Comments on: Animal Sidekicks and Good Story Video Games?

By: Sarah Olivieri

Sarah Olivieri — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:20:32 +0000

Animals that come to mind from a quick scan of my own shelves:
1. Oy from the Dark Tower series
2. Hedwig from Harry Potter
3. Drizzt’s panther (can’t remember her name) from the old Forgotten Realms books
4. I’d put R2D2 on this list, but I’m not sure of your critera. He’s got limited communication ability and sub-human intelligence but he often seems wiser than those around him…?

Video games with plots I’ve enjoyed (don’t judge me!):
1. Marathon
2. Knights of the Old Republic (cheesy, yes. what did I say about judging me?)
3. I’d put all 3 Halo games on here.
4. Final Fantasy IX (I’m a sucker for the cheese.)
5. I enjoy the rich lore of World of Warcraft, but I wouldn’t say there’s a “plot” per se. Is great worldbuilding enough to make your list?

By: John Joseph Adams

John Joseph Adams — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:15:28 +0000

Video Games:

Grand Theft Auto IV (though maybe you’re looking for genre games only?)

I haven’t played it yet, but what about Mass Effect?

You might consider another side topic for video games regarding worldbuilding. If you were asking about that, I’d mention HALO (which doesn’t quite make the great story list, I don’t think).

Sidekicks:

Blood, from “A Boy and His Dog” — does he count, even though he’s telepathic? Or are you looking only for fantasy, not SF?

By: Daniel Ausema

Daniel Ausema — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:52:32 +0000

I’ve only read one of her books, but in Robin Hobbs’ two series about Fitz he has a wolf familiar/sidekick. If that jumped out at me so quickly, I’m sure he’s even more memorable for the many fans her books have.

The other that comes to mind is in Steven Brust’s Vlad Taltos books. Again I’ve only read a few of them, but in what I read at least, Vlad has a dragon-like familiar Loiosh who is quite entertaining.