Any reviews of Destiny's Embers?

from Stardock Forums

I'm deciding on whether or not to buy and it wouldn't mind some reviews.  The few reviews on Amazon are all very negative.

Don't take this the wrong way, but please try to leave the fanboism out of the reviews.  I'd like honest opinions.

elemental
405,060 views 124 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

I second this request.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

The only one I've seen so far: http://www.unamommer.com/?p=109

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

What I want is a review of the campaign that comes with the book.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top


Whilst not wishing to derail this thread, this quote from the book given in the unamommer review, 

He yanked the sword out of the first one’s throat and swung it at a second, the nearest one to him, gouging it in the shoulder, and the thing screamed, and slashed at Calis’s blade ineffectually, and Calis slashed again, and caught the creature in the face, and blood gushed, and it screamed a second time, and stumbled, but that was all Calis saw.


for some reason reminded me of one of my favourite pasages from The Eye of Argon, which is not a good thing. a quote and wiki link for those who don't know what it is.

A sweeping blade of flashing steel riveted from the massive barbarians hide enameled shield as his rippling right arm thrust forth, sending a steel shod blade to the hilt into the soldiers vital organs.  The disemboweled mercenary crumpled from his saddle and sank to the clouded sward, sprinkling the parched dust with crimson droplets of escaping life fluid.



Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Clawdius_Talonious, reply 3
What I want is a review of the campaign that comes with the book.

Sure....You can't get it yet. not available. is Caput. Denied, etc.

Stardock needs to put something at the site telling people the campaign is coming soon or something. I followed the instructions in the book and poke around but it was only when I came here that I found out the campaign from the book is not avialable yet.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Terraziel, reply 4

Whilst not wishing to derail this thread, this quote from the book given in the unamommer review, 


He yanked the sword out of the first one’s throat and swung it at a second, the nearest one to him, gouging it in the shoulder, and the thing screamed, and slashed at Calis’s blade ineffectually, and Calis slashed again, and caught the creature in the face, and blood gushed, and it screamed a second time, and stumbled, but that was all Calis saw.

for some reason reminded me of one of my favourite pasages from The Eye of Argon, which is not a good thing. a quote and wiki link for those who don't know what it is.

A sweeping blade of flashing steel riveted from the massive barbarians hide enameled shield as his rippling right arm thrust forth, sending a steel shod blade to the hilt into the soldiers vital organs.  The disemboweled mercenary crumpled from his saddle and sank to the clouded sward, sprinkling the parched dust with crimson droplets of escaping life fluid.


They don't seem that similar to me, but what is up with all those commas? I mean, who edited this thing anyway? 

Quoting Themysticeye, reply 5

Quoting Clawdius_Talonious, reply 3What I want is a review of the campaign that comes with the book.


Sure....You can't get it yet. not available. is Caput. Denied, etc.

Stardock needs to put something at the site telling people the campaign is coming soon or something. I followed the instructions in the book and poke around but it was only when I came here that I found out the campaign from the book is not avialable yet.

It seems like that information should be at least as readily available as the book.

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Themysticeye, reply 5



Quoting Clawdius_Talonious,
reply 3
What I want is a review of the campaign that comes with the book.



Sure....You can't get it yet. not available. is Caput. Denied, etc.

Stardock needs to put something at the site telling people the campaign is coming soon or something. I followed the instructions in the book and poke around but it was only when I came here that I found out the campaign from the book is not avialable yet.

I entered my code and the website showed when it will be released.

Here are the links to additional content:

  • Elemental: Destiny’s Embers Character Pack (Xander, Geni, Nym, Galor, Ambrose, Mirdoth, Calis) [SOON]
  • Elemental: Destiny’s Embers MAP Pack [COMING IN SEPTEMBER]
  • Elemental: Destiny’s Embers: Part 1 – Xander & Geni [COMING OCTOBER]
  • Elemental: Destiny’s Embers: Part 2 – Calis & Tandis [COMING NOVEMBER]
  • Elemental: Destiny’s Embers: Part 3 – Nym & Talax [COMING DECEMBER]

 

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

I posted a link to a reddit discussion of the book, but it was deleted.  I don't think I broke any rules by posting it, so here it is again:

 

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/d6mvk/so_stardock_ceo_brad_wardell_wrote_a_book_about_a/

 

I hope Stardock stops this massive cover-up they have going on...deleted threads, comments, etc.  Brad said that if the game gets bashed, they deserve it.  That contradicts the secrecy and policing here.  :(

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting metalfacekevin, reply 8
I posted a link to a reddit discussion of the book, but it was deleted.  I don't think I broke any rules by posting it, so here it is again:

 

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/d6mvk/so_stardock_ceo_brad_wardell_wrote_a_book_about_a/

 

I hope Stardock stops this massive cover-up they have going on...deleted threads, comments, etc.  Brad said that if the game gets bashed, they deserve it.  That contradicts the secrecy and policing here.  

The reddit thread serves no purpose. If you read the thread, you'll notice that people are panning the book because they dislike Brad and Brad's politics. reddit is nothing more than an echo chamber.

Deleting inflammatory threads with links to sour reddit posts is no "cover-up."

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

So wait, there's exclusive content planned for people that bought his book?

*sigh* Finish the game first, worry about cushy publishing deals and stuff that is not related to the core game experience later. It's choices like this that have made the game's problems that much harder to take with a smile. When people say Elemental feels like it has a lack of direction at times, maybe it's because the lead developer didn't have his mind on the game all the time.

Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Nenjin, reply 10
So wait, there's exclusive content planned for people that bought his book?

*sigh* Finish the game first, worry about cushy publishing deals and stuff that is not related to the core game experience later. It's choices like this that have made the game's problems that much harder to take with a smile. When people say Elemental feels like it has a lack of direction at times, maybe it's because the lead developer didn't have his mind on the game all the time.

It was contractual with Random House.  They paid big bucks to provide exclusive content with the module.  It's an additional campaign.  Old news.

Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

@Nenjin: In SD's defense (and make no mistake...I am not a happy owner of the LE Elemental right now), this exclusive campaign is being written (built?) by the book publisher.  Not SD.  So in theory that means SD is still working on the game while the publisher works on the campaign.

Reply #13 from Elemental Forums Top

but what is up with all those commas?

I wonder about that too. I have seen a couple of different quoted lines and paragraphs from the book and they all seemed filled with commas. Two words comma, three words comma, etc. I plan to pick up a copy, I just hope it isn't all about the commas :) .

Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting DethAdder, reply 13

but what is up with all those commas?
I wonder about that too. I have seen a couple of different quoted lines and paragraphs from the book and they all seemed filled with commas. Two words comma, three words comma, etc. I plan to pick up a copy, I just hope it isn't all about the commas .

I can already predict the plot twist when the semicolon makes its appearance :)

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Reply #15 from Elemental Forums Top

@Nenjin: In SD's defense (and make no mistake...I am not a happy owner of the LE Elemental right now), this exclusive campaign is being written (built?) by the book publisher. Not SD. So in theory that means SD is still working on the game while the publisher works on the campaign.

Unless they have people at Random to plug the text into the game, it still requires SD time and resources. As for the door swinging the other way, Random helping SD write quests that (apparently?) are supposed to be in the main game, I haven't seen much evidence of that either.

Anyways, that's all I'll say. This thread is ostensibly about the book and nothing else.

Reply #16 from Elemental Forums Top

To be fair, while the game can be patched and worked on the coming year, The book will be set with the level of quality it comes with.

Reply #17 from Elemental Forums Top

In the era of ebooks I can imagine such things as book patches :)

Reply #18 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting eldrone, reply 16
To be fair, while the game can be patched and worked on the coming year, The book will be set with the level of quality it comes with.
Are you kidding, with lines like "Yes, she had been wearing dresses those last few months at the Keep, but this was different. This was a gown. This was silk or something." How can you doubt this book becoming an instant classic? I can't believe I was actually interested in picking that up at some point.

Reply #19 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting DethAdder, reply 13

but what is up with all those commas?


I just hope it isn't all about the commas.

It could be worse.  It could be all about the colons.

Reply #20 from Elemental Forums Top

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit was "patched" after the release of The Lord of the Rings in order to make Bilbo's encounter with Gollum consistent with the later story.  In the original version, Bilbo beat Gollum in the riddle game, and Gollum, true to his word, gave the Ring to Bilbo as his prize and then led him out of the cave.  In the retelling, Bilbo happened upon the Ring by chance, and Gollum tried to kill Bilbo and unwittingly led him out of the cave after Bilbo used the Ring to turn invisible.  The canonical explanation is that the influence of the Ring compelled Bilbo to change the details to make his part in the narrative appear more innocent, but after being released from the Ring, he rewrote that portion of his memoirs to reflect the truth.

Reply #21 from Elemental Forums Top

You can check some mini-reviews on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Elemental-Destinys-Embers-Bradley-Wardell/dp/0345517865/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1283276428&sr=8-1

 

Other than that the only (and quite funny) review I found was the already mentioned:

http://www.unamommer.com/?p=109

 

 

I haven't read the book so I can't really voice an opinion on it.

But basically B.Wardell is not a writer and most projects where someone decides to write and selfpublish or publish a book connected to a product end badly. (=the movie/game will help sales regardless of the quality of the writing, so the publisher goes with it).

That being said it's possible that the reviews so far don't do the book justice. But personally I'm not going to buy the book just to check it for myself. There are many many great writers and fantasy/sci-fi books out there. And from what I've seen so far in Elemental said world seems very generic.

 

But if someone read the book and could write a short review Im sure we would all appreciate it.

Reply #22 from Stardock Forums Top

It's pretty much standard fantasy.  I did enjoy it though and I'll probably pick up the next one.  The only thing I wish was included was a timeline of some since I'm not sure where the book falls compared to the game itself.

Reply #23 from Elemental Forums Top

It's actually really racist and it makes me wonder about Brad.

Reply #24 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting solidsmooky, reply 23
It's actually really racist and it makes me wonder about Brad.

Loooooooooooooooool

Reply #25 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting solidsmooky, reply 23
It's actually really racist and it makes me wonder about Brad.
Obviously all fantasy books/movies/games should now involve pink and purple evil races so as not to potentially offend anybody. Oh hell, who am I kidding... then it would be considered anti-gay or some equally insane thing. You people read waaay too much into things.