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「水楓(すいふう)の乙女たち」 (Mizu Kaede (Sui Fuu) no Otome-tachi)
“The Maidens of Watermaple”
Akatsuki comes out of her shell as the twenty-six maidens of Watermaple prepare to face down the raid boss in their city.
A Raid Boss in Akihabara
Flavor text coming to life has already had farther reaching implications than I expected, if it’s turning a regular NPC into a raid boss. Freeze effect, boosted stats for every adventurer within fifty meters, and a seriously buffed HP bar are not things that should be handed out freely! Though I’m still not entirely sure how that worked—would Akatsuki have turned into a raid-level monster if she got the sword, or is it only an NPC thing? And why could Nelreth buy a raid drop anyway? Even in late 90’s / early 2000’s MMORPGs, I’m pretty sure raid drops were bind on pick up! Though perhaps that’s another sign that the rules of the game are breaking down in favor of the rules of reality. It’s a pretty damn important one if so.
I do like their plan though. Fan out, cover the city, stall him when he appears, and then converge and pounce. It’s simple, but simple plans are often the most effective. The curfew won’t be popular, but the price might be worth it if they can take down the murderer without delay. It all hinges on Lenessia playing ball so he can’t teleport away. I hope the Kunie boy was lying about it taking decades to reboot the magic circle, because any deaths that happen from monsters later on would be on Lenessia’s shoulders (or so I bet she would feel), and I can imagine especially dickish players (from Minami, perhaps) using that to train raid-level mobs into the city. They’ve got a raid boss in Akiba, and he needs to be stopped, but they could be opening up the door for many more.
Akatsuki’s Out of her Shell
Akatsuki is really coming alive as a character. I didn’t realize how much she existed in Shiroe’s shadow until now, she she’s coming out of it. I’m not even talking about her blushing, and blushing, and blushing around her friends (bonus blush!), but the way she so directly and optimistically answer Lenessia when she was confiding in Akatsuki about her worries. Akatsuki has stopped being a wallflower, and really taken on more personality of her own. Though she’s still essentially Akatsuki—she’s still shy, not great at communicating, and a bit awkward. But she smiles more, and that’s lovely to see.
Looking Ahead – Lenessia’s Decision, & Akatsuki’s Overskill
Take it from me, writing sales copy for creative works is hard. You need to give away enough to draw people in, but not so much that the experience is diminished for those who decide to give it a shot. Episode previews are a form of this, but I’ll never understand why, seven episode into the second season, they are persisting in spoiling so much. You’ve already got us! We’re going to watch! There’s no reason to make it so obvious what Lenessia will decide, who the twenty-seventh maiden is, or that Akatsuki will show off her Overskill. Leave something for next week, gah! Though I am excited about next week, so they got me there. It’s time to see Akatsuki shine even more!
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – The flavor text becoming true has created a raid boss in Akiba, but Akatsuki is so much more vibrant than every before #loghorizon s2e7
Random thoughts:
- Rieze’s characterization seemed to jump out of nowhere, but she’s there now. From crying over Krusty’s disappearance to taking charge in front of the Round Table, she’s no one-dimensional character to be sure.
- This episode confirms that Nelreth isn’t a willing murderer. The last time we saw Byakumaru in the shop was episode two, and he wasn’t a monster yet. And how he called himself a proud Defender while he was Gollum-ing … yup, we’re going the tragic route. Probably. Maybe it’s half and half, though he’s definitely mad now. Poor guy. Good thing Souji backed out, or he’d be as good as dead.
- “There are things you can only learn by accepting your weakness. Being weak, losing … these aren’t pointless things.” That’s true. If you’re not failing often, it means you’re not doing enough interesting, difficult, or uncertain things. Failing is how we learn how to succeed.
- Bonus points for Akatsuki finally realizing that her height isn’t a weakness. I used to have a short friend who said she wasn’t short, she was travel-sized … and any time I drag my 6’7″ frame onto a plane, I’m reminded that great height isn’t always an advantage. It’s all about how you approach and use your weaknesses (and strengths).
- Put on some armor, Marie. Take this seriously, jeez.
Check out my blog about storytelling and the novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: Impostor syndrome, Save it for your daydreams, Storytelling is subjective, and Delusions of importance. For book updates, sign up for my mailing list.
Preview
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Show Spoiler ▼
I miss the breastplate as well, at least she has the same leggings.
Oops that was supposed to be a quote, not a spoiler.
I hope Akatsuki’s new armor is elaborated on next week.
I think Akatsuki’s new armor was given to her during this scene
https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%202%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2018.jpg
see that girl on the left holding something in her hand?
Yeah the twins gave her some gear but I meant what kind of armor it is and Show Spoiler ▼
Maybe because I’m just more used to seeing her old outfit, but I miss the purple on Akatsuki. It matches her hair better.
It’s probably just a normal or crafted armor with better defense from what she currently wear
with probably some elemental protection, since they are going up against a boss that inflicts
freezing effect.
and there’s no way they would just give away super rare armor to someone they barely knew anyway
Given that the whole plot of this episode was the idea that they should rely on each other more I highly doubt the fact that they ‘barely knew’ her was all that important to whatever they gave her. I’m not saying it’s super-rare or anything I just doubt the moral of the story was ‘let’s all work together, but not too much cause I don’t even know you.’
about Byakamaru, the anime might’ve left it out or just let it be implicit but most drops raid drops are bind by pick up. however, there are rare ones that can be traded, Byakamaru being one of those. and hence why it’s so expensive (besides the fact that it’s top tier)
I thought it wasn’t a raid item… and now it suddenly is for the anime? I think I remember Akatsuki’s inner monologue purchasing second tier non-raid items as her way of improving, and she couldn’t even afford those.
remember, even this episode they mentioned it drops from a Raid Boss. you can double check the LN, too. Vol 6 and just Ctrl+F Byakumaru for the relevant passage.
Ah, I misread then. I assumed it was a non-raid item, since LH was explaining how top tier items required raids, and Akatsuki pined couldn’t get those items.
Not a big deal either way. Still a ridiculously OP item that she couldn’t get to begin with.
good. I don’t want to see bulging veins Akatsuki =P at least it wasn’t her #1 prefered weapon either (including tradable ones)
Yes there are the rare not bound maxed out weapon drops they are just rare depending on the game. And they sell for absurd amounts.
Which raises the question. Where did the guard get twice Akatsuki’s total worth (Savings and top of the line production grade equipment all in) to buy the sword?
Wasn’t there a point in the first season about the xp potions that while they couldn’t be ‘traded’ because they were bound to the newbies, they could just be physically handed to other players? I haven’t re-watched that part in a while but I thought that was a whole thing about getting around bound items.
Couldn’t something like that have been done with the raid weapon in order to sell it to a shop. As the players have discovered how much the menus were holding them back (with the cooking) I kind of wonder how much they use their menus nowadays aside from sending messages and (presumably) inventory management.
It was never mentioned in the anime nor in the novel that the xp pots were bound to the character. There was even a Q&A with Mamare(author) that they were never bound because they weren’t very desirable when it was still a game. The combination of battles being much harder because you’re directly facing the monster and time flowing at 1/12 the rate of how it used to made the xp pots a highly sought-after commodity.
ah, I remember there being a whole thing about having to hand people stuff to get around the menu. Maybe it was a discussion on this website. Either way.
There certainly is a whole philosophy of strengths and weakness, optimism and pessimism, but I believe they confuse limits for weakness & disadvantage. Knowing and accepting one’s limits is an advantage, because it is knowledge of the self. Part of that whole know thyself, know thy enemy for guaranteed victory in the Art of War.
Denial of knowledge of self, or refusing to recognize the limits, is sheer idiocy and will almost guarantee loss.
Going with the height example, it also means distance of step and reach too. Knowing, practicing and properly distancing oneself could mean stepping within reach to cut the other’s head off, or misjudging said distance and having one’s own head lopped off.
In Akatsuki’s case, she’s obviously a smaller target. Stilts would be easier to shoot. It isn’t necessarily inherently strong or weak, it just is– and only in a case by case advantage or disadvantage. Glass isn’t empty or full of water, without time element measuring change, it is just at half. Filling and Emptying require direction.
Hi Drasca, just consider how until now Akatsuki considered herself like a leaf lost in the wind. That is helpless. She never considered her own strength, or better said, she ever never considered her to have any at all. That’s part of her own characterization.
And to elaborate more, weakness is considered one owns fault and to be overcome by oneself in eastern way of life in general (correct me if i’m wrong eastern audience, pls). Just look at Minori’s helpless monologue back in the first season. So seeking help from others when you’re at fault seems like a shame in Akatsuki’s (or Minori’s before) point view.
But now the situation is different and the point is that unity makes strength. This helped Akatsuki to get out of her shell and look at herself from another point of view. This helped her to take in account also something that she never considered before like her own petit-size. Damn I wrote too much…
And without skill or natural talent bigger size up to awkward limit is a major advantage. Girls growing up quickly learn after puberty that guys are stronger in raw situations and I imagine it hard to change that feeling even when the girl has gained power.
As far as history is concerned the Gaul women were considered as good as fighters as the much larger Gaul men by the Romans. Meaning in a one on one fight a Gaul women would easily beat a romans soldier. So clearly the Gaul women had figured out how to max out female flexibility and other advantages to make up for the strength and size disadvantage. Now it was not as bad as Julius Ceasor said on this in one Gaul could easily beat any Roman one to tone and that 10 Romans could beat 100 Gauls because of there superior group fighting style. The Romans best I’ve seen is more on 1000 beating 8000.
Women did make up only a small part of the Gaul forces for as normal in history most women were needed at home having as many babies as possible or helping those who could.
Wait a moment. It depends of the fighting style also irl, but this Elder Tale is still a game regarding fighting matters. And Akatsuki is an assassin, so her main attribute is dexterity rather than strength or constitution. These two are more suitable for warriors and tanks. A little body size has to do more with dexterity than with con or strength. You’d expect a big body to have a lot of con or str, wouldn’t you?
When done right a MMO should work the size being a factor in strength and the counter is dexterity and smaller target size. Constitution depending on the game is not size related and should be a somewhat more female trait based on female better than male performance in extreme endurance events. Plus flexibility is part of the ability to take a hit. Unfortunately the modern MMO’s pretend that males and females are equal in strength.
This world has from episode one combat being different from the game in that players had to actually use body movements not menu choices to do many combat actions. So things seam to be work as the game was a not complete simulation of a real world that the players are in now.
It’s true that Elder Tales is slowly turning to some kind of alternate reality, but I’d like to separate the discussion between real world and Elder Tales because it will add confusion.
For real world there are indeed differences between male and females regarding physical body stats and there are plenty of sports/fighting styles that use this or that stat mostly. ie. short and sturdy people with a low center of gravity are very proficient in Judo. And it’s not random that fighting style was born in Japan indeed, where there are a lot of people with that body type. On the other way taller, slender and long limb may prefer Tae kwon do. This other fighting discipline works in a fundamentally different way from each other. More over another difference from male and female fighting style is also about mental approaching the fight, with the males being fairly more aggressive. I found a nice article regarding tae kwon do. It’s interesting, so I’m posting it here for anybody els to read. All of this wall of tex to say… that IRL it really depends on the body, gender and that any combination of stats can be used proficiently by some fighting disciple.
But game is different. You’re less likely to be bound by a real life analogy when building your own avatar. Nice things about game is that you can actually do away with any real life limitation and build the avatar of your own choice, with added flavour of magic an mystery. A kid with super strenght, a cute dwarf, a flower frail looking elf who shoots a rain of arrows like a machinegun. Gender difference regarding merely appearance and aesthetics, they have nothing to do with physical stats any more. Physical stats are simplified and what was a difference in irl physical constitution becomes a difference in races. That is to say fantasy. Even those new mmorpg that have gender specific classes still don’t give away the freedom of making your avatar with a lot of freedom.
The thing in Elder Tale is that your avatar is becoming your own body so there’s a mix of both irl and fantasy characteristics mixed together. And so that body size that should have been irrelevant, now matters such as it was real life. But the thing is Akatsuki is til an assassin. She possess a lot of dexterity and the novel says it clearly: She moves around and uses skill like her assassin body was a second nature to her. Show Spoiler ▼
If there was a skil menu before, that is becoming even more useless because reality and game are mixing. gesture and mere thinking activate skills. like it was indeed a second nature. Show Spoiler ▼
But what about games and elder tale? Obviously they’re simulation, but there’s something else (and something other less). There’s fantasy involved. You’d want to build up a char whose appearance and physical attributes are separate for a matter of personal aesthetics. In that regard gender is only a decoration in games because anybody wants to buildup their own char being without being bound by real life rationality. And that is even more enlighten in a fantasy settings where there are races so unlike any existent lifeform. Take elves, dwarves and any other kind of exotic creatures. I don’t think real life rationale can apply to those too. You’re free to buildup a character the way
oops the last part was meant to be deleted sorry.
TL;DR
Long Story short:
irl mechanics is mixing with game mechanics so things like body size that in a normal game don’t affect stats or fighting style, now matters.
For the same reason onscreen menu is rendered useless by gesture and acrul thinking like one’s own class (and race) are becoming second nature to them.
Sorry for the over long exposition before.
So what I’m getting is: I’d be easier to shoot, and if I want to learn a martial arts, it should be Tae kwon do. Got it!
Quite funny the only twitch I got from this episode was Lenessia. The Princess is technically an ambassador to Akihabara, she has no authority nor independence to make decisions that require the approval of the home state; the ambassador’s role is to relay the messages of their respective state to their based state, not decide what those messages are. Her decision regarding the magic circle would be of critical importance to People of Land I’d imagine and thus require the approval of her father and his council to make. Not really much of an issue per say (more a personal nitpick than anything), but IMO noticeable considering how well politics has been portrayed so far.
Akatsuki here is also interesting as it seems she’s trying to be someone she’s not, specifically her fighting style. She is a near-maxed assassin type, generally designed for high damage against distracted opponents, getting up close and personal in tank fashion defeats the purpose. Of course it’s very likely just training to get Akatsuki used to being a member of a raid party/give her a better sense of independence (plus understand some more about the Teachings) but I cannot help but think the role she seems to be assuming goes against what her original strength was. Meh time will tell 😛
well, it’s debatable whether Raynessia actually has authority to decide such a matter. you can technically argue the same for Eastal that they don’t have true power either, since it’s an Adventurer city and not part of Eastal. the Kunie did go to her rather than the Adventurers directly because People of the Land are involved and Adventurers aren’t guaranteed to take them into proper consideration.
I don’t know the actual technicalities of being an ambassador but part of the role assigned to Raynessia was to smooth the relationship between the PotL and the Adventurers so you can argue she has some right to say something (along with Kunie pushing responsibility her way). you can argue she was most fit for deciding since she knows the needs of both the PotL and the Adventurers the most.
as for Akatsuki, the training we saw this episode was tailored specifically for this fight. the guy may act in part like a Raid boss but maybe doesn’t really follow the aggro control properly (attack whoever he wants whenever). and it’s also partly because of the plan itself. they’re trying to limit members in contact with him at once and Healers are a must considering how much freakin dmg he does.
Lenessia seems to be being presented as sort of half ambassador/half royal in residence and this isn’t the first time they’ve done that.
An ambassador does technically only have the right to negotiate (though you’re underestimating how much leeway that often left them in the days before instant communication and fast travel, which Elder Tale is based on) but there have been situations in history where nobles for whatever reason operated outside of their home territory with a fair amount of carte blanche. Lenessia seems to be more that.
Personally I would guess this is more of an oversight on the part of the writer (Lenessia is the ‘face’ of the PoL in the story) than an actual attempt to think through the politics but it’s not impossible or even that unusual for ambassadors to be given powers beyond the simple relaying of messages.
This depends on her status and if she is a Plenipotentiary as well as Ambassador. Plenipotentiary is the right to act for the country your from and before modern communications often the Plenipotentiary often combined with title ambassador would make decisions for their country. Ambassadors still have the Plenipotentiary title now a days but don’t have the power. I wonder if people of the land have voice communication like adventurers just between people of the land. Also I got the impression that Lenessia was given full ability to act with the adventurers as she wished when she personally rallied them to fight the goblins, in part many assumed in part to allow them to disclaim her actions. At that point Lenessia basically became her own power, almost sovereign princess, and it looks like the adventurers are treating her almost as the ruler of the people of the land in adventurer territory.
seems to me that as an ambassador of no small influence lenessia is probably the best choice for convincing the council in shiroe’s absence
https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%202%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2033.jpg
I approve of Lolisuki’s new look. That delicious Zettai Ryoiki
https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%202%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2031.jpg
Souji Seta…. you bastard!
that one in the upper left corner though…
But Dolce is a maiden at heart!
After the last episode I wonder if Dolce really is only a maiden in heart. It could be that he/she was a girl playing a male character before the Apocalypse
Actually, why are there 26 maidens?
https://randomc.net/image/Log%20Horizon/Log%20Horizon%202%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2008.jpg
They look positively ‘un-maidenish’ to me, and they seem to be part of the raid.
I think they only help training Akatsuki and did not participate in the raid.
As good as this show has been about female characters (and it’s been amazing, let’s be honest) this is probably the general cultural sexism leaking through. Women only get to be strong generally when all the males have been removed from the situation, otherwise they would have handled it already.
This is actually a really strong undercurrent to this whole arc with it being pretty much stated a few times that this crisis got this bad because Shiroe and Crusty weren’t here to deal with it.
It’s still a good story arc don’t get me wrong, but the fact that all the men in the city (including powerful, experienced raiders like Nyanta and Soujiro) have to just sit on their butts to let the girls shine is a little silly.
This is just a story about the girls who hadn’t ever had a chance of character development before. Given how Shiroe’s and Crusty’s characters were build, you only had to remove them to give others some more space. The quest is also that the problem-solving duo is not available this time and the girls had to rely only on themselves. It’s a nuce touch, if you ask me.
Moreover it’s not that Nyanta and Soujiro are out of the picture. There are hints they’re backing up their own clan girls from the back side.
I don’t agree, but it’s not a big deal. There’s no reason the entire raid needs to be made up of girls. Nothing about an Akatsuki-focused arc requires that only females be in the arc. This is an active design choice. You even have Soujiro saying he ‘believes in the power of women.’
This is probably intended well, and it’s a fun story, but generally whenever you get a story like this where the ‘powerful’ characters have to be removed in order to show that the lesser group can do stuff to do it’s kind of misguided. Especially when it’s ‘girl power’ or something of the sort.
They just wanted to do an all girls arc. Is that so bad? Anyway I understand your point and agree it’s not a big deal.
Well, Dolce has to count (as male) right?
My guess as to why this raid eventually become an all-girl party is that Souji’s harem formed the majority of the party (Being the first victim of the murder, this is quite logical).
Souji is the only male character that can sit comfortably surrounded by that many girls, and he backed out (he has to, otherwise he will steal the spotlight). Other male characters are either too occupied (Production guild leaders), or (likely) unwilling to join (Issac, Shoryu and Hien).
The raid boss, being poisoned to death by a female in the backstory, might target female exclusively, which means more female are killed and want revenge. That is only my speculation anyway.
There plenty of men in town if they wanted them. I see the point culturally that the main character and head of DDD are male. But I think it more the normal habit of looking to your past leaders first not sexism per say that had people wishing for Crusty and Shiro. Again there is actually no need for a all female group as there are plenty of men left. It is a liberating positive for females statement that the men of the city are letting the women take care of a major problem.
I loved how this episode showed cool tough fighting moves for many of the females that have not fought before on screen.
I don’t dislike the all-girl raid group (well, there seem to be at least 2 guys anyways), but it was rather… Conveniently handled, like KaleRyan points out.
In the anime anyways. LNs handle forming it slightly differently:
Show Spoiler ▼
That does kind of bother me, to be honest. They could have easily buffed the boss somewhat and let the women shine while a few men still fought. No doubt Rieze, Henrietta, Akatsuki, and Nazuna could (and would) all have major roles even if Soujirou and Nyanta were around playing foot soldier. I could easily see them taking the backseat for good reason, and them not getting a crack at the baddie until it was all but won, without stealing the ladies’ thunder.
Those 2 are probably members of D.D.D because in the novel during training Rieze mentioned –
Show Spoiler ▼
That and the Overskill that the pair mentioned is Krusty’s Overskill, although it seems to have been changed a bit..
Though perhaps that’s another sign that the rules of the game are breaking down in favor of the rules of reality
I love when you’re back at your full power, Stilts. Yes. It’s exactly this.
I put the next piece of info into spoiler, and I’ll try not to spoil anything from the next Shiroe’s part.
Show Spoiler ▼
Ahaha, thanks! Though 95% of the props go to the show—a blogger can’t do much without good material to write about. Log Horizon has that in spades.
The episode has spoiled the future developments waay too far,
(but I will still use tags just for the sake of convention)
Show Spoiler ▼
Still it’s nice to see Akatsuki gaining level in social bonding besides actual combat capability…
Wait a moment. That weapon text flavour may look too much for the actual effect. It’s just a pvp (duel) weapon with an effect not unusual in mmorpgs using durability system.
Show Spoiler ▼
For me the pacing of this arc leaves much to be desired. Yeah Akatsuki’s finally getting some much needed character development, but the relative lack of things happening and preponderance of clunky, trivial, and expository dialogue and monologues is really dragging this arc out.
This is kind of an odd complaint for this show. Most of the arcs after the first one have revolved around characters discussing things for 3 episodes at a time. It’s the quality of the talking and relationships that make it fun. The only oddity here is the lack of Shiroe, but that’s already happened as well with the newbie arc last season, and Akatsuki is a more central character than they were.
That would be my main complaint about the first season as well. The drawn out dialogue can be tolerable when it’s about a subject I find interesting (such as politics, the structure of the MMO world, or Shiroe’s villainous plans), but when it’s applied to other, less important things such as the love triangle in S1 or Akatsuki’s confidence issues now it becomes a serious drag. Rather subjective sure, but when Log Horizon goes into subjects or plot arcs I’m not interested in it really highlights its pacing and dialogue issues.
You see this two volumes of the novel are pretty much introspective. One is for Akatsuki and the other is for Shiroe. The novel did a good job mixing verbose explanation of whatever was in the main char’s mind during the most packed action scenes, letting you experience whatever the char was feeling in that moment. Anime is a little lacking in that regard. I.e. Soujiro and Akatsuki’s battle was particularly good in the novel, far more than in the anime. Anime media can’t obviously take that degree of explanation, so they must choose wisely what to voice and when, cutting a lot of the chars internal monologues. So there’s indeed a lot of explanation, but there’s no other way. But it let you enjoy more the piece of animated battles whenever possible.
That’s fair I guess. I enjoy the fleshing out of Akatsuki as she’s one of the most important characters, but I wasn’t a fan of the middle-schooler love triangle so I get where you’re coming from.
I loved this episode but I also love slice of life along with my action shows and political world building drama’s I think action is better older book and movie way with many quite periods that make the action pack more punch. I have noticed many probably into the modern action almost all the time people complaining of being bored. It takes a broader media approach to appreciate the slow movements of even the greatest works.
It not a pacing issue except compared to the pure action or pure political drama story. I love the Lord of the Rings in part because the the huge slow detail parts. I wonder how many could make it though the first few chapters of the Lord of the Rings now if they did not know it was a wonderful book.
This reminds me of something I read recently about comedy. Comedy thrives on the peaks and troughs—it’s in the juxtaposition between different energy levels that hilarity can arise. If things are quiet and serious for a while, then suddenly a joke, the change makes it funny … or something silly said seriously is hilarious for its absurdity.
However, problems arise when writers try to keep the energy level high all the time. Without the troughs, you can’t appreciate the peaks, because it’s just LAUGH LAUGH LAUGH all the time … and even good things become tiresome after a while. Anyone who has ever eaten too many cookies knows that.
Same thing here. The slower, introspective moments make the action hit all the harder than it would if it were a giant orgy of action. Not that a ton of action isn’t fun sometimes, but for a more enduring work, this is the way you want to run things.
Oh and after all the talk on overpowered weapons because of flavor text we get some overpowered weapons. And talking of breaking the game Shiro trying to take control of the gold sink is sure game breaking. But that points out this is no longer a game but a reality where you can actually go for full world control just like the real world history (that is the part of the world you can reasonably take). The balance out of actual fantasy book weapons is there normally are counters that you can get as well so little stays dominate for long unless that is a point of the story.
Are you speaking of Byakumaru? Well… maybe so, but the problem is that’s it’s cursed. It reminded me of Lineage 2 cursed sword (ie Zarike). A sword dropped from random mobs during grinding that turns you in a PvP Raid boss literally. But even for a Raid Boss there are usage rules and limitation. Byakumaru came from a similar concept.
That cursed sword event is really cool! That’d be neat to get one of the swords … erh, in a game, lol
Maryelle is like Tetora, a back-row Cleric. They don’t typically wear plate armor, they wear robes and light armor. You saw her armor in S1, it’s the same thing, just with more clothes over it since it’s cold.
Mostly just a quip. I come at this all from an EQ perspective, where all clerics wore plate armor even though all of them were back-row healers. That was just what the best armor for clerics was, so there was no reason to wear anything but the bulky stuff. That’s changed in MMORPGs since then, and Log Horizon reflects some of that.
Though I’m still not entirely sure how that worked—would Akatsuki have turned into a raid-level monster if she got the sword
Given that Crusty’s 2nd had her weapon turn on her as well then, arguably, yes. Though, I get the impression she wouldn’t be Akatsuki anymore if that was the case. Given how the man in the armour was arguing with himself, it seems like now that the flavour text is more flavourful the sword is functionally cursed to possess its current owner with the vengeful spirit of the dead warrior for whom it was crafted. In other words: all those… unsettling… flavour texts in the game aren’t just kinda creepy anymore, they’re going full on Ringu.
Regarding what happened if someone else would get Byakumaru.
In the novel it’s said that sword carries deep hate so it calls on people’s negative feelings. So people having resentment like Nerleth’s or jealousy like Aka’s are attracted to the sword. Just notice the sword black aura calling for Nerleth at the shop. Lucky thing that Aka wasn’t rich enough to afford it!
Since we have now Fresh Episodes, that are not spoiled through the OP, the Story took the pace up. It gotten more interesting. And with Episode 8 i fall victim to see now through the rest of the Episodes.
because for me, episode 1-5 was just aftereffects of Season 1. How to reduce the taxes, because so a great summary of gold upkeep was there to burn to much Economy Money.
But really, i still think there are some GM’s or DEV’s trapped in this World, and use this powers for their own gain
Or can now some players, break the wall of characters with God Powers, too? Shiore, you the best candidate for this…
the difference of GM’s and DEV’s
GM’S are like Arc Angels, they use the Powers that God(Game) gave them. So they are bounded through the Game System rules.
DEV’s in other hand, are the real Gods in game. Because they can arrange the World on there free will (As long they have access to the Game codes of course). So they can erase, rebuild, shutdown Worlds, Gates and so much.Or we have here an Hacker, that got his/her fingers on a DEV Account with his Tools. Only have access without their tools is same like GM’s powers. The DEV’s also need their World building tools
DEV’s are the real Gods in games, if they have access to their playthings