ensemble Erica realised that her shirt consisted of tight black netting over a pale green tunic with long sleeves that came down over the back of her hands and left her palms free. But the oddest thing she wore was her hat, a pale green hat with dark green pinstripes along the two long arms of the hat the terminated in two bells. “Guten tag, hermanita.” She chirped with a sweeping flourish followed by a shallow curtsey. “Bonsoir, good evening.” Erica answered with a similar curtsey. “She's a bother, isn't she? Bother meet Lisile. Lisile, bother.” Black joked. “I think she's cute. It's about time you started traveling with someone. Though, I thought it'd be a certain someone else if you ever did.” Lisile replied suggestively. “Lis.” Black growled. “Oh, alright. You two would make the cutest pair though. I'm not even joking, I'd probably die of all the cute if you got together.” She practically squealed. “Well, let's just not and say we did.” Black answered impatiently. “He told me that too. I'm surprised you guys want to kill each other so badly. I thought that the schoolkid rivalry would have died down a bit since the four of us split up.” “Anyways, have you finished locking down this quarter?” “Yes, all their chips are belong to me.” Giggled the girl before taking a sudden turn for the more serious, a turn that Erica had hardly expected. “I still don't like the idea of leaving this power behind, though. You go back and things are peachy fucking keen but once I go back, I never walk again.” “Would you rather wheel around Switzerland where people will love and take care of you or run around here where everyone wants you dead?” Snarled Black. Erica wanted to wince at it, it was hard to see how these two were friends, they way they talked. “I know. I know. It's just hard, okay?” “You're better than hard.” “Jeez...” Lisile frowned with a nervous shrug. “So why'd you bother to come all the way out here to check before schedule?” “Because the new group just arrived this month.” “I saw, they all were fairly cooperative. Some just had to go though.” Lisile shrugged. “Something else getting to you?” “...” “So was that it? You thought I'd lost track of time like you had?” “I wanted to know if you'd seen White again.” “He comes by from time to time. Looking for you. He sometimes goes at length about how much he'd love to fight-- no, duel-- with you. Usually when he drinks. However, the last time I saw him was months ago. He had decided to start dressing up as you to see if he could get you to come after him. I told him it'd never work. That's pretty much the scoop on him. Though, there is some other super big news that I've just remembered. The old man passed about seven months back.” Lisile declared triumphantly. “Serious?” Black's eyes lit up as though she was a child that was told that there was going to be a second Christmas. “Yeah, the only thing he couldn't beat was aging. He must have been in his nineties when we knew him. Still, I'd never seen an old guy that spry before.” “Old bastard deserved a worse death.” Black spat, suddenly annoyed. “Don't we all know it?” “Still, I'm glad that there's one less obstacle now.” “I was convinced he was the devil himself, knowing he's died... It makes it seem like anything's possible, even your hair-brained scheme.” “Well, one last thing for today. Since everything's locked down here, I'd like you to come with me to finish off the last of my business.” “Don't you think you're being a bit... impatient?” “Yeah, I'm impatient. I feel like I'm the only one who is in this place. I understand it on some level but I really feel like every day I'm gone is just another day of my life I'm never going to have again. Another day towards my total separation from the reality I used to know. I want to just go back to how things were, and I know I never will be able to. Does it really mean so little to be able to sleep easy to you?” Said Black, with more emotion than Erica had ever seen from her, more than Erica had thought she was capable of. “I'm just worried about you. The plan was set up to work, we both signed off on it, rushing it will only hurt us in the end. So, I'm going to follow the plan and hope that you do the same, okay?” “We're ahead of schedule.” “Schedule will catch up. What's your real name, bother?” “Erica.” “Erica, keep an eye on her for me. I'll meet up with you guys in two weeks at Central to compare notes again, you'd better not stand me up, okay?” Erica nodded. And that's this years update, whoo hoo.
I don't feel as if I do.
It's actually a bit slutty. Just saying.
