Thursday, February 05, 2004
Exalted: The Outcaste
Super short review of the new book Exalted: The Outcaste
The Lookshy section was great. The Lost Eggs section (which I wish they would have made a lot bigger) was really good also.
I have not read the pirates section yet.
The Forest Witch section... is overly complex. I think RSB left to many things left up to the ST, but very few things came out and said "this is left up to the ST". The 2 or 3 forces at work there (The Sea, The Mist and The Thing without a name) are fine to have as mysteries, but the way they were presented left me feeling like I had just watched a Hitchcock film. You know that moment at the end of "The Birds" where they just drive away and you find yourself thinking... "Ok, next scene... what? Credits? WFT?" You have no idea why any of it happened, or even what the point of it all was.
The big problem here is that there is no moment that comes where you are thinking on the film and you realize that it really is a classic film and part of what made it that way is its ending. Here we have chapter in a role playing game that gives you lots of mysteries, and lots of hooks to play with, but the manner in which they are given to you is so "odd" that its hard to connect all the dots sometimes. When you do connect all the dots you find that the dots you have connected don’t make one picture but two pictures (maybe 3). Are these pictures related? Could be, might not be, it’s up to you. It’s just wonky. And I know RSB is supposed to be a brilliant writer and all, and she is, but damn sometimes it would be better to write in a way that is both brilliant and coherent.
I was left feeling that either this just doesn’t make sense, or its lacking the clues (box text) to tell us “this is up to you” or I am just too stupid to understand it.
Over all it was an A-, with the good parts over shadowing the part I took issue with.
The Lookshy section was great. The Lost Eggs section (which I wish they would have made a lot bigger) was really good also.
I have not read the pirates section yet.
The Forest Witch section... is overly complex. I think RSB left to many things left up to the ST, but very few things came out and said "this is left up to the ST". The 2 or 3 forces at work there (The Sea, The Mist and The Thing without a name) are fine to have as mysteries, but the way they were presented left me feeling like I had just watched a Hitchcock film. You know that moment at the end of "The Birds" where they just drive away and you find yourself thinking... "Ok, next scene... what? Credits? WFT?" You have no idea why any of it happened, or even what the point of it all was.
The big problem here is that there is no moment that comes where you are thinking on the film and you realize that it really is a classic film and part of what made it that way is its ending. Here we have chapter in a role playing game that gives you lots of mysteries, and lots of hooks to play with, but the manner in which they are given to you is so "odd" that its hard to connect all the dots sometimes. When you do connect all the dots you find that the dots you have connected don’t make one picture but two pictures (maybe 3). Are these pictures related? Could be, might not be, it’s up to you. It’s just wonky. And I know RSB is supposed to be a brilliant writer and all, and she is, but damn sometimes it would be better to write in a way that is both brilliant and coherent.
I was left feeling that either this just doesn’t make sense, or its lacking the clues (box text) to tell us “this is up to you” or I am just too stupid to understand it.
Over all it was an A-, with the good parts over shadowing the part I took issue with.
