Recommendations Any good VR stories?

Discussion in 'I'm Looking For...' started by jacobpaige, Feb 22, 2021.

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  1. jacobpaige

    jacobpaige Well-Known Member

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    Mainly looking for ones where:
    1. The MC isn't an a**hole
    2. Women are treated as people capable of intelligent, rational, independent thought. (Bonus points if MC is female and there's no ML)
    3. The MC isn't a loner
    4. The game is just a game. No saving the real world, secret alien plots, finding kidnapped loved ones trapped in the game, etc.
    5. The MC actually spends time outside the game
    6. The MC can, occasionally, lose
    7. The game feels like something that real people would willingly pay money to play
    8. The MC has to actually work for their gains rather than being the bastard child of the Goddess of Luck or whatever
    9. Available online, in English, legally, for free

    I'm fine with stories listed here, royalroad, Wordpress or wherever, so long as there's no paywalls.
     
  2. kfahad

    kfahad 『The Lurker Beast』『Beast fallen』

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    Marking here maybe there's a good recommendation, i just finished TMA now looking for a good one to read.
     
  3. deepon

    deepon One who inevitably awakens

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    I will ignore the MC isn't a loner part here and recommend Emperor of Solo Play. As for what to look forward to ? There's dancing skeletons. 'Nuff said.

    PS: it's one unlucky MC
     
  4. Syahmuda

    Syahmuda Well-Known Member

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    Mages are Too OP

    Mc can die occasionally.
    Not a loner and not a player that can solo raid bosses.
    Somewhat harem, but the member has their own personality. And the female here is not a pokemon, and mc is not a pokemon catcher.
    For the world setting i think the game is another dimension rather than a game, but mc haven't explore it yet.
    Mc exploring his own power but not rapidly growing up.
    The reason why its R18 because the degree freedom in the game, the player can have sx with "npc". For the rape tag, i dont know why it was put on, i dont remember anything significant from that tag, mc didn't do it, and there's no pillaging from the other player.
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2021
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  5. ahtohio

    ahtohio Active Member

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    Overgeared

    I can't describe how fascinating this novel is. And I don't like VR novels at all, this is an exception. The MC is an asshole at the beginning, but he will grow with time.
     
    Last edited: Feb 22, 2021
  6. Duckfero

    Duckfero Well-Known Member

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    Full-dive Eternal Phantasy
    MC is a girl, and there is no ML because the MC is lesbian and have a yuri harem. She become really OP after a few chapters, and she is very clever. She is also a good leader. She spend time outside the game aswell, especially after chapter 30, because the real world merge with the game and she can use her game power in the real world (so you might not like it).

    Reign of the hunters
    MC is a girl and was reborn so she has a lot of knowledge from the game. She is a bit of a loner but eventually join some group and guild and make friends. She is independant, intelligent, and strong. She also spend some time outside the game.
     
  7. Su Jin

    Su Jin Well-Known Member

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    youre beautiful when you smile

    I think it's cool, but it doesn't meet all the requirements
     
  8. jacobpaige

    jacobpaige Well-Known Member

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    Read it. I don't remember the MC ever losing though? Honestly can't remember him spending any time outside of the game either, nor can I imagine anyone ever paying actual money to play the game. The treatment of women as characters is also borderline from what little I remember of the series, and the MC only manages to not be an a**hole by not interacting with anyone, ever. Though, I did drop it, so maybe he got better.
    I'll check it out.
    You may want to check the reviews on the series...
    The first one doesn't really sound like what I'm looking for. I've read the second, but lost interest in it, mainly because of 6 and 8 not applying.
    I'll look into it.

    Thanks all :)
     
  9. Duckfero

    Duckfero Well-Known Member

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    There is also:
    Reborn as a Transcendant
    MC is male in real world, but a girl ingame.Although he/she can use his/her game power in the real world (she is the only one), the main focus is still ingame. The MC is not a loner because she is leading a small party and help them (she has knowledge from previous life).

    Also:
    Legendary Moonlight Sculptor
    I suppose that you know it because it's basically the most famous VR novel but if you don't you should read it.
    Male MC and epic adventure.
     
  10. Lurking

    Lurking Do the dead suffer, or is it a sweet release?

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    Vaudevillain on royalroad
     
  11. Ibiskool

    Ibiskool Well-Known Member

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    Good VR novels? They don't exit, but you can find VR novels easily try white Emperor.
     
  12. jacobpaige

    jacobpaige Well-Known Member

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    Dropped RaaT. Honestly don't remember the series at all though, so I couldn't tell you why.

    Already read LMS.
    Reading it :)
    It was hilarious, but I got tired of it.

    Thanks all :)
     
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  13. phobos

    phobos Well-Known Member

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    i guess the Taming Master woudnt be something for you
    but you might try "Only Sense Online" if you look for some cuteness, fluffy overload beginning is more about the gaming
    while later chapters seems to be more about teaparties and interacting with friends and family online in the game
     
  14. jacobpaige

    jacobpaige Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, Taming Master annoyed me on a lot of levels. I liked OSO, but the anime cliches and stereotypes were quite excessive and I lost interest.
     
  15. phobos

    phobos Well-Known Member

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    i guess i know what you mean - as if companies would make a game where 60% of the content if for 2-5 no lifers that had to be lucky on top - combined with otherwhise absurd grind and hard failed balancing - still i thought about finishing it when im out of other stuff to read

    basically i only mentioned OSO because translation was finished recently after almost 1 year translator hiatus - havnt finished that neither

    thought i havent seen that many good game based novels out there seem like who play games doenst have the time to write novels and who write novels dont have the time to play games so its not about actual experience but imagination how it might work

    Night Ranger was transmigration based on vr game but as such rather well done but witha rather "strange" end giving you the feeling someone decided "now you have 2-3 chapter to end this and move on"
     
  16. jacobpaige

    jacobpaige Well-Known Member

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    Honestly didn't care for Night Ranger. It felt too much like a low effort, author insert, power fantasy. It had some good points too, but I just couldn't maintain an interest.
     
  17. Stupidiot

    Stupidiot Active Member

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    Jacob! Are you able to recommend any that hit your requirements? I found them to be good limits.

    Anyway, my recommendation is below, It doesn't exactly hit the wickets, #4 being the biggest issue. The VR here is more of a second world. There is a small plot point that involves real world danger. One other thing to note is that VR is a small portion of the story. Real life is more important.

    https://www.novelupdates.com/series/crossing-to-the-future-its-not-easy-to-be-a-man/
     
  18. jacobpaige

    jacobpaige Well-Known Member

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    Read it. Dropped it. I believe it was due to excessive plot holes, but I can't really remember.

    As to your question (all on royalroad):
    Data Dragon Danika. Fairly slice of life with strong romance aspects though.

    Farming for Gold. On possibly permanent hiatus.

    Vaudevillain, as someone else mentioned. It feels a bit like the author is floundering lately though.

    Classmancers if you don't mind it not being VR.

    Tower of Somnus, maybe. The game grants real power to people who play it, but the game itself isn't about taking over the world or anything. Unfortunately, the MC can't really lose in the game since doing so would strip her of all of her powers in the real world and eject her from the game, possibly permanently. She's still capable of losing in other ways though.

    After the Mountains are Flattened, maybe. The MC can be a bit of an a**, but its mostly played for laughs and doesn't really exceed my tolerance for various spoilery reasons. MC is also a loner, but a fairly large part of the plot is about him working on that. Has some pacing issues, but not to the point that its not worth reading. Also, while I don't think the MC will/can lose in story, its made clear that its because of the many, many times he's lost in the past and the lessons he's learned as a result.

    Solo Stream, maybe. MC is a loner and the RL sections of the story are brief, but it matches otherwise.
     
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  19. Stupidiot

    Stupidiot Active Member

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    Thank you! Added them to my read list.
     
  20. Darius Drake

    Darius Drake A poster of verbose posts

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    OriginStory the VRMMO: The Advent of Axebear. I think this fits all your criteria, but I'll list it out.
    .1. MC isn't an a**hole: MC is literally playing for fun, and actively stops an internal employee of the game from giving her spoilers. That said, she also makes some of her decisions purely because she'll find her younger brother's reaction funny. Of course, he can also be a bit of an ass himself, and they are siblings, so...
    .2. Female MC, no ML as of yet, though the MC herself has a personality similar to one regularly given to males. She plays basically as a barbarian character happily, and has female friends who are happy and successful in the game as well, though in different ways.
    .3. MC... usually plays alone, or in temporary parties. However, she's well known, and has friends, particularly among the crafters.
    .4. The game is just a game. Sure, it's a VRMMO, but there's dozens of them out there and the MC's just playing because she can.
    .5. The MC does spend some time outside the game. However, we don't get to see all that much of it, and most of it is related to the game somewhat. There is one event that happens in which the MC meets an individual she met in the game outside of it, but beyond that there's not much that's unrelated to the game in the story itself.
    .6. I'm not sure if the author would actually allow the MC to lose. I want to believe that they would, but that hasn't happened in the story yet, so I can't say that it does happen for certain.
    .7. The crafting elements introduced alone make it so that some people would play the game, and so far most people playing have been checking it out due to all the hype for the game. Whether or not it's something that's believable as a game that would be played for an extended period of time, well, that'll need to be looked at.
    .8. For the most part, the MC has been succeeding due to having good knowledge of how to fight in the real world. In fact, they're famous in the VR Community due to them being an early-game ranker. They have the skills required to be a top ranker for the entirety of the game, but don't care enough about Min-Maxing to actually reach that point, picking skills more for how much fun they think that they'll have than power or strategy.
    .9. Link is to the poster's own website, where it can be read for free.