Jump to content
  • entries
    766
  • comments
    1836
  • views
    478992

Why I haven't posted recently? (a new addiction)


Clephas

3399 views

Needless to say, when I hit my latest speed bump in the form of another partial burnout on VNs, I was left wondering what to do with all that free time.  For about forty hours of that time, it was Ghost of Tsushima, but when that was over, I accidentally picked up my first litrpg on Kindle Unlimited... and oh god, I almost wish I hadn't.

The problem, when I analyze it in retrospect, is that my fondness for anime like SAO, Log Horizon, and Overlord had primed me perfectly, my addictive personality instantly latching onto the familiar elements to draw me in beyond retrieval.  While roughly two-thirds of the books I downloaded weren't worth reading, the ones that were left me unable to stop (The Chaos Seeds, in particular).  

I'm pretty sure anyone who paid attention during the peak of my VN of the Month years can probably guess that I have a tendency to throw myself into my addictions rather than trying to restrain myself.  In this case, it was made worse by the fact that I'd been 'starved' of anything worth my attention (new) for months on end, so when my first litrpg dug its claws into my stimulus-starved brain, I became incapable of stopping.

In fact, I haven't really stopped even now, despite 70 different books completed from over a dozen authors in just under forty days.  I even ignored last month's releases, despite Phantom Trigger's latest episode having come out.  I don't even remember the VN I was playing at the time anymore, because I've consumed so much content of late between long bouts of stress working with even more stressed out clients who want even more for less than usual.

I'm mostly writing this post to laugh at myself, since I have absolutely no intention whatsoever of ceasing to indulge in reading the near-endless list of litrpgs available for free with my KU subscription...

14 Comments


Recommended Comments

Quote

70 different books completed from over a dozen authors in just under forty days.

That's absolutely insane (in a good way). I don't think I could finish reading that many books in the given time frame of 40 days. If the rule that 90% of anything is shit holds, then maybe there were around 7 books you would say were fully worth your time?

Link to comment

Going to download the Chaos Seeds right now. Can't wait. 

Edit: Apparently I own the first one, already, but never got around to starting it. Exciting! 

Link to comment
21 hours ago, Zalor said:

That's absolutely insane (in a good way). I don't think I could finish reading that many books in the given time frame of 40 days. If the rule that 90% of anything is shit holds, then maybe there were around 7 books you would say were fully worth your time?

In terms of books I sampled (read the first ten chapters at least) the number balloons to 300 or so... the seventy I'm talking about are the ones I was finding the most interesting.  Here is a list of the ones I enjoyed the most (even if some were trashy).

The Chaos Seeds (think an isekai/other world story with a protagonist who constantly swings back and forth between enlightened self-interest, pragmatism, and lust for power/stat geeking).

The Stork Tower (extremely interesting dystopian future with a genius street rat who makes powerful enemies in the virtual and real worlds)

Light Online (protagonist starts out as an out-of-luck NEET who is about to be turned into a virtual slave and then manages to rise high by playing a VRMMO in an unusual style).

The Ten Realms - Protagonists are an amputee mercenary named Erik and his comrade and best friend Rugrat.  They end up in the Ten Realms, two soldiers in a land of magic, and they quickly realize the only way to be themselves is to gain power and challenge themselves.  Sort of a blend of Wuxia cultivation, military fantasy, and craft obsessive nation-building with two foul-mouthed soldiers with hidden depths leading the way.

The Dark Elf Chronicles- In a future where a 'zombie particle' has contaminated most of the lifeforms on Earth, a few survivors try to live long enough to find a way to copy themselves into an online game while also stabilizing said game so it won't be a pure hellworld when they do so.  Tons of ups and downs in this story.

The Shadow Sun series- In this one, a mysterious System essentially unleashes massive numbers of super-powered monsters to cull humanity in preparation for aliens bidding on the land and resources.  Very much a survival apocalypse story for the first three books.  

The Silver Fox & the Western Hero - Pure Wuxia with hardcore cultivation and horrid levels of racial prejudice... and a young former American plopped down in the middle who has a stat sheet in his head.  The protagonist seems fairly normal, until he isn't.  He is intelligent to the point of being brilliant, and absolutely devoted to the path he chooses.  However, he is also capable of rising above his own desires at key points.  Honestly, I can't wait until the next one comes out.

Battleborne-  First in a new series about a soldier who dies with his unit and gets reincarnated as a combination of several races by a Valkyrie as reward for his life of war and bravery.

All Trades- A former conman goes into a virtual reality game to earn the money to give back to the family that supported him after his term in prison.  He really has turned a new leaf, but he quickly finds himself riding the figurative tiger by the tail as he tries to do right by those around him while also earning enough money to pay off his loan shark.

Link to comment

Just finished the Stork Tower novels that have come out so far... more cliffhangers.  I love Atherleah, but the way things keep expanding reminds me of a lot of sci-fi series that collapsed toward the later books because they couldn't keep track of all the balls in the air.  Atherleah has some of the best qualities of a fantasy or sci-fi protagonist in a litrpg: a firm set of ethics, if not morals; the cleverness or intelligence to think outside of the box and challenge the system; and a personal goal that never quite gets lost in the constant deluge of events.  

I just wish the author had organized this into arcs instead of just making things endlessly complex.  The way Leah runs on a near-24/7 schedule due to future science makes me wince in sympathy regularly, and her schedule just keeps getting more packed.

Link to comment

These LitRPGs are a bit of an acquired taste. Working on the Seeds of Chaos. Not giving up, just feel like a wanderer in a strange land. 

Link to comment
7 hours ago, Tay said:

These LitRPGs are a bit of an acquired taste. Working on the Seeds of Chaos. Not giving up, just feel like a wanderer in a strange land. 

So does Richter.

Overall, you have to be primed somewhat to really get into the genre.  As far as I can determine, there are a number of qualities that benefit anyone trying out the litrpg genre.

1.  Being familiar with and enjoying stat-based rpgs.

2.  Being something of a stat/skill geek

3.  being able to suspend disbelief sufficiently to dive into a world that feels somewhat artificial due to the presence of stats and obviously quantified growth.

For me, the recent growth of a similar genre in anime is what made it easy.  

Link to comment

Oh god, no clephas. Don't do this. That's how I felt as well when I started reading the litrpg books as well. Basically english isekai more or less.

Many of the litrpgs have excellent audible audiobooks as well. I recommend trying those for those who don't want to read and prefer to listen. I personally tend to keep my eye reading to books that doesn't have audio books.

Some other series I enjoyed were:

Reborn apocalypse series, audiobook is really good I'd like to mention. The Voice actor has the very very dark and edgy voice going down so good. I grinned like a moron while I listened to it.

Completionist Chronicles, good comedy, feels kinda like choas seeds in that regard and funky stat build going on in a weird world.

The Wraith's Haunt, has the I am in isekai yaay, but combined with fatalism haha.

 

Link to comment
On 8/19/2020 at 4:54 PM, Bolverk said:

Oh god, no clephas. Don't do this. That's how I felt as well when I started reading the litrpg books as well. Basically english isekai more or less.

Many of the litrpgs have excellent audible audiobooks as well. I recommend trying those for those who don't want to read and prefer to listen. I personally tend to keep my eye reading to books that doesn't have audio books.

Some other series I enjoyed were:

Reborn apocalypse series, audiobook is really good I'd like to mention. The Voice actor has the very very dark and edgy voice going down so good. I grinned like a moron while I listened to it.

Completionist Chronicles, good comedy, feels kinda like choas seeds in that regard and funky stat build going on in a weird world.

The Wraith's Haunt, has the I am in isekai yaay, but combined with fatalism haha.

 

Any suggestions for something similar to the Chaos Seeds?  I don't really like dealing with the dunce protagonists (I dump any one of them where the protag stays a dunce past the opening chapters).

Link to comment

I can't really deal with static protags either. Chaos seeds is a somewhat unique in that it does the serious, but not serious feel really good. You've read some of them. I'd say Completionist Chronicles is similar. Also heard good things about The Realms. Level up or die is quite entertaining as well, although childish.

Link to comment
On 8/19/2020 at 5:54 PM, Bolverk said:

Many of the litrpgs have excellent audible audiobooks as well. I recommend trying those for those who don't want to read and prefer to listen. I personally tend to keep my eye reading to books that doesn't have audio books.

This would be huge for me. I'm transferring to a new hospital starting next week and have over an hour of commute each way. I could definitely start there. Is there one audiobook you especially liked & would recommend?

Link to comment
32 minutes ago, Tay said:

This would be huge for me. I'm transferring to a new hospital starting next week and have over an hour of commute each way. I could definitely start there. Is there one audiobook you especially liked & would recommend?

Alright hmm.. If you couldn't get into Chaos Seeds (this has a audiobook as well btw) which I'd consider a nice beginner series. If you want more action. Something like Reborn apocalypse or Shadow sun. If you want more world exploring/info-dumps prbly Completionist Chronicles.

But if I'd say one. I'd go for first book in Reborn apocalypse series. it's just great.

Edited by Bolverk
Link to comment
18 hours ago, Bolverk said:

I can't really deal with static protags either. Chaos seeds is a somewhat unique in that it does the serious, but not serious feel really good. You've read some of them. I'd say Completionist Chronicles is similar. Also heard good things about The Realms. Level up or die is quite entertaining as well, although childish.

Been trying the Red Mage Chronicles... these apocalyptic ones tend to be a mixed bag... most have town-building and survival elements, but the main characters tend to be idealized in weird ways.  It reminds me of the Shadow Sun series, because of the way things go completely to shit so fast.  I read the first two Underworld books, but I'm starting to get bored... the pacing is godawful.  Protagonist is funny and reminds me of the worst kind of gamer.

I thought about Reborn Apocalypse, but for some reason, books with cultivation are even more hit and miss for me than other litrpgs.  The powerlusting and overbearing nature of the societies/systems involved are worse than the more western-style systems.  Almost all cultivation protagonists start out as dunces and keep getting fooled over and over.

Link to comment

Whatever suits you the best man. I find the litrpg, English light cultivation edition books are quite nice. Just adds a different taste to it all than the normal kind of stats stuff. Oh. Recalled another cultivation one, it's more of a scruff/haha at most cultivation/societies. Maybe you'll enjoy that one. It's called The Dao of Magic.

Link to comment
On 8/22/2020 at 10:04 AM, Bolverk said:

Whatever suits you the best man. I find the litrpg, English light cultivation edition books are quite nice. Just adds a different taste to it all than the normal kind of stats stuff. Oh. Recalled another cultivation one, it's more of a scruff/haha at most cultivation/societies. Maybe you'll enjoy that one. It's called The Dao of Magic.

Finished the Completionist Chronicles...  it was great, but Joe always seems to get the shit end of the stick (not uncommon for litrpg protags, but it is annoying).  I would have liked him to have more time to develop his craft before they forced that last transition.

I don't mind cultivation being the base system, but damn... I get tired of all the ones who use cultivation having that obsessively exclusionary atmosphere.  The only time it didn't bother me at all was with the Ten Realms, and that is because Eric and Rugrat were so awesome at surprising the stuck-up dipsh**s.

Link to comment
Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...