I Set Up A Harem To Save The World

The edited published ending to V-chan’s novel is, in most ways, slightly more coherent than the web novel version. There were a few contradictory paragraphs near the end, as well as an entire side plot of unnecessary length that comprised about half of a very long and somewhat rambling chapter about a lost city that was cut from the final version. The published version of the ending has the events of the novel to reach its conclusion arranged in slightly better order, and includes improved dialogue in the final confrontation. (If you read the rough web version of this and it didn’t satisfy you, I recommend trying to seek out the revised edition instead; it’s not a great work, but it is greatly improved over the published version of the ending.)

I came across this post searching for answers. I know there are many memes regarding this book on the social media platforms. As for me reading it, however, I never got around to it. It seems like an immense task to even locate it, so I may just have to watch a YouTube video that summarizes it instead.

A previous thread seems to have forgotten the huge amount of time to invest into most of the VN’s out there. ‘Muv-Luv Alternative’ already reads like ‘War and Peace’ in novel length, and ‘The Fruit of Grisaia’ already is a trilogy of huge games. That’s why I prefer to read kinetic novels without any choice in the first place, or even shorter VNs of very good quality instead of getting stuck in huge games that would take a casual player weeks to even months to complete.

Many visual novels are novels. ‘Muv-Luv Alternative’ is like reading ‘War and Peace’ twice. Even ‘The Fruit of Grisaia’ trilogy consists of three very long games. So, unless you are a very dedicated reader, you have to prepare for a very long time to read all the visual novels you want to. That’s why I prefer kinetic novels (no choices) or shorter novels (even if they are not as good). For example, ‘Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet’ (a 5-hour long kinetic novel that is set in a post-apocalyptic world where a museum robot recounts the events leading up to the apocalypse) and ‘Emily is Away’ (a nostalgic simulation of early 2000s chat clients, with a powerful and concise story) are much better examples of the medium than the typical harem-style game with 100 hours of gameplay. So, if you are new to the medium, I would recommend starting with a shorter, highly-rated game, as your ‘top’ game might be the one you actually finish.

I just caught up on the latest arc of 'My Magical Dungeon is a Real-Estate Empire' and wow, the last chapter really threw a curveball. The hero summoned a literal city planner from modern-day Tokyo to help him manage his labyrinth, and now there's a whole subplot about zoning disputes with the local dragon council. It's absurd but weirdly gripping.

I'm mostly here for the harem dynamics though, and the author finally gave the elf archer some serious backstory. Turns out her cold exterior stems from a failed arranged marriage to a noble from a rival forest kingdom. Feels a bit tacked-on, but it explains her hostility towards the new half-demon merchant girl who just showed up. The power scaling is getting out of hand, but I'm too invested to stop now.