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Pewdiepie posted:I think that if you read these web novels and you're an adult, you should take a step back and critically re-evaluate the life choices that led you down this path. Fun police is here, all fun is now secured. Proceed with only seriousness and wipe that grin off your face. Also, movies, comics, anime, and video games are banned as well. Let's throw in non-fiction for good measure.
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Oct 5, 2016 01:25
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Neurophage posted:Ze TIan Ji, or Way of Choices, is the only one of all these stories with actually good prose, something evident despite the shoddy translation. The characters are also complex and mostly three-dimensional, the protagonist is very likable and a good person and the world-building is fantastic. Even the fights, which are rarer than most novels of its kind, are usually interesting to read and not the usual xianxia crap. I should get on the Chinese version after I get caught up with my lovely WNs.
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Oct 5, 2016 16:26
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For Shun, it was the end of everything he knew. For Kumoko, it was merely a Tuesday. But seriously, it hilarious seeing things from Shun's perspective when you know everything is just going to get wrecked by the monstrous spider goddess. Maybe it's schadenfreude, or maybe it's because I'm just tired of these tropes.
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Oct 6, 2016 17:18
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So I keep seeing this story Les Interprčtes come up on the recently updated list, and was wondering if it was any good. Anyone care to take a dive? I'm too busy reading other stuff to divert over.
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Oct 8, 2016 21:33
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Hot drat Genjitsushugisha no Oukokukaizouki (A Realist's Kingdom Reform Chronicles) is good. The guy's bringing out Helsinki's Accord in the middle of negotiations and turns it into a parable. This is on par with that Hero, Be Mine LN featuring an economic reform Demon Queen, in my opinion. The translations are also pretty good (at least, the ones by larvyde is).
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Oct 10, 2016 05:27
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Power through the lovely translation parts and just gloss over the sentences for the gist of it. Maybe it's because of how I read, but bad translations doesn't bother me nearly as much as bad plot. Unless the translation is absolutely incoherent, or it's translation of the Chinese version, I wouldn't harp on too much about how bad it is. Best example is the machine translations done of LMS, where the translations can be absolutely terrible at times, but I still can power through it because I'm there for Weed being a penny-pinching douche and the translations aren't to the point where I'm wondering what they're trying to say. When it drops down to something on the level of Baka Dogeza's translation of Knights and Magic, I just give up and call it a day. I can get the basic gist, but reading it is so irritating that the bland plot jumps out and smothers any will to read further.
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Oct 11, 2016 03:18
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Kumo-chan scanlation got updated. Biohazard Spider is the best.
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Oct 17, 2016 19:01
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Kumo-chan Manga has updated. This time, the star of the show is Mahou Shoujo Kumo-chan. The Ham that stole the show though would be Decapitating Thread.
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Oct 29, 2016 18:32
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It's a Chinese VRMMO webnovel. The fact that you expect anything of quality out of it is laughable. Cleanse that palate with Release that Witch. Much more enjoyable with all of the moral bankruptcy belonging to the bad guys.
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Nov 3, 2016 03:08
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In the latest (Chinese) release of Release That Witch, we finally get around to magnet magic. YAY!  Turns out the author was really terrible at describing the witch's power. She doesn't "create magnets" out of any material, but rather magnetize anything that can be magnetized. Considering that most metal stuff that is being used was made of iron, it's understandable how it seems like she creates magnets magically out of wood or whatever. I'd have to question the availability of iron in that setting, as I'd think it'd be much more believable if the most common metals used for the common people were bronze and copper, both of which aren't really magnetic. tl;dr - the magnet witch is more like a weak version of Magneto than someone that magics up magnets.
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Nov 3, 2016 18:49
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It's very slow buildup. You get introduced to Magneto-lite at around chapter 100 or something, but you don't get any real magnet action till chapter 400+. Similarly, you wouldn't be seeing any conflict right now due to the fact that A) the MC's literally at the border of civilization, where everything's the boondocks B) the nobility and church cheats their own rules C) the real conflict isn't with the church D) the MC's rebelling against the church in a nation where disobedience towards church policy is implicitly condoned Granted, it's not super deep, but it's helluva lot better than most of the WN fare out there. Xianxia, for the most part, can disappear and nothing of value would be lost.
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Nov 4, 2016 04:50
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I read Emperor's Domination like the MC is the bad guy, and everyone who gets in his way is either the plucky rebel or another dude looking to take his spot as chief villain. It reads a lot better then. Women falling for him left and right is just something I ignore, they become irrelevant anyways by the next arc or two.
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Nov 12, 2016 14:13
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Nah, it's the translators being absolutely terrible at translating, plus doing a double translation from Chinese to Vietnamese to English. It reads fine in the original version, probably because it's more metaphorical about having the weight of mountains than literally having a mountain to throw around.
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Nov 12, 2016 22:46
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Man, I must have missed that part. Is this where he's fighting near the river of death? That's the only place where I can think of that happening in the earlier chapters.
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Nov 13, 2016 05:39
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gimme the GOD drat candy posted:yeah, when he was fighting the dude with the club. That's some poor rear end translation, in my opinion. A more accurate translation would be something along the lines where he tore out a chunk of the earth practically the size of a mountain. Plus, from what I understand of the geography around the river it was rather hilly, and the Chinese sense of "mountain" would be anything from "really big hill" to "Everest scale." At best you're getting something like in DBZ where they're chucking the surrounding scenery at each other.
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Nov 13, 2016 06:13
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Yay, Kumo-chan manga update. Time to roll out my Matrix Reloaded Big Mob fight track.
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Nov 17, 2016 22:23
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Mercenary Cook has been updated. Hooray! The dish of the day is... gyoza! Or jiaozi if you're Chinese, and dumplings if you just generalize all dough-wrapped meat filling foods into one group.
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Nov 25, 2016 18:36
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Recommendation time! I got reincarnated and mistaken as a genius is a fun little reincarnation story. Basically, the MC becomes reincarnated, and in a series of coincidences, he became lauded as a genius. From making super lethal chemical weapons, designing intercept missiles with ridiculous specs, to designing power armors and cures for incurable diseases, the MC bumbles from one situation to another, making himself look like a brilliant genius when in fact it was nothing but luck. Translation quality is mediocre, but the story is enjoyable enough for me to overlook it. If you want something of better quality, you're probably better off reading Ciaphas Cain stories.
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Dec 3, 2016 01:25
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I might have to pick that one up. I've been hankering for some decent Xianxia stuff (though what I really want is Jingyong style Wuxia stuff), and this sounds like it would scratch that itch ever since I've finished My Disciple.
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Dec 17, 2016 03:09
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Hahaha, Cultivation Chat Group is great. I don't know how far the translation is, but I'm right now at the point where a western monk is facing off with a poltergeist on a subway. It's like My Beautiful CEO Wife, but without the "justified" murders and excessively horny (antagonist) men. Only the first 100 chapters of 900+ though, so I hope it doesn't change. Also, modern weaponry isn't seen as jokes, as apparently a pretty powerful cultivator almost got blown up by a nuke one time.
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Dec 19, 2016 01:56
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Cultivation Chat Group is definitely worth the read. It's like My Disciple, only the Xianxia world is moved over to the "real" world instead of a person moved to the Xianxia world. All the characters are great, even the minor (very minor) characters like the western monk. (To clarify, that western monk is a Caucasian dude that's a Buddhist monk. I thought he was a catholic priest or something, but turns out he's a Caucasian who decided to join a Buddhist monastery and was thus inducted into the world of cultivation)
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Dec 20, 2016 03:05
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If you enjoyed the comedy Xianxia of My Disciple, Cultivation Chat Group is a must read, especially when you get around chapter 240. All you need to know is: Initial D... with a tractor. This guy is GENIUS!
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Dec 21, 2016 01:31
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Ytlaya posted:So what does reddit think of Mahouka. Do they also think it's terrible or do they actually like it? Wallow in that poo poo like a pig. When the bar is as low as reddit, you know that terrible people would show up proclaiming their love for terrible poo poo.
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Jan 12, 2017 01:59
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Good times. Especially when that one guy who just won't admit how terrible Mahouka was tried to justify its terribleness.
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Jan 13, 2017 22:23
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I filter by how unique a story deviates from the general tropes of their genre. For example, for a xianxia story, I'm expecting tropes that slant towards male audience. If it shows up with something different, like My Disciple's variation on having a female oriented audience (and thus a shift away from murderhoboing the world), I automatically read for more. Another good example of trope shift would be Cultivation Chat Group, where the main character isn't the "main" character: every one else is just way more lucky, powerful, connected, or talented than he is. It's basically a tale of how the bit player fit in everyone else's narrative. For other stories, it's more of the fact that they're either the first to do that genre that I read, like SAO, LMS, and Zhan Long, or the fact that they break into a genre that sees very few stories, like Parallel World Pharmacy. Because they're first, or because there's so few of their kind, they come across as something interesting. And that is the most important part of reading WNs for me: what sets your story from the rest of the crowd? You have a story about a reincarnated femme fatale? So does at least 20 other stories on QiDian. You have a story about a genius doctor? There's plenty of those too. A genius doctor that ISN'T a murderhobo as well? Well now you've caught my attention, how will you make your plot progress? Perhaps this is why I especially like slice of life stories, because they make the ordinary everyday extraordinary. At this point, I am going to have to make a recommendation. A while ago, my mom got absolutely hooked on a horror story. Normally, she would avoid these stories like the plague, since she would have nightmares after reading one. However, Ghost Blows Out the Light was so good that she read it non-stop, even though it was out of her normal genre pick. This shows that the writer was able to do such a good job that even someone who doesn't usually read his written genre is willing to give it a go. It's finding gems like these that makes digging through all the dross worth it.
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Feb 1, 2017 05:51
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So remember how Chef of Ice and Fire is about anything in the Xianxia genre EXCEPT cooking? Well Other-World Gourmet Shop (异世界的美食家) seems to be about actual cooking (somewhat). Basically, take Gourmet Food Supplier and stick it in a Xianxia setting, and have the MC deal with bullshit murderhobos rather than bullshit cheat system, and you get a marginally better story about ridiculous fantasy food being magically nutritious and tasty. 300 some chapters out in Chinese, but it doesn't seem to have any translators for it.
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Feb 10, 2017 16:27
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You know what I would like to read? A post-apocalyptic Xianxia world caused by cultivators. A world where all the resources are drained dry due to cultivators, and as a result pestilence, death, and famine spread throughout the world. As a result of a lack of resources, cultivators resort to more and more vicious methods to further their own power to reach immortality. From human sacrifices to literally draining the life force out of another living being, there is nothing these cultivator would stop at. The protagonist of the story would be someone that seeks to break the path of cultivation, wiping it from the memory of all people so that there would no longer be such cruelty in the world. Why would I want to read such a story? Because I realized that Xianxia stories are basically a parable of the current state of China's society. Everything is a zero-sum game due to its massive population, from education to finding a life partner. However, instead of the protagonists breaking such a society and remaking it better for everyone, they would instead participate in this violent rat-race, becoming king shithead of poo poo mountain. It's probably why I like My Disciple and Cultivation Chat Group so much, since it deviates from telling us to just shut up and git gud as most other Xianxia stories would.
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Feb 22, 2017 19:15
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I forget which comedian it was, but he summed it up basically as "everything we use nowadays is pretty much black box to us." And it's true. How do you explain how LCD works in terms low tech people would understand? Can you even explain how to manufacture it? How about something simpler, the toilet? Can you explain how it works without looking up Wikipedia? Running water, which is essential to modern plumbing, can you explain how you pump thousands to millions of gallons of water to those who need it without them having to pump it out of a well? While some stuff you can do at home, the truth is that we are only as advanced as we are because we specialize further and further into each field of study. The things we use, the food we eat, the words we read, it all is the result of endless improvements over the centuries. While having the knowledge of how things work lets you bypass quite a bit of work, you would still have to do endless amounts of it to actually make it usable and commercially viable.
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Feb 23, 2017 03:12
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Cultivator - Chinese muscle wizards that are usually assholes of the nth degree. If there is something scummy that can be done, they usually probably would or have done it. Protagonists that are cultivators tend to work towards being King Shithead of poo poo Mountain. Have ridiculous lifespans, so the only way to get rid of them is to call in an exterminator. This is the primary reason that the only Xianxia stories I can really recommend are My Disciple Died Yet Again and Cultivation Chat Group. In My Disciple, the protagonist is pretty much a pacifist (who pacifies with fists at times). She genuinely is trying to make a world a better place, while the typical xianxia MC character-types would be mucking it up for her. As for Cultivation Chat Group, the guy just wants to quietly and peacefully cultivate without harming anyone else; unfortunately, he always gets dragged along into some crazy shenanigans, like Tractor Initial D Racing (with Mario Kart thrown in for good measure). Most other Xianxia stories are pretty lousy, and I only read them as a guilty pleasure.
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Feb 23, 2017 17:04
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We now have our next thread title. All web novel genres are garbage, with few exceptions. Shows how having an editor look over your work can really improve the quality of your writing.
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Mar 2, 2017 02:58
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My Disciple Died Yet Again is a fun read, no matter whether or not you understand the terminology used. It's a good entry item into the Xianxia genre, though it may spoil you for future stories. All you need to keep in mind is Xianxia is the Chinese version of Swords and Sorcery, and cultivators are all muscle wizards. From there, everything pretty much falls into place. In terms of new recommendations, Qidian International has begun localizing Gourmet of Another World (异世界的美食家). While I don't know how well Qidian has been translating its works, the story itself is definitely a fun lighthearted read that mostly ignores Xianxia conventions in lieu of literally magical cooking. Definitely worth the read, especially if you enjoy humorous Xianxia stories like My Disciple and Cultivation Chat Group.
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Apr 11, 2017 16:05
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Mulva posted:Learn another language. I was actually pretty lovely at reading Chinese until I decided to pick up Chinese webnovels. Now I rot my mind with the terrible garbage that gets posted to Baidu's top tier listings. As a side note, getting the internet to evaluate anything will usually sap you of all hope for humanity. It's like these people are uneducated dullards who never taken a humanities course before! Of course, I'm in no position to complain as I'm just as eagerly sucking up this dreadful drivel. Web novels: terrible people reading terrible stories, making terrible judgement on what constitutes terrible literature.
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Apr 16, 2017 21:12
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You know what I want? A real Chinese medical web novel, with real medicine like in Team Medical Dragon. I'm tired of healthcare playing second fiddle to murder and rich douches.
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May 26, 2017 14:52
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That's what makes me so mad, since we already have stories that improves the quality of life of historic periods via modern health practices, such as sanitation, pasteurization, and proper hygiene. Why not take it a step further and do what Jin (manga) does?
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May 27, 2017 03:22
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I did, and now I'm craving more medical uplift stories.
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May 27, 2017 17:29
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Good grief Qidian translation picks are mostly garbage. My gripe of the day: Sorcerer's Journey. Starts out with MC getting into magic studies, but eventually devolves into senseless violence and murder. 2/5, only because the magic studies method is interesting.
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Jul 23, 2017 03:51
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You know, I really want to see more stories that go "Science! gently caress yeah!" Not this pseudo-science mumbo-jumbo that's actually Clarke-tech by another name, actual science stuff like germ theory, Newton's laws of motion, Mendelev's genetic inheritance, and stuff like that. It's probably why I'm enjoying Dr. Stone manga so much, because the science plays such an important role in the story. As a side note for recommendation, Library of Heaven's Path is a reasonably fun read, if you like MCs curbstomping over everything. No real tension, because you know that the "villain of the week" is going to get owned hard within three chapters, but still pretty amusing in a puerile fashion. If you can read Chinese, I would recommend 逍遥小书生, which to my best knowledge isn't being translated. It's one of those "transmigrated with cheat into an alternate history world" story, only the MC is just trying to live a carefree life while everyone else wants him to work for the betterment of the nation. While there's elements of Wuxia in it (chi-powered martial arts, Wulin/Murim, etc.), it plays a surprisingly low key role in the story, which mostly involves making shittons of money while trying to avoid all responsibilities. Finally, I just picked up 儒道至圣, which is a somewhat interesting story about Confucianism being the basis of the world's wizardry. The MC is surprisingly monogamous from the Baidu-wiki entry for the genre, and it isn't just mindless kicking people's poo poo in. Any genocide that goes on is because of the ongoing conflict with the furries of the world, which has been at a standstill for the last millennium and has recently been heating up again.
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Jul 27, 2017 19:04
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Just got caught up with Fall in Love with the Villainess, recommended earlier in this thread. Great read, excellent build-up of the world and how it differs from the anticipated game version. Also picked up Omni-magician, hopefully it doesn't turn into poo poo. It seems interesting though, as the basis of spells is rooted in programming code structure. Hopefully it wouldn't turn into your typical Chinese Muscle Wizard story. Update on Omni-magician: as of chapter 21, the MC has become Iron Man. jwang fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Sep 5, 2017 |
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Sep 5, 2017 00:28
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Omni-Magician trip report: as of chapter 68, MC has made Ironman Mk 2 armor, and has found something to be JARVIS. It's quite entertaining so far, with only the first girl being annoying with her money grubbing ways.
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Sep 6, 2017 12:49
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Good news everybody! Dungeon Defense now has the fifth volume's illustration up. We can (relatively) soon expect the story itself to show up.
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Oct 6, 2017 16:15
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