Abusing men for comedy is funny though, so funny! Hilariously funny!

/sarcasm

 

Just making sure no-one misses it, this story was updated 2 days ago.

I'm still enjoying it very much.

 

Huh. Just checked Neo's Wordpress on a whim, and had to do a double take when i saw it had actually updated with a snippet today. Also, if you missed it, there's like, a bunch of other snippets and updates on there from the last time this thread was posted in.

 

This story needs an editor.

"Wouldn't it be cool if Shirou was Batman?"
"Wouldn't I the cool if Shirou bagged all the ladies?"
"Wouldn't it be cool if Shirou got mixed up with the Misaki crowd?"

It's not as bad as, say, From Fake Dreams, but they definitely share some of the same DNA.

It reads like a teenager wrote it, for all the good and bad that implies. The Shirouman thing is kind of cool in that Saturday morning cartoon way, but It also feels like a bloated JRPG that has distracted the player with heaps upon heaps of pointless mini games and fetch quests, adamantly refusing to get to the meat of the story. Grail Wars are too common in Nasuverse fanfiction for my liking, as there is so much more to explore with the magi subculture, the Church hunting heretics, the Dead Apostles stirring up trouble, etc. So why would I complain about Shirou doing everything but Grail Wars?

If Shirou and Caster are two of your leads, it begs the question of why you're putting off the main event indefinitely. Path of the King didn't try to play itself off as something else when it started. We knew exactly where this was heading.

I don't want to read an actual Batman story about Bruce trying to do his taxes in such a way that he has to hide all the money he's funneling into his war on crime. That idea, in and of itself, is an interesting wrinkle to tackle for maybe an issue, but it doesn't need to become an entire story arc unto itself.

And that is this story's problem in a nutshell.

Neoalfa is casting too wide a net for his own good. A more proactive Shirou makes for a great hook, particularly if it puts him on a crash course with Caster's previous Master and leads to him becoming aware of the Fifth Grail War sooner. I actually liked the idea of a cynic like Caster teaming up with an idealist like Shirou, which really could have/should have been the core of the fic. (I still can't fathom the appeal of harems and the "Shirou/Multi" tag in the description still threatens to give me a minor stroke every time I see it.) Then it detours into all of these side quests and harem bait that I just do not give even half a rip about. I would not have minded this nearly as much if it was actually a post-Grail War story about Shirou trying to learn from Archer's mistakes and growing into a less cynical, more traditionally heroic figure. But as it stands now, Neoalfa is stuck in the Gold Saucer when he should be hunting down Sephiroth. And that makes for a less-than-entertaining experience.

2.5/5 rounded up to 3 for a promising start that is squandered by everything else

 

I never understood the adulation Path of the King got from some members of the DLP community whose tastes I otherwise respect. How is it not absolute wish fulfillment trash?

 

Choose your own reason:
Less popular forums usually get fewer votes, meaning that a few high votes have bigger sway.
There are too little good stories in these subforums, so even a decent one is rated slightly higher.
People who would rate harsher don't even start reading the story.
People rate the story as average, but the few higher votes from those who loved it are important enough

In any case, voting is always somewhat subjective.

There are a buch of Fate stories in this subforum and I've been meaning to read more fate fanfiction, so I might as well go trough them.

As for this story:
I've read "Path of the King" not too long ago, and it's not as bad of a wish fulfilment as it sounds, at least at the start.
I dislike that this Shirou's superhero self is called Archer, but otherwise you have shirou as a vigilante, and the way he meets up with Rin before the war. When the arc with Medea's summoner ends then the fic becomes a lot more wish-fulfilment fantasy, with creating new magic, abusing Shirou's innate powers and the whole Medea romance subplot.

On one hand, this fic is somewhat believable, develops slowly but surely, if with a protagonist who wins a bit too easily. Some challenge remains, however, so it's not all extremely easy. It's potato chips of fanfiction.

On the other hand, this fic misses the point of fate (heroism and the need for a hero to have someone to save is replaced with straightforward vigilantism, and the usually summoned Archer will probably be nowhere to be seen, meaning an important conflict is to be avoided)

I would also like for the Grail War to finally begin proper, this fic is dragging on too much and wandering too much into other aspects of Nasuverse (although I guess it's not a drawback for some of the readers)

I mostly agree with the points Imperial makes.

2.5 rounded down to 2/5

 

I enjoyed this well enough for a few years, but somewhere along the way it lost its luster. Now, thanks to dank patreon bux, he updates every few weeks and I can't bring myself to even bother opening it.