Aikida is on continued hiatus. She had a good run, but there’s not much left to do with her. Click this link to join the dramatic hijinks at Pepperwood.

Pepperwood

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This is one of those days I am glad I did away with the comments section, because I know of uproar. But, look… I said I was going to do this, and I did it. It is done.

The urge to come back to comics hit me in late February, but within three strips, I was struggling. The art was tedious, and the jokes were even moreso. As early as this past Monday, I knew it wasn’t going to last, I had no feel for anything. I was drawing dudes on a couch strips. I mean, come on.

I know who I am. I know I’ve started so many things, only to revert back to the safety of four panel Aikida, mostly because it was safe (as mentioned), and popular. Now, I don’t give a crap. The people who read Aikida for tits and easy pay-off gags are gone, and I can rebuild.

(…I feel like I’ve made this speech before.)

So what is different? Pepperwood is the one project I regret not staying with. I never fell out of love with it, rather, I was swayed by the readership numbers and fear of becoming obscure (Even more obscure).

I loved the characters, even though in retrospect, they are in dire need of sweeping changes and depth. Still, I think the energy I have for them shows in the cover page today. Eamonn is still a bit rough, but Cherry looks great. Aside from reader feedback, the best feeling I get in making comics is doing what I think is a picture that turned out nicely, and just sitting back with a satisfied sensation. I have that today, and suspect I will again soon.

So what is Pepperwood? It is, in essence, the story of a guy (Eamonn) and a girl (Cherry). It has a lot of musical ideas, a lot of dialogue, and a lot of that emotional crap we pretend to hate now. But we don’t. We eat that shit up.

Some familiar Aikida characters were born in Pepperwood, including Tito and Pepper (though she was named Naumie). The hook for me, though, has always been Cherry. I love drawing her, and love her character. Flawed, but unapologetic. Sexy, but not an amazon.

The art style is different as well, being raw pencils with no ink, and usually black and white. This allows me to saw a few hours off the comic creation progress, and adds a little “grit” that I find fitting. I think it looks pretty good when colour is added, as well.

The problem right now is I am not keen on migrating the comic to a new site, so for now, Pepperwood lives here. It will fuck up new readers, but if they can’t figure that sort of thing out, they’re not going to enjoy a comic that quotes Ambrose Bierce.

I promise nothing, but if the art process seems fast, this could be daily. MAYBE. Until then, I have a shit load of writing over the weekend.

TITO LIVES!

EDIT: Apparently I have Facebook. I blame Jesse Eisenberg. Also, I might add another image to the donation file. While I like the one up now, I want to do more.

Here is the long and short of it, according to this ridiculous post on Gamespy. There’s some site that collates user and press ratings. About a jillion people have rated Dragon Age 2 as a 0 out of 10. One guy comes on and rates it a 10 out of 10, and it seems so fishy, an internet hero sniffs him out as potentially being a BioWare employee. So, it is fine for dozens of people to irrationally rate the game with a zero, but someone who has a serious investment of time and energy into the game rates it a ten, and this is bad.

This is fucking news?

Sure, if it is true, being subversive about it did some harm, but is it any worse if he comes in and says, “I am from BioWare, I give this a ten!”? Are we trying to make this out like BioWare is trying to influence the rankings with less than ten perfect ratings… if it was all them?

I don’t know what is more stupid here. That Gamespy deemed this news, or that some moron felt the need to “out” this horrible injustice on the sanctity of Metacritic. Why not out the numerous fucktards rating it a 0 out of 10? Because I will tell you what, dear reader… if you think DA2 is a 0 out of 10 or even a 4 out of 10 game (as the average right now seems to be), with all do respect to free speech and individual opinions, you’re a fucking idiot. Or someone with an agenda, or someone just wanting to ride the anti-BioWare wave.

If asked to rate it right now, I’d give it an 8. I could even be talked down to a 7.5 or 7 if you were convincing. It has a fantastic story, but trips up in gameplay quite often. I get that. But to try and justify that Cabela Big Game Hunter games are better than Dragon Age 2 is lunacy.

But to be fair, who do we trust? Critics have been going apeshit for DA2, with one publication calling it “RPG of the Decade”, which was also stupid. DA2 is good, but not that good. Do we trust fans, who are giving this a 0 out of 10? I generally don’t trust the opinion of anonymous gamers. We are, all of us as a mob, fucking stupid (As the DA2 backlash shows). This is why demos are good. Make up your own mind.

So can we trust our gaming press? The flip side of that, sadly, is not really. I’ve worked for press gaming sites in my time, and had been told to ease up on criticism for certain games because they advertised with us. This is 100% true, and if you think that is still not prevalent, you are delusional. Can we really trust a review from a site that is plastered with ads from the game they are reviewing? Penny-Arcade has (had?) the best policy, only accepting ads from games that they enjoyed. Crazy concept, right?

Make up your own mind. Download a demo, talk to friends, whatever. I only ever read reviews after I play a game. Weird, huh? Because I don’t need someone else to tell me what I like, and neither should you.

Nothing like an old fashioned rant. Just like the old days.

I might put up some sort of wallpaper later, because I want to draw Cherry, and that ancient donation image is bothering me. As always, no one forces you to donate, so if it bothers you that much, don’t fucking do it.

My guild is attempting Cho’Gall for the first time tomorrow night. Pray for us.

EDIT: That picture is done. The eyes are a bit… something that need work, but the hair sold me. I really want to draw these characters again.

I got into Minecraft a few months ago thanks to these guys, and I will tell you one unequivocal truth about the game; As soon as you find diamond, you are marked for death. Be it by creeper rape, zombie assault, or lava bath as depicted above, you are going to fucking die.

I spent the weekend mulling over changes I want to make to the comic, the first probably being the actual size. I know at some point I wanted a larger area, because why the fuck not?, it’s my money paying for the bandwidth, I’ll do what I want. Now I am thinking there is just a limit to the size a panel needs to, and aesthetically can, be before it is a bit too much. I intended to do more story (multi-panel) strips, so I thought I’d use the size more. For the standard four panel strip, though, it is too big and the art is easier to scrutinize.

I’m also thinking about story. Story is where I always drown, because I never finish writing the story before I start drawing it. So I get 5-10 strips in, and decide I hate it. One off strips are easier to do, but I do want a story with a start and an end. Aikida may not be that. Honestly, I’ve been bouncing around remaking Pepperwood. Looking back on it now, it is crap (Whiteboy White was just silly, Eamonn was too broody, and no one talks like Baird). But I think that is a good sign. I see how I can fix it, and still love parts of the premise (I really liked Cherry, and the rivalry/romance angle, and Tito was born in Pepperwood comics).

In a way, the comic today relates to my comics “career”. Find a gem, blindly blunder ahead, and fall into lava. So we’re just gonna take this one step here, and go on from there. Then we’ll see if we can get this diamond back to a work table and make a mining pick out of it, or something.

Okay, that analogy kind of fell apart at the end there. Back later.

Copy/Paste is the best way to ease back into anything, I think. This comic is full of Dragon Age II spoilers. Thankfully, you kind of have to play it to get it.

The strip is pretty close to what I actually did when the event happened. You know the one if you’ve finished Bioware’s latest epic. I did an actual face palm and muttered, “Fuck, Anders…” It is great when a game jars you with an actual emotion, and DA2 does that a bunch of times. I am holding off on an actual review because 1) I’m really tired, and 2) Nobody cares what I think about DA2. If you want to play it, you will. I liked it, that is all that matters to me. But I am also an unashamed Bioware booster, having played every game they’ve made since Baldur’s Gate launched.  And at release, mind you. I bought Mass Effect twice. Beat that for fandom.

I am going to skip any commentary on where I have been, the future, my spotty consistency. I don’t want any “Aikida is back” links, because people are tired of making them. Making comics is still my first love, but I have made no secret of the fact that I have, from time to time, burnt out on the nature of the modern entitled internet audience. So I will make some comics. You can read them, or you can not.  After ten years, Aikida is what it is.

That being said, I need to rethink my art style. Half an hour to write, six hours to draw is grueling, and I find the better I seem to get, the more people bitch. So maybe a simplification is in order. Or maybe simply cutting out colour. We’ll see. I often experiment with my art, then go back to my old style with a slight change. This will always continue. Be calm.

We have a lot to catch up on.

Hats.

News time, children.

Actually, there isn’t much to be said.  I was sick all weekend, and am still feeling some of the effects.  I was sneezing so hard, it hurt.  I spent the time sniffing, popping Motrin, and playing Fallout 3.  And I am still feeling the effects.  Hooray.

So Kassandra is finally in the strip, that only took years.  I think the cast is pretty well rounded at this point, unless we need a talking animal.  Or another guy.  Kind of the same thing though, am I right ladies?  Haw.

Right, we’re done until Friday.  Hopefully I am still alive then.

Alright, no more Mass Effect 2 references for awhile.  No, Marc isn’t dead.  Yes, that is Marc, and not Wade.  I’m not even sure where that tall building came from.  It was just there, and we will move on.

I finished Bioshock 2, leaving me in contemplation of a strip for it.  The game is good, but not daring enough to become a parody without working it.  It was a step over the original in terms of gameplay, but I think it separated itself in the moral choices available.  In the first game, the choices were more black and white… save little girls, or kill them.  Not really a gray area there.  In the second, you’re given a bit more to chew on.  Wrath, mercy, pity, forgiveness… I admit, I had to think on my actions.  I think it is leading us somewhere in games, to a point where the choices in morality based games are not, “Good choice, bad choice”, but truly personal decisions.  Kind of like… oh, Planescape: Torment?  If that game wasn’t 15 years ahead of it’s time, I don’t know what was.

No one has asked, but I am sure a few people are wondering why there are not any Wednesday updates.  The answer is, I’ve decided not to push them or myself on doing them until I have a bit of a strip buffer.  My ability to post these is pretty disjointed right now, and I am still getting back into the feel of it all.  So it will remain a Monday/Friday schedule for the time being.

So I will see you Monday.

Today’s strip refers to an event that took place over a year ago at this point, but only a month or so ago in the strip.  Many people assumed this was Aikida and Wade having sex, but really, if they were, I just would have shown it (to a point).  A cunning few guessed correctly, and here we have it.  Not quite the reveal I had planned, but it has been out there too long, and needs to be dealt with.  Everyone is gay now, or so it seems.  What a ferocious dilemma.

Saints win the Super Bowl.  Congrats, I suppose.  I admit I was pulling for Peyton and the Colts, but I can’t feel bad for something nice happening to New Orleans, and I do like Drew Brees.  Good on them.

I really do not have much else to say, it seems.  I finished my ME2 insanity playthrough yesterday (and got the final achievement I needed for the game), and as rewarding as it was, I think I am ready to put the game down for awhile, or at least until some nice DLC is available.  That was four complete playthroughs.  Yes, I need help.  A final note on insanity difficulty… infiltrator is totally the way to go, trust me.

Back on Friday, I suppose.

I wouldn’t know what to stay, either, though I am unsure if I would just try and hide.  We may never know for sure what went on behind that door, but we can guess.  More importantly, Aikida can guess, and she seems to have guessed that office supplies were getting it on like Donkey Kong.  With barrels and hammers and everything.

I am working through Mass Effect 2 on insanity difficulty, and I will admit, this is the way to play it.  It is hard, but not impossible.  What makes it more rewarding is that each and every gunfight becomes a tactical situation.  Squad selection choices are paramount, not just “who should get some face time?”  Finishing each mission is a deep sigh of relief, not just another step towards the end of the game.  I cannot recommend this enough.

Here are a few tips for your Insanity odyssey, if you’re interested:

• For the sake of your nerves, save your insanity playthrough until your 2nd or 3rd time.  Knowing the fights ahead of time and having a feel for who does what is very, very valuable.
• Do not import your character from a previous ME2 playthrough, trust me on this.  The game scales the enemies to your level, but removes all your researched upgrades when you start again.  This means you’ll be fighting scaled level 25-30 enemies using crap guns and powers.   If you start fresh, you’ll be a bit more even with the bad guys until you get those upgrades researched.
• Pick your class wisely.  Adepts seemed weak in regular ME2, I’d imagine they’d be hard on insanity.  Soldiers are tough, but not versatile.  I’m not saying these are impossible picks, but you’re making it harder on yourself.  I went with an infiltrator, and chose armor-piercing ammo (everything in insanity has armor or shields, or both) as my bonus power.  Mixed with the cloaking power, disruptor ammo, incinerate and the M-98 rifle, and you have a character with a lot of options.
• Build your squad wisely, and and choose your mission team just as well.  Cap some teammates with area of effect powers, and don’t be afraid to specialize others for very specific enemies.  I set up Garrus with the AoE overload (to drain shields) and Tali with the AoE AI hacking, and use them exclusively for geth missions.  I have Dr. Mordin (the very model of a scientist salarian) specced into heavy incinerate, mixed with my AoE incinerate, and Grunt’s incendiary ammo and regeneration, and this is my Husk/Scion team (Husks/scions are probably the most difficult challenges in the game, after Praetorians. Cloak + sniper shot to the scion head help a lot).  Mix in Miranda and her +squad damage ability wherever else you can, and you will have an easier go of it.  Legion and Garrus are very useful because of their versatility (sniper rifles/assault rifles), and you will find yourself using them a lot.  I did.
• You will need to position your squad manually and probably use their powers manually as well.
• Choose weapons wisely, for you and NPCs.  NPCs never run out of ammo, so I always have my snipers running with the default sniper rifle.  It hits hard, and they don’t have to worry about the ten shot mag.  There’s also a geth assault rifle on hard/insanity difficulty, but it works best on shields.  Best to go back to the 5 round burst rifle on armored foes.
• Krogan are not as tough as you think, as long as you can burn through their armor fast (incinerate) and have a biotic with Pull.  Pull them as soon as their armor is down, and shoot the floating pinata.
• The Cain isn’t as awesome on insanity difficulty as it is on other levels.  I use the grenade launcher more, and the collector beam.
• Here are some of the tougher missions on insanity that you may want to plan ahead on; Rescuing Garrus (the shutters), Horizon (husks, scions, collectors and a praetorian, before you have any good weapons or upgrades.  Hump pillars, and be glad you were an infiltrator if you went that way), Tali’s rescue (On the approach to the colossus.  This takes a lot of patience and moving your squad along slowly to get into position.  Great fun!), The reaper IFF (Lots of husks and scions.  Bring Mordin, have incinerate maxed), and the suicide mission, obviously.  Most other fights are doable once you get into the rhythm, and become kind of enjoyable.
• Research everything you can, even guns you personally do not use.  You will need you NPC squaddies as tough as you, trust me.  Yes, this means more mining.  Suck it up.
• Any time you can use a Renegade moment to thin the herd a bit, do it.  Be a bad ass, and even the odds, all at the same time.  It helps.
• Enjoy your achievement.

The donation incentive has been modified, as I have added another wallpaper.  If you had donated since the last (BFF!) incentive went up, you will receive the new one as well if you donated 10 bucks.  As is, both are a package, and I think they’re a good one!  The Kassie image turned out very nicely, I think.

More scissors on Monday.  Enjoy your insanity playthroughs!  (You can do it!)