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Re: The Eye of Winter's Fury - Review - Spoiler Free (almost 100%)

Rygar — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 09:57:27 +0000

If anything, I always felt that LoS was 'too hard'.
Come on, "hard" is such a negative word. Shall we call it "challenging"? Something that is simply "hard" does not make feel like trying again, over and over.
But you are right, regardless of the adjective we pick. It took me at least four attempts to finish it without cheating. I still have to kill every legendary monster in Act 2!

I hope we can all play a fourth episode soon too! I'm highly likely to be crowdfunding a fourth book sometime next year (I'm keen to get my current projects out of the way first). Fingers-crossed it will happen!
Count me in!
Seriously, take your time but do not let us down. We all need at least one more book to see how everything ends!

By the way, if you like returning characters, then DQ4 will be a real treat ;)
I most certainly do! It is not enough to say "this story takes place in Valeron" and hope that the reader uses his/her imagination to make it happen. You actually have to meet known faces.
Do you know what could be even better? Recurring places! How about a visit to Tithebury? With the Witch gone (either literally or figuratively), they should be having a decent weather. Is the Miller Cooper still mourning his son Edward?

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Re: The Eye of Winter's Fury - Review - Spoiler Free (almost 100%)

Da Boss — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 08:48:49 +0000

Thanks for the review Rygar - and I take your comments on board. I suppose it was never my intention for the books to scale in difficulty (in case someone happened to pick up a later book as their first introduction to DQ). If anything, I always felt that LoS was 'too hard'. I suppose finding that perfect balance/middle ground is always difficult, although with DQ3 I did want the main hero to 'feel powerful', particularly with the death moves.

By the way, if you like returning characters, then DQ4 will be a real treat ;)

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The Eye of Winter's Fury - Review - Spoiler Free (almost 100%)

Rygar — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 15:02:51 +0000

I just finished my first playthrough with a rogue and, after browsing a few alternative paths, I think I am entitled to an educated opinion on this book.

The first adjective that comes into my mind is "easy". This adventure is very easy, expecially if compared to the previous two. That said, it is not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but I would have found it better had it been the other way around: books becoming increasingly harder. I mean, after finishing TLoS half a dozen times, reading TEoWF I was feeling like a bullfighter facing a cow. The only battle where I had to resort extensively to backpack items was against Blue Angel, and it was not even a key event.

The writing style has improved even more. The whole playable prologue is a delight and all the characters are "alive" as you read of them.
The plot in itself is well designed and any action taken by Arran makes sense in the context. There is no need to hurry (unlike THoF), that is why we can spend more than some time wandering in Ryker's Island.
Speaking of Ryker's Island, it is a real nice place to visit and the sleds competion is fun, even though the game is mostly based on rolling dices and choices have a minimal effect on the outcome (expecially on the second race).

The careers are fine, even if fewer than in the previous two books. I am not fully convinced by the Death Penalty rule, though. If I am killed in a combat, it is because that enemy is probably too tough for me: how am I supposed to win next time, if I have an even weaker character? Such rule could have made more sense had the book been less linear (giving me the chance to take an alternate path of stock up on potions), but this is not the case (expecially in Act 2).

Finally, I appreciated the return of a few colorful characters from previous books (Hal above all) and I deeply hope that we can play a fourth episode.

Thank you very much, Michael J. Ward!

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