Argue posted:

In Honzuki, the main character doesn't even know they have powers for a while, because it manifests as an illness. I'm not far enough to say if her powers are unique among the people of that world but nearly a hundred chapters in all we really know about her powers is "she has mana." She's successful because she's basically a walking encyclopedia, and applies her earth knowledge to stuff.

Whether or not she's a nice person might be arguable, but she's not psychotic (although in the early chapters she had a yandere vibe that she eventually seems to ditch). She certainly tries to be considerate of others, at least, much to her own inconvenience.

To some extent, it's still a power fantasy though the power of money

Bobulus posted:

I think 'stuck in a timeloop' counts as a special ability. Honestly, you're going to have a hard time finding stories where the protagonist has absolutely no advantages, because if they didn't, then some random extra could duplicate their feats and do the job better than them. About the closest you're going to come is a story where the protagonist has above-average will power and is willing to go through some extremely strenuous training that anyone is theoretically capable of doing, but most would consider too painful to attempt.

Desuwa posted:

I have one WN that I've been reading for a while that hasn't been mentioned in this thread, Akuyaku Reijo Ni Koi Wo Shite. I think it's held up pretty well so far. A man gets reincarnated as a slums child and ends up serving as the butler to a pair of noble siblings. It's a game world, but it's not a game he was familiar with so he doesn't realize it until later, and those noble children end up being the designated petty villains that get taken out by the protagonist before dealing with the demon lord. It doesn't have levels or stats and actually does something with the idea of being a character in a game with a pre-determined plot. I find it changes things up enough to avoid getting stale and there are some significant events with real consequences.

Desuwa posted:

more Rags

Arbitrary Number posted:

It can't be helped. It can't be helped. It can't be helped. It can't be helped.

Getsuya posted:

Anyone want to weigh in on how I should translate the title of this wn?
Japanese is: 異世界でもふもふなでなでするためにがんばってます
Straight translation: Doing My Best for Snuggles and Petting in the Otherworld

Possibilities: Working Hard for Snuggles in the Otherworld
Doing My Best to Snuggle Everything in the Otherworld
Working Hard for Otherworld Snuggles


Alternatives welcome. The story is about a person reborn as a kid in an Otherworld whose only ambition is petting/snuggling with every fantasy creature ever.

Sindai posted:

Speaking of which, Zhu Yao loving calls out a whole genre:

My Disciple Died Yet Again is real good

Desuwa posted:

Of my recommendations "death flags show no signs of ending" could be removed, at least as far as my opinion goes. I stopped reading it and no one discusses it.

One to add would be Akuyaku Reijo Ni Koi Wo Shite. Maybe someone else who has read it can do a better job selling it than I can.

A man gets reincarnated as a slums child and ends up serving as the butler to a pair of noble siblings. It's a game world, but it's not a game he was familiar with so he doesn't realize it until later, and those noble children end up being the designated petty villains that get taken out by the protagonist before dealing with the demon lord. It doesn't have levels or stats and actually does something with the idea of being a character in a game with a pre-determined plot. I find it changes things up enough to avoid getting stale and there are some significant events with real consequences that you rarely see in the genre.

lurksion posted:

I am supremely amused by the internal shouting to do stuff.

Arkeus posted:

I tried that, but I got really annoyed very quickly at how self absorbed the whole thing was.

The MC spent a thousand years in another world before, but still constantly think about newton/einstein/earth sport teams/etc. He doesn't even know the name of the world he spent 1000 years in... but talks about how he spent all his time there 'learning everything he could'. I'm not sure if it's on purpose either, but he basically makes all the usual assumptions about "doing things randomly is obviously the optimal way to go" and always seemed to be right about random guesses in the past, and continues to seem to be so now.

As for the plotting/story, it just seems to be all about gloating on how much smarter he is than others, and it appears to read more as a basement-dwelling nerd thinking how much better he is than everyone else and how he understands the world better without ever connecting to anyone than anything else.

gimme the GOD drat candy posted:

actually, it is both.

sunken fleet posted:

It's a weirdly popular premise. I guess authors think its more legit for their self-inserts to poo poo all over their High School bullies if the bullies first literally attempt to kill them. Personally I don't understand the appeal of having High School bullies in your High Fantasy story in the first place.

gimme the GOD drat candy posted:

alchemy shenanigans have begun again in a will eternal.

devildragon777 posted:

They passed it some time ago, actually.

the heat goes wrong posted:

Just want a little taste? Not enough time to read a full book?
How about a short story?
Houseplants of Gor

This is what Gor books looks like. Gor is bad. Don´t read Gor.

owl milk posted:

Ytlaya posted:

Do other Xianxia like A Will Eternal have more developed cultivation/arts systems and good fight scenes? I ask because MDDYA has what seems to be a very simplified cultivation/arts system (since the focus of the series isn't combat) and was wondering if the cool fight scenes and system in the English-language Forge of Destiny were just uncommon.

edit: Speaking of MDDYA, it's sad that Zhu Yao forgot about Wang Xuzhi. That death actually felt pretty impactful and sad, I think because the series just don't have many main characters (and because the set-up was the sort of thing where he would be revealed to have survived in most other series).

quote:

With a flick of his sleeve, Qun Xo caused all the gathered experts to vomit blood!

"Is this really the power of Foundation Establishment?" asked the eldest cultivator.

"Artifact, it's definitely an artifact. This brat is lucky," laughed a fatty as he wiped the blood from his mouth.

"It's not! I recognize this technique, it's the Muddied Water Sect's weakest technique, the technique called 'Translation Flows Like Mud'!"

"What, he cultivated Translation Flows Like Mud to that extent?"

Every expert vomited another mouthful of blood. If this was what Qun Xo could do with such a trash technique, his future was as limitless as the heavens!

Annointed posted:

Is there no cultivation technique that cures stomach ulcers?

UberJew posted:

You could tell an interesting story about the usual nonsense "only one out of a thousand will ever achieve the next level" by having the main character and also the entire cast that are relevant be people who can't do that

make it so that the story is about people and interests in the world and the weird distant higher level ones capable of just hiding from the world and caring about nothing for decades or centuries are more like natural disasters or enigmas to be survived or puzzled about

Rangpur posted:

Do any of these 'omg-sucked-into-my-video-game' stories ever feature a protagonist who's stuck with his dumbass memelord screen-name? Usual power fantasy or whatever, except the entire slave harem refers to him as 'Weedboner Hitler-sama~'

gimme the GOD drat candy posted:

don't believe that claim. chapter 90 or so is when the mc goes from an unlucky creep to a fabulously wealthy powergamer that all women desperately lust after because of his amazing game skills despite him not actually having any particular talent. he still uses his stupidly unbalanced class as a crutch 100% of the time.

Jackard posted:

Hm! Are there any other fantasy stories where the protagonist isn't a. overpowered and b. a piece of poo poo?

gimme the GOD drat candy posted:

let me guess, the love interest is royalty, impossibly pretty and disturbingly possessive and controlling?

sunken fleet posted:

Also there's this hilarious misunderstand comedy called To be a power in the shadows that I found the other day. It's really funny, with the same sort of humor as Tiliea's Worries if you're familiar with that one - and it's been updating daily recently. It's the story of a boy who dreams of becoming more powerful than a Taepodong (which is a North Korean ICBM) and I highly recommend it, been checking it daily for a week now.

Tornhelm posted:

Daddy's Fantasy World Restaurant

...System basically being a punishment forcing him to come good