InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Killing time. Killing flies."

Kitsune Sniper (foxhack) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-03-22 19:06:00

Entry tags:

medium: webcomic

Cuanta Vida, or a Spy's life in the battlefield
It's not often that I find a comic that is so interesting that I can't wait for a new installment to come out. And then I found Kytri's Cuanta Vida.

For those of you who don't play video games, here's the setting in a nutshell: The series is based on Team Fortress 2, a very popular online multiplayer game. The story is, two rival companies called Reliable Excavation Demolition (RED) and Builders League United Inc. (BLU) are engaged in a war with each other. They both want to destroy the other and take over the assets and governments they control. The game has nine playable character classes, all with their own special features, bonuses, and disadvantages.

But the real question is, are they really that different?

Due to the way the comic is arranged and narrated, it is very difficult for me to cut up the pages and such, so please bear with me. There's LOTS of pictures behind the cut, dialup users beware. (Thanks to bluefall for teaching me how to make the LJ feed cut the post right!)

Our protagonist is Blu Spy.

Both of them know they'll have to be enemies when they arrive. But for now, they're not. Once Blu Spy gets off the train and goes to his base, he gets smacked in the head by a Blu Soldier using his shovel and loses conciousness. The Blu Medic finds him and heals him. When he wakes up, Blu Spy mentions he feels like his head has been split open...

Spies are especially weak against Pyro's Flamethrower. And yes, most of his... coworkers don't like him so much.

Of course, drinking Demoman's... "liquor" isn't something that sane people would do. Spy wakes up and decides to go take a shower.

It's pretty easy to see there's something weird going on 'round here...

DUN DUN DUN! (Slash content requirements completed!)

Spy asks Engineer to fix his cloaking device, but that means he's going to be mostly defenseless in the field, so he has to be extra careful. Blu Scout decided to tag along for a while. That poses a... problem.

At least they managed to escape - Scout tells the story all wrong... to make him look better than he was. Spy notices that the rations are getting smaller, and Heavy agrees - and the other teammates explain that the supply trains are running a little slow. Soldier goes crazy again - since Spy seems to want the war to end soon, and go home.

(Yes, I left these for you girlies and uh, guys.) Ahem! So Spy hangs around Sniper for a while.

I've already posted a LOT of stuff, I know - I'm going to skip a lot of pages now because the story took an unexpected (to me, anyway) twist around page 32... Blu Spy befriended the Red Engineer (who says he's fine with him since Red Spy thinks Blu Spy's OK) and Red Scout (who he met in the train). Both of 'em are also in with Red Spy's plan to escape the warzone... Anyway, Red Pyro almost found Blu Spy, so Red Scout stuck him in a supply closet. Blu Spy found a way outta there, but ended up crashing through the roof, into a secret room...

... and the rest... is up to you to read. :)

Cuanta Vida is a rare thing - not many webcomics based on a video game improve upon the original material. Most of the time these comics are sprite based, resort to lots of vulgarity, or crossovers, or worse - and rarely do they end up having a story as interesting as this one does.

I got permission from the author to post whatever I needed, so don't worry about the page count. :)

If you'd like to read more, the comic's homepage is located here. There's no real update schedule, but it updates at least once a week.

Bonus links: Kytri's website, Skyscraper Soup.com, her DeviantArt page, and the Cuanta Vida Livejournal RSS feed. Subscribe to it! There's only two of us on the feed and we're lonely! :p

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caeliluminar
2009-03-23 10:32 pm UTC (link)

I've managed one backstab in four hours of playing Spy. Maybe I have hope yet. Although it's still depressing to follow all the other spies while waiting to respawn. They all seem to be so fantastic at playing the class, and then I get too ashamed to keep playing it while they are on the server. I just can't manage the disguises and making up cunning tactics on the spot.

Actually the only class I can play fairly well so far is Medic and on some maps Pyro. And I like Scout and Sniper, except that I can't actually hit anything. I wish there was a single player mode you could practice with.

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foxhack
2009-03-24 12:22 am UTC (link)

I'm actually a pretty decent Sniper. Out of all the classes, he's my favorite. But I also play a MEAN Medic.

The key to being a good scout is to have good reflexes. And also to try to sneak up on people and blast them with the shotgun from a close distance. The closer you are, and the more in-center you are in relation to the target, the more damage your shotgun will inflict.

If you play on the PC, try looking for some newbie servers. I dunno how it is on the 360. :)

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