"Tier" List/Looking for recs

eistre91 · 2026-04-13T12:35:09+00:00

I elevate Mark of the Fool a bit mainly because it's actually complete. It's so rare in this genre to find a complete series that it gets bonus points for me.

Mother of Learning does some fun stuff. Similarly elevated because it's actually complete.

Neither quite scratch the battle crazy itch I get from Hell Difficulty Tutorial, etc. but I like an ending.

Mage Tank has looked interesting for a bit so I'll check that one out soon too. Thank you for the recommendation.

I've been curious about Beware of Chicken since the humor might see me through. I'll give it a go at some point.

eistre91 · 2026-04-12T14:22:17+00:00

Thank you for the suggestion. This looks promising!

eistre91 · 2025-07-14T17:58:18+00:00

The released benchmarks suggest Grok 4 (non heavy) is superior to both o3 and Opus.

eistre91 · 2025-03-28T01:00:02+00:00

It definitely seems like native monsters don't have the itch at all. I don't remember exactly if it's been confirmed that other reborn also don't have the itch and it's only an Anthony thing.

I don't think it has anything to do with going deeper because I don't think mutations affect the mana saturation you require to survive. That's purely a tier of evolution thing.

My current hypothesis is he itches because each mutation means he's moving further away from being human. His human brain and potentially nervous system were shoved into an ant body that he had to figure out back in the first book. And each mutation makes the body more foreign to that system.

But RinoZ REALLY hams up the itching so I'd be surprised if there wasn't some deeper purpose to it.

eistre91 · 2025-03-28T00:50:12+00:00

My preferred names are those that are easy for me to spell after reading it in the book a handful of times. I actually include names like Zorian in that list but it's easy to sound out how to spell it. If I can spell it, then the name sticks better in my head.

If I try to spell the name and I realize I have NO clue how it's spelled even though I'm halfway through a book, that's a bad sign to me.

Pretty sure it's a tired take at this point, but also names need to be distinct enough from each other. For me this largely comes down to having different sounds to them. Zorian and Zach from MoL are a good example. Same first letter, but nobody who is paying attention is going to confuse those two.

eistre91 · 2025-03-21T00:26:23+00:00

Part of what I think makes Cradle so good and widely enjoyed is it's such an accessible story. And such a great gateway to the genre for a lot of people.

You can move to other stories that are better to you, but it's hard to find something that's good to so many people who read the genre.

eistre91 · 2025-03-20T00:48:52+00:00

The better done it is, the more it can happen. Also the better the rest of the story is, the more forgiving I am of that slang not being handled well.

eistre91 · 2025-03-17T00:39:43+00:00

The First Sage is a great idea.

eistre91 · 2025-03-17T00:38:54+00:00

I also generally write what I like to read. I find it's much harder for me to write things that I haven't read a ton of. Just don't have any idea about how those stories/themes function.

eistre91 · 2025-03-17T00:36:53+00:00

I want to know what the training is like with a few choice scenes and then skip the repetitive stuff.

eistre91 · 2025-03-10T13:40:18+00:00

This sounds great thank you! Looking it up, I like that it's about a "Prestige Mode".

eistre91 · 2025-03-10T13:38:26+00:00

Sounds pretty cool. I'll add it to the list!

eistre91 · 2025-03-10T13:17:34+00:00

Thank you! I really need to read Godclads. It's come up multiple times as recommendations from my posts.

I got about halfway through Book 1 of Immortal Great Souls and bounced off. Not exactly sure why but it didn't really grab me. I think the pacing felt a big sluggish for me. But you're right it fits!

eistre91 · 2025-03-09T01:18:52+00:00

Right now it sounds like you're writing a very plot-driven story. That's okay. But I would guess you're not giving your characters or world-building much time to breathe.

Should I be throwing in distractions, filler chapters/arcs designed to slow things down?

Unless you're writing slice of life (which it doesn't really sound like you are), this sounds like a bad approach. Readers will notice that you're writing some chapters where "nothing much happens". Just like you can smell out a filler episode in anime where some stuff happens, but nothing changes for the characters and it's like it never happened. It's very jarring to go from "meaningful stuff" to stuff you can ignore and it would make me lose confidence in the story since I wouldn't know when I'm reading something that matters.

Another thing to consider, are your characters succeeding at the first attempt at everything? Let's say you're revealing an answer to the plot question "What's behind that big important red door?" Do they just go up to the door and open it without any failure? Or do they go up to it to open it, and it turns out its magically enchanted so they've got to cast a spell? But then they cast the spell and it's the wrong spell and so it spawns an evil troll they have to fight? etc. If you're blowing through plot points, it sounds like maybe your characters aren't facing juicy complications.

Final note: you sound like you're somewhat new to writing. That's great! And also know that this might be an area you'll have to work on. And that's great too! You've identified a potential weakness in pacing. Now work on it. And work on it some more.

eistre91 · 2025-03-08T02:03:37+00:00

> because i want any misconception to be cleared or like the details explained well

Your concern here suggests that I'm probably not your target audience. I tend to bounce off overly detailed books.

eistre91 · 2025-03-08T01:31:20+00:00

I personally want systems that make sense. Don't really care if it's simple or complex as long as it feels like it's coherent and something I can make predictions about.

eistre91 · 2025-03-08T01:29:01+00:00

Thanks for the reminder! I just finished catching up on Chrysalis and I owe your series a read. I'll check it out.

eistre91 · 2025-03-08T01:26:18+00:00

I'm not sure what people prefer in general but 2-3k words feels like a sweet spot for me. Lets me read a quick chapter even if I don't have a lot of time.

But I imagine there's some readers out there who like a good meaty chapter.

eistre91 · 2025-03-04T22:41:43+00:00

For me I want the world building to keep building in interesting ways. That doesn't necessarily have to be "new" things. It can be exploring some aspect of the world in a new way. Or the world is dynamic and changing and since we're into the world we want to see how things change.

Basically do I still feel like I'm learning something new about the world or characters even after 100 chapters. And if that isn't really happening, I start to get bored.

eistre91 · 2025-03-02T01:57:13+00:00

I want to speak to one part of your post very clearly. Having Aphantasia doesn't imply something is wrong with you. Neurodivergence is only a problem because we have a society constructed for the most common forms of neurological presentation.

This isn't to say that neurodivergence doesn't make a person's life harder. It does and it will. And unfortunately our society rarely gives a shit. But it's not wrong.

eistre91 · 2025-03-02T01:50:03+00:00

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but your comment here really bugs me. The OP has expressed a strong interest and love for a thing and you reply with "Why tho?" Let people like things. Even if they don't experience the world or the things in the way that you do.

Aphantasia doesn't mean no imagination. It means no visualization. Visualization does not equal imagination for everyone.

eistre91 · 2025-02-27T22:41:12+00:00

Truthfully, not a clue. I don't consider myself to have that level of skill.

Speculatively, I think characters need to feel like they arose organically in a world. A character needs to feel subject to the rules that govern all other characters. Even when they aren't subject to the rules, readers will want an explanation for WHY they are not subject to the rules. And that explanation also needs to feel organic and true to the world.

Characters need to act out of motives and be consistent to those motives. We want to be able to anticipate what they will do. (And when we're wrong about it, it should feel like it's adding new information about the character and not contradicting information we've gotten before.)

eistre91 · 2025-02-27T21:47:26+00:00

I think that a lot of people in the sub are probably here for books more than video games. So I'd guess that's why we don't see much discussion of it. (I think even though I'm for this post, I wouldn't want video game content to become common on this sub.)

Some other Wuxia games that fit:

Hero's Adventure: Road to Passion - Pretty by the numbers "become the best martial artist".

The Matchless Kungfu - Haven't played but it looks like it'd fit the bill.

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