Status Updates From The Starfighter Invitation ...

The middle portion of this seemed to drag so much, though I kinda understand it’s for worldbuilding and game immersion purposes. But really, I want more conspiracy and a lot less grinding!

I really like this! I’m glad I picked this back up after a while. It’s very similar to the MMO experiences I’ve had, down to the anime discussions, only with much nicer game tech!

Now this feels more like the story of a video game ARG. I used to play a lot of mobile gacha games, and that forum transcript in Chapter 4 could have been taken directly from Reddit or Resetera’s mobile gacha thread. Story of my gaming life!

After reading Chapter 1, this feels so much like the beginning to a classic video game creepypasta story (like Pokemon’s “Come Follow Me”) in that it reads like a fully researched nonfiction book. Very well written so far.

Figured out why it's taking me so much longer to read this than previous Host novels - the entire first half felt like a thinly veiled tutorial. Kind of like how in Kingdom Hearts 2 you play as Roxas for the first 4 hours to learn the new "mechanics". Oh there's important story stuff, but it's bogged down by oh so very much dejavu elements. With this bet though, I'm excited.

Aww, Khajoura made it in and Balastar (as Balaster) and TazMazter, so awesome ^^. I expect Dio is actually based on his anime counterpart? I keep imagining the voice as acted there. Damned if I remember the full name of the anime though. Steampunk airship combat, young pilot and his co-pilot + mysterious white haired girl. War. Horrible death of the heroic captain who was mourning his lost love anyway.