Hmm... Game of Thrones sounds a lot like The Kingkiller Chronicle -- two fat books and the story doesn't seem any closer to any kind of resolution.

Game of Thrones? Wasn't this the show where everybody wants to sit on the worlds most uncomfortable chair?
http://www.blastr.com/sites/blastr/files/HBO-Iron-Throne.jpg

I know a lot fans of it, I don't like it.
Too much soft porn, too much really bad choreography (swords either used as clubs or as rapiers, never as swords), too long, too much fantasy medieval environment everywhere.

I know, but I wonder if I had not been exposed to those kind of games when I was younger, would I enjoy them as much as I do. Maybe, as you said, it's possible that when I discovered my passion for gaming on my own, my tastes could have very well been the same. But it's also possible that without this early exposure, that I may have become more attached to other kind of games, and ended up not liking strategy games at all.

So, you finally came out of the closet and are admitting you're a Brony! I knew it :-)! But it was nice that you took the time to play with your sister, even if she did have to blackmail you first. It's never easy for a girl growing up with brothers, especially multiple older brothers. Not that they are inherently mean or anything like that, but boys tend to stick together and share similar tastes, which are often not shared by a sister.


I enjoyed both versions of Howl's Moving Castle. I prefer the book, and agree there are a lot of things missing on the anime, but I still found it enjoyable to watch. I have yet to see a Studio Ghibli movie that I did not like, I love most of them. The closest I came to one I did not like was Ponyo, it was okay, but seemed a bit too much like the kind of story Disney would do, IMO.

Did you like Grave of the Fireflies? I really liked the story and atmosphere. It does not seem as popular as other Ghibli movies, but it's got the same quality and emotional story that make Studio Ghibli's anime so good.

I think that the book was decently written, but its presentation of the army and the world it created really grated on me. Plus it felt like an introduction, building a character for a conflict (war) and never really doing anything with that conflict.

I'd recommend watching the animated series. That builds the conflict plus I prefer its depiction of the military to either the book or the movie.


Anyway, I feel that a lot of people who hate movie adaptations are fans of the books (or comics). Once you make something "canon" you start complaining about anything that doesn't hold to your version of truth, even if that movie does a good job if you discount that aspect.

I agree with you about the book seeming to be an introduction. It would have been nice to write another book (or make the first one longer) to better explore the war and the different alien races.

I have no real problem with movie adaptations, as long as they try to stay true to the book (the same goes for the reverse as well). Although they missed out and altered quite a bit of the story, the Lord of the Rings movies were okay (not perfect, but okay, it could have been a lot worse), the Hobbit movies on the other hand are just terrible. Many adaptations seem to just use a few ideas and the name and then make something completely different. Take the Starship Troopers film, it had very little to do with the book. If it had been a stand-alone movie in its own right, then that would be fine, but by claiming that is is based on the book, when in fact next to nothing is, it opens itself up to justified criticism. I remember reading somewhere that they are planning to making a new Starship Troopers movie, one that will be based more closely on the book. It would be nice if the movie added to the book, by expanding the ending and showing us some of the war. This would make the movie adaptation worth while, staying true to the original and expanding upon it, without just using the name to sell a completely different story.

Yeah, that's why when you read a book first it detracts from the movie. See the movie first and you can judge it on its own, and might enjoy it more. I would again recommend the animated series, Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles, which is much closer to the book in many ways (for example featuring battle armour and adding the Skinnies alien race), although it does carry some things from the movie, and focuses on the fight with the bugs (with quite a variety of bugs).

Same here, I liked movies like Lord of the Rings and Neverending Story, but some other adaptations were terrible like Eragon, The Lightning Thief or the Golden Compass

Umm, no, I enjoy strategy also, and said so. So your count is off. :)

Well... the TV adaptation is very loosely based on the books. They mostly adapted the character of Dirk, not the stories. It's quite jovial. Give it a shot. :)

Yeah, Martin isn't that far off from pulling a Robert Jordan. Jordan kept expanding his Wheel of Time series until it was a bloated mess of 15 novels (4 of which had to be completed by someone else posthumously), Martin has mentioned that while he thinks that his series is going to be seven books, he might have an eighth in him. Thing is, that while Jordan's series did get finished, after a fashion, Martin has forbidden anyone from trying to finish the series if he dies. HBO managed to get him to tell them the ending so that they could finish the HBO series if he died, but they had to fight to get even that.

As for his length, this is something that I'm beginning to hate fantasy for. Don't get me wrong, I like fantasy as a genre (Niel Gaiman is easily one of my favorite writers), but it seems that there's more of a tolerance of obscene length (both in each volume and the number of volumes in a series) without regard as to whether that length is warranted because Lord of the Rings apparently set precedent. Thing is, Martin seems to have been the straw that broke the camel's back, since his poor relationship with his publisher and his treating deadlines like so much vegemite is supposedly leading publishers to refuse to publish any new epic fantasy series lest they go the same way (at least, if this is to be believed).

I have changed the date this giveaway will end to Sunday 26th October, at 12:00 GMT.

Originally I was going to let it run for two weeks, thinking it would have little interest and few ladies entering, but as the thread seems to have become quite popular, I will end it a week earlier. The following Monday I will begin the boys only giveaway. It will have a few topics for the optional discussion, which like this one, will be open to everyone. The questions will be similar, as I am also keen to know just what kind of games you guys like as well.

I will include a link back to the OP, for any ladies that join in and want to know what the thread is all about.
http://www.gog.com/forum/general/the_girls_of_gog_giveaway_no_boys_allowed/post1

And just a recap on the general discussion topic of the thread:

Optional discussion:
What are you top 3 game genres and why?

Female gamers are often considered to be just casual gamers, interested only in quick pick-up-and-play games or games with princesses, cute cuddly animals, or sweet romantic stories. I find this kind of attitude to be amusing, as I am quite the opposite, while I do like a good dose of romance and cuddly animals, I prefer my games a little darker and more in-depth and thought-provoking. Because of these inaccurate stereotypes, I was curious to see what the most popular game genres were for the ladies here at GOG.

The guys are also more than welcome to take part in the discussion if they wish. Except for that one guy in the big trench coat and sunglasses, I have seen him hovering around the girls only thread with his camera and I think he may be a <span class="bold">flasher</span> :-).

Surely you must mean flash photography! :)

To say nothing of the man in the gabardine suit who looks like a spy and whose bowtie I suspect might be a camera.

As for the discussion, if the questions for the GA are going to be similar, would it be better if I just held my peace until next Monday, or would the likely rehashed content not be a problem?

I wasn't yet able to watch "Grave of the fireflies" a second time.
It's a great movie, possibly one of the best, but I watched it at a time when I suffered from depression anyway and I was completely useless for days after seeing it.
I don't recommend this movie to emotional people. It's really hard stuff.

Good question. The answer is, that it's up to you. I will be including two questions for the men's giveaway. The first will be the same as this week (as when I planned the giveaway I had imagined that mainly the women would take part, so I would use the same question for both). Some of the guys have taken part this week, which is great, but others have also left it, maybe leaving it for the ladies to answer.

The second question will be about the three genres people like the least. That way you can feel free to answerer both questions next week, or just one, or if you answered this weeks question then you can just answer the second question, as there is little need to just repeat the same answer again. I am just curious as to what the different kind of tastes are between the men and the women gamers, if at all.

I agree, I think that's why I liked it so much. Not in an evil way, I was not watching it and enjoying the suffering, but I do appreciate a good story that can bring out such emotions. It was a emotional and hard story, but it is worth the watch, even if only once.