A Blog with a purpose to discuss important things in life, like politics on multiple levels (mostly swedish), music, movies and video games together with the challenges in my personal life (that is none actually, it's just a smooth ride, or is it?).
And now it's snakes, wonder what the third book cover will be.
Well, I had to read the continuation, only took me a year. I read the first two chapters and just had to stop since Tamea did the most stupid thing ever and I just couldn't handle it. Verven and Gizma have been doing some shady things to provoke fights to get money from people. This time it goes awry and they are set upon by the city guard and Tamea can't help herself by showing them Verven's gold coin, you know, the greedy corrupt guards that have no qualms taking from the people that we where shown earlier in the chapter? I just tapped out from reading it that time. I could also have been that I got some games worth playing that just took my interest as well, but it took some time getting back, and then I read the rest in two evenings.
The most interesting question on everyone's mind, how was the writing? Much better, there was only one instance in the whole book with an english word, "sorry". The rest perfect. So story after the early debacle is that they are helped out of the prison the guards threw them in by a duck crime lord that task Gizma with bringing her the head of Tamea's mother. She was last seen in the forest of Verven's elven clan. They go there and not to be killed they have to kill the elf-ear hunter in the tower out in sea. They get there and it turns out that the orc shaman living there isn't an ear hunter, but Verven's true father which unravels all the lies his mother told him about his birth and such. His father seems to kill himself in realisation that his love he waited 18 years for wanted to kill him. They return to the elves and all hell breaks loose since it turns out Tamea's mother is still alive, but the Verven's mother tried to kill her son since the union of an orc and elf is the chosen one to begin the end of the world as he is destined to awaken the sleeping dragon and when that happens the demons will awake as well.
Well, they escape and the hunt is on. I really like the book. A lot happens in 200 pages and it goes by fast. Lucky the third book will be released in September 2025 (August 2025 as of writing). Kirby the Forgotten Land for Switch 2 will be out in a week so we will see if I'm in a reading mood or if that will have to wait until next year when the signs align and the window of opportunity for reading opens up again.
As noticed, I haven't been playing games lately, but reading books. Finished up reading the collection on H.P. Lovecraft after 5 years. Interesting concepts in his stories and such, but man, it was hard reading at times. So afterwards I read through this book that is part of the new release of Sweden's own Dungeons and Dragons game, Dragonbane or Drakar och Demoner (aka Dragons and Demons, most speculate that direct translation would have been to close to actual Dungeons and Dragons). I actually bought it since it had an adventure for the game in it and I actually wanted a book in Swedish since otherwise it's just english books like Dragonlance, Jules Verne or Tolkien I have laying around and Tolkien is the only one I have some Swedish versions of, but new translation with the worse names and such.
Still, this book was written by E.P. Uggla and follows the adventure of Tamea, a 13 year old girl that one days awakens when her tattoo begins shining and causing pain on her. She believes it has something to do with her older brother that have the same tattoo, but it causes her father to decide on marrying her away so she leaves on her own.
Also on the adventure is Verven, an half-elf, half-orc that lives on stealing from passersby that gets caught in a swamp and the assassin mallard Gizma that are looking for revenge on Tamea's brother for killing her assassin clan. So basically, no one trust each other and there is snark to go around for this group. They have to fight elf-ear collectors, spiders and avoid Tamea's bodyguard that looks to bring her back home. I enjoyed it for what it was. Easy to read and a fun adventure with the right emotional payoff in the end. Worst offender for the book is that it pretty much ends on a cliffhanger and a couple unanswered questions so I guess I have to lookout for a continuation.
Well, that's for the story, the real worst offender (and the reason I had to write about it and get it of my chest) is that the language they use at times is atroucious to my sensibilities. Probably hard to express in english, but take for example in the early chapters they talk about "tjejer", which means girls, no problem, the problem is that is a loanword from Scandi-Romani from the 20th Centuary. It's a fantasy setting, it breaks my immersion and they used it twice. And I know it's nitpicking but I can't stop thinking about it. Another example is that they peppered the text with english words as is. One instance Verven thinks about how stupid this is that he is walking to the Vale of Mists with the exact quote (except where I censured it, gotta think of the kids) "Dimmornas f***ing dal". What are you doing? They also throw in "Fine" and "Yes"! It's probably fine in a roleplaying game table, but I'm trying to get immersed in this world and english words that come out of nowhere is kinda bothersome! I know it's petty since there is only 5 times this happened in a 200-page book, but it bothers me! Not only me, I read a blog reviewer also mentioning it!
Doesn't help that I've been listening to Prancing Pony Podcast that talks about Tolkien's world in the Silmarillion and so on, and they stress that language came first and then the world. Language forms the world and therefore the world is so easy to get lost in since it's coherent. Here they break that immersion with the language. Adding insult to injury a long time ago I myself tried writing my own fantasy world and books around it and I got stuck at the language. I deduced that since I wanted different languages, but since I wasn't a linguist I made some choices. The Gods would have closer to latin since I equated them with Romans both in dominance and appearance while the elven kind was closer to ancient greek and philosophies and such. Names reflected that and names for places and such could have different names, but the same meaning depending on who said it and so on. It makes the world more alive, and this is just the cheapest way you do it. And they didn't bother here! Hell, I began looking for different names for elves since it wouldn't jive with the languages and therefore I made them different from the elves of Tolkien or Warcraft or whatever, the language creates the world. It's the same reason there's this discourse in social media (in February 2024) about the yellow paint in game design. In visual media the design creates the world and when someone paints the ledges yellow without reason it breaks immersion. I so have the pulse on the world 1 year after the discourse that will probably die away within a week! Better throw in a Cerveza Cristal reference while I'm at it!
What a strange time on social media
Now, I ended listening to an interview with the author on youtube and she explained that apparently she had very little time for writing the book, and maybe its just an effect of that, and I can understand that. Still, one might have thought that one of the biggest book publishers in Sweden might have someone proofread and actually question some choices, but I guess the cash needs to flow and we don't have time for that (or afford it). Who cares about quality, right? She also mentioned that the second book is on it's way in august 2024 and she had more time writing it this time. Maybe it gets fixed, but since it's part of the first book that's part of the world now I guess! Yeah, 3 paragraphs for 5 words in a 200-page book might be overkill for my part. Then again, reading about the Dragonlance books (which I'm reading at the moment) someone mentioned that the harshest critics seemed to have the thoughts of "I could have written that", and truly, it might just be jealousy.
The greatest fantasy board game Sweden ever produced! Now in book form!
Haven't been playing that much video games since Christmas 2023 (it's February as of writing, so my usual video game fatigue). So instead I've been reading books and one book I got was the choose your own adventure of the board game DungeonQuest (or Drakborgen, aka Dragon's Keep) that was released in 2023 and I got my hand on this January. Written by one of the original designers of the board game, Dan Glimne. Basically you play as an unnamed swordsman (or woman) going to the dragon's keep and trying to get your hand on some treasure and survive the ordeal.
Sounds easy enough, you generate a character, grabs some dice and head in. Dubbed my character Tyrell the Swift after my Dungeons and Dragons Bard I used in my characters backstory back in 2012... I'm feeling rather old all of a sudden. Anyway, we go in. Enter one of the towers, pass a door (since I know about the traps from the board game I stay away from there) and sees two dark elves guarding a passage, trying to ward me off. Offence is the best defence so I attack and does rather good. I continue and suddenly I'm attacked by invisible bees (?) that stung me to death. That was that, The Keep 1 - Tyrell the Swift 0.
Tyrell the Swift the second went the same way, but lets try the door this time and... Tyrell gets his hand pierced. Knew it. Well, let's continue down this corridor and.... fail the luck check by 1 and gets swallowed by a trap door, killed again. The Keep 2 - Tyrell the Swift 0
Well, Tyrell the Swift the third went back and was more lucky to notice the trap door and jump over it. Meets a mountain troll I quickly dispatches without taking a hit. Entered a big room with a statue. A red jewel adorned the head of the statue and greed begins to flow within me... but I decide to continue. Fight a though skeleton. Fall through some stairs, find a key that I use to open a secret door that takes me to the treasure chamber! Third try baby! Of course it's Tyrell the Swift the Third that gets there!
I grab 500 gold coins and decide to get out of here. Runs through a corridor, I hear a scream at one end of a room, decides I better go on the opposite side and just runs for it. Well, I'm prompted to guess two numbers, roll the die and one of them shows up. Immediately a spike pierces the foot, the torch goes out and the character just gives up. Dying in darkness. I had to look it up and had I just rolled another number I would have gotten out. The Keep 3 - Tyrell the Swift 0.
That was fun, now I got a craving to sit with the book and chart it in excel to find the most efficient way (or maybe the one with highest probability to survival). I maxed dexterity and choose a rather high luck since I knew that in the board game it was important (apparently it didn't help Tyrell the Swift the second). I also tried to map it out with pen and paper, but after some rooms it wasn't as descriptive about if it was left or right or such things, probably mirroring the fact at the character getting more lost in the keep as the day goes on. There's 500 passages in the book and there is some fun things with the numbers like, the treasure chamber is pretty close to the middle of the book (you have gone halfway through the adventure) and that if you loose a fight against a monster, you get to passage 13 (the unlucky number) and the adventure ends.
Only exist in Swedish as far as I can see while writing this (February 2024) so if you can't read Swedish though luck. If you can read it's rather interesting. There's also pictures in the book, mostly taken from the different cards of the games. As mentioned, the author Dan Glimne have added things that doesn't appear in the original game, like the statue for example. Haven't played these kind of book games before so I can't compare it to anything. I don't know if the character sheet and die use is that common with these kind of books, but it make it more authentic to a DnD game at least. A pity that you can't change weapon since sword is a bit of a cliché and you can't roleplay as most of the characters from the game. So go and read it if you get the chance.
Well, took me a year, but I finally went through the whole of season 2 of the Shannara Chronicles. Was a bit hard to get through since I pretty much lost interest in it. Really, they divert so much from the books that I don't know what to do with it. And really, it was gonna be hard to do the original trilogy as it is a generational gap between each book. So what do you do? You take bits and pieces from every book and mash it together.
It takes one year after the first season and there is still chaos in the four lands. The elves are on the brink of civil war between the Crimson and the normal elves. I think the crimson are inspired by the military organisation the Federation from the Heritage of Shannara-series. I think at least. The traveller girl is together with Cogline, the ex-druid that had a larger role in that series as well, and gets visions from the tree-girl and sets out to find Will. Will is back in Storlock healing people and meets this girl that seems to be the daughter of Allanaon, which is a story beat from the book First King of Shannara when a woman thought she was the daughter of a druid, in that case Bremen, Allanons mentor. In that case she wasn't since it was thought she was actually conceived by a minon of the Warlock Lord. Allanon meanwhile is hunting the seer from the first season that have been looking for the codex in order to resurrect the Warlock Lord. That feels like the story beat from Wishsong of Shannara.
And then it's betrayals here and there, blood squirting all over the screen and many dead corpses. They even have a giant white spider *shudder*. We also travel back in time so we can take some scenes from the sword of Shannara with Will's father Shea Ohmsford... I though Shea was his grandfather? And we have royal weddings between the elves and the human kingdom of Leah? What happened with Tyrsis? And here comes Garet Jax, the weapon master from Wishsong of Shannara... and he survives the whole show even though his arc is to die against the most dangerous creature in battle to show his abilities? And Will dies fighting the resurrected Warlock lord but somehow turns up in a field of furies circling over him and then to be continue shows up. There is no third season.
As noted, a hodgepodge of story beats with a lot of violence. Of course the original books didn't shy away from killing people, even main characters, but there is something special about the Warlock Lord ripping the head off the commander of the Crimson that have been torturing and killing people through the whole season. It really couldn't keep my interest. I would have liked seeing a season 3 just to see what they would have done to keep this story going, but I would prefer a redo and closer to the books. It looked a bit cheap at times, not a lot of actors and even though it was 2 000 years since the nuclear war, there seems to be a lot of modern housing and such.
For some reason I seem to like to get novelisations of supposedly horror games. After playing the 7th Guest I looked on TV-Tropes and got a bit more backstory on the game, and I think everything was taken from this book. The first chapters being the intro sequence from the game with Stauf how he murdered the church-going lady, got visions of a doll and then began selling them. Inbetween each of the Stauf chapters there is a time jump to the "present" and how each guest got the invitation and setting up their motivation. Edward Knox meeting a couple of hired goons that want to cash in on his debt, Martine that returned from New York after she was dumped by her then boyfriend and feeling distanced from this small town and wanting something grander, Brian Dutton who have nightmares about seeing the death of his brother as he fell into the lake and drowning while they were iceskating which gave him the opportunity to make something of himself, Julia that have been fired from her banking job due to being drunk on her job and finally Hamilton Temple, the former stage magician that have grown to old to continue his acts of magic.
Interesting set up for the characters, but most is given to Henry Stauf and what drives him, namely the voices in his head. It appears the book hints that Stauf is given instructions by some spirits from another dimension, demons or something, and their goal is to accumulate enough child spirits to open a portal to earth so that they can pass through and wreck havoc upon the world. We could probably guess something like that was happening due to knowing that children were trapped in the dolls and how he seemed to have demonic powers at the end, but it is neat to have the end goal spelled out. Something that wasn't explained in the game is that after the murder he is taken into custody, but are not suspected on the murder due to another drifter being caught stealing the coat of the victim (which leads to that person hanging himself after two days of "questioning" by the local police that even roughed up Stauf for begging, according to the police at least). The money he got went to pay back the latest victim of a theft he caused, but I thought he used the money to get some drinks that then lead to exchanging the doll he carved for room and board. But the doll was all he had.
After this it's basically going for the people arriving at the scene and every scene is described in chronological order so you get what is happening since the game is a bit out of order. Which is a strength since you have the scene of Julia strangling Hamilton fairly early creating this feeling of what happened? The game has the advantage of seemingly giving different death scenes, Hamilton either gets strangled by Julia or is killed by an apparatus in the lab, Dutton either gets stabbed by Edward or gets some flesh eating chemicals that eat through his arms (I thought at least while playing the game, I mean, his room lead to a laboratory). Martine seemed to escape unharmed in the games if you look past the turning into a monster in the crypt or disappearing into the bath, in the book she just dies in the crypt as Edward is killed by Hamilton, which probably also shows a bit of problem with the book since it tries to tie up loose ends and it doesn't always succeed. An example is, how did Hamilton get to the lab? It is past the chapel behind Duttons room and the book just hand-waves it that he went through some doors and ended up there. Same near the ending as Julia is just sent from one floor to where Tad is and then is brought up to the attic to Stauf. They explain it that the powers behind Stauf alters the house for him.
Overall, a couple of scenes was added that you didn't see in the game. First is the things that happened they describe in the library scene (the one that gates you from continuing after doing some puzzles), the mad choir Dutton hears, the blood running in the basement that Elinor experience and some kind of Lovecraftian horror that Hamilton sees in the library that tries to get through the glass-doors. Then we had two scenes with Elinor, the first is after looking through the mace in her room she gets a vision of a man sitting beside her and beginning kissing her, but she resist that as it then turns into Stauf. Which is interesting since it mirrors Edwards fall as he is seduced by Martine, but he doesn't even try or not for long at least. The second scene is as she goes to the attic after learning about the children together with Hamilton and she begins the transformation to the mannequin. Which is kinda horrifying. One scene that disappeared was the bathroom scene with Martine, I guess because nothing actually happens, no dialogue, it was more selling on its sex appeal which isn't that easy in the book. Maybe if they had done it like a thing before the library gathering, but she was sceptical which means they would have to redo the scene.
One thing that bothers me in both the game and the book is that the ending doesn't make sense. The main player is playing as an older version of Tad that now have gotten a second chance to make right (I assume it failed the first time since they all haunted the mansion) and somehow send Stauf to the devil. The book makes an explanation that the souls of the children channeled through Elinor Knox (that is described to being psychic, or almost the Shining from the Stephen King novel) somehow allows the good ending to happen. It's a bit messy. And it's ends very abrupt like in the game, but I wonder if Tad escaped the mansion (all adults are pretty much dead so that ain't happening). And if that happens, how is Tad's future version supposed to exist? I haven't been able to play the 11th hour as of yet and it doesn't appear to be a book version, the only book is some children book.
Final note, it was decent enough, probably only for those that have played the game. Which makes the book better since you can hear the voices of the characters as they speak. Especially Hamilton and his overacting style. I mean... REAL Magic, could STAUF do this, FOR ME? It's awesome!
As mentioned while playing through Shannara, I liked Terry Brooks Shannara-series (or at least the ones I've read). So, I discovered there was a TV-show made after one of the books, and it's the Elfstones of Shannara, the best book in the series. And it got John-Rhys Davies as king Eventine and the guy that played Deathstroke in Arrow as Allanon. The others wasn't that interestingactually.
So the story follows Elfstones pretty much. The "world tree" Ellcrys in the lands of the elves are dying and it is the only thing that keeps demons trapped from the real world. As the tree gets weaker three demons are released, the leader of the demons and two lunderlings that are sent out to prepare for the invasion of the demons. You got the chameleon that can take any form and infiltrate the elven court and tells on the planes to demons. The other is the grim reaper that first is sent out to kill the chosen of the Ellcrys, but one is missing. Allanon have awaken from his druid sleep and first pick up Will Ohmsford, the last of the Shannaras and then get an elven princess that left the court and was a chosen and send them out to gather a seed and reinvigorate the tree while Allanon leads the defence of the invasion of the demons. Great story.
A bit of difference here. The changeling is sent to take out the chosen in the elven capital and kills Eventine pretty early, especially when they killed it already just an episode or so earlier, and takes his place instead of reveal that the dog spied on them until the end when it killed Eventine. The wanderer's aren't the same either since they in the books was pretty much romanticised gypsies with ideas like stealing children... like blond blue-eyed children with all the black-haired gypsies... yeah probably good they changed them. In the book they pretty much cheated Will out of the elfstones, but one girl decides to steal them back leaving them with painted elfstones that let's get them killed by the grim reaper as it can follow the stones. The grim reaper shows up fairly late and is more a black knight. And the place they need to find is in San Fransisco. The witches, I don't know what they are, but it isn't like the book. Or I never saw it like that as I quite missed all the modern stuff that existed in the book. Here we have subway systems and areas with radiation poisoning, working pistols... wait, would they still work after what, millenia? At least Allanon fought in the war of the four lands 300 years ago and god knows how many hundred years after Bremen (who makes a small cameo in the show) and the other hundred of years after the destruction of the earth.
Also, they added some conflicts within the elves like the sons of Eventine, the youngest being a drunk after letting gnomes infiltrate the palace and killing the oldest brother and the middle brother wanting to becoming king but constantly fights Allanon and don't believe the demons are coming. Also, they ditch the human legion and dwarfs that would be the only ones that would stand by the elves as the demons attacked. I mean, the leader of the humans was the real badass. So instead of conflict between the elves themselves, why not put that on the other races? Which is funny, since there isn't a single dwarf in the show. And I don't know if trolls and gnomes should look like that, I mean trolls is just wearing gas masks and gnomes disfigured humans with aviator googles. They also added a seer that gets possessed by the demons that wasn't in the book. Seems to be an important character in season 2 so that will be interesting to see.
It was fine, but I didn't get the horror feeling of the hunt by the grim reaper or the tear-inducing ending as all is revealed and the princess realises that she has to sacrifice herself to resurrect the Ellcrys and Will's love for her powers the elfstones while Will tries to plead with her that he loves her and all that. It's a sad ending. They also doesn't show the toll on Allanon since it's also telling how magic affects a person, everything had a price. And the wanderer girl isn't even there in the end but still in San Fransisco. Which sets up season two that I'm waiting for arriving in mail any day now. Will I watch it again? Probably not, I prefer reading the books actually and have a bit of craving for it now.
Now to something completely different' You know I'm a big fan of the TV-series The Mysterious Cities of Gold? Well, since I have to wait a couple of years (hopefully) for the next season of the show, I decided to read the book The King's Fifth by Scott O'Dell that was an inspiration for the series. The story is that the cartographer Esteban is on trail for murder and withholding the king of Spains part of the treasure he found on his journey in the new lands of America. So you have the parts at present while he is in prison and the courtroom and the other the retelling from the start at sea and then how he is persuaded by Captain Mendoza to join him in the search for gold and how he ended up the only one who knows where the treasure is.
Like the show, it ties in to actual historical events. For example they meet up with Coronando who had an expedition to look for Eldorado (he is also famous from Indianan Jones and the Last Crusade with the cross of Coronando that starts the film). But really fast you realise that there ain't no flying golden condor machines or ancient civilisations destroyed in thermonuclear wars and such. No, this is fairly grounded in reality. There is certain parts that is certainly lifted from here. Several names, like Zia, Mendoza, Esteban and Gomez. Certain events like the the storm at sea and the golden lake. Certain characters could be seen as inspirations, for example Roa is described as a bit bigger and fits in with Sancho and I wonder if father Fransisco inspired parts of father Rodriguez. They also mentions Marinche even though she doesn't appear in the book proper. Zia even have an animal sidekick although a lizard instead of a bird.
It's a rather short book and it's interesting how it follows Estebans journey and he goes from just a kid wanting to make a map of the unknown until the gold fever grips him as well and how it pushes Zia and father Fransisco away from him that acts like moral anchors in the story, until the end when he does the only right thing and throws away the ill-gotten treasure since it poisons the mind of the spaniards. And even though he tells the spaniards that the gold lies in a place that no man can reach them, the gold fever have them in its claws. Well worth the read.
So being a fan of the series I also got the other guide and went through to see if it was anything to have. And this was definitely better. just look at the number of pages, this one was 208 pages from start to finish while the first two game needed to share 224 pages. No, it definitely improved with more pages. Really, the first thing was the content page where I quickly can see where every town or dungeon is without problem. The other one only separated it in the different chapters it itself created, but if you don't know where Kolima or Lemuria is supposed to be it can be hard to find. Also a bit fun that they explain how you play the game in more detail here. And best of all there is an actual world map (which is only an enlarged map that came with the game itself, but it's more than what came with the other guide).
Is something worse then? There is no item/equipment lists like the first guide and still no bestiary. I found at least one instance with some very weird sentence structuring. If it wasn't for the Points of No Return in the game it would be rather worthless. And I don't get why they printed in checkmarks on every box for objectives to complete in every area. Why not have it like the first guide with just empty boxes? And no class list?
Really, in modern times who needs guides like these when everything exists on the web? The only thing is to get the maps, and bestiaries and item lists. And these guides got one out of the three mentioned. I just got them because I'm a sucker for this series and still waits for the continuing story... or now just a remake for modern consoles. At least Crossbone Island is here this time.
So some time back I got the official strategy guide for the first two Golden Sun games and I thought, maybe read through it and see if it's any good? After all I played the game so much that I know it like the back of my hand. So lets start with the first game.
Best of the bunch!
So first problem reading through the book, there isn't any world map in the whole book. It's not much of a problem in the first game since it's pretty much linear, but it would have been nice for the bearings of where I am in the world. There is also a bit jarring "I" 2 times in the text around Tolbi. I expect that in Online Walkthroughs, but this? It feels a bit unprofessional. And then we have some information I actually miss, for example the whole optional dungeon Crossbone Island. Theres no guide for the different room puzzles, they don't mention the earth djinni Bane which is one of the most powerful ones. They mention it in the list of the djinn's at the start of the guide, but for some reason the stats on Bane and Zephyr isn't written down, which is weird. I also miss that they didn't stat Deadbeard who is one of the tougher bosses in the game. And also that one of the most important items is hidden there, the Cleric Ring which nullifies cursed equipment and is the only place in both games you can find it. Also I think the guide writer got confused on what ship you get to use later on since it is referring to Babi's ship as the one we use at the end of the second game, but that isn't true, it's Piers ship he got from Lemuria.
Thing's I didn't know was that Hsu was Feizi's brother. I don't know if the guide is correct, but it changes at least some of the dynamics and why she is worried. I don't think any people in Xian mentiones it either so how the guide knows that I wouldn't know. The guide also gives me easy checkable lists on what to get on the Tolbi fountain. It's also nice have the weakness of bosses handy and actually learn that some status effects have a possibility to work. And then it's the second game.
Intro music is better though in this one
Right of the bat I get a bad feeling since the first thing is they spell Ivan wrong as Iwan. Secondly is that they mistake Piers ship with Menardi's even though it's stated that Piers was found on it. Then we have the problem of the map when I'm supposed to sail all across the world and don't get any visual clues on how the world looks like. Which poses another problem and that is that the hidden items that exist in the shallow waters of the ocean isn't shown. The rusty weapons are listed at the weapon and armour section since you can bring it to the smith Sunshine, but items aren't since they aren't unique. Which leads to another problem that affects the guide for both games. There isn't any enemy compendium, so say, for example when you read about the Prophet's Hat and that it is a dread hound that have it... where is it? I know it's in Altmiller Cave in the first game and various locations like Gaia Rock in the second game, but it isn't mentioned at all in the guide. This is especially problematic when you think about the forgeable materials that you really need to grind for. They also missed the first bonus for transferring data from the first game and that was fighting the bandits from Vault again as you leave Madra. They missed the golden shoes and they aren't mentioned at all. There's also an inconsistent in how they write this guide since Tolbi fountain had every item in a box which you could tick of, but Lemuria Fountain you got them in the text mentioning what everything is. Why the inconsistency?
What's good is the guide for the classes which I never bothered with since each normal element are powerful enough, but maybe I should try it with the guide by my side. I miss a bit of content though. Why no mention of the Dark Panther Method? That a djinni of opposite element increase the chance of an item drop. I don't expect them to outline the whole 100 % drop method, but that one is rather important. And the 3 x Select at the naming screen to name other three characters in the game and then the other code to name Felix, Jenna and Sheba at the first game? It's in the game and it's a fun code to use (if you want to since I never use it other than to look that I can do it). It's also nice to have a overview map of towns and dungeons, although it's kinda irritating that if a house is important, like the lord's different castles there ain't any map of the interior.
Really, you don't need this to finish the games and things that are useful like list of forgeable equipment, classes and such you can probably get on GameFAQ, and things that should have been here like Bestiaries and secret codes defintliy exist there since I printed it out ages ago. Had all of that been in these guides I would recommend it as a complement in case you want to 100 % or test different strategies to finish it faster or such, but it doesn't exist here.
So I bought the book, got delivered and read it during the sunday after Halloween to get in some spooky mood for the holiday. And I couldn't stop reading until it was over, even though I know how it ended, or maybe it helped me just pass through it without problem. Pretty much the same as the game, but with some differences. For example the first chapter as Gabriel begins to get info from Herr Doctor Klingmann, instead of sneaking back to the office to get the hunting license and use the walkie-talkie to fool Thomas you first pick up another workers walkie-talkie when they are distracted by something and then he followed Klingmann through Munich to the club and asked around for information before entering. Not much changed, although the license is brought up in chapter 3.
Chapter two works mostly like the game. No repairmen though, although it explains that Gabe called and left a message instead of sending a letter. Explaining the time frame. Not much here Chapter 3 is more interesting. They got rid of the cuckoo clock side quest, explained the dream sequence better, that there actually been two days since chapter one giving Grace some more time to get to Germany and do chapter two. And the ending where the werewolf stalks Gabriel near the Huber farm is described better, that it is a dead cat on the lawn instead of some other animal and how the wolf reacted to the medallion and so.
Chapter 4 is the same and covers the Ludwig II and even introduces a character not in the game, an old man who's father worked for Ludwig II that gave the family a golden ring containing a lock of hair. Also it flows a bit better instead of the rushed game. Also the book skips the subplot of Grace making up with Gerda by putting roses on Wolfgangs grave. Pretty much Werner Huber tell her instead of she finding it. Also, she actually have a german-english dictionary which makes it a bit easier to stomach as she translates some stuff and move along the plot instead of grinding it to a halt to find a translator.
Chapter 5 follows the game almost to a tee. And it is the highlight of the book as Gabriel uncovers what happened to the missing wolves, connecting the dots of other mysterious disappearances and following the hunting lodge to their cabin and cornering von Zell. Small differences is that at the meeting at Dorns exotic animals he didn't need to feed a tiger with whitewurst or bring 14 000 mark on him. And at the night raid together with Friedrich the reason they get separated is that they ride on horses and Gabe is thrown of after his horse panic at the wolf howls and already were separated from Friedrich since he had plugged his ears. Much better than walking away and not seeing to it that Friedrich noticed him going another way.
Then chapter 6 of the book is a mixtures of some parts from chapter 4 and 6 where Grace connecting the dots of Ludwig II turning into a werewolf, his attempt to stop the Black Wolf with a secret hidden Wagner opera and then trying to know who the Black Wolf is. The part that stuck out was that the english copy of Ludwigs diary that belonged to a english nobleman. In the game I think he just changed his heart and send it over, but here it is explained that something mysterious happened. The box containing the papers fell from it's place in the attic like if it was pushed by a mysterious force, a force both the game and book hints, although with this the book is better at establishing this. It ends pretty much when Grace picks up Gabriel at the Huber's farm after the bit have began changing him, and here the book tells us the part from Gabriel's view. First by allowing him to walk freely at the day, but showing us his changed behaviour. They also hold a seance I think was hinted at in the game, but here is played out as intended, where we follow Ludwig's last hours at Neuschwanstein as he hides the opera and plans and then how he killed himself. Then it pretty much skips the gathering part and instead focus on how it's supposed to work. The plan doesn't have to directly kill von Glower, it just be part of his death as the spirit realm supposedly believe in intent (aka the one hired an assassin is as guilty of murder as the assassin) and therefore could be freed from the curse if someone else due to the actions would kill him.
This leads into the final chapter at the opera. Where they explain the plan in full. The sound and crystals are supposed to turn von Glower into a werewolf so that guards could kill him. But it failed and instead it's the howls of Gabriel in wolf form that causes the change. Then it plays out the same mostly, maybe not mentioning the apparition in the fires, but they instead mentioned the burning foot that weakly tried to break out through the grate. And the epilogue is not as philosophical as in the game where it is hinted that Gabriel felt some temptation to turn into a werewolf, to go with his instincts. Instead it's mentioned that he is set on bringing von Glower down and we get a happy ending as Grace get's full time partner status.
Overall I liked it, doesn't work that well as a walkthrough, but the story is still interesting and I really enjoy the inner monologue to flesh out the story and scenes. Other parts was left like the mention of Sons of the Sun, other groups of shadow hunters and that the Ritters aren't the only ones. So the final question is, where is the Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned novelisation?
