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Overlord - An D&D Based dark power fantasy anime

SorcererV1ct0rSorcererV1ct0r Member Posts: 2,176
Anyone here liked Overlord novel/anime? I really loved the series. Sure, is just one another isekai anime but this time, the MC isn't the generic swordsman teenager like Kirito. He is a ******* undead lich king, an epic creature in a low level setting. The magic is very D&D like, the unique difference is that tiers ranges from tier 1 to 10 instead of to 9, but even epic magic appears as "super tier magic". The strongest human in this world can cast tier 6 magic and is considered an legendary man. In therms of D&D, he is probably lv 12.

The anime is amazing in world building, spend much more time exploring "commoners" and his issues than people in Nazarick. I clearly recommend it for everyone here.

TakisMegasWormkingThacoBell

Comments

  • ArdanisArdanis Member Posts: 1,736
    It's on my to watch list... but I barely watched anything in the last year, so the list keeps growing rapidly.

    Also SAO is classic, not generic :P
  • SorcererV1ct0rSorcererV1ct0r Member Posts: 2,176
    Ardanis wrote: »
    It's on my to watch list... but I barely watched anything in the last year, so the list keeps growing rapidly.

    Also SAO is classic, not generic :P

    SAO is very generic. Kirito is one of the most "Generi-kun" character.

    And if SAO was launched as an mmo, it will be one of the worst mmo ever. I mean, the fact that you can only be "CQB fast sword DPS" will make the game unapealing for those who enjoy support, tank, long range DPS, AOE DPS, and tons of other roles will hate the game. To see in detail why SAO will be a terrible game if launched too, see this very long video(while playing or doing something else)

    One amazing quote from that video "SAO will probably have more investors commiting suicide than players"

    Overlord by other hands, if is adapted to an RPG, will be one of the best RPG ever. Imagine an NWN with tons and tons of worlds to explore and the possibility to level up ""templates"" as racial levels such as vampire, beholder, angel, demon, devil, archdevil, skeleton mage, etc, etc, etc. And create NPC's to defend your base with 1000+ spells, something similar to P:K

    Accel world is IMO much better despite the awful MC.
  • ArdanisArdanis Member Posts: 1,736
    edited April 2019
    I'd say SAO and Kirito are about as generic as LotR and Aragorn are. Setting the trope, rather than following it.

    Also SAO never had to be a good mmo in order to be a good story about mmo, especially for those who've been never interested to play mmos themselves. This is where e.g. Log Horizon had failed - despite being closer to mmo realities it was equally more boring to watch as anime.
  • SorcererV1ct0rSorcererV1ct0r Member Posts: 2,176
    edited April 2019
    An good anime ABOUT mmo is Log Horizon. Sao is an awful anime about mmo, the anime focus much more in romance, has a lot of "plot armor", kirito is a male Mary Sue without any personality, all other members of the "main party" are useless, etc, etc, etc

    EDIT : Aragorn never cuted an supersonic anti material projectile because an fast swinging blade is the unique thing who matters
    Post edited by SorcererV1ct0r on
  • KamigoroshiKamigoroshi Member Posts: 5,870
    It's no secret that SAO was heavily influenced by the 2002 anime .hack//Sign. Which, to my knowledge, was the first franchise to introduce the concept of VRMMO's. Of course there had been others about VR. LAIN being a prime example.

    Overlord has seen somewhat of a decline in quality in season 2 and 3. Especially the overuse of 3D models was a real bummer. Especially Shub-Niggurath's children wre rendered rather poorly. As always: the light novel is better. The fact that Overlord uses an alignment system was completely left out from both the anime and manga for instance.
  • DragonKingDragonKing Member Posts: 1,977
    Watched the first season and hated the series. It was actually quite generic, and the one aspect that made it or should have made it interesting to me was done poorly.

    The main character was just the magical version of kirito.
  • SorcererV1ct0rSorcererV1ct0r Member Posts: 2,176
    edited April 2019
    It's no secret that SAO was heavily influenced by the 2002 anime .hack//Sign. Which, to my knowledge, was the first franchise to introduce the concept of VRMMO's. Of course there had been others about VR. LAIN being a prime example.

    Overlord has seen somewhat of a decline in quality in season 2 and 3. Especially the overuse of 3D models was a real bummer. Especially Shub-Niggurath's children wre rendered rather poorly. As always: the light novel is better. The fact that Overlord uses an alignment system was completely left out from both the anime and manga for instance.

    I believe that this is the "rule" for all light novels. The light novel is aways better.
    DragonKing wrote: »
    Watched the first season and hated the series. It was actually quite generic, and the one aspect that made it or should have made it interesting to me was done poorly.

    The main character was just the magical version of kirito.

    No, is not.
    1 - He is affected by the Lich personality becoming much more paranoiac and uninterested in Albedo (if you think a little, imagine an Succubus with all of his "lust", desire and passion directioned for an creature unable and unwilling to give her any "attention", Kirito has an Harem because he has one and nothing more in depth is explored)
    2 - The MC is evil
    3 - The anime/manga/novel focus much more in other characters
    4 - He fought an enemy that is his "counter" and nobody thought that he can win with strategy, not with plot armor

    Spoiler - Ending of first season below under spoiler tags
    Shallter is clearly the counter of his "build". While Ainz focused too much in be an RP build, Shallter is clearly an power leveled character. The greatest Ainz strength of being able to summon an undead army is useless against Shallter since it will only heal her. Shallter has fire and holy damage, both are strong against Ainz and he used a lot of strategies to fight against her.

    For those who doesn't know, Shallter is take control by a WCI(world class item), in Yggdrasil, is one per world and they are one per world.

    Compare this with Kirito becoming able to overcome an in game program because "plot armor". Not mentioning the awful gaming design in SAO. SAO = Only fast swinging swords, Alfheim = Fast swinging swords dominate, then GGO. An FPS and guess what? Fast swinging swords dominate in GGO. Yes, even in a FPS, the best counter for an rapid SMG that trow 1200 rounds per minute or for an anti materiel rifle that can punch towards concrete wall like is nothing is an fast swinging sword... Kirito managed to "vaporize" an PGM Hécate II shot. That makes no sense... Mainly in a game considered an hardcore FPS...
  • WormkingWormking Member Posts: 60
    edited April 2019
    I feel the story for the anime (I'm not read the LN) is really slow, nothing big really happened.
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    I watched the first season of Overlord, and while it was certainly interesting, I can't really get invested in evil characters. I just can't root for them.

    @Ardanis Log Horizon is leagues better than SAO, fight me :P
    Ardanis
  • ArdanisArdanis Member Posts: 1,736
    An good anime ABOUT mmo is Log Horizon. Sao is an awful anime about mmo, the anime focus much more in romance
    Why do you think so many sword and sorcery RPGs conveniently ignore the awful state of roads, medicine etc in medieval times and feature instead infantry in shiny full plate armor? Because most of audience doesn't care about dirt everywhere and instead prefers a story of chivalry, generally speaking.

    Likewise, this is why not making an accurate representation of actual mmos is a requirement for making a good story set in a mmo. And SAO did precisely that, appealing to much wider audience than just mmo gamers. Yeah, I get why the latter would complain, but it's still a niche.
    ThacoBell wrote: »
    @Ardanis Log Horizon is leagues better than SAO, fight me :P
    Let the holy war begin!

  • SorcererV1ct0rSorcererV1ct0r Member Posts: 2,176
    edited April 2019
    ThacoBell wrote: »
    I watched the first season of Overlord, and while it was certainly interesting, I can't really get invested in evil characters. I just can't root for them.

    @Ardanis Log Horizon is leagues better than SAO, fight me :P

    I understand you. I can't get invested in "generi kun" characters. IMO Killua for hiatus X hiatus(hunter x hunter) is much better than gon and Kazuma from Kaze no Stima is one of the best MC's. To be fair on Kono Suba, i loved the MC exactly because he is funny as hell.
    Ardanis wrote: »
    An good anime ABOUT mmo is Log Horizon. Sao is an awful anime about mmo, the anime focus much more in romance
    Why do you think so many sword and sorcery RPGs conveniently ignore the awful state of roads, medicine etc in medieval times and feature instead infantry in shiny full plate armor? Because most of audience doesn't care about dirt everywhere and instead prefers a story of chivalry, generally speaking.(...)

    Most entertainment portraits awfully medieval combat. Swords that works like Lightsabers and cut armor like is nothing, almost nobody uses spear, the most common weapon on that period, they roll, roll and roll like they are dancing instead of fighting, But the same applies to modern combat.

    And if you add "magic", everything chances. I mean, if you can magically materialize fire, it will chance the metallurgy. On Log Horizon, people used fire elementals summoned to power steam engine. That is a clever way to mix magic and IRL technique. On Overlord, the use of undead in some works generated an controversy in some "new world" countries. Few games like Arcanum explored in depth this things, but both Overlord and Log Horizon did it right.

    SAO in other hands, has one of the worst wold buildings that i saw in my entire life. The sao real world makes no sense. Any of virtual games makes no sense.
  • ArdanisArdanis Member Posts: 1,736
    edited April 2019
    I think you missed the point (?). I was saying that while realistic world builing and in-universe logic can be an interesting subject to explore on its own, the economy and politics are nonetheless much less engaging than a more social story of adventure/romance/comedy/drama/etc.

    SAO never tried or wanted to be a realistic portrayal of mmo gaming, instead it just hit the nail on adventure/romance part. It was never about world building or in-game economy - the whole vrmmo was just a static background, - but about emotional struggles of society suddenly forced to adapt to new environment.


    Speaking of Kaze no Stigma, I was about to say "well, there're other fine protagonists too", then opened my watched list of 100+ titles and... didn't find any on the same level, except maybe Hellsing :D
  • DragonKingDragonKing Member Posts: 1,977
    It's no secret that SAO was heavily influenced by the 2002 anime .hack//Sign. Which, to my knowledge, was the first franchise to introduce the concept of VRMMO's. Of course there had been others about VR. LAIN being a prime example.

    Overlord has seen somewhat of a decline in quality in season 2 and 3. Especially the overuse of 3D models was a real bummer. Especially Shub-Niggurath's children wre rendered rather poorly. As always: the light novel is better. The fact that Overlord uses an alignment system was completely left out from both the anime and manga for instance.

    I believe that this is the "rule" for all light novels. The light novel is aways better.
    DragonKing wrote: »
    Watched the first season and hated the series. It was actually quite generic, and the one aspect that made it or should have made it interesting to me was done poorly.

    The main character was just the magical version of kirito.

    No, is not.
    1 - He is affected by the Lich personality becoming much more paranoiac and uninterested in Albedo (if you think a little, imagine an Succubus with all of his "lust", desire and passion directioned for an creature unable and unwilling to give her any "attention", Kirito has an Harem because he has one and nothing more in depth is explored)
    2 - The MC is evil
    3 - The anime/manga/novel focus much more in other characters
    4 - He fought an enemy that is his "counter" and nobody thought that he can win with strategy, not with plot armor

    Spoiler - Ending of first season below under spoiler tags
    Shallter is clearly the counter of his "build". While Ainz focused too much in be an RP build, Shallter is clearly an power leveled character. The greatest Ainz strength of being able to summon an undead army is useless against Shallter since it will only heal her. Shallter has fire and holy damage, both are strong against Ainz and he used a lot of strategies to fight against her.

    For those who doesn't know, Shallter is take control by a WCI(world class item), in Yggdrasil, is one per world and they are one per world.

    Compare this with Kirito becoming able to overcome an in game program because "plot armor". Not mentioning the awful gaming design in SAO. SAO = Only fast swinging swords, Alfheim = Fast swinging swords dominate, then GGO. An FPS and guess what? Fast swinging swords dominate in GGO. Yes, even in a FPS, the best counter for an rapid SMG that trow 1200 rounds per minute or for an anti materiel rifle that can punch towards concrete wall like is nothing is a fast swinging sword... Kirito managed to "vaporize" a PGM Hécate II shot. That makes no sense... Mainly in a game considered a hardcore FPS...

    Yes, he is!

    1. He's a generic op character who can basically one shot everything even while imitating a class he isn't.
    2. So effing what? Being an evil character trying to take over the world lalouche and light did it better. Only reasons I watched the shoe was because he was supposed to be evil and take over the world. I was going in expecting to see something on the level of death note or at least code geas where he had to play a tactical game with all his opponents. Literally, every anime he faced was basically "I'm op die" hell he could've even done that the vampire chick if he actually treated her like a real enemy and fought here with ALL his items. But nope he preferred to gimp himself on some mess that basically boiled down to "har har power of my guild"
    3. I'm doesn't change my point about the character.
    4. Haha no, she wasn't his "counter" he did something stupid, he didn't use his actual freaking equipment to try and make a freaking point while fighting her.

    Idc about the game design of ask because last i checked i was speaking about the character not the game engine who h can be wtfethe writer wants it to be.
  • SorcererV1ct0rSorcererV1ct0r Member Posts: 2,176
    edited April 2019
    In adventure - Kirito will solve anything with plot armor + fast swinging sword

    In romance - An harem and Asuna will allwas be the main chick in the harem.

    An girl will be rapted and kirito will save the day. Nothing against those who like it but i found sao abridged much better. Even in therms of sword fighting, see someone using an rapier like it was an katana was awful... And honestly, the romance is too generic. IMO the romance between the Overlord "generi kun"(climb) and golden princess or between Sebas and an "enslaved woman" was much more interesting


    DragonKing wrote: »
    It's no secret that SAO was heavily influenced by the 2002 anime .hack//Sign. Which, to my knowledge, was the first franchise to introduce the concept of VRMMO's. Of course there had been others about VR. LAIN being a prime example.

    Overlord has seen somewhat of a decline in quality in season 2 and 3. Especially the overuse of 3D models was a real bummer. Especially Shub-Niggurath's children wre rendered rather poorly. As always: the light novel is better. The fact that Overlord uses an alignment system was completely left out from both the anime and manga for instance.

    I believe that this is the "rule" for all light novels. The light novel is aways better.
    DragonKing wrote: »
    Watched the first season and hated the series. It was actually quite generic, and the one aspect that made it or should have made it interesting to me was done poorly.

    The main character was just the magical version of kirito.

    No, is not.
    1 - He is affected by the Lich personality becoming much more paranoiac and uninterested in Albedo (if you think a little, imagine an Succubus with all of his "lust", desire and passion directioned for an creature unable and unwilling to give her any "attention", Kirito has an Harem because he has one and nothing more in depth is explored)
    2 - The MC is evil
    3 - The anime/manga/novel focus much more in other characters
    4 - He fought an enemy that is his "counter" and nobody thought that he can win with strategy, not with plot armor

    Spoiler - Ending of first season below under spoiler tags
    Shallter is clearly the counter of his "build". While Ainz focused too much in be an RP build, Shallter is clearly an power leveled character. The greatest Ainz strength of being able to summon an undead army is useless against Shallter since it will only heal her. Shallter has fire and holy damage, both are strong against Ainz and he used a lot of strategies to fight against her.

    For those who doesn't know, Shallter is take control by a WCI(world class item), in Yggdrasil, is one per world and they are one per world.

    Compare this with Kirito becoming able to overcome an in game program because "plot armor". Not mentioning the awful gaming design in SAO. SAO = Only fast swinging swords, Alfheim = Fast swinging swords dominate, then GGO. An FPS and guess what? Fast swinging swords dominate in GGO. Yes, even in a FPS, the best counter for an rapid SMG that trow 1200 rounds per minute or for an anti materiel rifle that can punch towards concrete wall like is nothing is a fast swinging sword... Kirito managed to "vaporize" a PGM Hécate II shot. That makes no sense... Mainly in a game considered a hardcore FPS...

    Yes, he is!

    1. He's a generic op character who can basically one shot everything even while imitating a class he isn't.
    2. So effing what? Being an evil character trying to take over the world lalouche and light did it better. Only reasons I watched the shoe was because he was supposed to be evil and take over the world. I was going in expecting to see something on the level of death note or at least code geas where he had to play a tactical game with all his opponents. Literally, every anime he faced was basically "I'm op die" hell he could've even done that the vampire chick if he actually treated her like a real enemy and fought here with ALL his items. But nope he preferred to gimp himself on some mess that basically boiled down to "har har power of my guild"
    3. I'm doesn't change my point about the character.
    4. Haha no, she wasn't his "counter" he did something stupid, he didn't use his actual freaking equipment to try and make a freaking point while fighting her.

    Idc about the game design of ask because last i checked i was speaking about the character not the game engine who h can be wtfethe writer wants it to be.

    1 - No, he is an Lich. How many Liches do you see around anime? And how many of then are affected by his undead nature? Being OP and being generic are not the same thing. If you remove plot armor and protagonism from SAO, kirito still an "generi-kun" And guess what. Compared to other Nazarick members, he isn't that OP. Compared to other "godkin" too.
    2 - Generic is something common, most MCs aren't evil.
    3 - You are right, but the fact that there are better side character building is a overlord plus
    4 - Not his counter how an build that can negate the biggest Ainz advantage(be able to create an undead army) and deal both elemental weakness of him is not his counter?? (spoilers - shallter habilities below)
    Shalltear has a lot of holy damaging attacks and fire damaging attacks. Both are Ainz weakness. And if Ainz conjure an army of undead servants, it will only heal Shalltear due his lance + vampire build that allows she to heal while dealing damage.

    And Overlord is more like D&D instead of this modern mmo""""rpgs"""" with stats are tied to gear(this makes no sense), i can defeat Mephistopheles on NWN - hotu naked with my sorcerer.
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