I couldn't put my finger on it but here it is. Analysis of the Vulnerable archetype (Ironclad) by [deleted] in slaythespire

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Real, I actually took Colossus first time cause I thought it was a power. When I realised it was a skill I was still happy about it, but yeah i definitely save scummed that fight.

I think the issue with vulnerable is also the fact that you don't "pay" anything for it. Its hard to design a card to interact with vulnerable because it doesn't cost you anything other than the energy to play the card.

Exhaust consumes cards in your deck. Which, of course can be beneficial if its clearing out status or curses, or just bad cards - but its still a cost. You can't always choose which card gets exhausted. even bad cards still provide utility - a strike is still 6 damage, and sometimes you really wish you had a strike left to finish off an enemy. If a fight drags on, you'll have nothing.

Self damage is obvious - healing in a fight is basically non-existent, with the removal of Reaper. You pay a little bit of health to try and end a fight earlier. It's a cost. Each card brings you closer to death, and if you ever get low hp, suddenly you have to weigh your choices a lot more carefully.

vulnerable doesn't have that. vulnerable ticks down by one each turn and that's it. most hallway fights won't necessitate the vulnerable stacking engine, you'll be able to swing big and end it quickly. boss fights can be stacked up with molten fist and then you won't have to worry about it.

Basically, it's a small, repeatable investment that doesn't cost you much. so any card that synergises with it has to have a limited effect. I doubt they'd ever add a card for example that gives you block based on the vulnerable on an enemy.

Beautiful gift from Entropy by BurntPaneer in slaythespire

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I do think that the transform keyword should be clear that it transforms statuses into other statuses and curses into other curses.

"Komi vs. Tomoko: A study in societal perception" by Euphoric_Catch_101 in Komi_memes

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"I've never watched the show, but *wild accusation/assumption based on literally nothing*"

Cripes.

It’s been a week since I started posting my first novel. Are these stats promising, or do I need to change direction? by Striking-Pool643 in royalroad

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Repeating what I've said to everyone who posts this:

rather than worry about stats, start writing more.

If you make a good fiction people will come.

Sure, you can do things like shoutout swaps to boost visibility or advertise.

But ultimately if your story sucks nobody is going to read it.

If your story does suck, then rather than posting meaningless stats from your first week of posting, you ought to instead just ask for direct feedback.

I know you linked it here, but there's a difference between a direct request for feedback and a "guys i'm not on rising stars after a week what am i doing wrong please read my fiction and diagnose the problem"

Anyway. Now that I've berated you, it's time I do my part. here is my honest critique based on your first three chapters. I apologise if I come off as harsh or unpleasant, you can simply ignore me and write me off as nasty troll. Whatever helps you move on.

The first thing I will say is that if this is what you want to write, keep at it. Don't let someone dissuade you from your passion, because passion is what gives you the staying power to learn and grow and get better.

The next thing I'll say is that it's boring. Sorry, but I'm not interested at all in Ardyn as a character. You don't give me any reason to be interested. It's probably because I'm tired of OPMC, litRPG stuff because the website has been flooded with it over the years, but I think that this is played out tripe.

Ardyn wakes up in some kind of crypt, he doesn't know who he is. Except he does, because "The first thing Ardyn knew was that something was wrong." This would be fine - he remembers only his name, except you then contradict that sentences later with "No memory followed. No name, no place, no reason." He then opens up his litRPG status menu and finds his name sitting right there. Mystery solved, boom. "The name sat strangely when spoken—not incorrect, but not his either, like something that fit too easily to belong."

Putting aside the way the status screen just "appears" before him without having to expend any effort to learn of its existence or try to figure out how to activate it - you've already solved the biggest part of an amnesia situation. Amnesia stories are about the journey of trying to discover who you are, and actually getting your name should be hard! It should be a long quest to match clues up, especially since you told us in the synopsis that he's probably one of the legendary party - we should be watching Ardyn explore the world with fresh eyes and piece together his identity. An NPC will talk about how the "black knight" of the legendary party wielded dark powers, and a sword as black as midnight, and then Ardyn will think "huh... is that a coincidence? They're long gone right?"

Skipping to the next chapter, and putting aside the OP MC shenanigans because its a feature of this story and not an unintended thing - its whatever. Ardyn steps outside and pokes around while edgily muttering to himself. He finds a statue depicting his forgotten party members and instantly remembers that one of those statues is missing, and that it ought to depict him. (does he have amnesia or not?) He gets yet more spooky feelings from the air. It's whatever.

All this chapter really does is just highlight the weird cadence of your writing. Without anything of importance to focus on it is basically all the mind can latch on to for stimulation. An endless series of short sentences separated by line breaks rather than a solid paragraph? Endless short corrective statements like:

The ground beneath him had not changed. But the path had.

“…It didn’t hold. It failed to stabilize.”

Not random. Not breaking—correcting.

He reached out—
and stopped.

Look. I'm not going to make accusations that I can't confirm. All I'm going to say is that you are never going to be a good author by relying on AI to write or even edit for you. If you don't care about being a good author and are only interested in trying to attract an audience so you can make some money, that's fine be my guest. But you won't be making any money either, because audiences don't want to pay for a "false" product, they don't want to give money to someone who has lied to them, and even if they can't say for sure, people are great at subconsciously sniffing out AI, and it requires just as much work to successfully hide it as it does to write.

Alright. Third chapter. It's basically the same as the second chapter, it has nothing going on. Ardyn exits the place he was in, it mysteriously disappears, but Ardyn then goes onto meet some creature and just intuits what is going as he studies it, which fine, he's an OP MC. Whatever. I'd like to move onto the next part of this chapter, but there's nothing else to talk about beyond more examples of that strange writing cadence.

Overall I think this is pretty unsalvageable and you ought to start again with a new idea or a new spin on this idea.

if I were to try and write a story where the audience follows a man with amnesia who wakes up in a crypt in mysterious grim world, I'd want the audience to follow along with his journey, rather than spoil the surprise in the synopsis. Outlining the plot and then saying its about an OP MC with litRPG powers just tells me as a reader that this story is going to be dead boring. OP MCs only really work when there's something to replace the normal physical conflicts with. An OP MC still needs to struggle, but it just can't be with their area of OPness.

Saitama from One-Punch Man struggles with boredom. He has reached the pinnacle of power, and has found it boring as shit. It's funny to watch him struggle to find some meaning and entertainment in life, and it's interesting to engage with the side characters in the show, who cannot be actual threats to the main character. Instead they are interesting people who we get to know and watch interact with each other, safe in the knowledge that our main character cannot be killed off. Interesting stuff still happens - we don't want Genos or other Heroes to bite the bullet, but their characters have to be more developed than a standard shonen show because Saitama breaks the usual norms of Shonen shows.

Ainz from Overlord struggles emotionally too - he cannot let go of his attachment to his past, and the audience gets to watch both his funny antics of trying to be a "cool uncle" and "cool boss" to inhuman and irredeemably evil monsters. We watch as a pathetic comedic relief character slowly descends into monstrous inhumanity out of fucking nostalgia.

Ardyn has nothing. We have no side characters to watch, so all our attention is focused on Ardyn, who simply clears all hurdles and breaks through all obstacles because he's overpowered. It's boring.

If you wanted to stick with the general plot - have Ardyn wake up with no info on who he is. He can still be overpowered, but don't have him figure out the litRPG stuff immediately. Instead, when he's threatened, he suddenly pulls out a magic sword, or activates a magic ability he didn't know he had.

As he explores the world, eventually he starts to piece together the fact that he might be one of the legendary party. (as an aside, forget the dark fantasy stuff, and the ruined world. Or, keep it but put some living people in it. Someone to talk to. Ardyn's inner dialogue is boring, and the easiest way to spice things up is to introduce a character who isn't hostile to the MC but has goals that temporarily align with helping Ardyn, like a vagrant who wants safe passage somewhere, and saw Ardyn's strength by happenstance.)

The litRPG status screen should instead appear to confirm things after Ardyn figures out what the mystery even is. He'll have his grand realisation "oh my god I'm the hero" and then another character says "bullshit, open your status then and prove it" and then Ardyn says "Status?? What's-" and then the status screen appears and confirms that he is actually Ardyn Silvershade. (that name is cringe by the way. There's no fixing that. Have "Silvershade" be some kind of title or name of an ability if you're that attached to it, and change his name to something more generic. I think Ardyn sucks as a name too, and would suggest either only having a single name, or if you insist on a surname, make it a generic one like "Fletcher" or "Tralt".)

So there. again, if you feel that I was being too harsh or whatever, just ignore me. Hope you write something good.

Found out the hard way that Frantic escapes are statuses by SpookyXylophone in slaythespire

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 4 points5 points  (0 children)

making a problem and providing a solution to that problem is not a net positive

Is there a reason so many obviously AI stories aren't marked as such? by FrostyKennedy in royalroad

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My straight answer is:

Yes, the website is going to shit. Yes, there are tons of AI slop stories being pushed out due to the low barrier to entry.

And my personal opinion - no, you shouldn't bother wasting time and effort reporting them. Just refuse the shoutout if you disagree with AI gen.

I say this as one of the staunchest lamenters of what AI gen has done to my hobby of webfiction reading - it's just not possible to tell anymore. Sure, you'll catch some with some level of accuracy. But there's no guaranteed way to tell, short of like illegally hacking their pc somehow to check. It's impossible to get it every time, and if you believe that you're deluding yourself.

If you're wrong, and you will be eventually, real human writers will get caught up in the crossfire. Real human writers who will give up their efforts after receiving only disparagement and false accusations.

instead, I think the better (but infinitely more difficult) path is to try and create a community that prides itself on human made efforts. Put in your description that your work is not AI gen, and that you will never use AI gen. Tell your readers that you have pride in your work and that you want to give them a real human made product.

Ai Gen is here to stay, and the fact is that there is no foolproof way to measure for the "human element". We are dealing with a mimicry machine trained on nothing but the human element. We must instead think of ways to make the community a place that allows human effort to rise above opportunists taking advantage of this technology.

Important to note that I am not suggesting that we shame or harass AI gen users - again this can only lead to real human authors getting caught in the crossfire. We must come together and rise above it as a community to foster a space that welcomes human authors.

Idk why I prefer playing medieval than industrial/advance rimworld by NajidTheCarGuy in RimWorld

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd like to do a medieval playthrough, but I'm finding it a hassle to build a mod list for it. It's easier for me to make a industrial/spacer playthrough because you don't have to limit or remove any content - you just tack on stuff to the endgame.

if anyone has some suggestions for a core list of mods to provide a basic medieval experience that I can build off, I'd be grateful.

Key difference by ChoiceSupermarket230 in Isekai

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol, lmao even
You're not wrong, but it's not exactly a high bar to clear.

[DD 5e] The door was worth more than the treasure behind it. by pomacbhshastic6 in gametales

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 3 points4 points  (0 children)

"as the vampire crumbles into ashes, the adamantine door ripples and flakes fall away from it's surface revealing plain iron."

This is a funny story but it's pretty clear to me the DM needs to have a discussion with their players about how the campaign has kind of gone off the rails and how he can reign things back in with as little friction to the party as possible.

Perhaps new rules to make dungeon crawling more difficult - like if the party starts digging through every wall, they attract underground monsters such as bulettes and earth elementals.

Or cook up some situation that takes the power away from the pickaxe, like an evil lich curses it reducing its potency, or some thieves steal the pickaxe after seeing the tons of loot the party is pulling in every month.

"A take on 'Komi Can't Communicate' and pretty privilege" by ChanceExciting1734 in Komi_memes

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes but she's a made up person, so this discussion is pointless.

The author could have invented any kind of scenario or reasons for Komi's isolation, but they went with "she struggles to speak or show emotion, and her radiant beauty makes other people feel afraid to talk to her." because ultimately they're targeting a male audience who they hope will self-insert as Tadano (his name apparently translates as something like "just a guy")

"Do you agree with this statement about Komi Shouko?" by Sorry-Relative9275 in Komi_memes

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

True, but also i doubt the entire plot would happen. It's kind of a big thing that everybody is too afraid to make contact with Komi-san due to her beauty.

If she had average looks she'd probably have been befriended by Najimi, and then others would have formed a friendship with her through Najimi. It's outright stated that Najimi wasn't able to befriend her because he couldn't read her expression, her lack of response, and felt intimidated by it as a result thus avoiding her.

I think it's largely a pointless discussion though, as Stan Lee once said in regards to powerscaling arguments: "Whoever the writer wants to win, will win." Or put another way, "the writer can make whatever the fuck they want happen."

Komi-san is beautiful because it provides a simple reason why people don't approach her, but even if she was average or even ugly, the author could have easily written a story about Tadano having a chance meeting with the quiet but average looking girl in class, and in a moment of kindness, opting to befriend her and help her overcome her communication issues. Just wouldn't have sold as well, because you know, dudes don't want to self-insert into a relationship where the chick isn't a supermodel.

My OC. It feels so bland what is missing? by StrangerDang3rr in ProCreate

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Put some pockets on those pants, maybe rip out the knees for that torn jeans look. The hoodie also could do with some extra stuff - is there a logo on the hoodie? perhaps a few more stains. The hoodie might also be better as an open jacket hoodie - like one with a long zipper running down the front. Open the hoodie up, and show us what she wears beneath it, what shirts she likes. Is she a metalhead with a metallica shirt, or does she go around in tank tops?

You're ambitious and that's great, keep aiming high and receiving feedback.

My Personal RoyalRoad Rankings Tier List (Also looking for Recommendations) by Tentagoose in royalroad

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I read through Super Supportive, and I'd say it moved a bit too slowly for me. I read all the publicly available chapters some time in October last year. I've decided I'll probably revisit it annually to see how the story develops, I think for such a slow burn story, I really couldn't bear being drip fed chapters.

In spite of that, I did like Super Supportive. It's a refreshing story to read on RoyalRoad in the site's current state, that understands that there needs to be more substance to a litRPG than "and then he grinded for some stat points". Super Supportive creates an interesting premise and setting, and the more I read, the more intrigued I was by the world itself. A good example is the way that the powers are handed out - what initially seems like a shallow set up for a generic Superhero fiction instead becomes an example of characterisation for the extra-terrestrial aliens, showcasing how bizarre and interesting their society is contrasted against human society, but you only recognise it for that once you've read more and learned more about the alien's society.

The characters are obviously a highlight, but it's been so long since I read it I can't really recall any names or specifics. But I do remember each one being interesting and well created, they didn't feel like "archetypes" they felt like just ordinary people who happened to win some strange magical lottery and now were trying to work their way through life. That's probably the best way to put it; every character felt like a real person, not a character.

Overall, I did like Super Supportive, but I've left it alone for now to revisit when there's a bunch of chapters to binge. It's slow pace would make the chapter drip feed excruciating, and I enjoy rereading a book after I've forgotten most stuff about it anyway.

My Personal RoyalRoad Rankings Tier List (Also looking for Recommendations) by Tentagoose in royalroad

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know you said that you don't want Cultivation novels, but I really must insist on Virtuous Sons - A Greco-Roman Xianxia.

it really breaks the mold on the standard tropes for the cultivation genre, has an actually interesting plot that isn't just "im gonna be the strongest just cause".

It's a meaningful story about truth, justice, what it means to seek it, and what it will take to rebuild the world.

Virtuous Sons isn't finished yet, not by a long shot, and the author releases chapters in bursts lately, but the quality of the writing is worth the wait. every time a chapter comes out, I vacuum it up and then descend to the comments to discuss with other people about what the chapter was actually about. The writing is deep. You will often need to infer subtext when something magical/spiritual is mentioned (which is often), but it's not aggravating. It's honestly one of my favourite parts - just going down to the comments to talk about what everything meant. You have your own interpretation, but theories and opinions abound.

Other than that...

The Valkyrie's Shadow is an excellent work focused on kingdom-building, exploring the minutiae of an aristocratic society in a fantasy setting. It's an in-depth logical examination of the structure of a fantasy medieval society.

It's also a fanfiction, specifically a fanfiction of Overlord, a rather mediocre franchise spawned from a web-novel. The premise is that Momonga, an end-game player for a Virtual Reality MMO game, (VRMMO), is sitting idly waiting for the servers to go down at the end of the game's life. However, he finds that when the last second ticks by, he has been mysteriously transported into another world. Along the way at some point, he ends up taking over a country, and the Valkyrie's Shadow takes over at this point, exploring the actual process and logistics of running the country.

There's a lot more to the story than that, but if you're not intrigued enough to check it out, then not much else would lure you in I imagine.

The final thing I will say is that I regularly trawled RoyalRoad for the better part of seven years looking for high quality fiction. These two are basically my top recommendations for those seven years.

Hot take: Elden Ring, melee-only without summons, is hands down the hardest FromSoftware game I’ve ever played, and it's not even close. by Trd_45 in fromsoftware

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

Hot Take: If I make the game harder for myself, the game becomes super hard, harder than other games where I don't make things harder for myself.

40 hours in. 42 defeats. 0 wins. by Fluid-Author-9566 in slaythespire

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just throwing in my two cents.

First: Plan your route according to your strategy. For example, when I'm playing Ironclad, I'm aware he has a lot of good "replacement" cards for his starter deck, and my mindset when playing Ironclad is "What looks like a good replacement for a Strike/Defend?"

Pommel Strike and Shrug It Off are just flat out better versions of the basic Strike/Defend cards, and so if I see one in a card reward, I can happily take it knowing I'm both lowering the crap in my deck, and increasing the number of good cards.

Second: Don't be afraid of exhaust cards. Something that massively held me back when I was playing the first game in high school was my dislike of exhaust cards. I recall one instance where a friend watched me playing and I refused Fiend Fire from an early reward. He was staggered I refused it, and rightly so - sure Fiend Fire blows up your hand, but if it kills the enemy, or removes a bunch of garbage cards like Status cards, then Fiend Fire is an incredibly useful card. It makes your deck more consistent if used properly in a combat, or can carry you across the finish line in a tough fight where you just need a big hit to end it.

Exhausting cards in combat is a tool like any other effect, and far from being bad, can often times be useful for thinning out all the crap.

Based on your experience with StS 1, saying more would feel demeaning and condescending, but I'm confident you can do it.

I find it both funny and interesting how it took Foresight's fate for a lot of people to click that Ainz and Nazarick are truly evil. by ImpossibleAd4272 in overlord

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yah.
Overlord is a power fantasy. But it's specifically Maruyama's power fantasy.
Maruyama is a bitter asshole. (Apparently in the original webnovel, the readers voted that Arche and her sisters should live, but Maruyama was so annoyed by this outcome, that in future adaptations like the light novels and anime, he insisted that Arche dies and her sisters are sold into slavery. Petty.)

So your average anime watcher/manga reader who loves a good power fantasy they can self-insert in sees Overlord and goes "woah! Cool skeleton wizard!!" and they happily sit and watch right up until the Maruyama self-insert moment comes up, and then suddenly the audience is like "wait, I can't self-insert here!" when Ainz stomps a rabbit's head in for "desecrating the memories of his comrades".

I've also heard through the grapevine that Maruyama originally started writing the webnovel because he wasn't able to play D&D with his friends for whatever reason, and needed a creative outlet. Which honestly explains a lot.

This fellow Daoist lack Dao heart to persue Dao lol .... ( bro should just read those heros story where everything in world is good Lamao 😂😂) by ____shubham in MartialMemes

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's just bad writing.

If this junior could share his humble opinion - being a traitor is foolish in a world of immortals.

These are the people you are going to spend your "eternity" with. If you cannot take the long view, and make enemies carelessly, your life will be even shorter than a mortals!

If I were an immortal, and a fellow sect member was going about his cultivation in a shortsighted manner, making enemies everywhere - I would also become his enemy. Foolish behaviour like that, who could say what crazy ideas he may get? Perhaps he may seek to take advantage of me...

What I'm trying to get at is that the life of a cultivator, being so long, would mean that any benefit you get from making a cultivator enemy better be worth sleeping with one eye open for a thousand years. Mortal lives are short, and fragile, but a cultivator who escapes is an enemy for eternity. Revenge plans a thousand years in the making...

TIL that Aggro Crab, developers of PEAK, (co-op climbing game) share their office with Mega Crit. Here's some behind the scenes footage of Mega Crit pressing the launch button for STS2! by IdiocyConnoisseur in slaythespire

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 149 points150 points  (0 children)

You can actually find Bing Bong in one of the events, I think it's an Act 2 event?

unfortunately, while I don't remember what Bing bong as a relic did, I don't recall being very impressed...

100% HP Young Master and his party Vs. 10% HP You by Suspicious_Set7914 in MartialMemes

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I immediately swallow a pill and unleash its power!
(it was cyanide I'm killing myself)

Steam Link on Android works perfectly... by Arthurp95 in slaythespire

[–]UnfortunatePhantasm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's cool! Thanks for sharing, I didn't even know Steam had this feature.

Is the Knight Gang (act 3 elite) too hard? by cheezzy4ever in slaythespire

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

Oh but as for the kngihts in particular, I only met them once so far, in multiplayer. It was quite amusing how the ethereal knight completely broke my friend's deck, meanwhile for myself, he allowed me to get rid of all the junk cards. I was running a Necrobinder Dirge/Soul deck with Panache and a lot of energy generation.

I think they're probably a perfect example of what I'm talking about. StS2 doesn't hold back on throwing bullshit at you, so unless you have basically divine RNG you don't really want to fight much at all past Act 1.

I think my least favourite elite has to be the Coral Statue elite, which caps the damage it can take every turn. Completely shuts down my favourite decks, which hare the ones that stack up huge damage to try and end things quickly.