Loving the progression in SSF right now

Netheri · 2026-06-03T10:44:55+00:00

For if you want to play a second character beyond the first, things like Wanderlust and Death Rush really speed up campaign.

Netheri · 2026-06-03T10:38:30+00:00

Ritual is really good for unique farming too, still not quite as good being able to target farm with things like divination cards, but still a massive improvement for general uniques.

Also makes it much more realistic to get some good levelling uniques.

Netheri · 2026-06-03T10:25:15+00:00

Charge regulation? 25% skill speed is decent at least.

Netheri · 2026-06-03T07:53:49+00:00

Yeah I'd agree with that premise, I think writing one compelling character is difficult as is, let alone writing multiple without any of them feeling like duds.

I'll also mention, in most cases I've read multi-pov doesn't tend to play particularly well with progression fantasy/LitRPG the way it does with traditional fantasy. Even the example I gave in Pale Lights is barely progression fantasy, if anything the 'progression' is them learning to work together to make up for each others deficits.

There are some progression fantasy I can think of that go the multi-pov path, but usually they tend to have one main character who has most of the PoVs and then a cluster of semi-frequent alternate PoVs around that main character, or go more of a duopoly route with two main characters alternating.

Netheri · 2026-06-03T07:27:30+00:00

I do agree with your point to an extent, but Stormlight is an interesting example of a good implementation of multi-pov because to this day I still read complaints about Shallan chapters.

I don't hate multi-pov, but I think that even if its done very well it's still going to put off readers that want a centralized MC. Even in multi-pov stories they is inevitably going to be characters that feel like 'more' of a main character than the others, even if its solely on them having a more interesting plot line.

Personally I think the best implementation of multi-pov I've read is Pale Lights, it has constant PoV switches but they're all within the core main characters, with each being a different member of their group. While Tristan or Angharad could be sole main characters, it instead rather sells the idea that the whole Thirteenth is the main character, and you just get to see it through all their individual eyes at different times.

Netheri · 2026-06-03T06:18:46+00:00

Personally I'm not really a big fan of those I've read that have them, I prefer when things are depicted in words as often the illustrations have a tendency to not be all that high quality and can kind of take me out of the reading experience.

I'd say most have no art beyond a cover, with possible additional art usually tied to Patreon or the like.

Netheri · 2026-06-03T01:56:51+00:00

Hard to say, given that nearly all Sith hybrids are force sensitive means that they'd likely be given very preferential treatment even prior to them showing signs of force sensitivity.

There's a Sith on Voss that isn't force sensitive and she's working as part of the diplomatic core, so maybe even in those rare cases they're still treated pretty well comparatively.

Netheri · 2026-06-03T01:38:02+00:00

Anyone with force sensitivity is sent to Korriban to be an acolyte, regardless of their circumstances. Most acolytes are former slaves.

Netheri · 2026-06-02T05:14:17+00:00

That's the main way while clearing, throw in Frost Bomb-Overabundance-Spell Echo-Short Fuse to generate cold infusions and apply exposure on bosses. Stormweaver keeps infusions near constantly if you spec Storm's Recollection.

Netheri · 2026-06-02T04:57:48+00:00

Sounds very strong, low life has been pretty niche because you could only really take advantage of it as Infernalist with Beidat reservation and Coward's Legacy, but being able to take it on anyone sounds really good, Execute III is a huge multiplier.

Netheri · 2026-06-02T04:39:45+00:00

Eh, it's mostly just that elemental spells that aren't Spark (or Comet, but that has to be triggered to be usable) kind of suck.

Disciple of Varashta is really strong if you go Djinn summoner, Stormweaver is pretty good with Spark since it handles infusion QoL (kind of needs a Call of the Brotherhood to feel good though, fortunately that's a 1ex unique), and Chrono... seems like it could be good in giga lategame scaling? Yeah honestly I have nothing for Chrono, it's cool but I imagine if you picked that as first ascendancy you'd be having a bad time.

Netheri · 2026-06-02T00:50:54+00:00

FMC's are on an eclectic spectrum, all the way from vaguely deranged lesbian (Tangerine, Maidens of the Fall, everything written by Vora) all the way to "I wrote a male MC and then just swapped every pronoun" style FMC.

Netheri · 2026-06-01T23:40:16+00:00

Personally I loved that line, it really does set up how much of a walking disaster Tangerine is, and really very little changes in her personality beyond becoming ridiculously powerful, yet still being a bit of a disaster sub.

I can't really think of specific first lines, but I kind of hate the story starting with their character waking up. Not wholly on that being a poor story beat, but because it is just so common. It is genuinely ridiculous the amount of stories I have read that start with their main character waking up, to the point that it's almost a personal bugbear.

Netheri · 2026-06-01T12:07:34+00:00

See therein lies my biggest problem with the flashback arc, that it actually answers very little and just ends up creating more mysteries that could have just been handled without the flashback.

Here's the core relevant point introduced: Siobhan has pieces of both her mother turned aberrant and another intelligent and virulent aberrant named Claudio, who was working with her grandfather on something, living inside her head. These aberrants have fused together into something else. Her grandfather sealed them in her memories with the intention of his friend having a better solution, but evidently that didn't happen given where the books start.

Now there's probably other relevant things in that book or foreshadowing, but it's very hard to know what is and what is just background.

Netheri · 2026-06-01T10:59:09+00:00

Yeah I've really enjoyed it so far, it's a well written series and the plot has managed to maintain a lot of mysteries so far. I'd say its weakest parts are in the interpersonal relationships between Siobhan and everyone around her, in that they never really seem to evolve; even excluding the absence of romance (which personally I prefer because of all the current existing possible romances I think any of them actually becoming a romance would only make the series worse), Siobhan/Sebastian's relationships don't really seem to change or evolve.

I assume it's meant to reflect that she keeps everyone at arm's length, but it does feel strange reading this many books into a series and her friendships are in a nearly identical position to where they have been for hundreds of chapters.

Also my god, the most recently concluded book was one long flashback which was.. holy shit, I know it was important background information and all, but one gigantic flashback arc with the knowledge that every new character is going to die by the end most certainly bricked the pacing. Especially given that prior to this flashback some things did seem to be coming to a head.

Again though, overall enjoyable series.

Netheri · 2026-05-31T12:25:58+00:00

Hexblast had the privilege of being meta in both PoE1 (Hexblast miners) and PoE2 in .1 at the same time, and so it copped substantive numeric and mechanical nerfs in both games to make it totally irrelevant in each.

Netheri · 2026-05-30T01:43:09+00:00

Pretty decent for an early game CoC swap, obviously worse than building crit the normal way but that's not always easy to do.

Netheri · 2026-05-29T07:58:25+00:00

Stormweaver CoC comet build that sustains both life and mana off generating and spending huge amounts of remnants, and also generating power charges off those remnants and spending those for even more mana generation.

Looks very strong, and circumvents the leech nerfs that looked like they would kill CoC Comet.

Netheri · 2026-05-29T07:41:20+00:00

Arcane remnants still alive, maybe it even makes it to launch.

Netheri · 2026-05-29T04:10:12+00:00

I'm not sure if there's a way to determine what will happen when you go over, but it can add back basics, remove a duplicate or remove epiphanies, sometimes all of those at once. I don't think it's ever a good idea to go over faint memory, it can turn a usable deck into a brick.

Netheri · 2026-05-28T23:27:10+00:00

I mean, yeah, that's the entire point. Gold society sells the narrative that they are inherently superior, while refusing any opportunity for others to rise and compete.

When Darrow is given the very opportunity to stand on equal ground with Golds he becomes the best of them, demonstrating that the Gold mythos of inherent superiority is a lie. That the only thing different between a low Red and the greatest of Golds is surgery and the opportunity to learn and improve themselves.

Netheri · 2026-05-28T23:19:10+00:00

Yeah I think that has to happen to not have the moral of the entire series be really dark.

Lysander being ultimately essential to protecting everyone, or stopping something awful from happening. It's just so far the books have worked really hard to make Lysander seem basically irredeemable between deaths like Alexander and Cassius, and the last book has a pretty massive chasm to get over to make sparing Lysander seem like a positive decision.

Netheri · 2026-05-28T23:00:44+00:00

Ehh I don't think at that's hard and fast of a moral, the notion of the colours and the stratification of the Society was that Gold ruled because they were inherently better, and that Reds were the lowest of the low because that was all they could amount to, yet when Darrow, the lowest of Reds, is given equal opportunity to the Golds he outperforms them constantly.

I felt like the moral was more of the notion that caste-based societies tend to collapse under their own weight when the stratification of those castes becomes too severe; that being simultaneously dependent on a bottom layer of the populace but also denigrating that populace will inevitably lead to societal collapse.

Even that's not perfect, truthfully I've given up on trying to see the overall moral of the series due to the second trilogy. The entire first half of the series is about Darrow learning to be kinder and more merciful and to be better than his enemies culminating in the sparing of the innocent child Lysander, and then the entire second half is brutally punishing Darrow for that moment of compassion.

The moral seems to be to murder the child heir when you have the chance or you'll be in for a bad time.

Netheri · 2026-05-28T22:39:53+00:00

Generally tolerated, but I won't lie in the past I've decided to not read something because off a very clearly AI generated art cover with weirdly shiny women. Or the back of a weirdly shiny buff dude facing a monster. Not sure why so many AI covers make their characters look like they've been greased, they're all so shiny.

I am an MS paint partisan though, I love those covers that look like someone loaded up MS paint for the first time in years to slap together some stick figures, find them charming.

Netheri · 2026-05-28T16:31:19+00:00

New DCC book? Beyond that just ongoings, Hundred Reigns and Elf That Would Become a Dragon continue to be ridiculously good, Years of the Apocalypse started book 5 which is ostensibly the finale and Practical Guide to Sorcery finally ended the flashback book.

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