Who Sharded?

Yeah I think Brandon took a different approach with Era 2 compared to Era 1. I think it's because he kind of wrote Alloy of Law on accident, starting as a short story or novella which turned into a novel. I wonder if Era 3 will go back to the length of Era 1 books, since Era 3 was part of Brandon's plan a long time ago. It's funny, the 600-700 page books used to be most of what Sanderson wrote (Elantris, MB Era 1, Warbreaker). We haven't gotten anything of this length since Warbreaker. It's either 1000+ page doorstoppers or shorter 300-500 page books.

I was surprised by the language. First Sanderson work with an F bomb! I assume that can be attributed to Kowal and not Sanderson?

I thought Adolin would bond with Maya and become an Edgedancer. I still think he's going to become a Radiant at some point. Pretty much every other important character is now.

You don't need fire flowers for that fight, or for any other that I can recall

I see more love for Nicodemus than anyone else. Now I don't necessarily agree, and I won't get into why because of spoilers. Not sure who I would say is the best villain. Most of the best characters are on the good side.

Wow I never see anyone talk about these books anymore. I absolutely loved the first two. Book 3 I thought was pretty good to but it's starting to get more straightforward. I haven't heard anything from the author in a long time and I don't know if he's still writing since he never found commercial success. He released a few books after Legends of the Red Sun but they're quite different and they don't have the multi-layered storytelling that he does best.

IMO Iron Gold is alright but easily the weakest of the 5 books. It was mostly a set up book, and none of the 4 storylines reached the heights of what we've seen before. I usually prefer multi-POV books, but this one felt awkward. Dark Age I think is the best book to date. It's by far the longest and most epic.

My problem with Blood and Bone, and Assail, is that it never felt like the tension ramped up. I was interested at the beginning of each book, but the pacing rarely changed from the beginning. ICE did do a really good job describing the jungle setting, horror sequences, and naval battles.

Wait for the remaster later this month

Wait for the remaster later this month

I like all 3 Xenoblades but 1 is by far the best IMO. I want to get the upcoming remaster but I just don't have the time...

Once you're able to stack multiple orbs and break them in an ongoing chain attack, it's so satisfying. You feel so powerful. Here's a handy chart on what elementals make combos. I wouldn't worry about the seals until you're in post-game. Just focus on creating orbs, then trying to do a chain attack where you can break one orb each round to keep it going.

Is #10 for Skyward Sword considered high? The game got great reviews when it was released, so much that Gamespot's 7.5 was controversial. It's not as highly regarded now, but I still think it's a solid mid-tier Zelda. I liked the controls okay except when they didn't work properly. Otherwise I don't really have complaints about the game. I understand my A Link to the Past opinion is controversial. I think it was the 6th Zelda game I played after OoT, LA, MM, and the Oracles. For 2D games, I much preferred the tight world design and focus on puzzles that LA and Oracles had, as opposed to the more open world and "monsters in dungeons" of ALttP. I understand that last sentence might seem ironic with me ranking BotW #1. For LoZ at the bottom, I don't know, I don't hate it. I just enjoy the other games more than the NES Zeldas. Zelda 2 was more interesting to me.

I've beaten all of them except for Triforce Heroes. I posted my ranking recently on reddit so I'll copy and paste it here: Breath of the Wild The Wind Waker Oracle of Ages Majora's Mask Oracle of Seasons Link's Awakening Ocarina of Time The Minish Cap A Link Between Worlds Skyward Sword Twilight Princess The Phantom Hourglass A Link to the Past Spirit Tracks Adventure of Link The Legend of Zelda I don't feel like ranking the Four Swords games