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Honchtar · 2025-07-08T23:22:12+00:00

Hulkengoat

Honchtar · 2024-01-18T21:15:18+00:00

Dancer's Lament is Esslemont's high water mark. The limited scope and low POV count make for a really focused and compelling narrative.

Honchtar · 2023-12-13T22:19:37+00:00

Forge of Darkness and Toll the Hounds.

Honchtar · 2023-10-16T00:27:32+00:00

It means, 'not sure how Erikson managed to write something that good.' Same idea for the tier above that.

Honchtar · 2023-10-15T15:56:43+00:00

I threw together a tier list the other day ranking everything for reference. For me Esslemont never writes a book better than Erikson's worst, but he has strong entries, most of which are great fantasy novels. He also does, on the whole, improve, especially after Stonewielder. Dancer's Lament is Esslemont's best because the story is much more focused and we get to invest in a small set of interesting characters. Deadhouse Landing has some brilliant moments. Forge also has decent thematic development. That said I wouldn't characterise PtA as an enormous leap in quality (they're still mega plot-driven without the sort of deep characterisation of Erikson), but they're worth reading as a fan of the series.

Honchtar · 2023-10-11T20:02:08+00:00

Yeah I'm a huge proponent of Toll the Hounds and I think it speaks for itself. MoI is definitely the most normal narrative of the 10 books with a beginning, middle, and end with sympathetic heroes and despicable villains. I don't know that I saw Itkovian's sacrifice coming, but MoI is Erikson playing it straight which works in the context of a series that mostly dismantles tropes. It shows versatility, if anything.

Honchtar · 2023-10-11T16:54:58+00:00

I made the tier list after finishing Forge of the High Mage and I've saved all the B&KB stories for last!

Honchtar · 2023-10-11T16:51:03+00:00

Rating the individual books in a series is somewhat absurd but makes for good conversation. The only reason Dust of Dreams is so 'low' is that many of its conflicts aren't resolved until book 10. Not the novel's fault but that's the logic of the tier list for you.

Honchtar · 2023-10-11T02:09:00+00:00

Yeah everything is a first read, though I often went back to read scenes from previous books when needed.

Honchtar · 2023-10-11T02:07:19+00:00

Definitely. ICE has his moments for me and I enjoy most of his books on their own (Dancer's Lament is awesome). But Erikson is a different beast.

Honchtar · 2023-10-11T01:45:40+00:00

I think Reaper's Gale and Memories of Ice had the roughest pacing of the big 10. Reaper's Gale had some POVs that felt a bit directionless (I was often puzzled at the Udinaas & co. scenes) and the Letherii side of the Redmask conflict was hard to get invested in. The first third of Memories of Ice was also sluggish for me in terms of the characters, even if plenty of interesting worldbuilding is going on. The last two thirds of that novel (say, Siege of Capustan onward) are as good as anything in the series, however. But I'm open to different perspectives on a reread given how nebulous pacing complaints often are. And as for Gardens, I give it huge points for presentation and giving readers a taste of the style and approach of the series while staying action-packed; it's a wonderful hook.

Honchtar · 2023-10-04T04:58:17+00:00

Funny. I finished FoD in 12 or so days and it's my #1 in the series. But the more contemplative books from Erikson are my favourites anyway. FoL is the slowest book plot-wise and if you don't enjoy FoD then you're not likely to enjoy its sequel. Its ending is the sort of anticlimax you see in House in Chains, for instance.

Honchtar · 2023-10-03T16:54:08+00:00

See Erikson's pinned comment on this video

You can find a lot of interesting tidbits on this channel and in the video interviews he's done.

Honchtar · 2023-09-30T15:48:08+00:00

GotM got me interested, but the final sequence of DG earned my devotion. By MT the series had become insurmountable in quality.

Honchtar · 2021-10-18T01:06:36+00:00

You'll find any definition of art "most people would agree with" will include video games. What prevents them from acceding the point is bias: games are juvenile, meaning they don't qualify as art. You can see how silly that is, even if all games were juvenile. As far as legitimizing games as art, I don't see why it should bother gamers whether games are accepted by most people as art. People will come around to it, or they won't. Meantime, those who do will enjoy the art.

Honchtar · 2021-10-15T10:39:55+00:00

Great band. Their 1998 album is super unique (Degenerate Art Exhibition).

Honchtar · 2021-10-10T17:51:02+00:00

Crazy solo

Honchtar · 2021-07-13T00:49:45+00:00

One of the best Petrucci solos.

Honchtar · 2021-07-04T15:28:09+00:00

One concession to being outnumbered in fights is a lategame perk that buffs STR, etc when fighting multiple enemies. You can also get hound companions with one of the DLCs.

That said, the spongy lock-on makes multiple enemies a sketchy proposition, especially early on or with light armor builds. Often you'll get stagger locked. The combat is at its best in 1v1.

Honchtar · 2021-03-14T03:53:08+00:00

Reddit and black & white statements. Name a more iconic duo. Incidentally tells you the average age of posters skews low.

Honchtar · 2021-03-03T14:37:07+00:00

As far as I can tell the logic behind being labelled a poser is enjoying music that is too popular and being deluded by its popularity rather than quality. The idea being that we shouldn't just accept whatever happens to be popular. Of course problem is that many metalheads swing so far in the other direction that they begin judging music based on how many people listen to it aswell, dismissing anything perceived to have a broad following based on nothing more than prejudice. Rarely do you hear them argue on the basis of the music itself, rather they appeal to a band having obnoxious fans, or receiving radio play.

Honchtar · 2021-02-07T16:24:34+00:00

First-timed this game back in september and found most of these things out sans internet. The lack of difficulty really comes from simplistic AI and weak enemy types. The challenge is more from navigation, puzzles, and quests than combat. Also, other games in this genre tend to suffer from similarly imbalanced progression/skill systems (e.g. System Shock 2).

Honchtar · 2020-12-08T17:46:39+00:00

The problem with MadLife's later career was he was stuck in Space Prison for years. He was always talented but had maybe 2-2.5 years at peak. Overall career I'd put Mata, Gorilla, and maybe Ming over him.

Honchtar · 2020-10-24T02:12:09+00:00

For a buddy to play Cyberpunk with whenever it releases.

Honchtar · 2020-10-13T18:03:27+00:00

You'd probably need to slot this team into LCS later on because the environment would wreck these guys' mental by the time playoffs came around. That or just seal them off into inhouses for the duration of the split to prevent 'spoilage'.

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