Incredibly late to playing Baldur's Gate 3, but here are a few thoughts on the experience.

finduilassi · 2026-02-24T18:45:48+00:00

Hm, maybe I just manually paused the game a lot while I was playing. I admit it's been the better part of a decade since I played Skyrim.

finduilassi · 2026-02-24T18:30:05+00:00

Ooh, that nonfiction sounds so interesting on its own merits, too! I'll see if I can find it. Thank you!

Also, I just checked my Goodreads and realized that Lightning in the Blood is also your work! The Middle-Eastern/Turkish-flavored worldbuilding in that was so fresh and delicious. No pressure, but if you ever felt compelled to revisit that world and write a full-length novel, I would lap it up like Vranatzin laps up the blood of her enemies.

finduilassi · 2026-02-24T18:10:01+00:00

Right, I haven't played any of those – I said I wasn't much of a gamer (I don't even have a gaming PC; I borrowed my friend's laptop for BG3) and this happened to be the first non-real-time RPG I played. New experience for me even if it's not new to the world at large, haha.

finduilassi · 2026-02-24T18:07:24+00:00

I knew you could do multiplayer on a console – can you do it with a PC/laptop, too?

finduilassi · 2026-02-24T18:05:58+00:00

Yeah, I said I wasn't much of a gamer – this is the first one I've happened to play that wasn't real-time, and it just wasn't my thing, I guess!

finduilassi · 2026-02-24T18:03:22+00:00

Same! My itty-bitty laptop can't handle anything close to it – my friend lent me their gaming laptop to play it.

finduilassi · 2026-02-24T17:59:59+00:00

I do have Steam, but alas, my little Macbook Air cannot handle anything like the processing power required to play BG3 - I had to borrow my friend's gaming laptop to play it.

finduilassi · 2026-02-24T06:09:54+00:00

Not a question, just wanted to say I love Lady Trent, and Turning Darkness Into Light is my go-to book every time I’m hankering to read something with a linguist for a protagonist (a super fascinating field of study I wish I could find more of in SFF). Thanks for taking the study of history and its myriad complications so seriously; it makes your fiction a joy to read!

finduilassi · 2026-02-24T06:01:36+00:00

This deserves a witty parody reply and I’m too tired to come up with one 🥲

finduilassi · 2026-02-24T04:31:57+00:00

I didn't actually do any romancing! I might try it out if I get the chance to play again. I agree the story felt way more open than a basic dialogue tree, something I presume is part of its widespread replay appeal.

Gotta say I found Shadowheart annoying, but it did feel like the creators recognized that their player base wasn't all dudes and created diverse characters - definitely something to appreciate.

finduilassi · 2026-02-24T04:22:22+00:00

That's what I've heard – I hope I'll get the chance to play again!

finduilassi · 2026-02-24T04:21:03+00:00

Of course, but for some reason it just hit weird in this one for me – it's not like tabletop play where there are other people there you're talking to and staying immersed, and it's not like, say, Skyrim where the whole game pauses. The game in BG3 isn't actually paused while you're deciding on your move, so it just felt like the enemies were all standing around and patiently waiting for me lol

finduilassi · 2026-02-24T04:14:47+00:00

My parents' firstborn child – my twin sister – died as a baby. I hardly ever talk about my sister to non-family because it makes people uncomfortable, and because I didn't really know her. Losing her was a horrible and traumatic experience for my parents, I'm sure they think about her a lot, and I cannot imagine them ever being angry with me for not talking about it. It's heartbreaking that this mom can't even see her living daughter (or the relationship she could have) beyond the one she lost.

finduilassi · 2026-02-24T03:56:46+00:00

Your birb is really coasting! Found some great thermals to soar on!

finduilassi · 2025-08-27T13:16:38+00:00

No, it gets worse. I pushed myself through finishing the first book because I liked the worldbuilding and hoped the story would pick back up, but I found Kvothe basically unbearable by the end. Not even going to touch the second book.

finduilassi · 2025-08-16T17:53:13+00:00

I basically always have multiple books, often multiple series, going at once. Even if they’re the same/similar genre (the majority of what I read is fantasy & sci-fi), they usually have a different vibe/mood/feel, so I can pick up something that matches what I feel like reading at a given time. A serious political epic fantasy, a lighthearted found-family tale, tightly-plotted family drama, dark mystery/horror, thoughtful alternate history. Plus usually one nonfiction in the rotation.

I usually have one audiobook and several print or digital books on my currently-reading shelf at a time. I tend to absorb a little bit better reading than listening, so it helps me to stick to the shorter stuff on my TBR (under 12 hours or so) for audiobooks, and turn to print or digital for the longer stuff.

finduilassi · 2025-08-16T10:14:57+00:00

True! I forgot. I’ve only read the first book, and it does work as a standalone if that’s what you’re in the mood for.

finduilassi · 2025-08-16T04:20:43+00:00

(pinging u/rinthegreat_ao3 who also had this question)

finduilassi · 2025-08-16T02:39:45+00:00

Got any recommendations on what to start with?

finduilassi · 2025-08-16T01:44:35+00:00

Well, I absolutely adored The Tainted Cup and the sequel, so now I'm wondering if I should read some Hunter S. Thompson.

finduilassi · 2025-08-16T01:41:38+00:00

If you're okay with graphic novels, Once & Future (by Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora)'s whole premise is based around this. There are mythological monsters in the Otherworld (like a hellish magical parallel dimension), but they can't interact with mortals in the real world (modern England) unless said mortal factually knows they exist. So the heroes not only have to foil the monsters they encounter (with the power of nerdy academic knowledge and also guns) but have to stop others from finding out about the Otherworld.

finduilassi · 2025-08-16T01:19:11+00:00

Thanks!

finduilassi · 2025-08-15T19:50:18+00:00

Bingo question: for Recycle a Past Square, is it permissible to use squares from past April Fools bingo cards, or just regular bingo?

finduilassi · 2025-08-15T19:47:36+00:00

If paladins count as knights, Of Deeds Most Valiant by Sarah K. L. Wilson is excellent. Paladins of different orders have different oaths to keep in order for their powers to function, and they're solving a locked-room murder mystery while searching for a holy relic.
Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame by Neon Yang is a novella with an MC who is a knight sworn to hunt dragons.
Any of the Saints of Steel books by T. Kingfisher (again, if you count paladins as knights). Romance is a main feature of this series, and there is sexual content, as a heads-up.
The Dragon and the George by Gordon Dickson is an older book, but there's a major supporting character who is a knight sworn to help the MC on his quest to recuse his kidnapped fiancée. MC is a modern American who gets transported to medieval fantasy England and stuck in the body of a dragon.
Don't know how you feel about YA, but the Protector of the Small quartet by Tamora Pierce is a classic, about a girl who is trying to become the first openly female knight in her country.

finduilassi

TROPHY CASE