A.I. Love You vs. Love Hina vs. Negima

[Aion]

Mm, it really felt like you could be trapped there for weeks if you were unlucky. And then you'd want to level another job, and back you went. Bogies and trains and goblins...the neverending bloodbath.

I was a mithra WHM (later BRD) when I played - my uncertain gender no doubt confusing thousands of innocents the whole time without me knowing. Most of the other mithra I knew were openly RL males. But I digress...

The only times I enjoyed playing FFXI was really during the Dunes. As newbies people were friendly and easy going, but as the experience needed increased and the players gained more experience they started to see the game as hard work, some not even talking at all during parties. Towards the later levels you need to create a party that'll last for hours to level up in, and that's difficult unless you have a group of others who you party with on set days. As a Paladin, it was no fun sitting in Jeuno waiting -- no-one wanted PLDs.

My funniest memory of the Dunes is when I went back there as a 20 something PLD (when I still was still fairly newbish). I thought I'd show off while hunting the Emp. Hairpin NM, so I decided to take on a few too weak blood leeches. To a cut a short story shorter, I took on one too many, more linked and I got a higher level BLM/WHM killed when I ran to him for help.

The game gradually became less and less fun and more and more addictive. I started playing simply out of addiction, and that was when I should've quit. I wasn't able to get in with a decent LS, I wasn't able to make many friends (social skill failure) and it was a pain in the **** to try to hold hate at the higher levels as a PLD -- a job no-one wanted. I spent most of my time near the end killing bees in N. Gustaberg for easy money in order to level jobs for BCNM. Then, when I completed my first BCNM, netting myself a Ni scroll, I couldn't be bothered anymore and gave away my stuff.

About mithra: for fun I used to annoy them by setting up retarded emotes (pulling tail, poking, etc), and some pervese jokes. I decided every mithra was my male and it was my duty to piss them off. I seem to remember coming across two mithra 'lesbians' who want to sit alone on the beach at Valkum -- I wasn't having that >

 

[Rui]

Ok since you joined in the temporary derailing of your own thread I'll reply and ramble more

It's a shame. Paladins were by far my favourite tanks (as WHM, because I had to concentrate on keeping them casting and could play more recklessly in between - my entire friend list was loaded with happy PLDs, and as BRD because I liked giving them their own situational songs which relied on everyone not being morons and standing in the wrong places). But when NIN came out suddenly they became really fashionable and people started saying you "needed" NIN for a long time. I found NIN really boring to keep an eye on in comparison and most weren't very into tanking. The whole "we need class X!" mentality really annoyed me after a while. It was only necessary to have a particular class in a role if all the other players sucked.

It sounds like I had a much better time than you did in general because I could speak both primary languages in game to enough of a degree to run parties in both. I never had to sit in Jeuno and wait (even as my grotty THF), and JP players tended to be more laid back than Americans for some reason. If I did something incredibly dumb in a primarily Japanese party, everyone would say "don't worry!" and start talking about football or One Piece or whether galka wore makeup whilst I trundled around fixing my problem, yet whenever I did something questionable around other English-speakers I'd hear nothing but abuse and calculations of how much exp/hour I had potentially lost them.

I had a LS but even then because of my main jobs and linguistic confidence they kept signing me up to help them with every little thing whilst refusing to help me back. I remember politely begging for weeks for one person I'd helped, anyone, to come with me to Oztroja so I could open that [expletive] door and get my coffer on my own, but ended up standing there at Japanese primetime until a random alliance came through and stealthed in with them. Everyone seemed to take their own goals way too seriously sometimes and forget they were playing a team game.

In the end it became a chore and I stopped playing for good. I miss the game itself but the early days where everything is new and people haven't learned to be bitter about every little thing are always the best in MMOs.

R

 

[chaos]

I ended the series impressed about how well certain characters (Motoko in particular) developed from start to finish.

Spot on. Motoko is the one with better character development in the series, Kitsune is the one with the least development from the main characters.

Some nerdy guy somehow managing to remove females clothing by accident constantly and live with about fifty of them.

But, isn't it the dream of all anime male (and some female) fans all around the world? I know it's mine ... =D

I think that Ken's work is usually like this. You get introduced to several characters that at first seems very shallow. The story develops and characters as well. In the end, you simply can't put his books down and wants more.

It was like that with Negima and Love Hina for me, although I still have a few volumes do go with Negima. I can't tell a thing about AI, but it's probably the same case.

About his art, it's very clear to me that Love Hina V1 art < Later volumes art. To me his improvements are pretty clear, not as noticeable as Ah my goddess, but still, you can notice the art does gets better and better.

 

[Aion]

PLDs got no respect back when I played. The job wasn't a BCNM job, so getting money was tough if you didn't have RNG or BLM to 30, and none of the higher level players were polite to PLDs when they all wanted NINs. One mistake in a higher level party and it generally lead to a serious argument because no-one wanted a PLD in the first place. It wasn't unusual to see a party forming in Jeuno, with them just needing a tank, and no invite coming my way because they wanted to wait for a NIN. I thought upping my rank would help, so I got to rank 9, but it didn't.

Talking of rank, my last Bastok rank mission didn't go so well. The actual 18, party x3 fighting part of the mission went well - I even had a rank 10 guy praise my tanking ability - but I wasn't able to complete the mission because I failed to talk to someone before fighting. Everyone else got the item and I would've had to redo the whole thing to pass. I never did get to rank 10...

...anyway, as you can see, FFXI is engraved in my memories. I had a VERY hard time stopping playing due to my level of addiction. I ended up forcing myself to pack it in because the more I played the more I felt isolated, and my main job being PLD (got it to 69) didn't help matters.

What you said about Japanese players rings to. I was once invited to a level 40 party in the dungeon below Sam-something plains (outside Jeuno). I tried hard to make sure I had decent equipment and food, but I never had much money since I had no BCNM 30 job and had to rely on bees (of all things) to keep me in the money. The Japanese were all very friendly, saying "www" a lot, and I used the in-game translation function to communicate with them, pulling out classics such as {Mithra} {Fishing Rod} {Do you need it?} - they loved it. They even found it funny when I said {Paladin} {Fisherman} {Wait} and went to pull with flash. After the party, the WHM mithra added me to her friends list...it's just a shame we could never have an actual conversation.

Because of my lacking social skills/crappy personality, I wasn't ever able to get much help. I tagged along with my LS and random Jeuno parties when they did Zilart, Bastok, Genkai, Promy and Artifact stuff. The only time I recall getting help was after I begged an old RDM friend I used to party with (he went on to 75, I kinda abandoned him because of a mithra ;___ to assist me in getting a difficult to get PLD ring from a NM in a high level area near Sandoria. He got his friends to lend a hand. I wasn't a great leader (I struggled with my own job), but I did create some promy parties from time to time - they were fun.

 

[Rui]

I played from launch and quit just before the expansion after Promathia came out (I had the JP version, so I suck at getting the English names for things right - sorry). In the early days PLD was loved so much so it really burned to see everyone ditch them so they could slack off and heal NIN instead. NIN was easier to heal but so boring, and when things really went bad they completely sucked whereas a PLD was a bit more resilient to disasters. It was hard to get anyone to understand that though and consider a WAR or PLD instead (or even a BST - heck I'd heal any tank that wasn't in a robe and pointy hat).

Promyvion was actually the trigger to me quitting ironically enough. I levelled SMN up, a job I really really hated, to be more flexible with subs as my WHM. I did Promyvion-Holla what felt like thousands of times to help my LS mates out with my [cheap] 2 hour boss destruction capabilities, and I did Mea with random JP strangers. I logged on one day at a time we'd agreed to all do a set party and saw they had all decided to do Dem without me instead in their thirst for personal success. Something in my mind snapped and I never logged on again.

Pity we never met, having an equally lonely PLD to hang out with would have made making parties more fun ;p a lot of what you say hits terribly close to home.

{Mithra} {Fishing Rod} {Do you need it?}

Tsk tsk...

R

 

[Aion]

It took me awhile to get through the first three Promy missions. I seem to recall not having too much trouble with the first two and struggling with the boss of the last one... Not sure which one. All I really remember is the fun/patience testing MGS style runs to the bosses.

It was nice getting to the Promy areas after getting through the first three missions. Seeing something new and entering myself into areas high level players usually go to made me regain some interest. The next mission, which involved going under the new city I'd got access to in a capped 40 area (I think), was hell with a random party of 12-18 - we got killed, separated and killed some more. Only a few made it to the end, and I managed to pull it off, thanks in no small part to a nice RDM on my friends list who helped me when I ran out of oils. I quit shortly after that, though - I needed to level up my RNG or go through the stress of tanking during a very hard looking multiple enemy fight.

It ain't really shocking that people forget about others when they gain something. It's rare for others to put electronic friends above themselves. I found it fun to PL random lowbie parties with my PLD/WHM + dark staff, but I must admit I was selfish myself.

Anyway, we're getting a wee bit off track, don't ya think? It's fun reminiscing but this thread will lose its purpose (if it hasn't already) if we continue.

One last question: When did you learn Japanese?

 

[Rui]

One last question: When did you learn Japanese?

I started when I was about 16 and am still learning (always will be ).

To wrestle this back on topic, people have said that Negima has a huge, bloated cast - but do the main girls get fleshed out at all well or are they diluted too much by all the side characters?

I've seen quite a few fans of the series with avatars etc of their favourite main girls, so I'd assumed a few at least got some plot time.

R

 

[chaos]

I've seen quite a few fans of the series with avatars etc of their favourite main girls, so I'd assumed a few at least got some plot time.
R

it's just a handful main characters that gets huge chunks of time, but all characters gets their share. Most of the time, they are just there as furniture or background though.

 

[Aion]

I started when I was about 16 and am still learning (always will be ).

...you're always be 16 or you're always be learning Japanese?

You understanding/learning Japanese makes me further question why you don't download anime. Surely watching RAW anime would be an awesome way for you to improve your skills?

Most of the time, they are just there as furniture or background though.

That's a very...descriptive way to talk about the female cast of Negima. Do you think of women as nothing more than mere objects for male satisfaction? Disgusting.

In the other thread I created on MAL, someone said Negima has 31 major female characters. Without even touching it I know that's far too many to develop, no matter how long Negima goes on for. I don't think I'll like Negima very much because it sounds like it differs from Love Hina and doesn't have a small group of well developed characters driving.

Oddly enough, I received Vol. 1 of the anime today. I know the anime is supposed to inferior to the sauce, just like the Love Hina anime, but it'll still probably give me a better idea about the story.


...gah, ******* heart burn. GO AWAY!!!!

 

[Rui]

...you're always be 16 or you're always be learning Japanese?

You understanding/learning Japanese makes me further question why you don't download anime. Surely watching RAW anime would be an awesome way for you to improve your skills?

The latter ;p I'm glad I'm not 16 anymore. Bad memories.

I watch plenty of anime raw - just on DVD/blu-ray etc (and TV when I'm over there). I'm a bit funny about needing to own everything I like at all...

I believe there are two distinct Negima anime, so if you hate the one you see it might yet be worth checking out the other.

R

 

[Aion]

Note: Pulling out the tounge smiley face will not convince me you're female.

I'm sure you do, but it'd be far easier to just download it. Buying anime at Japanese premium prices isn't the ideal way to learn Japanese and watch anime.

There are two Negima anime series, yes: Negima! and Negima!? Both have near enough the exactsame rating on MAL, so it's safe to say whatever the first anime did wrong the second didn't fix. Going on the tiny amount I've read, it seems like the first series had woeful animation and simplistic art, the only visual positive being the colours. Mr. Akamatsu is cursed when it comes to anime adaptations of his work.

 

[Otaku-san]

well actually the latter was more evolved around the action of Negima and less romance and ecchi i guess theres just an equal amount if people that enjoy both 'flavours of this dish' so to speak

 

[Maltos]

There are two Negima anime series, yes: Negima! and Negima!? Both have near enough the exactsame rating on MAL, so it's safe to say whatever the first anime did wrong the second didn't fix.

Some of the problems were fixed. Like the reeeeeally crap animation of the first series was improved upon and much more stylised.
Also, rather than trying to adapt the manga, the second series simply did it's own thing and came up with a unique storyline. From what i've watched [most of the series] it's a pretty good standalone storyline too.

But yeh the second series focused on more action and fanservice rather than romance, I found.

 

[chaos]

Most of the time, they are just there as furniture or background though.

That's a very...descriptive way to talk about the female cast of Negima. Do you think of women as nothing more than mere objects for male satisfaction? Disgusting.

I though everyone here knew I was a sexist pig by now... ;D

 

[Aion]

Rui: I was a bit thick with my last comment: I forgot you can watch unsubbed, Japanese anime with UK DVDs. ;___;

Watching the first volume of Negima! (6 episodes) hasn't made me interested in picking up the manga. I'm aware anime adaptations are usually far inferior to the source, but the story, setting and, for the most part, characters didn't interest me at all. It lacked the realistic side of Love Hina, it lacked a main character old enough to make the perverse stuff funny and it came across as cheap, brainless fan pleasing stuff. It became more and more boring as it went on, and I came close to falling asleep a few times.

So far, the story is unexplained and rubbish as a result. Are viewers just supposed to accept the fact a 10 year old boy is teaching at 15-16 year old all-girl school, and sleeping in the same room as two? It's pathetic. If Negi was older and his background had been explained then it MIGHT have worked, but just throwing a 10 year old into a school full of 15-16 year old girls without explanation just makes it look like the story is aimed at people who have fantasies about young boys with older girls/women. Me not impressed.

I see what Sy was getting at with his character design similarity comment after watching the Negima OP, by the way. There's a blue-haired character in the OP who looks EXACTLY like Motoko, and the part where all the characters faces appeared one after the other highlighted the fact that the faces are all identical.

 

[Manfred]

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