P4: Gritty Reboot

Yes, don't get me wrong--I absolutely love Davos; he's one of my favorite characters. His backstory is essential to understanding his motivations and all. It still felt as if the writers were ticking off a box next to "Stannis & Davos appearance" as there's not much for them to do. It's difficult source material to work with as in the books, you may not hear from them for close to ten chapters, but in the show they need to show their faces.

I'm somewhat tempted to pick this up around launch, but I may give it a few weeks to see if Gearbox has really fixed all its PC woes. If not, I'll likely wait for a price drop. Either way can't wait for some looting & shooting with the wifey this fall

Forgot to mention I'd beaten Legend of Grimrock for review. Fun game, recommended.

Season 2, Episode 8: The Prince of Winterfell. Overall, it was clear that this episode was primarily a buildup for next week's sure-to-be-epic "Blackwater" penned by GRRM himself. There was more talking and scheming and the like than action or major cliffhangers. But considering that episode 9 focuses on the ultimate battle of the War of the Five Kings, it makes sense. Still, it was a great episode with some awesome moments. Spoilery commentary on each major storyline below. Theon: Jon Snow/Ygritte: Dany: Jaime/Brienne: King's Landing: Robb Stannis/Davos Arya Can't wait for "Blackwater".

Sir? Excuse me sir, you're dripping sarcasm everywhere. Do you mind?

"That dark, bubbly, acid-like water? It regenerates your hit points, I'm fairly sure."

Classic. "Hey, this switch looks interesting... maybe you should try it? Just a suggestion." Been there, done that with Portal 2 when I'm playing with people who haven't played before.

Bunch o' Tomb Raider games on the cheap at GamersGate. I'm mulling over the Guardian of Light offer, so if anyone has any opinions on that one, spill 'em.

Hi Lucas. I think I remember you from Kotaku. Good to have you aboard!

Where do you find your screenplays at?

A L I E N is so darn good.

I don't have stuttering problems anymore. My only frustration is that it doesn't seem to be able to load extremely large areas into memory and so breaks it up with constant loading screens. Been like that since Half-Life 2 (and GoldSrc before it too).

Yeah by all accounts Source is still stuck in 1998 as far as editing tools go. Likely why it's essentially a Valve-only engine at this point, aside from mod teams.

Unreal engine has always been a nice, steady graphics engine with decent flexibility. Personally I'm a fan of the way Source engine games tend to look. They focus on high-fidelity textures and duller colors rather than a boatload of post-processing effects that look nothing like real life. But that may simply be the way Valve handles their games as opposed to the technology itself.

It's still fairly unlike Jaime.

But unless there's a major Reed reveal at some point in the novels, it's functionally the same. A guide for B&R. I suppose it's possible they introduce the Reeds somehow early next season.

The Reeds were not cast for this season. Their role appears to have been consolidated into Osha. I don't believe Ramsay Snow has been cast either. A few King's Landing roles were changed or consolidated also.

Anything in particular concerning you? I think they've done a great job other than minor changes while still following the major story arc. Not a single plotline has derailed itself irreconcilably from the books so far as I can tell.

Heh. Use Tower of the Hand until you've finished everything. You can set the spoiler level to not show any books you haven't read yet.

I don't even know that I'd call it sympathy, more like a better understanding of why she does what she does. @TCP sorry. I know even a character name can sound like a spoiler. If it's any consolation, a mention of a character in a book doesn't necessarily mean they're still alive--a particular character that famously died in AGOT is all over ADWD. Not saying she's not. But not saying she is.

I love the way the books are written, personally. The sort of prose he writes isn't for everyone though. There is a sympathetic side to Cersei in the books too, in A Feast for Crows and bits of A Dance with Dragons. They let it on much earlier in the show, but it is there in the novels. I agree about Jon Snow with the caveat that we mainly see Jon Snow through his own eyes in the books--hence, the take is less critical by default. He was kind of a whiner in an existentialist crisis in the books as well, we just didn't see it from outside his own head very much.

Yeah it appears that the third season will be splitting A Storm of Swords into two. There is a LOT that happens in that book. I doubt it will be a clean cut in two though, and I imagine by the end of season 4 we will have gotten into several of A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons' storylines. Those two books will likely be abridged for the sake of the show.