Okay - I'm gonna be the downer in this thread.
This is the first time I have
ever had mixed feelings about an Eternum update.
We'll clear the good stuff first. The VN has never looked better. I'm astonished at how good the vast majority of renders are in this update. The image quality is unbelievable, and I don't know what Caribdis is using, but I am pretty sure he is not running the stock lighting in HS2, because his outdoor scenes just look incredible. I also believe he's rendering 16k images and downscaling, because so much information is preserved, and all the lines are so clean with a complete lack of jaggies. It's not just an AA implementation.
As usual, the humour is wonderful... With the caveat that there is one miss, and it is an absolutely
MASSIVE miss for me.
And now the biggest downer of the update.
A lack of respect for the reader's time.
No, this isn't a complaint about the length of the episode in general. More Eternum is always good, right? Well, in this case, no. No it isn't.
There are two major-
MAJOR parts of the update that kill the pace and the flow of the narrative to such a degree that they actually made me angry. One in particular is a very sizeable clanger that has the potential to spoil the episode
entirely for those sensitive to it.
The "lesser-major" pace killer is the opening scene. Two characters we have never met before, and will probably never meet again, having a full on conversation about political inclinations and accusations of laziness that completely outstays its welcome as we ponder the answer to "what happened to Orion?"
There were so many more interesting opening scenes that could have been used that involved characters we know and grant good character development. Nova biting her nails, wondering where Orion has gone? Nancy on the server, concerned about them being late, Luna passing by the blood stain and getting a bad feeling about it...
And then there is a resolution to the cliffhanger:
In summary, Eternum remains one-of, if not
the best AVN out there. This episode, was overall, pretty awesome. However I do think Caribdis made some pretty major writing missteps in this update, enough that I have mixed feelings about it and for the first time, and feel a little deflated about some aspects of the AVN, where previously I had been unanimously positive for every update. Inflated, you could say.
