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Endorph posted:there's only two
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# ? Feb 19, 2015 02:41 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 05:58 |
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I've generally been unhappy with a lot of the choices the animation team made over the course of both the first and second seasons. Several small touches here and there that not all things were right in the world after the fact got left out and some things were simply paved over. Though I wonder if the author will never go anywhere with the reveal that Kirito's neural chemistry is sufficiently jacked up that his sleep patterns do not trigger the Amusphere's logoff sequence, allowing him to actually sleep in simulation.
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# ? Feb 19, 2015 09:56 |
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Gearhead posted:I've generally been unhappy with a lot of the choices the animation team made over the course of both the first and second seasons. Several small touches here and there that not all things were right in the world after the fact got left out and some things were simply paved over. The author drops a lot of hints that Kirito is one seriously messed up individual, but then invalidates them or just ignores them for the rest of the books. Like at the end of the fairy dance arc, when Kirito gets the admin code and wins the fight. In the novel that chapter didn't read like Kayaba had become the ghost in the machine, and was helping out, but that Kirito had gone nuts and Kayaba the serial killer was now his inner monologue. Then like a chapter or two later nope Kayaba is the net god and your parting gift is a free SDK.
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# ? Feb 19, 2015 15:22 |
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HiveCommander posted:They really killed off a lot of Sinon's character development and agency when they animated that scene.
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# ? Feb 19, 2015 16:34 |
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Hagop posted:The author drops a lot of hints that Kirito is one seriously messed up individual, but then invalidates them or just ignores them for the rest of the books. When the story was released chapter by chapter as a web novel this was probably intended to build tension.
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# ? Feb 19, 2015 17:10 |
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Desuwa posted:Overlord volume 3 chapter 2 is completely translated. That explains the stinger at the end of volume 2, and actually sets up a nice plot. I thought that development was kind of bullshit actually I mean Momonga and crew just plow over everything to that point like really plow, nothing any of the characters has encountered thus far has even come close to the least of their powers, I mean like 5 minutes earlier they spent half a chapter talking about how this warrior was at 'the peak of human power' and he unloads everything he's got at Shalltear and she doesn't even realize he's anything special. Stops him with a finger. I mean when every enemy any of the characters has thus far encountered has completely and totally been unable to do anything and then some rando with a staff pops up and mind-controls a vampire... I dunno maybe it'll turn out to be some highly specialized item for controlling undead but it just seems lame as hell. Well, maybe that's just me not wanting anyone from team Momonga to die though.
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# ? Feb 20, 2015 18:37 |
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Sinking Ship posted:I thought that development was kind of bullshit actually I mean Momonga and crew just plow over everything to that point like really plow, nothing any of the characters has encountered thus far has even come close to the least of their powers, I mean like 5 minutes earlier they spent half a chapter talking about how this warrior was at 'the peak of human power' and he unloads everything he's got at Shalltear and she doesn't even realize he's anything special. Stops him with a finger. I mean when every enemy any of the characters has thus far encountered has completely and totally been unable to do anything and then some rando with a staff pops up and mind-controls a vampire... I dunno maybe it'll turn out to be some highly specialized item for controlling undead but it just seems lame as hell. Yeah that actually did bother me too. I gave it a pass because they said it was the big god-given artifact from the theocracy. I'll let it play out a bit, but Shalltear is probably the only character from team Momonga that I'm neutral towards whether she survives or not. She's pretty annoying and petty, I'd also be fine if she gets rescued from the brainwashing and mellows out a little. e: Also, to be fair, this is exactly what Momonga was warning them about earlier, and he was actively taking precautions against the possibility in volume 2. I don't like super magic bullshit god artifacts coming out of nowhere, but this was pretty telegraphed and it works, thematically at least. Desuwa fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Feb 20, 2015 |
# ? Feb 20, 2015 19:22 |
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Desuwa posted:Yeah that actually did bother me too. I gave it a pass because they said it was the big god-given artifact from the theocracy. I'll let it play out a bit, but Shalltear is probably the only character from team Momonga that I'm neutral towards whether she survives or not. She's pretty annoying and petty, I'd also be fine if she gets rescued from the brainwashing and mellows out a little. Yea you can't say the author didn't lay out bright flashing warning signs but I figured(hoped) it would just turn out to be Momo being paranoid forever. In any case I'm glad this thread turned me on to Overlord, no matter how it shakes out it's bound to be interesting. Personally I'm hoping Shalltear gets rescued and Momonga lays down some serious lich lord smackdown on the puny humans who dared to cross The Great Tomb. Just have to resist the urge to claw my eyes and/or check the skythewood site every 5 minutes while waiting for the translation.
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# ? Feb 20, 2015 21:15 |
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I hope this means we'll see Navarick assaulted, because there's no way they won't interrogate her and unless someone from the tomb comes by and wipes out that party, the Theocracy is going to flip a bitch.
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# ? Feb 21, 2015 01:36 |
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Sinking Ship posted:Yea you can't say the author didn't lay out bright flashing warning signs but I figured(hoped) it would just turn out to be Momo being paranoid forever. In any case I'm glad this thread turned me on to Overlord, no matter how it shakes out it's bound to be interesting. Personally I'm hoping Shalltear gets rescued and Momonga lays down some serious lich lord smackdown on the puny humans who dared to cross The Great Tomb.
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# ? Feb 21, 2015 02:10 |
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Gearhead posted:The oddity of Sword Art is that it makes a better novel than it does an animated series, at least with how the people who did the animated version did it. A lot of Kirito's behavior makes more sense when you can hear his constant internal commentary. Definitely. He isn't the Galahad that he comes across as in the anime. He can be a bit of a jerk, which I find more believable. His antisocial tendencies play more of a role in his character here. Not sure if it's much of a spoiler, but to be safe: The one thing I find curious here is how the first two years of being in game are glossed over. All the trauma, the horror, the realization that their bodies are hooked up to catheters and drip feeds somewhere, doesn't seem to be an issue so far. I suppose the teenage target LR novel audience wouldn't want to read about that, but it seems like a missed dramatic opportunity. Robot Wendigo fucked around with this message at 17:10 on Feb 21, 2015 |
# ? Feb 21, 2015 17:08 |
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The progressive novels touch more on all of that and expand on things - the first novel is just trying to tell the entire SAO story in one volume, so naturally things get squashed.
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# ? Feb 21, 2015 17:13 |
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Robot Wendigo posted:Definitely. He isn't the Galahad that he comes across as in the anime. He can be a bit of a jerk, which I find more believable. His antisocial tendencies play more of a role in his character here. The Kirito of the novels strikes me as being someone who is actually very, very tired and would really like to be left alone. Particularly after the first arc. He adapted. He survived. He escaped. He did so at a cost. He is old far, far before his time and requires Asuna and Yui as emotional crutches to continue to function.
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# ? Feb 21, 2015 19:28 |
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Gearhead posted:The Kirito of the novels strikes me as being someone who is actually very, very tired and would really like to be left alone. Particularly after the first arc. He adapted. He survived. He escaped. He did so at a cost. He is old far, far before his time and requires Asuna and Yui as emotional crutches to continue to function. I like that summation quite a bit. It makes me look forward to reading through the series.
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# ? Feb 22, 2015 22:33 |
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Translation of Only Sense's fourth volume has started, if you didn't already know. For some reason I think it's absolutely hilarious Yun just played out the classic "mysterious hooded figure accidentally gets hood blown off and is revealed to be a girl" scene, but as the girl. In fact he's actually pretty much become the popular idol character MMO stories love to have as a love interest.
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# ? Feb 24, 2015 20:33 |
I don't know if it's been mentioned, but I found a series called Coiling Dragon. It's really, really good. Basically it's about a kid trying to resurrect the honor and glory of his clan, and his struggles through the years to reach the highest level of combatant--a Saint. But he isn't able to use battle ki so he has to find a way around that. At the lowest level people are pretty normal, but at the level of the Saints it basically becomes Dragonball Z. It has power creep but it also points out that most Saints are centuries old, and some are way older than even that. And usually you'd need to be that old to reach that level. It also translates at a freakishly fast pace it looks like. http://www.wuxiaworld.com/cdindex-html/ Another series I found is Zhan Long, which is your basic MMO type story but I enjoy it. Also freakishly fast translations it looks like? edit: Forgot to mention it, but the Coiling Dragon translations are also extremely good. A few repeated phrases, like "not one whit" as in "not one whit weaker" or "not one whit less talented" but otherwise it's a really smooth if simple read. SerSpook fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Feb 25, 2015 |
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# ? Feb 25, 2015 05:41 |
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Two novels that haven't even been mentioned in this thread, as far as I can tell. Gifting the Wonderful World With Blessings is another one of those reincarnation stories where the MC is super competent, but this one is more because everyone else, especially his party members, are incompetent. The reincarnation gimmick is that you get to ask for one thing to bring with you, whether a skill or an item, and he asks for the goddess he was talking to. Translated by skythewood, and it's fun. Rokka no Yuusha is about a prophesied six heroes who save the world, except this time there are seven and the MC is suspected as being the fake. I haven't actually gotten very far but the series seems to get quite a lot of love, so I thought I'd mention it. I'll give Zhan Long a look, a point in its favour is that the MC is older and not a teenager.
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# ? Feb 25, 2015 06:56 |
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Desuwa posted:Two novels that haven't even been mentioned in this thread, as far as I can tell.
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# ? Feb 25, 2015 07:11 |
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Zang Long is kind of odd in that the protagonist isn't especially good at the game, he just has obscene luck with drops.
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# ? Feb 25, 2015 11:53 |
SerSpook posted:I don't know if it's been mentioned, but I found a series called Coiling Dragon. It's really, really good. Basically it's about a kid trying to resurrect the honor and glory of his clan, and his struggles through the years to reach the highest level of combatant--a Saint. But he isn't able to use battle ki so he has to find a way around that. I read a book and a bit of Coiling Dragon, and it's pretty good. Although your description gives the sense that he's more lacking than others because he can't use battle ki, but actually he won big time in the superpower lottery early on with the Dragonblood giving him enhanced strength, more than high affinity to elements, easy magical beast and an ancient Saint mage mentor from a ring. Oh, and whenever he's a good enough mage to find the Dragon qi books or whatever, his only disadvantage will be gone. Edit: just as I posted and read this chapter to the end his dad just handed over the manuals . What I'd criticize is that, at least in the first book, there's but a few side characters and they exist only to pave way for the main character's training. If either he doesn't start getting real friends or enemies or anything very soon after entering chinese super-Hogwarts or the three or so side characters don't get any development, I'm going to get really bored quick. Ottumon fucked around with this message at 15:26 on Feb 25, 2015 |
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# ? Feb 25, 2015 15:23 |
Ottumon posted:I read a book and a bit of Coiling Dragon, and it's pretty good. Although your description gives the sense that he's more lacking than others because he can't use battle ki, but actually he won big time in the superpower lottery early on with the Dragonblood giving him enhanced strength, more than high affinity to elements, easy magical beast and an ancient Saint mage mentor from a ring. Oh, and whenever he's a good enough mage to find the Dragon qi books or whatever, his only disadvantage will be gone. Edit: just as I posted and read this chapter to the end his dad just handed over the manuals . He really still can't use the Dragonblood qui books like, at all, though beyond some miscellaneous information until a decent chunk into the series. And right before he gains access to them for realsies, it becomes really clear to him just how tiny he truly is even with being a brilliant magical prodigy and having natural physical advantages. There are more side characters that show up. Of the 4 bros, for instance, really only one of them is important. It's Yale. As he goes further on, he collects more friends and allies, but he can't really get many early on because hahahahah literally nobody is going to scale with him at all and the series makes it really clear that a 7th ranked person is absolutely nothing to an 8th ranked unless you are a freak of nature like Linley or Bebe. And this just gets more pronounced the higher in the rankings you are. Keep on reading though. Some great scenes in there. Particularly when Linley's brother shows up again and duels another dude and how that entire sequence turns out.
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# ? Feb 25, 2015 17:35 |
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Are there any light novels similar to Knights and Magic? I tried the other novels in the OP, but I thought they were really bad.
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# ? Feb 25, 2015 18:52 |
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I've been thinking about Zang Long despite how underwhelming it is in general. It isn't really like most of the vrmmo wankfests, because the game is just a game and not the means by which a character can live a literal second life as a fantasy hero. Rather, the guy's life itself is the fantasy, and that fantasy includes having the time and resources to play a fun vrmmo. Well, a fun vrmmo with an unbelievably lovely crafting system. I mean goddamn, a crafting skill that makes mana potions and only mana potions? That's really dumb.
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# ? Feb 25, 2015 21:59 |
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Serious Frolicking posted:I've been thinking about Zang Long despite how underwhelming it is in general. It isn't really like most of the vrmmo wankfests, because the game is just a game and not the means by which a character can live a literal second life as a fantasy hero. Rather, the guy's life itself is the fantasy, and that fantasy includes having the time and resources to play a fun vrmmo. Well, a fun vrmmo with an unbelievably lovely crafting system. I mean goddamn, a crafting skill that makes mana potions and only mana potions? That's really dumb. I've been reading this and it's really quite fun. However I just reached the point where he switches to being a swordsman and I'm kind of ticked off. It was nice to have an MC with an unusual class, and he was some kind of war priest. I was expecting him to eventually get some kind of Paladin class, but I guess he still is in a way. His luck is pretty bullshit but I don't mind it too much.
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# ? Feb 26, 2015 07:04 |
Coiling Dragon is taking some really turns after (6th book spoilers) the aftermath of Linley killing the king's brother is explored. I'm both horrified and interested. It seemed to me like Alice was only written in to serve as the motivation for Linley's sculpture so he can have a powerup. That plot thread went a lot further than I thought, unlike the earlier (book 3, late 2?) assassin girl that literally broke Linley's heart. He was a real edgelord for about two chapters, and then it was promptly forgotten. Generally speaking, the plot is like a cheap kung-fu movie with a gigantic amount of bullshit powerups. But those are the best kung-fu movies, so it looks like I'm in for the whole ride.
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# ? Feb 26, 2015 10:35 |
Ottumon posted:Coiling Dragon is taking some really turns after (6th book spoilers) the aftermath of Linley killing the king's brother is explored. I'm both horrified and interested. It seemed to me like Alice was only written in to serve as the motivation for Linley's sculpture so he can have a powerup. That plot thread went a lot further than I thought, unlike the earlier (book 3, late 2?) assassin girl that literally broke Linley's heart. He was a real edgelord for about two chapters, and then it was promptly forgotten. Alice actually sticks around for a bit longer and has a few more parts to play, though I'd not really call them important. And that is exactly why Coiling Dragon is awesome. edit: Also, once again, the translation speed is kind of freakish. The chapters aren't that long, but it's still 3 translated a day. And they are legitimately good translations too, better than most anything else I come across in fan translations.
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# ? Feb 26, 2015 13:30 |
Hahahahahah. Coiling Dragon spoilers Looks like Linley is getting his kids and nephew Saint-level Dragons as companions, that he beats into submission. After getting them blood from these dragons to turn them into Dragonblood Warriors. At least the next chapter is named Submission, and there are currently three dragons fighting him and he has two kids and a nephew...
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# ? Mar 4, 2015 15:33 |
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SerSpook posted:Hahahahahah. It's pretty impressive just how utterly hosed the Radiant Church is at this point
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# ? Mar 4, 2015 16:15 |
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I just finished the second volume of Rokka no Yuusha and it didn't seem as interesting as the first one, probably because it was centered around a character I didn't really care about. The first one was pretty good though, and really kept me wondering who the seventh was the entire time.
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# ? Mar 5, 2015 00:03 |
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HiveCommander posted:I just finished the second volume of Rokka no Yuusha and it didn't seem as interesting as the first one, probably because it was centered around a character I didn't really care about. Yeah, the first volume has a pretty exquisite mix between action and mystery, but the balance leans heavily toward action in later volumes. It's still a fun read, but as of vol 4 it hasn't lived up to the first book. Haven't gotten around to reading vol 5 yet, but it took forever to come out. Different label and everything.
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# ? Mar 5, 2015 01:13 |
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About half way through Wrong Dungeon #1 and there's a YuGiOh reference just casually in there. Bonus points to Yen Press for catching that.
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# ? Mar 8, 2015 13:24 |
Have another reincarnation story! http://worldofwatermelons.com/desolate-era-index/book-1-chapter-1/ This is by the same guy who wrote Coiling Dragon mentioned earlier. It doesn't have a lot translated yet, only eighteen chapters, but so far it seems pretty good. Basically, a guy dies at the age of 18 due to illness. Due to certain good deeds in his previous life, he is going to be allowed to reincarnate into the Deva Realm. However, poo poo happens and he ends up instead reincarnating as a human, but he keeps all of his memories from his previous life and the period of time he was dead before he reincarnated. Unlike, say, Mushoku Tensei, The Desolate Era doesn't have any creepiness so far and I really doubt it will based on the author's other works. Just action and training arcs.
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# ? Mar 8, 2015 20:29 |
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Finally caught up on Rokka no Yuusha, and vol3 was much better than vol2 was. It's probably because it was more similar to the first novel where details and clues are presented over time so I was actually trying to think of what the overarching schemes at play were, compared to the second book's method of telling you the ending and then simply showing how the story gets to that point.
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# ? Mar 12, 2015 12:50 |
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I now spend my spare time reading terrible literature through the filter of rough translation. Feels like it should be shameful. Genuinely enjoy Shield Hero for the regular, gleeful shadenfreude (somewhat disturbing that the best chapter is about the hero trying to avoid being molested by an ostrich). Someone here also mentioned Daybreak on Hyperion so I read it and it's great, like an unlobotomised version of Zero's Familier.
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# ? Mar 13, 2015 15:04 |
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Zhan Long was a guilty pleasure for me, especially since I binged it when I should have been doing other stuff. At over 1k chapters, I'm not sure if it still qualifies as a "light" novel. It's also a wish fulfillment story, where a badass martial arts master plays an VRMMORPG and becomes even more badass because of it, gets all the girls, and is a tactical genius that takes down chimeric drug dealing monsters as a SWAT team leader. Granted, not everything is handed to him on a platter, and he gets his rear end handed to him multiple times, but it treads really close to the Mary Sue/Gary Stu line, especially later on when he gets some ridiculously bullshit drops. I think it's translated as Tyrant's Armor Set or something like that, but basically before it was nerfed, the armor set allowed for 30% increase of all stats every death that's unlimited, resetting only upon death. Also, his mainhand sword is also ridiculously powerful, adding 1% to base damage for every PK. It starts out as unlimited, nerfed to 100%, then later on upgraded back up to +2% base damage per PK up to 400%. Also, while some people might gripe about him not being unique with his class change to Swordsman archetype, but his instructor teaches him some really ridiculous abilities, making him an incomparable death machine like Lubu. In WvW battles, as soon as he shows up everyone goes "Oh poo poo" and tries to focus fire him down.
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# ? Mar 13, 2015 16:25 |
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jwang posted:Zhan Long was a guilty pleasure for me, especially since I binged it when I should have been doing other stuff. At over 1k chapters, I'm not sure if it still qualifies as a "light" novel. It's also a wish fulfillment story, where a badass martial arts master plays an VRMMORPG and becomes even more badass because of it, gets all the girls, and is a tactical genius that takes down chimeric drug dealing monsters as a SWAT team leader. Granted, not everything is handed to him on a platter, and he gets his rear end handed to him multiple times, but it treads really close to the Mary Sue/Gary Stu line, especially later on when he gets some ridiculously bullshit drops. I think it's translated as Tyrant's Armor Set or something like that, but basically before it was nerfed, the armor set allowed for 30% increase of all stats every death that's unlimited, resetting only upon death. Also, his mainhand sword is also ridiculously powerful, adding 1% to base damage for every PK. It starts out as unlimited, nerfed to 100%, then later on upgraded back up to +2% base damage per PK up to 400%. Did you read it in the original language, or is there some translation other than the gravity translations one?
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# ? Mar 13, 2015 18:37 |
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I read it in Chinese. I'd give it a try at translating it, but Gravitytranslations puts it out much faster than I'd be willing to translate.
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# ? Mar 13, 2015 20:03 |
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I don't mind a mary sue power fantasy as long as it's fun to read. That's a very small set of works, though, but Zhan Long has been fun so far. Desolate Era is pretty fun too, even if it's just getting started. Not sure how its longevity is going to be with such strict power rankings and everyone being superman, but it's not bad so far.
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# ? Mar 13, 2015 20:47 |
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The_Guy posted:I now spend my spare time reading terrible literature through the filter of rough translation. Feels like it should be shameful. Also Only Sense's volume 4 translation is done. It was, as always, pretty fun. I still find it hard to believe that nobody else has picked up buffing.
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# ? Mar 13, 2015 21:22 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 05:58 |
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The fundamental conceit of all "The story is about a mmorpg" settings is "Everyone but the main character is a retarded person and doesn't do incredibly basic things that people do playing games, and also nobody communicates about game mechanics at all". I mean I look at what it takes to, say, make a Super Novice in Ragnarok Online and then I look at these stories and I go "This main character known for his grinding is kind of a chickenshit, I've spent more time traveling around game worlds to jump off things naked and take pictures of it". Actually there's a whole lot less naked gameplay than you'd expect. Anyone can rock the world with a ton of super rare drops, weird people take down bosses with no gear on and the most basic abilities they can get away with. Who cares that someone with the best drops does something amazing? Of course they would. e: Also there needs to be like 8000% more being horrifically embarrassed by the stupid poo poo people say on teamspeak. Mulva fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Mar 13, 2015 |
# ? Mar 13, 2015 21:46 |