Your Opinion on Western/Westernized Cultivation Novels

[Tsuru]

Read title of post.

If we talk about "cultivation" then it don't work since it's inherently a genre with the roots in CN mythology and folklore.
If we talk power progression fantasy, then it's not cultivation

I am in favor/agreeing with TenderHuman

I rarely seen what you call as "western x cultivation"

unless you speak about cultivation series with systems etc
so then its just a question of "adapting to the times"
Making stuff more likeable is a fundamental thing for authors to do to attract readers. ESPECIALLY for eastern authors, bc they GET MONEY

 

[TotallyHuman]

I rarely seen what you call as "western x cultivation"

reading it made me think of Big Iron and such as cultivators.

 

[Ilikewaterkusa]

Read title of post.

Better than Chinese novels since Western writing standards are just greater. And far more creative and less generic

 

[Corty]

I am writing those types of things. I have nothing else to add.

 

[ACertainPassingUser]

It taste like Western version of Chinese food

 

[Sleds]

I am in favor/agreeing with TenderHuman

I rarely seen what you call as "western x cultivation"

unless you speak about cultivation series with systems etc
so then its just a question of "adapting to the times"
Making stuff more likeable is a fundamental thing for authors to do to attract readers. ESPECIALLY for eastern authors, bc they GET MONEY

You can found a lot of Xuanhuan stories written by chinese authors who implement element or setting from western culture which enter the "westernized" thing in the title of this thread.

 

[ACertainPassingUser]

Better than Chinese novels since Western writing standards are just greater. And far more creative and less generic

Translator writing skill ≠ Author writing skill.

Chinese novel weren't written with International English reader in mind. Nor would they care about Western cliches and their particular standard.

You can found a lot of Xuanhuan stories written by chinese authors who implement element or setting from western culture which enter the "westernized" thing in the title of this thread.

Any Example ?

 

[Avakrael]

Rather than saying "western" can't be used with "cultivation", may as well say 'chinese' isn't a necessity to the logic of 'dan refining'.

(Different nationalities don't have different laws of reality.)

Conventional Cultivation

After finding a strange ring ~ Yoxa inexplicably appears in a foreign world.

www.scribblehub.com

 

[Sleds]

Any Example ?

the series Soul Land/Douluo Dalu/Combat Continent
Coiling Dragon
Monster Paradise
Shadow Hack
Astral Pet Store
Super God Gene
Forty Millenium of Cultivation
Legend of the Mythological Genes
Pocket Hunting Dimension
Godly Model Creator

I'm sure you can find a lot more if you look for the novels who are less popular (not all the one on that list are popular so)

 

[Tsuru]

Better than Chinese novels since Western writing standards are just greater. And far more creative and less generic

Wait a second. Someone hold my beer milk tea (meme)

*crackle knuckles*
(+not using the most famous masterpieces series)

- Martial arts master
- The luckiest man (western style)
- The martial world
- Upgrade specialist
- Heavenly jewel change
- Gourmet of another world
- Forty Millenniums of Cultivation
- 2 last episodes of the anime [The daily life of the immortal king]

Is it cheating that i am using only old ones ? ok *crackle knuckles again*

- My senior brother is too strong https://uukanshu.cc/book/23027/
- The Great Sage of Humanity https://uukanshu.cc/book/18893/ (got manhua adaptation, good quality maybe = bilibili sponsor)
- I will be immortal forever in the world of immortality https://uukanshu.cc/book/22097/
- The First Immortal of Swordsmanship https://uukanshu.cc/book/10609/ (very sloooooooooooooooow irritating beginning but MC is truly act how a protag cultivator that lived for eons and was number1 genius in past life, should act = example, during dinner-negociation, just cut off the head of other guy when it turned bad just like that + ch4 mc countered with logic the usual trope of elder doglicking a young master that covert the "talented girl married to crippled son-in-law MC")
- Top quality luck, cultivated quietly for thousands of years (completed on NU too https://www.novelupdates.com/series/top-tier-providence-secretly-cultivate-for-a-thousand-years/ + manhua)

Phew

tired lazy
also its simply "cultivation/action"
If you ask modern/urban/fantasy/fantasy-urban (like korean style)
it is 3x bigger MINIMUN

 

[Ilikewaterkusa]

Wait a second. Someone hold my beer milk tea (meme)

*crackle knuckles*
(+not using the most famous masterpieces series)

- Martial arts master
- The luckiest man (western style)
- The martial world
- Upgrade specialist
- Heavenly jewel change
- Gourmet of another world
- Forty Millenniums of Cultivation
- 2 last episodes of the anime [The daily life of the immortal king]

Is it cheating that i am using only old ones ? ok *crackle knuckles again*

- My senior brother is too strong https://uukanshu.cc/book/23027/
- The Great Sage of Humanity https://uukanshu.cc/book/18893/ (got manhua adaptation, good quality maybe = bilibili sponsor)
- I will be immortal forever in the world of immortality https://uukanshu.cc/book/22097/
- The First Immortal of Swordsmanship https://uukanshu.cc/book/10609/ (very sloooooooooooooooow irritating beginning but MC is truly act how a protag cultivator that lived for eons and was number1 genius in past life, should act = example, during dinner-negociation, just cut off the head of other guy when it turned bad just like that + ch4 mc countered with logic the usual trope of elder doglicking a young master that covert the "talented girl married to crippled son-in-law MC")
- Top quality luck, cultivated quietly for thousands of years (completed on NU too https://www.novelupdates.com/series/top-tier-providence-secretly-cultivate-for-a-thousand-years/ + manhua)

Phew

tired lazy
also its simply "cultivation/action"
If you ask modern/urban/fantasy/fantasy-urban (like korean style)
it is 3x bigger MINIMUN

Your words mean little to me, weeb man with an unhealthy sleep schedule.

Translator writing skill ≠ Author writing skill.

Chinese novel weren't written with International English reader in mind. Nor would they care about Western cliches and their particular standard.


Any Example ?

Even if the translator is perfect, Chinese novels can't make up for the lack of skill.

And yeah, it wasn't made for internationals but adopting some of the standards of the west would definitely set their works further into civilization. Then China can celebrate an effective 4001 years of Chinese Literature with such a development

 

[Sleds]

Wait a second. Someone hold my beer milk tea (meme)

*crackle knuckles*
(+not using the most famous masterpieces series)

- Martial arts master
- The luckiest man (western style)
- The martial world
- Upgrade specialist
- Heavenly jewel change
- Gourmet of another world
- Forty Millenniums of Cultivation
- 2 last episodes of the anime [The daily life of the immortal king]

Is it cheating that i am using only old ones ? ok *crackle knuckles again*

- My senior brother is too strong https://uukanshu.cc/book/23027/
- The Great Sage of Humanity https://uukanshu.cc/book/18893/ (got manhua adaptation, good quality maybe = bilibili sponsor)
- I will be immortal forever in the world of immortality https://uukanshu.cc/book/22097/
- The First Immortal of Swordsmanship https://uukanshu.cc/book/10609/ (very sloooooooooooooooow irritating beginning but MC is truly act how a protag cultivator that lived for eons and was number1 genius in past life, should act = example, during dinner-negociation, just cut off the head of other guy when it turned bad just like that + ch4 mc countered with logic the usual trope of elder doglicking a young master that covert the "talented girl married to crippled son-in-law MC")
- Top quality luck, cultivated quietly for thousands of years (completed on NU too https://www.novelupdates.com/series/top-tier-providence-secretly-cultivate-for-a-thousand-years/ + manhua)

Phew

tired lazy
also its simply "cultivation/action"
If you ask modern/urban/fantasy/fantasy-urban (like korean style)
it is 3x bigger MINIMUN

What are "the martial world"? Do you mean martial world by Wuji Tianxia? never heard of the martial world.

 

[Tsuru]

Your words mean little to me, weeb man with an unhealthy sleep schedule.


Even if the translator is perfect, Chinese novels can't make up for the lack of skill.

And yeah, it wasn't made for internationals but adopting some of the standards of the west would definitely set their works further into civilization. Then China can celebrate an effective 4001 years of Chinese Literature with such a development

Wtf is wrong with you? It was a joke but you seem right now very offensive.
Especially the fact you replied it in just 10s after i posted it AND the choice of words.

ps : FFS i can't be on the forum for 10days without a fcking drama starting on me like a meteor falling on the house?

What are "the martial world"? Do you mean martial world by Wuji Tianxia? never heard of the martial world.

Good question
and your curiosity will reward you

Martial World - Novel Updates

www.novelupdates.com

(from same author of https://www.novelupdates.com/series/true-martial-world/but didnt try it)

Oops yes
typo

 

[Sleds]

Good question
and your curiosity will reward you

Martial World - Novel Updates

www.novelupdates.com

(from same author of https://www.novelupdates.com/series/true-martial-world/but didnt try it)

That what I thought, you should remove the "not the most famous masterpiece series" then, cause Martial World are considered by most of the readers of cultivation stories as the best cultivation story written.

Forty Millenniums of Cultivation and Heavenly jewel change (since it's Tang Jia San Shao who write it and he is the most well know author of cultivation stories in china) are famous too.

 

[IanWhite2105]

They don’t work. The ones written in asian countries are okey but translators and political bias tend to make them mediocre or borderline intolerable.

From a thematic standpoint they are also not good. Using east asian myth (acupuncture, yin yang, qi, five elements, kung fu, etc…) that has been systematically enforced to be accepted as ranging from “real” to ‘people who ignore it die’ when in reality the couple of “practices” that
work are extremely questionable as the basis of a power system is just stupid. Dozens of European cultures, each with thousands of years of myths, legends, superstitions, and other mystical tales yet you choose the most questionable and morally skewed aspects of any culture in history to use as a basis for your story? The entirety of it is snake oil, it will either be mostly benign if the person knows what they are doing or actually kill you if they make a mistake.

From the standpoint of a reader and writer it just makes no sense. Again, it is extremely lazy. There are so many ways to make a power system but you choose the one that has thousands of novels using it written every year? Spend the few hours (if you are not creative in the slightest) to think of something even slightly more original and you would probably get some good results. It doesn’t have to be anything complicated, just basic things like using scientific experimentation to understand how magic works or borrowing the power of magically inclined creatures is enough. Anything that starts to use “inner energy” or “circulating the energy of the universe in your mystical veins” is xinxia/wuxia crap.
The biggest problem with that genre is making everything causal and easy. The moment people start using words like “gods”, “saints”, “demons”, etc… to describe thousands of people walking down a road then it kills any sense of reality the reader may have had.

 

[Tsuru]

That what I thought, you should remove the "not the most famous masterpiece series" then, cause Martial World are considered by most of the readers of cultivation stories as the best cultivation story written.

Forty Millenniums of Cultivation and Heavenly jewel change (since it's Tang Jia San Shao who write it and he is the most well know author of cultivation stories in china) are famous too.

That make sense =_=b

But yeah, i meant "most famous ones recommended", in meaning of the commonly recommended ones.
and in this context, forty millenium and heavenly jewel, are indeed popular/famous but for english users they werent as much AND/OR when asked recommendations at that time, people rarely cited them.
ps : analogy, its like Bleach. Its popular but also quite at the lower tier of popularity vs DBZ/One piece/Naruto trio. Recent anime popularity doesnt really count.

 

[Sleds]

The moment people start using words like “gods”, “saints”, “demons”, etc… to describe thousands of people walking down a road then it kills any sense of reality the reader may have had.

It apply to western story too, just look at our myth, like how many gods and goddess greeks have? take into consideration the bastards born from these horny gods. Saints? There a lot too. Demon? Did you read dante alighieri inferno?

That make sense =_=b

But yeah, i meant "most famous ones recommended", in meaning of the commonly recommended ones.
and in this context, forty millenium and heavenly jewel, are indeed popular/famous but for english users they werent as much AND/OR when asked recommendations at that time, people rarely cited them.
ps : analogy, its like Bleach. Its popular but also quite at the lower tier of popularity vs DBZ/One piece/Naruto trio. Recent anime popularity doesnt really count.

Yeah I forgot these uncultured people. (it's sarcasm in case some didn't understand)

 

[Tsuru]

To give a counter-point/defense point for the logic of implementing WESTERN to EASTERN PLOT

The "famous" novel : https://www.novelupdates.com/series/world-of-cultivation/comment-page-2/?pg=1

From ch1-2
You are basically THROAT SHOVED with cultivation terms and slangs
To the point of hurting like a geeze.

This novel, at that time long ago, interested me. Because it had a FL with a ugly or common (forgot) face (temporary, damnit).
but because of the utter spam of cultivation terms and the MEGA HEAVY cultivation atmosphere, it just turned me off. Despite the series is quite good/famous i heard.

ps : @Sleds Your oppinion on this ? (curiosity+you give decent logics)

 

[Sleds]

To give a counter-point/defense point for the logic of implementing WESTERN to EASTERN PLOT

The "famous" novel : https://www.novelupdates.com/series/world-of-cultivation/comment-page-2/?pg=1

From ch1-2
You are basically THROAT SHOVED with cultivation terms and slangs
To the point of hurting like a geeze.

This novel, at that time long ago, interested me. Because it had a FL with a ugly or common (forgot) face (temporary, damnit).
but because of the utter spam of cultivation terms and the MEGA HEAVY cultivation atmosphere, it just turned me off. Despite the series is quite good/famous i heard.

ps : @Sleds Your oppinion on this ? (curiosity+you give decent logics)

I heard of this one but never read it so I can't give an opinion about it.

Edit : For the "THROAT SHOVED with cultivation terms and slangs", I think is one of the thing that could disgust new readers of the genre, I tend to like the cultivation story who explain it at the beginning for a better understanding of all the audience as well as explaining how the universe itself work or at least how a part of it work and explain it bit by bit through the story.

 

[Tsuru]

The moment people start using words like “gods”, “saints”, “demons”, etc… to describe thousands of people walking down a road then it kills any sense of reality the reader may have had.

For me
what piss me off in the same reasoning vein

is that authors/novels/logic in general/i dont know who-where

when someone is far superior to a genius, they use the word "monster"
The term isnt the problem. Its the ignorant characters that fear or misuse the term that piss me off.
Its like someone inventing a term or invention and the dumbass masses, misuse the thing.

AND
"talent"
I hate the fact, people/characters are arrogant and call "cultivation root" as "talent"
Fck off i want to say to them
ITS JUST DNA/RANDOM RNG BODY
If it was LINKED TO SOUL itself i would understand, but the fact its just body/dna. Piss me off, because it exude LAZYNESS because its "COOLER"
analogy : "gg" is annoying, bc mainstream and also misused often. Cant see "hard fight" "well played" or "hard game = hg"

I heard of this one but never read it so I can't give an opinion about it.