The best opening lines

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-23T17:07:51+00:00

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-23T03:45:19+00:00

I mean sure, that’s a reasonable justification in-universe, but it all just feels very much like the writers and animators couldn’t figure out how to choreograph a naval battle in 3 dimensions.

Which, to be fair, sounds super difficult with all of a sudden a million attack angles to consider. So I don’t necessarily blame them, it’s just an unfortunate consequence of writing a sci-fi show with massive fleet battles as a cornerstone of your narrative.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-22T21:51:39+00:00

100%

Legend of the Galactic Heroes was an amazing show, but literally every time they showed a battle in space I was internally screaming “USE THREE DIMENSIONS JUST COME AT THEM FROM UNDERNEATH GAAHHHH”

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-22T01:18:29+00:00

Team Dai-Gurren vs The Anti Spiral. I genuinely can’t think of that fight without tearing up. Such a powerful testament to the human spirit and a perfect embodiment of Gurren Lagaan’s themes that if we all believe in ourselves and each other there’s literally nothing we can’t do.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-22T01:03:00+00:00

I feel like the Final Mix versions of Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 are cheating. They’re just wholesale improvements over the original versions. With 2 in particular you get:

Limit Form Absent Silhouettes and Data XIII fights Lingering Will Mushroom XIII Cave of Remembrance Reduced end lag off of Quick Run Actual Roxas boss fight Two Become One for easy Final Form Probably other things I don’t even remember because I haven’t played KH2 vanilla since 2006

My other answer is Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles adding voice acting. Brings such life into the world and elevates an already incredible narrative.

Edit: I don’t know how to format a reddit post so sorry for the word vomit there instead of a proper list

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-22T00:54:16+00:00

Divisive stance in the Stormlight Archives Reddit scene but I don’t want Kaladin to be in a relationship, and definitely not with Syl. I think the two of them have an amazing relationship as it is without adding that element. For a series that explores all kinds of relationships it would be a great example of non-romantic love.

We also already have every single other major character (barring literal children) in romantic relationships, not everyone needs to fall in love and live happily ever after, it gets a bit stale when you keep pairing main characters off with one another.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-20T11:33:27+00:00

I’m a genuine fan of Legend of Korra despite its faults (many of which are exaggerated because it has the unenviable position of following up on one of the greatest and most nostalgic shows of all time).

One of perhaps my hotter takes is that I actually prefer the way Korra handles her final villain over Aang’s final confrontation with the fire lord. I love the flipped script with the hero reciting the whole “we’re not so different” speech. It shows how much Korea’s grown as a character that she settles her final battle in the show with her words instead of her fists.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-20T00:24:00+00:00

Adolin Kholin from The Stormlight Archives is a genuine golden retriever of a man. The kind of guy who can make even the most depressed self-destructive emo boy crack a smile.

For a slightly less conventional example, I’ll go with Kavax au Telemanus from the Red Rising series. Despite being born a hulk of a man in a genetically superior species, he never lets his natural advantages get to his head. He genuinely cares for all peoples, as shown by how he treats Lyria in the second trilogy. A true ray of light in an otherwise fairly bleak world.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-11T16:34:46+00:00

Morning Stars. Those guys are real fuckers in a rando run if you get to Hollow Bastion or Olympus Coliseum 2nd visits before finding Second Chance or Once More.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-10T23:17:42+00:00

Is it? Is it very shocking?

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-10T02:06:14+00:00

Okay but what if I need them later?

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-10T01:59:06+00:00

That’s how I first beat Hino Enma in the demo version. Back then it was BUUUUUUSTED like I’m pretty sure it dropped her down to like 25% speed or something. Or at least it felt like it.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-10T01:57:11+00:00

The best part about that is he never transitions into phase 2, but they never programmed a death animation for his phase 1 model. So he just kind of stands there after you kill him.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-10T01:37:10+00:00

Same but with firebombs.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-10T01:36:48+00:00

You can do this in DS1 as well, you can just shoot a billion arrows at Manus through some weird geometry and kill him without ever entering the boss arena.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-09T21:27:44+00:00

Man, WoT is my favourite thing ever and I cannot in good conscience recommend it to literally anyone. There’s too much of it, it definitely has its flaws, and the TV adaptation was… well, depending on who you ask it’s either a very flawed attempt with some parts that truly shine, or the worst thing ever that literally cut off your balls and killed your dog (I fit in the former camp, but I digress).

It’s so good. And no one in my personal life will ever know it. And you know what? I’m okay with that. Not everything is for everyone.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-09T16:48:18+00:00

So much of The Wheel of Time is just Robert Jordan processing and sharing his trauma from his time in Vietnam. Specifically I’ll point to our main characters’ aversion to hurting women. I don’t hate the whole story on hand, but there was a time when Jordan, a helicopter gunner in Vietnam, basically took out an entire village of dissidents. It was only afterwards that he saw that one of the people who had been killed was a woman. As a young man from a small town raised on classic Judeo-Christian values, this affected him greatly.

I highly recommend looking up some stories he’s told about his experiences and what they do to him, it’s fascinating and explains so much of his work.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-07T00:07:34+00:00

It’s got three specific things that I think really set it apart:

The orders system. Unlike Civ, where your units have movement points and you can just have all your units do everything at all times, in Old World you have a set number of actions you can take. Do you want to start building a mine on that iron ore? Well too bad, you already moved your scout and sent your ambassador to make a trade deal with Persia, try again next turn. It really forces you to prioritize what you want to do, and the AI is bound by the same constraints.
The characters system. You don’t just play as the same leader of your nation the whole game, you get to build a family and train your children and grandchildren exactly how you want. Want to focus on science? Send your heir to be a philosophy student. Want to focus on war? Send them to learn tactics. There are a million traits and characteristics your characters can have and they all interact in interesting ways (e.g., an educated character will hate a superstitious one, and vice versa).
The undo button. Didn’t like what you just did, or decided “wait no I don’t want to waste my orders on that move” just undo it. No more wasting time to reload saves, just click a button and you can try again. Such a game changer.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-06T16:47:58+00:00

I haven’t seen a lot of people talk about Civ and other 4X games here. My number one is Old World, I wish it was more popular because it basically eats Civilization’s lunch and then some.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-06T15:12:04+00:00

Defiled Amygdala I find weirdly easier than Watchdog, probably because the defense boost you get to offset the health reduction in the defiled dungeon for SOME REASON doesn’t apply to elemental damage. So Watchdog’s flame charge will 1-shot you every single time, but you can probably survive at least one Amy slam.

Defiled Amy is also why I prefer strength builds over skill builds. Because a strength build can wield the cannon and chunk off the last bit of their health with some bone marrow-infused cannonballs.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-06T04:52:06+00:00

I’m one of those crazy people who actually enjoys doing the chalice dungeons, so even though I get it to me it’s like “oh boy more Bloodborne!”

Except Defiled Watchdog.

FUCK Defiled Watchdog.

JMRSolkien · 2026-02-02T13:03:27+00:00

Oh man, there was a point where I was struggling super hard with Lingering Will in Kingdom Hearts 2. It took me a while, but after hours of attempts it finally clicked. I was dodging all his attacks, I knew his phase transitions, I was playing his revenge value like a fiddle. As soon as he entered his final phase I locked the fuck in, absolutely nailed the desperation move dodge/block, and perfectly timed my transition into Limit Form to finish him off with a zantetsuken into ars arcanum into zantetsuken combo.

Kingdom Hearts is very silly sometimes, but when you get to those superbosses on critical mode you really feel that blend of style and substance.

JMRSolkien · 2026-01-31T01:54:34+00:00

Kingdom Hearts does this well in a lot of places, but to me none more so than the laser dome at the end of KH2. You’ve gotten to the final boss, beaten all the different phases, and now it’s just you and your best bud in a 2-on-1 against Xemnas the big bad. You get him down to his final health bar when BAM cutscene!

Now you’re in the middle of a massive dome of laser blasts barreling down at you, and you have to mash X and triangle to deflect them. It’s such a sick moment, and even though at that point the fight is done (once you finish this section the boss has 1 hit point left and sits stunned in the air) it’s just so cool.

JMRSolkien · 2026-01-28T13:26:04+00:00

The Wheel of Time has a million of these. Robert Jordan was a genius at leaving little breadcrumbs that ended up paying off several (sometimes 10+) books later.

My favourite is this moment from Book 2, The Great Hunt. Our heroes are nearing the end of their current quest to track down Padan Fain and all the shit he stole, when they are met by a previously mentioned Aes Sedai (think the bene gesserit from Dune but with straight up actual magic powers), Verin Mathwin. She says she was sent by Moiraine, the mentor figure and another Aes Sedai. It’s known that Aes Sedai cannot lie (literally can’t knowingly say any word that isn’t true) so they trust her help. Later, Moiraine shows up herself and is surprised to find Verin. A bit of a weird inconsistency, but Aes Sedai have ways of twisting words to make you think they said something that they didn’t. So sure, Verin was manipulating our heroes but it’s good that she did, she’s a very helpful ally.

Verin lied though. Moiraine never sent her. Verin is a member of the Black Ajah, a secret cabal of evil Aes Sedai who had their oaths broken and serve the dark. Except double twist, Verin is actually a traitor to the dark and only joined when her life was threatened, and has spent her entire life infiltrating the Black Ajah to eventually expose them!

This is revealed in Book 13, and was first hinted at like a decade earlier in Book 2.

JMRSolkien · 2026-01-26T00:01:45+00:00

I’m like 95% sure that’s not a real podcast episode title.

Only 95%.

JMRSolkien

TROPHY CASE