Games and their books:

[ShadowTiger]

Today, I saw the Warcraft Archive: A collection of four (Possibly the four; I don't know how many there are in total.) books of Warcraft stories for $16. I got it. Oh holy crap I got it.

Being at least a fair Warcraft fan in most ways, (I've played every Warcraft game I've ever heard of. Considering such a limitation, I genuinely have.) and having even read the rather lengthy Warcraft history featured on worldofwarcraft.com's lore page, I couldn't resist the chance to get it. It's a pretty damn thick book, but I look forward to taking in each magical word.


Anyway, on to the thread. If you were in such a case, would you wish to expand your general "fun" of a game by taking in some of its optional history? Would you go the extra mile to gather more of a sense of setting to what's already there? How far would you be willing to go to boost your attention to a game / game series with additional story elements like this, that aren't even on the same platform as the original?

[Modus Ponens]

Would I! If there were well-written series of Final Fantasy or Zelda books, I'd snatch them up and read them from wake up to wake down. The same would go for Metroid, Chrono Trigger and Tetris.

[Russ]

Depends on the game. In most cases: No. However, there are some games that I would enjoy reading books about.

[DarkDragoonX]

Well, in one case, a book inspired a game: The Last Wish was the book (series, really) that inspired The Witcher, and I can certainly see why. It's an amazing book, well worth reading.

EDIT: Technically, there's also Blood of Elves, as well two other short story collections and four novels, but I have yet to read Blood of Elves, and the other novels haven't been translated into English yet.

[The_Amaster]

...depends. See, I'm also a bibliophile in addition to a gamer, a massive book reader, if you will, and most D&D/Magic: the Gathering based fiction I've read comes off as amatuerish. Not because the authors aren't good, but because when you're writing in a world with all the rules laid out like a video game or tabletop game much of the mystery and wonder of the world is gone. More importantly, so many books like this are so in love with the games concept or world that they forget to innovate, to expand. They just take what they've been given and go with it. The books don't really feel like a novel, they feel like fanfiction.

But done right? An author who could take a basic game world, and then expand on it, put his own twist on it, and actually carve a good story instead of just trying to write about something happening in the beloved fictional universe? Hell yeah.

A good rule of thumb I've found is to get a few chapters in, and then honestly say "If I weren't a fan of the franchise, would this still be good enough and compelling enough for me to continue reading?" Sadly many times the answer is no.

[ShadowTiger]

*Nods and ponders upon.*


I have found that I can't put the Warcraft Archive book down. It's right next to me. I'm also blessedly amazed how accurate it is to the contents on wowwiki.com. I'm sure they're getting their sources from one another, but I just went on the site to look up the entry for "Malygos," and it ended up being precisely accurate to the context. I can't get enough of tie-ins like that.

[Dann Woolf]

There's only one thing worse that a movie based on a game.

A book based on a game.

Damnit people, haven't you learned that you just can't transfer interactive media to non-interactive media?

[ZTC]

Uh...yes it can. Rebel Moon was decent, and I love the Shin Megami Tensei manga. The LoZ mangas were decent even though they didn't completely stick to their respective canon storylines. I've thought about getting the Doom 3 books, but they looked bleh.

[DarkDragoonX]

I have found that I can't put the Warcraft Archive book down. It's right next to me. I'm also blessedly amazed how accurate it is to the contents on wowwiki.com. I'm sure they're getting their sources from one another, but I just went on the site to look up the entry for "Malygos," and it ended up being precisely accurate to the context. I can't get enough of tie-ins like that.

Okay, I'm a bit confused. You ARE aware that WoWwiki is, well, a wiki put together by fans? Right? Not a tie in? And that the reason it's accurate is because the lore on WoWwiki comes in large part FROM the books? And that as such, WoWwiki isn't very amazing on the grounds that all somebody did was read the books, then write a few small articles and throw them up on the wiki? It's, uh, really not an impressive feat.

[AlexMax]

Amaster really hit the nail on the head. Most gamers have the mistaken impression that books or movies based on video games are trying to expand the audience to those who would normally never play said video game, but it's really just officially sanctioned fan fiction.

[ShadowTiger]

Okay, I'm a bit confused. You ARE aware that WoWwiki is, well, a wiki put together by fans? Right? Not a tie in? And that the reason it's accurate is because the lore on WoWwiki comes in large part FROM the books? And that as such, WoWwiki isn't very amazing on the grounds that all somebody did was read the books, then write a few small articles and throw them up on the wiki? It's, uh, really not an impressive feat.


I know. I really do. It's just the end result that ends up being so impressive. (Particularly if you don't think about the aforementioned a lot. :p )

I spent a little bit looking at the new WotLK stuff in WoWHead and WoWWiki. There are a lot of links. Malygos, the blue Dragon, is indeed in Northrend, and he pretty much hates ... everything. Ysera, Dragonness Aspect of Dreams, is also there, and is quite asleep. Rhonin, the Archmage sent by the Kirin Tor to release Alexstrasza from the Dragonmaw Clan in Khaz Modan, is now in Dalaran. His tunic is dropped from Archimonde in Hyjal's Past. (Though one of the things I don't quite like is that nobody can tell how the hell he got it. Probably picked it up from his trip through time, sponsored by Nozdormu, Time Dragon.) Rhonin married Vereesa Windrunner, (Sister of the Sylvanas Windrunner, now leader of the "Undead" race in WoW,) and Alleria, one of the heroes of Warcraft 2. Turalyon, who was Alleria's lover, had a half-elven son who is presently in Honor Hold. (He uses a Blood Elf Skin. Blizzard likes to take shortcuts.)

It really is that interesting; because almost every occasion that I hear a new name, I look it up, and find an interesting link in Warcraft's lore and in the game itself. At this rate, I really don't care which came first, or which got what from where. I am so happy that they didn't separate things. It makes everything so much more easily able to be related to. It makes it a lot more fun to read.

Surely fun justifies anything else people could say? :p