

We now have to learn new characters, and force our old ones to begin their search in the new gates. I won't say that the Azure City plotline wasn't phenomenal, it was brought to life with the characters that showed a lot of variety that we can't see so much because of the McGuffins being established in two separate locals. What I'm seeing is that his plans are going to fail, and HOW! You have the elves linked up to the resistance, Xykon, even karma swinging the other direction against RC and his misguided ideals of fairness and justice.

Like anything Xykon is his strongest impediment to his plans. Redcloak - He's getting everything that he wants. I believe that the biggest thing V needed was a conscience.
BELKAR ORDER OF THE STICK HOW TO
At the least, he's more willing to learn how to control his temper (the raven). He's less of a blowhard who uses big spells simply as a boast of his power, being able to work within the group. V - He has been given the most character development recently. He's not a leader type at all but he's the outlet for all of the "happy-go-lucky" moments. He functions on V's level but keeps to focusing the entire group to the purpose at hand.Įlan - He took a few levels in badass, yes. Roy - He's the leader and able to keep everything running like clockwork. With the slower pacing, we haven't necessarily seen the comic as much so we're tending to forget. Let's remember that at least for a while, we were receiving two or three updates then the story picked up in pace. I believe it's the difference between the books and the once a week updates of the comic that has been happening recently. We've spent dozens of strips basically watching the OoTS wander aimlessly, accomplish virtually nothing, and really, everything that's happened could have been summed up in about five updates, tops. Right now I'm just begging Rich to pick up the pace and have Redcloak and Xykon leave Azure City and do something already, or have the Linear Guild show up and attempt to thwart the OoTS' plans again, or even have Girard show up and challenge the OoTS in a meaningful fashion. I could give a damn less about Gobbotopia's political development or Redcloak's speeches or the constant teases inflicted upon us with the MiTD (just reveal what it is already.) The Azure City War plotline was phenomenal because every strip had exciting life-or-death implications, the momentum always constantly and unpredictably shifted between the sides, and the stakes were enormous. And while the OoTS has just become boring, the plotline at Azure City is even worse. Elan reverted back to being dumb comedic relief, V basically reverted to her old self with the one rather annoying development of her familiar (I'm not a fan of the raven), nothing new is still happening with Durkon, etc. Then Roy returned and a lot of the interesting implications I thought the previous plotlines were building towards just fell apart, and the dynamics reverted back to what we've gotten used to hundreds of strips ago. Roy's absence really forced some unexpected twists and turns with the characters, but nothing felt too forced. The entire Sapphire Guard plotline and the war between Xykon and Azure City was pretty much the highlight of the strip so far, but I also believed that the developments after Roy's death (with the party split) was well written. Quality in regards to storyline progression and character development.
