wRHG Tournament R1: Bl.An.C. (ErrorBlender) vs Lucario (GamerXD)

Started by: Hewitt | Replies: 16 | Views: 2,499

Lobotomizer
2

Posts: 325
Joined: Feb 2012
Rep: 10

View Profile
Jul 16, 2013 2:48 PM #1037112
Well, let's start mentioning things, starting with Errorblender. I've decided nitpicking is probably not the best way to go, so I shall just run through the general problems that arose from the two stories.

One gigantic problem that I've seen is, for the ante you were given, you sorely lacked the other counterpart that might've given your story some life; thoughts. Since I assume, while internal monologues are a no-no, thoughts alone are allowed and should be abused to give the fighters more than just a paper thin personality. There were alot of times that you had plenty of opportunity to expand further, but you just stopped short of that and it made the story a little disappointing in general.

Diitoo… That was the name of his ally. An ally he had back in his days as a Rising Stars member. If he had judged correctly, these disks had the powers of some wRHG and RHG alike in them. If that were the case then Lucario was simply copying these disks. Using them as tools, power multipliers!


Take this for example. Blanc could have taken time to think about this 'Diitoo' person and his past with him, or perhaps a silent cry of triumph in having figured something out. This is just one small part, and there were more than a few littered around with the same opportunities for expansion that simply weren't abused to their fullest.

As has been said, your sentences are quite awkward and it feels as though you suffer from limited vocabulary. The way you describe things might be the reason why you get awkward sentences, because I commonly see it when you start describing the vicinity.

And now for GamerXD8

MY gripe with you is that you wrote it like it was DBZ or some other action anime equivalent. Or maybe a stickman battle animation might be closer. The point of the matter is, the battle looked to be bland and without variation, and I found myself sort of skimming through punch after punch, explosion after explosion. The many times where the battle didn't seem to be taken seriously (from both banter and music) sort of broke what immersion I had in the story. The ending was sort of creative, but other than that, it was trading blow after blow. I can't really explain this very well, unfortunately.

Another problem was Lucario and Blanc's attitudes toward each other. At first, Blanc was willing to have a fair fight, going far enough to dig out a bullet for his opponent. Lucario somehow paid that back with being an outright dick, and Blanc seemed to respond with some bitterness. Afterward Blanc became concerned with Lucario in the middle of the fight. These shifts in attitudes are sort of jarring and not so believable. Perhaps you could justify it, but to me, the story gave none of that sort.

Now, for the both of you

One big issue was the fact that the battle dragged on for ages to come, as what Nikx said. It got more monotonous as it continued, and I felt like I was slogging through walls of text waiting for the whole thing to just end. The switch ups were fine, but there wasn't much to look forward to. It would be better if you had cut it short, but I understand on Gamer's end he was obliged to make it long in order to fufill the ante condition.

The other would be the amount of damage that each person took before the battle ended. I couldn't count the numerous times each person took enough damage once to outright knockout or kill a human. No doubt, if every gladiator were as flimsy as the next pedestrian battles wouldn't last for more than a minute, but when the two probably broke all of their ribs and a few other miscellaneous limb bones during the fighting, there's something strangely wrong with that.

Now, I understand that I might seem biased and more in favour of the non-battle side of, well, a story that is supposed to be driven by battle. Even so, a piece of well cooked meat can only be made tastier with some controlled seasoning. You have the steak, but you lack the seasoning.

As for who I vote, it's a tough one because neither really performed much better than the other. It'll have to be Errorblender, but only because I felt that Gamer's humor was misplaced at times. Keep up, the two of you.
Tantalum

Posts: 52
Joined: Jul 2013
Rep: 10

View Profile
Jul 17, 2013 5:02 AM #1037892
Been a little short on time as of late - dunno if I'll get a post on all of these tournament threads, but I'll sure be trying at it x). Dunno how much I can add to the other criticism given above (or if I'm adding anything at all), but nonetheless my summarised opinions are shared below.

Both entrants had pretty solid intros, and I actually had little problem with the length of them, although I felt a lot of the sentences early on could have flowed better with a few more connectives. This improved slightly towards the middle of both stories, which was just enough to keep my interest through them.
ErrorBlender's story could have benefited from more emphasis on key parts (especially on the impacts mentioned, as well as Lucario's entrance), and perhaps less emphasis on the more trivial actions (such as the shifting parts on Bl.An.C.'s suit). The story flowed well and was easy to follow - slightly stretched out towards the middle-end, but showed more variation in attacks, along with a good end twist to follow.
GamerXD8 did better on portraying impacts, albeit exaggerating them a little at times. The main detractor I found was with some of the exposition and gimmicks, some of which tended to distract rather than add to the scene they were put between. The plot ending was kept short and effective, though I think it could have used more of the lengthened descriptions given early on for a proper climax.

Like the above, my vote slightly tips to ErrorBlender, since I felt it was the more engaging of the two. Thanks to both of you for the fun reads =).