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That was enjoyable. Definitely much better than the last time skip.
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Oct 21, 2017 06:00
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Taylor rules.
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Oct 31, 2017 22:32
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Ytlaya posted:It's not so much that Taylor is a bad character, but more that she's not the kind of person I want to spend time with for thousands of pages. I feel like the only sort of person who would genuinely like her is someone who fully bought into her "why is everyone restricting me~" control freak tendencies (which, to be fair, I think Wildbow intended as a flaw, though a bunch of readers totally bought into the idea of Taylor being some sort of audience self-insert who's more competent than everyone else). It's extreme to dislike a character so much you bring it up in every post. It's almost silly to dislike a character so much you feel everyone who disagrees with you has completely misread her central flaw as a positive. I like Taylor because she's pretty much the best Batman ever. (Under-powered hero that is a major player because of intelligence and tenacity. Defined by a very relatable tragedy, but let that tragedy push them to an unrelatable level of obsessive goal focus. Reliance on tools, strategy, and using the environment in battle.) Batman's a fun character to root for (or stop rooting for when they go to far), and having Batman be lower middle class plain Jane highschooler and bug creep is an interesting twist.
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Nov 1, 2017 01:55
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Taylor didn't go into a fight with Lung unprepared and nearly kill him. Taylor prepared for at least a month or two before going out for the first time, ambushed Lung, and still she would have been killed if the Undersiders hadn't intervened. Anyway, I wouldn't contest that Taylor has a strong power. Batman also has a strong suite of powers: unlimited wealth, versatile super-technology, peak human or beyond peak human mental and physical abilities. By underpowered, I mean constantly paling in comparison to other character's powers and not prone to solving problems via brute force application. Superman bursts through a wall at superspeed and and downs the crooks. Batman sets an explosive trap and then lure the thugs to crooks to the place where the blown up wall will take them down. Either way, the wall is broken and the crooks beaten. Batman just has to take a more circuitous route, and that's fun when it's written well. Wildbow is good at writing that type of stuff well. I'm not trying to make you like Taylor. I understand why you don't. I don't think it's too tough to understand why some people do, though.
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Nov 2, 2017 22:47
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Affi posted:Motherfucker of learning was real good. Again. I would not be at all surprised if it was Silverlake. I mean, what else have they done that they haven't done many times before? Also Silverlake is the worst. (Interesting as a character, but truly insufferable.)
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Jan 26, 2018 00:12
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Omi no Kami posted:a lot of the really broken stuff like scion just comes off to me like the final encounter a dungeonmaster invents to not be defeatable by the party until they find and fulfill the exact story beat he's planned for them. (The extensive conversation we recently had about Jack and how he generally gets less interesting as you try to more definitively describe how his thing works is another decent example in my mind.) I've read a transcript or two of games Wildbow has run. This is exactly how he DMs. He is not a good DM.
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Jan 4, 2019 01:04
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I started re-reading MoL, and a youth potion is mentioned in chapter 2 or 3. Whether it was planned out or he just picked up that thread later, it's kind of a neat thing to see. For feeling like a roguelike world, it's a pretty consistent setting.
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Feb 23, 2019 01:16
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Cicero posted:On one hand it seems obvious that he's hamming it up for psychological warfare, that's a valid tactic. On the other hand, the way he's doing it is making enemies unnecessarily. But he's doing exactly what the matriarch wants him to do. Seems clear to me the lesson he knows well that the clan at large doesn't really get is, "Death is scary and ugly and very close at hand when you're adventuring." Some of the Geller family might have a lowered opinion of him, but many of them will probably get the point that adventuring is not a game. That could work in Jason's favor in the future, and having Danielle or whatever her name is as a closer ally is definitely a big plus. Jason isn't a sociopath. He's putting on a show in VR that he was implicitly asked to put on.
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Sep 24, 2019 23:41
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Yeah, the story is definitely saying something about how messed up this world's value systems are. The experienced adventurers thought nothing of murdering a bunch of servants after questioning them. The danger room was previously used to make a 17 year old experience watching a child die over and over just to make him more decisive in combat. Jason has criticized the world's morality and value systems multiple times, and he has gotten push back. People in the world have criticized his actions and not been OK with it. It's really not as simplistic as some of you are saying.
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Oct 13, 2019 16:13
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Megazver posted:That also might be true, but the fact that he even stopped to actually consider this and weigh the consequences is a step forward for the character. It's also at the core of why I think the story is interesting. Underneath the goofy fun of the power fantasy stuff, there is this push and pull about morality. The world is brutal and aristocratic and bad in many ways. Jason's criticisms of the world have problems that are explored. Jason's embrace of power and violence to gain some semblance of control has problems that are explored. It's nothing super deep, but it makes for a pleasant little read every day.
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Oct 15, 2019 01:28
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Omi no Kami posted:I'll take "Why are all these politics and diplomatic maneuvering in my Catherine-oriented power fantasy" over "The last 2 million words have only been terrible as a setup for Taylor to come back and fix all of the problems with WB's writing" any day, though. People think Taylor is going to show up in Ward? Dear God why would they think that? Why would they want that?
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Oct 31, 2019 23:14
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Did "He Who Fights With Monsters" get backlash when it revealed both Gary and Rufus are gay? (Well, I think Gary is bi but whatever.) Or is it just a thing where the MC isn't allowed to be anything but a straight dude? Super lovely either way.
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Dec 14, 2019 18:05
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In He Who Fights With Monsters, I just realized that the aura power Knowledge offered to purge and replace with a better one was the aura that Jason got from the awakening stone Farrah gave him. Of course he isn't going to get rid of that power. It has incredible sentimental power. I do kind of wish he had taken the gift and then sold it, though.
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Dec 18, 2019 00:20
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The funny thing about cauldron is that humanity's great advantage over the entities is that the entities are super dumb and have zero creativity. But instead of really analyzing the problem and trying to figure out creative solutions, they just tried to get as much raw power as they could.
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Jan 10, 2020 00:08
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I thought it made sense that Zorian and Taiven didn't end up together because Zorian already got burned super hard by Taiven and had put quite a bit of energy into moving past that. That kind of thing is tough enough to backtrack without a big clusterfuck like the time loop. Then post time loop, she thinks she's older than him and way better at combat magic. But surprise he's older and so far beyond her that the revelation of his skills is crushing to her. They seemed like a great example of two people who could have been a good couple with better timing. More slice of life stuff with Zorian building his life and repaying his accumulated debts would be great. I think the author said that if he wrote more in the world, it would be exactly that, so I'm definitely looking forward to that in the murky future.
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May 11, 2020 14:17
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Maybe you could also edit your profile or av so there is a link to your thing?
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May 23, 2020 04:00
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I'm not on the patreon, but it's interesting to hear the first book is ending soon. I don't know what is going on, but I hope they move to a smaller team. I don't mind if it's a little more serious and a little less wacky, but a lot of chapters feel like reading an after report of an mmo raid. The team combat is just too sprawling and impersonal.
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May 28, 2020 20:38
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I'm honestly hoping that the Sophie situation ends with Jason rejecting her. There's been plenty decent setup that Sophie would be romantically interested in Jason, but I don't really see any reason to think he would reciprocate. Even if you ignore the awkward power dynamic from how they met and Sophie's history of physically abusing Jason, Sophie is extraordinarily inflexible in her thinking. That's just a terrible match. Jason is into naughty geniuses like Cassandra Mercer, and Sophie is not a genius. She's a stubborn, determined survivor. Admiration, sure. But romantic interest? I just don't see it. Unfortunately, I do think the author is going to force it anyway. He doesn't seem to be doing any kind of self aware thing where he shows how lovely the violent tsundere poo poo is. I did think there was some good follow up to the kidnapping. The scene where he gets triggered at the opera and Cassandra comforts him was solid, and I liked the group adventure counselling session. They just could have done a lot more, and they especially could have dramatized his recovery by making it the main point during a short arc following some random mission or other. It does end up feeling a little perfunctory overall.
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May 28, 2020 21:08
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90s Cringe Rock posted:For some insane reason I'm still reading carl@fire, despite thinking I should stop. So maybe that. It's got blue boxes in the latest few chapters. Numbers go up, sometimes. That story got pretty gross. Felt like its criticism of gross poo poo in litrpgs was actually just revelling in it. He Who Fights With Monsters started off strong.
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Jun 19, 2020 15:48
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LLSix posted:The Humble Life of a Skill Trainer is very good. The writing is engrossing and exciting. Since this is the web serial thread, I'll add that I haven't seen any misspellings or typos. The story is internally consistent. The main character is surprisingly likeable. Unfortunately, it only updates 2-3 times a week, so there's not very much of it yet. Thanks for the recommendation. I really enjoyed it. I don't know if I have seen a low fantasy LitRPG before, and it's pretty refreshing. I think part of what makes the mc likable is that even though it's his PoV, the writing does a good job of showing you that he is kind of an obsessive, socially maladapted weirdo. That really plays well with how the various social dynamics work out. Allows some good dramatic irony.
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Jul 13, 2020 19:51
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navyjack posted:Ok, I like HWFWM, but that is loving insane. I guess the secret is to consistently produce half-way decent content? I figured you’d have to be putting up pirateaba word counts to get those kinds of numbers but maybe just moderately entertaining and 3x a week is enough to get it done? Well, 5x a week, and his monetization scheme is actually pretty clever. Pay and you can get the next ten chapters, but then you are caught up. Patreon chapters come out at the same rate as normal chapters, so if you stop giving, you have to wait two weeks for any new stuff. It's not exactly exploitative, but it's definitely leveraging human psychology pretty effectively. I thought the very end of part one was much better than the 20-30 chapters leading up to it, but the interludes are not filling me with too much confidence. I'll probably give part two a week or so, but I am close to dropping.
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Jul 18, 2020 00:10
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Today's He Who Fights Monsters really drives home how much better it is when comedy is front and center.
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Jul 25, 2020 01:19
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Yeah, I think it's actually a very good idea. The story is at its best when it's either being funny or focusing on the character interactions. Putting Jason alone on a world where he is probably the absolute strongest person bar none is a great way to escape the pull of "epic" fights. Bring on that family drama. Have Jason solve mysteries and grapple with corrupt organizations.These are all things the story has done well before, and it's a huge improvement from the slog at the end of the first arc.
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Aug 8, 2020 16:33
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Yeah, hysteria and hysterectomy have the same root because hysteria literally referrs to "wandering uterus." It's misogynistic bunk.
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Sep 15, 2020 22:19
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If you read HPMoR as a dumb serial, it's a reasonably entertaining mess. It's like The Fountainhead in that way. As a shallow book where you follow around a guy being cool and put upon, it's not unengaging. The problem with both is that not only are they constructed around worldviews which are irredeemably evil, but they are constructed to sell those worldviews to dumb kids who think they're smart.
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Oct 9, 2020 18:32
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Yeah the abundance of abilities and equipment and stuff sucks so much, but I think some of his most die hard patreon supporters read mostly for that stuff.
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Dec 6, 2020 01:22
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The fatphobia really prevented me from getting into re: Trailer Trash. Does that go anywhere or mean anything? Or does the author just hate fat people and have no understanding about weight loss/gain?
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Jan 6, 2021 04:22
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It is absolutely a less interesting retread. For one, we already know the builder cult connection is going to be there. First time around it was a reveal, but now it's just something they'll pretend is a reveal. It was very nice to have a chunk of dumb fun serial fiction at 5pm every day, but I'm probably going to drop it soon.
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Jan 13, 2021 01:58
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Thanks for the recommendation of Perfect Run. I'm impressed by just how much better it is than Valinquer the Dragon. It has the same zany high energy comedy and action, but the characters are much stronger. Everyone is the way they are for a reason, and it grounds the wilder stuff. I really love how you meet Len relatively quickly, and she just kind of sucks. Don't get me wrong. She's sympathetic and it makes sense that she'd be a broken shell of a person. But part of that is she just kind of sucks.
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Jan 22, 2021 14:47
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It's both. She explicitly says that Quicksave didn't have the right to kill her dad because he was her dad. It's a fascinating bit of dialog because the main character was also terribly abused by the dude, and if he hadn't tipped off the wandering heroes, the dad would have become an extinction level event. So he absolutely did have the right, but the dialog shows that Len has not at all processed her trauma. She hasn't fully let go of the part of her that loved her dad. Hasn't fully accepted that he became a monster and had to be put down.
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Feb 18, 2021 03:57
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I'm really enjoying Beware of Chicken. It's great that it keeps having me think things like, gently caress yeah apiaries!
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Feb 20, 2021 19:32
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It's a litrpg isekai where the protagonist is magically beautiful with eyes that look like galaxies. She becomes the greatest healer in the world before she turns 18. A group of hardened super soldiers more or less adopts her into their team. Her character flaws are things like being clumsy, socially awkward, and impulsive. All the elements of a particularly boring type of fanfic, but it's compelling enough that I spent most of last weekend binge reading it. It's a lot of fun. The MCs weaknesses actually matter. The game system stuff is satisfying. The world is a poo poo show, but it's not edgy or dark for the sake of being dark. It's good. I do hope the MC can give some inventor the idea of the printing press. Let's get some books up in dino land.
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Mar 5, 2021 16:28
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I wasn't trying to be negative at all. Sorry. I think there are a lot of elements in dragoneye moons that are widely associated with bad stories, but this particular serial is an impressive example of how the elements themselves aren't inherently bad.
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Mar 5, 2021 21:03
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The problem with the critique is not that it doesn't make sense in the story for there to be sexism. It's that the critique is assuming that there is some rational explanation for sexism in real life. Sexism is not logical. It's a power structure. It serves itself. The story does a good job of pointing out how it really doesn't make sense in this world either. If women were given the same opportunity to develop militarily useful abilities, they would double their chances of actually beating the existential threat looming over them. It's possible that the greatest contribution the MC could make in the ant-war is introducing ideas to enable the republic to wage total war. Universal education, state propaganda, refrigeration, canning, the printing press. All ideas I do not think were taken from her by the chaos god, and they could make a big difference in humanity's ability to muster its resources effectively.
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Mar 6, 2021 21:15
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Bremen posted:Elaine: And you're not going to use this to kill anything sentient, right? Haha, that is a good point. Still feel like education and refrigeration should not violate her oath.
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Mar 6, 2021 23:58
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I would highly recommend Neo-reaction: A Basilisk if you are interested in how this branch of libertarianism interacts with the alt right. These people who say they're gray (instead of red or blue) inevitably end up being fascists who happen to live in CA and think science is neat, huh? Too bad. I liked his moloch essay and the dozen chapters of unsong I read.
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Mar 29, 2021 18:31
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I only read book one of TWI, and I did find Ryokas sections somewhat grating. I did really enjoy the meta conceipt that Ryoka is the stereotypical wish fulfillment self insert isekai character (beautiful, brilliant, independent, yadda yadda) and the story is fully aware she is a buffoon. The exchange where the main character talks about voting for bernie in the primary and Ryoka reflects on how her vote as an Ohio resident was for the libertarian candidate? Delicious.
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Apr 20, 2021 21:32
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So...completely accurate and relevant to some things, but not some miracle defense against any possible criticism?
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Apr 24, 2021 15:01
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It was a good, wildly inappropriate pun. Kind of worried for Elaine's mental health. Hopefully Ned can get over himself now.
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Aug 26, 2021 16:11
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Plorkyeran posted:I hope BtDEM ends without Elaine and Iona ever meeting just because it would make so many people so angry. That would be pretty funny. Of course it's possible that Elaine is out traipsing between realities. She already has that class unlocked, and with thousands of years, she could have picked it up at some point. Maybe Iona's story builds up to her getting transported to Earth. That might make people even angrier.
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Aug 30, 2021 22:54
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