|
I find that any time a story goes into extended lifespan and divinity, it quickly turns to poo poo. This is because these writers are terrible with numbers (like throwing out a couple trillion people population is feasible) as well as over inflating the main character. I actually find MMO style stories to be slightly more reasonable, since most of the time the main character doesn't become the supreme overlord deity of the cosmos.
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2015 08:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 1, 2024 04:56 |
|
|
In zang long, the mc has recently started fighting werewolves and learned how to project his consciousness to detect every person and their power level for miles around. This is in the real world. The game part has devolved into beating up historical figures for sweet sweet loot. I'm not familiar with chinese history at all, but it seems safe to say that there is some serious revisionism going on even without the whole undead boss aspect.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2015 08:47
|
|
|
I dropped Zhan Long when the translator put out a massive warning about extreme xenophobia. I can ignore some level of that but if it's as bad as it sounds I just wasn't going to be able to tolerate it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2015 06:51
|
|
|
I just realized why SR is so hilarious. You need to read it with bad 70s kungfu flick dubing for the voices. I'm not sure if Japtem is doing it on purpose or if their Chinese translator is really that bad. Personally I'd go with the latter, since their other Chinese translations are also pretty poo poo. As for Zhan Long xenophobia, I'd blame it on the rather widespread mentality that everyone is out to oppress China. Given the (relatively) recent history of being carved up by European powers and Japanese occupation, as well as the isolation of the Cold War, it shouldn't be surprising to find such sentiments in works. Zhan Long is certainly nowhere near delusional as, say, Mahouka. The worst thing that is said about nations other than Japan is that they're jealous of China's recent rise in military power. Anything bad said about Japan is par for course.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2015 02:14
|
|
|
Well, SR is pretty bad regardless of the translation. The latest batch of chapters included a rousing thanks to the clever government officials who decided that the dumb game could only be played for 8 hours a day. It is too bad, really. It limits the time people can worship the living god who has newbie gear in a newbie zone. I also love the references to what's-his-face being an expert gamer based on his extensive experience of watching videos of people playing different mmo's.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2015 02:31
|
|
|
So, watching lps is worthwhile
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2015 02:37
|
|
|
Well, um.... huh. I haven't ever seen ancestor worship taken quite so literally before. Zang long is very strange, but this time it is less amusing and more perplexing.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 01:39
|
|
|
A couple more chapters of SR were uploaded today. I've come to the conclusion that SR isn't very good, it reads like something a bullied high-schooler wrote as some kind of "RARGH gently caress THE WORLD ARRRRGH!" wankfest. Granted, a lot of LN's have similar themes, but SR really takes it to another level of wankery.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 03:57
|
|
|
BlitzBlast posted:
Finally decided to read through this volume and I'm hoping it comes up soon. I think at this point only a small handful of people realize that Yun can actually do this, and most people are pretty sensible about making sure information doesn't spread terribly far. The necessary 'build' for buffing also requires grinding up a lot of the more esoteric and not-immediately-useful Senses, so it seems reasonable that people aren't dropping everything to try and respec for it since it doesn't help contribute for solo play much at first anyway. I suspect eventually we'll start seeing the aggressive guilds start sussing it out, or we'll run up against somebody who has secretly has built up many of the same abilities but focused on debuffing rather than support. Also, it was adorable that the author spared some mention for some more recent games like Necrodancer in the afterword 
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2015 19:00
|
|
|
You can't have Sino-wank without ancient kungfu magic, Chinese medicine voodoo, ancestor worship, Daoism/Buddhist mysticism, and xenophobia (particularly against Japan) in some combination. That being said, the author of Zhan Long is actually not that bad in terms of creativity when compared to some of the other Chinese authors. The plot of his stories definitely could be better, but at least it isn't DBZ reskinned on an infinite escalator (yet). As a side note, any story that goes over 500k Chinese characters should be viewed with caution, chances are it ends with the main character as Supreme Overlord of all creation or something.
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2015 08:57
|
|
|
I really think you'd be hard pressed to condemn Chinese attitudes of the Japanese. The current Japanese government STILL won't acknowledge Nanjing.
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2015 07:31
|
|
|
If there was a Chinese Tom Clancy (there probably is), instead of commies, terrorists, and non-NATO aligned rising powers, you'd have Japan, US, and capitalist pigs as bad guys. Japan will always be the worst, either being the most incompetent (to satisfy the 5000 year history supremacy) or the most evil (to support the campaign to expose Japan as the assholes they are).
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2015 14:07
|
|
|
Shadow Rogue mentioned in passing that fresh air just plain no longer exists, which is too bad but at least there is a vrmmo! That was the most chinese goddamn thing so far in that entire hilarious webnovel.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2015 15:08
|
|
|
Okay, I'm about 30 chapters into Zhan Long and we have an ex-SWAT expert swordsman hired as the bodyguard for the beautiful (and tempestuous, and rich-kid-street-race loving) daughter of the CEO of a high-tech military contractor. That's actually a pretty sweet setup for an airport-novel-style thriller, and five chapters in I was really enjoying myself. Then for twenty-five chapters he does nothing but play a World of Warcraft clone. Literally nothing. He's not even doing quests and poo poo! He's just grinding! And he's not even in a party with the CEO's daughter in the game, they're off doing their own poo poo! Have I gone insane? Were there a bunch of kidnap attempts and swordfights and I accidentally skipped those chapters? Is there a payoff to any of this? Clipperton fucked around with this message at 16:43 on May 1, 2015 |
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2015 16:35
|
|
|
Ha ha, no. It is a pure wish-fulfilment fantasy, only a large part of said fantasy is the ability to play a vrmmo. What's more, the ladies can't get enough of his mmo skillz and seem to respect his game accomplishments more than anything in real life. In short, zang long is really loving dumb, but in an occasionally endearing way.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2015 16:40
|
|
Serious Frolicking posted:Ha ha, no. It is a pure wish-fulfilment fantasy, only a large part of said fantasy is the ability to play a vrmmo. What's more, the ladies can't get enough of his mmo skillz and seem to respect his game accomplishments more than anything in real life. In short, zang long is really loving dumb, but in an occasionally endearing way. I just want to know how he's maintaining his irl sword skills when he's eating junk food and poopsocking for eighteen hours a day.
|
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2015 16:52
|
|
|
Clipperton posted:I just want to know how he's maintaining his irl sword skills when he's eating junk food and poopsocking for eighteen hours a day. Something something qi Because it absolutely exists, and so does some other crazy stuff, but the vrmmo is the focus of the main plot 
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2015 16:58
|
|
Backing up a bit:Serious Frolicking posted:It is a pure wish-fulfilment fantasy, only a large part of said fantasy is the ability to play a vrmmo. It's not much of a fantasy, though, with the game as it's described in the novel. It's just WoW! It's set in a high-tech future world with advanced game AI and virtual reality, and the best possible game the author can think of is just aggroing mobs, kiting mobs, grinding mobs for 0.1% drop rate loot, and digging up a thousand herbs to make a thousand potions and level their potion-making skill? At least Sword Art Online had "if you die in the game you die in real life" which (while not exactly an original idea) gave all those tedious MMO mechanics a macabre twist because now they could literally kill you. e: I'm not just saying this (just) to whinge. Clearly Zhan Long is very popular and I'm not sure I understand the appeal of reading about someone playing a game with the same mechanics of the one you already play, when a more complex and novel game would presumably be a more attractive wish-fulfilment fantasy. Clipperton fucked around with this message at 18:13 on May 1, 2015 |
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2015 18:04
|
|
|
It is a very sad fantasy, yes. It isn't even wow- the mechanics are garbage and the economy is dependent on rmt.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2015 18:12
|
|
|
Dammit! I finally had some free time, but I had to come check this thread!  I read the summary for Shield Hero, found the manga, and now I'm reading (badly) translated chapters. I'm really liking it. I can see why he would do such turn about considering how he got taken away from his peaceful life, given a dangerous job, then betrayed by the one person who seemed kind to him, and later by the guys who were supossed to be his companions. And that even for all his effort to try to be a lovely person too, the best he can do is be an anti-hero. At first I was kind of wary of his relationship with raccoon girl choosing her as a slave because she was a girl, I feared he would be lovely to her just to vent his anger , but I'm glad it didn't turn out that way, and that he actually thinks of her as a daughter. She's going to end up as his romantic interest, isn't she?  Oh, well, I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt and see what happens...
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2015 21:20
|
|
|
The writer is a straight up slavery fetishist.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2015 21:25
|
|
|
I was fearing as much. Still, so far with raccoon girl it was presented as a result of the hero developing trust issues and being betrayed. I feel that it was well adressed after the duel with Spear Hero where she says that, even though he forced her to fight at first, Shield dude has treated her with more kindness and love than any slave would've expected. So her wanting to put on the slave mark again didn't strike me as forced, since at that point it truly was her free choice, instead of being forced upon like her being freed, and that's the status quo she likes so v  vI think that was a good way of showing the story theme of hero's not caring about the consequences of their actions, just doing what they think is right for their own selfishness. I'm already up to not-chocobo girl, and while it seems that it continues the slave-girl theme, I don't feel like it comes as creepy as it would in another setting. I think at this point, it's just another part of Shield Hero trying to keep up his facade of being the piece of poo poo dude everyone else thinks he is by not only being a rapist, but also being the kind of dude who keeps slaves at his side. And it's not like the author is saying slavery in fantasy kingdom is a hoot: kids get kidnapped, slaves die of overwork and disease and neglect. Whatever. I bought the ticket, so I'll try to enjoy the ride. I just hope this doesn't turn into a rape train 
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2015 22:24
|
|
|
Stop reading garbage from idiot kids and real some actual contemporary chinese literature. http://www.amazon.com/The-Grace-Kings-Dandelion-Dynasty-ebook/dp/B00KU4O1CY http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765377063
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2015 05:27
|
|
|
Phobophilia posted:Stop reading garbage from idiot kids and real some actual contemporary chinese literature. The Three Body Problem owns. Ironically, part of it takes place in an online VR game.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2015 05:48
|
|
|
Are there people in this thread who read untranslated LNs? I've just finished reading the first two volumes of 終末なにしてますか? 忙しいですか? 救ってもらっていいですか? (Shuumatsu nani shitemasu ka? Isogashii desu ka? Sukutte morattemo ii desu ka?) and it's a bit...atypical for an LN.   It's a fantasy setting with a all of the usual fantasy races. As usual, humans are one of the weaker races because they don't have any special features and weak magic power, but by what seems to amount to blind luck, they've found a way to crate really powerful magic swords and trained heroes to use them. Since humans were now powerful enough, they were basically at war with all the other races. While most of the heroes were away for an epic battle against some god, a bunch of nasty monsters were unleashed (apparently created by a human religious cult who wanted to get rid of the royal family/government). But those monsters worked too well and within a year, humanity was wiped out completely. The other races created floating islands and fled there, but humanity wasn't invited... The story takes place 500 years after that. The other races are still living on the floating islands and the surface is a wasteland with those monsters still running around. From time to time, groups of salvagers go down there to recover valuable things. One day, they find a statue of a human that turns out to be the main character who was petrified 500 years ago. They manage to un-pertrify him and he starts living on the floating continents. He's getting by by working badly paying jobs and not really caring much anymore (since everything he's known is dead/destroyed...) until an acquaintance (from the salvagers that saved him) suggests that he could set him up with a better job as some kind of overseer at a military weapon storage. It's supposed to be a boring desk job without any real responsibilities so the he accepts, but it turns out that the "weapons" are actually a bunch of girls.  They're artificially created fairies who are close enough to humans that they can use the magic swords (dug up by the salvagers) and they're using them to fight the monsters who occassionally manage to get onto the islands.They're treated as disposable weapons by everyone because they have a last-resort type ability where they can release massive amounts of magic, which results in a huge explosion....Yeah, they're basically walking magic nukes. So, how does this LN differ from the usual LN stuff? We have the main character living with a bunch of girls, but it's not a harem. Only the oldest one of the girls is even romantically interested in the main character, and unlike the typical LN protagonist he not only noticed, but he didn't freak out and just politely refused for now. The MC is set up as more of a father-type figure for the other girls, so it doesn't seem like it's going to move into that direction either.  Next, fanservice: Across the two volumes, there hasn't been a single illustration of even scene that would classify as fanservice. Another thing that LNs like to do is making the main characters overpowered. Now the MC still is special: He's the last remaining human and he was a hero-candidate, so he's the only one left who knows how to properly use the magic swords and perform maintenance on them. But being turned to stone for 500 years (and the battle immediately before that) screwed up his body, so he can't fight anymore. He almost died just from trying to use one of the swords. The battles themselves aren't directly shown either. The second volume has the girls resting during a long battle so you get a bit of information there, but other than it it mostly just the girls going away to fight and then some other scenes until they come back. In the long term (i.e. past volume 2) it seems like there are plans to retake the surface and there might be some drama, because even if the girls don't explode themselves, their lifespan seems to be rather short (and both covers feature crying girls...), but for now, it's mostly just a story about an ex-hero who can't fight anymore taking care of a group of weaponized girls who didn't really value their life until the MC appeared. It's also kind of interesting publishing-wise. The first two volumes were released, and the afterword of the second volume is mostly the author saying "sales aren't looking good, I hope I can continue with this series". Then somehow it managed to get to the top spot of the amazon ebook charts (here's a SokoAni special about it), and that exposure really helped. The physical versions were sold out shortly after that until it got another print run, and a third volume was confirmed, so it's looking like the series will continue for now.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2015 10:34
|
|
Phobophilia posted:Stop reading garbage from idiot kids and real some actual contemporary chinese literature. People who come up with new "-punk" genres should be put into camps.
|
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2015 11:08
|
|
|
Kal-L posted:Whatever. I bought the ticket, so I'll try to enjoy the ride. I just hope this doesn't turn into a rape train It never gets that bad, but the whole slavery thing in Shield Hero is just the awkward elephant in the room that is never really addressed. It starts off reasonable enough (shield dude has trust issues), but it literally never goes anywhere, you just have to accept that he enslaves his entire party because uhhhh stat gains. The point you're in is basically when Shield Hero was at its fullest "grrrr revenge" fantasy, so if you make it through that (and the ensuing wrapup) it gets a little more light hearted. All-in-all the whole thing is just kind of half-baked though.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2015 12:59
|
|
|
Plus there was that whole extended period where he kept taking little girls to bed as a preventative measure against one little girl that wanted to jump his bones. Everyone involved was a slave, of course. Who else but a pedophile would write that poo poo?
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2015 14:52
|
|
|
My Beautiful CEO Wife (我的美女总裁老婆) is a somewhat interesting city life story being translated by Bad Translation. It is complete in Chinese, and up to chapter 5 in translations. Typical of city life stories, it's rife with mobsters, oppressed commoners, and rear end in a top hat bourgeoise. And since it's Chinese city life story, naturally it must have wire-fu. Better than the top rated city life (urban-punk?) story as rated by Baidu still, that one's at over 4000 chapters and has long since shifted genre to fantasy.
|
|
#
?
May 9, 2015 16:21
|
|
|
So I've been avoiding this thread like the plague while I was waiting for Mushoku Tensei to finish up, since the author always seems to fiddle with updates up to a month after publication. Now that I've read it to the end, I feel like I don't need to fear spoilers anymore. Except it turns out he's not quite done! He just decided to finish up the overarching plot for now, then there'll be a "superfluous version" coming out gradually that fills in the years he skipped, adding tons of side stories on other characters. So it goes. In other news, I bought Knights & Magic vol 1, and it's some of the worst poo poo I've ever read. Hated it so much that there has to be something deeply wrong with me, given how much praise it's getting everywhere. So bad. Also been trying to catch up with Overlord in preparation for the anime in July, but vol 7 crossed the line, and I'm kind of wary of continuing now. Still have vol 8 on the shelf, so I can't quite give up yet, though. It's too bad, because volumes 4 and 6 were kind of great.
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2015 19:06
|
|
|
darkgray posted:Also been trying to catch up with Overlord in preparation for the anime in July, but vol 7 crossed the line, and I'm kind of wary of continuing now. Still have vol 8 on the shelf, so I can't quite give up yet, though. It's too bad, because volumes 4 and 6 were kind of great. In what way, because Overlord has a lot of different lines it can cross for a lot of different people 
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2015 00:10
|
|
|
Emalde posted:In what way, because Overlord has a lot of different lines it can cross for a lot of different people It can't be discussed without spoiling the ending of the book, unfortunately. Excerpt from my impressions elsewhere: (Overlord vol 7 spoilers) Book 7, however, is where the author finally crosses the line he's been walking so carefully throughout the series. Whereas earlier conflicts have seen the protagonist face decidedly malicious opponents, in this book he willingly kills or causes the death of undeniably good people. And then the author rubs the reader's face in it with the epilogue. It can be argued that this has been long coming, with a growing indifference toward humans from the protagonist's side, now that he's been transformed into an undead skeleton lich, but while watching evil get crushed by greater evil is gleeful fun, there's a bitter aftertaste having seen innocents suffer the same fate.
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2015 00:39
|
|
|
Morality in web/light novels is really ambiguous. Take my latest recommendation for example: on one hand you have the rich assholes who makes life miserable for the common folks and are basically morally bankrupt; on the other hand you have the punisher doling out cruel and unusual punishment, such as breaking all the digits of a person for three months, slowly while having the digits heal over time. I guess the Chinese have a hard-on for excessive punishment, especially when you consider that the Chinese mythology doesn't have a heaven, just a really terrible hell. Or at least you can't get into heaven via death, only through becoming an immortal and be ridiculously powerful as well.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2015 11:52
|
|
|
I think it is just cultural, rather than explicitly religious. Also, something common a lot of bad fiction is shallow characterization of villains. A villain without any real motivations can end up being ridiculously evil in lieu of any effort spent developing them. So, because they are so incredibly, absurdly evil they end up warranting extreme punishments. Of course, I don't know enough about wuxia to completely chalk it up to laziness. Maybe it is just a narrative convention to have every opponent be Satan von DoubleHitler.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2015 12:10
|
|
|
I've been reading Magi Craft Meister lately. There really isn't much to it, just a dude with the magical power to make stuff out of raw materials hanging out and generally being nice. Kinda the gallant to arifureta's goofus, in some ways. https://natsutl.wordpress.com/
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2015 09:39
|
|
|
Serious Frolicking posted:Plus there was that whole extended period where he kept taking little girls to bed as a preventative measure against one little girl that wanted to jump his bones. Everyone involved was a slave, of course. Who else but a pedophile would write that poo poo? Nobody
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2015 16:43
|
|
|
So I read Magi's Grandson on Japtem. It's pretty fun and not too serious. Guy is reincarnated into a baby, blah blah blah, learns magic and is super badass, etc. What's enjoyable is the fact that his grandfather, that taught him magic, went out of his way to get the best teachers in a variety of fields. But never actually taught him any of the common sense of the world. It's really more funny than serious and I am enjoying the 11 or so translated chapters. http://japtem.com/projects/magis-grandson-toc/
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2015 15:12
|
|
|
SerSpook posted:What's enjoyable is the fact that his grandfather, that taught him magic, went out of his way to get the best teachers in a variety of fields. But never actually taught him any of the common sense of the world. It's really more funny than serious and I am enjoying the 11 or so translated chapters. Wizards: Always think Wisdom is a dump stat.
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2015 16:17
|
|
|
I just managed to waste a week reading what's available of Death Marching to the Parallel World Rhapsody (Death March Kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku), about a guy who finds himself in a fantasy world, armed with smart bombs from the game he was developing. Trying one, he manages to wipe out the entire region, which instantly gets him enough experience points to reach level 310. It's like a blend of Shield Hero, Only Sense Online and Arifureta, with a lot of time spent exploring newly gained skills, and maybe up to 25% of the text seems to focus on either planning food, cooking food, eating food, or discussing how tasty the food was. Might need a warning that you can get tired of the protagonist explaining to the reader that he isn't into little girls, but it calms down pretty quickly, and there's nothing particularly offensive that happens. Other than that it's an entertaining action adventure with a cute set of characters, as Satoo travels the land, ever climbing the social ladder and saving the world in his spare time Superman style. In Japanese it's got 12 volumes out, with the 13th still on-going, but there seems to be an English translation up to the middle of the 6th volume as well. It's probably fairly popular, because it got picked up by a publisher last year and is up to 4 paper volumes so far. There's even a manga adaptation.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 01:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 1, 2024 04:56 |
|
|
darkgray posted:I just managed to waste a week reading what's available of Death Marching to the Parallel World Rhapsody (Death March Kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku), about a guy who finds himself in a fantasy world, armed with smart bombs from the game he was developing. Trying one, he manages to wipe out the entire region, which instantly gets him enough experience points to reach level 310. Dropped this one VERY quickly. One of the main characters is a 11 year old slave who wants to jump the main character's bones in EVERY chapter. It's really gross.
|
|
#
?
May 31, 2015 08:37
|
|