At Summer 5/Turn 2. Props to OP for invisitexting the rolls.
Still, this isn't my sort of thing. I read thinking that at age 16 we'd stop using the turn-by-season system and, you know actually do things and engage the plot and greater world around us, instead of the quest turning into a management simulator with, an utterly unchanging static status quo that every chapter we return back to. Sure, we might fight or visit someone, but no matter what everything is back to normal in short order and we wind up right back where we started. No going to China, no messing with the Christians, no engaging with Norse myth, no adventuring, no plot threads, no nothing, just brief random encounters like it's a JRPG. Not even core Xianxiaisms like the tags indicate are present, like ascending to a higher level of being / attaining agelessness or even escalating longevity doesn't even seem to be a thing, and nor does interacting with progressively more and more supernatural and stronger beings, as the areas and scale we operate in escalates from a mere village, to towns and cities, and so forth, instead of sticking to bumfuck nowhere forever. Part of the whole point of Xianxia or pseudo-cultivation settings is the sense of exploration, growth and adventure, so sitting around farming, while training for what are mere brief random encounters instead of any sort of true plot thread is terribly boring and stagnant. I started hoping for highwaymen to murder our husband so we go on a compelling revenge journey instead of spinning our wheels turn-in turn-out.
A damn shame too, the worldbuilding is nice and the author is decent, but we're allowed to see so little of the world due to being quite literally chained to our starting location. Seriously, there could be fun shit like exploring the world, engaging with the greater viking and supernatural community instead of sticking to the sticks, and so forth simply by simply ditching the present seasonal turn system wholesale and placing significantly more emphasis on actions (e.g. gain skill and hadr/hamr exp by using shit, no more seasonal turns, all week-by-week if not even shorter), and ditching farm management wholesale instead of letting it becomes Harvest Moon: Norse Edition. The easiest way to accomplish both is simply giving Halla an actual compelling reason to leave on a long-term adventure, it doesn't matter what it is. She could be being hunted, and leaves to protect her family and friends, or maybe her husbando has gone missing, etc. There's plenty of compelling reasons to do so.
Also, the die got ridiculous by doubling every level, needing like 45 successes to merely master a single skill, taking 5 dedicated seasons spent just training that one skill. Perfected isn't even worth considering in the slightest, costing 117 successes total, meaning something like 200 die invested in a single skill, or 10 consecutive seasons of literally nothing. Hadr/hamr has also gotten insane, needing 30 successes to upgrade, which, given the systema OP has used, will become 60, then 120. This is worsened by the intended roguelike nature of the story, making the whole thing into a repetitive training simulator that leads utterly nowhere. The moment Halla dies, we'll start at square one, sure probably with a few boons, but we're up for another wonderful gorillion words of training and random encounters to get back up to snuff, something that will kill the quest the moment it happens due to having already invested 400k words in Halla. Better to make all training significantly easier, like it is in all roguelike quests, and/or ditch the roguelike mechanic wholesale for more emphasis of Halla.
If that does happen, Hamr, is going to need some sort of anti-aging and ascension aspect instead of the present wuxiaisms, so she doesn't suddenly become useless at age 40-50 (average Norse lifespan).
Anyway, as-is, the quest ought to be renamed Norse Homestead Quest, it's more accurate.
Still, this isn't my sort of thing. I read thinking that at age 16 we'd stop using the turn-by-season system and, you know actually do things and engage the plot and greater world around us, instead of the quest turning into a management simulator with, an utterly unchanging static status quo that every chapter we return back to. Sure, we might fight or visit someone, but no matter what everything is back to normal in short order and we wind up right back where we started. No going to China, no messing with the Christians, no engaging with Norse myth, no adventuring, no plot threads, no nothing, just brief random encounters like it's a JRPG. Not even core Xianxiaisms like the tags indicate are present, like ascending to a higher level of being / attaining agelessness or even escalating longevity doesn't even seem to be a thing, and nor does interacting with progressively more and more supernatural and stronger beings, as the areas and scale we operate in escalates from a mere village, to towns and cities, and so forth, instead of sticking to bumfuck nowhere forever. Part of the whole point of Xianxia or pseudo-cultivation settings is the sense of exploration, growth and adventure, so sitting around farming, while training for what are mere brief random encounters instead of any sort of true plot thread is terribly boring and stagnant. I started hoping for highwaymen to murder our husband so we go on a compelling revenge journey instead of spinning our wheels turn-in turn-out.
A damn shame too, the worldbuilding is nice and the author is decent, but we're allowed to see so little of the world due to being quite literally chained to our starting location. Seriously, there could be fun shit like exploring the world, engaging with the greater viking and supernatural community instead of sticking to the sticks, and so forth simply by simply ditching the present seasonal turn system wholesale and placing significantly more emphasis on actions (e.g. gain skill and hadr/hamr exp by using shit, no more seasonal turns, all week-by-week if not even shorter), and ditching farm management wholesale instead of letting it becomes Harvest Moon: Norse Edition. The easiest way to accomplish both is simply giving Halla an actual compelling reason to leave on a long-term adventure, it doesn't matter what it is. She could be being hunted, and leaves to protect her family and friends, or maybe her husbando has gone missing, etc. There's plenty of compelling reasons to do so.
Also, the die got ridiculous by doubling every level, needing like 45 successes to merely master a single skill, taking 5 dedicated seasons spent just training that one skill. Perfected isn't even worth considering in the slightest, costing 117 successes total, meaning something like 200 die invested in a single skill, or 10 consecutive seasons of literally nothing. Hadr/hamr has also gotten insane, needing 30 successes to upgrade, which, given the systema OP has used, will become 60, then 120. This is worsened by the intended roguelike nature of the story, making the whole thing into a repetitive training simulator that leads utterly nowhere. The moment Halla dies, we'll start at square one, sure probably with a few boons, but we're up for another wonderful gorillion words of training and random encounters to get back up to snuff, something that will kill the quest the moment it happens due to having already invested 400k words in Halla. Better to make all training significantly easier, like it is in all roguelike quests, and/or ditch the roguelike mechanic wholesale for more emphasis of Halla.
If that does happen, Hamr, is going to need some sort of anti-aging and ascension aspect instead of the present wuxiaisms, so she doesn't suddenly become useless at age 40-50 (average Norse lifespan).
Anyway, as-is, the quest ought to be renamed Norse Homestead Quest, it's more accurate.
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