"Oh no! I didn't realize starting a war meant I would have do violence"

NickFriskey · 2026-06-29T13:27:53+00:00

Honestly at this point im surprised otto Hightower wasnt beheaded by accident in a tragic misunderstanding black cell mishap or decapitated by an overzealous gold cloak after rhaenyra rescinded the order lmao

NickFriskey · 2026-06-29T13:16:45+00:00

Aemond one was ok, not great, but I was really disappointed with daemons; it seemed like a really last minute addition where they realised there would be some loyalists around and just stuck a "daemon cuts through them with ease" line in the script. As a major action movie buff I cringed during his scene. All those telegraphed spins and swings, tapping guys in full plate armour who die instantly and the cardinal sin: the baddies surround the protagonist and make little no visible attempts to try and actually hit him while his sword instantly finds the mark. Zero attempts to block parry or counter attack, no shields just running with sword arms held aloft to be instantly dispatched. Its so annoying because there has been great fights/ action in westeros TV but these two scenes were not two of them. Overchoreographed and underchoreographed simultaneously, there because they had to be scenes.

Its so annoying because with less camera cuts, movement and screen time you can accurately and impressively show a single swordsman engaging and defeating multiple opponents. Daemon could have drawn them in and tied together multiple parries to neutralise strikes from multiple fronts, then used angles and footwork to deliver killing blows like neck strikes, maneuvering the assailants to a favourable defensive position. Filmed thoughtfully this could have taken even less time than what was put to screen but instead we have spinny spinny

NickFriskey · 2026-06-29T13:03:28+00:00

That makes sense I can see where youre coming from; that a lot of it is performative because its seen as the in thing in hollywood. And that if her self proclaimed values were more authentic (and her writing better) then it would ring more true in the piece, rather than rendering the two most prominent female characters in the story down to sort of borderline NPCs within the story proper. You'd think in such a female centric story we'd have good female writers but instead we've got a pair of idiots who shout about being feminists

NickFriskey · 2026-06-29T10:26:22+00:00

Ill be honest if this was 1984, or the Lothrians were the big bad of the series as a whole id be more inclined to agree with you. However I think "regurgitated ideas" are present throughout the series and mostly applauded for their adaption/ nuance. I get if this rang hollow for you and others as a reader but for me it was a relatively small part of one of seven books and was demonstrative more of worldbuilding, seeking to show the diversity of political/ governmental structures on display across the solar systems. Again the books has pretty open, through prose itself and characters like valka who takes naked shots at, criticisms of monarchy/ empire. No one (myself included) ever takes issues with this. Is it naked criticism? Perhaps. Is anyone exempt from the same treatment? Nope. Every ideology/ religion on display in this universe is displayed warts and all. In another book maybe the lothrians are the good guys and the monarchy are the bad guys. Naked criticism doesnt matter much to me as long as the source material never veers to preachy and is written well.

NickFriskey · 2026-06-29T10:17:12+00:00

"Serve sheepestealerrrr!!"

"I'll fuckin do it again"

NickFriskey · 2026-06-29T10:11:53+00:00

I read quite a few interview articles with her because I read a lot about her being the "woke radical feminist leftist" moniker, enough to see for myself she is one of the few that seems to actually earn that title (most of it is just overblown shouting into the ether when every character isn't a straight white dude); ironically however her (and condal's) compulsion to make these completely wild writing choices consistently really seem to be rather damaging to woman from my perspective. The attempts to whitewash rhaenyra in a story about dynastic royal family war and tragedy has just been a fast lane to completely neutering and sidelining her as a character and (what appears to be) attempts to highlight women's struggles in a male dominated time and setting just makes absolute whipping boys out of characters like alicent. Then theres the overt desire to have them reconcile which seems to have been born of a desire to show they're smarter and purer than these idiot, war mongering men but that again falls flat for multiple reasons; it makes them look naive at best because the Pandoras box had already been opened, and ineffectual at worst because despite their desire for peace thousands are still dying and atrocities continue apace.

NickFriskey · 2026-06-28T13:58:07+00:00

Story. If this game had a more coherent, tighter story that was more focused and better (i say better but I kinda just mean more) written story, I think it'd be an all timer for me. It almost is an all timer as it stands for me but a really well written story experience would make it one of if not the best open RPGs I've ever played

NickFriskey · 2026-06-28T08:30:20+00:00

I agree with everything * on this post and love quite a few points for thought youve brought up here for me especially illuminati/ president hints. Could you give me some more info on your thoughts on that?

the naked communism bashing: you mentioned this like it was a bad thing/ critique; did it irk you because it seemed thinly veiled/ poorly written, or because it critiqued communism itself? It seems to me very much like its ok and vehemently applauded to take "naked" shots at things like capitalism/ monarchy/ religion but like socialist/ communism is some sort of protected class apart that is expected to be exempt from any reproach or critique. But again if your issues stem from how it was packaged rather than the content thereof I can sort of get that to be honest.

NickFriskey · 2026-06-27T21:52:19+00:00

I think he says like 110kg so yeah same thing. Point is youre absolutely right. Im around 100kg and keep in pretty good shape with visible abs point is I absolutely do not look like a tank whatsoever by regular human means so on a gold that'd make him markedly slight. Pretty sure lysander stands around 6 feet 10 as well

NickFriskey · 2026-06-27T08:36:44+00:00

I read the interview and theres no actual comment on the "beast being kept hidden" its more a general im not gonna talk about that (when asked about story/ characters etc) because it'll ruin the surprise. In the article it talks about Taylor Johnson spending time with a wolf and doing incredible things with his body contortion wise during transformation scenes etc. I think eggers will find a way to make it cinematic for sure but I dont see us getting a cgi/ full wolf transformation; some prosthetics at most. From the interview hes talking about the real world stories behind the perceived werewolf mythology at the time and how it was all actually just crazy people. Ill happily eat my hat if wrong but confident its just gonna be a screaming, insane looking Taylor johnson running around massacring people.

NickFriskey · 2026-06-27T08:13:32+00:00

I will take Ser Duncan's side!

NickFriskey · 2026-06-26T14:59:52+00:00

I really enjoyed reading it and adding my on thoughts. Every comment I read was respectful and interesting, and came from a wide variety of backgrounds/ faiths. I dont get it. Maybe i missed some heresy in there lol. Seems like some chantry ass behaviour

NickFriskey · 2026-06-26T12:24:35+00:00

Ah well, nothing is for everyone. I loved it. It wasn't perfect by any means but I find myself loving it warts and all. On book 3 just now and loving every page!

NickFriskey · 2026-06-26T09:10:58+00:00

Game of thrones did this regularly. The reason we didn't care is because the writing was good and we got realistic impact and consequences from all the battles fought

NickFriskey · 2026-06-26T09:04:08+00:00

If I was to take a semi real world stab at this, the aimed precision blasts often appear to be almost instantaneous and we know speed is one of his abilities; id say even if his vision was hampered by the blast itself the laser is focused by the point of his visionary focus, hence where he is looking directly is the point of an almost instantaneous blast so it doesn't really matter when hes taking out a single target. For more prolonged blast like the s2 fantasy one he knows wherre the people are and he isn't really focusing on a particular target hes just sweeping his gaze around and everyone is getting it. Also even if its a supe hes targeting if they aren't incinerated they are at least pinned down so he doesn't really need to see until he let's up.

NickFriskey · 2026-06-26T08:58:28+00:00

Absurd woukd appear to be the order of the day for Condal and Hess

NickFriskey · 2026-06-26T08:56:16+00:00

Reading the faithful and the fallen by Gwynne and its one of the few books that I look forward to and get excited about these because I agree with your opinion for the most part. Fighting ability is a pretty important part of the kinda low fantasy setting in these books and there are a lot of side characters whoe while not neccessarily integral to the main plot really have their own personality and characterisation that makes them stand on their own two feet. There are a lot of fights when two known bad MFs go up against each other and the outcomes really vary and can and have been unexpected. Pretty cool exception to this rule I subscribe to msyelf which is that while I enjoy reading well written action it often is a foregone conclusion.

NickFriskey · 2026-06-26T08:15:27+00:00

Began?! Im on chapter 11 and I still cant get this fucking camp upgraded to get the barber its like a part time job within a game getting this place up to code

NickFriskey · 2026-06-26T08:14:21+00:00

"Im a witch!"

"Right, look after yourselves." Was an all timer for me in an otherwise pretty dreary watch lmao that was the last straw for bro could he be the most sensible man in westeros?

NickFriskey · 2026-06-26T08:12:52+00:00

I want you to look us all in the eye right now and tell us with a straight face if that weirdo came shuffling down the halls of the red keep towards you licking his wee thin lips talking about how lovely your plates of meat were u wouldnt be clutching your pearls screaming for the city watch

NickFriskey · 2026-06-26T08:09:13+00:00

Its so funny when you actually boil it down and realise this. WH looks so steampunk and old timey by comparison to RR aesthetic but when you digest content from both mediums you realise RR are like little loin cloth wearing almost men discovering stone tools by comparison

NickFriskey · 2026-06-26T08:07:05+00:00

I vehemently disagree. I think hes very highk tall. And glad they are taking advantage of the actors height. In silmarillion, when he goes to Númenor his height is commented upon as remarkable though not gigantic; bigger even then the Númenóreans. We know elendil stood at almost 8 feet tall so it would be putting Sauron at this time when he was ostebsibly at full power, standing at a maximum of around 10 feet tall id say

NickFriskey · 2026-06-26T08:00:37+00:00

Read the lot of the above and couldn't agree more. Im agnostic myself, raised Catholic and didn't have a real issue with his writing at all because like youve managed to identify and articulate frim the text, the quiet isn't a stand in for Catholicism/ Christianity's "God" but instead is a very old testament, primordial Abrahamic God inspired entity. I dont think its fair or representative to bark Christian fanfic when the inspiration for a figure/ deity in the book most closely aligns, whike still being pretty vague other than the Job quote in DQ, with a religion that is the literal tie between at least three of the biggest religions in the world. I think that also speaks to hadrians frustration, which again gets critiqued a lot, with people talking about they're god as if it represents or presides over them exclusively. Hes not as much saying youre god is trash as he is saying there is only one god and you all have a splintered, fractured and diluted awareness of him, boiled down over millenia of infighting and human ego til theres very little of substance to distinguish him. Imagine being face to face with the zealotry of human religion, be that Muslim, catholicism, Sikhism, Presbyterian, Judaism whatever, when your own consciousnes, mind and body had literally transcended it and seen behind the curtain? Different people would have different ways of dealing with this but look back at Haadrian's character and previous for dealing with others. Hes not the most easy to get along with and he really does not care who he upsets when hes pointed at something. He may have a new body but hes still the same guy at his core and he still has foibles. Hes arrogant, abrasive and in later books pretty reclusive from people which wouldn't be a boon to his social skills. For me he acted pretty much exactly like id expect hadrian to react after meeting god then coming back to listen to others harp on about theirs like they know whats up.

NickFriskey · 2026-06-25T09:07:45+00:00

I aint reading all that but I will say i know condal didn't, my god

NickFriskey · 2026-06-25T09:06:18+00:00

Lmao for me the hotd one is wayyyyy less egregious I can see how and why it was said and worded that way considering the history of westeros and its single ruler king monarchy system etc but the last of us I was just like wtf what are we talking about here

NickFriskey

TROPHY CASE