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SAO versus LMS (recommended)

Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2013 6:15 am
by agila312
Hi Guys! I just found out a great LN similar to SAO titled "LEGENDARY MOONLIGHT SCULPTOR" :!: . Both are similar in regards to the setting which is in VR-RPG game.

The difference between the two are where SAO focuses on fantasy and romance while LMS focus on action and adventure.

I used to think Kirito is amazing and powerful but compared to the protagonist of LMS (named Weed) Kirito seems lacking to me now. :(

The battle scenes of SAO are also disappointing to me now compare to LMS where it always result in all out war and spans in multiple chapter. In Sao battle scenes are: Kirito's party versus boss monster, Kirito vs 1 strong opponent or Kiroto vs multiple weak opponent, while in LMS: Weed vs multiple strong boss monters(higher level than him), his opponents are always way stronger than him but he uses cunning, strategy and real life martial arts(swordmanship) experience to overcome them in the end. The are also war scenarios in LMS like: Weed+Paladins vs Clan of Vampires, Weed+Orc+Dark Elves vs Undead Legion and my favorite: Weed vs King Hydra vs Black Dragon vs Master Necromaster+Undead Legion vs Evil High Priest+Doom Knights. (sorry for the little spoiler :roll: )

To those who already knows LMS lets have a discussion comparing both LN, which do you think is better?

To those who haven't read LMS yet I recommend it(while waiting for new SAO updates on translations) since all seems to like SAO here. Don't be put off by the title like I was at first, if I pick another title for this LN then it will be "The God of War, Weed"(which is what people call him in-game).

Caution for those who just starting to read or haven't read SAO: After reading LMS you won't be satisfied with SAO anymore so read all the translated SAO LN first before reading LMS. :D

Re: SAO versus LMS (recommended)

Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 11:36 pm
by Ushwood
Dropped LMS after vol.2.
Too much focus on the gameplay, for my taste.
Just boring - reading for the umpteenth time how Weed kills suchandsuch monsters and how he ups suchandsuch stats.

Re: SAO versus LMS (recommended)

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 4:30 am
by agila312
Ushwood wrote:Dropped LMS after vol.2.
Too much focus on the gameplay, for my taste.
Just boring - reading for the umpteenth time how Weed kills suchandsuch monsters and how he ups suchandsuch stats.

That is just the beginning, this is an adventure novel so of course the author has to give foundation to the story. Btw this LN already has 40 volume and ongoing. dropping the book in volume 2 is just like dropping a book after reading the synopsis.

I also think that what you don't like in LMS is what's missing in SAO, we never found out how Kirito became strong, no detail like his stats, equips ( exept for his main ones) etc.

Re: SAO versus LMS (recommended)

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 7:06 am
by TheCatWalk
Ushwood wrote:Dropped LMS after vol.2.
Too much focus on the gameplay, for my taste.
Just boring - reading for the umpteenth time how Weed kills suchandsuch monsters and how he ups suchandsuch stats.
just let me say this first but, Sao is better for me.
now,on to LMS..
IT IS AWESOME!!EDINITELY WORTH THE READ!!HELL YEA!!
i have been keeping track of that since those off books came out.read all the google tl'ed version till volume 40 [it was a GIANT pain in the ass but thats just how much i wanted to know how the story]
basically,the mc is like jack sparrow except more "good" and "Greedy" and less "betraying".
very amazing story,thrilling.enough to get you hooked for weeks.
Tony Yon, Xenocross, Kang Hean Jin also keeps track of it and yes,definitely Chancs.
Seoyoon = Cute+Beautiful+Yandere+deredere+kuudere
Lee Hyun/Weed = ....as i said,jack sparrow.
i;d DEFINITELY recomend you to read through it.
u dont need to go as far as to read the gt verions but do read the already tl'ed ones.

Re: SAO versus LMS (recommended)

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 11:40 am
by workisnotfun
Ushwood wrote:Dropped LMS after vol.2.
Too much focus on the gameplay, for my taste.
Just boring - reading for the umpteenth time how Weed kills suchandsuch monsters and how he ups suchandsuch stats.
Thinking about dropping SAO before even finishing the first volume. For some background, I read LMS first but SAO just seems a lot shallower than LMS. Kirito = "im so lonely, maybe I'll try loving again (Asuna)", this guy has no hardship whatsoever. He always wins easily. Conflicts just get resolved after a few paragraphs or at max, in the next chapter.

The story is basically I train alone, I'm so lonely, then all the levels, girls, stats, secret skills come rolling in as "the plot". He is also the only one of his kind (there are no other soloer or players who compete with him just enemies) while there are people 100 levels over Weed who he has to compete with. Since you can see Weed's stats, you can compare him with other people and see how he competes with them while in SAO, Kirito is the #1 player, it's pretty boring when you know he's always going to win and 90% of the time how he will win also.

Re: SAO versus LMS (recommended)

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 12:15 pm
by Rohan123
workisnotfun wrote: Thinking about dropping SAO before even finishing the first volume. For some background, I read LMS first but SAO just seems a lot shallower than LMS. Kirito = "im so lonely, maybe I'll try loving again (Asuna)", this guy has no hardship whatsoever. He always wins easily. Conflicts just get resolved after a few paragraphs or at max, in the next chapter.
Good work, making so many deductions without even finishing the first volume of SAO. No hardships? He, and thousands of other players, are trapped in a game from which they cannot logout and they will die in the real world if they die in the game itself, or try to leave the game before clearing it through any external means. Seriously, those aren't hardships...?
workisnotfun wrote: The story is basically I train alone, I'm so lonely, then all the levels, girls, stats, secret skills come rolling in as "the plot". He is also the only one of his kind (there are no other soloer or players who compete with him just enemies) while there are people 100 levels over Weed who he has to compete with. Since you can see Weed's stats, you can compare him with other people and see how he competes with them while in SAO, Kirito is the #1 player, it's pretty boring when you know he's always going to win and 90% of the time how he will win also.
Well, since he spends most of his time training, instead of taking a break from time to time unlike most other people, and always venturing into the highest level dungeons possible so he can level up faster, the levels/stats are supposed to flow in. And there are other solo players too, but he just trains hardest, thus he is one of the strongest.
Also, you say that it's pretty boring as you know that Kirito is always going to win. So, the primary protagonist of LMS, Weed, does not win his fights most of the time? :o

Re: SAO versus LMS (recommended)

Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 6:06 pm
by larethian
agila312 wrote:Hi Guys! I just found out a great LN similar to SAO titled "LEGENDARY MOONLIGHT SCULPTOR" :!: . Both are similar in regards to the setting which is in VR-RPG game.

The difference between the two are where SAO focuses on fantasy and romance while LMS focus on action and adventure.

I used to think Kirito is amazing and powerful but compared to the protagonist of LMS (named Weed) Kirito seems lacking to me now. :(

The battle scenes of SAO are also disappointing to me now compare to LMS where it always result in all out war and spans in multiple chapter. In Sao battle scenes are: Kirito's party versus boss monster, Kirito vs 1 strong opponent or Kiroto vs multiple weak opponent, while in LMS: Weed vs multiple strong boss monters(higher level than him), his opponents are always way stronger than him but he uses cunning, strategy and real life martial arts(swordmanship) experience to overcome them in the end. The are also war scenarios in LMS like: Weed+Paladins vs Clan of Vampires, Weed+Orc+Dark Elves vs Undead Legion and my favorite: Weed vs King Hydra vs Black Dragon vs Master Necromaster+Undead Legion vs Evil High Priest+Doom Knights. (sorry for the little spoiler :roll: )

To those who already knows LMS lets have a discussion comparing both LN, which do you think is better?

To those who haven't read LMS yet I recommend it(while waiting for new SAO updates on translations) since all seems to like SAO here. Don't be put off by the title like I was at first, if I pick another title for this LN then it will be "The God of War, Weed"(which is what people call him in-game).

Caution for those who just starting to read or haven't read SAO: After reading LMS you won't be satisfied with SAO anymore so read all the translated SAO LN first before reading LMS. :D
If you think SAO's focus is on fantasy and romance, you can't be more wrong and didn't really read the novel deep enough. Your description about Kirito in SAO is totally different from my experience when I first read the book.
The reason why the first volume remains my top volume out of the whole series is because aside from the 'gaming' aspect, it explores people's emotions and behavior and conflicts, and the decisions they make under a death-game setting, and there was some interesting character development, especially when supplemented by volume 2. However, I personally find that later volumes add few new dimensions to that area. Sure, GGO and Alicization (which imho a little draggy and have some serious issues in my book) have many good points, but other than being really interesting reads, they didn't provide me the kind of 'experience' I got from volume 1. That's my 2 cents.
agila312 wrote:
Ushwood wrote:Dropped LMS after vol.2.
Too much focus on the gameplay, for my taste.
Just boring - reading for the umpteenth time how Weed kills suchandsuch monsters and how he ups suchandsuch stats.

That is just the beginning, this is an adventure novel so of course the author has to give foundation to the story. Btw this LN already has 40 volume and ongoing. dropping the book in volume 2 is just like dropping a book after reading the synopsis.

I also think that what you don't like in LMS is what's missing in SAO, we never found out how Kirito became strong, no detail like his stats, equips ( exept for his main ones) etc.
Well, I'm not interested in the details in how he got strong, but the struggles he experienced to make him become strong. :D

Re: SAO versus LMS (recommended)

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 12:42 am
by Rohan123
larethian wrote: If you think SAO's focus is on fantasy and romance, you can't be more wrong and didn't really read the novel deep enough. Your description about Kirito in SAO is totally different from my experience when I first read the book.
The reason why the first volume remains my top volume out of the whole series is because aside from the 'gaming' aspect, it explores people's emotions and behavior and conflicts, and the decisions they make under a death-game setting, and there was some interesting character development, especially when supplemented by volume 2. However, I personally find that later volumes add few new dimensions to that area. Sure, GGO and Alicization (which imho a little draggy and have some serious issues in my book) have many good points, but other than being really interesting reads, they didn't provide me the kind of 'experience' I got from volume 1. That's my 2 cents.
Exactly, SAO is not just about fantasy and romance. People should read the novel in depth before commenting on its pros and cons.
larethian wrote: Well, I'm not interested in the details in how he got strong, but the struggles he experienced to make him become strong. :D
^ Totally. :wink:

Re: SAO versus LMS (recommended)

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 6:26 pm
by workisnotfun
Rohan123 wrote:Good work, making so many deductions without even finishing the first volume of SAO. No hardships? He, and thousands of other players, are trapped in a game from which they cannot logout and they will die in the real world if they die in the game itself, or try to leave the game before clearing it through any external means. Seriously, those aren't hardships...?
First of all, him and thousands of other players being trapped in the game is just the background for the story. After that is when the story actually starts. They're not really hardships since it's already passed and not affecting him now. For example imagine having a background where 35% of the world becomes paralyzed. If nothing else happens concerning that afterwards then who cares. Same thing with having players trapped, who cares after this is explained, it's not really important anymore.
Rohan123 wrote:Well, since he spends most of his time training, instead of taking a break from time to time unlike most other people, and always venturing into the highest level dungeons possible so he can level up faster, the levels/stats are supposed to flow in. And there are other solo players too, but he just trains hardest, thus he is one of the strongest.
Also, you say that it's pretty boring as you know that Kirito is always going to win. So, the primary protagonist of LMS, Weed, does not win his fights most of the time? :o
You don't see any of the difficulty in his training. It's basically Kirito trains alone => therefore => he is this level. With nothing in between it seems like he's just being gifted those levels. Though I do concede that if the author put this in it would be boring as hell. In LMS you see nearly 10 times more what goes on than in SAO. While in SAO, all Kirito is doing is leveling up with one goal of getting out of the game. While in LMS, Weed undergoes many different experiences, has many different goals, and has to use his brain at every step! I just think SAO, in comparison to LMS, is very linear and predictable.

And it's boring not because you know he's going to win but because you can see almost a mile away how he will win too. If you were to replace Kirito in the novel you obviously know you just have to use your sword skills the best you can, level up, and you will eventually win. If you were to replace Weed you would have no idea what to do or where to go from where you replaced him. LMS just looks at VRMMORPG from a wider perspective than just leveling up to rescue someone.

Contrary to the novel though, I thoroughly enjoyed the anime and part of my bias might be from knowing some of what might happen, I still firmly believe LMS is better.