funny, rain was good for the blind guy from that bad action movie with ben affleck… Daredevil? for Ryoku it just seems like it’s confusing everything.
margarinecup
Cuz Daredevil has echolocation. This dude just has really good hearing. Plus rain is loud.
Derkins
works for me
http://insolenz.echoing.org/ SotiCoto
I believe the comment system here has been overhauled since I was last around, but I did remark last time that rain makes it easier to discern one’s surroundings… rather than harder… largely because it makes drastically different sounds upon hitting different materials.
Granted, it does increase the ambient noise-levels, so a certain element of subtlety may be lost… but in this case I don’t believe that applies. Our intrepid protagonist is just moving in a straight line towards his opponent. His movement would just be made all the more plain and obvious by the rain.
charles81
Page change – Unclear reasoning: The revamped page does look very nice, but it’s no longer clear that Ryoku is at a disadvantage with the arrival of the rain. I get the impression that you’ve actually abandoned the “Ryoku Vision” and that 3rd panel is supposed to be Yori in a lightning flash.
Although Ryoku suffered a strike on the last page, he was defiant about it. There’s no longer a serious reason for him to withdraw from the battle like a coward.
Suggestion: You could make it obvious that the rain causes him a serious disadvantage again (maybe just a thought bubble for Ryoku), OR you could just as easily change the last word of the previous page from “Thunder?” to “Clouds?” or some such word that would make sense later when he uses the sunlight in the shrine to disorient Yori. That would suggest that he withdrew so he could employ that trick.
jwkovell
We’re making it rain!
…
water.
charles81
hmmm, I think what you’re trying to do is show in the 3rd panel that Ryoku can hear Yori’s steps but in the second they’re obscured by the rain. But I’m still finding it difficult to discern. Maybe if the “step” SFX were a different colour (I actually missed them at first), to stand out from the drips and splashes and possibly put their layer “behind” the rain SFX and imagery so they are visually obscured by it, even going so far as to put more “step” SFX in the 4th panel but which are even more seriously obscured by the rain SFX and imagery.
*meh* it could easily just be me and the disadvantage of the rain is clear to others.
jwkovell
Gave it another go!
http://insolenz.echoing.org/ SotiCoto
Hello again.
Sorry for the late-game pedantry… but the sound of rain on wooden planks (which I assume the whole bridge is made of) tends to be less of a “splash” and more of a deep echoey sound. It would be like playing a very bass-calibrated xylophone. As to whether the sound changes over time depends if the wood has been treated to be sufficiently waterproof or not (since untreated wood tends to produce softer and deeper sounds the more water it soaks up).
Plus I assume the rain wouldn’t have much chance to puddle since, even if the rain didn’t just get between the planks of the bridge… the surface is curved, and the water would run off.
By contrast, the sound of raindrops on a metal surface (e.g. the drawn blade) is a much more high-pitched “plink” sound. The raindrops on Yori’s clothing would be very muffled, since it is a soft material… and the same for his hair. A little bit louder on bare skin… which I’m sure is a sound anyone who has ever showered is totally familiar with.
… Nice move with the thundercrack though. That is totally on the ball. =D
http://insolenz.echoing.org/ SotiCoto
Not to beat the dead horse too much here… but the sound of the rain would definitely be an advantage for the blind guy. While the obscurement of vision would make it harder for Yori.
But for the sake of reinforcing what has already been decided here… the thunder would probably cause problems.. and the tactile sensation of rain that heavy tends to be very distracting. If the blind guy is used to feeling differences in air pressure and not just listening, then the rain would mess that up entirely.
charles81
Previously the page gave the impression that he had an almost echo vision and the heavy rain was messing it up (like that thunder crack panel). Now they’ve switched to the sounds of the rain messing it up, suggesting there’s too much noise, for him to discern Yori’s footsteps
http://insolenz.echoing.org/ SotiCoto
Probably too much for him to hear footsteps, even on a relatively echoey wooden bridge… BUT the fact that the rain itself wouldn’t be hitting the bridge where Yori is standing, and would be making rain-landing-on-person sounds rather than rain-landing-on-wood sounds… would be a bit of a dead giveaway.
http://www.nn4b.com suburban_samurai
Not to be pedantic, but I found this quote from an interview with an actual blind person:
CSK: Speaking of that, I was thinking about weather, too. Does rain affect the way sounds are, or if it’s hot outside or if there’s snow on the ground?
DK: Yes, different environments do result in different effects. Rain covers everything with water, which is highly reflective, and it removes sound diversity from surfaces — so rain tends to make everything sound the same.
I suspect the person was referring to a relatively flat substratum. i.e. One where the water can pool such that raindrops are just hitting more water. That would definitely have such an effect.
Either way though, my judgement here has mostly been based on personal experience as I believe I noted in the old comments system. i.e. I have navigated by the sound of rain falling on my surroundings before… and I’m not blind, so I really wasn’t used to it.
Kid Chaos
It’s raining men! Well, not really, but an NNFB-bro can dream, right?
