Topic: VGCats; which game are they criticizing?

[Arbok]

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Originally posted by: KDR_11k
VG Cats is still better than, say, Penny Arcade that seems to just throw random imagery with unrelated text on there and adds some profanity because they think it's funny.

I will fully disagree with that statement:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2006/20061220.jpg

Funny 100% of the time? Well no, but then what is?

[Dirk Temporo]

Quote
Originally posted by: therat
games in general.... hl, wow, oblivion.

Neither HL2 or WoW are considered "next gen" games, and neither of them suffer from the issues mentioned in the comic.

[KDR_11k]

PA has the lowest signal to noise ratio of any comic I ever read with the exception of Garfield.

[Artimus]

Still the best webcomic ever:

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=192

[Ceric]

I think it's pretty general and is definitely poking fun of TP. (Come on the Bloom effect is everywhere...)

[JonLeung]

I personally thought Twilight Princess was incredibly dull - visually, I mean.  Perhaps coming after Wind Waker and the Four Swords/Minish Cap games it's expected to look less colourful in comparison.  But even the two N64 games were more bright and vivid than Twilight Princess.

Realism and pseudo-realism are BORING... I think style (or lack of it) is what will peak out graphics sooner than an actual technical limit.

[Caliban]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ceric
I think it's pretty general and is definitely poking fun of TP. (Come on the Bloom effect is everywhere...)

Ok, but which part of TP is HD? Read the comic again and tell me that HD wasn't said.

[Hostile Creation]

Can't we all agree that all gaming webcomics suck, Pennyarcade and VGcats alike?  Because they do.

Although the VGcats immediately before this one, with Starfox, is really good.  Only good one I've seen in years.

[JonLeung]

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Originally posted by: Hostile Creation
Can't we all agree that all gaming webcomics suck, Pennyarcade and VGcats alike?  Because they do.

Although the VGcats immediately before this one, with Starfox, is really good.  Only good one I've seen in years.

I disagree with Hostile Creation on all counts here.  Most of the web comics I read are gaming-related, and I do like Penny Arcade and VGCats because the art is better than other game-based comics I've seen (I'm sure someone will make some webcomic suggestions now).

The Star Fox one I also disagree with.  While the dialogue was entirely from the games, which was witty in an odd way, I don't like comics that rely on shock value...homosexual inter-bestial sex jokes aren't that funny IMO.  It's not that I'm traditional or zealous, or have a particular view of things like homosexual jokes or sex jokes...it's just that, well, aren't homosexual jokes passĂ© yet?  Any theme of jokes gets old before the tenth time, so I'm sick of them long before, what, the hundredth time?  There's no shock value when it's overdone...any shock now is that they have to resort to that for a laugh.

In that case, yes, Penny Arcade's wang/gay jokes and VGCat's occasional "shock value" jokes are the ones I dislike.  And Penny Arcade made a comic mistakenly insisting that the X in Mega Man X stood for "ten" (which it doesn't), which surprised me a lot, coming from gamers that should know better...but otherwise I don't understand the hate for all of their comics as a whole.  Maybe the haters think they're overrated?  Is that it?

EDIT: I'm not saying I'm "more mature" or "better" than anyone who did enjoy that particular VGCats or other similar comics, though I'm sure I sound like I might be.  >_>

[KDR_11k]

I just think PA usually isn't funny at all because there's nothing even resembling a joke. Sometimes they make a joke but destroy it by adding a superfluous panel after that or something.

Eh, whatever. Sinfest > all gaming comics.

[JonLeung]

Wow.  I didn't think anyone else read Sinfest...it's the only non-gaming webcomic that I still regularly read.  Nice avatar, BTW.

Monique is a hottie.  I love the (kind of new) Sunday strips that are full page colour ones.

I used Slick's line "You make my nads explode with joy" on some female co-workers at Playdium.  Soon I was known as the "nads-exploding" guy.

Anyway, I remember a PvP comic pointing out the whole "you have to read the newspost to get the joke" thing which was obviously pointed at Penny Arcade.  But I could never get into PvP because many times it seemed way nerdier than other gaming comics already are.

I always ask for new webcomic suggestions but then I rarely enjoy anyone's suggestions.

Don't ask me why I have been reading Penny & Aggie lately.  But maybe I could enjoy "slice of life" comics.

[Ian Sane]

I think how good a web comic is actually based a lot on how often it's updated.

I regularly read four web comices: Penny Arcade, PVP, VGCats, and Perry Bible Fellowship.

PVP updates every day.  Thus having a stinker isn't a big deal.  No one is perfect so if I don't find a comic funny odds are tomorrow's comic will be or the day after.  I get seven comics a week so odds are at least one of them will be funny.

Penny Arcade updates three times a week.  Well since I have to wait longer for each comic there is more pressure for it to be funny because I have to wait longer for the next one.  So when they have some self-indulgent Cardboard Tube Samurai story arc with no humour in it whatsoever that's a multi-parter I'm going to have to wait at least a week for the possibility of a funny comic.

VGCats only updates once a week.  PBF is even more infrequent.  If the comic sucks then I have a wait a fair bit of time for a good one to show up.  I find when it works PBF is one of the funniest things ever BUT if the comic is a dud I have to wait like two weeks for another one.  If two suck in a row there's a month of no funny PBF.

For a comic that doesn't update as often months can go by of complete suck while a daily comic can have a whole unfunny story arc go on for 20 strips and still take less than three weeks.

I really find Penny Arcade funny when it's "on" but the problem is that often it's very self-indulgent or has in-jokes that obviously only the creators and their friends would enjoy.  PVP has probably the most universal humour and it updates every day so even though I would consider Penny Arcade to be funnier at it's best, PVP is a more consistent strip because with so much material out there you know that at least once a week you're going to laugh your ass off.  The other two are worth reading but I really never know what I'm going to get so I'm not as attached to those strips.

[nitsu niflheim]

brown in the next gen color of choice

[wandering]

Quote
Originally posted by: KDR_11k
I just think PA usually isn't funny at all because there's nothing even resembling a joke. Sometimes they make a joke but destroy it by adding a superfluous panel after that or something.

I assure you the lack of punchlines is intentional. Not that that makes it funny or anything.

Incidentally, I read PA regularly...but not for the comic, which I've never cared for. I just enjoy the news posts.

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Eh, whatever. Sinfest > all gaming comics.

And Dinosaur Comics > all other webcomics period.

...Sinfest is pretty good, though I'm kind of tired of the whole people-who-look-cute-but-are-actually-naughty thing.  

[KDR_11k]

I think quoting Slick, especially to female coworkers, is probably the dumbest idea ever.

...Sinfest is pretty good, though I'm kind of tired of the whole people-who-look-cute-but-are-actually-naughty thing.

That sounds like it has some contrapunction (elements that run completely against the suggested main theme, e.g. the violence in Happy Tree Friends) going on which really isn't the case. Sinfest is pretty straight-forward with its characters and its portrayal of the "immoral" (i.e. nothing explicit, the most you see is the characters being drunk) fits with the rest of it. It's mostly a satire of real life (especially political subjects) and I wouldn't call any of the characters "cute but naughty".

[wandering]

Good point.