I read Game right before Clash of Kings came out on the recommendation of a friend. It's really not that bad if you aren't an impatient dick.

I'm with you 100%. The show is good, but the books are way, way better and I'd rather experience the story that way.

FWIW, I remember reading an interview with him a loooooooong time ago where he said that the books would purposely expand in scope and then collapse back in on themselves by the end. I think end portion of Dance is the beginning of the condensing process.

That was the original ending of the book before it was split into Feast and Dance. Everything after the point in which the Feast-Only POV characters show back up was originally supposed to be in Winds of Winter, and then the publisher made(or strongly suggested) that he move stuff from the end of Dances back into…

I just googled it to confirm, and that's amazing.

I would very much like them to release the "Zodiac Brave" version that Japan got and the US didn't. Basically, instead of having one giant license board the characters "buy" into different paths that are representative of traditional FF job types and are then locked into those jobs.

In the new game I just started I put a shit load of points into sneak, ran through hidden valley to Neil's shack, and then snuck past the Deathclaws VERY slowly and got to Freeside while still at Level One.

King Bomb.

It's a(really dumb) wrestling thing.

This is more of a prologue than a tutorial, but as someone just recently started playing it for the first time the opening section of Baldur's Gate II is BRUTAL.

I think I discovered that on my third or so play through of that game and it blew my mind.

Nobunaga and Genghis are probably going to turn on you.

I am one of "those people" who prefer 3, and you pretty much nailed why. Unstructured exploration YAY. I'm also less than enthralled with the faction loyalty stuff. I think it was a good idea but I don't think it worked like they intended.

Granted, it's been a while since I played it, but I always felt like the espers and higher ranked hunts were like puzzles who, if they weren't easy, were at least logically approachable once you figured out the trick.

That enemy up there in the FFXII screenshot? That thing is an ASSHOLE.

"Ayup, there's a price to be paid for having things convenient. Used to be, a man had to go to the store to buy himself a pitcher of milk, ayup, but men got lazy. They wanted that milk delivered right to the door. Only problem was, fella who delivered that milk ended up fucking your wife. Sure you had your nice cold…

Well, now I feel bad for totally scrolling over this earlier, on multiple occasions. Somehow.

Call me Old Fashioned, but when the giant who holds up the earth finally dies, we are screeeeeewed.

I don't believe that it was possible to be a young human in the early 90's and never seen KITH. Comedy Central/The Comedy Channel/whatever it was called then aired them CONSTANTLY.

The "Plant or Animal" bit from Viva Variety was brilliant.