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So after everyone ragged on The King's Avatar I decided to check it out. It's okay. They explained the concept of why they drove the player out sufficiently well enough by around the 600th chapter that I'm okay with the whole concept. I basically skip any of the long fighting sequences though, especially when it's the teams that aren't the main characters. I would be curious to see someone map out all of the classes, skills, stats, equipment, etc. to see how consistent the other was. It feels like they've done a good job of living within their own internal logic but I'm skimming most of the fighting anyway so who knows.
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Dec 6, 2017 06:21
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| # ? May 15, 2024 14:22 |
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aside from the no class thing, all of the classes and skills come from dungeon fighter online.
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Dec 6, 2017 06:30
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Ahh I didn't realize it was based on a real game. That makes a lot more sense.
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Dec 6, 2017 07:18
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Lyon posted:So after everyone ragged on The King's Avatar I decided to check it out. It's okay. They explained the concept of why they drove the player out sufficiently well enough by around the 600th chapter that I'm okay with the whole concept. I basically skip any of the long fighting sequences though, especially when it's the teams that aren't the main characters. Care to elaborate? I tried reading the WN but I just couldn't get very far into it and I'm honestly curious if there's more to it because "his entire team and management are a bunch of stereotypical evil dicks" really kind of soured me on the concept.
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Dec 6, 2017 08:13
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Lyon posted:Ahh I didn't realize it was based on a real game. That makes a lot more sense. it's really just the classes and skills. dfo is a 2.5d, 3rd person game with no open world. i think the competitive scene for it is all 1v1, too.
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Dec 6, 2017 08:53
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Argas posted:Care to elaborate? I tried reading the WN but I just couldn't get very far into it and I'm honestly curious if there's more to it because "his entire team and management are a bunch of stereotypical evil dicks" really kind of soured me on the concept. The main character is the greatest and most famous professional player of Glory (an MMO) but he actively refused to ever be seen in public. The professional teams make tons of money from advertising and endorsement deals but since the main character refused to be involved in anything public the owner soured on the main character since the owner was losing lots of money. The owner forced the main character to retire because he was worried about the fans supporting whatever team the main character ended up and also about the backlash if the fans knew he fired or traded him. After retiring the main character has to sit out a year before he can join a new team. Professional players (in this story) also typically have a short shelf life as their hand speed decreases as they get old (mid 20s) and the main character was already old for a professional (again mid 20s) so the owner figured his career would be over after the one year restriction.
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Dec 6, 2017 09:53
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Lyon posted:The main character is the greatest and most famous professional player of Glory (an MMO) but he actively refused to ever be seen in public. The professional teams make tons of money from advertising and endorsement deals but since the main character refused to be involved in anything public the owner soured on the main character since the owner was losing lots of money. The owner forced the main character to retire because he was worried about the fans supporting whatever team the main character ended up and also about the backlash if the fans knew he fired or traded him. After retiring the main character has to sit out a year before he can join a new team. Professional players (in this story) also typically have a short shelf life as their hand speed decreases as they get old (mid 20s) and the main character was already old for a professional (again mid 20s) so the owner figured his career would be over after the one year restriction. Makes sense. The main new thing is the owner's motive (beyond being a dick). Still kind of hurts the story out of the gate because it's just such a stereotypical "Those jerks wronged the MC! How dare they"
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Dec 6, 2017 10:33
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Argas posted:Makes sense. The main new thing is the owner's motive (beyond being a dick). Still kind of hurts the story out of the gate because it's just such a stereotypical "Those jerks wronged the MC! How dare they" They actually address this as well. The MC still loves the team and even though he knew what was going on and could have prevented it he chose to sacrifice himself for the future of the team. He didn't hold a grudge or try to screw them over but only responds when the jackass player(s) try to mess with him. It isn't 100% explicit for a while but they imply it when another captain allows his successor rookie teammate to beat him (with only the MC and one other character knowing) in a public match to build the rookie's confidence.
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Dec 6, 2017 16:28
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Wang Motherfucking Po 
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Dec 8, 2017 21:02
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Finally at the epilogue of Honzuki 2-2! The physical book actually rejiggered the order of the chapters so in the WN (which is what I'm reading) two installments of 2-3 come before the 2-2 epilogue. I agree with Getsuya, this epilogue and the chapters leading up to it are some great stuff right here! Ferdinand is so precious when he (kinda big spoiler) reacts to his dream-tour of Tokyo  Highlights: "Egad! That woman's knees are showing! If she can't afford the cloth to cover her knees, she shouldn't be spending money dyeing her dress!" "This book is absurd; there couldn't possibly exist any humans whose eyes occupy half of their heads!" Edit: lol @ the running joke about her lack of artistic ability and her refusal to realize it Edit 2: 
Argue fucked around with this message at 13:28 on Dec 10, 2017 |
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Dec 9, 2017 16:23
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Currently picked up Everlasting Immortal Firmament, reading it in Chinese. This is some really good stuff for the first 10 chapters so far, with tactical planning that feels like it came out of Romance of Three Kingdoms. Hopefully it can keep up being this awesome.
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Dec 11, 2017 06:14
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tags: sexual cultivation technique yup, that guy's gonna start raping eventually
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Dec 11, 2017 07:01
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Took a look at the wiki, doesn’t seem too rapey. However, he does end up picking up a harem, so don’t expect any real female empowerment. He also uses a lot of Chinese culture stuff to name things and people, so the expected culture wank is there.
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Dec 12, 2017 05:08
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New Kumo webnovel chapters are being posted again.
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Dec 18, 2017 06:57
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I had been under the impression the author was dropping the WN, so is this just translation of stuff that already existed, or is the author continuing with it after all?
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Dec 18, 2017 13:27
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Myriad Truths posted:I had been under the impression the author was dropping the WN, so is this just translation of stuff that already existed, or is the author continuing with it after all? The author puts the WN on hold while putting together each LN volume.
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Dec 18, 2017 14:14
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Not sure why I thought it was being dropped to focus on the LN. Maybe just mixing up news for something else.
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Dec 18, 2017 23:52
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What would you guys say is the best written LN? I'm looking to try an example of this type of literature but I want to read the best example I can. Like I'm talking quality of the language/translation more than the subject matter, as people's preferred subject matter can differ a lot.
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Dec 19, 2017 04:15
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If you’re looking for LNs (printed on actual paper by an actual publisher and sold in stores) then my go-to standard is still The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. It has a very solid translation on top of a fun and well-written story. If you’re looking for WNs (published for free online and translated by amateur hacks) there’s an OP with a pretty up-to-date list, but if you want something with a really good translation, check out A Will Eternal, a story about a man who wants to live forever.
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Dec 19, 2017 04:58
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Ccs posted:What would you guys say is the best written LN? I'm looking to try an example of this type of literature but I want to read the best example I can. Ze Tian JI / Way of Choices
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Dec 19, 2017 05:41
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Ccs posted:What would you guys say is the best written LN? I'm looking to try an example of this type of literature but I want to read the best example I can. For humor, I'd say KonoSuba. For more serious story, I might have to go with the Monogatari series, although it may not quite count as an LN. Haruhi is also a good choice, although it might be a little trickier to find dead tree versions of it these days. I also have a soft spot for Book Girl. And The Devil is a Part-Timer.
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Dec 19, 2017 05:49
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FrantzX posted:Ze Tian JI / Way of Choices
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Dec 19, 2017 06:46
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Ccs posted:What would you guys say is the best written LN? I'm looking to try an example of this type of literature but I want to read the best example I can. Kino's Journey is beautiful and full of absolutely scathing social commentary. I'd recommend that to pretty much anyone who wants to read good LNs. I can't think of anything else quite on its level, but Baccano is probably the next best LN series I can think of. Edit: Spice and Wolf is pretty good too. A good rule of thumb: is this a popular LN that doesn't have a harem? Well then it must be incredibly well-written if it gained popularity without the pull of panty-shots.
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Dec 19, 2017 13:39
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I'm a big fan of Book Girl myself, even if it does feel a bit soap operaish at times. You can consider that part of the charm.
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Dec 19, 2017 17:21
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Haha the idea of panty shots in written form being a draw for people is hilarious to me.
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Dec 19, 2017 19:20
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Ccs posted:Haha the idea of panty shots in written form being a draw for people is hilarious to me. It's not the panty shots, it's the archetypal and infantilized female characters wearing the panties.
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Dec 19, 2017 19:23
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Does Kino's Journey have a decent English translation? Heck, does it have one at all, aside from the one Tokyopop did a decade ago that was dropped after the first volume? I thought about recommending Spice and Wolf, but while it's very good it also has a bit of a chewier writing style even before you factor in the economic shenanigans each novel's plot revolves around. It also has a sequel whose first volume just came out over here, although I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.
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Dec 19, 2017 22:37
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So is it the similarity to anime plots and tropes that draws readers to these? Cause, no offense, from what I'm reading it can't be the quality of the writing. The amount of repetition in the word-choice, the clunky adverbs cluttering sentences, and the incredibly cliche descriptions for everything make even the worst published fantasy writer seem like Shakespeare.
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Dec 20, 2017 07:40
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Ccs posted:So is it the similarity to anime plots and tropes that draws readers to these? Cause, no offense, from what I'm reading it can't be the quality of the writing. The amount of repetition in the word-choice, the clunky adverbs cluttering sentences, and the incredibly cliche descriptions for everything make even the worst published fantasy writer seem like Shakespeare. To be fair, some of the bad prose style is an artifact of translation...but a lot of it is indeed just bad.
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Dec 20, 2017 07:50
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Current last line of Kumo:quote:How is this going to turn out? Actually, I don’t care anymore. Hmmmm.
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Dec 20, 2017 08:53
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Ccs posted:So is it the similarity to anime plots and tropes that draws readers to these? Cause, no offense, from what I'm reading it can't be the quality of the writing. The amount of repetition in the word-choice, the clunky adverbs cluttering sentences, and the incredibly cliche descriptions for everything make even the worst published fantasy writer seem like Shakespeare. It can be a bonus, I guess, if an anime or whatever that you like ends abruptly and then you find out there is twenty light novels that continue the story. But I think a fairly big draw is that a lot of these stories can be fairly described as unique - if you're history with literature is entirely constrained to western works beforehand. The characters all have very different perspectives when compared against other characters in books that are written for English audiences - they have novel and alien perspectives and social dynamics that can be fun to learn by osmosis. You can wave that away with "anime plots and tropes" if you like but even that stuff is different - like I don't know about you but all those done to death tropes that anime lives and breathes by were at one point entirely new to me. Like what the gently caress is a class representative? Why do girls run into boys with bread in their mouths? What's the significance in that? Or you know, a million other common anime tropes that exist for whatever reason? What's with the weird naming conventions and social power structures? Why are teachers so disproportionately feared and respected in Korean stuff? Why is the main character of this Chinese novel clearly and evil piece of poo poo? Why does the very idea of a gun cause this Japanese protagonist to speak in hushed and reverent tones - doesn't he know he can just go buy one at Wal-Mart and blow the fucker with a god damned box knife away?!? Why read at all if not to be exposed to new ideas? You say that even the worst published fantasy writer looks like Shakespeare by comparison but find me a western fantasy author that publishes books about being reincarnated as a loving vending machine. Not as a gag, or a one off joke, but an honest to God book entirely about the daily life of a vending machine inhabited by the soul of a vending machine fanatic. There's a bunch of ridiculously off the wall premises that wouldn't be written about anywhere else - because an average Japanese or Korean or Chinese or Vietnamese (etc...) person's take on what constitutes "off-the-wall" is way different than mine. In short it's a hyper-specific niche of culture you really won't see anywhere else. Also it's free.
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Dec 20, 2017 09:00
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WN tend to be pretty badly written and translations are usually done by amateurs or people who are still in the process of learning English or the other language. Still, as sunken said, it's free and you might find something with a subject matter or a perspective that's interesting enough to hook you. Maybe you won't. At least it's not Ready Player One.
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Dec 20, 2017 11:17
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Argas posted:WN tend to be pretty badly written and translations are usually done by amateurs or people who are still in the process of learning English or the other language. Still, as sunken said, it's free and you might find something with a subject matter or a perspective that's interesting enough to hook you. Maybe you won't. Is there something I don't know about Ready Player One? It seemed pretty average to me.
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Dec 20, 2017 15:18
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sunken fleet posted:Like what the gently caress is a class representative? Why do girls run into boys with bread in their mouths? What's the significance in that? Or you know, a million other common anime tropes that exist for whatever reason? What's with the weird naming conventions and social power structures? Why are teachers so disproportionately feared and respected in Korean stuff? Why is the main character of this Chinese novel clearly and evil piece of poo poo? Why does the very idea of a gun cause this Japanese protagonist to speak in hushed and reverent tones - doesn't he know he can just go buy one at Wal-Mart and blow the fucker with a god damned box knife away?!? There's plenty of better Japanese fiction for figuring out the answers to the first few questions, and someone who doesn't know the answer to that last question would strike me as remarkably ignorant. Although I suppose "Why is the main character of this Chinese novel clearly an evil piece of poo poo?" is sociologically interesting from a certain point of view.
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Dec 20, 2017 20:04
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The Sandman posted:Is there something I don't know about Ready Player One? It seemed pretty average to me. I'd personally consider it on the level of some WNs because it's basically lovely wish fulfillment and the way it goes about it isn't really my thing. But it clearly hit the right notes for a lot of people and made money.
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Dec 20, 2017 22:57
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Silver2195 posted:There's plenty of better Japanese fiction for figuring out the answers to the first few questions, and someone who doesn't know the answer to that last question would strike me as remarkably ignorant. Although I suppose "Why is the main character of this Chinese novel clearly an evil piece of poo poo?" is sociologically interesting from a certain point of view. It's not about knowing the answers to the questions. It's about even having the questions raised in the first place. Like obviously you can't buy a gun at Wal-Mart in Japan. But when it comes up it still catches me off guard from time to time, coming from a place where every other book with a contemporary setting features a Good Guy With A Gun.
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Dec 20, 2017 23:12
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As far as LN recommendations for the poster who asked, while it's not exactly high literature* I really enjoy Rokka no Yuusha. It had a fan translation up through volume 5 (that you can still find if you want to), but it was stopped due to an official translation that I'm pretty sure still hasn't caught up. I've mentioned it before in this thread, but Rokka no Yuusha is basically just an extremely solid fantasy/action/mystery "page-turner" sort of story. It avoids the vast majority of anime tropes (and directly subverts a couple), and the characters' powers and fight scenes are really unique and a lot of fun. It's just super entertaining in general, and I would put it above almost every WN simply due to having professional-quality writing (and a pretty damned good fan-translation if you go that route). It also doesn't have any dumb gamification in its setting, and there's zero self-insert/wish-fulfillment going on with the protagonist (this might actually be a con for some people, depending on what they're looking for). I should probably mention that it isn't complete, even in its original Japanese. There's a lot of existing content, but you will be blue-balled later. * I don't mean this as a euphemism, because it's actually considerably better written than most of the stuff mentioned in this thread. I just mean it in the literal sense of not having any sort of deep messages or philosophy or anything.
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Dec 20, 2017 23:35
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I read this garbage because of the insane premises, yeah. The worst ones are the ones that don’t give their premise full exposure and end up devolving into generic anime poo poo, e.g. in another world with a smartphone Also, sometimes even though the writing is bad, the farce is good.
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Dec 20, 2017 23:48
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as far as LNs go [all you need is kill] is good and has actually has a Real Translation
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Dec 20, 2017 23:54
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Duke's Daughter has come up a few times in this thread and I finally got around to reading it. It's not bad but it has the Xianxia problem of everyone on the protagonist's side being virtuous and competent where everyone against her is corrupt and incompetent. I think I'll stick with it, it's certainly better than most of the crap and it avoids the worst problem of the MC being an amoral rapist in favour of the much preferable problem of her being unbelievably kind and compassionate.
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Dec 22, 2017 04:31
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