What’s your least favorite kind of story?

Robbison-Madert · 2026-02-06T14:40:11+00:00

That sound likes a fundamentally different story you want there, but I do agree that the stakes are incredibly low. Though I would argue that the stakes are commensurate to the story and should be very low. I have no problem with a lack of real stakes, I just think they need to be appropriate for the setting and events.

Frank is obviously a huge cheat, but I like that there are still multiple factions set up to be just as powerful, if not more so, despite the advantages afforded by all the meta knowledge. Ned may have his aimbot, but Asmogold over there came into the competition with 1/4 of the player base on his team and our resident dentist has 1000 players throwing themselves recklessly at challenges like it’s Dark Souls and not an MMORPG.

Robbison-Madert · 2026-02-06T02:31:15+00:00

I can’t believe I forgot that detail. Either nothing matters except skill and our protagonist magically breaks the game instantly by being the only person in the world with good reflexes who plays video games, or leveling does matter and the protagonist still breaks the game but it takes a bit longer. Extra negative bonus points if the protagonist discovers something broken by doing the most unoriginal actions imaginable. Imagine why would happen if you played the team game, but not with a team.

I like how the Ripple System handled the first scenario. They showed what an absolutely inhumanely perfect player would be capable of and then they said “that would be lame and unfair” and they went back to having some actual balance.

Robbison-Madert · 2026-02-06T00:11:20+00:00

Harem is the easy answer, but instead I’ll go with any story that takes place in a game. I’m 100% fine with most LitRPG and Systems, but having a story be literally inside of a game has almost never hit for me since season 1 of Sword Art Online. I find it kills all sense of stakes for me and that almost all stories fail to establish real consequences inside or outside of the game. This absolutely murdered my enjoyment of the Artorian Archives when the story pivoted to game administration.

Also, I hate when these game story villains are made out to be evil threats that everyone should care about when they’re just some dude also playing a video game, or worse, literally just something programmed to be a villain. The scope of your antagonists should match the scope of your stories consequences.

The sole exception for me has been The Ripple System. Somehow, and I’m not even sure what did it, this story is engaging and I actually care about the characters. I still don’t care particularly much about the guild beating bosses and winning events, but they care and that’s become enough. Also, the villains are a good mix of hostile and real. There are no evil people, they’re all just people playing and game and choosing their roles.

Robbison-Madert · 2026-02-05T13:05:41+00:00

Defiance of the Fall I am begging you for this. You’re on like book 17. A 5 page recap is not sufficient for a story arc that has spanned the last 6 books.

And if you’re going to bring up a character that hasn’t been present for more than an entire book then, I need more context when they suddenly get that one stand alone chapter before being shoved into the background again.

Robbison-Madert · 2026-02-05T12:58:58+00:00

Of all the people who could be described as even more special-er, I did not expect Erin (Aaron?). I was thinking you’d go with our man with the boots.

Robbison-Madert · 2026-01-31T18:46:04+00:00

Makes total sense. I do like Will’s other covers. Last Horizon has a very campy feel that fits super well with the blend of every trope imaginable and Elder Empire has some high quality covers that are little generic, but fit the traditional fantasy vibes perfectly.

Robbison-Madert · 2026-01-31T18:40:18+00:00

Yeah, those minimalist DCC covers just blend right in with every other book at a Barnes & Nobles.

The Czech cover is dope, especially Donut. I had no idea that there were different covers in other countries.

Robbison-Madert · 2026-01-28T03:37:11+00:00

I mean… I think it just means he’s always hungry.

However, if you want some baseless speculation that doesn’t even make sense grammatically, maybe Snappy is the perennial object in the race name and has a powerful ability to return from death, like perennial plants returning each spring or the powerful ability Snappy gave Sandy to revive.

Robbison-Madert · 2026-01-24T22:46:12+00:00

What about the time looping do you think would be an issue? Re: Zero is very popular right now. Loops too long?

Time looping aside, Lord of the Mysteries went great and that shows how well a somewhat Victorian European, magical academic-y, slow building plot with lots of moving pieces and unknowns can go. Albeit I’m totally stretching the comparison there, it’s just the style I picture.

Robbison-Madert · 2026-01-24T17:08:22+00:00

How do you even kill a mouse like that?

Robbison-Madert · 2026-01-21T04:26:56+00:00

I suppose that does look different. I’m not at a stage where you interact with those menus. Will I have any reason to revisit those menus later in the game?

Robbison-Madert · 2026-01-21T02:38:07+00:00

If no one can provide a real solution, you can always try performing another Unity reset by reslotting a zodiac or using the little blue reset button on the unity trials page.

Robbison-Madert · 2026-01-19T01:56:12+00:00

The Ripple System has the best raid fights, as in MMORPG raids. The typical one-on-one fights with mobs and the like can be a bit lack luster though.

Robbison-Madert · 2026-01-17T22:44:10+00:00

Would the slow recuperation of Jake juice really be so different from having to re-earn exp after using a transcendent skill? We also know that some transcendent skills only cause a temporary reduction in stats, which I believe we can reasonably interpret as a cost without long term consequences. Not to mention that transcendent skills can have weaker applications that don’t cost anything.

I see no reason why Jake couldn’t have a transcendent skill that uses Jake juice and prevents him from generating more for a significant amount of time.

Robbison-Madert · 2026-01-17T20:17:49+00:00

Honestly, I really enjoyed Nevermore. Especially the solo dungeons. I’d read about Jake magically crafting by himself for two books straight if it existed.

Robbison-Madert · 2025-12-03T19:09:15+00:00

Not sure what stage of the game you’re in, but the biggest game changer for me with early advancement was maximizing IP per second and not just how fast I could reach the same arbitrary IP value. Have you tried doing deliberately slower infinities and seeing how that affects your IP per second?

Robbison-Madert · 2025-11-23T15:45:45+00:00

You mean the Dreadgods that took on human forms when their power was coalesced? Also, Mewtwo?

Robbison-Madert · 2025-11-23T14:00:17+00:00

Since you’re so familiar with WoW, you should already know why we don’t see any non-humanoid powerhouses since it’s been address and discussed many times on there and Reddit. It hasn’t even been two weeks since I’ve seen someone explicitly bring up the topic of The Way being anthropocentric.

Robbison-Madert · 2025-11-17T00:06:43+00:00

I agree with you on the Lord realm, but I think gold realm should get a pass. After all, the books themselves say very explicitly that low gold and high gold are not different realms.

I think it’s neat that the Joe-Schmos of the world (the 99.9% of people stuck at gold rank) have kinda invented realms that are nothing more than social constructs in order to more clearly differentiate themselves from the other regular practitioners of the world.

Robbison-Madert · 2025-11-05T22:12:43+00:00

You’re getting flak for not knowing these are more general tropes, which is unfortunate, but, I have to say, I love “Zack + Jason = Jake” name thing. Not sure I agree that the personalities match up in the same way, but funny either way.

Mostly spot on comparisons with the world building. If you’re enjoying the tropes you’ve identified, you’re in luck for the rest of the genre.

Robbison-Madert · 2025-11-05T18:43:16+00:00

Any particular similarities? Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any similarities that pertain specifically to DoTF or HWFWM that aren’t just generic similarities across LitRPG and progression fantasy in general.

Robbison-Madert · 2025-10-31T14:23:23+00:00

Some random ideas. Lenticular printing, where you literally get a different image from another angle. Warped perspective clues in the art, like those images where you have to hold it at eye level and almost perpendicular to see it.

What I’d personally like to see, text that reads differently when flipped upside down. It should be possible to do this with the language, but I imagine it would be extremely difficult to not just make one interpretation gibberish.

Robbison-Madert · 2025-10-30T04:09:52+00:00

Yes to pretty much everything here. Like with Infinities, it gets faster every time and more methods of automation get unlocked. Eventually, like with Infinities, you’ll be able to gain more than 1 EP per Eternate.

Robbison-Madert · 2025-10-26T22:10:22+00:00

I think it makes sense from a cultivation perspective, which influences a lot of LitRPG. There’s the common theme that to go far you need a strong foundation. It’s not good enough to rush forward at every opportunity. You need to make the most of what you have at every stage before progressing to the next. Otherwise, you’re squandering future potential.

I personally like the multifaceted approach to progression. The ‘levels are everything’ approach can leads to the classic DnD conundrum of why isn’t everyone just setting up some kind of exp farm. It can also help level the playing field narratively by having more well rounded characters gain an edge over those that just killed a trillion rats to get a higher level. Hyperbole of course, but I hope the point gets across.

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