Overgeared

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As Shin Youngwoo had an unfortunate life and is now stuck carrying bricks on construction sites. He even had to do labor in the most popular VR game, Satisfy!

However, luck would soon enter his hopeless life. His character, ‘Grid’, would discover the Northern End Cave for a quest, and in that place, he would find ‘Pagma’s Rare Book’ and will become a legend…

Associated Names
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OG
Temppal
템빨
Related Series
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Recommendations
The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor (15)
Hyper Luck (10)
The Second Coming of Gluttony (9)
SSS-Class Suicide Hunter (8)
The Editor Is the Novel’s Extra (7)
MMORPG: Martial Gamer (4)
Recommendation Lists
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  4. (Korean) Dungeon Novels
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Latest Release

Date Group Release
10/16/17 Wuxiaworld c5
10/16/17 Wuxiaworld c4
10/16/17 Wuxiaworld c3
10/16/17 Wuxiaworld c2
10/16/17 Wuxiaworld c1
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GabeZhul
GabeZhul rated it
July 21, 2019
Status: c1053
This is easily the second most schizophrenic novel I have ever read, right behind The Experimental Log of a Crazy Lich. In fact, there are a lot of parallels that can be drawn between the two. Both suffer from a terrible first impression, both get exponentially better as the story starts to focus less on the main character and more on the world-building and the ensemble cast, and then both get bogged down by the world, the cast and the power-levels inflating so much it becomes hard to follow what... more>> is going on anymore. But I'm getting ahead of myself, let's look at this step by step.

To reiterate the curt description at the top of this page: Shin Youngwoo, one of the two billion players of the game Satisfy, a fully realized virtual reality MMO with 3x time dilation, stumbles upon a tome during a quest that allows him to class-change into a legendary class. Classes are a coveted thing in this game, with an epic class already guaranteeing one to become wealthy and powerful, both in and out of the game, so acquiring a legendary class is the equivalent of winning the lottery... except it is a legendary blacksmith, and it sets his level back to 1, which then consequently falls to negative numbers due to the NPCs killing him for not fulfilling his original quest.

So far everything should sound pretty standard. The MC is a weakling who attains an unorthodox power through a chance and now he has to use his abilities to their fullest to become the best there ever was. Many stories been there and done that. However, this particular novel stumbles right at the starting line by making the MC absolutely insufferable.

To be blunt. Shin Youngwoo is a loser. Not just any kind of loser either, but and absolutely flanderized, over-the-top loser right out of the box. He is s*upid, has equally low EQ, he is in debt because he spent all his time playing Satisfy without anything to show, and yet at the same time he is bone-headed, narrow-minded, and tries to imagine himself as some kind of expert manipulator by trying to exploit everyone around him (and miserably failing to do so), with his only redeeming qualities being his love for his family and his tenacity. In short, he is like Weed from the Legendary Moonlight Sculptor on steroids.

Now, here's the thing: Some might say this is all intentional and serves as the basis for the low point from where the MC can grow. However, considering how insistent the author was about said character development, by repeatedly having other characters gush about how much smarter, more reliable and less shitty the MC was becoming, I have a different theory. Simply put, then novel apparently received a huge backlash over the MC's early behavior, and so around chapter 90, the author force-marched him through character development to counter that. While, as I said, the characters in-universe constantly keep trying to convince the reader how much the MC have developed, it would be more accurate to say that, as a saving throw, the author simply re-defined him into a more palatable character, which technically worked, and it now allows people to claim it was all part of the keikaku, but it still doesn't make the early chapters any easier to read.

However, if you manage to overcome that hurdle, the rest of the novel is actually really good. The side-characters are colorful and enjoyable. We have an interesting multinational team of true companions, loudmouth wannabe rivals, cool lone-wolf true rivals, fun love interests, interesting NPCs, sometimes with more depth and character than the actual players, and an actually interesting world slowly unfolding before our eyes. The action is also pretty good, though it relies on random chance a bit too much. The MC, as a legendary blacksmith, relies on being seriously overgeared (hence the title) to deal with his opponents, and more often than not the climactic battles are decided by a combination of the random chance based boosts and extra attacks on his items triggering at the same time to deliver a fatal blow. It's fun the first couple of times, but it get a little repetitive after a while.

In practice, the story doesn't have traditional "arcs", as they are often interrupted. For example, the MC might start a trial on an archipelago, but then halfway through he stops because of an international competition, after which he travels to another continent, then after he returns he creates his own kingdom, then another international championship happens, and only after that does he return to the trial and finishes it. Because of this, even though the novel is 1k+ chapters long, the pacing feels fast and tight.

Unfortunately, the story still has a few problems past the really rough start. First off, there is simply too much filler around the arcs dealing with the big international competitions, with repeated asinine chapters about "experts" analyzing the protagonist's chances (even though they have no access to any actual hard data about his skills, stats or equipment), or random internet denizens flaming each other over nationalism. Again, for the first time, it's a trope. For the second time, it's a cliché. For every subsequent time afterwards, it's asinine and aggravating.

Another major issue is the cast-inflation. At the 1000 chapter mark, the reader has to keep in mind roughly 500 characters, and half of them are in some way or the other are related to the MC's dukedom, later kingdom, or the opposing kingdoms/empire, making it hard to keep track of things. In the same vein, once the MC and his guild founds their own kingdom, politics enter the scene, which then drag things down quite a bit.

Finally, while I praised the pacing in a previous paragraph, it kind of fell apart around chapter 1000, as suddenly there were time-skips during a war I couldn't even remember when it started, with major characters suddenly in completely unexpected situations and the politics going totally haywire.

Overall, I would still say that this is a remarkable series. It is rough around the edges, and the reader has to give it a tremendous benefit of the doubt to even get to the good parts, but once it gets going, it is one of the more fun and engaging stories I have read. <<less
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ceebus
ceebus rated it
July 1, 2019
Status: c1038
A great novel, if your patient enough.

Grid is a low-life at the beginning of the story. He is literally so f*cking ret*rded that I felt like the author was trolling. It gets even worse though. Grid proceeds to throw a tantrum every time things do not go his way. At first glance, this novel seems to pathetic BECAUSE OF THE MC. It escalated to the point where even the translator had to suggest bearing the MC's idiocy.

And I did. I decided to just brush off his Dao of ret*rd and... more>> read the rest of the chapters. Boy, was I glad I did not drop this novel. Sure, MC is super dumb at beginning. But the best thing about this novel is the MC's character development. He turns into a decently smart person who can use his brain. Not only that, the plot is good, and the side-characters are not lifeless. The main setting of the novel is in the game "Satisfy." The reason I kept reading on was because of the setting. Satisfy is an extremely captivating game-to the point where I wanted to play Satisfy. The developers of Satisfy say freedom is unlimited, which I wholeheartedly agree. The whole story's flow is extremely smooth. It was "sAtIsFyInG", to say the least. OH, and the "competitions". When you get to this arc, it gets really fun to read about different characters that are comparable to MC.
Spoiler

Especially Kraugel. That man got some skills..

[collapse]

So, in conclusion, pick up this novel and binge read the first 500+ chapters. You will not be disappointed. <<less
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shelwyn
shelwyn rated it
October 14, 2018
Status: c926
KOREA NUMBER 1!!!!

Go Korea super underachiever but really the best in the world!! Korea!!!!

MC grows up into garbage then some wish fulfillment happens he turns rich and beautiful. It's great the MC is an idiotic tr*sh then the MC develops a bit. Great read until all the supporting cast loses their personalities. All the girls want to be in his harem and devolve into scary harem freaks. All the enemies want his items. The world revolves around him somehow.

The MC loves Korea Number 1 and the story dies a slow... more>> boring patriotic death. <<less
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vishramramoutar
vishramramoutar rated it
May 2, 2018
Status: c180
i have read up to 180 chapters I gave it a fair shot but this novel is so unsatisfying. I'm not sure what the authors goal is but the main character class is ridiculously broken so any fun is killed because there is no sense of urgency is just meet something strong oh sh*t look at this ridiculous ability level up move on. How this novel has 800 chapters is beyond my understanding. Oh and do you like filler I found myself skipping entire paragraphs of just stats and description... more>> I know authors are paid by the word count but sh*t how much padding does a novel need. <<less
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Boon
Boon rated it
April 30, 2018
Status: c213
I recently read mmorpg rebirth and was surprised that it was actually a decent read. So I made the mistake of trying this too. Everyone claims that it gets better after 90 chapters, and it does, but then it gets worse again.

The characters and and character interactions are very poorly done. The MC is bland, untalented and uninteresting and he spends far too much time playing by himself and interacting with nothing but npcs.

I don’t know if this is the worst mmorpg story I’ve read, but I can’t think of... more>> a worse one right now. This is worse than even Zhan long which most people agree is pretty bad. <<less
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Novel Casanova
Novel Casanova rated it
February 8, 2018
Status: c250
It states it is a korean novel but in every possible way, it reads like a chinese web novel.

Words are repeated, definitions rehashed multiple times, the main character is petty, not because he actually has proper reasons to be, but he's petty and s*upid because the author decided so.

The author forgets multiple details, that he himself mentioned before, like how 60% of the world is playing a game, and the mongols like to ride around in the plains, and how people have bodyguards who disappear when it's convenient for the... more>> plot.

You see potential for a moment, after which you see it thrown into the ground and stepped on multiple times as the journey is made as unnecessarily lengthy as possible so much that the end goal which seemed so obvious before is suddenly hazy for no reason.

I've commented on like 20-50 chapters, around chapter 200 I think. But each and every one of them was deleted. Because, well, I suppose they were too enlightening about what exactly was wrong with the novel.

It's a time loss fallacy, reading this novel. Just like every other chinese novel. Ah, I mean a Sunk Cost Fallacy.
You've invested so much time into reading it that stopping now would seem like you wasted all your previous time.
Which is a staple of your chinese novels, which never seem to progress anywhere to be honest. And it seems to be invading other web novels too.

So, the best thing you can do is to not read this novel. "It gets better later on" is not a valid reason for reading. When the 'better' comes after 90 chapters and even then it gets 'better' at the pace of a single termite trying to chew through earth.

I won't waste any more time with this review because I feel this will get deleted too. Because of the heavy moderation that goes on in this site. Which i've experienced before.

Just know that any person who rates this novel any better than 3 stars is affected by the sunk cost fallacy thus making them believe that the novel is good so that they can delude themselves into thinking that their time was not wasted. It is undeserving of anything above a solid 2.5 for absolute mediocrity and a 1.5 for taking ridiculously long for anything to happen. <<less
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Haxk
Haxk rated it
October 29, 2017
Status: c44
Premise of the novel is fantastic. Characters are absolutely awful. Can't get past how dumb and pathetic the main character is and if it's possible, the supporting characters, that are not NPC's, are even worse. Specifically what I assume to be the female lead is just as rotten as the MC and not in a shifty, roguish/fum way, like say Weed. More of a "You are a terrible human being and my life is wasted reading about you, what even is this" sort of way. Was really hoping for a... more>> good RPG element novel. To be fair, that portion is good. Everything else is a disjointed garbage fire. Dropped at chapter 43. <<less
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RoundCat98
RoundCat98 rated it
January 3, 2023
Status: c1546
Overrated.

Do not believe any laudatory review of fanatics, this fast food novel pretending to be something better but should have ended a long time ago.

I was told that the main character would develop and that this novel was a "crafting novel".

... more>> Yes, the main character develops, not for long, and then each character licks his аss very hard almost every chapter and the author constantly tries to brainwash you at the beginning of the chapter (you will easily notice this by the tone in the style of "propaganda of truth").

That is, although the MC is getting better, it does not grow beyond that, only the minor characters themselves and the author continue to praise it endlessly.

That is, it is specially created to praise the ego of readers who put themselves in the MC, it's disgusting.

Also, this is not a "crafting" novel, crafting happens very rarely and not in detail. Most of the content is travel and action. Although there are good ideas.

Yes, there is a nationalist component (Korea number 1!!!) and yes it's getting worse, the whole plot of esports was a failure and after that it got worse because the author can't restrain himself to write other countries in a negative way. What a shame.

MC is dense, like a Japanese MC and that's the only thing I'll say (wow! HE's gROwN sO MUch aS a cHArAcTer! What a joke.)

Side characters are turned and reduced to living gags it was painful to read

world building is also laughable, do you seriously think that out of a million players, MC will be the first one who "deserves" to have a virtual child?

The power system is also broken, the escalation of the MC's power in the later parts literally reaches the level of xianxia.

If you have nothing to read, this is literally fast food in the world of novels.

I repeat, do not believe the reviews of fanatics. <<less
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LAFORGUS
LAFORGUS rated it
June 2, 2021
Status: c700
As many have said, I have no idea how some one would rate this above 3 stars, they are either Teens, and people with child mentality. I will review this quick, I am on chapter 700 and I see where this change, and even if it does, the end doesn't justify the hundred of chapters of deception.

This Novel is a Korean Fantasy about Gaming, at the very least the Author knows about gaming and the "gaming concept" is well made, very good world building inside the game, outside the game,... more>> is nonexistent.

About character development, people says that the Character matures, but still the character is the same as he have been, he just have adapted to some new ideas, nobody has a radical change, unless mentally traumatized. so the changes you will read, are changes about how the MC plays the game, and interact with other players, on Real life? he still the same.

Author has no idea about romance, maybe he is some of those shut-in people who only watches Japanese Anime's Romcoms daily, and his concept of romance and love is the fact that the female character are attracted to the Male MC without he being conscious, where Adult character act like prepubescent (from the Years 80, nowadays preteen can sexually harass you), they don't talk what they feel, this is a Trope that HAS TO DIE!

Author FORCES the MC to deny the relationship, when people point him about the relationship with the females he answer:
Spoiler

"No, they aren't my lovers. Think about it realistically. Unless I was an enviable person who saved the universe in my past life... No, wouldn't I be tr*sh for having two people as lovers at the same time?"

[collapse]
He does it over and OVER, he is an 30 years old Adult having a Kid and s*x monthly, YES is in a game, but he still does it so s*xual interest like a WOLF is developed nonetheless, otherwise m*sturbation in real life would be useless, So Author want to sell us the Oblivious virg*n MC Trope, where he is NOT, and is too forced that disgust me every time the Author does it every 50 or so chapters

Wanted to make this quick, but the more I think about it the angrier I get, well resume:

2.5/3 Starts read it if you have nothing else to read, but beware of the stagnant relationship between MC and the rest of cast. The issue about the "Becomes good after 90 chapters" is BULLSHIT, don't delude yourself like a mistreated and abused wife, where the husband beat her up and promises to change.

@AchillesKevin (above me who created a account just to respond my review)
You Claim that this Novel is about Grow, people in real life doesn't change like that, sadly the ones who read this are real people.
Also you forgot to notice that this Novel is about Virtual game, if you compare this with a real Novel about Grow, this one is too lacking. So in the end Author got Both Concepts wrong. <<less
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HellaCe
HellaCe rated it
August 24, 2020
Status: c972
Way too long and I started to like it less and less, too much delusion of grandeur.

As stated everywhere, the MC's personnality starts at rock bottom and grows up as his worth in the game is expanding. His journey as he matures intellectually and learn his blacksmithing craft is well written.

The problem happens when the author decide to make him start to dominate the world, so to speak. I think that's when the story slowly took a bad turn.

Grid is not a leader, he is a loner but weirdly everyone... more>> believes in him and his capability to stand at the top of everything. I felt the author wanted to make too much of his character.

Then there is this childish showing of the incredibleness of Grid (God Grid... I cringed so much each time I read this expression), coming in the nick of time to save everybody, beating everybody, collecting the best NPC,... Well being the best, the knight in shining armor making girls swoon. (Sorry I prefer Zorro)

Of course there is the trope of the dense MC who doesn't realise that the popular girls are all after him.

And finally, you should know that unless you're Korean there are big chances that you'll feel insulted. So much nationalism, ugh... "South Korea has been insulted by the world, looked down and sneered at, but here comes the world savior and he is Korean!!!" for the basis. Then comes the depiction of a lot of countries and countrymen and that's not pretty, they are neither nice nor intelligent, but some saw the light of God Grid... Well, I'm just happy I'm neither Chinese nor Japanese, because they take the brunt of the author's racism. <<less
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locbeo459
locbeo459 rated it
August 7, 2019
Status: c1063
Don't let the review affect you in anyway. Honest advice from someone who keep believe in the author. Firstly I have to admit that this novel don't have a very good start (mainly because how tr*shy the MC the author made him be). I didn't like it too but luckily the author listened to us. He took in our advice and make a lot of improvement later on. It has been quite long so I don't remember exactly from where did the story got better but if you if you... more>> have just a little bit of faith, keep going and be patience. I assure you Overgeared worth it. <<less
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valzione
valzione rated it
March 9, 2018
Status: c426
I gave this a fair chance when I thought it was going to be one of those "MONEY MONEY MONEY NO NEED FRIENDS, JUST MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY" korean novels.

Did I forget to add "MONEY MONEY MONEY NO NEED FRIENDS, JUST MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY"?

In the end, most koreans seem to be masochists of some kind and while greedy and moneymongers, that plotpoint does pass and isn't used anywhere near as much as the overuse that can be seen in LMS.

The mmo world does seem to be interesting... more>> and the skills seem to have quite obvious flaws and strengths as they should, the production system also seems interesting at first but that slowly turns into just meh due to infinite "design own item that becomes turbo op and remains that forever"-slots.

Another bad point that sees much use, is explaining lot of things with "unlucky" or otherwise with luck, which just feels incredibly lazy and cliched, thankfully though, this is not at the level of overusing, atleast yet.

Lastly, especially starting from within 300-ish chapters, ret*rded racism plotpoint starts to be used a lot, and it's still under heavy use, you'd think young adults wouldn't be this ret*rded and countries wouldn't send disfunctional teams to some world stages but... yeah. Below some examples of ret*rded racism present.

Spoiler

This guy plays with korean person, HE MUST BE KOREAN, this completely feels like these people want to burn the aforementioned person on a f*cking stake because of this, and it doesn't seem to be just the nationalist party (i could believe it from soviets or chinese, but it's not either in this example's case)

This guy doesn't want to badmouth MC who is korean, HE MUST BE KOREAN (same comments here as above)

"We are at national competition, but because I personally dislike asians being a skinhead (???), i'll just verbally abuse this guy who is stronger than me and way more important as he is acknowledged to be the strongest player in the game, almost causing the team to become crippled", seriously this is what I thought best describes this one character, and better yet, he apparently wants to win for his country (????). What kind of country would send person like this in national stage of any kind?

Lastly, the only country that isn't deemed as the devil, is just south korea (surprisingly there is nothing about north korea despite ample poor plotpoints about china and japan. The other countries are portrayed usually almost as bad as japanese in chinese novels.

[collapse]

tl;dr It's decent novel with less focus on ret*rded korean masochistic moneygrubbing, but this is compensated by other bad things. Don't expect too much good stuff as the MC is more or less a Garu Stu with masochistic tendencies and "bad luck". <<less
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Doomsday
Doomsday rated it
February 6, 2018
Status: c155
If I get 1$ every time MC contradict himself, I would be damn rich.

There is something very wrong with MC, maybe he has extra chromosome or something.

Although author emphasised the "character growth", there is some problems, MC is very very petty, toxic, miserable, basically a human tr*sh because he had to deal with "cold harsh reality" and live a miserable life, and that made his character go down to the drain. And experiencing "reality" also force people to mature quickly to adapt in society. But what the f*ck is wrong... more>> with MC, he is 26 years old, his character is tr*sh due to "cold harsh reality", but he is still immature and inexperienced as f*ck, I would agree if MC is a teenager who is never go to the real world... but man..

And lastly to survived the early chapter, just turn of your brain while reading it. <<less
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Midnight Coffee
Midnight Coffee rated it
October 25, 2017
Status: c35
I am not an adept reviewer, but let me speak my mind to those who want to read this piece and those who said that this piece is not good.

First, do not expect every story you read to have the same concept as the ones you read before.

You've read The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor before? Good for you, my friend. But it doesn't mean that you can count the value of this piece with the standards you used on LMS. In LMS, to appeal the public, the author created a cunning,... more>> hardworking, and cheap MC with a dark background, his parents were not around, and they're poor as hell. In this novel, the author tried to bring a different persona, a s*upid, slow, hates labour, cheap MC. He's literally the tr*sh of humanity, he'd die in a week if it's not for his parents still being around. But the author tried to make a story around this kind of MC, so of course you can't judge the value with LMS standards. Also, it's still 35 chapters translated, god dammit, what did you expect?

Second, this story has a certain appeal to me. I'm not saying that most people would agree with me, but, because the story revolves around an unlikeable MC, I actually want to see how he fight his way up.

Third, yeah, I hate his s*upidity too, and how he thought the world revolved around him and everyone owed him something, man, I really want to hit this guy sometimes. But, hey, I want to see if this guy can change for the better.

Fourth, some korean novels that I've read showed a great start, and at some point near the end, the quality just went bad, for example Praise The Orc and Breakers, but this novel on the other hand, showed such detestable start, maybe it'll surprise you and me in the near future when the later chapters come out.

That's the end of my "I don't know what I wrote" review, I hope you give this piece a try.

Shout out to RainbowTurtle, thanks for the hardwork, mate! Keep it up, and sorry that I'm just a leecher, lol. <<less
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Faust
Faust rated it
October 16, 2017
Status: --
10 chapter in. It's like seeing a discount LMS. MC is from production line job (blacksmith), but his mental age is like a puberty teen... I hope MC will be more mature in the later chapters.

What I surprised from this novel is

Spoiler

there is minus level system.. well it's a gimmick of this novel, so MC has more initial stat than another player

[collapse]

so, for now, it's 3/5 since I don't quite like MC mental age
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P1rr0
P1rr0 rated it
January 4, 2022
Status: c1557
The very low ratings of other users are more than understandable. In the first chapters Grid (the protagonist) is unbearable and contains a huge amount of flaws. Dropping the WN in the first 100 chapters is understandable, as is giving very low grades.

But... overcomed the initial obstacle, it becomes one of the best WL in circulation.

PRO:

... more>> - Rhythm of the story

-Grid slowly transforms with a progression of his strengths and weaknesses. He learns to use his brain and to respect others.

-The setting of the game world is perhaps the most beautiful part of the story, because not only are there tons of places and characters, but the lore of the game is actually very deep with millennia of history that influence the plots and events

-The game system is very interesting and results in a continuous advancement of the skills of all the characters

CONS

-The world outside the game is not perfectly managed by rhe author, above all the love triangle of the MC that is completely forgotten for long stretches of the story

-The MC alternates moments of difficulty with moments of pure OP

Conclusion: I devoured this series finding its greatest strength in the rhythm. <<less
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SCDarkSoul
SCDarkSoul rated it
April 10, 2020
Status: c1199
Binged this story over the last week. Definitely one of my favourites, though it also has flaws.

First lets start with characterization: For the most part I love this stories characters. All of this stories characters grow and evolve over time, even side characters and enemies often have their own character arcs, let alone the main character. That said, it isn't perfect.

Now, the major complaint people have is about the main character, especially at the beginning. A lot of reviews make him out to be satan incarnate or living human tr*sh.... more>> Honestly he isn't that bad. He certainly isn't a great person at the beginning, but he isn't subhuman. He is very greedy and selfish admittedly, and those are traits that he struggles with for a long time, but he was never heartless or cruel even at the beginning. He is also incredibly hardworking and persistent even at the start. The most major demerit to him that pissed me off the most at the start is that he was basically functionally ret*rded at the beginning, I think there was even a line about how he himself felt his IQ was two digits max. He is a goddamn f*cking moron. He wasn't even good at fighting like many MCs, being a musclehead may have been a step up, he was just actually incompetent at almost everything.

For a vague timeline of him getting better, IIRC, at the beginning he starts off as "kind of an a**hole", in the 100s he was "that one as*hole friend", by the 200s he was semi-tolerable, and in the 300s he was semi-decent. Those are rough overall ratings of his behaviour. When it comes to money I'd say he generally still remains as semi-greedy, though his greed was never really excessive, he is very rarely charitable but he also doesn't usually rip people off (or at least not his friends) and tends towards being fair with his prices. His combat skill probably advanced around a similar pace, though I think his intelligence lagged behind a bit.

So as many people said it "gets good" at around 90 or 100 chapters in. That is admittedly a bit of a slog. I don't think the MC was all that bad of a person, so you shouldn't let that part discourage you. The most discouraging part I found was as aforementioned his intelligence or lack thereof. If you can't stand a s*upid or incompetent MC it may be quite painful.

Another complaint I saw was about the female characters. Eh. Can't really argue there. For the two main girls, I don't think one of them was that bad, she was after all in the same guild with Grid at least and built up a friendship over time. The other one though was just completely botched and I agree with that sentiment. She was introduced as a complete badass but just fell all over herself for Grid with minimal interaction, and I often found her character to be rather bland as well. I've warmed up to her over time, but I still agree that she isn't written very well.

Second thing to talk about is the game world. It's a complete mess of a game and whoever designed it should probably be thrown off a building. As a competitive environment it is a complete terrible mess where some people can become total monsters, and other people should probably delete their characters from how irredeemably inoptimal they ended up. What even is game balance? Having a major international tournament for this game is a joke, let alone having it surpass the Olympics.

If you can set aside the fact that it's a terrible competitive muiltiplayer game though, I think the world as a sandbox is interesting. As a fantasy world some of the later elements and deeper parts of the lore the MC finds are pretty decent. Furthermore, the game devs want the game to be a "world shaped by the players", and in retrospect it is amazing the extent to which the MC has reshaped the setting as he progressed.

Third, pacing. Not bad. Time actually passes. Game-time goes three times faster than real world time, (I think it may have originally said four times and gotten retconned). I think about five real world years have passed by now as well. People grow, and you can see that happen with the main character the most. He started from the bottom and actually progresses to the top. It doesn't just stick to the status quo like many novels. Characters change, and the world notices those changes and adapts.

Hm, fourth, nationalities and nationalism, a problem with many novels. It has been both good at points and also bad at points. I find most individual named characters either at least decent, or capable of growing to become decent over time, regardless of nationality. Regarding South Korea within the novel, other countries keep having this tendency to underestimate them only for good ol Korea to show them up and prove how great Koreans are at gaming. For all that the MC doesn't much care for patriotism (even having a multinational guild), the novel does lean a bit in that direction.

With other countries, the usual problems are the other east Asian countries when it comes to translated novels. Japan has been both good and bad, the individual characters have usually been good, but in larger groups we usually see the bad. Like the one major Japanese guild we saw was a "far-right nationalist" guild, though it gave the concession that they were so bad that other Japanese didn't even like them they were still technically the only Japanese guild we saw which isn't a great look. The one major Chinese character we see has been a fairly stand up guy, but when the Chinese netizens start making posts or their media shows up, or even the government in later chapters, they are not portrayed positively. Russia was pretty bad in general as well.

I have now run out of things to talk about off the top of my head and can't be bothered to find a more graceful way to end this review so I'm just going to end it here now. <<less
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Epythymy
Epythymy rated it
September 11, 2019
Status: c12
I thought I've been prepared enough.

For a long time this novel was tempting me to give it a try. I don't know why, but I was hesitating. And now I know! Looks like my subconsciousness was trying its best to avoid the calamity.

I thought there is nothing to be afraid of.

After reading the comments (both good and bad ones), I've come to a conclusion that what awaits me is a somewhat childish anti-hero protagonist. Well, no biggie (Is what I've thought). If I have to choose between a heroic and... more>> a somewhat villainous protagonist I would pick the latter without a second thought. Liars, scammers, swindlers, etc got their own charm. So what if the MC here is a scammer? My previous self was blissfully ignorant. Long story short, I've finally steeled myself and started reading it.

It was a big mistake.

I've given up in the middle of the 12th chapter. I just couldn't take it anymore. I was done in by the 12 short chapters. How shameful.

This novel is a form of a mental torture. My life didn't prepare me for it.

Scammer's charm lies in how he uses his head to trick others for his own benefits. And here comes the problem. The abominable dimwit of a protagonist got no head to speak of. The fking fool is so damn ret*rded, it makes it painful to read. Some people saying the protagonist gonna improve. But I wonder what is it that he will develop. Autism? Some kind of brain tumor?

If you want to know what it feels like to read this novel without actually reading it, then imagine this. Here sits a guy counting his own money. You know that he has 974$. After 10 minutes he comes with an answer 18$. And as a bonus you've got to see his thought process. If you think that it is an impossible level of s*upidity I dare you to read this novel.

Though the situation can be a little better if you're not a fan of a litrpg genre. 974$ I've used above was an analogy to MC's situation. He has become one of the most important characters in his world, but his thought process is at the level of some random grunt. Those who are familiar with game worlds wouldn't need more than a minute to make a plan that will help them to become successful in these circumstances. Others will have to google couple of questions first, but the result will probably be similar. Though it would be too great of a task for our foolish MC.

Also, with MC being a liar/scammer all other side characters will have to see a sudden drop in their brain activity when they have something to do with him. It was already apparent even in the first 12 chapters. Top 1 Korean player was shocked to the core because MC entered an invulnerability state. Wtf? It's not like he did something never-before-seen or something completely outrageous. Maybe a first-time playing newbie will be shocked by this, but for a veteran player it's acceptable under any circumstances.

If MC was a little more ret*rded (though I am not sure if it's even possible) he will probably shock everybody else just by his ability to breath.

If you're okay with an autist as a protagonist, or you're a masochist enjoying mental torture you can give this novel a try. <<less
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Bluecheet
Bluecheet rated it
August 4, 2019
Status: c357
I'm dropping this. This is a great novel with an amazing in game world building and fun to read game mechanics. Also the growth of grid in both skills and personality is really makes the reader happy, although it takes time but it isn't particularly bad because it makes it more believable. I want to praise the world building and side characters a little bit so be prepared.

The game Satisfy is a game where npcs are no different from humans due to the artificial intelligence developed for the game so... more>> there are as much important characters as a npc as real humans. The side characters have different, interesting personalities. They are not shallow or unimportant. Instead, from time to time you want to read side characters more than grid. The plots and development of the world in Satisfy is really satisfying (no pun intended). I can count the things that made me want to read this till morning so I'm stopping here. The above and many other unmentioned factors are the reason I'm giving this novel a 5 star. This is a great read.

Let's come to the part why I'm dropping it. Even though I can understand why, the hate to Japan really becomes apparent in this novel from time to time and it's annoying. I'm not Japanese or Korean but the secret racism is making me drop this novel. The way the author shows his racism is even more annoying than racism itself. He makes grid a non racist person. Also someone who doesn't mix the reality with the game, but makes some side characters very racist to the point there is a Japan-Korea war in the game. With this he tries to hide his racism by pushing it to the side characters and making grid criticize them. Just an insult to the readers intelligence. Also the Japanese extreme right wing people (somehow the only wing that is mentioned so far) are people who tries to bring down a Japanese high ranker player just because he is someone who supports the Korean grid. Making Japanese people seem racist to the point of being s*upid. This is really annoying. And for your information I don't like one country more than the other I just wanted to read a novel about vrmmmorpg. So this is a great novel that I don't want read anymore because of the author. All this racism is also at least 40-50 year in the future so author probably thinks it will last for eternity which is really pessimistic in my opinion. <<less
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th30dor
th30dor rated it
November 26, 2017
Status: c1
Read up to chapter 40 then gave up. The only good thing about this novel is the translation.

MC is an epic loser. Both dense and bitter. Acts like an a-hole in-game and out. It really is hard to root for him.

Chapters feel very short, word count wise, and dragged on. The flow of the story feels really fragmented, with quick jumping from one setnof characters to another.
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