In some books every level is a struggle. Adventures on Brad is a good example (and a fun listen.) In other books characters go from geek to god in a few chapters as in The Realms series. Which style do you like and why?
Posted Mar 13, 2020, 4:23 PM UTC
Fast progression is only for those writers confident in their world building. Justin Miller is a fantastic example of this. OP character make great lenses to explore a well built world. If the world is sloppy, cracks will immediately show.
Another example is Skyrim. Alot of players enjoy using cheats because they buy into the rich world building. Some make it harder to make it more immersive, and some make it easier so that they can explore the world.
I don't mid either if told well but if i had to pick one, i like slow powerful skills unlocking vs fast skill unlocking with tons of useless things upgraded that don't really do much.
Slow. Fast Skill Progression makes the hero a god far too fast, and it is hard to write a story about a god without it getting cheesy. As time goes by I prefer slower progression more and more.
Other elements. I like the hero to have some utility powers, and encounter people weaker than him, so that we can get a sense of his progress and what he is achieving. Seeing someone weaker can show how hard the hero has come and relieve some of the frustration of slow progression (or unreality of fast progression).
Slow progression. It's what I love to read and write.
The main problem with fast progression is the evermoving power ceiling. Oh, you just defeated an adventurer with D-rank? Now there's ten of them after you. Killed them too? Then their five C-rank friends want to get revenge. It's all happening in the span of a few chapters, forcing the author to establish new power levels and it becomes so meaningless so fast.
Fast. Let’s get to the good stuff
For me its more about Constant progression. Some Stories start out Hard with a lot of Progress and then fade it out till the story may as well not be a litrpg.which I hate, I am reading the story because its a Litrpg I expect to see Progress more than 2 or 3 time per book later in the series.
This! I believe this is the #1 reason for me dropping series after book 1. It doesn't even matter whether the progression in book 1 was fast / slow, but if it significantly slows down in book 2+ it usually puts me off. Basically many books transition from LitRPG/GameLit to pure fantasy .. don't get me wrong, I do enjoy many fantasy books, but at least for me LitRPG / GameLit scratch a different itch .. if I wanted to read fantasy I would read fantasy, there are plenty of choices out there.
Totally agree, it is one of my biggest complaints of Skyclad. It starts out super litrpg heavy, checking stats, skills and whatever. Then about halfway in it fades into the background and is only mentioned as a system and never shows us the stats again.
On the slower side. If you move too fast, you'll eventually set up a pace that is opposite the pace of character growth and progression. Character growth is a long, drawn out process, and you have to show scene after scene after scene where the main character experiences turmoil and conflict. If you continuously ride the skill progression train, you'll never get the chance to have the MC experience turmoil and conflict necessary for character growth.
Granted, 99% of litRPG is power creep fantasies, so I guess people might not care about character growth/change as much as they do power/skill progression.........
Even though it's not LitRPG, I always reference Naruto as a good story with good character growth and power progression. We see Naruto grow from adolescence, so we see his character growth and his journey to becoming stronger. It's a long process for getting powerful, and the power is rightfully earned (even though he already begins the series as a Jinchuuriki).
Naruto as a series has its gripes, especially the last arc of the series, but Naruto's journey itself is compelling.
Just don't be like Eiichiro Oda (author of One Piece) because that series is unnecessarily long...He invested way too much time for side stories/side adventures. It's a bore.
Ever see Eureka Seven? It's been a few years but if I remember correctly it had some fantastic character development. And giant robots on flying surfboards.
If i had to choose, I'd go with slow...but not too slow.
I like progression that feels natural and earned while not being contrived. Being an instant-badass can be pretty lame but I've read enough slow prog stories that went at a snail's pace, doing things like being several books in and having an MC who still can't decide what kind of build they want and are nowhere close to even starting their goals while their enemies are too hopelessly godlike in comparison.
tl;dr Some balance is fine, being too much of either is equally annoying.
Fast if it fits with the story and everyone is OP, otherwise slow.
Depends on the book for me, is the MC back and fourth into the real world I like to see him progress fast in game if we have any notable amount of time out of game
Are they stuck and now live in the game with millions billions of others? If like to see progression be slower if your stuck in the game for the rest of your life now.
Medium? If he goes from normal guy to suddenly strongest person in the world that's boring. If he struggles at every corner and keeps almost dying that's not fun either.
I like it when the MC has to progress past obstacles that feel challenging but not hopeless, so probably closer to the "slow" side of your scale.