{"body":"11:15 AM <~barredowl> so my first impressions are the following: this feels a lot weaker than the previous tale.\r\n11:15 AM <+cybersqyd> yeah\r\n11:15 AM <~barredowl> i wasn't really caring for the characters, nor did i feel they had any discernible or relatable traits.\r\n11:15 AM Mhm, a tiny bit weaker\r\n11:16 AM <+cybersqyd> it lacked narrative punch\r\n11:16 AM <~barredowl> yeah, it felt very directionless.\r\n11:16 AM It certainly didn't feel unique\r\n11:16 AM <~barredowl> kinda forgettable.\r\n11:17 AM Yeah, a lot of the initial appeal for me is gone at this point, so now I'm just going on the content of the articles themselves, and a lot of it is lost on me. This article just seems like a filler episode of a cartoon with no immediate consequences or payoff besides a guy getting his arms covered in bugs for three sentences.\r\n11:17 AM <+cybersqyd> yeah\r\n11:18 AM <~barredowl> yeah, and for this series, which is only six tales long (at least the section we're reading), it's a really bad thing to have something this \"filler\".\r\n11:19 AM <~barredowl> i don't really have much to say about it, unfortunately, considering there wasn't a lot which \"stuck\" for me\r\n11:19 AM And with all the lore that this thing supposedly has, there isn't a lot of content to back it up. It's like placing the reader in a fully fleshed-out D&D world or some other fantasy series, and then focusing them on some school children going through their day. There is some appeal there and an itch that it does scratch, but with all of this potential I really wanted to see more.\r\n11:19 AM <~barredowl> other than i think this doesn't feel like a good sign for a series when half of its tales just feel like exposition.\r\n11:19 AM <~barredowl> all setup and no payoff.\r\n11:20 AM How many tales are in this again? Aside from the ones we're reviewing?\r\n11:20 AM <~barredowl> red3: yeah. i do like some of the descriptions of foundation stuff (in the last tale, for instance, the library was somewhat interesting), but it's very superficial\r\n11:20 AM BlueJones: Eight in total, six in the main storyline.\r\n11:20 AM <~barredowl> yeah\r\n11:20 AM <+cybersqyd> This feels like it could be like, a nice introductory tale for like, people new to the SCP wiki to read maybe; but then, it also feels like it's...relying a lot on weird details so maybe not?\r\n11:21 AM <~barredowl> hmm, yeah.\r\n11:21 AM <~barredowl> this is kinda spoiling my opinions on the other tales because it's like, when are we going to get to the point?\r\n11:22 AM Its difficult to tell really. If this is how I think these tales are going to go and going by the number of articles here, its just going to go around in circles about these guys not understanding our world\r\n11:22 AM <+cybersqyd> I...somewhat disagree a touch? Or at least, it made the last tale feel stronger in comparison cos I read this and it reminds me of the sheer charm of it\r\n11:22 AM <~barredowl> yeah, there's some of that for me too\r\n11:23 AM <+cybersqyd> But yeah, it feels like it's missing the opportunity to really...do something with this beyond 'haha look at these people who don't know what human stuff is'\r\n11:24 AM <~barredowl> like, what i want from this is to either explore the foundation universe or the antarctic reaction to this universe further. it feels like a mix of both without really developing either of them.\r\n11:24 AM <+cybersqyd> yeah\r\n11:24 AM <~barredowl> it really feels superficial when you get down to it\r\n11:25 AM <+cybersqyd> red3: i'm circling back to your thoughts on this in terms of e.g. world building and stuff and I find myself agreeing\r\n11:25 AM <+cybersqyd> It's like, two vastly different worlds colliding and we're seeing...some random side stuff\r\n11:26 AM <+cybersqyd> The introductory character thing really felt like it was setting up a lot more intrigue and stuff? Like it was gonna be a big, complex story with lots of characters and stuff; and then everyone interesting has disappeared and we're left looking at the lesser characters\r\n11:26 AM Yeah, and considering that there's only two tales directly set in the Empire that has all of this world-building, it doesn't really make sense to focus that much energy on that.\r\n11:26 AM <+cybersqyd> yeah\r\n11:26 AM <+cybersqyd> hm\r\n11:26 AM <+cybersqyd> I think I'd be more okay with this in a bigger canon?\r\n11:26 AM <~barredowl> hmm indeed.\r\n11:27 AM <+cybersqyd> Like if it was BM, and there were a tonne of tales, seeing some relatively minor, low-key stuff would be nice\r\n11:27 AM cybersqyd: I agree somewhat. From what I've seen from this series so far, it doesn't look like it wants to have some big overarching story, but more just giving a collection of slice-of-life experiences with a concept like this. However, those experiences can still be intertwined with a bigger overall narrative and they can have more connections to each other besides just \"One Antartican and his friend doing something \r\n11:27 AM that ends up having no consequences later on in the series.\"\r\n11:27 AM <+cybersqyd> yeah\r\n11:29 AM <+cybersqyd> (as much as wrapping the conversation up this early feels off, it kinda seems like we've all said all we want to?)\r\n11:29 AM The thing is, it doesn't have a good forward motivation when compared to canons like Those Twisted Pines or End of Death where you either have multiple tales that are short and sweet and satisfactory or a plot thread to lead you to the next tale of \"Oh my god so that's why they did X! To get to Y!\" but here it doesn't satisfy me enough to want to read more? I guess? Its hard for me to pinpoint where I just lost the \r\n11:29 AM motion to keep reading this\r\n11:30 AM <~barredowl> yeah, now that the charm has kinda worn off with this one, i'm kinda apprehensive about the next three.\r\n11:30 AM <~barredowl> okay, sorry about this, but i have to get toilet paper for my brother\r\n11:30 AM <~barredowl> gbye\r\n11:30 AM <+cybersqyd> wait like, long good bye?\r\n11:31 AM <~barredowl> back\r\n11:31 AM <~barredowl> no, short one\r\n11:31 AM <+cybersqyd> wb\r\n11:31 AM <~barredowl> so anyway\\\r\n11:32 AM <+cybersqyd> do we want to reconsider canons after the next story?\r\n11:32 AM <~barredowl> i'm curious if new authors coming and telling their respective tales might improve this series overall?\r\n11:32 AM <+cybersqyd> maybe\r\n11:32 AM I agree with Blue's thoughts for the most part, but I think part of the lack of motivation to continue reading comes down to just how bland the initial concept of this was.\r\n11:32 AM <~barredowl> cybersqyd: idk, that seems wrong to me.\r\n11:32 AM <~barredowl> should probably stick around and still read it, cause it may offer a valuable lesson in the future\r\n11:33 AM <+cybersqyd> yeah, I mean. I was opening it for discussion cos idk whether folk want to or not; I know if I was reading for like, my own enjoyment, I'd likely stop soon but *shrugs*\r\n11:33 AM <+cybersqyd> ...part of me does really want to read at least the next tale\r\n11:33 AM red3: Mhm, perhaps its to do with the blandness BUT this canon is old, so mayhaps as owl rightly said, if new authors sat down and said \"We got this whole empire to play with, lets use this\" then perhaps it would be worth the slog to get to the fresh stuff\r\n11:33 AM <+cybersqyd> yeah\r\n11:33 AM <+cybersqyd> i'd love to see some interesting stuff here\r\n11:34 AM <+cybersqyd> some real like, intrigue and like, the empire playing dumb and stuff\r\n11:34 AM <+cybersqyd> maybe like, infiltrating the goc and things\r\n11:34 AM <~barredowl> zyn has a tale in here so maybe that could offer something? also dmatix -\\_(._. )_/-\r\n11:34 AM <+cybersqyd> a zyn tale is likely gonna be good\r\n11:34 AM I agree with that. There's also a lot more to explore with the location of an entire anomalous empire that faceless Foundation sites don't offer.\r\n11:34 AM <+cybersqyd> she's done some really great things\r\n11:35 AM <+cybersqyd> though, she also tends to write very slice of life-y things so it might not fix the issues with the canon :/\r\n11:35 AM <~barredowl> i mean this series is called \"Site-19 Exchangees\" so idk\r\n11:35 AM <~barredowl> maybe it'll still stick around the foundation site\r\n11:35 AM red3: I'd be down to just write something for this canon, just to prove that this canon can provide some more interesting stuff\r\n11:36 AM <+cybersqyd> ihp's tale here is probably gonna be pretty good; it's a shame it's not in this section of the canon :(\r\n11:36 AM Do we want to read the two tales that take place within the Empire one day, or just stick with the main six?\r\n11:37 AM <~barredowl> i'm not sure\r\n11:37 AM <+cybersqyd> i say we read more and then like, at the end of the six, we can see how we feel?\r\n11:37 AM We don't have to decide it now.\r\n11:37 AM Yeah, what Cyber said.\r\n11:37 AM <~barredowl> yeah\r\n11:38 AM <~barredowl> so for what it's worth, do you think we should take a quick break before jumping into the next tale?\r\n11:38 AM <+cybersqyd> ...I kinda feel like we may have technically already but *shrugs*\r\n11:38 AM Sure.\r\n11:38 AM Yeah, I'm down for quick break\r\n11:38 AM <~barredowl> hmm.\r\n11:38 AM <~barredowl> ok\r\n","name":"Collecting","extension":"txt","url":"https://www.irccloud.com/pastebin/zYHQQQiB/Collecting","modified":1589049551,"id":"zYHQQQiB","size":9251,"lines":86,"own_paste":false,"theme":"","date":1589049551}