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.

8 hours ago, urrutiap said:

Paper Mario Origami. Was doing great until I got up to the pencil boss.  i was getting frustrating with the moving around of the circle rings and I didnt have enough fire flowers. So I pretty much restarted the game.

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

On 9/30/2020 at 11:12 AM, aneonfoxtribute said:

Who is generally considered the best villain in Dresden?

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.

5 hours ago, Kasimir said:

Partway through Mark Charan Newton's The Book of Transformations, which is Book #3 in Legends of the Red Sun. I like it, I just don't seem to be nearly motivated enough to want to finish it. The worldbuilding is really fun though, and I'm really enjoying the rumel Inquisitors.

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.

On 5/29/2020 at 5:16 PM, Hentient said:

@Ammanas I love them too! Im actually in the middle of Iron gold (by middle I mean practically just started it) I took a "little" break to reread stormlight before I started the later two. Ive heard Iron gold is pretty bad but Dark Age makes up for it? Anyway, I didn't see anyone else with it in their top 5, and was a little worried. 

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.

On 5/1/2020 at 6:13 PM, Eluvianii said:

I'm really tempted to start a second game right away and give it the attention it deserves (which hopefully would mean finishing the game in less than two years this time), but I just know the same would happen. I need to lessen the amount of games I'm playing by a lot before doing that, but it'll happen.

Wait for the remaster later this month

On 5/1/2020 at 6:13 PM, Eluvianii said:

I'm really tempted to start a second game right away and give it the attention it deserves (which hopefully would mean finishing the game in less than two years this time), but I just know the same would happen. I need to lessen the amount of games I'm playing by a lot before doing that, but it'll happen.

Wait for the remaster later this month

23 hours ago, Briar King said:

No where near as good as 1 though! 

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...

On 4/4/2020 at 11:47 PM, Briar King said:

It is complicated isn’t it?

See here I am this whole pretty much when I see the pretty’s circling I tried to time my arts just right thinking I had to hit at the prefect time. No wonder why I never got a pop... and I very rarely even the do the chain attacks. The revives are worth more to me.

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.

11 minutes ago, Dunkum said:

I'm really curious about how high up you have skyward sword and how low you have both the original and Link to the Past.  I understand the original being pretty low, personally i find most NES games almost unplayable these days, but the very bottom, even below zelda 2?  and likewise, skyward sword is in my bottom 3 without question, so i'm curious about why you have it as high as you do?

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:

1. Breath of the Wild

2. The Wind Waker

3. Oracle of Ages

4. Majora's Mask

5. Oracle of Seasons

6. Link's Awakening

7. Ocarina of Time

8. The Minish Cap

9. A Link Between Worlds

10. Skyward Sword

11. Twilight Princess

12. The Phantom Hourglass

13. A Link to the Past

14. Spirit Tracks

15. Adventure of Link

16. The Legend of Zelda

I don't feel like ranking the Four Swords games

On 1/5/2020 at 9:14 PM, Ookla the Prolific said:

Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan.  I honestly think it is excellent despite a lackluster opening.  Well written, interesting and with a plot structure a bit like Brandon's and a bit like GRRM.  The plot itself is a bit cliche.

I'm on book 4, and this series has grown on me with each book.  I wasn't quite sold at first because it's slower paced than the Ryria Revelations.  But I'm really enjoying all of the character growth, and how minor characters from early on step into bigger roles.

On 12/3/2019 at 9:05 AM, GreyPilgrim said:

I don't think that was the case, but I could be misremembering. I found the use of pronouns in the book particularly interesting, and I was extra attuned to them because I am actually a linguistics major currently writing my senior thesis about the gender-neutral singular they.

As a linguistics major, is now correct to use "they" as singular?  I know it is correct for social purposes.  But pronouns were drilled into my head in the early 2000s, and reading Starsight is jarring for me.

7 hours ago, Briar King said:

Hmm I have 1&2 in TPB which is all I thought they released as. Guess will have to wait then but my BAM doesn’t even have the HC in either.

I have only ever seen 1 & 2 in TPB, and 3 in HC.  I'm hoping 3 will come out in TPB eventually.  Not even Amazon has a TPB of 3, and usually they release the TPB at the same time as the HC.

They have some cringey dialogue but I always enjoyed watching them.

I feel like the prequels started off a trend that I don't care for.  That is nerds hating things very passionately.  I just can't really get behind passionate hatred for anything.

I'm about 250 pages into The Burning White.  It's alright so far but I'm not really hooked.

I am happy to see all of the positive impressions of the book.  Reviews elsewhere have been more mixed.

I have a feeling Wheel of Time will disappoint, and I don't have any faith in Game of Thrones prequels.

The Witcher and HDM look high quality, but I haven't read any Witcher books and I wasn't a fan of the HDM books.

Kingkiller and Dark One might not happen (not a fan of Kingkiller either).

Lord of the Rings could be interesting, so I voted that.

Also Starsight and Brian McClellan's Blood of Empire to conclude his trilogy this December.  And we got Pierce Brown's Dark Age recently.  This is the most stacked 6 months or so of fantasy releases that I can remember.

On 9/5/2019 at 8:25 PM, Jaywalk said:

It’s personally my favorite game of all time; I know @Lord Furret feels the same way. It’s a truly amazing experience.

It's my favorite game of all (Reyn) Time as well

10 hours ago, Briar King said:

and I’m still also playing Xenoblade 2 but that game is really pissing me off with the Merc mission stuff. It’s taking forever on certain ones and sometimes I just have to bite the bullet and let the game run while I read or watch some tv to eat the clock up which I hate to do as it feels like cheating but to hell with it.

I understand your frustration, but I felt like there was plenty of other stuff to do in the game while waiting. Like I thought Ursula took forever to level up, but looking back I completed her relatively very early in the game.  

12 hours ago, The Kraken's Daughter said:

Just about to start Part 4 of TWOK. But I'm looking at the names of the characters to be featured in this part and...no Shallan?!

  Hide contents

Szeth just wrecked the crem out of the power structure of her country. All those other nobles that were just waiting to pounce the instant her father's death became known probably just got stabbed. And we don't get to see her reaction?

That fight scene with Szeth was ridiculous, though. I wish we could see that in a movie.

 

She wasn't in Part 2 either

On 4/13/2019 at 4:40 PM, Briar King said:

idk maybe a Wolfe New Sun reread.

Crazy timing here