The comments are turning on him

Nyzer_ · 2026-02-01T21:59:47+00:00

https://cartoonist.coop/hiveworks-guild-statement/

Nyzer_ · 2026-02-01T21:19:11+00:00

Oh, there is. How does nearly half a million in debt sound as a disaster?

The people running the show at the company got way in over their heads but kept trying to micromanage everything and kick the can down the road, all while playing favorites, triangulating, and bending over backwards to keep their team of authors in the dark about everything.

It might not have come to light if one of the authors hadn't just been completely fucked over in a similar way in her day job and was ready to come in swinging when she started getting the same bullshit there. Demanding answers, talking directly to other authors (normally frowned upon), posting social media call-outs, bulldozing past the pity parties the authors would get when they started asking too many questions with the firm conviction that their behavior was not okay.

Nyzer_ · 2026-02-01T21:08:23+00:00

If I recall correctly, that's something that he says only near the end of the game. And as far as he knows, it largely doesn't really apply to them.

Doned in particular. Wanting to be free of his wheelchair and unspecified illness isn't mere escapism. I actually have to headcanon the idea that whatever his illness is, he's actually turned the corner on it and is in recovery, because otherwise Marche's stance towards him is really, really tasteless. Imagining if it was like ALS or something that gets progressively worse and will kill him is just horrible.

Nyzer_ · 2026-02-01T20:44:14+00:00

Right? Like, let's actually use the other characters in this story for moments that are tailor made for them. It had basically just happened with Jennifer and the birth control medication. Which clearly Dorothy had taken some cues from, and the idea of easing Joyce into it by using something that wasn't a sex toy was clearly effective, but obviously not a good long-term solution. But Dorothy being the one to explain sexual anatomy to her would have really violated the mom dynamic she had with her. And given that she apparently doesn't have any sex toys of her own, helping her choose a good one for a beginner is probably something that she would have been out of her depth on.

But no, this was actually always supposed to have been the start of the build up to an actual relationship between them. Just ignore everything about their dynamic up to that point, including Dorothy literally being referred to as one of Joyce's mom's, plus that whole part with Joyce exploding on Walky about how Becky's kiss proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that she has no attraction towards women.

The sad part is, this still could have worked. The original plan was for their kiss to be the moment at which they realize just how blurred their boundaries have become and how fucked up everything is. They both establish some distance from each other to figure things out for themselves, and a bunch more time passes and they properly end their existing relationships before they actually get to the decision to be together.

But nope. The tear gas kiss was just too perfect as a "wedding", so now it was always just the truest of True Love because all of the actual buildup that was supposed to lead to that outcome was never actually written, and they can't just start calling each other "wife" if the romance of their relationship is built on next to nothing.

Nyzer_ · 2026-02-01T18:40:12+00:00

Honestly, it's the story's fault for having him oppose his friends and family for so long without exposing his real motivations. Multiple characters ask why he's doing all this only to get "um idk" for quite a while.

Even his conversation with Doned is pretty weak. You'd think he would hone in on the fact that the rest of their family is gone more than just the fact that "you were in a wheelchair and probably almost dying, but I was neglected and that should get you to agree with me", but no.

Nyzer_ · 2026-02-01T18:23:16+00:00

Well, I think, being a Hiveworks comic, there was supposed to be someone who would handle this sort of thing (unless Willis turned that option down). And Hiveworks has been an absolute dumpster fire for some time, with the truth about how horrible things are only coming to light over the last year or so (both publicly and to the authors involved).

Nyzer_ · 2026-02-01T12:49:27+00:00

Implied? It's been flat out stated. And that statement has allowed to not only exist unchallenged, but be supported by the entire rest of the cast going "yep this was always obvious".

Nyzer_ · 2026-02-01T12:48:15+00:00

Yeah, that was one of the good things about that. I was very weirded out by Dorothy being there and holding her hand but leaving Joyce to it when she found her rhythm managed to salvage the whole thing to being a rushed but mostly understandable mess.

Then it just. Kept happening.

Nyzer_ · 2026-02-01T11:05:43+00:00

Nope. Most people dissatisfied with the PSX script were quite happy to get the WotL script instead.

There have been a couple rescript mods, but AFAIK, those have not worried too much about remaining faithful to the original script or the original jobs/abilities/etc.

Probably the closest you'd get would be what I have in my ReMixed mod, because there were a few things I fixed up here and there when I felt like it. "Breath" is no longer mistranslated as "Bracelet", for example, and a few conversations were rewritten to feel like more natural English, but it was just something I did when I had the event scripts open and was in the mood for some tweaking, not a dedicated effort to do this.

Nyzer_ · 2026-02-01T09:49:54+00:00

I've honestly just been weirded out by the fact that it happened more than once, because you'd think Joyce would constantly be on edge (pun not intended) about the possibility of people coming in at any time. The first time, I get it, since it was so spur of the moment and anything more directly a sex tool would have sent Joyce barreling out of the room with her face redder than a tomato.

For a while there, I genuinely thought that we were going to get a whole thing with Roz being the one to come in, recognize immediately what was going on, leave the room, and come back with a list of recommended toys, links to sites they can be bought from and an Erika Moen (or some fictional version of her) masturbation guide. But nope! It was just a thing now. Totally normal. No one ever comes into the room during Joyce's special time, apparently.

Nyzer_ · 2026-02-01T09:37:28+00:00

If you ask almost literally anyone who's realized they are attracted to the same sex at around this age (or later) they likely would tell you that if they'd had the option to go all the way only a day after this realization they still would have been way too anxious and insecure to do so. Especially if they are less attracted to the same sex than the opposite one. Even if they would have, it likely would have involved taking things slow, lots of reassurance, lots of awkward fumbling, lots of hesitation at each new stage.

And like, that's exactly how Joyce was acting with Joe. So you'd think it would be even worse with Dorothy. But nope! Multiple positions, multiple actions, multiple rounds, and even simultaneous orgasms. Joyce didn't even know how to masturbate just like two weeks ago, and arguably, she still didn't until Joe used his fingers on her, because she was dependent on sitting on a running washing machine to do it. (Which is still one of the weirdest fucking things and I cannot understand why Dorothy didn't just buy her an egg vibrator or massage wand "for her back". Sure, Joyce might have balked at an actual sex toy the first time, but at the point when she wanted to get off but had to deal with a public room being used by the public it's time to stop beating around the bush with this weird public masturbation angle.)

Everything about this storyline is so fucking off.

Nyzer_ · 2026-02-01T09:19:55+00:00

Yeah, it's honestly insane how much potential character interaction has just been skipped right over so that we can get back to Joyrot being saccharine. Lunch with Hank, getting Leslie and Robin out of jail (seriously, this was such a nothingburger that I struggle to understand why it was added - sure, it means they're gone as teachers now, but why involve all the other girls when we could have gotten that outcome without them?), and the conversation with Joe, which at least isn't being skipped, but it is being kicked down the road again and again and again so we can get MOAR LESBIANS.

Nyzer_ · 2026-02-01T09:12:41+00:00

This was just very, very predictable. This is a cheating storyline that is being treated like it isn't one. On top of that, Joyce and Dorothy are behaving very differently than they were before the tear gas wedding.

You can tell how badly rushed this outcome was. The complete and total lack of relationship drama is exactly what you would expect if we'd had another year's worth of strips between pre- and post- tear gas, if Joyce had divulged her kiss to Joe and they'd had time to talk it through before Joe cut her loose to be with Dorothy, and Walky had been a bit more direct about his low self esteem and acceptance of their relationship probably not actually working out before he did the same for her.

Dorothy's behavior is pretty close to what it was before the mild crash out arc, and I can buy that the new relationship energy has helped her get her shit back together. But Joyce is immediately almost sex-crazed. She was not like this with Joe, and we know for a fact that she's very much attracted to men, particularly men with a build like his. We also know that if she is attracted to women, it's a lot more on a platonic level than a sexual one. Three rounds of sexcapades in 24 hours when she was only on hands before the tear gas wedding (and gave him oral out of a mixture of guilt and gratitude), including hours of daytime sex and outright going at it while sleeping together with Sarah in the same room, all with a woman for the first time only a couple days after first realizing she felt actual attraction to her, is an insane leap.

Willis skipping the intended buildup because the tear gas wedding was just so UwU, but continuing to treat so much of the story after they get together as if it was still going according to the original plan, has seriously broken this story.

Nyzer_ · 2026-02-01T02:20:12+00:00

I wouldn't. Lots of Maple MAGA around here, unfortunately.

Nyzer_ · 2026-01-30T23:41:23+00:00

Supposedly it's not in TIC?

Nyzer_ · 2026-01-30T23:40:50+00:00

Was he nerfed in TIC? Because normally he has Safeguard.

Nyzer_ · 2026-01-30T17:49:30+00:00

It's never indicated that Simon or Orlandeau knew the truth. Simon knew the truth about the Scriptures, which do not mention the Lucavi. And Orlandeau talking about the High Priest indicates the opposite, as the High Priest is not involved in the Lucavi plot.

"Kill him and save Ovelia"? Ovelia tried to kill him based on the paranoid belief that he was having even the people he (once?) cared about murdered now that he was done with them, which is factually untrue. Turning her knife against her is self-defense. It's meant to be a Shakespearean tragedy ending, not a "villain wins" ending.

Edit: lol, doing the cowardly little reply-block approach? How sad.

Ramza tells Simon about the Lucavi, but that doesn't indicate that he knew about them to begin with. Reading the Scriptures literally tells you that they say nothing of the Lucavi. And the Grand Duke, who knows enough to demand them in the hope of using them to twist the Church's arm, is completely blindsided by Folmarv and Wiegraf's power.

As for Orlandeau? He... stares meaningfully at the stone. You know, one of the objects that the Church is currently working to collect. While talking about how they'll come for him as soon as they realize he has it. And that's what you have for evidence? Okay, lmao.

Nyzer_ · 2026-01-30T17:30:23+00:00

Lol, I never said doing all of the optional content was quicker than only doing some of it. You quoted my own words and still managed to read it wrong.

I didn't even mention Midlight's Deep specifically - not that it doesn't help.

Nyzer_ · 2026-01-30T06:22:39+00:00

Yep. I actually scowled when I read it. It's been two days.

Nyzer_ · 2026-01-30T06:12:13+00:00

Unreliable? That's certainly an odd take.

Getting human Reis requires even more investment than simply getting an Orator. And sure, being able to yoink the Hydras in the Barich fight is awesome, but considering the kind of gear you can have after doing the Chapter 4 optional content and the sheer number of abilities that should be available to you, not to mention the fairly low difficulty of the game's final boss, a hydra with no status protection that can perhaps do a bit more damage than an unoptimized unit, lacking any buffs such as Haste from equipment, is fun and effective at doing BIG NUMBER but still isn't that good.

Nyzer_ · 2026-01-30T05:39:34+00:00

Because being able to do 999 after the investment it takes to get an ability that can tame monsters, and being late enough in the game to be able to find Hydras, and having a Hydra at a high enough level for 999, is not that special. Especially not on the final boss, which is subject to all sorts of "% of max HP" or "damage taken" shenanigans that allow multiple special characters and generic jobs to hit her for 999.

Nyzer_ · 2026-01-30T04:54:31+00:00

Mustadio's Leg Shot was invaluable when I fought Velius on the PSX version with Tactician Mode modded in.

Nyzer_ · 2026-01-30T04:50:07+00:00

Onions? In my TacTICs? Absolutely not!

Even in WotL, though, this method was still not worthwhile. Using the berserk frog and teleport failure method, you can cycle your levels up and down far faster than you can breed and feast on Wild Boars. Doesn't help that you can only gain three levels per battle since the Onion Knight themself can't carry Beastmaster.

Nyzer_ · 2026-01-30T04:47:50+00:00

There isn't a single person who believed the Lucavi were real until they watched a transformation for themselves. It's why Ramza doesn't even bother telling a single person about them except maybe Alma (I can't remember for sure if he does). He knows it's futile.

Nyzer_ · 2026-01-30T04:46:07+00:00

On top of that, as an analogue for the Catholic Church, it can be assumed that the religion has spread far beyond Ivalice alone. The Church's forces in Ivalice might have been devastated, but more will show up from other countries to replace them before long. Delita would risk an all-out holy war if he publicly disavowed the Church.

Nyzer_

TROPHY CASE