(CR) Shangri-La Frontier

[Twi]

Did a review of the second episode.

The fact that people have had to do the run of shame so much in the past due to the boss was a fun tidbit, but they put in a lot of animation effort when it came to the fights between him and the snake and even the redcap goblins.

The concept has been laid out as the final shot showed, none of the unique monsters have been beaten so the progress of the World Story hasn't moved since the game started. The simplest terms I could think of to put it, the MSQ is capped at the moment and when someone beats them it'll move to the next expansion. Like going from A Realm Reborn to Heavensward in FFXIV. The encounter with Lycangon provides the potential for that to happen.

Originally Posted by scififan

The protagonist prefers agility over defense. It reminds me about the berserker in dark soul/demon soul. Since the game's armor is like paper thin, running around in underwear is a better choice.

The protagonist finally have money to buy clothes in the second town. The poor girl who has crash on him constantly missing him. Her armor shows she already beats the game. So, she can go to any town easily.

One guy actually thought the online game as a good idea for dating. He invites his female friend to play the game with him.

Less that she beat the game and more that she's an experienced player considering the emblem on her back shows which guild she's affiliated with and so she's pretty high ranked within that guild. She obviously wants to do like that guy did and impress her crush. Shame he speedran the beginner area.

[frubam]

Ep 2 was pretty enjoyable. I said I'd call b******t when he won the fight, but looking at it now, I was comparing it to a typical mmorpg battle style over, say, an action game where you can very succinctly control a char's movements, which this VR-style system seems to emulate the latter more. So if you can directly and specifically control your character like IRL, then it is possible to be capable of avoiding all damage, even while being underleveled, and even underpowered(though he wasn't either of these things here). The concept has been done by many a speedrunner across multiple games.

That being said, I'm just enjoying Sunraku's solo romp though the game. The fights are glorious for both the snake and the goblins; I'm a bit jealous some of my favorite turned-into-anime series from this season can't have this level of animation in their fights. Makes me can't wait for Solo Leveling next season(even though I'm sure Sun will get a party at some point).

[Twi]

New episode is out and my review is done. Sunraku lasted longer than he should through exploiting the Perfect Parry system, but eventually, the boss triggered its enrage mechanic that involved paralyzing him. And then we he trigger his last chance hit point, he gets cursed so play exactly like Let Me Solo Her until he actually beats the boss.

Edit: It's also getting a full 25 Episodes.

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by frubam

Ep 2 was pretty enjoyable. I said I'd call b******t when he won the fight, but looking at it now, I was comparing it to a typical mmorpg battle style over, say, an action game where you can very succinctly control a char's movements, which this VR-style system seems to emulate the latter more. So if you can directly and specifically control your character like IRL, then it is possible to be capable of avoiding all damage, even while being underleveled, and even underpowered(though he wasn't either of these things here). The concept has been done by many a speedrunner across multiple games.

I think the issue is that, when it comes to MMORPGs, most think about your usual tab targeting MMO like WoW or FFXIV.
While not "exactly" traditional MMOs, games like PSO2 are actually close enough to the point they are considered part of the genre. And it is in that more action oriented subset of online games where skills have an actual effect on player's performance, and not just gear stats.
For instance, in POS2, players with certain weapons can actually use photon arts that act as perfect guard/parry, which actually work against virtually any attack except for raid wipes and the likes.

While it is obvious SLF gameplay design looks like it is heavily inspired by games such as Monster Hunter and Dark Souls, the concept of players fending off monsters with dodge and parry isn't so outlandish in nowadays online games.
Even in tab targeting mmos, it is present in some fashion. For instance, back in vanilla wow early game, Rogues could dodge tank in some occasion depending on their spec. As such, you could actually solo some quests that were meant to be done by a group, or save a dungeon run where the tank died and so forth. But obviously, that kind of strategy didn't work past a certain level.

[Alchemist007]

30 million players and no one discovered this entire 'sidequest' world? Unless this game is heavily AI generated or something, I find it hard to believe devs would put as much effort as this looks like it took, to relegate it to a hidden quest.

Regarding FFXIV, that game used to have more intricacies with its class system. Some things you could do with certain classes, or even interactions with other classes like a dragoon's piercing debuff would mean more damage for other piercing classes like Bard. There were also cross class abilities you could swap in or out. They've dumbed all that down, now there's no intricate class synergy or cross class abilities at all.

[scififan]

Rakuro's problem is, after playing so many kuso games, his preference has been changed forever. He is not into socializing in the game, even in MMORPG. To get close to him, Rei tries to play same games. The game shop clerk suggests her playing a better game. Then, the clerk arranging them to meet in the game. The matchmaker doesn't realize her plan is a failure since the beginning.

By the way, kuso games were games hate by Japanese gamers. It could be a solo game. It is similar to how Blizzard gamers criticized the game mechanics of Diablo 4. The Blizzard gamers had more reason to rant when they discovered the game's designer didn't know how to play the game.

[shmaster]

Originally Posted by Alchemist007

30 million players and no one discovered this entire 'sidequest' world? Unless this game is heavily AI generated or something, I find it hard to believe devs would put as much effort as this looks like it took, to relegate it to a hidden quest.

The bunny town?
Bashers really like to make up stuff and bash for no reason.

[Twi]

Emul even said other humans visited the town. It's right there.

[Alchemist007]

Originally Posted by shmaster

The bunny town?
Bashers really like to make up stuff and bash for no reason.

All I did was point out something that seemed illogical, if the rabbit said otherwise I probably missed it. You certainly don't have to worry about me "bashing" this show ever, simply because it's not narratively enthralling enough to warrant any egregious response like that.

[Twi]

New episode review done.

Best girl Emul has been acquired as a party member.

And to add to the discussion above now that the episode is out, [Invitation to Rabbituza] is a quest that is normally unlocked by using a Vorpal Weapon to kill a higher-level monster. Sunraku's variation is due to him having been marked by Lycagon, which nets him access to the palace since the Seven Colossi are tied to the world story (remember the progress bar from the end of the second episode).

[Jaden]

The same things that bothered me about Log Horizon, SAO, and pretty much all MMORPG themed anime apply here.

Basically, the game is romanticized to such extremes that it's impossible to vibe with Sunraku based on any experience we might have of real games.

Aside from that, it's great! Definitely need to see where this goes from here.

[Tenzen12]

I don't see it. SF is super close to stuff like Soulborn or Monster Hunters. Log Horizon I think had also pretty realistic game mechanic core, though I can understand not being able relate due it being mainly just framework for exploration of isekai themes.

[Jaden]

To be fair, a lot of it has to do with Sunraku's main character energy. In a real game with 30 million players, there's just no way anyone gets to be the main character! It's kind of a necessary plot device, but it always breaks immersion when the protagonist has all the agency, and other players just behave like NPCs.

And there are a few relatable things, like playing all day and night to get ahead of the curve, skipping whole zones, trying to avoid the swarm of other summer children. That's definitely something I've done before.

Obviously, the magic future full-dive technology is doing a lot of the heavy lifting required to suspend disbelief, and I'm willing to look past that. Still, if it's a story about a video game, I'd like to see some of the gameyness found in real games, instead of stuff that could only exist in a dream.

Some examples from the first episodes:

It's been out for 6 months, and the content is not yet cleared, that's impossible
It's been out for 6 months, and you have to theorize how skills and stats might work, instead of just looking it up.
There is something like a realistically interacting physics engine, seems super exploitable, but only the main character takes advantage of it.
Randomly making a non-meta build and turning out super strong, impossible
No boosting, no RMT, no P2W, no cheats, no bots...
New accounts can start with 10k+ gold, either this is a very low amount, or extremely exploitable

Something that amplifies the irksomeness of this conceit is the anime's idea of "trash games". Meaning that bad stuff only exists in cheap shovelware, and only because of poor design and programming - whereas SLF is perfectly designed and programmed AAA game, so it doesn't have any bad elements. A nonsensical idea to anyone that plays real games.

[Tenzen12]

- Not being cleared yet: Improbable, but not impossible. Especially if game has good anti-datamining countermessures
- Sunraku seems to like figure things on his own. Looking up how things works is option, he just didn't go for it.
- Actually I don't think we seen any physics eploit yet in SF.
- Sunraku doesn't have "super strong" character build. It's build that suit his playstyle, but that's pretty much that.
- How do you know things like P2W or RMT are not present? I don't think it was ever mentioned.
- These money are literally value of equipment maybe plus some starting sum.

Also good games exist.

[Jaden]

- Not being cleared yet: Improbable, but not impossible. Especially if game has good anti-datamining countermessures

30 million players, 6 months, game is completely combed by now

- Sunraku seems to like figure things on his own. Looking up how things works is option, he just didn't go for it.

that just means you screw up your build, and will have to rebuild in the future.

- Actually I don't think we seen any physics eploit yet in SF.

Damage scaling with momentum, for instance, seems exploitable.

- Sunraku doesn't have "super strong" character build. It's build that suit his playstyle, but that's pretty much that.

For instance, completely neglecting your armor and endurance only works under the assumption that there isn't any unavoidable damage. And if there isn't, then this is obviously one of the strongest builds, and there should be a lot of players wearing bikinis.

- How do you know things like P2W or RMT are not present? I don't think it was ever mentioned.

You would be exposed to these within minutes of starting a game. It's been days already.

- These money are literally value of equipment maybe plus some starting sum.

That's fair enough, it's probably a paltry sum for advanced players.

Also good games exist.

They do, and they're the ones that players have the most complaints about!

[Tenzen12]

- Again that just mean it's big game, with difficult data mining.
- And? That's his choice.
- Seems exploitable doesn't mean it is exploitable.
- That's pretty big assumption though. And we know Sunraku isn't only one who sold his armor initially as he had AGI build. Thing is other players still get some armor eventually. Sunraku also bought one pretty much immediately after he bought best possible weapons. Also he has pretty much low damage output. Because he lack strenght
- Again it's possible half of all players we met had P2W equipments. I don't know even single game where you can recognize P2W items on sight.

- I disagree on that. People always have complaints, but if you look on such as BG3 or ER they it's such minority that you will not find these complaints unless you explicitly look for them. For SF it was also said that acclaim of game overshadow any complaints,not that there are non.

Edit:
-After some thought I can see "romantization" in that regard that potential microtransaction aren't showed into our throats, but again as realistic as it would it would also invalidate whole " it's good game"

- also it's hard to call certain build "strongest" when it's basically useless once you touch bit of mud...

[Twi]

Review done.

It turns out there's etiquette to posting images of other players on the forums. Like consent. As we see that picture ended up getting him targeted by three major groups.

Emul is also best girl.

[Chosen_Hero]

I personally prefer that the story isn't bogged down by too much unnecessary realism, like meta gaming where uniqueness goes out the window for everyone just being clones of one another, I'm already bored of seeing every single Dark Souls LP on Youtube and Twitch being the exact same, why would I want a anime to go and do same? For this kind of story you need suspension of believability up to a certain point to give the story the freedom it needs.

So far I am liking this mix of FF XIV, Monster Hunter and Souls games that the series has going, and as long as it all makes logical sense and doesn't veer off too far into bullshit territory (like beating a raid boss solo like in SAO or returning from death to win just because), for example, in this episode it's clear that Sunraku only won against the boss because of Emul and his luck stat letting him live on one hp after a sure death hit, he had already lost the moment he got thrown in the air and he knew it.

[Twi]

It helps that Emul is Level 50 going against a boss that's just outside of the second area starting town. Since the recommended quest for the Unique Scenario was 80, she's probably meant to be weaker than a player who starts it normally, but because he triggered it earlier she can hard carry him in a situation where he'd normally get stomped.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

I personally prefer that the story isn't bogged down by too much unnecessary realism, like meta gaming where uniqueness goes out the window for everyone just being clones of one another, I'm already bored of seeing every single Dark Souls LP on Youtube and Twitch being the exact same, why would I want a anime to go and do same? For this kind of story you need suspension of believability up to a certain point to give the story the freedom it needs.

That makes total sense, but there's quite a lot of anime that romanticizes the MMORPG genre. There isn't a single one that portrays it with gross realism. It'd be very unique to see something like that, and I always go into these shows huffing some copium, thinking that this might be the one...

Just wondering if anyone else has this obsession, or if it's just me.