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Post by King Gillibran on Dec 23, 2022 16:29:38 GMT
Hi Guys In my previous polls a few FF have been really unpopular so I will put them all into a Best of the Worst poll to find which is the least favourite and which is the most. As always: Choose your five favourite gamebooks.
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Post by CharlesX on Dec 23, 2022 17:12:16 GMT
Hi Guys In my previous polls a few FF have been really unpopular so I will put them all into a Best of the Worst poll to find which is the least favourite and which is the most. As always: Choose your five favourite gamebooks.
Ironically found this tougher to vote for than the earlier polls.
No order: Tower Of Destruction (would be good if it were fixed without the errors & ambiguities and overly hard puzzles) Fangs Of Fury & Star Strider (Luke Sharp is a talented writer even if he's a bit out-there) I like the illustrations in Star Strider among other things Freeway Fighter & Rings Of Kether (fun sci-fi)
Failed to make it but deserving: Battleblade Warrior (the provisions rule isn't applied well and it's too short and uneventful, but it's quite good) Port Of Peril & Eye Of The Dragon (we rip on Ian quite a bit here, but he's good, particularly if you aren't obssessed with gameplay difficulty)
Never: Gates Of Death & Blood Of The Zombies (I think Gates Of Death 'fails quality control' enough in spite of some good ideas, I've never read Blood Of The Zombies but I'm tired of Ian 100% disregarding gameplay difficulty).
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Post by petch on Dec 23, 2022 18:07:00 GMT
Lots of these would be nowhere near my bottom 10, but my picks are:
Freeway Fighter - Ok, I know that much of the worldbuilding of the postapocalyptic setting that Ian has created here doesn't stand up to close (or even cursory) scrutiny, but that's not really the point for me. Ian clearly had a blast throwing trope after Mad Max trope into a pacy, fun adventure that's refreshingly different from his usual medieval fantasy fare, and so did I reading it.
The Rings of Kether - I think the first half of this is brilliant, with you gathering clues as a kind of Deckardesque futuristic gumshoe. Granted, it's hard to fail getting the info you need and you can blunder your way through by picking pretty much any options, but it's done with such flair, with its snappy, noirish prose and a blinding car chase set piece.
Tower of Destruction - Despite a fairly nonsensical premise and a rushed conclusion, this is another thoroughly entertaining romp of the kind that Martin did so well. The Ice Palace section in particular is beautifully atmospheric and well designed.
Fangs of Fury - I always liked it when FF tied puzzles into its lovely illustrations, and I think Fangs did it better than any other book with its hunt for White Cubes (even though I have certain issues with it in that the rules for obtaining them is not entirely clear, and I'm not even sure it is possible to get the 28+ needed to reach the top level). Also thanks to Sharp's unique, close to unmappable take on book design with its snakelike intertwining pathways, this is very replayable with multiple viable paths to victory.
Battleblade Warrior - This is a perfectly serviceable adventure that starts and ends strongly. The escape from the besieged city at the beginning is thrilling (in fact I wish that bit lasted longer) and the final dungeon is nicely designed, and I like that the clue to solving the final puzzle is cleverly tucked away in the Background.
I will add that I haven't read Clash of the Princes or either of the Warlock mini adventures, mind.
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Post by King Gillibran on Dec 24, 2022 10:00:11 GMT
Mine were: Port of Peril (That almost made it into my five favourite in the previous poll.) Eye of the Dragon (I like Ian Livingstone till I try and do them properly.) Battleblade Warrior (love the battle at the start) Caverns of the Snow Witch Chasms of Malice (I enjoy the illustrations and some other things)
Why is Clash of the Princes so unpopular. I haven't got them but I really want to try them as they are two player.
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Post by tyrion on Dec 24, 2022 11:44:42 GMT
I've not really played clash of the princes, and certainly not two player. So I can't really say if they are better than any of the others.
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Post by CharlesX on Dec 24, 2022 11:46:42 GMT
Mine were: Port of Peril (That almost made it into my five favourite in the previous poll.) Eye of the Dragon (I like Ian Livingstone till I try and do them properly.) Battleblade Warrior (love the battle at the start) Caverns of the Snow Witch Chasms of Malice (I enjoy the illustrations and some other things)
Why is Clash of the Princes so unpopular. I haven't got them but I really want to try them as they are two player.
Clash Of The Princes didn't sell because it was two-player and box-set, both of which weren't popular formats at the time. After randomly picking up both volumes of Clash Of The Princes second-hand I think it isn't popular with good reason - there's lots of bookkeeping, unfair encounters, excessive instant deaths, little description, it's linear, it just isn't one of the better FFs. That said it's probably more than on par with Gates Of Death and comparable to some Scholastic FF.
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Post by misomiso on Dec 24, 2022 20:37:39 GMT
Lot of love for Tower of Destruction and Rings of Kether
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,679
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Dec 25, 2022 16:08:05 GMT
Surprised at how many like Freeway Fighter out of this bunch.
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Post by CharlesX on Dec 25, 2022 17:10:21 GMT
Surprised at how many like Freeway Fighter out of this bunch. I'm surprised even 5 people like Sky Lord. It's mildly original but everything else about it .
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,463
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Dec 25, 2022 21:42:40 GMT
Surprised at how many like Freeway Fighter out of this bunch. I'm surprised even 5 people like Sky Lord. It's mildly original but everything else about it . Sky Lord beating Star Strider which is both better designed and funnier seems particularly unfair.
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trialmaster
Wanderer
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Posts: 62
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Post by trialmaster on Dec 26, 2022 10:27:00 GMT
Surely the 5 people who voted for Sky Lord must have had too much sherry? The gamebook is nonsensical even for Science Fiction. It is like a group of schoolchildren were randomly asked to write the most ridiculous individual references they could come up with. Shame it actually got published as an FF book. Having said that the introduction was actually well written which made it all the more disappointing.
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Post by hallucination on Dec 26, 2022 11:01:05 GMT
It ain’t a fave, but as Star Strider was my first FF owned, I just had to switch a vote to try to save it from this fate. For now, it ties with Sky Lord…
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Post by hallucination on Dec 26, 2022 11:27:19 GMT
My others were Battleblade Warrior, Crystal of Storms, Tower of Destruction, and Eye of the Dragon. The first three were no brainers for me. Eye of the Dragon was the tough pick. It gets a vote for being laugh out loud ridiculous but also not such a bad dungeon crawl in the end. Classic IL really. Surprised that Rings of Kether is doing so well. This is one I just can’t get into.
Adding Clash of the Princes to the FF rankings is interesting, but probably never going to work out well for them. I have played them several times, but only as 1 player, and while they are fine like that, they are bland. Possibly there is a memory lurking in the back of my mind of attempting a 2 player version many years ago with a disinterested but good-humoured ex. If that’s not a confabulation I don’t think we got very far into the adventure. Anyway, my issue with these books isn’t about the bookkeeping or structure or gameplay. They are just uninspired and underwritten. Gimme Port of Peril over these any day - it at least has rich descriptions and a fun adventure. And besides, nostalgia aplenty.
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Post by CharlesX on Dec 26, 2022 11:46:19 GMT
My others were Battleblade Warrior, Crystal of Storms, Tower of Destruction, and Eye of the Dragon. The first three were no brainers for me. Eye of the Dragon was the tough pick. It gets a vote for being laugh out loud ridiculous but also not such a bad dungeon crawl in the end. Classic IL really. Surprised that Rings of Kether is doing so well. This is one I just can’t get into. Adding Clash of the Princes to the FF rankings is interesting, but probably never going to work out well for them. I have played them several times, but only as 1 player, and while they are fine like that, they are bland. Possibly there is a memory lurking in the back of my mind of attempting a 2 player version many years ago with a disinterested but good-humoured ex. If that’s not a confabulation I don’t think we got very far into the adventure. Anyway, my issue with these books isn’t about the bookkeeping or structure or gameplay. They are just uninspired and underwritten. Gimme Port of Peril over these any day - it at least has rich descriptions and a fun adventure. And besides, nostalgia aplenty. My understanding is Clash Of The Princes has a number of errors, as well cwickham.blogspot.com/2020/08/broken-gamebooks-18-clash-of-princes.html. In its defence I think some bits of Clash were inspired by Jack Vance works - but even as an Andrew Chapman fan I have to agree I prefer Port Of Peril (which also has some errors).
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Post by King Gillibran on Dec 26, 2022 13:07:05 GMT
Clash Of The Princes didn't sell because it was two-player and box-set, both of which weren't popular formats at the time. After randomly picking up both volumes of Clash Of The Princes second-hand I think it isn't popular with good reason - there's lots of bookkeeping, unfair encounters, excessive instant deaths, little description, it's linear, it just isn't one of the better FFs. That said it's probably more than on par with Gates Of Death and comparable to some Scholastic FF. ok
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Post by petch on Dec 26, 2022 13:59:41 GMT
Surely the 5 people who voted for Sky Lord must have had too much sherry? The gamebook is nonsensical even for Science Fiction. It is like a group of schoolchildren were randomly asked to write the most ridiculous individual references they could come up with. Shame it actually got published as an FF book. Having said that the introduction was actually well written which made it all the more disappointing. Didn't vote for it, but I have got a soft spot for it. Yes, it's very silly (not to mention very unfair from a gameplay point of view), but it has charm and imagination that elevates it above some of the more generic titles IMO. And the end of it with the twist of L'Bastin's fate and the final showdown with the Prefectas is pretty good.
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Post by pip on Dec 26, 2022 14:41:18 GMT
Surprised at how many like Freeway Fighter out of this bunch. I'd need to read it again, but from what I remember, Freeway Fighter wasn't that bad, just kind of "meh". Which was disappointing, because the Mad Max 2 theme was a good idea and could have been used a lot better.
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Post by CharlesX on Dec 26, 2022 16:39:41 GMT
Surprised at how many like Freeway Fighter out of this bunch. I'd need to read it again, but from what I remember, Freeway Fighter wasn't that bad, just kind of "meh". Which was disappointing, because the Mad Max 2 theme was a good idea and could have been used a lot better. I like the concept, the variation in variables, difficulty and world. I even think it has a good atmosphere, which isn't always a Livingstone strength. However, it's heavily linear, and not epic in the way the best FF can be. Characterisation is bad even for IL.
Freeway Fighter is too short - those 20 references short of 400 feel like more than they probably are.
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Post by King Gillibran on Dec 28, 2022 12:39:54 GMT
I will leave this for a few more days before I lock it.
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