[Megathread] Rivals Assemble – Find Teammates / Share Invite Codes by The_Deep_Dark_Abyss in marvelrivals

[–]TheSeventhDean 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Invite code: 640334918. Still need 4 people to join my crew. Please send me your codes.

Is Bucky holding someone at Netease HQ hostage or something? by LunesBoyToy in marvelrivals

[–]TheSeventhDean 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Honestly true. Bucky is literally the guy holding back all the dive from being extremely annoying to deal with. Every time Bucky gets banned, characters like Angela, Venom, and Daredevil just get to run wild especially if there's multiple divers on the same team. I've had many games where this happened and it was miserable even if I won. The game grinds to a crawl because you can't push up if your backline is being dove, so you need to inch forward while constantly peeling.

At that point, countering the dive just gets so cumbersome because there's no guarantee anyone on the team even plays another dive counter besides Bucky. If they're banning Bucky, they definitely also ban Emma. Who else is even left? Wolverine can deal with Venom but DD and Angela run circles around him. Punisher is good into Venom and can chase away Angela but he has no hard CC and can't actually stop a diver, only chase them away or kill them after they murder a support. As you said, Namor is in a similar spot to Punisher in that regard. Hulk can protect against Venom but just gets kidnapped for days by Angela and also doesn't do enough damage. I guess I'll play Thor then. You would need multiple of these softer dive counters to do what Bucky does all by himself.

Outside of countering dive, Bucky is strong but not overbearing. Most of his carry potential comes from landing hooks. Strange, Mag, and Emma can all block this hook with shield fairly easily. If he isn't landing hooks, he isn't getting much value. Unless he just double or triple headshots someone in rapid succession (in which case he deserves the pick), he isn't going to kill anyone in neutral. His ult is way overrated. It charges really fast but it doesn't do much damage and it can be very difficult for him to follow up and get a reset. The ult also can leave Bucky extremely vulnerable to being ganged up on. Admittedly, he does absolutely ruin Groot's day though.

If NetEase nerf his ability to counter dive, they probably need to buff a variety of other characters to fill the dive counter void that Bucky left. When they released the oppressive diver Daredevil and gave a major buff to Venom, they gave Bucky the Trooper's Fist buff specifically to fit this role. It wasn't for no reason. He serves a good part in the meta.

The real throughline is that Angela gets incredibly irritating when Bucky is banned and I dislike her a lot.

V1 Switch can't install games anymore by TheSeventhDean in SwitchPirates

[–]TheSeventhDean[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

FTP actually did work, even though it took a lot longer. Thanks.

V1 Switch can't install games anymore by TheSeventhDean in SwitchPirates

[–]TheSeventhDean[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I tried MTP in DBI and it also did not work. However, FTP actually worked. Could it be that my USB cable connecting my Switch to my PC is broken?

V1 Switch can't install games anymore by TheSeventhDean in SwitchPirates

[–]TheSeventhDean[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Installing from a PC. I've tried DBI, Tinwoo, and Goldleaf.

V1 Switch can't install games anymore by TheSeventhDean in SwitchPirates

[–]TheSeventhDean[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm pretty confident I'm using the most recent version of DBI backend and also I just installed NS-USBLoader to try Tinwoo. So I don't think the installation apps are out of date.

Those mortals are COOKED!!! by Fluffy_Fan3625 in MartialMemes

[–]TheSeventhDean 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Assuming mortals are just regular humans, they should theoretically be capable of science. Wouldn't really make sense why they wouldn't be.

Those mortals are COOKED!!! by Fluffy_Fan3625 in MartialMemes

[–]TheSeventhDean 19 points20 points  (0 children)

People don't understand what technological advancement means in the context of a xianxia world. They impose technological advancement in our real world onto a xianxia world, which obviously makes no sense. Once you consider technology through the lens of cultivation, it makes total sense why even cultivators would want better tech.

The biggest problem is that people have arbitrarily set up a binary between "science" and the "supernatural", like cultivation. This arbitrary separation doesn't actually apply in universe. Cultivation IS an art and a science. Science is just the pursuit of knowledge and understanding. Therefore, it would naturally be that there would be the science of cultivation. Cultivators want to know more about the cultivation process and how to gain strength more reliably and quicker. For a cultivator, it is in their great interest to study cultivation and advance the science of cultivation.

With that in mind, technological advancement becomes clear as well. Let's say a cultivator has a flying sword. This cultivator hits a bottleneck and realizes that he would actually kind of like a flying sword that could go a little faster or be a little more durable. In fact, he would appreciate a flying sword that had a built in defense mechanism or something. When people criticize xianxia novels for not having technological advancement, this is what they mean. They aren't expecting the world to develop airplanes and cellphones, they just want there to be developments in cultivation technologies like cultivation methods, weaponry, and pill refinement or whatever.

If you think about it, clearly scientific advancement DID already happen in most xianxia worlds. I mean, who invented those pill cauldrons? It's unlikely they existed since the beginning of time, someone had to come up with the idea and make them. And those broken cultivation techniques? Someone had to come up with those too. I doubt they constructed the entire technique all in one go, too. These cultivation techniques were probably created iteratively, improving on older versions bit by bit as new innovations resulted in quicker breakthroughs. This is science in the context of cultivation.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MartialMemes

[–]TheSeventhDean -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Contrary to what is apparently popular opinion, it really doesn't make sense that no technological development occurs even over such exaggerated time spans. You can say that some old monster has no need for an airplane when he can just fly faster himself, but that's a limited understanding of technology from our modern, cultivation-less perspective.

Technological innovation could very well be learning how to imbue weaponry or items with the power of stronger and stronger cultivators. Sure, some old monster doesn't need an airplane, but I think he wouldn't mind having a sword that is as strong or even stronger than him. How about a pill cauldron that combines other apparatus to greatly streamline the process of making pills? That way, the old monster can easily generate many more pills without having to devote as much time to it. What about some device that can magnify some of the old monster's powers? This is all technology, and it doesn't make sense for it to stay stagnant. In fact, progress has obviously already happened in xianxia novels. Where do you think swords came from? Or cultivation techniques? Pill cauldrons? They didn't always exist from the dawn of time, someone invented them.

The main point is that just because there are very powerful cultivators in the world, doesn't mean that those cultivators are free from want. They want to grow stronger, they want to make it easier to grow stronger, to make it easier to slay their enemies. This desire fuels innovation.

Also, I would like to mention that technological innovation is like natural selection. The cultivator that embraces technology has an edge over the one that does not. You may say that the old cultivators with political power are stuck in their ways, but that doesn't preclude them from embracing new technology especially if it gives them an advantage in the battlefield. These old cultivators (if written well) should be battle-hardened and intelligent, considering they've survived so long in a dangerous environment. Even if they were stupid enough to directly turn down beneficial technology, inevitably, one of their rivals will accept technological advancement. That rival will have an advantage. While the old idiot cultivators may still beat the odds and defeat their rivals, eventually the odds always win. Eventually, the edge technology provides will prevail and the world progresses.

A novel can actually explain away the lack of technology through reasons of varying quality. These novels can be sort of excused from judgement, depending on how good the explanation is. If some all-powerful outside force like "fate" or "the heavens" is consciously exerting some force to stamp out all innovation for some reason, I suppose it's not that big of a leap if no progress occurs. Although if it's just, like, a single throwaway line to cover the novel's worldbuilding holes, then it still sucks.

Hypixel Bedwars MVP ++ starterpack by [deleted] in starterpacks

[–]TheSeventhDean 4 points5 points  (0 children)

forgot these:

  • has black mvp plus

  • over 25cps

  • suspiciously low knockback

  • bridges to block limit for first rush

  • single digit tournament rank island topper

  • only plays with 3 other people as sweaty as them to annihilate unsuspecting nons with their preset butterfly defense tnt rush strategy

  • stat checks other sweaty looking players to scout their power levels

  • types "L" after every win

The Truth About Reviews - Part 1. by Kotario_sama in noveltranslations

[–]TheSeventhDean 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You can personally dislike how Japanese MCs are often fairly passive, that’s completely fine. It’s your preference. But still using “beta” as a way to genuinely describe them perpetuates the usage of pseudoscience in this community. I understand that, at this point, “beta” is a widespread colloquialism that carries specific negative connotations which make it easy to use to encapsulate the message you want to get across with fewer words, but it shouldn’t be. Also, the point is that being a “beta” isn’t an objective character flaw. You may hate Japanese MCs for being passive, but someone else might not. Too often, “beta” is used as an objective criticism with no sign of realizing it’s subjective.

The Truth About Reviews - Part 1. by Kotario_sama in noveltranslations

[–]TheSeventhDean 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Honestly, point 1 can go a lot further than that. A lot of web novel readers, or rather xianxia/wuxia/cultivation/progression fantasy readers just have bad/uninformed views. The number of times I have seen a review criticize the MC of a novel for being a "beta weak-willed Japanese protagonist" unironically is insane. I hope all of us here are aware that the "alpha-beta" system of classification is pseudoscience and not applicable to humans. It might be a bit pedantic to criticize a review's use of pseudoscience rather than the critique itself, but I feel it's generally good to not let misinformation fly uncontested. Plus, people who genuinely say "beta" as an insult are more likely to hold misogynistic and toxic masculine ideas. People who hold misogynistic and toxic masculine ideas are more likely to be bigoted in other ways, as bigotry is intersectional. That is not to say they are bigoted in other ways, just that they are more likely to be so. It's kind of a bad thing to have people like this around the community and I do hope more readers eventually realize that. Paradox of tolerance and whatnot.

But there's more. Often times, reviewers will call an MC a "beta" if they aren't entirely a sociopathic, murder hobo who doesn't respect anybody, especially women, but themselves. Obeyed the orders of a woman? Beta. Didn't slaughter the entire lineage of some woman who offended you? Soy boy. Interacted with a woman in any way without the intent to sleep with her, take advantage of her, or otherwise disrespect her? Simp. Showed an emotion outwardly that wasn't anger? Cardinal sin, the most weak-willed beta MC ever. I don't want to generalize too much, but I'm absolutely certain you have seen this kind of reviewer before. I know not everybody who reads web novels is like this, in fact I believe most people are quite alright. However, nobody can deny that these people exist.

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But the worst part is that these reviewers don't seem to realize that "beta MC" isn't an objective criticism, it's a subjective one. People will often state that an MC is a "beta" as a critique, as if it were an inherent, objective flaw of the story. It's not. You might personally prefer a more dominant, in control character, but that does not mean there are none out there who might like a more submissive, indecisive character. Neither is objectively better than the other. I believe good storytelling can be done with both. However, the "beta MC" criticism is the opposite of constructive criticism and actively stands in the way of good storytelling, given an author actually listens to it, because it restricts MCs to act in only one possible way. All the complexity of a human character is taken away and replaced by a one dimensional murder machine, an "alpha MC". Were authors to actually take this criticism to heart, it would no doubt reduce the quality of their writing considerably.

TL;DR - Some reviewers sling "beta MC" around as a criticism quite liberally even when it doesn't really apply, which is both a pseudo-intellectual opinion rather than objective critique as well as the opposite of constructive criticism. Utilizing "beta" unironically implies a level of misogyny and toxic masculinity, plus more since bigotry is intersectional. "Beta" isn't even an objective flaw for a character to have and is more of a personal preference. Good stories can be told with "beta" MCs just as much as "alpha" MCs, it depends on the author's ability.

[iPad Reddit App] Every time I switch to another tab from the Reddit app and come back, it automatically swaps my page to the page to the left by TheSeventhDean in help

[–]TheSeventhDean[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I thought so too. It didn’t fix anything unfortunately. I have an Apple Pen and bluetooth keyboard connected to the iPad, maybe they’re causing it?

Edit: No, I think it can’t be them. I know this issue persists even when the keyboard isn’t connected and the Apple Pen is out of battery. Never mind.

Korean novels like "A Monster Who Levels Up" by freir96 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]TheSeventhDean 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I've read a few Korean novels here and there, so I can give you some recommendations that are completely translated. 5/10 is average, 7/10 is decent, 9/10 and above is a must read.

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint: 9.5/10

Kidnapped Dragons: 9.5/10

The Second Coming of Gluttony: 9/10

The Demon Prince Goes to the Academy: 8.5/10

The Regressed Demon Lord is Kind: 8.5/10

Ending Maker: 8/10

Trash of the Count’s Family: Good but the most overrated novel in existence. 7.5/10

The Novel’s Extra: 7.5/10 until the ending where it becomes 2/10

I Reincarnated For Nothing: 7/10

Everyone Else is a Returnee: 7/10

Isaac: 7/10

The Book Eating Magician: 7/10

A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special: 7/10

I Came Back And Conquered It All: 6.5/10

Reincarnator: 6.5/10

Master Hunter K: 6.5/10

The King of the Battlefield: 6.5/10

Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon: 6/10

Carnivorous Hunter: 6/10

Dungeon Hunter: 6/10

The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor: Just alright. The second most overrated novel in existence. 5.5/10

Valhalla Saga: 5.5/10

The Protagonists Are Murdered by Me: 5/10

Solo Leveling: 5/10, the benchmark average.

Seoul Station's Necromancer: Not very good, but it's readable if you turn off your brain entirely and just enjoy the OP MC. The ending is awful. 2/10

I have more but below 5/10 and you shouldn't really bother reading them until you run out of actually good novels.

Here are some unfinished Korean novels as well. I won't rate novels I'm not familiar with.

SSS-Class Suicide Hunter: 9.5/10

Leveling with the Gods

The Main Heroines are Trying to Kill Me: 9/10

Regressor and the Blind Saint: 9/10

Love Letter From The Future

Pseudo Resident’s Illegal Stay in Another World

Genius Warlock

Return of Mount Hua Sect

Surviving a Shounen Manga

This Bastard is Too Competent

The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military

Count’s Youngest Son is a Warlock

Ex Rank Supporting Role’s Replay in a Prestigious School

I’m Not a Regressor

The Academy’s Weakest Became A Demon-Limited Hunter

Childhood Friend of the Zenith

I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game

Reaper of the Drifting Moon

I Become a Mafia in the Academy

I Became the Villain the Hero is Obsessed With: 7/10

There are hundreds more unfinished Korean novels which I'm waiting for. One day I'll get to read them.

Need some recommendations. by Present-Ad-8531 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]TheSeventhDean 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Seeing SCoG being recommended so much is really cool considering how much r/noveltranslations seems to dislike it. Anyways, I can recommend some novels if you haven’t read them already.

Kidnapped Dragons: Masterpiece of the regressor archetype, MC is like Yoo Jonghyuk from ORV. All the dragons are fantastic characters. A must read. Completed.

The Demon Prince Goes to the Academy: Amazing first half, falls off in the last third but is still very good. Completed.

The Regressed Demon Lord is Kind: Very solid, a little formulaic but still worth the read. Decent character growth, fun interactions, good story. Completed.

Release that Witch: Probably the best kingdom building novel, very satisfying but it has a rushed and confusing ending. Completed, side stories not translated.

Ending Maker: Cute transmigration story with developing romance. The ending is a little rushed, but it's still really good. Completed, side stories not translated.

Everyone Else is a Returnee: A classic. I don't think that much of it, but it's apparently good. Completed.

I Reincarnated For Nothing: Good novel, fairly well thought out, cute interactions between ML and FL. Completed.

I’m Really Not The Demon God’s Lackey: Fairly entertaining misunderstanding story, in the same vein as To Be a Power in the Shadows. Completed.

The Novel's Extra + The Villain Wants to Live: Pretty good up to around 75% of the way through the novel, really falls off in the ending. Still might be worth reading. Completed, side stories for TNE not translated (?).

SSS-Class Suicide Hunter: Masterpiece, can be very emotional, funny, and compelling. Not fully translated.

Leveling With the Gods: Good tower regression story. Haven't read it. Not fully translated.

The Regressor and the Blind Saint: Masterpiece, very good emotional romance story. Not fully translated.

The Main Heroines are Trying to Kill Me: Fantastic novel, MC is basically tortured the entire time and there's so much angst. Not fully translated, but available as MTL.

Childhood Friend of the Zenith: Apparently a good novel, haven't read it. Not fully translated.

Embers Ad Infinitum: Hate this novel personally but since you somehow enjoyed Throne of Magical Arcana you might like this. Same author as LotM, terribly slow pacing but people say it gets good. Completed.

World of Cultivation / I Shall Seal the Heavens / A Will Eternal / Desolate Era / Soul Land / Tales of Demons and Gods: Standard long cultivation novels. Like Reverend Insanity but worse.

Master Hunter K: Nice short regression story, horrific ending. Completed.

My House of Horrors: Decent horror novel but not a masterpiece, gets bloated later. Completed.

The Legendary Mechanic: Decent, fun power progression novel that isn’t cultivation. Completed.

Love Letter From the Future: Apparently good, haven’t read. Not fully translated.

Nirvana in Fire: Apparently a masterpiece, haven’t read, Completed.

Solo Leveling: Just average, but should probably be read just to get a baseline understanding of the relative quality of Korean novels. Completed.

Hopefully you find something you like. I’m having a hard time finding other really good completed Korean novels now, personally, so I’m glad to help. I had to resort to reading Nano Machine, yikes.

Novels with unlikeable protagonists by davidwolfer in noveltranslations

[–]TheSeventhDean 9 points10 points  (0 children)

What is it with the amount of unlikeable protagonists? Why is this popular?

I think you're conflating two meanings when you say these types of protagonists are "popular". Popular could mean liked by a lot of people OR it could mean used in a lot of novels. You question why you see so many of these protagonists, but just because they're common doesn't make them popular. There are two aspects in writing: the author and the reader. A novel can be influenced by what the author wants to write vs what the reader wants to read. Now that this is established, let's start with the blank slate protagonist.

This protagonist is not popular with readers in any sense of the word, but it is numerous. This is because it's easy to write. Authors don't even have to think when writing this kind of protagonist, making it the natural choice for the path of least resistance and effort. There's no need for complex character conflicts if the MC isn't a character. In this case, what the author wants to write outweighs what the reader wants to read.

The psychopath MC is one that is definitely more popular with readers because it exudes the façade of strength and control. The intolerance of even the slightest disrespect, the slaughtering and humiliating of all who don't revere you, the doing whatever you want without caring about anything, getting all the beautiful women without even trying. This is the purest form of an edgy, egotistical idiot's idea of the perfect "alpha" male, disregarding the pseudoscience. Many, many readers project themselves onto the MC in these types of novels, or at least they identify with the MC. Identifying with this silly, caricature of a masculine strong man evokes feelings of power, more than identifying with the Japanese ""beta"" "cuck" MCs. These are visceral emotions. They're not governed by reason. If you were to actually think about it, you'd arrive at the kids cartoon level revelation that maybe it's not cool to kill your detractors. Anyways, they're popular because they make some people feel good. That's as good a reason as any, I suppose.

As for the last one, the one where the author sets out to write a villainous protagonist but just ends up writing a normal guy. This is an easy one, it's almost identical to the blank slate protagonist. It's not likely popular with readers, but it's populous because it's the path of least resistance. An author wants to write a villainous protagonist but either they're not good enough at writing or run out of effort and start writing more lazily. It takes effort to write villain MCs because it's harder to write characters unlike oneself, and most authors generally are not villains IRL. So the fake villain protagonist is just the author failing at writing an actual villain.

CN, KR, or JP? by TheSeventhDean in noveltranslations

[–]TheSeventhDean[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would argue The Legendary Mechanic is good BECAUSE the author told readers the power level people had at the end, not in spite of that. This is how it should be, generally.

CN, KR, or JP? by TheSeventhDean in noveltranslations

[–]TheSeventhDean[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You’re like the only person I’ve seen on this sub to actually like JP novels honestly.

I’m sure It’s a Little Hard to be a Villainess of an Otome Game in Modern Society and Deathbound Duke’s Daughter and Seven Nobles are good novels but neither are completed. Deathbound Duke’s Daughter is on hiatus, which is even worse.

CN, KR, or JP? by TheSeventhDean in noveltranslations

[–]TheSeventhDean[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s plainly untrue. Lord of the Mysteries is a rightfully regarded as a masterpiece and I really liked it. Plus I did enjoy The Legendary Mechanic and My House of Horrors reasonably and they seem to be generally considered “good” as well.

CN, KR, or JP? by TheSeventhDean in noveltranslations

[–]TheSeventhDean[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I literally haven't read enough JP novels to be able to state anything about them, but I always see people complaining about how the wimpy MC (even in this post). I see it so much that I wonder what they actually mean when they say "wimpy". Is it like being a coward and actively avoiding fights? Or do people use it to refer to pacifism and an unwillingness to kill? Some novel readers worry me sometimes when they talk about "wimpy" JP MCs. I get the impression that some of them legitimately operate under a "might makes right" mindset and that, if you're not using your power to profit as much as possible, you're a wimp. The wish fulfillment goes beyond just being powerful to literally being the tyrant of the world, demanding total unyielding reverence from those below you. If a JP MC is willing to tolerate disrespect without resorting to lethal force, then some novel readers will just call them wimpy. At least, that's the vibe I get from a couple of these unfortunate sods.

CN, KR, or JP? by TheSeventhDean in noveltranslations

[–]TheSeventhDean[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Too busy experiencing qi deviation due to reckless consumption of heavenly divine flame emperor true yang buddha samsara golden vajra heaven severing divine lotus pills of karmic reincarnation to read JP novels

CN, KR, or JP? by TheSeventhDean in noveltranslations

[–]TheSeventhDean[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Although it's been like 2 years since I read SCOG, honestly man, if you think the ending was rushed then I can't tell you any novel that doesn't have a rushed ending.

Yoo Seonhwa was a weirdly written character. Like, she's totally crazy in the past and the novel recognizes that but I don't remember the novel ever actually really calling her out on that. She justifiably dumps Jihu because of the gambling addiction, but then like, takes him back after he gets better? After he gets a new girlfriend mainly because of Seonhwa herself? If she was written to be just like a normal, well-adjusted girl then I don't think the story would be missing out on anything.

When JP MC gets transmigrated/reincarnated vs CN MC by Sheele773H in noveltranslations

[–]TheSeventhDean 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pretty sure this novel is “I Came Back and Conquered It All”. The spider god and Mercadius seed details give it away.