June 25th, 2013... Simplifying the equation...

[RidcullyJack]

Here's my problem with the last two pages: Psimax knows that Kin is still alive, and has figured out enough about the workings of his reality machine that she can use to project both her image and her voice. Should he not prioritise going back to the reality engine and splishking her properly? She messing with what is surely his most prized possession, and he's going to leave her there making more changes to it / with it!

[GriffinDWolf]

Here's my problem with the last two pages: Psimax knows that Kin is still alive, and has figured out enough about the workings of his reality machine that she can use to project both her image and her voice. Should he not prioritize going back to the reality engine and splishking her properly? She messing with what is surely his most prized possession, and he's going to leave her there making more changes to it / with it!

I agree, especially since he should know she likely has help or a lot more powerful then he initially thought. Either way the factors of the maze have changed enough he should be quite worried. Although he hasn't really had the time to react to her meddlings since the immediate impact was everyone attacking Psymax. I suspect our next update should start to address his reaction. I read his initial reaction to her voice projection as being a combination of annoyance and arrogance. I'm not sure he had the capability to imagine anyone could actually challenge him in any form. The attack from the alts, may make him realize that he or his machine are still vulnerable and hopefully he makes the mistake of porting himself and Minimax back to the machine to address the issue.

[Aquillion]

Now, I have one question: which of the eleven alts shot an arrow? I think this means that there are more than the protagonists we saw involved in trying to kill the purpled arm Minmax, which could explain the somewhat "what now?" look on his face...

Actually you can see that arrow lying innocently in the previous page; nobody shot it, he just is losing some of his concentration so opted for levitating everything in the area and liquefying it.
Psimax, you dick.
And I think there are only 5 alts left, the big tall blue-blood Minmax, Goldie (who I think is probably going to run away again for comedic effect ), the feral looking Forgath, the Firemax, and the Drow-Kin.

MAKE IT RAIN
YOU BIG FLOPPY DICK, YOU

I think it's more likely that Goldie will be decisive in beating Psimax. It just seems like there wouldn't be much other point to bringing back an established character.

Not sure what he could do, though. I suppose he can guess Psimax's actual name? But since it's almost certainly "Minmax", that's not exactly a very impressive feat.


...actually, wait. Doesn't splishing all these people massively disrupt his calculations? He was reluctant to even kill our group before.

[Wargamer]

This update... I just felt the need to vent at someone over it, so much so I joined for that explicit purpose.

I am just so very, very disappointed at how this turned out. Psimax was never a character I particularly liked; he struck me as the sort of villain a teenager dreams up, the kind that things "mature" means you have to scowl all the time and talk about how bleak and meaningless everything is.

His "fighting" is likewise utterly un-engaging. As bloody stupid as Kore the Chaotic Evil Paladin is, you at least get the impression that the reason he's unkillable is he's a bad-ass warrior who has turned killing things into an art form. Psimax? Nope! Psimax hasn't done anything visually impressive... ever.

The latest comic is just the icing on the cake. I thought "at long bloody last! We're finally going to see this bloody stupid Deus Ex Machina factory show a little emotional range; surprise to fear to rage to losing-bowel-control to bloody smear on the floor and good f*£#@&g riddance! But no... just more "meh". More uninteresting action. More "I'm not a character, I'm a tedious plot-point that you're all going to suffer through no matter how much you demand something interesting happen".

Worst of all... it made me stop caring. For the first time since I started reading Goblins all those years ago, I don't care what happens next. That's kind of a sobering thought...

I seriously hope this piss-poor character concept dies a swift death and we can go back to Goblins updates that are actually interesting to read.

[brnforce]

Wow. I like Psimax. Hope he pops a few more.

[virgileso]

Does this mean when my character gets to level 15 or 16, it'll be a walking Deus Ex Machina too? Now granted, I can understand how his personality/motivation can be unenjoyable (not saying I agree); you do have the advantage of knowing he shouldn't be appearing once the Maze of Many storyline is over.

[Xavier78]

This update... I just felt the need to vent at someone over it, so much so I joined for that explicit purpose.

I am just so very, very disappointed at how this turned out. Psimax was never a character I particularly liked; he struck me as the sort of villain a teenager dreams up, the kind that things "mature" means you have to scowl all the time and talk about how bleak and meaningless everything is.

His "fighting" is likewise utterly un-engaging. As bloody stupid as Kore the Chaotic Evil Paladin is, you at least get the impression that the reason he's unkillable is he's a bad-ass warrior who has turned killing things into an art form. Psimax? Nope! Psimax hasn't done anything visually impressive... ever.

The latest comic is just the icing on the cake. I thought "at long bloody last! We're finally going to see this bloody stupid Deus Ex Machina factory show a little emotional range; surprise to fear to rage to losing-bowel-control to bloody smear on the floor and good f*£#@&g riddance! But no... just more "meh". More uninteresting action. More "I'm not a character, I'm a tedious plot-point that you're all going to suffer through no matter how much you demand something interesting happen".

Worst of all... it made me stop caring. For the first time since I started reading Goblins all those years ago, I don't care what happens next. That's kind of a sobering thought...

I seriously hope this piss-poor character concept dies a swift death and we can go back to Goblins updates that are actually interesting to read.

I'm actually kind of with you on this. While I'll never stop reading Goblins (I've been here since like the almost the beginning) I have lost a bit of interest and it is because of Psymax. No offense Psymax fanboys.

[Unlucky-for-Some]

Intriguing and surprising to me to find all this PsiMax hate ... he has at least as much emotional depth as Kore (I recognise that ain't saying much ) and I don't recall people hating on him quite so much.
It's the eyebrows isn't it?

[Oyarsa]

I like Psymax, but I've always been a sucker for Nihilistic, omnicidal maniacs with a bit too much power. I would have been sad if he had gone down to just those alts. A character like Psymax gets one of those battles where he is constantly overwhelming the opposition until he runs out of ammo. Bonus points if the Nihilistic bastard dies saying "It doesn't matter" or something along those lines.

Overpowered is fun in a villain so long as it's not the only thing you see, and it hasn't been. The main villain has to be strong or incredibly clever. For an action comic like Goblins tends to be strong is usually the better choice.

Honestly I don't like the MoM but Psymax is making it bearable for me. "You think you're Neutral?!"

[Corruptuser]

I don't have too much of a problem with him being overpowered though. My beef with PsiMax is that I don't understand his motivation beyond 'I want to die because I'm a psion'. Sure, he could be from some horrible reality where existence is a fate worse than death, and thus could believe he is doing everyone a favor. Maybe he found out that he is nothing more than a plaything of Herbert and is rebelling against the Players and would rather not exist than be stuck in a nightmarish world to suffer for the amusements of a group of friends playing D&D. Maybe he discovered that the Maze doesn't reset at all and everyone is in their own hell but just don't know it.

Goblinslayer was a self absorbed narcissist, but was somewhat developed. MinMax, Forgath, and the Drow were anti-villians based on typical D&D players who don't really care about the villages they slaughter because hey, it's a game, and by this point MinMax is probably in hero territory. Duv was a confused goblin who was basically worshipped by her tribe to the point where she never learned what being wrong meant, or at least that's the sense I got from her, so became a self-absorbed jerk as a result. Kore appears to be a possessed paladin whose 'Detect Evil' power is broken; my crazy guess is that his curse is a side effect of the creation of the Axe of Prissan.

[ActsStupidly]

I'd like to point out that Psimax is supposed to come off as a villain the players see made by a very bad DM known as Herbert that really is "some teenager".

Also figuring out what just happened in game mechanics was a blast.

[Kamos]

Hmm. I think I can see why Psimax detests direct combat. He's really a case of minmaxing gone wrong as far as a player would go, he's so stupidly powerful he can't derive joy from the game.

Psimax does reminds me of Owlman from Crisis on Two Earths. Though he is a bit different, a bit more fleshed out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-rl0tfQO9E

[ForgetsOldName]

I don't really like him because there are too many weird things about him that haven't been explained.

What level is he?
How did he get so absurdly powerful?
He's obviously batshit. How did he get this way? How did he manage to stay alive this long without his Kin and his Forgath killing and/or leaving him?
What's up with the arms?
Why does he think oblivion is such a good idea anyhow? I guess his own answer has something to do with pain, but the real answer is something else.
The whole 1=0 machine doesn't really make any sense to me.
Oblivious doesn't really make any sense to me.

Some of this I can just skip over because we all know magic doesn't make any sense, period, but we also all have some familiarity with how magic works and complain when someone breaks the rules as we know them.

[spiderwrangler]

I don't really like him because there are too many weird things about him that haven't been explained.

What level is he?
How did he get so absurdly powerful?
He's obviously batshit. How did he get this way? How did he manage to stay alive this long without his Kin and his Forgath killing and/or leaving him?
What's up with the arms?
Why does he think oblivion is such a good idea anyhow? I guess his own answer has something to do with pain, but the real answer is something else.
The whole 1=0 machine doesn't really make any sense to me.
Oblivious doesn't really make any sense to me.

Some of this I can just skip over because we all know magic doesn't make any sense, period, but we also all have some familiarity with how magic works and complain when someone breaks the rules as we know them.

If we had answers to all of that, other people would be bitching about too much exposition happening in text dumps.

[brnforce]

I don't really like him because there are too many weird things about him that haven't been explained.

What level is he?
How did he get so absurdly powerful?
He's obviously batshit. How did he get this way? How did he manage to stay alive this long without his Kin and his Forgath killing and/or leaving him?
What's up with the arms?
Why does he think oblivion is such a good idea anyhow? I guess his own answer has something to do with pain, but the real answer is something else.
The whole 1=0 machine doesn't really make any sense to me.
Oblivious doesn't really make any sense to me.

Some of this I can just skip over because we all know magic doesn't make any sense, period, but we also all have some familiarity with how magic works and complain when someone breaks the rules as we know them.

1. If we knew his level we wouldn't have the sense that our Minmax had no chance. We could count down all of the actions that Psimax used and see exactly his weaknesses. Instead, we are left with the growing question of: How could our MM do anything to stop him?
2. Answered by the fact that he has run the MoM over 800 times for experience.
3. He's not actually insane. He just has a differing opinion on what is best.
4. We might find out about his arms we might not. Someone had the idea that his arms are psionic crystals that help him concentrate his power.
5. He believes that never "being" is better than the farce that is existence.
6. The oblivion machine is taking control of the physical characteristics of the universe that the MoM is in. He is trying to disprove existence there by showing that the rules contradict themselves. This would make the universe cease to have ever existed if he is correct.
7. I don't think it makes complete sense to anyone excel Psimax. It is a weapon with the power of oblivion and is fueled by the wielder's understanding of the concept.

[Rhemora]

You know what this shows, that psimax needs to be removed from the equation, if they don't find a way to permanently defeat him he will just go again next reboot (toss him in one of those holes for instance)

[Pink Bunny]

I'd like to point out that Psimax is supposed to come off as a villain the players see made by a very bad DM known as Herbert that really is "some teenager".

Also figuring out what just happened in game mechanics was a blast.

Pretty much this. Plus he's a parallel of someone who is a Minmaxer, so this could be a very sarcastic exaggeration of power/min-maxing from the GM. It is accurate. I will agree I'm getting burned out on him too. I do actually like his conversations but his combat 'style' is visually uninteresting. Splishk loses interest pretty quickly for me. While people are comparing him to Kore, Kore is at least visually interesting. He melees, he ranges, he has unique interactions with his shield; he still has some mystery going as to how he can do what he can do, and he uses healing creatively to obtain his goals beyond self-healing.

While Psimax does have other powers, they're typically used on the environment to disintegrate it and move more freely or float or float others. They aren't particularly compelling in action sequences; he pretty much has one trick (Though the shield was neat), though to be fair, that one trick is rather effective. Doesn't make it interesting, and does get old.

I also find it really strange that Kin survives splishk, but the giant smart-angry Minmax dies to it. You'd think he'd be as durable or more so than Kin. This by all means doesn't mean I want Kin to die, I really like Kin, I just find it weird that he blew up someone you'd think is more hardy than her in addition to multiple people at the same time versus one person. Perhaps choking weakened him? But based upon theories presented the power seemed to be based on touch from people's theories and that he's using his arms/gears to augment it to a range... So those theories seem to be wrong. That or there was some of the worst and luckiest rolls ever done.

[Master TMO]

One: PsiMax may not be rushing back to stop Kin from messing with the Oblivion Machine because he doesn't realize there's more than just her there. Forgath he left stuck in mid-air and helpless, she's a crippled amputee yuan-ti with limited mobility and her psionic powers negated by the leash. The Three Kin Band is completely off his radar at this point, and he's in for a very rude surprise soon over that.

Two: If the oblivion holes are just temporary and reset with the maze after someone wins, then there are pretty much only two endings:
- Toss PsiMax into the winners circle and reset (with the Kin Band hopefully changing the rules for this reset slightly so that everyone remembers)
- FMK 156 win and go back to their reality, and PsiMax oblivionates the whole thing on the next pass, destroying the FMKs of all the rest of the universes there.

Actually, the GAP is currently higher level than FMK, so resetting the MoM so that the parties remember each pass and gain xp from it would be a good way to quickly level up FMK to where they stand a better chance against Kore (assuming that's them Teapoting onto the bridge when we last saw the GAP).

[stevedj]

But in the last panel, is that a "Now, I'm pissed look", or a "Now, I just shot my load and am running dry" look?

Perhaps a "Oops! Splishked MM 156 with all the others... before I got the sword... Now what?" kind of look?

Unlikely. He will still draw the sword at one time... (Panel 2 here),
and the armor is the wrong one if he draws it again (by accident) when he wants to grab a sword after restart of the MoM: first draw here, panel 10/11

Oh, come on now... it was a funny answer to a funny question... you know, with and all... I'm not saying that's what happened, I'm saying that's a description of the look on PsiMax's face in the last panel.

ETA: It could also be a "Did I just split my pants??" look...

[Rorrik]

ETA: It could also be a "Did I just split my pants??" look...

I hope it's that last one...

[friedkitty]

That would be awesome, but I think it's really more of a "Did I just completely frak up all of my variables? Man, this is why I hate epic battles!"

[sunbeam]

Intriguing and surprising to me to find all this PsiMax hate ... he has at least as much emotional depth as Kore (I recognise that ain't saying much ) and I don't recall people hating on him quite so much.
It's the eyebrows isn't it?

For me part of it is that he is eliminating things that make the Maze of Many interesting to me, namely the alts.

I'd like to know the stories of all these alts. But no, Psimax just goes *SPLISHK* and they are all gone. Leaving his boring, bony-armed self, as the only survivor. And it wasn't like they had a chance to do anything to him.

If anyone had the slightest chance of threatening him in any way it would be a lot more interesting.

Someone else said something about how to be a character like Psimax. It's easy, just level, and play a primary caster. If this strip follows D&D 3.5 or 3.0 rules, Forgath is going to be three or four times more powerful than Minmax if they somehow made it to 15th level or so. Right now I'm not sure Forgath has ever cast a spell besides cure light wounds, and an inflict. That is pretty odd by the way, because I'm not sure I have ever seen anyone memorize that spell. And he channels positive energy, so he had to mem it. Oh well, it didn't matter because he can convert it to a heal anyway.

[EatsAPeach]

For one reason or another he broke his group's counter and began to remember each iteration of the Maze. Possibly millions of trips through the Maze gave him XP and wrecked his mind. He must be centuries old and insane with boredom, and he kills his Kin and MM because they are insane with fear by now. His motive is easy - think about Biscuit, and the promise Grinnorarcen made to GoldMax; he doesn't want to be resurrected or live forever in a hell with the awful memories he's made.
But remember, PsiMax doesn't like the rules! He wants to change the rules, and his machine is intended to change the rules. And there is a special place in Hell for those who die complaining about the rules . . . so let him rage with power, swell up into a huge monologuing Bond villain, kill every living creature in the Maze except our heroes, because no matter what he does, Nemesis is coming to clobber his hubris.
Also, I suspect GoldMax has insanely good luck, like everyone in his reality, and will be hard to hit; he may even be able to dodge a splishk once if he declares his dodge on PM.

[knows-little]

you know what i find funny is that none brought anything to cover his eyes with before he closed his own eyes to liquify them... new weapon paper bag best way to fight a psionic

[spiderwrangler]

you know what i find funny is that none brought anything to cover his eyes with before he closed his own eyes to liquify them... new weapon paper bag best way to fight a psionic

Huh?