Ever read T-MOON COMPLEX? That, but unironically.
My Fanfics. Read 'em. Or not.McJon01: We all know that the real reason Archer would lose to Rider is because the events of his own Holy Grail War left him with a particular weakness toward "older sister" types.
Quite frankly, I found summoning any more Servants to be 'unrealistic.' And you guys all make astute points.
But it was written very, very well. And I was very entertained. I think that Moczo's quality is good enough that one can ignore his various canon Nasuverse mechanics devergences.
With Moczo being as good a writer as he is and what with him being known for pulling weird bullshit, don't you think you can cut the guy some slack?
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I don't mean to sound like an apologist, mind you. Just that at this stage, and with his ability, the bullshit sometimes feels justified.
Likes attention, shiny objects, and... a ball of yarn?
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I joined two years too late...
+1 Chaos Theory for the loli overlady.
FFD has been updated after a little over a year of inactivity.
Reading it now, it seems really hollow. I enjoyed it upon first reading it, but when I realized just how much random shit was given to put Shirou on top, it really does take away from my enjoyment overall.
Will say though that there are some little plot elements that are good ideas on their own (not when thrown together to make the MC OP), though. Natalia and Maiya, for instance. I literally just took Kiritsugu in my CG!Illya planning, though obviously repurposed.
Read "Fate/Stay Life" on archive of our own and holy shit did it piss me off.
Be it the utter infantilization of Shirou(both physical and mental), the complete disregard the ideals of various characters and the misunderstanding the author has regarding Saber Alter, it comes off as the complete opposite of what it says it tries to be. I don't think there is a single action Shirou takes in the entire 100k+ fic which doesn't end up with someone lecturing or shouting at him. Hell, there's a scene which the author describes in the AN of the next chapter as the most important moment in Shirou's life, which then has in the following chapter Sakura shouting and berating him for a good 10 minutes. He doesn't even get to finish a single sentence as she just unloads on him. Honestly, the closest thing that came to mind of that was just mental abuse you'd see in domestic violence.
And the way it handles "character growth" or realizations is infuriating as well. Where in FSN and particularly Heaven's Feel(which the fic is a continuation of, nominally) that characters resolve internally their hesitations and fears. They might discuss and witness things, but the change is never brought about by someone telling them to change. It is the characters confronting themselves and overcoming that which they have feared; there is a theme of "overcoming and surpassing oneself". In this fic, it feels like that is the only way and its never portrayed as someone being overbearing or being out of line either. This is pure supposition on my part, but I think it's the author using a character as a mouthpiece to air his grievances at characters he doesn't like.
Then there's the "harem" part, which only managed to make me dread any scene with three or more characters because its seems like they all talk without actually saying anything a lot of the time. It's just vapid, and the best mental image I can liken it to, is like walking barefoot through knee-high mud, where you occasionally stub your toe on a rock or twig; it's just unpleasant to read.
Overall it lacks direction. Or the direction seems to be "we gotta fix everyone before everyone can live their lives" which seems like such a backwards notion when compared to how HF ended; you heal as a person by living your life, with your loved ones by your side, HF argued in my mind. In the fic, there was just about only one part where I actually felt something; a sense of build up and trepidation, when Reinnes double-crosses Rin and is about to fuck everyone over because that's what magi do. But it's resolved within one page and nothing comes out of it.
Mechanically in terms of TM lore, its all over the place. With Shirou changing his "trigger image" for his magic, because I-don't-even-know-why —as the author wanted it to be a loosed arrow?— to UBW as a whole being just a complete diversion from canon. It is to serve as some kind of plot device stepping stone for the characters, but the trouble they have with it is utterly disproportionate to what it should be. Miyu's brother in Prisma essentially showed that even if you have a vastly diverging belief and mindset, as long as the base is the same and you have the reference from EMIYA and there is enough magical energy, all you need to do is just DO IT. But it doesn't seem to work here.
There are sex scenes, too. But they don't seem to have any relevance beyond drama. "Polyamory and polyamory negotiations" I believe the summary said. I didn't know what that hell that meant and I'm sure I still don't, but I'll be sure to avoid it henceforth like the black plague. People walking in on sleeping pairs and in-coitus pairs, kissing one another before each other... it's all just a source and fuel for the drama and whining and substanceless talking of this fic. And there's a part where Shirou displays the classic signs of depression; being listless, sleeping longer and longer, avoiding contact with people, and how is it resolved? A threesome.
They even mention that they believe he feels pain less acutely and pleasure more intensely, and with how he becomes a stuttering mess afterwards, proclaiming hesitantly his happiness as if confused and unsure, it just comes off as them conditioning him. Stick and carrot, don't do anything, hand over the shed key, don't have a single original thought, just sit down and be quiet, Shirou.
De-rec, tbqfh famalam.
Oh yeah, and I forgot all about the OCs. There's three or four of them, hard to remember since they just pop up at random. They're using the kaleidoscope and dropping cryptic remarks all over the place, but the subtext of them being the harem's offspring is pretty obvious. So, considering their idiosyncrasies and out-of-placeness in the story, it also manages to surpass in the Emiya Clanin everything it does.
Last edited by Ahnibal; January 15th, 2018 at 07:11 AM.
Definitely wasn't going to read it anyway, but thank you for the warning.
Likes attention, shiny objects, and... a ball of yarn?
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I joined two years too late...
I'm not quite if this thread is solely for off-site fics or not but I re-read Cursed Cold Colle here and I really recommend it.
To keep the commentary short as it's way too early in the morning for a full depth analysis; there is a ton of thought that is put into the deeper themes (that of what it means to be a magus and humanity as a whole) of the fic as well as the functionality of the magecraft (not to give any spoilers but the research combined with the themes of the tale and characters as well as ideas of Name and Mystery too). There are multiple threads that all combine together neatly at the end that leaves a very satisfying conclusion.
Quest of Fate
Apocrypha Universe Fate Quest Project
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Beast's Lair Discord Server For Fate Quests
Hermes Servant Collection Master Post
Plus one on Cursed Cold Colle
I'm surprised it hasn't already been recommended. Everything You does blows me away. He's one of the purest examples of combining lore babble and flawed characters who lie to themselves in a way that they reinforce each other.
Last edited by Imperial; January 30th, 2018 at 09:27 PM.
Spoiler:
One day I'll double down and expound on why Moon's Corral is the greatest TM fanfic yet written. Until then, +1 to Cursed Cold Colle.
CCC hasn't already been recommended? +1 +1 +1
Out of curiosity, regarding Moon's Coral and CCC and others like it, how far down the Nasuverse rabbit hole are we talking? I enjoy You's writing, but, what do we have to read in order to understand it better?
I don't.
I can tell you the stuff I read and was rereading while working on Moon's Corral if that helps.
I re-read Tsuki no Sango. Looked over the first 2 or 3 chapters of the manga a lot, mostly for Arishima's mannerisms.
Re-read Notes and it's glossary. The Character Material for Ado Edem (not very useful) and ORT.
The Twice speech in Extra and his entries in Extra Mats.
The 5th magic part of mahoyo. Looked for info in mahoyo about regression but not useful. So the 10th anniversary q and a about that
Case Files for the soul part.
Merca and Mother of Mifune's parts from recalled out Summer
Shirou's summoning of Saber
Fragarach description in HA, one of the heaven's feel backnight or Lancer Vs Bazett
Most of this was verification for when I reached that part or when I was proofreading to make sure the details were right.
I re-read tsuki no sango before I began. And was constantly referring to the manga while writing.
Originally Posted by FSF 5, Chapter 14: Gold and Lions IThough abandoned, forgotten, and scorned as out-of-date dolls, they continue to carry out their mission, unchanged from the time they were designed.
Machines do not lose their worth when a newer model appears.
Their worth (life) ends when humans can no longer bear that purity.
My work here is done.
Quest of Fate
Apocrypha Universe Fate Quest Project
---
Beast's Lair Discord Server For Fate Quests
Hermes Servant Collection Master Post
+1 to CCC FWIW, even though I haven't the foggiest when Kyte'll update. Nevertheless, it's a truly well-deserved +1.
My Fanfics. Read 'em. Or not.McJon01: We all know that the real reason Archer would lose to Rider is because the events of his own Holy Grail War left him with a particular weakness toward "older sister" types.
+1 to Latent Heat of Sublimation, by Dullahan.
The foremost in「 」姉さん lemons, written with the mad passion that inspired the construction of the Tower of Babel, a vain hope at leading people to salvation, undone forever by the sundering of a community and a tragic disconnect in language, until only one man was left, screaming at all and sundry such that perhaps one person, just one, even one, would understand his screed pregnant with the fervor only possible with a pure and unrelenting hatred at the dregs of the memes of an ideology squeezed from the frayed rags of what once been a beautiful tapestry of promise and possibility and philosophy, until now only expressed with a disdainful sniff and a snide quote from a small bookshelf nestled against a bedroom, packed to bursting with the words of many, probably too self-important, too self-composed for their own good, preserved and ordered for the sake of the youth, but really for the companies burning the saplings of tomorrow for the bonfires of today, lining their pockets with the livelihoods of their children, who, thoroughly disenfranchised, disaffected, and disenchanted, reduce the achievements of their predecessors to the barest bones, the catchiest sound bites, the sickest memes, splashing through the puddles of their discourses and thinking themselves Nemos, Magellans, Ahabs, and Drakes, and one might think that this is all the work of love, sadly misdirected from the complex internal works to the simplest characteristics of that which is proclaimed to be loved, the climaxes, the clothes, the titles, the tics, the tits, and yet this would be a farce of the emotion, if anything a bastardization of it, a corruption of it, rather, hatred in its most insidious form, the true opposite of the love, the perversion of something genuine and personal into something manufactured, engendered, manipulated, and monetized, and yet as a counterpoint it is an emotion all the same, and ultimately, there is no hatred without love, rather, the two emotions are so intertwined as to after a point become one and the same, and thus the final conclusion that can be drawn is:
He Loved Fate/Grand Order.