I mean it's not like the others were masterpieces or anything, but I remember actually being pumped and on the edge of my seat to find out how what'd happen next with the Neovia plot

But with this one makes me feel like they're not even respecting the 30 seconds I have to sigh through every time they release another eye rollingly bad exchange between these two black holes of charisma they've whipped up this time

 

Not to mention that the drawings are worthy of the Artists' Day Off event

I was just impressed that I haven't caught any typos or grammatical errors so far, lol. But the dialogue is...pretty bad. 

I don't find it interesting, I'm not even reading the plot to be honest. TLDR. ?

3 hours ago, redespeon said:

two black holes of charisma

?

Maybe someone's teenage daughter wrote it? Actually no, it's not over-dramatic enough. xD

I think what really bugs me has to be the art. It's just so undynamic and poorly drawn that it's not even good enough for a laugh.
I'm not really expecting anything good from the plot story-wise, but the least they could do is make it more visually pleasing/interesting.

i miss the old comic style of the Meridell War and Maraqua War

Yeah, I don't read it anymore. I just click through to see if there's anything I need to do and move on with my day. If the quality of the dialogue and the one minigame so far are anything to go by, the rest of this thing won't be anything to write home about, either.

The Faeries' Ruin plot was one of my favorite things neopets has done, I was actually complaining about how the new one felt sub-par the other day.

I agree, I'm rather underwhelmed by the quality of the story and art so far. Personally, I always enjoyed the old-school comic style plots. And for as slowly as this story has been unwinding so far, with only one activity so far, I fear we are in for another WR style long haul ?

Oof yeah, I really tried to read through this plot, but everything is so... meh. The art, the writing, the plot itself, even that maze game -- they're not even bad (which would at least make them interesting), they're just completely lackluster and uninspired. Even taking so long to get over the wall and out of the city could have worked if the dialogue had any kind of attempt at meaning or backstory, but it's the most generic meaningless conversation and I am with the majority in just clicking through so I can get the completion achievement.

I get what JS is trying to do in bringing more content to the site, but I would have been willing to wait for quality (or at least for them to read the older plot comics).

Leaving the writing aside (though it's hard to do that seeing how bad it is), I'm more surprised about the art. Did they lay off the entire art department again or something? This is bad. Like, really bad. 

The art isn't just poor, it's inconsistent. The characters keep changing appearance depending on the angle they're being seen from, they look ugly even at their best, and their expressions seem to barely match what the emotion behind them is meant to convey.

 

Also, this iteration of Arrick has the most punchable face on the site.

I am significantly less than impressed.   I keep hoping there's some subtle twist that will make it all worthwhile... like i happened across some items in the Second Hand shop donated by some Princess who's name I now fail to recall, like a shovel... is this evidence being disposed of?   Are these clues to some neferious activity being covered up?   ...likely not.  But for a few moments I had hope.

20 minutes ago, Rayd1978 said:

I am significantly less than impressed.   I keep hoping there's some subtle twist that will make it all worthwhile... like i happened across some items in the Second Hand shop donated by some Princess who's name I now fail to recall, like a shovel... is this evidence being disposed of?   Are these clues to some neferious activity being covered up?   ...likely not.  But for a few moments I had hope.

It's always the way, isn't it? The interesting plot twists we dream up always fail to materialise. ?

7 hours ago, redespeon said:

Leaving the writing aside (though it's hard to do that seeing how bad it is), I'm more surprised about the art. Did they lay off the entire art department again or something? This is bad. Like, really bad. 

The art isn't just poor, it's inconsistent. The characters keep changing appearance depending on the angle they're being seen from, they look ugly even at their best, and their expressions seem to barely match what the emotion behind them is meant to convey.

Yeah, the first thing I noticed is the wonky proportions when they flip the face icons for dialogue sections. I thought it was standard to flip the canvas when you're drawing just to check that everything looks good (especially considering they actually flip it on the site), so it's pretty apparent they just wanted to get the images out as fast as possible, regardless of quality.

20 hours ago, Uhtsceatha said:

Yeah, the first thing I noticed is the wonky proportions when they flip the face icons for dialogue sections. I thought it was standard to flip the canvas when you're drawing just to check that everything looks good (especially considering they actually flip it on the site), so it's pretty apparent they just wanted to get the images out as fast as possible, regardless of quality.

I feel like with the art they may have rushed it for their holiday break or something? I guess we can just hope it gets better from here (hopeful thinking...)

4 hours ago, bananakins said:

I feel like with the art they may have rushed it for their holiday break or something? I guess we can just hope it gets better from here (hopeful thinking...)

Or they could have had some trouble balancing this with the Advent Calendar. I know that the quality of the animations isn't necessarily the best, but honestly this year's AC has surpassed my expectations quite a bit and I think JS pulled it off really well. Obviously to the detriment of the "plot", but I feel like they're trying to appease the large outcry for more story-based plot content without giving themselves the time or planning to do it well.

The most realistic predictions I've been hearing have been those saying that this plot will wrap up relatively soon. Not sure if this is part of something larger or if it's meant to tie into the mobile game coming out soon, but I can't see JS continuing this story too much longer.

Plot update:

This time we can admire the fearless soldiers of Sakhmet, menacingly standing around...in the same pose they had when they were standing in front of the walls one month ago.

@redespeon This is a really INTENSE game of statues going on here...

wow

the plot intensifies ... not 

i really lost interest

If JS is consistent at something, it is being consistent at being inconsistent...

 

I'll have to admit that I never really pay much attention to the actual plots (the achievements, games, fights, prizes: yes; the plotlines: no), so I'm not sure if this is common in plots, but I just noticed that Lyra and her dad are not the same Neopet species. How... how does that work? Shouldn't she at least have some physical similarities to him? Was she adopted? I'm so confused right now.

(I know I'm overthinking this, but once the thought popped into my head, I couldn't get it out.)

1 hour ago, Nielo said:

I'll have to admit that I never really pay much attention to the actual plots (the achievements, games, fights, prizes: yes; the plotlines: no), so I'm not sure if this is common in plots, but I just noticed that Lyra and her dad are not the same Neopet species. How... how does that work? Shouldn't she at least have some physical similarities to him? Was she adopted? I'm so confused right now.

(I know I'm overthinking this, but once the thought popped into my head, I couldn't get it out.)

I wonder about that every single time, but for some reason that's what always happens: parents and kids, even siblings aren't the same species. Neopian biology works differently I guess. The laws of genetics do not apply.

1 hour ago, Duma said:

I wonder about that every single time, but for some reason that's what always happens: parents and kids, even siblings aren't the same species. Neopian biology works differently I guess. The laws of genetics do not apply.

Oh! What, even before JS's reign of terror?

15 hours ago, jellysundae said:

Oh! What, even before JS's reign of terror?

yes .. this has been going on since the beginning of Neopets .. for example .. Coltzan is a Lupe .. his daughters are an Aisha and an Usul

Jeran and his sister Lisa are a Lupe and Aisha

AAA is a Blumaroo and his sister Abi is an Aisha as well .. their cousin Lulu is a Cybunny

Emperor of Shenkuu is a Gelert .. his daughters are a Cybunny and a Gnorbu

However Jazan is a Kyrii and his father, Razul, is a Kyrii as well 

 Rohane and his Mother from NQII are both Blumaroos 

The weirdest family ? Sophie is an Ixi , her brother Bruno is a Gelert , their Mom Alice is a Zafara and their dad Reginald is a Lupe

17 hours ago, Nielo said:

I'll have to admit that I never really pay much attention to the actual plots (the achievements, games, fights, prizes: yes; the plotlines: no), so I'm not sure if this is common in plots, but I just noticed that Lyra and her dad are not the same Neopet species. How... how does that work? Shouldn't she at least have some physical similarities to him? Was she adopted? I'm so confused right now.

(I know I'm overthinking this, but once the thought popped into my head, I couldn't get it out.)

Most families in Neopia are not made up of the same species... I have no idea why. A family of five members can literally consist of five different species.

As for the plot, I have completely lost interest at this point. In the beginning I was excited for a plot featuring the Lost Desert, but at this point I am beyond bored with it. Nothing interesting is happening, the dialogue is poorly written and the artwork is sloppy. A sad drop in quality from the plots made up by the previous TNT. Also, I really miss the old plot comics, they were amazing.