|
I'm sad that Grimgar being licensed means the fan translation was cancelled and it'll be ages until the official one catches up. It's been getting really interesting recently, what with Moguzo dying and the the first time they try to fight goblins after that having Haruhiro almost get killed. Granted, Moguzo's death was somewhat predictable (he was easily the most likely to die of the party members), but I'm wondering how in the world they will fill the gap, since they clearly can't do poo poo without him. On one hand there aren't really any named warriors who could end up joining their party, and I doubt Haruhiro or anyone else is going to join another party.
|
#
¿
Oct 31, 2016 21:53
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 13:05 |
|
|
UberJew posted:having aphantasia means never having these problems (and also makes schlock WNs much easier and faster to read since my brain just skips over a lot of pointless visual detail) I think that this sort of thing exists on a spectrum. I can just create vague mental images that I have a really difficult time forming and holding onto, so I usually don't bother trying. When I was having this battery of tests ~5 years ago (which basically consisted of an IQ test plus some other tests) to test for ADD (which I didn't have) I did extremely poorly on the test where they showed me one set of faces and then showed me a second set and told me to point out which faces were also a part of the first set. I was in something like the bottom 7th percentile. I also did just as poorly on a test where I had to repeat back a sentence I read, so I think it may be related to a general difficulty with short-term recall.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 7, 2016 21:45
|
|
|
After watching the current episodes of Magical Girl Raising Project I decided to read the translated LNs. They're quite good! Definitely high tier escapist reading, so I highly recommend them if anyone wants something fun to read. Some of the powers the girls' have and the way they use them are interesting, and the characters' themselves are also written fairly well.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 25, 2016 18:05
|
|
|
So I've been continuing to read the Magical Girl Raising Project LNs, and they're so good. There's such a huge difference between actual properly edited work written by a professional writer and 99% of WNs. I'm in Volume 4 now (which is the third arc, since Volume 3 is a collection of side stories) and it is super thrilling/exciting. All the characters are really unique and well defined and have interesting powers they use in creative ways. While all the volumes are good, it gets significantly better (in my opinion) after Volume 1, largely due to a few of Volume 1's characters being more weakly characterized and having unclear motivations. One cool thing about MGRP (though more so post-Volume 1) is that there isn't really a protagonist and it skips around between different character viewpoints, sort of like in A Song of Ice and Fire. The general plot is also much more interesting than standard WN/LN fare and doesn't really suffer from the most common negative WN/LN tropes. Anyways, someone else should read it. At the very least, I can guarantee that it is better than 90% of the WNs we discuss in this thread, so I recommend giving it a shot instead of reading yet another exciting tale about slave harems. edit: One kind of neat example of one of the girls' powers is "the ability to make anything return to its owner (by touching it)". So if, for example, you find any possession of a person, you can track them down by making it return to them. Or you can do something like touch someone's car, causing it to become a flying homing car missile! Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 09:42 on Nov 29, 2016 |
|
#
¿
Nov 29, 2016 09:34
|
|
|
Desuwa posted:Huh, didn't realize there were translations past the volume 4 side stories (if you're mixing volumes and arcs, volumes 2 and 3 are arc 2, and volume 5 is arc 3). Guess I have more reading to do, since I found nice epubs to read but only up to volume 4. Welp. Yeah I was saying the volumes wrong and I forgot that Arc 2 and 3 are both 2 volumes long. Currently a full arc after the side stories and most of the arc after that are complete.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 29, 2016 19:18
|
|
|
On the off-chance someone else has read through the end of Arc 2 of MGRP (so end of Arc 2/Volume 3 spoilers)I feel like there may have been a bit of a plot hole in the scene where Pechika turns the ground into vegetable soup and pulls Melville inside. I feel like I remember Pechika's power requiring her to spend 5 minutes creating food, and I seriously doubt that Melville was holding her hostage in front of Clantail for a whole 5 minutes.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 29, 2016 23:28
|
|
|
Desuwa posted:I've read it, it's only volume 5+ that I didn't realize were also translated, and yeah that doesn't make much sense. Five minutes is too long for a standoff, and I'd assume Melville knew Pechika's power. Hell, by that time Pechika had mostly gotten over Nokko's influence and she's pretty bloodthirsty herself, so she could have just turned Melville into soup. I don't really mind Melville being surprised, since everyone else, including Pechika herself up until that point, had only thought Pechika could use her power in a pretty mundane way. I also think that Pechika was not directly in contact with Melville, who had a spear against her neck or something, so she couldn't have turned her into food. (I mean, she was touching her while they were underwater/soup, but that was for a very short time.) If you really want to stretch things, I guess one could argue that Pechika had been in contact with the ground in that general area (through her feet) for at least 5 minutes (it never said she has to touch something with her skin, so it might count if it's through her costume). Another thing to keep in mind is that it's already been established that magical powers can improve with experience (see Snow White), and it's possible that getting her memory back allowed Pechika to do things she couldn't do before. Regardless, it should have been clarified better. Regarding Pechika being bloodthirsty, I got the impression that it wasn't so much bloodthirstiness as it was that she just enjoyed fighting to some extent. The scene of her raging out during the dragon fight involved Nokko-chan influencing her anger, though it did reveal that she knew how to fight well. Regarding Volume 5+, I like that it's finally getting away from the "organized death game where almost everyone is guaranteed to die" set-up. Volume 5 seems to pretty clearly establish where people stand, so there isn't the same "I wonder which characters are going to be murderous/evil" element at play (though Volumes 2-3 were pretty good in this regard; the only people who seemed to not care about killing were Melville and Akane, and there were still reasons for their behavior). Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 00:46 on Nov 30, 2016 |
|
#
¿
Nov 30, 2016 00:40
|
|
|
Oh no, the end of the third MGRP arc! Also, the part where (Arc 3/ Volume 6 spoilers)mind-controlled Rain Pou just cuts Postarie to pieces was brutal, Postarie didn't get any first-person perspective before it! At least most of her other classmates got relatively heroic/useful death scenes, but she just got butchered after helping her friend/the assassin almost kill Ripple. Speaking of which, I hope that Ripple's memory loss isn't permanent. Pythie Frederica is pretty terrifying and insane, though I guess that's what makes her a good villain. Also this one new character in the new Volume/Arc has quite possibly the shittiest power I've seen yet. She can change the image that appears in mirrors! Like, I can kinda sorta see that being useful if you were fighting inside of, uh, a mirror house or something, but even then it's kind of worthless as long as the opponent is aware of what the power does (all they have to do is ignore mirrors). It seems like the most you could do with it is create small distractions. I guess maybe you could disguise a big mirror as glass and then make it appear like the opponent sees you through the glass when you're actually just creating the image in the mirror, but that's kind of convoluted. Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 09:51 on Dec 1, 2016 |
|
#
¿
Dec 1, 2016 07:04
|
|
|
Arkeus posted:Mmmh, MGRP quickly change protagonist or something? Because I only watched the first couple of episode and was frustrated at how no one caught on what was happening, but I actually sort of liked the main character. The anime only covers the first volume of the LN, and currently the first 7 or 8 volumes (which is almost 4 arcs) are translated (one of which is a compilation of side stories about the characters). While I like the first arc, I don't think its cast was quite as strong as the casts from future arcs (each arc introduces a bunch of new characters, but the "main plot" still continues). All the characters had well defined motives in the future arcs, but in the first arc some people are just terrible sociopaths for seemingly no reason. One of the coolest parts in Arc 3 (so volume 5-6 spoilers) was when Funny Trick used her power to replace Pukin's eye with a smoke grenade. It was a good example of how some powers can be used to devastating effect if fully understood. Funny Trick's ability is to switch two hidden objects (as long as the first is within 100 meters and the second is within 50 meters of the first), so in the instant Pukin blinked (which covered her eye) it was possible to switch it with something of a similar size. From what I understand, Funny Trick is able to switch anything as long as she can truly know its position (so she can't do something like switch someone's heart or brain with something, because even though she has an idea where it's located, she would technically be estimating its location since she hasn't actually seen it).
|
|
#
¿
Dec 1, 2016 21:03
|
|
|
Ugh, I tried reading that and it was Not Good.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 7, 2016 14:22
|
|
|
I liked that series, though it got super super grim and depressing near the end, to the extent that it became almost comical. Speaking of translations, the Magical Girl Raising Project LN translations are still chugging along at a REALLY fast pace; chapter 2 of arc 5 was just released about a week after chapter 1, and these are 60 page chapters. The translation quality is also quite high compared with most other LN/WN translations. It's obviously a passion project on the part of the people involved.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 16, 2016 21:59
|
|
|
Why are you reading Mahouka man don't do that to yourself.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 23, 2016 23:30
|
|
|
I like how the one random page you linked is talking about how amazing and awesome Tatsuya is. I would be curious to get a total count of the number of times characters/the narrative talked about how great he is. edit: The one thing I have to give Mahouka credit for is that the protagonist, while super boring and personality-less, at least isn't an abrasive rear end in a top hat who hates women like most WN/LN protagonists.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 24, 2016 04:31
|
|
|
Magical Girl Raising Project: Aces (the 5th arc) finally explains what's up with the Land of Magic and how it originated. It's about time!
|
|
#
¿
Dec 26, 2016 01:59
|
|
|
Tsubasa2004 posted:Harry Potter and the Natural 20 is the closest I've seen in actual webfiction. This started off really bad but actually ended up becoming quite competent. At first it seemed like it was just going to be a D&D wizard amazing and owning everyone in the Harry Potter universe, but it actually ends up having a coherent story.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 30, 2016 07:20
|
|
|
Bobulus posted:Yeah, it was pretty decent! The author has a good grip on setting up comedy situations, and knows when to keep a gag running and when to kill it off. Unfortunately, they seem to have lost interest midway through the story and wandered off (no updates in two years). Yeah, that's one of the things I noticed - a lot of the comedy is pretty good, and that's despite me knowing almost nothing about D&D aside from playing Neverwinter Nights as a teenager. The conflicts are also thought out pretty well, and it avoids the "protagonist is the only character with agency" thing you tend to see a lot in web novels (Harry Potter actually still behaves like a protagonist, despite not technically being the protagonist in the story). I'm not surprised the author stopped at some point; it's clear he was in college when he started writing it and it's easy to get distracted by life during that time period. I feel really funny praising a D&D Harry Potter crossover fanfiction. I think part of it is that I'm so used to trying to read trashy Japanese web novels that something written by a competent native English speaker seems really good by comparison. edit: The whole "bizarre D&D character begins to think like a Real Human" subplot is also done pretty well Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Jan 3, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Jan 3, 2017 19:46
|
|
|
^^^ I think people in general, but especially teenagers, like reading about stories where people betray the protagonist and then the protagonist gets revenge on them later. Like, they love to hate the antagonists. Sort of like that Shield Hero web comic, only replace "friends" with "women who aren't the protagonist's slaves."Shukaro posted:Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is another very readable english Harry Potter fanfic that also happens to be complete. I tried reading that some and was under the impression it was well known because of how bad it was. Like, Harry Potter in that series is like some parody of how terrible ~rationalists~ view themselves, only I imagine it's supposed to be taken unironically given the author is the LessWrong guy. What I like about that D&D/Harry Potter fanfiction is that the protagonist isn't some brilliant badass and has real flaws and frequently makes mistakes.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 5, 2017 22:26
|
|
|
BlitzBlast posted:Well I'm glad Konosuba is killing it because it deserves it. Both the MC and side characters for that matter. I can't really think of any other Aqua-like characters in typical LNs. (edit: Aqua owns and is the source for probably 80+% of the "laugh out loud" moments for me, with Megumin causing most of the other ones.) gimme the GOD drat candy posted:one thing that kills my interest in crappy wn's is when they become completely dedicated to sucking off the mc. like, paradise of demons and gods started out okay-ish, but it eventually went into 50 straight chapters of everyone alive gushing about how wonderful the mc is. it showed no signs of stopping any time soon when i dropped it, too. how loving fragile does your ego have to be to write that kind of crap? This is the issue I had with Sevens; I liked the premise and I really liked his ancestors, but I couldn't deal with the protagonist's giant harem of women who think he's awesome. (Speaking of Sevens, I had forgotten the title and typed "Japanese web novel ancestors" into Google and it was the first result. Google is smart.) Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Jan 6, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Jan 6, 2017 22:24
|
|
|
The Sandman posted:The fact that Honzuki didn't make this list makes me sad. Uh, last I checked Honzuki doesn't have a male protagonist who is awesome and has a harem of people who love him. Clearly it is an inferior story.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 7, 2017 00:32
|
|
|
gimme the GOD drat candy posted:heck yeah, reddit translated volume 18 of mahouka. now if you will excuse me, i need to go roll around in a tub full of raw sewage. So what does reddit think of Mahouka. Do they also think it's terrible or do they actually like it?
|
|
#
¿
Jan 12, 2017 00:42
|
|
|
gimme the GOD drat candy posted:well, i don't know about reddit but i can confirm that i am a terrible person who loves that particular piece of terrible poo poo. *writes "gimme the GOD drat candy" on a piece of paper and poops on it* That is how I feel about that.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 12, 2017 02:18
|
|
|
Is a yandere otome game an otome game where the protagonist is yandere or the main love interest guy?
|
|
#
¿
Jan 12, 2017 15:47
|
|
|
^^^ I like how he is looking at his sister with this expression of pure disappointment. "How did it come to this" I always enjoy those moments every few months when I'm reminded of the existence of blastron's Ascendance of a Bookworm translation. Last time I read it was only up to chapter 28, so there's lots of new content! jwang posted:Good times. Especially when that one guy who just won't admit how terrible Mahouka was tried to justify its terribleness. I think that was WickedHate.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 13, 2017 23:56
|
|
|
Mahouka would actually almost be good if the last chapter consisted of Tatsuya just screaming about how he hates everyone/everything and nuking the whole planet. Just some multi-page monologue where he tells his sister how he's always hated her and can't take it anymore.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 14, 2017 00:30
|
|
|
Ascendance of a Bookworm is so ridiculously good. It's really in a completely different league from all the other web novels I've read. I felt so proud for those kids once they finally succeeded in making the paper. I also liked how Lutz figuring out Maine's secret was dealt with. He reacted in a pretty realistic and reasonable way, all things considered. Thanks so much for continuing to translate it blastron!
|
|
#
¿
Jan 21, 2017 02:43
|
|
|
Argue posted:Oh finally some Bookworm discussion. I'd also like to thank you; if you hadn't translated all the chapters you did, I wouldn't have been motivated to read ahead. I'm pretty slow, and it takes me about 3-4 hours (with copious amounts of help from darkgray and GG) to get through a chapter, but my reading abilities have improved greatly since starting, and I've learned about 250 new kanji in doing so (bringing me to a very meager 1050). I'm at chapter 64 now since I started reading ahead from 30, and I still use your translations to assess how well I understood whatever is going on. Only 700 more chapters to go! I wonder if she's ever going to come out to her parents like she did (after pressure) to Lutz. I can't imagine that going over nearly as well as it did wtih him. It worked with Lutz because he barely even knew Maine before her body was taken over by Urano, but her family would (justifiably) flip their poo poo if they found out she wasn't actually their daughter for the past year+.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 23, 2017 00:59
|
|
|
Deadly Ham Sandwich posted:I am in another world! Wow! Surely my social awkwardness /aspergers / elementary education will turn me into a hero / harem king! I definitely won't be a lazy shut in like my old life! I think in the case of pretty much all Japanese/Chinese/Korean web novels, it's less "the values of Chinese/Japanese/Korean people" and more "the values of teenage boys", at least with respect to the whole "loser ends up becoming a badass with a harem" element. That being said, there probably is an interesting discussion to be had on the differences between the tropes that do exist.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 24, 2017 17:39
|
|
|
Deadly Ham Sandwich posted:"I'm Really a Superstar" is the story of a man transported to a world with a slightly different history, so he used his amazing powers to plagiarize his old world's works to gain fame in his new world. It is a Chinese Web novel. Reminds me of this manga where these guys are sent back in time to soon before the Beatles became popular, and they decide to start a band and play all the Beatles songs. They rationalize this using the logic that the Beatles will come up with cool new music if they play their original stuff.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 24, 2017 18:32
|
|
|
Shukaro posted:Harry Potter x Naruto See, this is what I normally think of when I think of fanfiction. That D&D Wizard one was written much more competently and had a pretty well thought-out plot.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 28, 2017 00:02
|
|
|
I was just thinking - you know how there's a million Japanese WNs with the general plot of "dude reincarnates in fantasy world with demon lord, only with a twist!"? Are there actually any stories like this without the twist/parody? Like, where a guy reincarnates in a fantasy world and the actual goal is to defeat the evil demon lord? Because that sounds like it would be fun, but every WN seems to act like it was once a common genre and they're parodying it, but I can't think of any actual non-parody examples. The closest I can think of is something like Rokka no Yuusha, but that doesn't have the reincarnation angle. I can't actually think of anything where a guy reincarnates and is supposed to defeat a demon lord and the story is just about his journey to do so.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 1, 2017 22:34
|
|
|
^^^ A normal person becoming a hero is a trope in Western culture too, but I'm referring more specifically to adding the "reincarnated from another world" element to the mix.nielsm posted:I'd say the protags are meant to be genre-savvy and know how a fantasy story is supposed to go and then just subvert it. So yes they're all Tropers. Yeah, but a lot of these stories often take a tone like they're parodying the ole' standard "recinarnated guy goes on adventure to defeat demon king" plot, when I don't think I've ever seen that plot. And it doesn't have to be a nerd; it could just be a normal high school student or whatever. Like, it would be fun to read a story about a guy (or girl!) who ends up in a swords and magic fantasy world and goes on an adventure to defeat the evil demon king. I want to read this story instead of another parody (especially since the parodies are almost always awful, with the sole exception of Konosuba).
|
|
#
¿
Feb 1, 2017 23:19
|
|
|
Speaking of Rokka, I feel like it unfairly gets a bit of a bad rap due to the anime ending at the end of the first volume (which is a terrible place to end, given it's basically an extended prologue of sorts). While it doesn't do anything particularly amazing, I feel like it's a solid fantasy story with some unique elements, interesting enemies, and really well written fight scenes*. I hope the LN official translation ends up getting past volume 5 (which I think is how far the fan translation got before it was shut down due to being licensed). *They do a really good job of making the protagonist viable in a setting where most of his opponents have literal superpowers.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 2, 2017 02:46
|
|
|
Jackard posted:Does traveling back in time from a pyrhhic victory count? Protag isn't from Earth though. That's another "twist on fighting demon lord" story though, where the twist is the fact that the demon lord was already defeated and the protagonist was sent back in time with knowledge of the future. And, yeah, the fact that the protagonist isn't from Earth/reincarnated.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 2, 2017 22:36
|
|
|
Someone should write a scholarly paper on how Chinese, Korean, and Japanese web novels are reflective of each country's respective cultural ids. I feel like, before the web, publishing companies mandated some level of respectability, but the internet has allowed people to read the things they really want to read - power fantasies about being showered with riches, women, and praise. I'm imagining there being some sort of textual analysis to find how often different types of rewards (money vs. praise vs. women, for example) are received by the protagonists of each country's respective web novels.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 23, 2017 22:23
|
|
|
UberJew posted:Strikes me as reductive, tbqh Yeah, I wasn't actually being serious; obviously this stuff is targeted at a specific sub-culture within those societies. Though it might be interesting to look at why there are specific differences between roughly the same "young nerdy male" sub-cultures between each country.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 24, 2017 00:35
|
|
|
So I tried reading this manga based off of the web novel "Re:Monster". It is one of the worst things I have ever read. Even if you ignore the "capturing women and feeding them pheromones so it's totally consensual and not rape!" stuff, there is literally no narrative or tension and the entire plot just seems to consist of the protagonist being way stronger than everyone and constantly getting stronger and finding powerful items. I came up with more interesting storylines while playing with action figures as a child. I truly do not understand the audience for this stuff. I was a teenager with bad taste once, and even teenage me wouldn't have read this drivel. I am genuinely offended at the fact that fiction this bad both exists and is popular enough to warrant a manga adaption. Why is it that this sort of stuff has become so popular recently? Why is the wish fulfillment fantasy teens used to read in the past no longer enough (though I have a strong hunch some of the audience for this stuff are grown adults in their 20s)?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 9, 2017 22:44
|
|
|
booksnake posted:Isn't it just that web novels are free and easily accessible? Then people with poo poo taste or who don't know any better latch onto the first thing they see and it snowballs from there I don't think this alone is enough to explain it, because you see the same general subject matter show up repeatedly, which seems to indicate that this is something readers specifically want. In particular, stories where the main character just constantly becomes stronger and stronger without ever encountering any sort of challenge seem really common. My armchair hypothesis is that the pressures of Japanese society create some sort of backlash where NEET-types fantasize about completely dominating everyone around them. Like, because they don't have any sort of power or influence in their real lives, they want to fill that hole with stories like these. So you end up with stories that are less about "having fun adventures in a fantasy world" and more focused on "dominating those fuckers who looked down on you." Like a lot of this stuff has a subtle (or not-so-subtle) mean-spirited edge to it. edit: Also, as I mentioned before, this stuff doesn't even have a "pulp entertainment" appeal to it. Stuff like Shield Hero or Re:Monster are not interesting in the slightest to read. Literally 100% of the appeal seems to be derived from being a power fantasy. Power fantasies obviously show up in other fiction, including Western Fantasy novels, but in most cases they tend to also involve some sort of coherent plot. In the case of the sort of web novels I'm talking about, there is almost nothing left once you strip away the power fantasy elements. Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 00:58 on Mar 11, 2017 |
|
#
¿
Mar 11, 2017 00:51
|
|
|
Regarding wish fulfillment, a good example of the way it should be done is something like Harry Potter. In Harry Potter the wish fulfillment centers around the setting (getting to go to magic school, have adventures, etc) and the protagonist is also the "Chosen One" and exceptionally talented in some areas. But Harry Potter would be dumb if Harry had the special ability to freeze time, dominated all his opponents, and had every single named girl in his class as part of his harem. Law Cheetah posted:i find the pure power fantasy novels to be all in good fun. i enjoy stuff like Everyone Else is a Returnee. the mc is stronger than everyone and every lady falls in love with him. i get turned off when it gets super murdery and rapey though Eh, it depends how it's executed. I understand the appeal of having a protagonist with some special/powerful ability, but there needs to either be a compelling conflict or some other appealing elements (for example One Punch Man pulls off the "powerful protagonist" stuff because at its core it's more of a comedy and also focuses on other characters). A lot of these web novels involve the protagonist never facing any real challenges past the first few chapters or so, and the appeal seems to be based around just watching the protagonist become more and more powerful. A power fantasy can still work if the protagonist faces the occasional challenges that he/she must become stronger to confront, but otherwise it's it's just boring. It's especially frustrating when a premise that could have been good is ruined by the author overloading it with power fantasy/wish fulfillment elements. A good example is Sevens - the ancestor stuff and core plot are relatively compelling, but then the MC gets a bunch of completely ridiculous overpowered abilities and a harem consisting of literally 10+ girls IIRC. If the same story involved the protagonist having just one unique/interesting special power and just 2 or 3 love interests it would have been 10x better. This stuff is especially ridiculous in web novels that take place in a video game setting with levels/skills/etc. Leveling up in video games is fun because you're controlling the character and playing an actual game that exists. Reading about something leveling up in a web novel is almost always really dumb because the game in question doesn't even exist, so the author can just arbitrarily say "so then the protagonist grinded some levels and got all these sweet skills (that don't exist because this game doesn't exist)." This isn't to say video game settings can't work, but they need to have clearly defined and sensible systems if the skills/combat are actually an important element of the story. What I've read of Kumoko (which isn't much) works pretty well because she acquires and uses a relatively small set of skills in reasonable ways, but a lot of RPG-setting web novels have the protagonist gain new skills at a rate that would be completely ridiculous in any actual game (and they'll often also have some special unique skill that is ridiculously overpowered as well). Specifically, it seems like "protagonists that can learn almost any skill from other enemies" seems to be a recurring trend - I can think of at least 4 or 5 series that do this. The appeal seems to just be watching the protagonist gather hundreds of skills and become more and more powerful. I don't think you can really say "it's all in good fun" about that sort of thing, because there isn't even anything fun about it (or at the very least I think it says something negative about someone if they do find that sort of thing entertaining). Like, even if you remove the misogyny from something like Shield Hero or Re:Monster, they are still so incredibly bad that it genuinely offends my sensibilities. (I know I'm overreacting to this stuff, but Re:Monster was just so awesomely terrible that it made me irritated at the mere fact that it and other similar stories exist and are even relatively popular.)
|
|
#
¿
Mar 11, 2017 11:06
|
|
|
I've discovered that a good way to find decent web novels is to look at reviews for one that is really bad despite having a high average rating, find a reviewer who evaluated it appropriately, and then look at their other reviews.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 16, 2017 20:00
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 13:05 |
|
|
Annointed posted:It's what these nerds want. They want to appear like they are master of rules and work hard in a system but in reality they just want power handouts for being special snowflakes. Yeah, it seems like most of the time the characters in these "world with game-like stats/abilities" stories also have some special super-powerful ability that only they have. My biggest problem with the game-like systems is that RPGs only really work because the player sees a return for some clear and explicit investment of their time in killing monsters, doing quests, whatever. In these stories, however, the author can just arbitrarily decide when a character levels up, which completely removes that feeling of accomplishment (or tension, since you can have a character level up in the middle of a fight or something). They also can randomly give whatever skills/stats they want, because (obviously) this system doesn't really exist. I feel like such a WN would only work well if the system it worked on were truly explicitly defined beforehand (ironically that Harry Potter D&D fanfiction mentioned earlier in the thread comes to mind, since it uses skills from an actual game in ways they could be used in reality), but this would usually be tedious and even then you'd run into the problem of there being no clear rhyme or reason to the character leveling up. Probably the best example of such a system I've come across is Kumo, but even it has some problems in this regard and I have a hunch that she'll still become absurdly powerful like all other characters in these settings at some point (though the author has fortunately kept her at a reasonable level of power for a long time so far). He threads are already pretty ridiculous and can work as a deus ex machina-ish power in many situations (since, with rare exceptions like fire monsters, you can almost always say "and then she wrapped the enemy up in her thread" or something). By the way, speaking of Kumo, I read the manga up to the point where she enters the lava area. Where should I start in the WN (using blastron's translation) if this is the case? I found a chapter that seemed to correspond to her entering the lava place, but then I ran into some chapter talking about other human/elf characters that wasn't mentioned in the manga, so I think the manga left some stuff out.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 19, 2017 21:59
|
|