Get Away for the Summer with July Catchups!
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@saidahgilbert You'll find that as the series continues the TRPG terminology becomes less and less important and that aspect fades a bit more into the background. It never goes away entirely but it's nothing like that first volume.
Read my April Fools prank, Zeteni’s Light Novel Review/s: The Incomplete Anthology! Link: t.ly/EZRn
Featuring about 40 series from JNC.
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@Zeteni Thanks for telling me.
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@saidahgilbert the only MMOs I know of that are akin to TRPGs are Ashrons call, EverQuest and Ultima Online. I'm sure there are a couple of others, but most of the currently popular ones are drastically different.
Still differences, but MMOs used to be a lot more like TRPGs than they are now.
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@saidahgilbert said in Get Away for the Summer with July Catchups!:
From reading this book, I am now more informed of the differences between TRPG and MMORPG. I used to think that they were basically the same thing but one was played on the computer and the other with pen and paper. However, it seems to be a bit more involved than that.
For me, I think the key difference between TRPGs and computer-based RPGs - including MMOs, JRPGs and D&D-based western games like Neverwinter Nights - is that computer RPGs are based on a fixed, inflexible set of rules. What you can do is limited to what's been mapped out by the game devs; clever players can try to exploit edge cases and outright bugs, but there's no way to take an action outside of what's been planned for in the game code.
With TRPGs, if you want to do something that isn't covered in the rules, the GM can think about it and decide what should happen. That allows for a lot more creativity and flexibility.
It also allows for true role-playing. LN's like Dendrogram, Bofuri, Log Horizon, Late-Start Tamer, etc., have AI-based NPCs that can feel like real people, but in real life, that's not the case. IRL, we're nowhere close to AI good enough to successfully do realistic computer-run NPCs; they all have to run off a set of scripted behaviors.
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After everyone giving glowing reviews to TTRPG Build, I will share my thoughts as why I found it lackluster for the first 5 volumes.
The first volume reads waaaaay too much like a straight up rulebook for a TTRPG. You cannot go two to three pages without paragraphs and paragraphs of the author pedantically describing game systems. One of the core tenants that is established in the early volume is the idea of a "build" and how TRPG's have level caps (15 is briefly mentioned in the book, the highest I have seen in a rulebook is 20). This is so that characters have limited power in the games, and so one character sheet can't sweep campaigns. Guess what? The main character suffers no level cap as of yet, which means he has dabbled in full dex builds with attack types, and full on magic builds on top of it (which is impossible to do in any TRPG btw because you run out of skillpoints due to the levelcap if you try anything like this, but the authors love of the genre is apparent).
The author also really likes to cut away from action to talk about some completely different thing that is only tangentially relevant. This is first seen in the first volume near the climax, and I won't spoil it but I would say there are a lot of jarring cuts during intense scenes to low intensity side story-esque content throughout the series that created a lot of tonal whiplash for me.
Now, I mentioned how pedantic the author can be. Let me give an example. So, in many fantasy light novels the first adventure guild quest is usually "gather herbs". This is usually next to no explanation and is generally used to explain adventurer ranks or set up a larger event encounter. Well lets look at how this author approaches it in volume 3 (or 4, I don't quite remember but its around there). First, we learn how mages can grow the herbs with magic, but how wild herbs have different qualities that may be preferable for their qualities. This is never brought up again and has zero impact on any event in the story. There is also a discussion trying to guess what the order placer is trying to craft, as many of the herbs can be used to make alcohol. Next, we talk about the method of travel, and how the horse riding skill works (spoiler, you can ride horses author takes several paragraphs to say this). This is also a comedy scene as the main character rides the horses fine but their friend without the riding skill flails. Then they discuss the nature of potions. What type of potions are used by which economic class of mage, a basic history of potions and their uses, as well as how the potions can be tweaked. But don't worry reader, potions are not really used in the story at all, unless you count the "beauty spell" variant that is not discussed here but is used in later volumes (and are fully explained there in a few paragraphs each). The herbs are gathered with no fanfare or discussion of gathering method.
At about the 5th volume mark the story pacing improves remarkably as the meaningless lore blurbs are cut down considerably. I am enjoying the stories current arc and have it on follow, but it did take a fair amount of time for me to really like it. It is still worth a read, but I don't think it makes it up there with the greats like Tearmoon Empire or Bookworm. Heck, as far as fantasy worlds go I would put Tsukimichi Moonlight Fantasy, Infinite Dendrogram, and Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles squarely above it in writing quality.
I actually enjoyed Great Cleric a great deal more, but I figured I would as I enjoy "Cleric" type stories like Faraway Paladin and The Saint is Omniscient and tend to play healer in class based video games.
Sorcerer's receptionist was pretty fun, and like another commenter noted, it reminded me a lot of White Cat's Revenge in tone. But, it is significantly shorter as the main story is done in three volumes (the fourth volume is a set of short stories set in the world). I never really grew to like the main guy but the rest of the cast was good and had fun interactions. All in all, solid month of catchups.
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Having finished the second volume of Receptionist (with almost no skipping - yay for me, as opposed to the first one), I think I have my finger on what is it that feels off about it. It just reads like the alternative POV story that authors sometimes write to complement their main series. To the point, the story of Alois would have been action, intrigue, and untypical courting (of a girl with layers) novel that I'd love to read.
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@Zakrhune This is exactly why I dropped the series. Creepy as heck, imo.
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@Zakrhune said in Get Away for the Summer with July Catchups!:
@rsog412 Yeah. Tired of reading about MCs that're basically 30 being into 15 year olds.
If you want a change of pace you can try reading My Quiet Blacksmith life in another world, where you get a whole different set of frustrating writing issues. The protagonist is a 40 year old who was allegedly reincarnated into the body of a 30 year old, but if you had to guess based on how much he complains about being old and broken and aching all the time you would think he was in the body of a 70 year old (and never forgets to mention his cheats). Also, if you happen be unlucky enough to have any knowledge about metalworking it is very apparent that the author doesn't and never even bothers to google anything because everything is very wrong (IE he smelts his own ore and uses plate stock to make knives and swords (when he doesn't cast steel swords) and bar stock to make plate armor).
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@Zakrhune I got tricked by the MC always talking about his age and how he is not a lolicon but I've caught up now and realised that if he isn't, then 'vitality-glorifying' is the preferred method of romance in this world because youth is equal to beauty and therefore power. Everyone he meets who has power seems to be young if not in appearance then in age.
Well, I will continue reading because I want to see what's the end-goal and the series isn't complete yet so I can't just Google the answer.
Well, I was going to start The Great Cleric but I just got the last volume of So I'm a Spider, So What? yesterday so now I'm re-reading that series. I started watching the anime (Cleric) and so far, it doesn't look impressive. I'm hoping that that's just a difference in medium so I want to check out at least volume one since it's on catch-up.
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@saidahgilbert said in Get Away for the Summer with July Catchups!:
I started watching the anime (Cleric) and so far, it doesn't look impressive.
The Light Novel is better than the anime. For one thing I don't remember him being this "super gushing" character as the anime portrays him. Things should become a bit more serious soon so maybe the tone will change.
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I am not doing that well in my catchup reading this month. Read the first two volumes of Sorcerer's Receptionist but will stop at this point. I do not like the male lead at all. I actually am enjoying the new series Nightmare Boss (which is similar to Receptionist).
In the meantime I am catching up on some of my regular reading.
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I promise, I tried reading Receptionist. Towards the end of the first volume and throughout the second it became readable but I could not stomach volume 3 past the first couple of parts. Skimmed over the next few parts and lost interest. I have no interest in the main (?) character, how she is fixated on her little single desire and rejects actively anything which doesn't fit. All I can do is wish for her to achieve the mediocrity and obscurity she's longing for - but I won't be following her path getting there, or anywhere else.
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@jhmertens That combined with the exposition that had little to no meaning other than to fill pages for "world building" and the MC always talking about Min/Maxing and then picking skills at a whim, but NEVER magic. NOPE! Can't chose something to unlock magic because it's RNG based? But he'll dump points into magic related stuff.
@Cooper-Cummings-gk5u8qq Couldn't stand the first hundred pages of vol 1 of that series. Just felt kind of lifeless to me and by the end of vol 1 I just gave up.
@saidahgilbert I got through most of The Great Cleric and I regret reading past the first few volumes tbh. Started good, but some of the plot just got so contrived and really really really really boring.
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@Zakrhune said in Get Away for the Summer with July Catchups!:
the MC always talking about Min/Maxing and then picking skills at a whim, but NEVER magic. NOPE! Can't chose something to unlock magic because it's RNG based?
Speaking as someone who's never read the series, but played a lot of TTRPGs... No, experienced players - even the minmaxers - generally don't reject options because they have random components. Optimisation is typically more about improving your average performance than worrying about your minimum performance - would you rather be doing 15 flat damage per attack, or 1d20+10?
That's not to say there aren't situations where the more random option can be a bad choice, but simply having a random component to it isn't a reason to discard something out of hand.
https://forums.j-novel.club/topic/6701/omnibus-builder
https://forums.j-novel.club/topic/5745/ascendance-of-a-bookworm-omnibus-editionsThe Primal Desires: Food, Sleep, Sex, StroZero, Hypnotism, and Awayuki Kokorone.
Item Diaria Apothecaria legi debent.
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@kuali It's more the MC would choose something like a few points in skill so he could win at a game as a child. Will it help a bit in the future? Sure it might come in handy. But it had little to do with his build and more to do with petty pride and his hatred of losing a game as a kid.
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@kuali said in Get Away for the Summer with July Catchups!:
That's not to say there aren't situations where the more random option can be a bad choice, but simply having a random component to it isn't a reason to discard something out of hand.
To clarify, the randomness isn't in its performance but in the ability to ever even use it. MC literally can't use magic despite any investments in the fundamental magic stats without something to unlock spellcasting. So not over investing in stats he can't use is sound, what's questionable is investing in them at all until you can do anything with 'em. Though he does have a rationale for those premature investments.
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@Zeteni And then to spend point in a skill just to protect his pride. Which if I remember correctly plenty of races could easily see through said skill and I don't remember if it really comes up much later?
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@Zakrhune said in Get Away for the Summer with July Catchups!:
@Zeteni And then to spend point in a skill just to protect his pride. Which if I remember correctly plenty of races could easily see through said skill and I don't remember if it really comes up much later?
For that one even MC himself mentions that it was a poorly made decision and tries to justify it after the fact. I thought him making sub-optimal choices as a result of his personality gave him, well, personality. He makes errors in judgement.
And it does come up later but it's not really explicitly pointed out.
As for other series from this batch I tried The Sorcerer's Receptionist but it was the first time I really felt the pain from a lack of speaker tags. People would shift in to conversations rapidly and I just couldn't keep track of what was going on thanks to rapid shifting.
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@Zeteni I'm not much into childish petty personalities, especially someone 40+ mentally, and I felt that most of his personality revolved around petty inner monologue, rationalizing his pettiness, and dumb decisions. Which I'd say are consistently on display, and I'll take a boring character with 0 personality over a character so unlikeable any day of the week.
Edit: I hate editing on an iPad.... sorry for poor punctuation and etc.
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@kuali said in Get Away for the Summer with July Catchups!:
@Zakrhune said in Get Away for the Summer with July Catchups!:
the MC always talking about Min/Maxing and then picking skills at a whim, but NEVER magic. NOPE! Can't chose something to unlock magic because it's RNG based?
Speaking as someone who's never read the series, but played a lot of TTRPGs... No, experienced players - even the minmaxers - generally don't reject options because they have random components. Optimisation is typically more about improving your average performance than worrying about your minimum performance - would you rather be doing 15 flat damage per attack, or 1d20+10?
That's not to say there aren't situations where the more random option can be a bad choice, but simply having a random component to it isn't a reason to discard something out of hand.
Not to mention there is an entire category of min-max builds focused on random chance, and it is often the most disruptive sort of min-maxing build possible.
The entire category of crit fishing builds is purely dependant on RNG, but crit fishing is often extremely powerful. One example of this is the popular hexblade warlock/any paladin but particularly oath of vengeance in D&D 5e. Normally when a paladin (who is at least level 5) gets their turn they can attack twice, each time rolling one 20 sided die to determine whether they hit, then they roll the appropriate damage die/dice for the weapon used and add a modifier to determine the damage dealt. If they rolled a 20 on the attack roll they get a critical hit, which means they roll an double the normal amount of weapon damage dice for the damage roll for that attack, and after determining whether the attack hits the paladin can choose to expend limited resources to roll 2 or more extra 8 sided dice and add the results to the damage, which are also doubled in the event of a critical hit, resulting in massive damage that is fairly regularly enough to knock off half of a boss monster's hp, and one shotting then isn't unheard of.
When the crit fishing hexblade vengeance paladin build sets up properly and then attacks they make 3 attacks each turn, 4 after level 9, and instead of rolling one 20 sided die they roll 2 and keep the better result, and also they get a critical hit on a 19 or a 20 instead of just a 20, so they roll 8 potential critical hits per turn instead of the regular paladin's 2, and the chance to crit per die is also doubled, which results in a very high probability of getting a very disruptive smite crit during the battle (Iirc it is upwards of 80% chance to crit smite at least one within the first three turns of a boss fight) .
It is entirely possible that the crit fishing hexblade vengeance paladin doesn't get a critical hit, but if they run up and solo the boss while the rest of the party deals with minions the odds are pretty high that they delete the boss before the minions are out of the way, and even if they don't they have still done some pretty heavy damage, and the regular paladin was already the most powerful non primary spellcaster class and one of the most powerful classes overall without going into crit fishing.
