Yeah, I agree! I love fated lovers and stuff because I love the romantic idea that there is a perfect match for you out there, but it feels like lazy writing when it's only used as a plot device to force the characters together. A relationship is more than the attraction they have together. How are they communicating? Do they trust and feel safe around the other? The power imbalance in guideverse, omegaverse, and domsubverse (the worse of the bunch) sucks because there's always a victim where they are forced or willingly give up their autonomy to stay in the relationship. I think when the plot and world building is simplistic and lackluster, a shitty, toxic romance becomes obvious. Did the author even try or are they just using tropes?
I see that Guiding the Eccentric Tyrant is on your list that one is pretty good sci-fi intergalactic space stuff with guideverse but both espers and guides have the power to fight.
An omegaverse I love is Turning. The romance is very slowburn but is so satisfying. This story deals with a world where magic, divine power, and sword aura exists but then another power emerges. People start awakening with special powers and manifesting as alpha or omega. At first, it felt thrown in there BUT it becomes an integral part of the plot as MC tries to prevent the world from ending and make life better for everyone. I got started with the webtoon and continued to the novel. There's just this deep understanding and respect between the leads that I love so much. It's amazing I can't recommend enough. ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶
In terms of "no romance" action stories, ORV and S-classes That I Raised are splendid in system and world building.
Thank you! Yes, that is exactly it! I'd honestly prefer if authors just straight up said it was a soulmate au at this point... I forgot about dom/sub-verse. When I first started seeing it, I was excited because, yay, more bdsm content! I was so disappointed. Unlike guideverse or omegaverse, bdsm is a real thing and with the dom/sub-verse, it was so blatantly obvious that people just hopped onto the trend without doing any actual research into the topic. It pissed me off reading a dom/sub-verse manga, only for the characters who are dom/sub to not only a) hate their nature and b) use it more as praise/loving thing than a bdsm thing. Which, I know sounds sorta bad, but by making these manga focus on how the sub isn't a masochist/doesn't like being hurt, they usually used it as an excuse to tear down those that do enjoy those things and often painted sadists, or Dom's in the dom/sub-verse's as purely abusers. If you want to write about a praise kink, write about a damn praise kink! Don't paint the BDSM community as it's a place that allows abuse... As you may be able to tell, I get pretty heated about BDSM/kink as a topic lol.
Anyway. I do have Turning on my list as well lol. I haven't been into historical manga at the moment (plus I'm letting it marinate for chapters a bit) so I'm waiting to read it.
I have read and love ORV and S-Classes I Raised, tho I am taking a break to let them marinate a ton of chapters bc I like to read things in one, if not a limited, sitting.
"Netkama Punch!!!" (video game), "A Trace of the Wonder" (system), "The Hunter Wants to Live Quietly" (system), and "The Fallen Duke & the Knight Who Hated Him" (regression/historical; tho hasn't updated since 2023) "Necromancer Survival" (system; also hasn't updated since 2023) are other ones I like. Oh, and "A Mild Noble's Vacation Suggestion" except this one isn't BL, but it has the vibes and is a isekai not system/guideverse, still really good tho.
Honestly, I never thought of it in that way. BDSM always had terrible portrayal in media and I can now see why dom/sub-verse makes it worse. Oh man have you seen dom x dom ones where the more dominant one turns the other into a sub IT'S TERRIBLE! There's so much resistance and straight up abuse. It's basically mindbreak
I dislike the guideverse. There are some guideverse's out there I like but a majority, to me, just aren't it.
I like system/dungeon (in general and BL) because of the action/fighting as well as the weak to strong/hiding how strong they are tropes.
Guideverse's don't really do that, they're like a slightly better omegaverse. More often than not, it's just one character manipulating the other, playing tricks on them, or straight up forcing them to do something they don't want to do; it reminds me all too much of a bad company/office drama with the power imbalance and blatant misuse of authority.
Obviously if I don't like it, I won't read it, nor will I bash on any particular manga as it is popular for a reason. I just with there were more system/dungeon BL where the romance isn't a priority, or, at the very least, is incorporated into the overarching plot in a way that doesn't distract from the main objective.