Yeah. After the lizard people it goes completely off the rails. It started as an interesting concept but I get the feeling that the author just lost interest in his main premise and decided to abandon it.
At the moment it's focusing on the drama surrounding people in another kingdom and I couldn't care less.
Ainz is currently an undead, so his emotions are greatly suppressed to the point that he is /almost/ emotionless. He knows on an intellectual level that he used to be a human and so should care about them, but his undead status makes him not care about people he didn't already have some emotional attachment to from before he became undead. As for his floor guardians, he cares about them a ton actually. He thinks of them like his children tbh, because they're the "children" of his precious guild members.
Of course it feels like a story from the villain's point of view, because that's what it is. That's why this series is such a refreshing change of pace within the Isekai genre, because the main character is not a hero or good guy in any way. The Lizardmen are supposed to be sympathetic, that's why they're the main focus of the arc, because for all intents and purposes, they're the good guys, the resistance, the people you naturally want to root for. As far as the arc following the Lizardmen Heroes, the whole point is to observe what this chaotic and amoral group is doing to the world around it, and if you don't enjoy it don't bother with the rest of the series, because the political drama doesn't go away.
You're allowed to dislike it, but at least understand that nothing about the story's structure and content is a mistake or poor/unfocused writing.
It's a story about a gamer who gets stuck in his character in an MMO turned real.
There's a TON of stories that could be told with that in mind. And the author even did that for quite a while.
Then he seemed to get bored with the concept around when the lizard people show up, and decided to focus on other stuff instead.
Frankly, I abandoned this one at that point and started reading Re:Monster, goblin slayer and Dungeon Meshi instead.
The set up by the end of the first arc was that the NPCs were going to take over the world and present it to Ainz. Game mechanics and reminders that Ainz isn't native to the New World continue to be present throughout the story, but the fact that the conquering of nations was going to happen was known very early. When the story is told from the perspective of the villain, there have to be those that oppose them to serve as the "good guys", and during conquest, the conquered almost always serve that role. Whether that's the Lizardmen or the Re-Estize Kingdom, the victims' stories have to be told for the story to be compelling when the protagonist is evil. At no point did the author "get bored" with the video game-based Isekai concept, because the focus was always going to be on interactions with the inhabitants of the New World. The first three arcs were set-up for the rest, not "the original plot" that got abandoned.
Like I said, you can dislike it, but you should understand that the series is not as poorly written or unfocused as you seem to consider it.
Agreed. Momonga (or the human) isn’t a psychopath. However since he became Ainz (literally becoming an undead) he made to feel like that. I mean come on undead. Why would they care about human. We r just seeing the change he goes thru but he loves everyone in the guild or fortress (whatever it’s called). If u saw the anime, u can see Ainz’s rage a little bit when his comrade got hurt. It better felt if u read the light novel. He’s literally becoming his character and Ainz is someone who only cares about his subordinates n benefits. Other than that what matters? He’s no longer a human so not a psychopath
Agreed! I don’t understand why everyone keeps saying the author got “bored”. If he did this story would end when Ainz got the Wise King of the forest/the hamster
Yeah I agree more.... I think watching the anime will makes sense more ...... Anyways, he becoming more more of his character and also I think he still think is a game not a real world ..... or 50 - 50....
Agree
Only on chapter 18 right now, but as it stands it seems like Ainz is a psychopath. He doesn't seem to care about anyone, even if he knows everything is real. Even the people close to him (the level guards) he cares only of them as creations. I see this as a story of the villain's view. And as they are about to go into war with the lizard people I can't help but side with them (the lizards). They distribute more human chartists then our main group.