Over the past few months, on buses to & from work & on weekends, I have been read _The Silmarillion_, then _The Hobbit, or There And Back Again_ (an old hardback edition with Michael Hague illustrations), and a single-volume paperback edition of _The Lord Of The Rings_. I thought it would be novel to do a "chronological" read of the three books. However, the foreword of every edition I've seen of the single-volume LOTR & editions of _The Fellowship Of The Ring_ does a fairly good job of catching the reader up on details missed in _The Hobbit_, and the end of _The Silmarillion_ has a whole chapter called "Of The Rings Of Power And The Third Age" that provides a transition into LOTR so that you could skip _The Hobbit_ without much fuss.
If you skip _The Hobbit_ you will, imho, miss out on a lot of great & subtle details that spice up LOTR. I think _The Hobbit_ will be a much richer read (and might seem less "childish" to you) if you've read _The Silmarillion_ before it.
With _The Hobbit_ I think you get a better introduction to the Smeagol chracter, you get to know Dwarves in general more (so you might give more of a damn about their plight in Khazad-dum later in LOTR), you get Elrond & Imaldris. ..if you're going to take the time to read _The Silmarillion_ & LOTR you might as well read the kids' book, it won't take too much time.
What strategy did you use to beat the inchworm Duriel with his Holy Freeze & 100% Cold Resistance? I ask simply out of dorkish curiosity.
I (w/ girlfriend & a mind-destroying data entry job) recently beat Duriel with a Paladin w/ a belt full of rejuve potions, the Thorns aura & one of the Unique scepters. This was the first time I'd beat Duriel without dying at least once. Duriel has always been the toughest of the bosses. His Paladin-rip-off Charge attack has killed many of my Necromancers & one of my Sorceresses, but I've unfortunately strayed from specializing characters in favor of opening up the skill trees, usually to the character's peril. . .
I was in the hallway of Wendler Junior High, Anchorage, AK, probably leaving Spanish class for my locker, when I stopped & replayed the television footage of the fireball in my head & thought about it. I got a bit nauseated, & wondered how the schoolteacher's students felt, never mind the schoolteacher's own children (I don't know if she had any or not, actually).
Yeah, I think I gave up on any real desire to be an astronaut after that.
I wonder if any real Mars launches or attempted colonizations will occur in my lifetime. If they do I'll probably stay Earthside a while, I don't know. I probably won't rush for the front of that line for a ticket.
GunGriffon Blaze has been fun enough so far. Unreal Tournament has not transferred well to the PS2, imho, although I've not yet tried it out on the PS2 with a USB keyboard & mouse. I'll probably just stick to playing it on the G3.
Tekken Tag Tournament, is great. I bought the system for that game (& went ahead & bought the multi-tap & three more controllers. Pair Play Mode is much more fun than playing against the machine, or only one human opponent. Having to coordinate tag-ins with someone else can be nerve-wracking & fun). I also bought the system for Silent Hill 2 (Autumn '01 according to http://ps2.ign.com) & Aliens: Colonial Marines, two games that I must play, no matter what. Silent Hill 1 still kicks ass nearly two years later. None of the Resident Evil games have scared me the way Silent Hill has.
The PS2, for the moment, has the contracts for the games that I will pay to play, period. Of course, the Dreamcast has several games I'd love to play, too. The N64 has Goldeneye. ..I'm totally ignorant of the rest of that system's selection.
I'm a pathetic 27-year-old PSX-addicted gamer. I've ruined my knuckles with the three Colony Wars games, Tekken 3, Silent Hill (a classic), Tomb Raider 1 & far too many others.
I've been a fairly anti-MS person for severeal years, ever since I foolishly bought Windows 3.1, which remains the only MS product I've ever paid for. All other MS products I've used have been downloaded shareware, hot or gifts. I yet to read anything that would reccommend the X-Box at all. Halo looks like another corny shooter. I'm already wasting 1G of scsi space on my B&W G3 with Unreal Tournament 425a, like I need to deal with another shooter in another little black box from a creepy company that can't write good software _at all_. . .
I've thrown hundreds of $$$ at my PSX. It sits in the living room, right next to my old AR belt drive turntable, just above a crappy Costco VCR, just below a non-crappy Coscto Panasonic 32", wired into some old British stereo, ahhh. ..but, anyway. The X-Box, for someone like me, would be a waste of time/dough. I waste enough time/dough on the Sony Corp.
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Indeed. . .it is nice to be reminded of the human race, the only race that is pertinent to these matters.
Thank you very much for posting this. It's good to hear a voice of peace & reason.
very sincerely,
Jason, ex-Roman Catholic in Seattle
Over the past few months, on buses to & from work & on weekends, I have been read _The Silmarillion_, then _The Hobbit, or There And Back Again_ (an old hardback edition with Michael Hague illustrations), and a single-volume paperback edition of _The Lord Of The Rings_. I thought it would be novel to do a "chronological" read of the three books. However, the foreword of every edition I've seen of the single-volume LOTR & editions of _The Fellowship Of The Ring_ does a fairly good job of catching the reader up on details missed in _The Hobbit_, and the end of _The Silmarillion_ has a whole chapter called "Of The Rings Of Power And The Third Age" that provides a transition into LOTR so that you could skip _The Hobbit_ without much fuss.
.if you're going to take the time to read _The Silmarillion_ & LOTR you might as well read the kids' book, it won't take too much time.
If you skip _The Hobbit_ you will, imho, miss out on a lot of great & subtle details that spice up LOTR. I think _The Hobbit_ will be a much richer read (and might seem less "childish" to you) if you've read _The Silmarillion_ before it.
With _The Hobbit_ I think you get a better introduction to the Smeagol chracter, you get to know Dwarves in general more (so you might give more of a damn about their plight in Khazad-dum later in LOTR), you get Elrond & Imaldris. .
What strategy did you use to beat the inchworm Duriel with his Holy Freeze & 100% Cold Resistance? I ask simply out of dorkish curiosity.
I (w/ girlfriend & a mind-destroying data entry job) recently beat Duriel with a Paladin w/ a belt full of rejuve potions, the Thorns aura & one of the Unique scepters. This was the first time I'd beat Duriel without dying at least once. Duriel has always been the toughest of the bosses. His Paladin-rip-off Charge attack has killed many of my Necromancers & one of my Sorceresses, but I've unfortunately strayed from specializing characters in favor of opening up the skill trees, usually to the character's peril. . .
I was in the hallway of Wendler Junior High, Anchorage, AK, probably leaving Spanish class for my locker, when I stopped & replayed the television footage of the fireball in my head & thought about it. I got a bit nauseated, & wondered how the schoolteacher's students felt, never mind the schoolteacher's own children (I don't know if she had any or not, actually).
Yeah, I think I gave up on any real desire to be an astronaut after that.
I wonder if any real Mars launches or attempted colonizations will occur in my lifetime. If they do I'll probably stay Earthside a while, I don't know. I probably won't rush for the front of that line for a ticket.
I'm sorry but I must concur with this trollish comment. Unreal is far-&-away Quake's successor.
It's all about Silent Hill 2 for me. . .
I CANNOT WAIT FOR SILENT HILL 2
.Aliens: Colonial Marines will hopefully be fun as well.
That game is going to kick ass. .
I'll have to take a look at Smuggler's Run. . .
.I'm totally ignorant of the rest of that system's selection.
GunGriffon Blaze has been fun enough so far. Unreal Tournament has not transferred well to the PS2, imho, although I've not yet tried it out on the PS2 with a USB keyboard & mouse. I'll probably just stick to playing it on the G3.
Tekken Tag Tournament, is great. I bought the system for that game (& went ahead & bought the multi-tap & three more controllers. Pair Play Mode is much more fun than playing against the machine, or only one human opponent. Having to coordinate tag-ins with someone else can be nerve-wracking & fun). I also bought the system for Silent Hill 2 (Autumn '01 according to http://ps2.ign.com) & Aliens: Colonial Marines, two games that I must play, no matter what. Silent Hill 1 still kicks ass nearly two years later. None of the Resident Evil games have scared me the way Silent Hill has.
The PS2, for the moment, has the contracts for the games that I will pay to play, period. Of course, the Dreamcast has several games I'd love to play, too. The N64 has Goldeneye. .
I'm a pathetic 27-year-old PSX-addicted gamer. I've ruined my knuckles with the three Colony Wars games, Tekken 3, Silent Hill (a classic), Tomb Raider 1 & far too many others.
.but, anyway. The X-Box, for someone like me, would be a waste of time/dough. I waste enough time/dough on the Sony Corp.
I've been a fairly anti-MS person for severeal years, ever since I foolishly bought Windows 3.1, which remains the only MS product I've ever paid for. All other MS products I've used have been downloaded shareware, hot or gifts. I yet to read anything that would reccommend the X-Box at all. Halo looks like another corny shooter. I'm already wasting 1G of scsi space on my B&W G3 with Unreal Tournament 425a, like I need to deal with another shooter in another little black box from a creepy company that can't write good software _at all_. . .
I've thrown hundreds of $$$ at my PSX. It sits in the living room, right next to my old AR belt drive turntable, just above a crappy Costco VCR, just below a non-crappy Coscto Panasonic 32", wired into some old British stereo, ahhh. .