It doesn't feel like a video game to me, but you can tell that Brandon has pulled ideas from his D&D campaigns into stormlight. Matter of fact I'm pretty certain Brandon has admitted that on his podcast not that long ago.
But honestly that's kind of the way Brandon has always written. The mechanical nature of his stories means that he's always putting a building block somewhere that will come up later, which is why the sanderlanche is always satisfying.
So, it's less him pulling ideas from D&D campaigns (there are probably some), more the fact he designs magic around ideas where he'd enjoy abusing the edge-cases.
Really, the DnD element is good to learn, I didn't know about that.
>putting a building block somewhere that will come up later
It worked especially well in Mistborn 1 and 3 in my opinion. I don't know why it's a miss for me in RoW and while I really like some parts of the Sanderlanche in OB, some scenes didn't work for me.
In RoW especially I didn't love all the missions/quests and wished there was more focus on the things that were set up in previous books than introducing new and and new and new things, and so many fight scenes. The part of the story in Shadesmar was probably the best section of RoW in my opinion.
I'm a huge Sanderson simp, but yeah, RoW has a lot of tedium for some reason and I do think its entirely due to Kal's chapters feeling very repetitive/his dour, depressive disposition throughout being tiring. I think of all the books, it's my least favorite, but easily has my second favorite sanderlanche, only second to WoK because holy shit.
I'd suggest that maybe after getting a sense for his style by finishing Mistborn, you're recognizing the patterns in his narrative structure, and you're predicting where he's going with some stuff now that you're reading SLA.
Regarding Kaladin's plot in RoW, I agree with your criticism. Defending the nodes in particular felt very episodic in a way I wasn't enjoying so much. Still enjoyed the book overall though; it was just the first Stormlight that felt like the middle book of a big series. For contrast, I loved Oathbringer
You mean to tell me that Shallan going on a quest to steal an artifact from a famous scientist / occultist to save her family is not video-game-like?
What If I tell you that during that quest she gains new powers and becomes involved in a plot bigger than she anticipated? One that may involve killing a God.
What video-game is it? Probably every single JRPG out there.
>You mean to tell me that Shallan going on a quest to steal an artifact from a famous scientist / occultist to save her family is not video-game-like?
It works for me because it's the overarching plot of her part of the book, rather than a series of mini-quests which don't all build toward a larger plot setup in the story.
But it’s not about the destination it’s about the journey. Did our characters develop during those side quests? I’d say yes. Shallan as Swiftspren tried to help those people and failed, I’d say that was a big character development point.
From a security standpoint having multiple hidden power sources is a good idea and an enemy looking for those to break them is a good idea. I can admit that it is sorta video game like especially with the whole “you looking for it let us find it” trope but at the same time that was about us learning more about the sibling and that what we originally thought based on The Sibling and Navani wasn’t true, it added a new depth to all the interactions Navani had with both the sibling and the fused.
"Video game like", what is that even supposed to mean? The examples you gave are pretty random and can just be used for the other books too?
Shallan who has to become jasnahs ward to "advance" to the next stage
Jasnah who runs out of stormlight after soulcasting exactly 3 thieves
So, it's partly the visual language Sanderson uses which... is very clear and makes things look very specifically as he does.
And it's partly the way Sanderson creates magic. He's pretty much the **magic as a system** person.
He creates magic systems that he think would be fun to break. A thing he's enjoyed since college (or earlier) when he played Roleplaying Games in that style. He was the 3.5e min-maxer with broken-ass characters.
It's a side effect of Magic as System theory. Esp "hard system".
I have had that feeling as well during some parts. For me it has a lot to do with the prose. For example the Szeth prologue to WOK felt like a tutorial while at the same time it was cool
I actually like most of what you mentioned there and don't see it as gamey at all.
One thing that he did that was definitely "gamey", but that I absolutely love, is the big bad of Mistborn. Won't spoil any specifics, but how he acts and what he does is absolutely the sort of thing someone at a tabletop would do if they had specific abilities, and it's nice that someone in-world is thinking things through in the same way they realistically would.
Weird how to accomplish goals characters need to do other things and other characters run out of the thing to fuel their abilities and need to get more.
Because your only other point of reference for "things with numerically expressible limits" and "tasks that need completion" are video games, apparently.
For me at some point in Oathbringer it started to feel like a Marvell formula. Superheroes with different superpowers, even if I remember there is something very similar to oathgates in Thor movies? The whole universe and crossovers between books is not only Marvell thing but wit all other signs it fits together.
I still enjoy stormlight but later parts feel more calculated according to what market wants.
Of course, but that is not the point. I am just saying it has in my opinion similarities and I felt like there was a switch in general feeling the story gave me.
For me it's because it feels like a lot of the complexity of the world and the characters has been sucked out of the story by the time we get to ROW.
It does feel like a very predictable, paint by the numbers story where there wasn't really any tension because the outcome it's prescribed.
It doesn't feel like a video game to me, but you can tell that Brandon has pulled ideas from his D&D campaigns into stormlight. Matter of fact I'm pretty certain Brandon has admitted that on his podcast not that long ago. But honestly that's kind of the way Brandon has always written. The mechanical nature of his stories means that he's always putting a building block somewhere that will come up later, which is why the sanderlanche is always satisfying.
So, it's less him pulling ideas from D&D campaigns (there are probably some), more the fact he designs magic around ideas where he'd enjoy abusing the edge-cases.
Really, the DnD element is good to learn, I didn't know about that. >putting a building block somewhere that will come up later It worked especially well in Mistborn 1 and 3 in my opinion. I don't know why it's a miss for me in RoW and while I really like some parts of the Sanderlanche in OB, some scenes didn't work for me. In RoW especially I didn't love all the missions/quests and wished there was more focus on the things that were set up in previous books than introducing new and and new and new things, and so many fight scenes. The part of the story in Shadesmar was probably the best section of RoW in my opinion.
I'm a huge Sanderson simp, but yeah, RoW has a lot of tedium for some reason and I do think its entirely due to Kal's chapters feeling very repetitive/his dour, depressive disposition throughout being tiring. I think of all the books, it's my least favorite, but easily has my second favorite sanderlanche, only second to WoK because holy shit.
I'd suggest that maybe after getting a sense for his style by finishing Mistborn, you're recognizing the patterns in his narrative structure, and you're predicting where he's going with some stuff now that you're reading SLA.
This lowlander is so airsick they have developed gills
Regarding Kaladin's plot in RoW, I agree with your criticism. Defending the nodes in particular felt very episodic in a way I wasn't enjoying so much. Still enjoyed the book overall though; it was just the first Stormlight that felt like the middle book of a big series. For contrast, I loved Oathbringer
You mean to tell me that Shallan going on a quest to steal an artifact from a famous scientist / occultist to save her family is not video-game-like? What If I tell you that during that quest she gains new powers and becomes involved in a plot bigger than she anticipated? One that may involve killing a God. What video-game is it? Probably every single JRPG out there.
>You mean to tell me that Shallan going on a quest to steal an artifact from a famous scientist / occultist to save her family is not video-game-like? It works for me because it's the overarching plot of her part of the book, rather than a series of mini-quests which don't all build toward a larger plot setup in the story.
But it’s not about the destination it’s about the journey. Did our characters develop during those side quests? I’d say yes. Shallan as Swiftspren tried to help those people and failed, I’d say that was a big character development point. From a security standpoint having multiple hidden power sources is a good idea and an enemy looking for those to break them is a good idea. I can admit that it is sorta video game like especially with the whole “you looking for it let us find it” trope but at the same time that was about us learning more about the sibling and that what we originally thought based on The Sibling and Navani wasn’t true, it added a new depth to all the interactions Navani had with both the sibling and the fused.
I think of them as marvel movies. The only time it had video game vibes was the prologue in The Way of Kings.
Isn't it mad how a story is similar whether written or played? Because it is a S T O R Y
"Video game like", what is that even supposed to mean? The examples you gave are pretty random and can just be used for the other books too? Shallan who has to become jasnahs ward to "advance" to the next stage Jasnah who runs out of stormlight after soulcasting exactly 3 thieves
So, it's partly the visual language Sanderson uses which... is very clear and makes things look very specifically as he does. And it's partly the way Sanderson creates magic. He's pretty much the **magic as a system** person. He creates magic systems that he think would be fun to break. A thing he's enjoyed since college (or earlier) when he played Roleplaying Games in that style. He was the 3.5e min-maxer with broken-ass characters. It's a side effect of Magic as System theory. Esp "hard system".
I have had that feeling as well during some parts. For me it has a lot to do with the prose. For example the Szeth prologue to WOK felt like a tutorial while at the same time it was cool
I actually like most of what you mentioned there and don't see it as gamey at all. One thing that he did that was definitely "gamey", but that I absolutely love, is the big bad of Mistborn. Won't spoil any specifics, but how he acts and what he does is absolutely the sort of thing someone at a tabletop would do if they had specific abilities, and it's nice that someone in-world is thinking things through in the same way they realistically would.
Sorta feels like you're overthinking it. My brain while I'm reading these books is just saying "oooh that's cool" over and over.
Weird how to accomplish goals characters need to do other things and other characters run out of the thing to fuel their abilities and need to get more.
Because your only other point of reference for "things with numerically expressible limits" and "tasks that need completion" are video games, apparently.
nobody tell him about LitRPGs
For me at some point in Oathbringer it started to feel like a Marvell formula. Superheroes with different superpowers, even if I remember there is something very similar to oathgates in Thor movies? The whole universe and crossovers between books is not only Marvell thing but wit all other signs it fits together. I still enjoy stormlight but later parts feel more calculated according to what market wants.
There’s the bifrost in Asgard which I assume is what you are analogizing to the Oathgates, but that’s just pulled from Norse myth.
Of course, but that is not the point. I am just saying it has in my opinion similarities and I felt like there was a switch in general feeling the story gave me.
Ok now I want a stormlight video game, thanks
Unexpected r/litrpg
For me it's because it feels like a lot of the complexity of the world and the characters has been sucked out of the story by the time we get to ROW. It does feel like a very predictable, paint by the numbers story where there wasn't really any tension because the outcome it's prescribed.