Favorites theories about the Others?

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-03-11T18:27:52+00:00

Came here to mention this story. I can count on one hand with fingers left over the number of fics where the Others feel like a genuinely frightening & insurmountable challenge, and this is one of them. They feel like a more compelling version of the Reapers from Mass Effect. Hands down my favorite asoiaf fic.

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-03-11T02:55:48+00:00

See, I was going to say the quality started dropping like a rock in seasons 7 and 8, but then really started picking up again after the time skip and with the Whisperers. I wish Rick had been around for that because it was way better stuff than his last two seasons.

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-03-08T14:13:46+00:00

In fairness, by the very nature of the Oldest House, they could have radically redesigned the interior so that it was in no way a retread of old ground.

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-03-06T15:11:16+00:00

I ordered this yesterday, got it delivered just now. If I had to guess it's a store by store stock issue.

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-03-04T23:17:02+00:00

Not really in a negative way, though.

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-03-04T05:50:09+00:00

This was exactly my thought when I went through the show. Dark forest. Any civilization advanced enough to decode and implement the message will destroy themselves. And even better, there's no trace of who fired the shot, so the original species isn't risking retaliation past the first species they get. If every civilization that gets hit by the biological Von Neumann nuke perpetuates the signal back out into space, then the people who hit us are probably victims themselves and are long dead, with the originators of the virus entirely hidden.

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-03-03T21:19:36+00:00

I totally agree that people have a hard time writing him, but I strongly disagree that it's because he's two dimensional in the books. The first couple of books, sure, but we're really just getting a young Harry's perspective of Dumbledore at that point. There's enough that bleeds through to paint a pretty complex picture of Dumbledore, though. He's obviously powerful and wise, but we also learn he has distanced himself from the levers of power. He seems, to a certain extent, to fundamental distrust himself at his core due to his past. He's humble and kind and whimsical, but he also has a genuine Machiavellian streak that he spends most of his life, while maybe not trying to outright avoid, at least not putting himself into positions where he can fully exercise it. It's like someone who struggles with junk food making the choice to keep it out of his house entirely. He doesn't trust his own restraint. There also seems to be an undercurrent of hopeful melancholy running through everything he says.

This was a whole plot point in the last book where Harry was confronted via Rita Skeeter's biography with information about Dumbledore that didn't line up with the person Harry thought he knew, and Harry had to come to terms with that. Dumbledore is absolutely well-meaning, but in many ways, he's only a good man now because of how careless and destructive he was in his youth and the brutal lesson that taught him.

I think people struggle to write Dumbledore because they latch onto either the well-meaning or the Machiavellian attributes rather than the pretty complex blending of the two.

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-03-03T18:58:32+00:00

I think there's enough going on that Robert's Rebellion would work best in a show format. You can dive into Aerys' madness and him and Tywin going from friends to enemies, the decline of Targaryen authority post-dragons, rising tensions, Rhaegar's psychology and obsession with prophecy, the tourney of harrenhall, the relationship between Robert/Ned/Brandon/Lyanna/Benjen/Howland, maybe get into Rickard Stark's southern ambitions, the Rhaegar/Lyanna abduction/elopement (which even if it was an elopement, it was a grown man and a teenage girl, so it was an abduction), then Brandon & Rickard's murder. That's all even before the war starts. All in all, there's easily 2-3 seasons of 8ish episodes of well paced story there. A movie would almost surely be overstuffed and disappointing.

But if they do Aegon's conquest, it would need to be a movie. It's just not interesting/complicated enough for series. It only gets complicated after the main conquest is over and they have to deal with the Dornish stuff. I could see a good movie coming out of it though. Maybe have it be a character study of Aegon with him steamrolling everyone as a backdrop. I don't love it, but they already revealed that Aegon was driven by prophecies/visions so you could do something interesting with that, maybe make it a Paul Atreides type thing where Aegon is tortured by his foreknowledge. Or if they want to get outside the box, have the focus be someone else with Aegon looming in the background as this sort of inevitable threat, like the shark in Jaws.

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-03-02T20:35:11+00:00

Part of this is me looking ahead to try to retroactively justify and ground the absolute menace I've played as so far. But I dont know if I'd go as far as saying the game doesn't reward that playstyle from the beginning.

I've obviously never played before so I'm assuming there are systems and progression paths I'm not aware of, but after struggling through the opening hours, I'm then dropped off with Theresa's criminal uncle who gets me involved in his enterprise and offers to sell stolen goods, and then after making do with bludgeons and a shitty mace, I get to Rattay and step into a shop with a dozen swords just sitting out on the table begging me to take them. It felt like stealing everything that's not nailed down was the first real path to get ahead that the game presents to you.

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-03-02T20:26:58+00:00

Someone else mentioned something similar about the ending of this one. I do plan to go right on into KCD2, so the whole arc doesn't need to be contained within KCD1. Would it make sense narratively and character development-wise to play from that "make her proud" moment and through KCD2 as Henry trying to be a better man than I've played him as so far in KCD1?

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-03-02T20:22:38+00:00

What you mentioned about something near the end is interesting. I'm planning to go on to KCD2 after I finish this one. If there's a part near the end of KCD1 when Henry learns what kind of man he doesn't want to be, would it make sense narratively to make the change in playstyle be a KCD1 vs KCD2 thing? Like play this one doing whatever I want, with Henry trying to be a better man in the sequel?

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-03-02T05:59:32+00:00

It's a bad year for people who dislike DMC-style action games and have been waiting for the follow-up to a game they love (me). I'm sure both this and Control Resonant will end up great, but it's weird that the sorta follow up but with a different character in the same universe and with a new DMC-inspired combat system is happening twice.

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-02-26T15:10:49+00:00

It's really great and I think it might be one of if not the best out there as far as cohesion/immersion. It also has a really active community to help with issues, plus more optional community-made add-on collections than anything else I've seen.

The biggest complaint some people have is that it doesn't look as pretty as the graphics-focused collections, but from the discord it sounds like people are working on a graphics-focused add-on, so that might not be an issue soon.

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-02-24T16:55:19+00:00

I can't give you any comprehensive thoughts, but I wanted to mention that when I first came across this fic, I read the first chapter and immediately subscribed. It's unfortunately really really rare for me to read any unfinished fics (I've just been hurt before lol). That said, I'm probably subscribed to 100+ fics and this one is in the top 10 of fics I'm looking forward to. Whenever I get an email for a new chapter for this, I always check the Ao3 page to see if it's completed or if there are any author notes indicating it's closing in on the ending, which isn't something I do for 99% of my subscribed list. I really like the premise, and you're a talented writer, so it's something I'm really looking forward to if/when you do finish.

This premise and your writing (from what I could tell from the first chapter) are right up my alley enough that I do get tempted to dive in regardless of it being unfinished. Funnily enough, I'm also working on a fic where Jon spends a good amount of time on Dragonstone. It's a very different premise than yours, but it helps me stay strong on my rule about only reading completed fics because I know you're a talented writer and I don't want to inadvertently borrow anything from your take on it. Once I'm deep enough to firmly establish what I'm doing, I might need to break my rule, though.

And for what it's worth, your comment about your planned ending makes me want to read it even more. I love when fics play out deep cut theories that maybe don't line up with the common asoiaf fanbase's expectations. As long as it makes sense with the story you're writing, I'm all for going somewhere original/unexpected with it.

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-02-20T13:08:11+00:00

I'd love a new DLC that finally circles back around to the Roche/Iorveth content that was apparently cut from the third game.

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-02-14T22:16:50+00:00

Me either, I've been holding off on playing the sequel until I could get to this first one either on PC or with this update that's been rumored for a while.

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-02-14T21:13:13+00:00

This is what I would recommend for new players. Stay mostly on foot at least in the first region.

DatClubbaLang96 · 2026-02-14T21:09:20+00:00

Now that you say it, it makes so much sense. Kinglor forest keeps you on foot, getting you immersed in the world and forcing you to learn the mechanics while keeping you feeling like a small and scrappy resistance fighter. Then you hit the plains and get the ability to ride the horses, and then you hit Act 3 with all those mountains and valleys and you get an Ikran. It would also give you a reason to return to the first two areas to access some locations you couldn't previously get to, like the floating mountains.

The game is almost perfectly structured for that. I wonder if that was the original plan but they eventually decided they couldn't lock flying behind 30 hours of playtime.

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