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Cynic Jester posted:I mean, if you're okay with the Mirror he finds early on, by chance, you should be okay with the everything else that happens, considering the mirror is basically the most broken thing he has obtained by a mile and he got it all the way at the start of the story. Without the mirror, there would no Meng Hao. Well, and no imploding asses, which might be more important to this discussion. See, it's one thing to find the most broken poo poo ever that helps Meng Hao become top tier. But then he finds the second most broken poo poo ever, and then the third, and then the fourth, and.... Given how gently caress huge the place is supposed to be, it's a bit annoying how basically no one ever managed to get those things and how the general level of cultivation hasn't improved from "horribly bad". I mean, it's OK when something is either completely lost at very high level, or when the level is just middling, but to have constant "and everyone is doing everything wrong times 10" when they actually know they are doing it wrong but haven't managed to do anything about it gets very frustrating. Maybe it's just my desire for Meng Hao to have actual peers giving me bias, though.
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Nov 13, 2015 19:59
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There is nothing wrong with the normal cultivation method. Doing it gives you power, longevity, and wealth. Plus, you don't have to deal with the universe trying to murder you with lightning. It is mostly the dudes at the end of their ridiculous lifespans that want more, which is not surprising at all. Unfortunately, now that Meng Hao has joined a sect that isn't completely insane he has found that he likes the system. Being a normal cultivator that isn't followed by a hundred grudges is pretty sweet!
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Nov 13, 2015 21:49
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It's sort of a matter of intent--a lot of cultivators seem to set their sights just on getting further, without necessarily caring about how they match up with their peers. Sure, you may have reached Late Foundation Establishment with a crappy-rear end Fractured Foundation, but that still gets you sweet benefits, plus you still outclass all the Qi Condensation cultivators by miles, and you probably still kick the poo poo out of all the Early Foundation Establishment cultivators, and probably the Mid ones that aren't Dao Children or Chosen. Sure, maybe you could have spent 50 years to make that a cracked foundation instead, but if you aren't trying to be Mr. Bigshot anyways, why bother? You still have plenty of people to beat up on, and that's 50 years you're spending on reaching Core Formation instead, at which point you outclass all the Foundation Establishment dudes regardless of what type of foundation they have, plus you get the sweet perks of that, too. I actually kind of want to meet a character who's progressed through all the stages in the worst possible way. Meng Hao, on the other hand, has a bit of a complex about being weaker than somebody else. So he does everything he can to assure that he will be the absolute best among people at his level--at Qi Condensation this was mostly related to magical items, but he took great pains to join the Inner Sect, then to get the Flawless Foundation Scripture, even before he started venturing into "murder the gods and topple their thrones" territory. He can't allow himself to just beat the game, he has to get the high score, too. And he plans far ahead for this--he was considering how he would get the Core Formation techniques of the Violet Fate sect (to lead into a Golden Core) before he had even achieved a Perfect Foundation. Because as part of his need to be the very best like no one ever was, he inevitably has to challenge Heaven, because he can't stand Heaven outclassing him either.
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Nov 14, 2015 00:57
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I don't know why people think the tenth dao pillar is an asspull. The Qi condensation/perfect foundation path he's going on seems to lead into it.
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Nov 14, 2015 10:40
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I assumed he'd go up to 13 pillars since forever. There doesn't seem much point to what he did in the first book if it didn't matter as soon as he leveled up into foundation establishment.
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Nov 14, 2015 15:35
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Urrrrgh, the new translators for Knights & Magic are terrible. It seems like they're dumping it into Google Translate and posting whatever comes out.
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Nov 14, 2015 20:53
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jwang posted:Urrrrgh, the new translators for Knights & Magic are terrible. It seems like they're dumping it into Google Translate and posting whatever comes out. The original Japanese is really terrible, so maybe they just made it more accurate than previously.
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Nov 14, 2015 20:54
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My Disciple Died Yet Again is an amusing comedy take on the Xianxia genre from the female perspective. The main selling point in this series is that the MC doesn't quite fully understand the world she's been reincarnated into, and everyone around her has no idea what she's talking about, especially when she start spouting modern slang.
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Nov 17, 2015 19:23
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I tried reading To Deprive a Deprived Person, and big surprise, it was terrible. However, I can't think of any wn's where the author is so obviously an idiot. Dude really put himself into his writing, only he is amazingly stupid. I don't really find this amusing enough to continue reading it, though. Also, in the latest chapter of tdg Nei Li made a friend without bribing the heck out of them first. gimme the GOD DAMN candy fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Nov 17, 2015 |
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Nov 17, 2015 20:14
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I did it. It wasn't the light novel (since we didn't get anymore after vol 3.), but I finished Full Metal Panic via the Sigma manga. I'm totally not crying. I'm just gonna go over here and think for awhile.
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Nov 18, 2015 02:38
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The ending to FMP is super-cool. I've always liked how the author capitalized on one of the points he almost off-handedly mentions in the first novel (how strange it is for all this future tech to be rolling around in 1998). And of course, all of the insane poo poo that happens in the later novels. Nice anti-terrorist organization you got, there. It'd be a shame if someone... terrorized it. When I first read it, the final novels were a rough JP->CN->EN translation. It looks like someone improved on it and finished the series.
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Nov 18, 2015 07:46
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Drunk kumo-chan is best kumo-chan.
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Nov 18, 2015 17:20
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Father-in-law Lu Bu is such a slow-paced series. 109 chapters in and he's still setting up his base of operations. Harem is getting built though, so you know where the priorities lay.
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Nov 19, 2015 02:48
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Chapter 5 of OSO 7 is finally out. Katanas are basically kitchen knives.
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Nov 20, 2015 00:51
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Holy poo poo, My Disciple has Died Yet Again calls out so much of Xianxia's BS. Negligent childcare, power hungry hypocrites, absolutely illogical charisma stats, Deus Ex Machina that's an integral working part of the world, the list just goes on. This is way better than History's #1 Founder or whatever the other one I recommended was. If you can read Chinese, reading ahead is definitely worth the headache of trying to figure out modern Chinese internet slang. If you can't read Chinese, I guess you can just follow along with the translation. Best line from a later chapter: "Are we training to become gods, or demons?" Seriously, with the proportionate amount of assholery increasing with the power levels, it's really hard to distinguish at times. jwang fucked around with this message at 05:31 on Nov 21, 2015 |
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Nov 21, 2015 01:32
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My Disciple Has Died Yet Again is great. I've only read up to what's translated so far, but I can already see the poking at common Xianxia tropes already starting. And it's refreshing having a female MC.
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Nov 21, 2015 18:23
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It gets really, really good. Like at the end of her third reincarnation, you'll be amazed that this is actually Xianxia with actually decent plot and an actually decent person as the main character. She doesn't go off the rails and decide that hey, since she's doing this for justice, murder/rape/larceny is A-okay! At one point her master actually states that she's too kind, and that she could have solved the problem already by preemptively killing off the problem person. It's incredibly refreshing, and I'm going to be really disappointed if this isn't complete. I tried looking it up on various Chinese sources, but none of them lists it as complete. The latest chapter can be translated as "The Final Finale", so here's hoping.
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Nov 21, 2015 22:55
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jwang posted:It gets really, really good. Like at the end of her third reincarnation, you'll be amazed that this is actually Xianxia with actually decent plot and an actually decent person as the main character. She doesn't go off the rails and decide that hey, since she's doing this for justice, murder/rape/larceny is A-okay! At one point her master actually states that she's too kind, and that she could have solved the problem already by preemptively killing off the problem person. It's incredibly refreshing, and I'm going to be really disappointed if this isn't complete. I tried looking it up on various Chinese sources, but none of them lists it as complete. The latest chapter can be translated as "The Final Finale", so here's hoping. One of the comments on the translated chapters was that this was completed really recently.
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Nov 21, 2015 23:13
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That would be another point in its favor: a Xianxia series that isn't over 1000 chapters long. This series ends at around 400 chapters, which is very concise for its genre.
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Nov 21, 2015 23:56
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Oh god, My Disciple is so good. The dramatic parts are suitably dramatic, and the overdone cliched parts are properly lampooned. Some rear end in a top hat bumps into you on the street. They demand an apology. Do you: a. Apologize. It's no skin off your nose, it's all words. b. Refuse. Pride is the most important thing, and they should be looking where they go. c. Kill them. Assholes dare block your way? Obviously deserves death. Most often in the genre people choose B or C, but My Disciple goes with A. Because seriously, why go into such trouble when you can solve the issues with a word? Best part is, the offended party is always shocked because they always expect the MC to play into the pride pitfall.
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Nov 22, 2015 23:41
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However, the other LN on the site, So What If It's A RPG World?, isn't nearly as good. It's pretty much just bog fare standard for the genre. Just reporting back as someone who read it out of curiosity to see if it would be as good as My Disciple. But it looks like for the most part translators' tastes, even translators of good things, can't be trusted. Just look at OSO, or ISSTH, for example, the other stuff on their sites're mediocre at best compared to those two works. And I love ISSTH, but its protagonist, while apparently nice for the genre, is kinda an rear end in a top hat compared to My Disciple's heroine.
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Nov 23, 2015 02:44
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I don't think I've read a single series in the genre where the MC isn't an rear end in a top hat in some shape or form outside of My Disciple. This is probably because she actually has morals that she isn't willing to give up for convenience, along with a healthy dose of common sense. Although, there are things that would sway her. From chapter 202: "For the boobs." No, not that way. But it's funny both in and out of context.
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Nov 23, 2015 03:11
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From what I'm hearing you guys say (I've only read ISSTH), it sounds like Meng Hao kind of works better when you haven't read other Xianxia stuff, because then he's not just falling on the shallow end of the "MC is an rear end in a top hat" scale, it's "Meng Hao is a pretty reasonable guy all told but he lives in a world of assholes and he's not about to bend over for them". Speaking of ISSTH, it was good to see Grandmaster Pill Demon just go "gently caress the tradition that I started, you're all good enough to be Violet Furnace Lords, you all get a promotion". It's nice to see the protagonist have success that doesn't have to be at the expense of someone else.
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Nov 23, 2015 04:50
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Kaja Rainbow posted:But it looks like for the most part translators' tastes, even translators of good things, can't be trusted. Just look at OSO, or ISSTH, for example, the other stuff on their sites're mediocre at best compared to those two works. ISSTH dude only translates that. Everything else on wuxiaworld are different translators. Otherwise it'd be super absurd. Also Meng Hao is a dick but an evolving one. Which is why he's great. In fact recently he's been pretty reasonable
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Nov 23, 2015 05:44
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I gave MGA a read when the author did that video for Wuxiaworld and didn't stick with it. I got about to the point someone complained about earlier - the guy the MC has a scheduled duel with kills the MC's family for no in-universe reason. The writer just wanted to let the MC get away with torturing the guy but didn't want to go all the way and have the MC do it without any provocation. Skythewood was the only translator who translated more than one thing I kept up on reading. I'm actually behind on Gifting the world with blessings or whatever, but it was getting too harem-y anyway.
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Nov 23, 2015 05:54
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I tried getting into ISSTH but after 2 chapters I felt that everything was ridiculously contrived. The instant he stepped onto immortal territory the gatekeeper dude was like "yo, I see you're different for no good discernible reason, so I'll give you a pass instead of being an rear end in a top hat to you like every shitbag that gets picked up to toil here." At that point, my suspension of disbelief just went out the window. At least make it like Spartacus where he has to fight like crazy to get recognition.
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Nov 23, 2015 06:02
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jwang posted:I tried getting into ISSTH but after 2 chapters I felt that everything was ridiculously contrived. The instant he stepped onto immortal territory the gatekeeper dude was like "yo, I see you're different for no good discernible reason, so I'll give you a pass instead of being an rear end in a top hat to you like every shitbag that gets picked up to toil here." At that point, my suspension of disbelief just went out the window. At least make it like Spartacus where he has to fight like crazy to get recognition. While everyone else is whining about being kidnapped, Meng Hao is happy to get a shot at immortality. It's not like he had anything else to do with his life.
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Nov 23, 2015 06:16
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Meng Hao has a scholar's manner, which is different and tends to make folks like him. He learns to cultivate this. Also yeah, he was excited! At least read to the buttsplosions or conman Meng Hao!
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Nov 23, 2015 07:27
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You'd prefer it if everyone was a dick to Meng Hao for no particular reason?
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Nov 23, 2015 08:30
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SerSpook posted:Also Meng Hao is a dick but an evolving one. Which is why he's great. In fact recently he's been pretty reasonable
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Nov 23, 2015 13:02
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SerSpook posted:ISSTH dude only translates that. Everything else on wuxiaworld are different translators. Otherwise it'd be super absurd. I stand corrected.
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Nov 23, 2015 13:16
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Algid posted:He got most of his murder-hoboing done in book 2, which is also when his poison was driving him to be more aggressive. Book 1 he was so weak something like 1/3 of the chapters involved him running away from other people. Book 3 he spends his time in alchemy battles competing to see who can cook the purest drugs. He is still a dick though, I loved that part where he talked that golden frost alchemist into poisoning himself and handing over all his poo poo. No, Meng Hao talked him into using a life-extending drug and then convinced him and everyone watching that it was a poison. That was just great.
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Nov 23, 2015 13:18
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Serious Frolicking posted:No, Meng Hao talked him into using a life-extending drug and then convinced him and everyone watching that it was a poison. That was just great.
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Nov 23, 2015 13:25
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My Disciple Died Yet Again just had its first translated death and it is 
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Nov 24, 2015 04:04
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It only gets better from here on out. She'll get some really strange deaths and reincarnations, and truly bypass all boundaries of common sense. Zhu Yao ver 2.0 is pretty amusing, but 3.0 is definitely one of the best part of the story. If you cry at the end of the 3.0 arc, I wouldn't blame you.
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Nov 24, 2015 04:59
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So Coiling Dragon is translated. The first half was solid but gods shouldn't have been a thing
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Nov 24, 2015 21:20
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Chapter 6 of OSO is up already. In which Yun continues to prove that archery is the shittiest and that you get better results with god drat kitchen knives.
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Nov 24, 2015 21:42
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From what I can tell from IET works, a lot of the time it's just a constant escalation till the point where he has no idea where to go, and then try to figure an out for everything, usually with a Super Primordial Saiyan Ultra Voltron Deus Ex Machina of some sort. I read Coiling Dragon because it's somewhat okay to pass the time with, the Stellar Transformation because it's tied somewhat to Coiling Dragon. Nine Cauldrons is somewhat okay simply on the merit that it's shorter, but overall his works always similar patterns that gets tiresome. After you've read 3 of IET, it's of my opinion that you need to move on to another author, specifically one that doesn't follow his template.
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Nov 25, 2015 02:46
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SerSpook posted:So Coiling Dragon is translated. The first half was solid but gods shouldn't have been a thing Really, I thought Coiling Dragon was pretty solid throughout the school arc, but once he graduated it was all downhill from there.
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Nov 25, 2015 03:01
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jon joe posted:Really, I thought Coiling Dragon was pretty solid throughout the school arc, but once he graduated it was all downhill from there. That's pretty much where people stopped developing and numbers started increasing instead.
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Nov 25, 2015 03:09
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