The Battle for Gobwin Knob
 

So, I honestly don't know how to feel about this comic. I keep reading it, but sometimes it's hard to tell what the hell just happened on a single page, and while the overarching plot and characters, in and of themselves, seem interesting and that a lot could be done with them, the fact that the "game" doesn't function by a concrete set of rules hurts the comic. At any point, it can just be, "Hmmm, new rule!" or "Hmmm, new exception to rule!" or "Hmmm, new thing that wasn't mentioned earlier!" Makes things easier on the writer, but detracts from it overall.

Ditto. I agree with all your points
Sometimes there is a geniunely good moment but overall it's pretty average and I don't get enough payback. The update system really hurts it as most of the single strips are pretty confusing by themselves and don't stand on thier own very well.
I may go back and read it once nthe whole thing is finished if I get some time.

Parson and Charlie are presented with a convincing illusion of cleverness, and that entertains and impresses me. Other characters act as one would expect them to - you don't see the mistake of characters telling you "Joe is Y" without later on seeing Joe do something that demonstrates Y. That sounds like a really basic element of competence, but basic competence isn't something you can take for granted in storytelling.

I've been taken in by the central suspense - will Goblin Knob be defended or destroyed? and the author has managed to prevent me from really favouring one side or the other and avoided (so far) producing a wall-banger in order to prolong the battle. There are characters that I favor - Parson, Sizemore, Zamussels, and Charlie (for awesome dickery) but they've got incompatible goals. I certainly don't read it for laughs and it does suffer a bit in comparison to OoT, but I find it worthwhile.

I enjoy it. I pretty much agree with 01d55's assessment of it. I think it would be easier to follow if it updated more often.

Anytime I try to read Erfworld, it feels like I'm being smacked in the face with the stupid stick. There's so many things that are probably supposed to come off as funny or cute or something, but to me come off as annoying and kinda stupid. I really can't stand it.

While I actually quite like Erfworld I can't really fault anyone for having this reaction; it's kinda easy to see where someone would look at like, Orlies and just go fuck you, no.

Anyway I think what I really like about it is the way the comic portrays Parson as a convincingly clever strategist despite the fact that he's gotten rocked in basically every encounter so far. This is the kind of thing where it'd be really easy to tilt things towards either incompetent jackass or shameless Mary Sueing but I feel so far it's avoided both of those.

I'm mostly a mix of Non-Con's "Why should I care about this game" and Mike's contentions, but I'd also like to throw in the fact that this is the only comic I've ever read that obeyed the Lull Destruction rule. I swear every little action and command has to be accompanied by a reference just for the sake of there being a reference for every action and command.

The authors claim that all the rules are planned out and that they stick to them. I haven't noticed anything faulty with that statement so far.

I like the comic so far, even though I really think it would do better as a graphic novel, rather then something that we get strip by strip.

Also, Zamussels can go right ahead and die.

Yeah I'm not sure that I get the 'they're making up rules' thing. Part of the story is supposed to be Parsons' not knowing how things work and having to figure it all out as he goes along, so it wouldn't really work if right at the outset someone handed him the Big Book of Erfworld and we got one massive exposition download of everything about how things function. They introduce the rules as they become relevant to the plot; the "new exception to rule!" parts are a necessary part of the plot because the entire point is that the protagonist is working from incomplete information about how this world functions.

From what I could read before my brain threatened to create and then burst multiple anuerysms, it does indeed appear to be a fully realized world from the get go. There is no apparent lack of pre-publishing planning here. The only negative thing I see going for it depends if you're able to tolerate the world it's set in, or if it makes you want to punch the author in the head for thinking up this crap.