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Various thoughts on a variety of topics.

Various Thoughts

Various thoughts on a variety of topics.

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  • I’m Quitting the Hero’s Party #1-5

    Posted on June 4, 2025 1:20 pm by Offkorn Comment

    Let’s get the bad out of the way first:

    The Yongsa Pati Ttaelyeochiubnida series features some extremely bare-bones editing, possibly none at all, with a noticeable number of basic technical errors (e.g. missing/wrong words, wrong names, disjointed sentences). It also has a somewhat awkward conversation style and general syntax which doesn’t always flow quite right.

    The actual story and characters though? Those are both remarkably engaging and more than make up for those issues.

    The main things to note would be that this is absolutely an overpowered-protagonist story (albeit with them in the role of mentor; think along the lines of Kuusen Madoushi Kouhosei no Kyoukan or SukaSuka), there are no romance aspects whatsoever, and the genderswap appears to have been done solely to provide an excuse for switching to that mentorship role while also facilitating the noted lack of romance. It’s never commented on by those who knew him both before and after, and he himself barely mentions it.

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    1. The Hero Laughs #7 & That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime #19 The seventh Nidome no Yuusha novel thankfully keeps the incestuous...
    2. The DO-OVER DAMSEL CONQUERS the DRAGON EMPEROR #1-2 & As The Villainess, I Reject These Happy-Bad Endings! While it has a number of surprisingly cute romantic comedy...
    3. Villainous Lord #2 & Mushoku Tensei #23 The second Ore dake Level ga Agaru Sekai book is...
    4. Lazy Dungeon Master The 17-book Zettai ni Hatarakitakunai Dungeon Master ga Damin o...
    5. The Strange Adventure of a Broke MERCENARY #1-6 Based on the cover of the first Kuitsume Youhei no...

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Fantasy NariaTa Yongsa Pati Ttaelyeochiubnida Young Adult Novel
  • The Water Magician: The Central Provinces Arc IV & The Great Cleric #11

    Posted on May 30, 2025 12:48 am by Offkorn Comment

    The fourth Mizu Zokusei novel continues along at the same pace as earlier entries while giving us a little bit more in the way of romantic development. That said, I don’t really like the idea of the highly advanced floating city tech civilization that was introduced… but I guess we’ll have to see how heavily they end up being featured.

    The Seija Musou series has had a rather long hiatus period, but the eleventh volume was finally released recently. It took me a little while to dredge up old memories and re-acclimate to the series, and I still don’t quite remember who all the characters are, but once past the church uprising debacle events started moving along nicely.

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    1. The Great Cleric: White-Collar Survival in Another World #1-10 A surprisingly good series that doesn’t overly resemble anything else...
    2. The Water Magician: The Central Provinces Arc I & FINDING AVALON #2 Though Mizu Zokusei no Mahoutsukai Daiichibu has a number of...
    3. Lazy Dungeon Master The 17-book Zettai ni Hatarakitakunai Dungeon Master ga Damin o...
    4. A Livid Lady’s Guide #2, The Water Magician: The Central Provinces Arc II, & The Otome Heroine’s Fight #2 Nothing of any interest occurs in the second Buchigire Reijou...
    5. ARIFURETA #12 & So I’m a Spider, So What? #14 The 12th Arifureta novel is unexpectedly not the last in...

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Broccoli Lion Fantasy Mizu Zokusei no Mahoutsukai Daiichibu Paranormal Romance Seija Musou Tadashi Kubou Young Adult Novel
  • Pathfinder: WotR – INEVITABLE EXCESS

    Posted on May 12, 2025 3:26 pm by Offkorn Comment

    Finally got through the game with my Azata character (which was a Core Ironman run for the related achievement) and Trickster/Swarm/Legend character, which just leaves Demon as the last mythic path I have to take. Azata wasn’t very good, though it at least had a unique ending. Trickster turned out insanely good in basically all respects, while Swarm would absolutely be a challenge run if you don’t happen to have the Midnight Isles DLC installed. As for Legend… it’s pretty damn powerful when used with a fighter build and adds some interesting exposition regarding your soul.

    Before starting my final main campaign playthrough though I thought I may as well run through the Inevitable Excess DLC (with Legend) for the import bonuses, but since I really didn’t want to play it all that much I did so almost entirely on Story difficulty. Switched to Unfair for Inevitable Darkness and managed to kill him on the second try with the combo of Guarded Hearth, Freebooter’s Bond, Smite, Fortune Hex, and then just wailing away with Dimension Strike.

    Overall I’d have to say the DLC is just as bad as suspected, with it being essentially half pointless/tedious combat and half infuriating platform puzzler. I’d strongly suggest skipping it unless you really need the import bonuses for something like a Test of the Starstone run. Something I’m currently waffling on whether to attempt or not… although I suppose I could simply start out on Unfair and just lower it if it ever become too much hassle.

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    2. Pathfinder: WRATH of the RIGHTEOUS – First Impressions Originally I was going to wait until completing the game‘s...
    3. DRAGON QUEST XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age I sincerely wish they would do something about this franchise‘s...
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    5. Pathfinder: WotR – THE LAST SARKORIANS & The TREASURE of the MIDNIGHT ISLES The Last Sarkorians DLC turned out to be fully integrated...

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    This entry was posted in DLC PC Video Game Related and tagged Fantasy Pathfinder RPG Tactical RPG Third Person Perspective
  • UNWORTHY & POWERLESS

    Posted on May 7, 2025 10:40 am by Offkorn Comment

    J.A. Vodvarka‘s first Blacksea Odyssey novel starts out well enough, if a bit shaky due to the rather large chip the protagonist has on her shoulder. By the halfway point though it becomes far too hard to look past the combination of her weirdly self-destructive actions and the runaway’s idiocy. Like… you obviously don’t want to stay free all that much if you never mention the void collar or don’t keep hammering on about how corrupt the first master was.

    The first book in Lauren Roberts‘ Powerless Trilogy has a different problem: The atmosphere. There’s this persistent sense of dread hanging over the proceedings that make it somewhat difficult to read, although it wasn’t quite bad enough to get me to drop it until ‘the Resistance’ suddenly popped up and became a central plot point. You already have all this drama with the powerless secret, death games, and forbidden romance; did you really have to toss in highly questionable spy games (she literally just met these people) on top of all that?

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    3. The RUNIC ARTIST: BLANK CANVAS & Paladin of the Sigil The beginning of Ellake‘s first Runic Artist novel just didn’t...
    4. Over the Woodward Wall & CAST IN CONFLICT I’m unsure why Over the Woodward Wall, written under the...
    5. My Magical Career at Court #2 & Enough with This Slow Life! #2-4 The second Oukyuu Majutsushi toshite Hirowareru novel showcases the source...

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Blacksea Odyssey Fantasy J.A. Vodvarka Lauren Roberts Paranormal Romance Powerless Trilogy
  • SYMBIONT & OVERGROWTH

    Posted on May 6, 2025 12:32 pm by Offkorn Comment

    Picking up Symbiont after suddenly realizing one day that I had forgotten about Seanan McGuire‘s Parasitology series, I rather quickly realized why it slipped my mind. There’s just something not quite right about it, something missing… a lack of engagement. It kind of feels more like a set-piece than an actual story.

    I happened to have pre-ordered Overgrowth, an unrelated novel by the same author, at the same time and that turned out much better. It’s basically a mix of elements from both the above series and her Newsflesh one and for the most part works extremely well. The only real stumbling block is the government abduction toward the middle, which fortunately doesn’t last all that long.

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    4. Rise: A Newsflesh Collection This is a collection of short stories and novellas which...
    5. Recent Books Normally I do these three at a time… but, well…...

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Mira Grant Paranormal Romance Parasitology Science Fiction Seanan McGuire
  • EXP Is Golden #2 & HOW I BECAME KING BY EATING MONSTERS #2

    Posted on May 4, 2025 9:51 am by Offkorn Comment

    The second Ougon no Keikenchi novel moves away from the solo-play focus of the prequel to introduce some multiplayer elements to this MMO setting with the introduction of both an actual friend and the protagonist’s estranged sister. I’m not really sure at this junction where it’s intending to go, but so far it’s been entertaining enough.

    The Monster no Niku series‘ second novel meanwhile is pretty much more of the same: The protagonist’s followers misunderstand his intentions/desires while his influence and power continue to grow unchecked. It still works well enough… though that may not be true for much longer. We’ll have to see if the epilogue events shake anything up or it just ends up a repeat of the first invasion.

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Daken Fantasy Harajun Monster no Niku o Kutteitara Oui ni Tsuita Ken Ougon no Keikenchi Paranormal Romance Science Fiction Young Adult Novel
  • Homunculus Tears & The Strange Adventure of a Broke MERCENARY #11

    Posted on April 29, 2025 11:05 am by Offkorn Comment

    I had to drop the Homunculus no Namida novel (English subtitle: Alchemy for the Brokenhearted) halfway through. It’s just so painfully overloaded with both forced sentimentality and forced fanservice. Basically nothing redeeming about it.

    Something else I ended up dropping was the eleventh Kuitsume Youhei novel, which features the protagonists acting like complete idiots. They’ve experienced mind control before! Why are they so baffled about the people in this village not acting normally? When the animal companion is the smartest person in your party something has gone very, very wrong.

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Fantasy Homunculus no Namida Inori. Kuitsume Youhei no Gensou Kitan Mine Paranormal Romance Young Adult Novel
  • Rift Magus REBORN #3 & Legend of the Arch Magus: ADAMANTITE

    Posted on April 20, 2025 3:25 pm by Offkorn Comment

    The third of Sam Winton‘s Rift Magus novels mainly concerns itself with the introduction of a fight club that the protagonist proceeds to join and the conclusion of the Thornwood subplot. Basically, he gets cocky, reveals things he shouldn’t, and almost pays for it at the end with a pseudo-cliffhanger.

    Michael Sisa‘s penultimate Legend of the Arch Magus entry spends most of its time in the dwarven kingdom, but also manages to squeeze in the demon realm’s implosion. With the main plotline now effectively complete almost as an afterthought… I can’t even begin to guess how it’s going to end.

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Fantasy Legend of the Arch Magus Michael Sisa Rise of the Arcane Aristocrat Sam Winton
  • ULTIMATE TRUTHS & MAGICAL GIRL: RENDING NIGHTMARE

    Posted on April 16, 2025 1:17 pm by Offkorn Comment

    Coming as something of a shock after the disappointment of the sixth novel, Shawn Wilson‘s seventh Ultimate Level 1 novel is quite good. He somehow managed to sidestep the issues caused by the protagonist’s sudden exponential growth relative to his teammates while expanding the scope of the main plotline.

    Crystal Genocide turned out to indeed be the start of a new series, and RavensDagger‘s follow-up draws heavily on the setting for the Stalker video games. So heavily that I’m kind of amazed it was able to be published… though I suppose it could be argued that it’s actually Roadside Picnic‘s setting. Regardless, if you liked that first novel this one’s quite similar in structure and character behavior.

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Fantasy Paranormal Romance RavensDagger Shawn Wilson The Shattered Earth Ultimate Level 1 Urban Fantasy
  • That Time I Got Reincarnated as a SLIME #20 & Housekeeping Mage from Another World #9

    Posted on April 12, 2025 10:25 am by Offkorn Comment

    Yeah, even if there are only two or so novels left I’m going to have to drop the Tensura series here. I simply have no interest whatsoever in reading about drawn-out conflicts involving characters that either had little previous focus or literally did not exist before this sequence of final battles.

    The ninth Kasei Madoushi novel is unfortunately also a miss. The first segment is just incredibly bad in every respect, and the second is overflowing with forced sentimentality. There are a couple good moments scattered here and there… but nothing worth actually expending any effort to see.

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    This entry was posted in Book Related and tagged Fantasy FUSE Kasei Madoushi no Isekai Seikatsu Paranormal Romance TenSura You Fuguruma Young Adult Novel

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