u/PowerPanda84

I had a friend start the series recently, and she asked me what she should know going in. I made this reading order graphic to help her, and thought it might be useful to others.

The sub-arcs, which I gave basic names to, should all be read together. However, as it is a long series, you can take breaks between them. The main recommendation was to skip Lift's interlude chapter in Words of Radiance, because I know 2 friends who stopped reading at that point, and it is contained within Edgedancer anyway.

1 month ago, Tanthamore's Revenge posted a fangame in 4 chapters: The Willow Movie, the 2022 TV show, and 2 chapters based off of this fanfic: Softly in the Realm of Night by idlehours. I tracked down the original on archive of our own, converted it to Epub, and took about 2 weeks reading through it. It's honestly good enough that a slight reworking could be sold in stores.

The premise of the book is simple: finish the TV show. The heroes travel from the Shattered Sea to Galladorn, to Cashmere, and finally back to Tir Asleen, where there is a final confrontation with the Wyrm. As for a plot, it has Graydon and Elora connected via dreams, able to communicate with each other while they sleep. Hence the title. I won't give away any more, other than to say that the quality is shockingly good throughout, giving a proper ending to the series.

Why do I say it needs a slight reworking? The main problem is that the book is 90% from Elora's point of view. It needed more chapters focusing on the other characters. Airk gets too little development, Boorman's antics are mostly relegated to off-page flashbacks, and Graydon, despite being the deuteragonist, only has a couple of short scenes. As a fanfic, it's a bit too indulgent with the romance scenes and a bit too light on the action scenes. A named villain representing the Order of the Wyrm would have gone a long way in upping the stakes.

All of that is fixable though. The Elora chapters are very good, and surprisingly touching. If idlehours worked with an editor, trimmed the fat on some scenes, and added new ones (particularly action scenes), this could be one of the greats. It's certainly better than half of the stuff published under the Star Wars banner.

idlehours, if you are reading this, I have compiled everything into an e-book. With your permission, I would post it for anyone who wanted to read.

I see a lot of posts asking which of these 3 is the best, and I think my favorite part is that there's no wrong answer. Each of these games is great, and each one is great for a different reason.

Final Fantasy IV - The best at storyTELLING, in that the gameplay matches the narrative. The growth of the characters' stats reflects their growth as a person.

Final Fantasy V - Has the most timeless gameplay, making each run of the game feel completely different.

Final Fantasy VI - Has the best story and worldbuilding, with a strong decentralized cast of characters.

I think each game has some weak points too, but none of them is large enough to overcome their strengths. I don't think any less of someone for considering one their favorite over another.

Art by Tsuyoshi Nagano. Requested by another redditor. Is it just me, or does Elora here look a bit like Ellie Bamber?

Art by Tsuyoshi Nagano. I spent years looking for a copy, but finally found one for $1. (Shipping from Japan was $50, lol.)

I finished this game last night, and I'm fully joining the hype train asking for a Pixel Remaster version. This game is classic Final Fantasy at its best!