Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku Episode 4 Discussion

bitchassdarius said:
did i miss something? why is he able to acquire every resistance randomly? also, why did he have to disguise himself? also what's the difference between a maxed out low-skill magic spell and a high-skill magic spell? does this game just have bad balancing? is the scaling so bad that something at lvl 40 or 60 can honestly challenge someone thats over level 300?

man, this show is so restricted by it's incoherent, inconsistent game logic. at least in smartphone, the MC was obviously OP so he didn't have to tiptoe around arbitrary rules that exist solely to maybe present an obstacle

Jacob_Chimera said:
So really, the only reason this story is set in a video game is because a) it provides an excuse for the protagonist and other characters becoming powerful at an unnatural rate and b) video games are a popular medium. Maybe there'll be a reason later on, but judging from the quality of the writing so far, I'm guessing it'll be a weak explanation.

Everything in this show is underwhelming: the writing, the characters, the world, and the execution. The cycle of bland isekai continues. All that matters is the premise sells, and in the end, making money is all studios really care about.

Shirasho said:


I heavily criticize series like this because I am Satou. I am a developer nearing my thirties. It is difficult for me to look past things that don't actually happen or are unrealistic in video games. Talk to anybody in quality assurance and they will tell you the same thing - they can't enjoy video games as much as when they started because they start noticing all of the flaws. It is also difficult for me to look past unrealistic behaviors of game programmers near my age.

The problem is not that I'm not paying attention. The problem is that I am paying too much attention and know how video games tick internally.

Also, there is no need for you to be a dick.

TitanAnteus said:

Nah he's just competent and mature.

Crocospect22 said:


nope, that's not how maturity works done actually, he is just so blant and boring, and makes me care less to him...

Grey-Zone said:


While it's true that some things were left out in the anime (or unfortunately ignored by the subbers - thereby creating a raft between Japanese and English version, like the entire EP1 and the status hiding screen in EP2), many things people are complaining about here were actually explained, like "omg isn't he afraid of others seeing his God-Slayer title". Yea, let's just ignore the existence of the Yamato stone introduced in EP2 where the guy was clearly indicating that he didn't know about Satou's personal information until after the scan by the Yamato stone. But ehh, the next episode will make it very clear, just like EP3 explained why Satou suddenly became lvl 310 - which obviously wasn't by killing only lvl 50 lizardmen, but mainly by killing the Dragon God (the other dead dragons which weren't explicitly mentioned probably only amounted to a difference of less than 10 lvls at best).

But the real problem here is that people go into the series with a "It's a generic isekai harem where I just have to turn my brain off" attitude and then complain that they missed things because their brains were turned off.

The whole "why is he hiding himself" is an idiotic question. It made sense for Touya in isekai smartphone because he had no problem with being a celebrity and public figure. Now here is the question: How do the words "celebrity" and "going on a leisure trip for sight-seeing"? Exactly, they don't mix at all. Every time you enter a city everyone screams "look! it's hero-sama! Hero-sama came to our city!" and instantly a crowd forms. It's really not that hard to deduce why Satou wants to avoid that. But that would require dropping the "I have to turn my brain off to watch this" premise, and that seems to be too much for some people here.

deadman80 said:

The game logic has been extremely and surprisingly consistent so far. The primary problem being that it seems that all other things (like skill points, stats, HP, MP, etc.) are tied directly to player level, and as I said already, he's basically bugged and has no level cap.

Grey-Zone said:

The whole "why is he hiding himself" is an idiotic question. It made sense for Touya in isekai smartphone because he had no problem with being a celebrity and public figure. Now here is the question: How do the words "celebrity" and "going on a leisure trip for sight-seeing"? Exactly, they don't mix at all. Every time you enter a city everyone screams "look! it's hero-sama! Hero-sama came to our city!" and instantly a crowd forms. It's really not that hard to deduce why Satou wants to avoid that. But that would require dropping the "I have to turn my brain off to watch this" premise, and that seems to be too much for some people here.

Grani-smith said:
3 épisodes and a half is where i drop this, MC's voice is unbearable.

I'm out.

bitchassdarius said:

> It's really not that hard to deduce why Satou wants to avoid that.
You literally just made up that explanation out of nothing. There's nothing in the story so far that has shown that Satou doesn't want to be a public figure. The only reason he took down the insurgents in the other episode surreptitiously was because he didn't want to alert their allies. He even states that he wanted the title of Hero at the end, so that goes against your explanation. How are you gonna make shit up and not even keep it consistent with the show you're defending?

hayka said:

So you saying that he should proclaim his titles? He has so many. And if they should be known publicly, it would cause a commotion.
The average level of the people aren't high you know? If a level 20 appears it will draw a fair amount of eyes. Imagin if they (the public) found out that Satou is at least level 100? What then? A level 60 demon, no a low-level wyvern causes panic so...
It's too early to make himself publicly known. He just got to the new world and he's figuring things out on his own.

P.S Satou wants the HERO title so he can use the holy items that he possesses and make things a bit easier in his fight against demons and the like.

Aversa said:

The question now is will he behave like a harem main or like a men.

phoenixtalon said:
I decided to make an account today for the main purpose of voicing my main problem with the MC. He sees that there are slaves in the world and that they're mistreated in previous episodes. He makes no inquiry about how to free a slave at all and instead ends up buying some now. He is overpowered and could probably take on the city if he wanted to. He could easily make a change in the city or country to abolish slavery. Instead he just goes about his day, apparently looking good to the establishment and not causing waves is what he chooses instead.

gophercg said:

Why does he acquire skills just from getting attacked? In games I've seen that never happens, as you'd need to beat certain monsters or reach some level etc to gain skills. Does the shitty game mechanics try to define 'free lunch'?

TitanAnteus said:

Lol this is more true to maturity than the crazy drama shit I've seen with "adults" in anime.

He handles his social environment with experience and grace. He knows when to listen, and how other people feel about him.

He's basically just a fully developed adult character. What people like so much about Death March is that, because you don't have to worry about the protagonist going through mental drama and shit, you can just focus on the awesome world-building and fun side characters.

bitchassdarius said:

> It's really not that hard to deduce why Satou wants to avoid that.
You literally just made up that explanation out of nothing. There's nothing in the story so far that has shown that Satou doesn't want to be a public figure. The only reason he took down the insurgents in the other episode surreptitiously was because he didn't want to alert their allies. He even states that he wanted the title of Hero at the end, so that goes against your explanation. How are you gonna make shit up and not even keep it consistent with the show you're defending?

Grey-Zone said:


Nice strawman. Then please tell me why would he hide himself to "not alert their allies" when the number of enemies at the time was... one? Yea, I mean in the EP4 battle, not the incident from EP3. Try again, next time. He also hid his strenght from the beastkin slaves because, as he mentioned in EP3, he is afraid that they might not be able to properly keep the secret, when he said "I might have to remind them not to say anything about my magic gun" in EP3.

Also titles themselves have no effect on the public's view of himself. The only reason he wanted the "hero" title was to be able to use the holy sword, which he couldn't use during the battle due to him missing that title. Note how no one ever called him by one of his title in previous episodes. If the people around him could see them, you'd think that at least once someone would have noted the "God-Slayer" title he has. Since no one did, it's only logical to conclude that they CAN'T.

The menue and displays he has are related to a specific skill he has. People usually don't have them. That should be explained in the next episode, if I recall correctly. It should also clear up that this series is truly part of the isekai sub-genre and not the "MMORPG" sub-genre.

bitchassdarius said:

>Yea, I mean in the EP4 battle, not the incident from EP3.
Talk about strawman. I was only talking about EP3 because that was the only situation that was comparable.
>The only reason he wanted the "hero" title was to be able to use the holy sword, which he couldn't use during the battle due to him missing that title.
Addressed this earlier. If he's able to use a holy sword, then everyone would know he would be of a hero status because of the fact that he could use it. So he's not trying to hide it, or if he is, he's not doing a good job. You don't need to see his title to be able to deduce it. So your hypothesis is complete bs.

Grey-Zone said:

You forgot the fact that he was using the holy sword while in disguise... I mean, what did you think the mask, wig and different clothes were for, if not to mask his identity? There is no problem if his fake identity gets viewed as a hero. He just has to change his clothes afterwards. The only instance he used the holy sword in normal clothes was when there was no one else around, after he jumped out of the trap pitfall.

Did you actually watch the episode?

Antanaru said:
Well, the question is why so many LN authors are bothering with stupid MMO limitations instead of making actual fantasy.

bitchassdarius said:

So every time he's in a fight where he wants to use his holy sword, he has to put on a disguise? That's fucking stupid, and you know it.

bitchassdarius said:

not really. for instance, why does he feel at all challenged by any monster? if his low-level magic is enough to kill a lvl 60 demon, shouldn't his defense be high enough to defend from any attack from the same demon? if he's bugged so that there's no level cap, then shouldn't all his stats be extremely high? even if he's not good at combat, he should still be near impervious to any attacks from <lvl 100 monsters since there's no CQC weak spots in MMOs, or if there are in this one, they didn't explain it. this is actually what i'm assuming is the reason why he was able to resist literally every magic spell cast at him. his magic def or whatever the cognate in this game is must be so high that magic doesn't really affect him, but by the same logic, he shouldn't be able to take any attacks from that wolf creature.
also, if you have to unlock a skill, like "commanding," by doing it, then did you really unlock it?

deadman80 said:


The only challenges he has really faced so far is how to defeat the monsters in a way that does not expose his OPness to any bystanders, and learning how to use the skills and items that he has. His mindset is not that of a trained warrior after all. It does not matter if you get some sort of supersword if you don't know how to swing it w/o chopping off your own foot. :x

All of his stats ARE extremely high. In fact, they are maxed out as far as the system will allow. This was shown in ep1.

All of the demons attacks WERE successfully defended against. Even the petribreath wore off of his hand once the "Resist Petrification" skill was unlocked.

He consistently has full HP, since nothing has been able to do more damage to him than what his auto-regen can cover, and he probably has too much HP for incidental damage to even reflect graphically. Even the holy sword's stated DOT effect wasn't making any dent in the bar, so it took me an extra second to understand that there was one (and compelled me to slowmo thru the scene to see if the bar moved at all, which it didn't.) That doesn't mean that it doesn't cause pain to be injured, only that the actual damage is trivialized.

If by "CQC weak spots in MMOs" you meant positional/directional weak points or gimmicks, then you are utterly and absolutely wrong. Stuff like "don't stand in front of a dragon" and "aim for the front legs" has been around since MMOs have existed. There's even games built around "weak points" like Phantasy Star Online, where you actually have to aim at specific marked points.

Each and every time he is exposed to something that has a skill attached to it, (just about anything really,) we get the little popup that he learned the skill. In his skill screen, each skill is show to be upgradeable from 0-10. Even if he has 0pts in a skill, it's still active, just at a very low level. Maxing one out to 10 confers total mastery and powers it up significantly, most likely far beyond what normal residents of this world can obtain.

deadman80 said:


Even if you are a mere meat shield, you still have to learn how to properly equip yourself, how each of your abilities/traits/etc work and what each and every one of them actually do, and proper timing to use your abilities. I have never heard of a game where a "tank" literally stands around naked and does nothing. If such a game exists, it should not, because that is not a game. :x

Holding the holy sword in his hand and swinging it around does not count as "wielding" it. They even had a convenient flashback this episode that "if a Hero wields it, it glows blue", so since the glow effect wasn't activating, and there's some sort of damage received by equipping it, (we also don't know that there are not other additional negatives for non-Heroes to equip it,) he decided that it wasn't a great idea to use it.

Pain is a mental construct and not tied absolutely to damage taken. He probably feels the amount of pain that he is expecting to feel from an injury, even if the injury is much lighter than it should be due to his natural defenses and the pain fades faster than normal. (I think it came up in ep1 also when he discovered his auto-regen.. I'll have to rewatch it now to double check. ~_~;;) The point being that he will still have to overcome natural instinct and lack of training to be able to actually ignore incoming damage and threats. Giant demon dog thing is scary! Scary enough to make a "real world" programmer react in fear even if the worst damage that it is able to inflict on him is slobbering on his boots.

He did not one-shot the demon because he hit a "instant kill spot". He one-shotted the demon because he is OMGWTFBBQMCOPplznerf powerful. I have gone back to old raids in WoW and one-shotted bosses before once I was more than double their level. Satou was literally more than 5x the demon's level. It is not surprising at all from a game/MMO perspective tbh. Now I'm expecting him to intentionally keep the next attack spell he learns underleveled so he has something of normal powerlevel to use in front of others. lol

Valaskjalf said:


The character is more relatable I guess ? I'm pretty sure a lot of people who like this genre are gamers themselves.

deadman80 said:
@bitchassdarius: There is no stated connection (nor even an absolute one in actual reality,) between damage dealt and pain felt. Just because the attacks are as "damaging as mosquito bites", does not in any way indicate that the amount of pain felt would match.

There's been no where near enough time passage to adjust his mindset, and fear does not just go away. There is also no stated "scaling" involved. You can be in acute pain with little damage, or no pain from extreme damage, and that's in reality.
You can also catch malaria and DIE from mosquito bite. o_o Satou probably has a "Resist Disease" skill though.. XD

I brought up pain because pain, or more specifically the threat of pain, can be plenty enough to affect ones actions. Please don't assume that if you were shot in the stomach (and uninjured) while wearing a bulletproof vest that you would be able to ignore it just because you are not actually damaged. For someone who is not combat trained, it would be just about impossible to dismiss an incoming attack even if it would deal no actual damage, because the fear instinct exists. It is illogical to assume anything otherwise.

Swinging a rifle like a baseball bat would also count as "wielding" by your assertion. He could not use it "properly" since he was unable to make it activate without the "Hero" title, and that was proven by the negative status effects from it.

... And none of your arguments actually argue against the game-based systems in this show being remarkably consistent, even if buggy and poorly balanced due to the poorly implemented crossover between two games. XD

Satou's actions and reactions have all been determined by his personality, mentality, and instincts, not the system. You are wrongfully fixated on an unreasonable and illogical personal assumption of your own that has not come up at all anywhere in the narrative, and need to let it go. <3