What Are You Reading?

[DemolitionSquid]

Fuck Diablo 3. Path Of Exile is the true successor to D2 and surpasses D3 in every possible way.

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Fuck Diablo 3. Path Of Exile is the true successor to D2 and surpasses D3 in every possible way.

[TheEconomist]

Sorry, I was saying that years ago. Sadly, you never finish first, except when she doesn't want you to.

[Nissa]

Finally, I'm contemplating giving StarCraft another go around soon. I feel like I'm finally recovering from the Summer of 2010 and ready to start getting back out there and enjoying life again. I'll start with the original game, of course, Gradius/Mass Recall style, and see how I feel from there. Might even start reading some of the books that have been released since I left. Oh, and maybe, just maybe, I can start adding to discussions here now instead of taking away or dodging completely.

Ew, Starcraft novels are crap. I've been reading them to review on my blog, and they're just awful. Most of them manage to have at least one positive aspect, but which get drowned out by all the bad. The best one I've read so far is SC Ghost: Nova, which had half of an interesting plot, but very terrible writing.

I've just seen the Dark Templar Saga at my work (a used bookstore) so now I'm going to read those.

[Turalyon]

Ew, Starcraft novels are crap. I've been reading them to review on my blog, and they're just awful. Most of them manage to have at least one positive aspect, but which get drowned out by all the bad. The best one I've read so far is SC Ghost: Nova, which had half of an interesting plot, but very terrible writing.

I've just seen the Dark Templar Saga at my work (a used bookstore) so now I'm going to read those.

I've come to the conclusion that you must be a masochist, Nissa. Either that, or you must be a "hatewatcher/reader".

I'm proud to say that I haven't read any of those books, but I hear that a lot of what is shite in Sc2 is partly due to the influence of the DT series.

[Nissa]

I've come to the conclusion that you must be a masochist, Nissa. Either that, or you must be a "hatewatcher/reader".

I'm proud to say that I haven't read any of those books, but I hear that a lot of what is shite in Sc2 is partly due to the influence of the DT series.

It's not quite that. My blog is sort of for learning to write better, and so I use bad books as examples. That, and I love nitpickery.

However, it has reached a level of masochism as far as Starcraft novels go. I keep hoping I'm going to read one that is good, but then....ugh.

[TheEconomist]

All of the books aren't that bad. There's several shit ones ('Shadow of the Xel'Naga" and "Liberty's Crusade") and my least favorite was actually what I read of Ghost: Nova. Only StarCraft novel I never finished after starting and that was before I knew how shit the games would get. 'Speed of Darkness', 'I, Mengsk', and especially the Dark Templar Saga are actually pretty decent books for what they are. If you want something more, you're in the wrong place, just like you're in the wrong universe to begin with. StarCraft is for people who don't want more complex sci fi or are denialist hanger-ons from the glory days of StarCraft ... or, well, I don't know what else other than masochism.

I'm proud to say that I haven't read any of those books, but I hear that a lot of what is shite in Sc2 is partly due to the influence of the DT series.

The story arc was created by Blizzard. Christie Golden even had to redo a lot of the third novel a few times because Blizzard kept changing their mind. I actually wrote an email to her asking why every release date she posted on her blog would be set back. See, I was an amateur news poster, or something, back then. So .. no .... Also, the Dark Templar Saga would have improved StarCraft 2 if it had had more influence since it focuses on the best parts of StarCraft and leaves the rest alone. It was precisely because StarCraft 2 was nothing like the Dark Templar Saga that I was so disappointed.


Also, I really, really don't understand how you can spend so much time talking about StarCraft lore and not read the books. Just doesn't make sense to me but, then again, most of your actions, my own included, don't make sense to me.

I keep hoping I'm going to read one that is good, but then....ugh.

Which ones have you read? I only read the old ones. If you're talking about them, then that's fine, I know what I'm getting into with the news. If you're talking about the new ones, maybe they've gotten even worse.

[Gradius]

I thought SCG Nova was awful. She's the definition of a Mary Sue. All the bullshit about Fagin and the gutter was such a boring chore to push through. I also hate the slang words the author invented.

I Mengsk is probably my favorite. DT saga was good but Golden helped ruin sc lore. Or maybe it was Blizzard, I dunno.

[DemolitionSquid]

Sorry, I was saying that years ago. Sadly, you never finish first, except when she doesn't want you to.

Thankfully, after all the low blows I've taken, I now have balls of steel.

[TheEconomist]

Or maybe it was Blizzard, I dunno.

It was definitely Blizzard. The way she explained it, Blizzard was constantly flip flopping on the story arc contained in the Dark Templar Saga, so, to me, that shows have little power she had. Either way, the fact that it dealt with actual sci fi elements, as opposed to, well, you know the shit I complain out, made it an improvement over the game. However, as I said before, I should have noticed more signs that the story was going to crap because the Xel'Naga and that whole mess had become considerably more simplified. Why they did this to that poor StarCraft manual, I don't know.

[Nissa]

Also, I really, really don't understand how you can spend so much time talking about StarCraft lore and not read the books. Just doesn't make sense to me but, then again, most of your actions, my own included, don't make sense to me.

I actually respect him in that. The books suck and contradict in-game lore, so therefore they are to be ignored. I'm a firm believer that only the original media of a franchise (video games for Starcraft, television/non-JJ Abrams movies for Star Trek) counts as canon. Usually that's because the fan novels of any franchise are more about a writer trying to gain readers from a known franchise rather than writing a good story.

Which ones have you read? I only read the old ones. If you're talking about them, then that's fine, I know what I'm getting into with the news. If you're talking about the new ones, maybe they've gotten even worse.

I don't know which ones are old or new, though I'm pretty sure most of the ones I've read are old. I can read them for free at my used bookstore, so they're more likely to be old.

SCG: Nova -- While you guys dislike this book, I like it because unlike most of the other novels, it actually has a few ideas that work. These few ideas make it a bit more fun than the others, and also this story has essentially zero impact on the canon. That makes me slightly fond of it despite the absolutely atrocious narrative. You guys were rightfully turned off by the terrible narrative, by all likelihood, but it's got more charm than most SC books.

Speed of Darkness -- Great beginning, half decent narrative, but very, very boring middle to end. Like SCG: Nova, it had some good ideas, but they weren't presented in an interesting way. None of the characters were well defined, and it ended up feeling like an exercise in moving cliches around.

Heaven's Devils -- Absolute rot. I didn't finish it. For one, the narrative was stiff, and for two, it added nothing to Starcraft worth adding. It was supposed to explain how Raynor ended up as a Marshall, but it basically said that some guy in a goliath came up to Raynor's farm and said, "hey, join the military" and Raynor went "Uh, mm'kay." That, and his dad lectured him like he was a ten year old in an after school special. Bad ideas, bad narrative, no go.

Liberty's Crusade -- There is no reason for this book to exist. SC novels tend to appeal to people who have actually played the game and want to know more about the Starcraft universe, but this is just a retelling of the first Terran missions. You'd think they'd tell these missions from the perspective of an established character so we learn their perspective, but they don't. They instead insert a dull OC who's about as interesting as a newbie's OC on fanfiction.net, jamming him in dialogues from the game despite him not having been there. I once mailed this book to a curious SC fan so he wouldn't have to spend money on it.

Shadow of the Xel'Naga -- My vote for worst SC novel ever. It's very clear that the writers (a husband and wife wrote it under a pseudonym) had no clue what Starcraft was or how the plot went. They have a Judicator being comically bigoted despite this being set after original Starcraft, and the Dark Templar had already sheltered a bunch of Khalai Protoss at that point. General Duke, for no reason, says horrible things in front of people he really shouldn't despite the fact that that's stupid. The one Dark Templar in this book seems actually glad that a Xel'Nagan god-mode monster zapped up all the other Protoss. The Xel'Naga apparently created a creature that only feeds on other Xel'Nagan beings, ensuring that the Xel'Naga's own work gets destroyed for this thing to live. Kinda wasteful if you're a supreme scientist race, no? That, and the narrative sucked and the characters were about as interesting as dirt.

I still haven't started on the DT Saga. It's making me nervous...