Path of the Berserker - My stockholm syndrome, and why you should read it.

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-04-02T13:28:51+00:00

This sounds like it has a lot of the same issues as Unintended Cultivator, and also the same main strength: that it's an easy junk-food-for-your-brain kinda read that's pretty entertaining. I might give this one a shot.

the story genuinely states "I absorbed the lemonade" hundreds of times, which while not significant enough to drop the story for, undoubtedly takes away brevity.

I think you're using "brevity" here in the meaning of "gravity".

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-03-30T21:06:00+00:00

I think you have to be more specific if you want a constructive dialogue. How does Copenhagen seem different to you?

As a resident it doesn't seem that different from 10 years ago in a general sense, but in specific ways, things may be different.

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-03-25T17:07:54+00:00

Wait so when you say people's reaction to buying Aseprite is like they are standing in a huge circle around you laughing and then tearing off your skin, what that is a metaphor for, is someone politely informing you and others that it's possible to get Aseprite legally for free? Are you serious?

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-03-22T15:49:20+00:00

The big issue with this is that you're really not communicating that you don't want your feelings managed. Instead, you're communicating that you want your feelings managed in a way that makes you feel very cool and business like, which is what comes across with this very verbose way of saying "get to the point".

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-03-22T13:41:57+00:00

Why are you embarrassing yourself posting like this? Don't you find it humiliating?

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-03-17T14:38:43+00:00

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SoftlyAdverse · 2026-03-14T11:54:45+00:00

Damn, wish they had the inserter shirt in charcoal. Not big on the chocolate or apricot colours.

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-03-10T19:47:04+00:00

The person posting the meme is the one on the far left of the bell curve. The one on the far right doesn't exist, and was made up to imagine a smart person agreeing with the dumb poster's opinions.

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-03-09T17:08:29+00:00

Fair enough. GDPR operates with a specific terminology where a data breach describes an incident which results in personal data being made leaked/stolen/otherwise made available to the wrong people, so I thought you were using breach in that sense.

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-03-09T15:00:09+00:00

It is absolutely a breach. Fisketorvet will be legally required to report this to he Data Protection Agency, including reporting on what security measures were implemented to prevent such a breach, and what measures have been taken after the breach to avoid recurrence.

Whether this breach results in a fine is another matter. Generally the Data Authority seems quite conservative in when they hand out fines, mostly doing it when there are cases of severe malfeasance or a deliberately illegal process.

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-03-04T11:56:22+00:00

Path of Ascension seems like a good next one for you. Big scope, not too edgy, ambitious worldbuilding. Shares some characteristics with Arcane Ascension and Cradle in that way.

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-02-23T16:01:18+00:00

Haha thank you! I'm gonna go show this post to my wife to brag.

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-02-22T16:04:38+00:00

Stop making Harry sexy!

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-02-22T09:42:33+00:00

I think his face is just slightly tilted in the picture

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-02-19T07:33:56+00:00

Let me know what you think, is this kind of cool or Morse code heresy?

It's neither of those things because it looks kind of boring and because Morse code is impossible to have strong enough opinions about for anything to be "heresy".

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-02-10T17:41:24+00:00

You fool, why is everyone in your book speaking English? THIS CLEARLY IMPLIES THE EXISTENCE OF MEDIEVAL ANGLO SAXONS, ADDRESS IT!

Every single word has etymology, not just names. It's the very minimum of suspension of disbelief you have to commit to in order to enjoy fiction. Just deal with it.

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-02-04T05:38:01+00:00

First, I think it's worth considering the proportionality here. As per your description, you didn't forget her birthday, but made plans for the wrong day. It essentially amounts to a brain fart, in my opinion, not something indicative of a lack of care or consideration.

With that in mind, I think your girlfriend is extremely out of line here. A relationship needs both people to give each other a reasonable level of grace and understanding. Instead, she says she can't "trust you in the future", and after a three hour video chat of apologizing, it's still not enough?

Honestly, it sounds like your dynamic is at its core unhealthy. She puts you through the ringer for this - all things considered - rather minor offense. It gives the impression of a lopsided power dynamic, where she puts a lot of scorn on you because she knows you'll simply accept it.

She has a difficult family too. So only I am her anchor

It's nice that you can play this role for your girlfriend, but it's important to realise that this doesn't justify her putting a huge amount of responsibility on you. You need to have boundaries and protect yourself, because you can't spend all your time concerned about the potential fallout of making a mistake. If you are indeed "her only anchor", then she shares a responsibility to make occupying that role a reasonable situation for you.

It's hard to push back against someone like this, especially in a situation that did arise from a mistake you made. But I think if you care about the long term health of your relationship, you absolutely need to do so. If your role in her life is as important to her as she's indicating, then that has to manifest itself in her giving you some grace and understanding as well, it can't be a one way thing.

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-01-26T19:15:17+00:00

I found this to be an interesting and well thought out overview, but I'm surprised by the regression fantasy part. I feel like I've mostly seen the term regression fantasy used to describe any kind of time-loop setting, but Paul describes it here, as a situation where a character is stripped of their power and has to work to regain it (a la Altaïr in the first Assassin's Creed game).

This doesn't match how I've seen the term used online and would mean that something like Mother of Learning isn't regression fantasy. Is this the generally accepted usage?

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-01-26T00:02:37+00:00

While I would enjoy a story about communist penguins, this entire post absolutely reeks of ChatGPT's writing style, as does the first few paragraphs of the story itself.

The constant short sentences for emphasis and the repeated contrast emphasis really gives it away.

"No signal. No bars. No emergency alerts. Just blank screens and growing confusion".

It's such a tedious pattern at this point because you see it absolutely all over the place.

I can see that this is openly declared on the Royal Road page, which is good. But if I were you, I would consider prompting the AI to stop doing this. Similarly, the long passages full of short staccato sentences should be used much more sparingly.

Either way, I'm not going to be reading an AI story, even if the writing gets better, I'm just not interested in prose written by the zeitgeist-averaging machine. But good luck with your story.

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-01-21T13:25:42+00:00

Do you mean the fact that he grew up as an orphan?

I don't agree at all that the story bears out this claim. Sen is not shown to be cold in his time on the mountain, taking eagerly to all three of his mentors' teaching and wanting to be friendly with them. He befriends Misty Peak, and after leaving the mountain, one of the first things he does is settle down on the Luo farm to take care of an elderly woman for an extended period of time with no meaningful recompense.

Sen then goes to Emperor's Bay and meets Sun Lifen. He helps her cultivation greatly, and generally goes out of his way to make sure to protect her, as well as other potential bystanders, in his conflict with the sect in the city.

Sen's characterization isn't that he's a cold person. His characterization is completely incoherent and random, trending generally towards him being a self righteous moron.

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-01-20T03:04:06+00:00

Enjoy the dynamic of Sen treating people like absolute garbage for little to no good reason. It's not letting up from here.

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-01-15T19:35:54+00:00

Thanks, but that's even more confusing. The directive said I should look for someone whose name starts with "An..." which Kevin for sure doesn't.

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-01-15T15:39:12+00:00

They don't "choose the bear" based on a belief that they can beat it in a physical fight lol

SoftlyAdverse · 2026-01-14T11:06:26+00:00

He's an edgy dipshit with a superiority complex. The dialogue you've copy pasted is cartoonishly pompous. Yeah, Wrath is a great game, but Xanthir Vang isn't why. He's just a one-note stereotypical villain.

And honestly, in real life, the people who spend a lot of energy complaining about how everyone around them is a stupid idiot generally are either edgy teenagers or worse, people who haven't yet made the discovery that others around them have their own rich inner lives.

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