Overlord

[MFauli]

You're both wrong/dishonest.

Ofc, the hero's victory is always predictable in these shows. That's true for 99% of all fictional stories. The hero will ultimately win.

But the "how" is important.

And even in powerfantasies like SAO, Kirito had to show some struggle to win against a seemling overwhelmingly powerful villain (minus last season where he was a god, lol). The first season of SAO still holds up because of this. The fight against the grim reaper. Against the creator. And som others. That was exciting.

No battle in Overlord hold any excitement. Pardon, one battle did: The final battle in season 1 between Ainz and Shalltears. Hence why I got hooked to the series, because of that awesome battle. We never got something like it again.

The hero/main protagonist winning is inevitable. But how they go about it is very different. Overlord is like someone playing with god-cheat. Literally. And so far nobody else got the god-cheat to compete with him.

[Kraco]

You're both wrong/dishonest.

Ofc, the hero's victory is always predictable in these shows. That's true for 99% of all fictional stories. The hero will ultimately win.

But the "how" is important.

And even in powerfantasies like SAO, Kirito had to show some struggle to win against a seemling overwhelmingly powerful villain (minus last season where he was a god, lol). The first season of SAO still holds up because of this. The fight against the grim reaper. Against the creator. And som others. That was exciting.

SAO is no example here. I have read who knows how many dozens of isekai manga. Trust me, there are series where the MC is so overpowered their only challenges are those in relationships, which is actually also true for Ainz. Most of those isekai are boring, but a few of them do manage manage to cover for the lack of thrill with their general writing. It's kind of pointless to read them and expect challenges because they aren't coming. The exact target audience probably doesn't even want to see the MC struggle. It's kind of pity Ainz isn't making any progress whatsoever in his relationships either, so Overlord is lacking in that aspect.

[KrayZ33]

The hero/main protagonist winning is inevitable. But how they go about it is very different. Overlord is like someone playing with god-cheat. Literally. And so far nobody else got the god-cheat to compete with him.

Hence why I said it's not as much about Ainz as it is about the other characters and how they interact with Ainz.
This is why you wished someone to "enjoy watching several episodes about the culture and biology of lizard people." You did that because that kind of storytelling exists and it's why we know humans that are still fighting and struggling since season 1 fighting Ainz. And when I take a look at the opening, it seems like even more Human NPCs will be introduced that will have some kind of impact to someone...
I don't think we'll ever see another player.

We often know *more* about what the NPC factions and his minions are doing and thinking, than what we know about Ainz and his plans.
In fact, it's often seen and told that Ainz himself doesn't know shit and just reacts to what others planned and did and it's part of the comedy as well. Whenever he wants to do something it turns out to be extremely "simple minded" yet the other factions and his NPCs as well make a brilliant plan out of it and do way more than he intended to do.