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I've started working through Nowhere Stars recently, and I'm really enjoying it. The protagonist is a terminally ill girl who gets magical girl powers in hopes of curing her condition, but finds her magic is really awful in that it spreads sickness, corruption, or drains vitality from those around her since it was created in response to her feelings regarding her illness. Writing is very good and because of how her powers work she can't defeat monsters through sheer might. My only complaint so far is the fights drag on too long and could probably use some tightening up. Edit SupSup 71: 
Nitrousoxide fucked around with this message at 12:38 on Jul 31, 2023 |
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Jul 30, 2023 23:26
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Nitrousoxide posted:SupSup 71: I hope you posted that on the Patreon too!
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Jul 30, 2023 23:51
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Nitrousoxide posted:I've started working through Nowhere Stars recently, and I'm really enjoying it. The protagonist is a terminally ill girl who gets magical girl powers in hopes of curing her condition, but finds her magic is really awful in that it spreads sickness corruption or drains vitality from those around her since it was created in response to her feelings regarding her illness. I'm at 1-5 right now and it seems good, but good lord, just get on with it and stop describing the miasma.
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Jul 31, 2023 09:33
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I just caught up to Bog Standard. I'm really glad I didn't start this earlier, and I wish I'd waited another month or two. It opens well, but the last 2/3rds have been a teenage level-up arc. I don't expect that to change for a few months either. Writing is otherwise mostly fine.
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Jul 31, 2023 14:55
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TTOU 83 I'm fairly sure that the murderer isnt one of the crew at all. There are still several unaccounted for members of the second crew. It's literally been that way for the entirety of the story. Not enough bodies found if I recall correctly. Just this chapter Aspen thinks about how little of the ship they generally use and how there are barely any cameras anywhere. Where have they been then? I think the murderer is hanging out in Cryostasis 5, and the hint is that Aspen gets the creeps walking through there regularly. I think they are hiding in a stasis chamber but not in stasis and him being creeped about walking through five is that something is different from when he woke up there. He notices maybe subconsciously that something is different. That's my crackpot theory. I have a question though, what are peoples thoughts on Aspen waking up with a really loving sore arm just randomly a lot of chapters ago? Shortly before not dead friend got sick?
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Jul 31, 2023 22:46
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TTOU It does seem like it's setting up for extra people (which I think is kinda a cop out), but 2nd crew doesn't make sense for who. They can't chronosleep twice, so they'd have to have been hiding for over a year for no particular reason, then pop up for this specifically. For Aspen's arm, wasn't that from the deep tissue DNA samples he volunteered to get taken?
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Jul 31, 2023 22:59
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Foxfire_ posted:TTOU it's not a cop out because this murder isn't the central mystery of the story. in terms of plot development, if there is an extra person, then the murder exists to provide clues for the central mystery, not to be its own self-contained thing
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Aug 1, 2023 00:08
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Jazerus posted:it's not a cop out because this murder isn't the central mystery of the story. in terms of plot development, if there is an extra person, then the murder exists to provide clues for the central mystery, not to be its own self-contained thing Almost all the big and little mysteries were satisfactorily resolved right before this murder, enough so that I wondered what the author intended to do with the story. They could easily have decided to timeskip to colonization instead of whatever this murder is leading towards. Things are also very conveniently set up for an infinitely long series of intracrew conflicts (with an easy solution to cast size by waking up and killing off people as desired) as time slowly passes on the opposite end of things.
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Aug 1, 2023 01:15
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TTOU I don't mean it's a whodunnit copout; I agree it's not really that kind of mystery. Suppose the killer had immediately confessed. There's still an interesting messy N-way conflict: "[Crewmate Aspen personally likes] did the murders because they think Renn's philosophy is abhorrent and dangerous. Aspen is torn because they agree with the motive, just not the intensity of the reaction. They also don't believe in the death penalty in general, and certainly not for this killing that's semi-justified in their mind, so they're going to be in conflict with Sands, but the ship also has no practical way to punish anybody short of execution." If the actual murderer is a 3rd party that can be metaphorically/literally kicked out an airlock without anyone feeling too bad about it, it's sidestepping the whole big thorny interpersonal conflict with an easy solution
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Aug 1, 2023 04:04
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Foxfire_ posted:TTOU Likely? No. It's probably actually a secret seventh Public Universal Friend.
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Aug 1, 2023 08:35
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TTOU 80+: I guess Renn might have been bought onto the project to help with Lyson Projecting those who were too valuable to pop the hearts of, but who just wouldn't comply with what the prison officers wanted. I wonder if the non-doctor Friend was a part of that. Yes they have checks and balances before the Friend process happens, but who's to say that caring about those checks and balances doesn't sometimes go out of the window along with the sense of individuality.
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Aug 1, 2023 10:29
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Nitrousoxide posted:I've started working through Nowhere Stars recently, and I'm really enjoying it. The protagonist is a terminally ill girl who gets magical girl powers in hopes of curing her condition, but finds her magic is really awful in that it spreads sickness, corruption, or drains vitality from those around her since it was created in response to her feelings regarding her illness. This has been sitting on my to-read list forever and I finally started it. I'm most of the way through the first book and have been enjoying it. It's sort of amazing how un-RR it is for a story about a magical girl who gets stronger by eating her enemies. It's not actually about the MC winning fights and getting stronger (so far she mostly hasn't done either of those despite trying a few times), and instead it's mostly a horror story where the harbingers are the real stars. I agree that the fights do drag on a bit, but the elaborate descriptions are sorta the point of the story.
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Aug 2, 2023 04:52
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It's not the most popular web novel in this thread, but it felt worth mentioning that pirateaba uploaded part 2 of their next TWI novel to patrons yesterday, for anyone wanting 100k words delivered straight to their eyeballs. I'm still only about a third of the way through it but it delivers. I still think part 1 of the novel was a bit stronger but its subject to change.
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Aug 2, 2023 20:53
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SupSup Patreon SEVENTY-TWO: My Daughter is an Alien Honors Student (what a good title) Finally, get to see that screaming sphere and Alden has passed phase 2 of his entrance interviews as expected. It's good Jeremy recognizes how cool Kibby is. For his sake.
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Aug 2, 2023 21:08
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Infinity Gaia posted:It's not the most popular web novel in this thread, but it felt worth mentioning that pirateaba uploaded part 2 of their next TWI novel to patrons yesterday, for anyone wanting 100k words delivered straight to their eyeballs. I'm still only about a third of the way through it but it delivers. I still think part 1 of the novel was a bit stronger but its subject to change. I actually listen to The Wandering Inn audiobooks. It's not only an incredible amount of content that's of (usually) great quality, but the narrator is hands down the best and most versatile narrator I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. And I have over 250 audiobooks. TWI is a serious time commitment but definitely worth it, especially the audiobooks.
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Aug 2, 2023 21:18
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Nitrousoxide posted:SupSup Patreon It was so funny that Alden had totally forgotten about the sphere spell. I would think he had also fully forgotten about the wordchains he got from the Velras, but Sleyca did say he knows what those are. Just hasn't bothered to study then yet. I also loved the back and forth with the debit card guy. Having a petty feud with a civil servant who is kind of a dick? That's just good hero story stuff.
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Aug 2, 2023 21:27
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The latest TWI public chapter (9.54 C) was surprisingly engrossing. Basically an extended experiment log by a guy trying to apply the scientific method to a bunch of alchemical reagents. A conspicious abscence of the "a
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Aug 2, 2023 21:34
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Ramie posted:The latest TWI public chapter (9.54 C) was surprisingly engrossing. Basically an extended experiment log by a guy trying to apply the scientific method to a bunch of alchemical reagents. A conspicious abscence of the "a Probably because she consulted multiple chemists to make sure that she a least had a basis in reality, and it was a great chapter, so I'm glad she did.
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Aug 2, 2023 22:30
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So, what are your favorite "numbers go up" serials? I'm a simple man, and I like it when there's systems to be exploited and lines to trend up. They don't have be litRPG; a sufficiently crunchy cultivation or progression fantasy could fit the bill. Right now I'm following Ar'Kendrithyst, Delve, Super Supportive, Bog Standard Isekai, and Ave Xia Rem Y.
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Aug 3, 2023 00:41
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Plorkyeran posted:This has been sitting on my to-read list forever and I finally started it. I'm most of the way through the first book and have been enjoying it. It's sort of amazing how un-RR it is for a story about a magical girl who gets stronger by eating her enemies. It's not actually about the MC winning fights and getting stronger (so far she mostly hasn't done either of those despite trying a few times), and instead it's mostly a horror story where the harbingers are the real stars. I agree that the fights do drag on a bit, but the elaborate descriptions are sorta the point of the story. Got caught up on Nowhere Stars today and hooooooooly poo poo is she an enormous fuckup. Just mind-boggling huge screw-ups with her inability to trust anyone that lead to her lashing out to anyone and everyone who wants to help her. The current arc titled "I Don't Think I'm A Good Person" is absolutely apt. I love this, it's like a first person train wreck. If you like Ryoka from TWI you'll love this series.
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Aug 3, 2023 01:30
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Haystack posted:So, what are your favorite "numbers go up" serials? I'm a simple man, and I like it when there's systems to be exploited and lines to trend up. They don't have be litRPG; a sufficiently crunchy cultivation or progression fantasy could fit the bill. Right now I'm following Ar'Kendrithyst, Delve, Super Supportive, Bog Standard Isekai, and Ave Xia Rem Y. Threadbare.
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Aug 3, 2023 01:33
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Haystack posted:So, what are your favorite "numbers go up" serials? I'm a simple man, and I like it when there's systems to be exploited and lines to trend up. They don't have be litRPG; a sufficiently crunchy cultivation or progression fantasy could fit the bill. Right now I'm following Ar'Kendrithyst, Delve, Super Supportive, Bog Standard Isekai, and Ave Xia Rem Y. My guilty pleasure lately has been A Tyrant, Sort Of, about a human that reincarnates in a fantasy world as a dragon, only to find out that dragons are supposed to be extinct because a) their scales are extremely valuable, and b) they gain power based on the stats of Hoard and Notoriety, which means they're all about terrorizing people and stealing their stuff. So she decides to try to game the system a bit by cowing nearby towns into giving her tribute with a minimal amount of actual bloodshed. It's got levels and stats but the crunchiness is very minimal so far, basically just she occasionally levels up and gains new abilities. Very light reading, there's a reason I call it a guilty pleasure. Another one I found decent in a "numbers go up" way was Salvos, about a demon in a fairly standard LitRPG world, and it was much more crunchy and with some fun powerups but also just recently made the jump to KU so isn't free anymore.
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Aug 3, 2023 01:54
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Nitrousoxide posted:I've started working through Nowhere Stars recently, and I'm really enjoying it. The protagonist is a terminally ill girl who gets magical girl powers in hopes of curing her condition, but finds her magic is really awful in that it spreads sickness, corruption, or drains vitality from those around her since it was created in response to her feelings regarding her illness. Two paragraphs in and the author has already snuck in a Madoka reference. (New Claris Regional Hospital; ClariS is the group that did the opening theme for Madoka.)
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Aug 3, 2023 02:36
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SupSup 72: It was great that Alden got to hang out with Jeremy again. I wonder why his cat mellowed out. Maybe Alden just has bad vibes. Alden also seems far more cheerful and sociable in this chapter. I guess it's mostly just because his post-affixation suffering has mostly worn off, and that was causing him to be really withdrawn for pretty much all chapters up until the last one.
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Aug 3, 2023 03:19
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Ytlaya posted:SupSup 72: Jeremy feeds the cat regularly and his mom never steals the cat food or forgets to buy more. Also, most pets can be trained to be well behaved but all of the ones I've had all needed to be trained.
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Aug 3, 2023 03:46
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Haystack posted:So, what are your favorite "numbers go up" serials? I'm a simple man, and I like it when there's systems to be exploited and lines to trend up. They don't have be litRPG; a sufficiently crunchy cultivation or progression fantasy could fit the bill. Right now I'm following Ar'Kendrithyst, Delve, Super Supportive, Bog Standard Isekai, and Ave Xia Rem Y. I read 129 chapters of Return of the Runebound Professor on the train yesterday, which scratched that itch for me. A somewhat crunchy cultivation system that the MC gets to exploit.
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Aug 3, 2023 06:20
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For numbers go up and system exploitation I enjoyed the legendary mechanic. Sure it has the usual Chinese web novel tropes but I found it an overall fun ride. He basically exploits his knowledge as a player and how the game progresses while also using his experience to manipulate the players to help him achieve his goals. Nice guilty read
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Aug 3, 2023 06:34
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Haystack posted:So, what are your favorite "numbers go up" serials? I'm a simple man, and I like it when there's systems to be exploited and lines to trend up. They don't have be litRPG; a sufficiently crunchy cultivation or progression fantasy could fit the bill. Right now I'm following Ar'Kendrithyst, Delve, Super Supportive, Bog Standard Isekai, and Ave Xia Rem Y. There's not much system exploiting, but Beneath the Dragoneye Moons is my favorite "numbers go up" serial.
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Aug 3, 2023 07:35
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Chaotic Craftsman Worships the Cube is kinda neat, in a numbers-go-up way. Group of people get Isekaied into a world which is ending, in the vain hope that they can save it, and the MC gets told he's no good and abandoned. This gives him an inferiority complex and he starts making armour instead. I haven't read it in a while because it felt like it was wrapping up, and I figured I'd wait for it to end, but for something that opens so lightly, Edge Cases becomes surprisingly melancholy. It's the story of a group of adventurers in a dying world basically just coming to terms with that fact. Numbers do indeed go up, but they also go down sometimes too. :'( I keep meaning to catch up on Darkhelm. It was a very traditional feeling dark fantasy with added numbers, when I last checked in around chapter 20 or so. It's up to 50-odd now, and it was a Writathon effort to begin with so might have some rough edges, but it seemed good.
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Aug 3, 2023 08:54
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Slumrat Rising 116 is extremely metal.
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Aug 3, 2023 18:56
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It also made rather concerned for Truth. Like that can't be healthy for a relationship.
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Aug 3, 2023 19:11
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LLSix posted:Slumrat Rising 116 is extremely metal. Hell yeah. quote:“Look at me. LOOK AT ME!” She shouted. His eyes focused. He was bleeding out fast. She leaned in and whispered. “God has abandoned this world. So I will raise a new one up. The man you poisoned shall rule this world. Think on that as you burn forever in Hell. Or do you think your faithless cries to God will move him?”
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Aug 3, 2023 19:12
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Gladi posted:It also made rather concerned for Truth. Like that can't be healthy for a relationship. Naw, slumrat 117's ending made it work so well. quote:Etenesh didn’t need looking after. In fact, she already was looking after herself. Truth didn’t realize it, but he was smiling so much tears formed in the corner of his eyes. E: forgot to thank whoever recced Dungeon Life, I like it a little bit too much. It felt like a more tightly plotted version of There is no Epic Loot here, Only Puns. I particularly love the worldbuilding, and how... casual and modern the non-dungeon people feel, something about that really works. I like that it manages to be a light, fluffy read despite some down moments. babydonthurtme fucked around with this message at 22:34 on Aug 4, 2023 |
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Aug 4, 2023 22:29
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Boy, chapter 85 of TTO:U is uh... I dunno kind of a let down?quote:“Friend,” Sands greets it with a wave. “How can we help you?” Not a very satisfying conclusion to the murder mystery IMHO
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Aug 5, 2023 00:06
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Nitrousoxide posted:Not a very satisfying conclusion to the murder mystery IMHO to be fair, "confess to a crime I didn't commit so I'll be executed instead of a more useful crew member" is entirely within the Friend's mindset and honestly not that far from actions it's already taken. Fully expect this to be a fakeout (and if not, then yeah, kinda a waste of a murder mystery set-up).
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Aug 5, 2023 00:22
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I've been really enjoying the new series by the "Outcast from Another World" author ("Skill Thief's Canvas"). I'm up to chapter 12 now, which is the current Patreon chapter (RR is up to 6, which basically concludes the first arc). It started off a little awkward, but the Patreon seems like it's reaching the climax of its second arc, and I think the basic structure of the story is very promising and creates a good framework for having substantive individual arcs that don't fall victim to the sort of story-telling a lot of "progression" stories suffer from. So far I'd actually say it's a bit better than Outcast. Outcast is fun, but definitely just feels like "a pretty good 'progression' web novel" for the most part.
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Aug 5, 2023 03:13
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Nettle Soup posted:I haven't read it in a while because it felt like it was wrapping up, and I figured I'd wait for it to end, but for something that opens so lightly, Edge Cases becomes surprisingly melancholy. It's the story of a group of adventurers in a dying world basically just coming to terms with that fact. Numbers do indeed go up, but they also go down sometimes too. :'(
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Aug 5, 2023 03:21
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babydonthurtme posted:E: forgot to thank whoever recced Dungeon Life, I like it a little bit too much. It felt like a more tightly plotted version of There is no Epic Loot here, Only Puns. I particularly love the worldbuilding, and how... casual and modern the non-dungeon people feel, something about that really works. I like that it manages to be a light, fluffy read despite some down moments. Yeah! I was getting a little worried when the story started going down a split route, with a split party and multiple threats coming to a head. That can work, but in a serial work with as many characters as Dungeon Life it can be easy to lose track of something due to the time between updates and everything suffers. (Beware of Chicken's earlier attempt at this comes to mind, though the current situation has been better handled so far than the last time.) Chapter 173 Thankfully, with a recent chapter revealing that it's the same source for both problems, I don't have to fear that anymore.
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Aug 5, 2023 06:36
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Nitrousoxide posted:Got caught up on Nowhere Stars today and hooooooooly poo poo is she an enormous fuckup. Just mind-boggling huge screw-ups with her inability to trust anyone that lead to her lashing out to anyone and everyone who wants to help her. The current arc titled "I Don't Think I'm A Good Person" is absolutely apt. while i do like the story, the protagonist is a terminally ill 13 year old girl who has been abandoned by her father. her inability to make good decisions due to immense trauma is far more tragic than ryoka's self-sabotage
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Aug 5, 2023 07:26
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Onean posted:Yeah! I was getting a little worried when the story started going down a split route, with a split party and multiple threats coming to a head. That can work, but in a serial work with as many characters as Dungeon Life it can be easy to lose track of something due to the time between updates and everything suffers. (Beware of Chicken's earlier attempt at this comes to mind, though the current situation has been better handled so far than the last time.) I'm pretty stoked about that too! That poor dumb cthulhu dungeon, assimilated the wrong animal and revved up "chance to die" by 1000%. That does make me wonder why someone would design dungeons and unleash them on the world to help solve too stagnant/too active mana, but then not give them sensible guardrails. In stories like this you can almost always assume incompetence or "too busy putting out bigger fires" or "we tried and that spec nearly ate the whole world", but I'd still like to get an answer eventually.
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Aug 5, 2023 21:13
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