Discussion Cultivation novels pet peeve

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by PsBX, Aug 24, 2020.

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  1. PsBX

    PsBX New Member

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    Over the years I've read quite a lot of cultivation related novels, although I ended up dropping most of them. Even those I read until the end, not all of them maintained a consistent quality.

    There are several issues that may lead me to drop a novel. Usually, when I do drop a novel it's just not one factor but the novel has several problems that surpassed the threshold of what I could tolerate or the novel just wasn't enjoyable anymore (sometimes, I try to persevere for old times sake).

    Some of the problems are bad writing, the lack of consistency (with the characters, the world, ...), the MC's personality, the use of clichés, the unlikeliness of some events, when the MC is ruthless to all his enemies except to woman, when most people of his clan hate and keep bullying him but when he regains his cultivation (or something among those lines) all his forgiven and he helps the clan nonetheless, when the MC is screwed by somebody else and has power to retaliate but doesn't, when the MC doesn't focus on his mission/goal . These are a few examples among others.

    One of my pet peeves with the these kind of novels is the sharing of the resources, namely when the MC keeps gives his resources (pills, beast cores, herbs, weapons, etc) to other people who didn't help him at all or gives too much for small services rendered. It doesn't really bother me much, when the MC helps his friends (or other people) once or twice but this usually happens regularly (it's not uncommon to see that all the resources that his friends use are given by the MC. )
    Typically, some of those resources are gathered in risky situations where the MC's life is on the line.

    When the MC is in a sect, it's a common setting to have some nearby valley or forest where demon/beasts roam and the he goes there to train or just hunt them. Often, I see the MC offer his beast cores he gathered risking his life to some other people (that did nothing at all or where cultivating in the safety of the sect).

    In one of the last novels I read, the cultivation methods were novel and fun to read (I quit reading it though some time later though): in that world, some people could cultivate by reading and comprehending books (instead of absorbing spiritual energy) and they would attack and defend with the power of words (as it was the case for the MC). Just before the MC entered an academy/sect, he encountered and defeated some random beast. He could absorb it to increase his physical strength (which he needed at the moment) but he ended up selling this same beast to buy pills for his friend. Later, he acquired a set of precious swords which he gave to another friend. Not only that, he spent a bunch of time purifying those swords so that friend could use them safely. Afterwards, he spent all his money (and do mean all) to buy pills for that same friend (he was quite rich a this point). Some time later, he entered a special tower where points could be used to buy rare items and resources, he just bought 1 item for himself and he gave the remaining points to his friends (those points were gained by fighting other people, sometimes to the death). The regular giving away of resources wasn't the only reason for me to quit reading this novel but it was one of the major reasons.

    In some other novel, the MC, to guarantee his mother' safety and his own, had to enter a sect. He killed a lot of beasts/demons which he traded for pills to increase his strength so he could pass the sect exam. He ended up giving half to his friend. If he wanted to help his friend why not doing after making sure he entered the sect?

    That's why I'm usually apprehensive before reading novels where the MC is an alchemist. They usually just give pills away. Not all novels are like that though (e.g, "A Will Eternal") and even some of the novels where the MC keeps giving pills away are still enjoyable to read, although I don't find any pleasure in seeing the MC wasting time concocting pills instead of cultivating just to give them away for free.

    Sorry for the rant! Perhaps this means I'm quite selfish myself but I honestly when this happens over and over again, it really irritates me. What do you guys think?
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2020
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  2. Feng Tian

    Feng Tian Well-Known Member

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    You know, you could have added another 3k words without running out of material to bitch about. Its not exactly a secret among the more "cultured" readers here that cultivation rarely avoids sucking. Even the usually praised Er gen novels have at least 300 chapters which add nothing to the story but power progression (and I tend to dump novels if that happens). Characters, especially female ones, tend to be one of the weakpoints in cultivation novels. From the classical silk pants full-retard enemies to the female doormats there are plenty of characters with zero depth or relevance. The worst offender is world-building however. If you are slightly above average smart (which is true for most authors) then writing with an enlightenment-based power system is a major point of failure. Exponential power scaling without established ceiling is also a major case of suck.
     
  3. SerialBeggar

    SerialBeggar Hate your family? Got no friends? Gimme your stuff

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    Hmmm. While I haven't read many cultivation novel, my main peeve with the ones I have read is that the MC is too stingy and lacks empathy. Usually, they'll take everything they can get and more, yet have no thoughts about sharing with their (current) companions. If the MC had taken a little bit of time and resources to boost his (current) companions even a little bit instead of leaving their survivability to fate, they'd be more useful.
     
  4. Feng Tian

    Feng Tian Well-Known Member

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    The exponential powerscaling unfortunately results in anyone but the MC being utterly useless, even if they have access to crafting. Why give a fuck about them when a rank 4 can kill at least a dozen rank 3s?
     
  5. Drake888

    Drake888 That one guy. You know, the one over there.

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    I would have to see the actual stories but I'm pretty sure the "giving valuable stuff to friends" is just part of the setting. It might even be a cultural belief, seeing how often it pops up. Basically, the rich young masters and any other leaders in the world are expected to provide material benefits to their followers and friends. The value of the benefits reflect their power and/or character. I would be willing to bet that those "friends" you referred to are less powerful than the MC and super willing to follow his lead. In line with this trend, I have also noticed that more than a few of these novels have the MC demonstrate vast wealth by lavishly tipping people for nothing. Like an amount of money that the MC struggled to acquire in the early chapters being given as thanks for running inside a building to check something.
    A bigger pet peeve for me personally is not focusing on goals. You mentioned it too but that one grinds my gears way more than the money thing. I dropped a novel that I really enjoyed because of it (either MGA or ATG). The MC got a woman pregnant then got trapped somewhere for a full year. When he got free he goes to visit her, only to find that her sect had crippled her cultivation and banished her. He gets angry and wrecks some of their shit but then just wanders off. He even has a couple paragraphs where he just wistfully looks into the distance and thinks about how he doesn't know where she is but how he feels they will meet again. Then he runs off to fool around with some princess. Seriously? He didn't even look for her! It's not like she could have gotten far with zero cultivation. The sect made it clear that they didn't know where she went but he could easily have checked nearby villages and asked if anybody had seen a ridiculously beautiful woman traveling alone in the last year. I had really enjoyed the novel up to that point but when I realized that she was just gone until the author felt like bringing her back I was too angry to read anymore. The fact that the author saw nothing wrong with continuing to add to the harem in the interim just made it worse.
     
  6. Feng Tian

    Feng Tian Well-Known Member

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    That would be ATG. Dont forget that he raped that woman >.>
     
  7. Drake888

    Drake888 That one guy. You know, the one over there.

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    I actually had forgotten. And there is an entire conversation to be had about women falling in love with their rapists in these novels. But the author had portrayed them as having mutual feelings for each other. In fact, the only reason she was discovered to be pregnant and got in trouble was because of her reaction when she thought MC died.
     
  8. Feng Tian

    Feng Tian Well-Known Member

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    Pretty sure she explicitely told him to fuck off. Its not like his harem of worthles pebbles needed another side bitch to add nothing to the story.
     
  9. Drake888

    Drake888 That one guy. You know, the one over there.

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    Yeah it was definitely rape. She explicitly refused but the author framed it in a way where the MC was "helping" her by doing it. Again, there is a lot to be said about that kind of thing being common in these stories. And I mean a lot of bad things. But I just want to clarify: the author made it clear that she cared about MC and wound up mildly wounding herself while trying to save him. And he supposedly cared about her too. Although his actions seriously failed to prove it.
     
  10. Diametric

    Diametric Waifu Connoisseur

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    I think this is how the mc justifies his ruthlessness. "Repay malice 100 times over, repay kindness 100 times over"
     
  11. Feng Tian

    Feng Tian Well-Known Member

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    Pretty much. Then again, cultivation novels are "ideal" chinese culture x gurren lagan, and the result is as retarded as you would expect.
     
  12. PsBX

    PsBX New Member

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    I agree! Since the romance in these novels are quite often poorly done, I really dislike when there are romantic interest(s) introduced right from the start. If possible, I would prefer that the romance would happen far later on the novel. I find that the MC loses his goal/focus after getting together with his romantic interest or the romance just sucks.

    I do agree that the MC should repay favors and help those that need but sharing with companions that didn't contribute at all it's just not fair. Perhaps those companions should hunt beasts more suited to their level instead of being greedy and forcing the MC kill the beasts basically all by himself since they cannot do it themselvees. That's why I prefer when the MC is a lone wolf.
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2020
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