The Eye of the World Recap

Moiraine and Rand have headed off into the blight to go to the Eye of the World. Leaving the rest of them behind in Fal Dara, where there are troubles of their own. There are dark friends in the city which is an issue because Tarwin’s Gap, the land between the blight and the rest of the world is having trollocs and fades amass in front of it. So Egewene, Perrin, Nyneave, and Loial all need to help make a stand. But will it be enough to keep the trollocs from coming out of the blight.

What Didn’t Work?

Keeping the group split was an odd choice for me in this episode. Some of that is because they weren’t in the book. Having Moiraine and Rand head off on their own works, but it’d have worked better to then have them all meet up again. There was some decent dialog that would have be missed had they not, but that could easily have been added in at a later time. But it also would have changed, in my opinion, a good change that they made from the book.

I also think that the Aes Sedai aspect, or the use of the power, that part was not needed. I’m not sure what the payoff from that scene was in the episode. I won’t spoil what happens in it, but for me, that was a scene that didn’t develop characters anymore. I don’t think it set-up anything that was going to be useful going forward in the story, maybe a minor thing, but it could have been done without that being a part of it.

Finally, there is a change with Moiraine during the episode. This is not something that happens in the book at this time. I need to see what happens with it going forward. I don’t believe it’ll be a massive deal breaker for the story, because of some changes already made. But it is an odd choice to make. Something that is added in for drama but I don’t see how it’ll be added in for plot as well.

What Worked?

I think the Eye of the World, itself, worked out pretty well. The whole confrontation that we head into, in the finale, it works. And how they play it, I think is more interesting than how it is in the book. Now, not maybe, everything leading up to it. But the introduction of the Dark One, I think is well done. And his interaction with the characters, is also well done. It makes a convincing villain who is clearly bad, but not moustache twirling type of villain.

I also think, while there was an odd change with Loial, that the part with Perrin and Loial, that worked well. Loial is almost taking over the role of Elias from the books. Kind of that mentor figure to Perrin, and it works. At least to some extent.

And I like that they moved a key piece from the Eye of the Eye of the World. Because we were introduced to the Aes Sedai before Fal Dara, not at Fal Dara, like in the book, we don’t need to spend the time getting to know them. That is a chunk of the second book, at Fal Dara with the Aes Sedai and Suian Sanche. So the big plot point from there can instead by added into what is going on in Fal Dara now, and it worked for me. It tightens up the story, which I don’t always want them to do. But it does so in a good way.

The Eye of the World Final Thoughts

I liked this episode, generally. I do have some complaints, but I think the biggest one is around Moiraine’s change. It is a change that needs to be explained for plot reasons and we don’t get that in this season. I need to see more of what their plan is for it in the second season really.

But, I think that they get the Dark One right. You will never get the feeling that the Dark One is good, but like I said, he isn’t so obviously bad that you don’t like him. He’s creepy and twisted but not coming across as evil for the sake of being evil.

I don’t think this is the strongest episode in the series. But it is a good finale. And it makes me want more. Is it the biggest cliffhanger, not really, but it leaves a lot of things open ended. Plus it leaves you wondering where some of the characters are going and who might be changed in season two. I’d probably give this a 8 out of 10.

Did you like the finale, The Eye of the World?

Spoilers

Alright, let’s talk about Moiraine a little bit more. She isn’t stilled in the books. Things happen to her, but she isn’t stilled. So I don’t know what their plan is with her losing her powers. It isn’t something that makes that much sense to me because it feels out of place. Does she really need her powers to do a lot of what she does, well, sometimes yes, but generally know. She more directs things, but still, it’s an odd choice.

Also, Loial, is he going to be dead? It is certainly possible, but I hope not. We didn’t get to know his character that much in the first season, and i really like him in the books. He most definitely does not die in the books. So I don’t see him dying here, but they certainly seemed to imply that Padan Fain killed him. I think that’ll be a reveal to start season two is that he is severely injured but not killed.

Let’s talk about two changes that I do like though. First, the Horn of Valare being at Fal Dara, that works well. Like I said in the non-spoiler section, it tightens up a chunk of the story. While it is interesting and a good introduction to the Aes Sedai as Rand, and the group, in the books, go back to Fal Dara after the eye of the world, it isn’t needed here. And it is time where not much actually happens. Low action but good character development. I think that is being moved around, instead, which is okay.

The other thing changed, or really the other thing removed, was the whole idea of the Green Man protecting the Eye of the World in the middle of the blight or on the far side of it. To me this is a Tom Bombadil type thing from Lord of the Rings. It isn’t needed. Now, I forget if there is any future payoff for that character, but from what I remember of the books, he isn’t that important. I feel like it is more of an interesting idea that isn’t paid off on well. Now, it isn’t done poorly, but not that interesting either.

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The Flame of Tar Valon Recap

With everyone converging on Tar Valon, Moiraine is working to keep her plans in order. Not only that but the Amyrlin seat is returning from Caemlyn to Tar Valon, and Moiraine, Alanna and Liandrin are going to need to face her for what they did to Logain in gentling him without a trial. All the while, Moiraine is finding that the others have made it to Tar Valon as well. But separately and she must bring the group together again and figure out what the next steps are which may include the Ogier Loial.

What Didn’t Work

This episode was 60 minutes, I don’t mind have 60 minute episodes of The Wheel of Time. In fact, if more were that long, I’d be happy. But as rushed as the first episode was, this one was too slow. Now, not to say that important things didn’t happen, very important things did. But more that the pacing was too slow. There needed to be another story element to what was going on.

As you can tell from my recap it is very Moiraine focused, and she’s a good character to focus on. But it did seem to leave some of the other stories generally hanging. I want to see more struggles of Nyneave not liking the Aes Sedai which we get hints of. or Egwene’s eagerness to start training. Or Mat not trusting them, Perrin not trusting himself, or anything with Rand at this point because they haven’t done much with his character.

What Did Work

I think that Sophie Okonedo as Siuan Sanche was good. Going from being quite formal in the halls of the White Tower, but then is much more relaxed and slips into her rough upbringing as the daughter of a fishing family. There’s some interesting stuff that they do with her and Moiraine’s relationship, though not in a way that affects the overall story. Is it a change from the books, sure, does it really matter that they changed it, not at all.

The Flame of Tar Valon episode also sets up and gives some reason for Moiraine to continue traveling. That’s one of the things in the book is that she is never there. Liandrin has been trying to get Moiraine to return. Her own Aja, the blue aja, wants her to stay in the tower more. So I think a change that was made so she can travel more easily and more with those from the Two Rivers makes a lot of sense.

The Flame of Tar Valon Final Thoughts

This was a good episode but not a great episode. I thought that there was some good story progression, and also reason for them to progress in a specific direction that the books go. If the episode hadn’t ended up the way it did, it really would have started to diverge even more heavily from the books.

As an adaptation of the books, I think that the Wheel of Time is doing fine. And this episode is one of the weaker in terms of a direct adaptation. But in terms of the story, I do think that they are doing a solid job with it. It feels like The Wheel of Time even if it doesn’t match up perfectly with the books.

With that said, this episode is kind of like the first, it gets a lower score around a 6.5-7 out of 10 range. Do important things happen, yes. Does it matter massively for the plot, yes. But it just felt a little bit lacking in what it did. Like I said in my negatives, the episode needed tighter editing. There is a difference between deliberate pacing and slow pacing. This fell on the slow side of things where it could have be deliberate pacing with the same thoughtfulness and just less shown.

What did you think of The Flame of Tar Valon?

Spoilers

The jumping off point to talk about I think it would be Moiraine’s romantic relationship with Siuan. I think that for some people this is going to be something that bugs them. And I’m just looking at it from the perspective of it not being part of the books. But when I look at it from a plot, it doesn’t matter. It kind of makes sense in some ways, I know there are book things that might contradict that, but not major plot points.

Then at the very end, as they go into the Ways, Mat seemingly doesn’t come with them. Now, this is again, a does it matter change? Mat seemingly has already been healed from his connection with the dagger, that doesn’t happen until later. He also doesn’t trust Aes Sedai or want to be there. In the show he really doesn’t want to be there because he’s worried about his family. So I don’t know that there is a major importance for him being on this journey.

Overall, I get the changes they are making from the books, and I’ll keep on coming back to this. I think that they are doing the story justice and keeping the tone right. Would I love to have seen more of Shadar Logoth and other characters and places, most certainly. But it’s more about the tone of the show for me. And this is the first time that I thought it’d been too slow, generally they have paced it well.

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A little bit of groundwork on how this is going to work, I am going to talk about stuff generally, plot, what worked, what didn’t work and some final thoughts. Then I am going to jump into spoilers. I will say that this is a show that I’m enjoying. It’s not perfect to completely true to the book, but that is okay, it’s worked well for television thus far.

Leavetaking

Things in Emond’s Field are not great this year, it’s been a tough winter, but winter ends when Bel Tine comes around. Rand and his father, Tam, come into town to bring mead and drinks for the celebration. They aren’t the only exciting things coming for Bel Tine. Moiraine Sedai and her warder Lan, and along with them a peddler, Paden Fain. Everyone is ready for a night of celebration when creatures of the dark one attack Emond’s Field.

Moiraine and Lan manage to drive back the Trollocks, but are not able to save everyone in the town. They have an idea as to why the Trollocks and dark ones might be attacking, but that requires that some of the Emond’s Field young adults need to go with them. This includes, Rand, Perrin Aybara, Mat Cauthon, and Egwene Al’Vere.

What Didn’t Work

This is an interesting episode, and I’ll talk about a few more thigns that didn’t work in the spoiler section, because somewhat by necessity they needed to change a bit of it because of how long the book series is. They can’t do everything in this series that the books do. On the flip side, some of the changes were a little bit rough.

All the main kids are older, and I won’t say that didn’t work, but they made some interesting choices with the level of relationship with Rand and Egwene and an interesting choice with Perrin. I can get both of them, though, the one with Rand and Egwene gave it more of a Game of Thrones feel, and I know it’s a fantasy book series so it’s going to get compared to Game of Thrones, but Wheel of Time should not be Game of Thrones, and while I don’t think it’ll try completely, they will give nods to that style I’m sure.

I do think they rushed some of the story. Now, I get that they are doing a 9 episode season which I’m guessing is all of the first book. But this is Amazon. 12 episodes and the pacing would have been amazing. 15 episodes and it probably would have been perfect. This is an epic fantasy series, don’t rush it too much. To go back to Game of Thrones, we know what happened when they rushed the end. I think just a few more episodes could have made this first episode better.

What Did Work

First off, the tone of the show is very good. Emond’s Field felt like Emond’s Field. The Aes Sedai feel like Aes Sedai from what we see of them. They set-up some important things early on for how the magic of Aes Sedai works and how the male side is tainted.

But to go along with the tone, the casting on this is amazing. I am not going to list off everyone because, well, everyone is great from Tam, Rand, Mat, Egwene, Perrin, Lan, Moiraine, and Paden Fain. Honestly, all the main cast are good. I think that we didn’t see enough of Nyneave to know if that casting is great, but the rest of them are very good. And I think as we get to see more of Nyneave her character will be more interesting. I don’t think I can overstate this enough, the casting might be the best I’ve seen for a show period.

Leave Taking Final Thoughts

I have some issues with this episode. Now, I don’t have major issues with this episode because it sets the right tone, it sets up the world well, and there is clear strength in the casting. My issues come from the pacing. This episode felt rushed. They packed too much into it, they packed some extra things into it, and it just wasn’t needed at times.

That said, this is going to be different from the books. Any adaptation of any book is going to be different because it’s a different person interpreting it than the writer or the reader. So this has the right feel and the right actors, if they can keep close enough to the story line it is going to be very good.

Overall, this is a series, and honestly most series are this way, give yourself three episodes with it. This first one sets the town correctly, but isn’t amazing. The second one I liked better, but I’ll talk about it tomorrow.

Have you watched the show, what do you think of it? Is it one you’ll continue watching the new episodes when they come out?

SPOILERS

Now, let’s get into a few small gripes, why they don’t matter that much, or maybe why they didn’t work for me. Spoiler, obviously ahead, let me repeat that, spoilers, obviously, ahead.

In the show they age the main characters up. This is not actually a big deal to me. However, they use it to make one interesting choice and one heavy handed choice. With Rand and Egwene hooking up, that felt too Game of Thrones, granted the characters are older, but it’s a bit odd to add into the story. Does it add drama, yes, is that drama really needed, no.

The second thing was Perrin being married. Again, this makes sense if they are older, and if any of them were to be married it’d 100% be Perrin. He’s the most responsible of the three boys. And I get what they did, I just don’t like it. Perrin killing his wife rushes along the storyline of how Perrin doesn’t like his axe. He wants to throw it away because he doesn’t like killing. He gets talked out of it and is told to throw it away if he ever doesn’t hate it and if he is ever not hesitant to use it. Him killing his wife is just too heavy handed for my taste.

And finally this isn’t a negative or a positive at this point, but Thom Merrlin isn’t in the story yet. He’s one of my favorite characters from the books. He is there in the books for Bel Tine and the Trollock attacks. And he joins with the group for a reason, now I’m sure that reason will still exist, I’m just going to be curious to see how they tie it in. The attack at Bel Tine was a good kicking off point for their friendship.

With the exception of the Perrin thing, the rest are nitpicks. I think that Egwene and Rand thing is fine. I get it, it’s a bit of Game of Thrones and a bit of them being older. The Perrin one is what stands out to me as I wish they had more time to build it out or taken that time. Though, it’s Perrin, so it’s harder to explain since a lot of it was in his head.

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What Is The Wheel of Time

The Wheel of Time is a series that was written by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson from 1990 to 2013. Robert Jordan passed away before he could finish writing the series. Knowing that he wasn’t likely to, he took notes and planned it out so someone else could. Brandon Sanderson, writer of things like the Stormlight Archives and The Reckoners was tasked to do that.

The Wheel of Time is an epic fantasy series following a main group of characters, that grows and changes as the series goes. It mainly focuses on a group of kids/young adults from Emond’s Field in the Two Rivers, and their adventures as they go out into the larger world after they fall under the eyes of the dark one. And their lives are spun into the Wheel of Time.

That’s very general idea of the plot. Without going too deep into it, there is magic, there is darkness, there is romance, back stabbing, and wolves. There’s high adventure, legends coming to live, and a very involved world which you’d expect from a series with 14 books or 15 if you count the prequel. There is even a character sent on a mission that never comes back because there are so many characters.

What is the Show?

So the show is going to be an adaptation on this series. Thankfully the series takes place over quite a long period of time in the world. That means that as the show spans years and actors get older it is going to work. This is almost a bigger scope, I’d say, than something like Game of Thrones, but it’s generally going to be on that scale. This is going to be more of an epic adventure with political intrigue kind of in a backdrop.

Key Wheel of Time Players

Rand al’Thor

From the Two Rivers and Emond’s Field, Rand grew up on the farm with his father. His mother is an outlander and Rand stands out a bit from everyone. He’s one of the characters who the Dark Lord takes note of. The story and the Wheel of Time spin around him more than most of the other characters, though they all have their moments to shine.

Perrin Aybara

Perrin also comes from Emond’s Field. The blacksmiths apprentice, he is slow to speak but very quite smart, just not ready to rush in. He has some interesting times as he meets up with some wolves that influence and change his life. His path leads him back to Emond’s Field more often, but still travels and explores the world.

Matrim Cauthon

The final of the boys from Emond’s Field. Mat is the light hearted one. He plays jokes, he is impulsive, and that often gets him into trouble. It really changes him early on in the series when he comes cross something as they leave Emond’s Field to escape the Dark Lord.

Moiraine Damodred

Moiraine is an Ais Sedai from Tar Valon. They are the magic users, the female half of the one power, which has not been tainted by the dark one. She comes to Emond’s Field, drawn by the weaving of the wheel of time and the hope for saving the world from the Dark Lord. She is the one who helps the boys on the run with her warder Lan

Lan

Moiraine’s Warder. He is very stoic and while a caring man, he doesn’t show emotions. As a Warder he is connected with Moiraine and when she dies, he will die, not immediately, but soon. He helps train and protect the boys and the others from Emond’s Field.

Egwene el’Vara

Egwene is the daughter of the Mayor. She’s head strong and loves adventure. When the boys are slipping out of Emond’s Field, she follows them and joins their adventure. While she is not as tightly wound into the wheel of time, she plays an important role in helping them complete their missions and it wouldn’t be possible without her. She never loses that sense of adventure but does mature throughout the series.

Nyneave al’Meara

Nyneave is the wisdom of Emond’s Field. The wisdom is basically a herbalist and healer of the town. They are considered to be wise in those arts and generally considered to be a stable force in the town. Generally they lead or are an important part of the women’s circle. Nyneave is young and a bit hot headed to be a normal wisdom. She doesn’t join the group immediately but is a major player.

Now, there are many more players in the Wheel of Time. In fact, there are too many to really talk about, because like I said, it’s 14 books. Not all 2782 of them are throughout the whole story though. These characters are all important, through most of the story if not all of it. But like Game of Thrones, Wheel of Time is not always shy about killing off characters.

What Are My Thoughts on the Books?

I am not going to do any spoilers here. I could, but I think it’s more useful to have an idea of the feel of the series and my thoughts on that. The series is interesting, I am not going to call it great, and I am not going to call it bad. It does a few things that are fairly standard for a lot of these epic fantasy stories coming from that time. And the story is very long.

I think the audiobooks, not counting the prequel story are going to take about 400 hours, which is very long. Needless to say with me listening to it now, I’ll maybe be on book two or three when the series starts. I think that the show is going to be quite good. There is a ton of information and story to use in the show. I hope they cut it down a long ways, and I think they will. The first book with everything that happens could be feature length movies and probably five of them.

Normally I want a story to stay true to the story. And with Wheel of Time I do want it to stay close. But I want it to tighten up the story. The story is epic, the characters are interesting. A few things need to change because it gets too long and too repetitive. Now that I have all of it on Audible audiobook, I can imagine that I will come back to these books often.

Have You Read The Wheel Of Time Series?

Let me know your thoughts on the series? Do you think this will be a good show? What do you think of the trailer?

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September 2nd

Wheel of Time

So, Wheel of TIme has been a TV series I’ve been waiting for, for a long time. Why, because while I like the books there is a ton in that series. And there is bloat in the series, which epic fantasy, that happens. Robert Jordan literally had a character he sent off on a quest never to be heard from again. This, I hope will tell a tighter version of that story. And I really like the look of the trailer. The magic makes sense to me from what is going on, so this should be really interesting. And November 19th, not that long, this is going to be something I set aside time to watch.

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TIME Stories

Now, I already have T.IM.E. Stories, so I didn’t buy the base box again, there’s no reason for that. But some Target, somewhere, had some expansions for it, and while I have the first three, there are a whole lot more and a whole lot that I really want to play because I love that game a lot as it’s #12 in my Top 100 Games. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the next expansion that I needed but they did have the next two after that. So while I might no get them played for a little bit, it was a pretty easy decision to add those to the order to get it closer to $100 and that $25 back. Even with just the 25% off that was cheaper than most places have them, and while I would have paid full price eventually, it’ll be nice to have that backlog for the few people we do see for gaming, so we can schedule out a few times playing with them.

Pandemic Legacy Season 2

So, I already had Pandemic Legacy Season 2 and got rid of it because obviously you can play through the campaign game once. This is a legacy game, and does not leave you with something you can play again. And while it is in my Top 100, it isn’t my favorite Pandemic Legacy, currently Season 1, though Season 0 is coming out soon. So why did I pick it up, because I had a ton of fun streaming Pandemic Legacy Season 1 on Malts and Meeples, and while I remembered some about that game, I remember even less about Pandemic Legacy Season 2, so I want to stream that again, it was a good time and I know that I’ll have fun playing it again. So I’m really interested in seeing how much I remember and there’s something just about playing a familiar game, so again 25% off is basically what you can find it for all the time now, but was worth grabbing as part of this sale.

Hues and Cues

The last one, and I have to say I’m glad that this was the first one to ship because we used it for board game night and had a blast with it. In this game you are taking turn using a card (or for the people who didn’t have the cards just picking) a color on a grid of 30 by 16 and you try and get the other players to guess and for each guess that is either the color or around it, 3×3 square, you get 1 point, but the players guessing, they get points for not only being in that 3×3 square 2 points for being around the spot and 3 points for being on it, but going out one further, so a 5×5 square, they get a point. The clue giver firsts gives a one word clue and then a two word clue and players guess each time. It works well on Zoom or other streaming as long as you can show the board, so a fun game that can play up to 10 people.

That’s the latest order and probably one of the last point of orders for the year. I still have a pre-order that I’m waiting on from CoolStuffInc that is going to give a lot to play. I could see ordering the missing TIME Stories expansion but that’ll be about it. Overall, even without going to cons, a bunch of new games that year and a bunch of fun games as well. We’ll see if there are any announcements of anything exciting at this weeks Essen Spiel Digital that is happening that I might talk about.

Which of these games is the most intriguing for you?

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I’ll see you next time.

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Let’s get into the pros and cons.

Pros

• Cooperative
• Based off of a successful RPG
• Previous fulfilled kickstarters from the company
• Alternate timeline

Cons

• Art is just okay, in my opinion, doesn’t seem fully consistent
• Game Play Information is lacking

Thoughts on the Page
So, you’re making a board game, what’s the #1 thing that you should explain on the page, how the game works. If this is a dry euro game, I might not be happy, if this is a dice chucking ameritrash game, I might not be happy. We get none of that on this page. The page is missing some images for stretch goals or something that differentiate them, too much text, and somehow in all that text, I don’t really feel like I understand the game.

Also, consistency in artwork is important. The cover artwork for the RPG is just beautiful. It has that Scythe like quality to it, and Scythe is considered to be one of the prettiest games out there. You get transported into this alternate past of the 80’s, but when you look at the game itself, it just doesn’t seem nearly as polished. It seems like it had a different art direction, which is disappointing.

Back or Brick
This is a Brick for me as much as I want it to be a back. An alternate version of the 80’s with a kids on bikes feel to the game, that sounds awesome. But, I don’t know what the game is, is it going to be a crunchy game, is it going to be story driven. Are the scenarios going to be all that replayable or are they going to be one offs, I just don’t know. Half way down or so we have a print and play and some videos, but that’s not how I want my information, I’m not going sit down and watch a video, or two, to see how the game is set-up and how the game phases work. It feels like this was something that might have been put together in a rush because of the Amazon show coming out and hoping to capitalize on that and increase the brand awareness for the RPG.

So how about for you, is this game a back or is it a brick?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

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