As of Ch.466:
[TRANSLATION QUALITY]
-Naming- Even with so many staff involved, there is no confusion and naming standardization is top-notch. Every character's name is the same throughout the translation making google searching characters to freshen up memory easy for those who do it.
-Spelling- I didn't notice anything after reading through the chapter, and after putting it through a Notepad++ with spellchecker all I got was some false positives in US Eng vs Brit Eng spelling differences.
All in all, the English is coherent and the translation is consistent.
[CHARACTERS]
- Expect a wide variety of characters and a glossary will be needed. In terms of character presence there are introduced characters who will follow the MC throughout the story as a team, introduced characters who will be relevant to the ark and maybe get an appearance later, characters who are introduced but always kept in the background appearing occasionally as hidden mechanisms, and of course characters who are introduced and then thrown into a trash heap. So character importance for memorization is unpredictable as even some seemingly irrelevant ones become important cogs in the machine. This is a plus from me, but also why you will need a glossary.
- In terms of character variety, let's just say you will be reading a bit of Game of Thrones here, with very varied character personalities, motivations, alignments, both antagonists you will root for and antagonists you will hate. Some side characters have MASSIVE impact on the story and MC, so they are not just throwaways to make the MC's aura shine above all. The interactions are complex and political, and a lot of characters are susceptible to varied development and influence that can be both bad and good including the MC. The MC is not perfect, far from it, but he is also awesome in his own way and is put by the author through some very tough situations for growth and not all of them are win-win situations (which is the biggest plus I give to this story - the author has balls and doesn't shy away from tragedy). As such the MC is actually relatable.
[BATTLES AND CULTIVATION]
The cultivation system is basically the mid stages of humanity developing a new system after the complete crash of the typical Xianxia cultivation system with spirit energy and the whole shabang in the past of the story. As a consequence the MC isn't just blindly following preset rules but spends a lot of time researching, being creative, and creating his own path in the world. Unlike many other stories where protagonists gain super-techniques from past creators, this MC is the creator of his own path left mostly to his own devices and inspiration from the world and helpers around him, and he is also a teacher and an influence upon others. The battles are pretty varied, are easy enough to visualize, and the author gives some basic descriptive reminders of techniques last i remember. The only thing i could whine about is that i sometimes lose track of the comparative power-levels due to descriptions, but that may be down only to me and my memory and requires input from other readers as well. A glossary won't be required for battles anyway.
[STORY]
Romance is present, is monogamous, and will develop slowly, and I also don't give a toss about romance. Now that we got that out of the way:
Story progression is varied, sometimes quick and sometimes slow and sometimes in-between. The important part is that the side-character bits are not too long but rationally proportioned, and when they are long they are actually relevant and worthy to read through as normal, or have a noticeable buildup which gives them value. As i mentioned before, lots of politics, lots of character building and development, author takes the writing in unpredictable ballsy directions sometimes. MC actually feels mortal rather than immortal, is stuck in some bad situations where outcomes are unpredictable - not always the best, and sometimes even the worst.
[GEOGRAPHY]
A glossary isn't required for it. The locations are repeated enough times, and the relevant storytelling is usually concentrated around a certain location at the time such that memorizing is not required.
The world building isn't much too big at this point. The author prefers to make the most out of least, and as such the locations are smaller in number than other novels but their descriptions are more fleshed out and tied to the politics, cultivation system, and story writing. The only thing i don't like is that it's tougher for me to make a mental map of the world compared to other novels for some reason (i knew the reason in the past but forgot by now as i'm reading over 50 other novels dammit), however the painting of the locations themselves is pretty clear, and most importantly the geography changes and its changes impact the story tangibly in both politics and cultivation.
