Annotated 9-4
Hahahahahaha, oh God the CONSTERNATION that greeted this page. Phil’s alt text really did sum it up. For now, I’ll just ignore the last panel (except for the beautifully rendered knickknacks on HR’s desk) and talk about the bits no one else paid much attention to.
I guess it’s possible to read the second panel as the three tavern workers getting scared because Best is acting crazy and talking to nothing, but I think it’s more Occam’s-razor that they can see the same spirit he can. After all, spirits who’ve appeared before seemed to be visible to everyone once Gravedust’s power made them that way. Hmm, maybe this ghost has some CONNECTION to Gravedust.
It’s kind of amazing how Payet “solo act” Best immediately and totally commits to being a team player once Destiny tells him to. He probably expects his comrades will all recognize his infallible leadership, but still.
Also interesting is that he’s fairly informed about the political situation. He gets around and worked with some Gastonian soldiers recently, but even the Peacemakers didn’t realize how close war was until the end of Chapter 7. Like I said, we were pouring everything we could think of into making Best likable here, or, if you prefer, “more tolerable.” But we could only emphasize the parts of him that, to us, already existed. His other traits would resurface eventually.
I will admit that I was among those that was worried when we reached this part of the story. I have seen other webcomics do similarly stories and it just didn’t go well for any of the ones I read before Guilded Age. However, Guilded Age broke that trend and you guys dashed my worries splendidly.
Same here. By the time we get to the big reveal of the five in tubes, I was just about ready to leave the series.
When I saw that this was an MMO, I was very concerned that nothing that happened in Arkerra mattered because it was just one big video game.
I’m glad I hung in there though. T & Phil did a wonderful job of weaving a story and they dispelled my concerns soon afterwards.
Here was point where people lost their minds, declared the comic unreadable and the writers monsters for breaking their trust. At least that’s how I remember it. Perhaps the conflict has grown more violent in my memory, and people were civil and considerate in their discourse.
Hahaha, no.
You can still go back and read the old comments, and there’s a lot of anger. “A lot” a lot.
Charade. One of my favorite movies of all time.
At the time, I had just watched one webcomic, YU+ME Dream, successfully pull off an even more hackneyed plot twist; given T’s track record, I was more than happy to trust that this would work out in the end.
Love that the character tags this time around drop the secrecy about who “Ghost” is.
I really hated the whole “meta” thing at first, but you guys did a terrific job of pulling it together and making a great story. I was glad to be wrong.
You know, it seems fitting that Best took lead in one of the most controversial chapters of the comic.
I was upset about this twist, but not enough to complain publicly. I did soldier on, knowing that you haven’t disappointed so far.
Thankfully, we learn later that it’s not all just a game, it’s an actual separate world. But still, honestly, I never felt attached to the sepia characters or storyline, and I think the webcomic as a whole would be more enjoyable if sepiaworld did not exist at all (totally subjective of course).
I don’t remember when exactly I started reading this comic, but I wasn’t around to see this page live, I was archive-diving and didn’t read the comments. I had no idea this twist was so unpopular. I just took it in stride, like, “Oh, I guess this comic’s about video games. That’s a thing that I enjoy. Sweet.”
It’s kind of funny going back and reading those comments now, knowing how well the story went after, but also kind of sad. There are too many people in the world willing to let their knee jerk reactions become their final opinion.
To be fair to those people, there are also a lot of works of fiction that try a twist like this and end up much worse off for it. Guilded Age is the exception, not the rule
Now I’m kinda wishing one of those panels had the ghost looking awkwardly at his wrist or clearing his throat.
I always loved that hovertext, even the first time I read this page and was like “WTF I DIDN’T SIGN UP FOR THIS!!!” ^_^