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Post by hynreck on Dec 13, 2013 16:31:48 GMT
I made a few mistakes in the text that I see now, but oh well.
I tried to think of something stupid and really disgusting that no-one in their right mind would ever pick-up... except that loony FF adventurer who likes to slaughter lots of creatures for fun and sometimes a little bit of gold or the chance to grab a key with some mysterious number carved onto it. He would go for that.
Though you do have a point: what if you met the owner of such a giant not-white-anymore underwear? Sends shivers down the spine.
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Post by hynreck on Dec 13, 2013 13:12:48 GMT
What does this thread have to do with anything? Seriously, if you read my post in conjonction with the post right above it, it might make more sense.
And why should I stay true to my word? This is the freakin' web, you shouldn't believe what is posted in here!
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Post by hynreck on Dec 12, 2013 17:46:56 GMT
There's a pile of dirty undies on the floor. To sift through it, turn to 346. To ignore and go on with your life, turn to don't you dare.
346
Getting dirty, you sift through the pile looking for clues, when you finally stumble and unfold a great white giant underwear of what you supposed must have been a very obese man. You find the number 150 etched in the shit stains... which you quickly memorise, as there is no way you are taking this revolting piece of filth with you. No way. There are limits you are not willing to cross. Or is there?
If you want to stick the dirty piece of cloth inside your pocket anyway, turn to a death paragraph. If you want to leave it where it is and forget about it, turn to you wish you could, stupid, too late, now you are forever scarred.
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Post by hynreck on Dec 11, 2013 16:30:51 GMT
Well thought! ^_^
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Post by hynreck on Dec 10, 2013 20:50:16 GMT
yes, i'm quoting myself cos i'm sad like that. i'd forgotten about this post and reading it, i'd probably written it before BOTZ came out. i guess Mr Livingstone didn't hear my warning then. THANKS Ha ha I was re-reading this and was just thinking among the same lines, then I saw your post. Too funny!
...in a sad way, of course. Let's mourn together.
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Post by hynreck on Dec 10, 2013 16:13:18 GMT
Alright, this is still from the good salvage work done by Mudworm. As Mudworm's been pointing out to me recently, what's left from all those salvages is starting to grow thin, with only bits and fragments of conversations, reviews and oddities. Case in point: this review of mine is certainly missing a huge chunk of it. I can't quite remember how big it used to be, and I've been repeating myself on this for a while now, but it's becoming clearer and clearer as we approach the final few books.
If I remember correctly, and I believe I do, my shortest review was for the first book of all, Warlock of Firetop Mountain, and I assure you it was bigger than this. And as time passed, my reviews grew longer, due to more ramblings, no doubt, but still! There might have been a few exceptions to this rule, but not many. So what does that mean in this case? Unfortunately, it has been a while since I've read those FF, and my memory is now hazy and I can't garantee I'll found anything worthwhile to say about this book to fill in the blanks. I'll do my best for now, but I'm guessing that, until the day that I play this book proper, as I intend to do, there shan't be a new review with fresh perspective from me for awhile. (and just to put you in perspective, I won't be replaying any of my old FF before I play most likely all of those: Golden Dragon gamebooks, Demonspawn, Cretan Chronicles, Grail Quest (those I have), Virtual Reality, Lone Wolf, Fabled Lands, Destiny Quest, some other odd ones, er, yeah. See? Now you know)
Alright, after a short break (break from where? Limbo?), I'm back at reviewing, this time one of the longest title out there! dum dum dum... (<-- Yes, this bit was saved from virtual limbo, nothing else, I'm sure, from all the other really good insightful stuff that I probably wrote about this particular book, sigh) This is another new book for me, one I remember seeing in my youth but never got around to own, even less play.
From afar, cover looks great but doesn't hold up so well to close scrutiny; Lord Mortis seems to be towering above an army of Smurfs skeletons about to take over some sort of Lego-esque construction (at least that's still funny. Look at it again, I know I'm not the only one pointing that out). Again, David Gallagher seems to have funky views about proportions, or maybe it's just the cartoonish approach, observed in the inside illos aplenty, that grates me the wrong way just a little too much. Seems to me that material of such a dark topic; plenty of undead, having to test your resolve constantly out of fear; would deserve an artist that does the undead more justice, someone like Russ Nicholson or Martin McKenna (and now I know that Dave Morris is a big fan of Russ Nicholson, so I think he would agree).
Insert giant missing chunk of the review here, talking about story elements and gameplay (see, obviously it's missing a big chunk as there is no way I would have only talk about the art and skip to the conclusion).
So, what do I remember from this book? Well, since I never played it proper I probably should skip gameplay review, as I'm not the most fitted for this, but at the same time it's not like I didn't play it at all and only read the text; I did follow some rules, like never pretend I own an item when that wasn't the case, choose randomly when asked to do so, etc. Mostly I just skipped battles and used save states, if you will.
I remember this book being relatively easy, considering, and from what I remember from reading other people's playthrough on the net, it is usually seen as rather easy indeed. Now, people have also stated that it is quite short, as you can go straight to the bad guy and still have a decent shot at winning, and while I'm not debating this fact, I also remember taking the long way around, visiting locations whenever available, trying to make the most of my sojourn in Lich-Lord land. So, from my perspective, the book certainly wasn't short, and offered a good variety of scenarios that were interesting with varying degrees of difficulty.
Ok, so I guess the above will have to cover story for now too, as I can't go into details without being either redundant or going into small details that are overall insignificant to this review. Such as it is, I can only remember flashes of specific scenes in the story or overall impressions, and since I'm already being redundant right now, I'll leave with that long ago conclusion...
(here it is, brace yourself, it's a good one!) I was not wowed by it's originality, but was not disappointed either by anything too tedium. It was entertaining, and in the end, that's really the most important thing for me.
Wow, great piece of work here my friend. At least now it's preserve for eternity right? wink wink ...at least I can have a laugh at myself!
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Post by hynreck on Dec 9, 2013 19:07:47 GMT
Alright, I swear this is the last time I get pulled in here. My Salazar shout was for any random protagonist cursing the name of a major antagonist, or a similar latin-sounding, drug kingpin-related name anyway, in every show I ever saw, or close.
But more precisely I was visualizing and hearing Matt Leblanc in Charlie's Angels (2001).
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Post by hynreck on Dec 9, 2013 13:36:12 GMT
You are right, greenspine, I didn't take the boat, if I remember correctly I think I got the camel. Unfortunately I don't remember quite a lot about the book, especially that part. I just remember (and of course my old writings confirm this) that it was quite boring. I think a mutant tried to do me in.
Next time I'll try the boat for sure, but next time I'll be playing this game by the rules (well, as long as those rules makes a tiny bit of sense, but I'll tell if this is the case) so I might not make it that far!
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Post by hynreck on Dec 6, 2013 16:42:22 GMT
From another salvage operation lead by Mudworm (thanks!). I've said this a few times now, but this one review does seems really really short. I'm afraid of the amount of insanities I'll have to unleash to bring this up to a respectable size. Cause surely I don't remember much about this book? Or worse, I remember other folks opinion...
I finished this new book a couple of days ago (years ago now!) and was overall pleased with the experience. The background opening was a wee bit on the ridiculous side of things, just a quick excuse to put you in the setting, but roaming the streets of Ashkyos was overall a great experience. I would agree that the first part of the book was the best, but the ending section wasn't bad either, just the middle part that dragged on and on with nearly only consumption of meals to break the monotony. I thought the encounter with the bad guy at the end was also rather weak (this is NOT Balthus Dire) but there's a nice twist with a good link with the rest of the story that kind of makes up for this. (Overall, it feels as if this review was in response to some specific comments made prior my post, which is entirely possible, but hard to properly verify. Probably explain why it feels a bit disconnected, but I have neither time nor energy to do it all again. Eventually, when I play this game for real I might update or offer a new review, until then...)
The cover illustration is indeed pretty bad. Not atrocious, but let's say it's no wonder it's Les Edwards least favourite. I thought the same creature was much better in the inside illo. About those, I also thought that David Gallagher's illos were much better overall than his last work in Fangs of Fury. Far less distortion between the foreground and background, nothing funky. Pretty solid stuff. Apparently I've also got the first edition of the book as I'm lacking the colour map on the inside cover as told in the book. Only the basic black and white near the background. Shame I guess. So, not my favourite book, but still a great way to pass the time, so I'd give it a thumbs up! (all FF or gamebooks are great way to pass the time, in any case. How much time you indeed lose to one though is entirely dependent on its quality)
Well, I don't really see how I could improve on this with my actual limited knowledge. I can probably make it a whole lot worse, though, so I'll leave it alone for now. Thanks for reading!! (can't stay serious for a second, if I had a twin, he'd be dead by now and I'd have no problem playing Van Gogh in a futur play)
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Post by hynreck on Dec 6, 2013 16:24:38 GMT
Indeed, what does Legend of Zagor have to do with this cursed thread? Now you've made me wonder.
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Post by hynreck on Dec 5, 2013 20:18:56 GMT
This review was salvaged from our friendly Mudworm, as usual the many thanks deserved. Going quickly through it, it seems to be missing bits and pieces, but perhaps it is just my memory who's missing chunks. Let's see.
Well, I finished this new book a few days ago, quicker than I expected and nearly disappointed by the experience. Why? Because I missed everything in that book! And even though I did win (sort of) it's a bummer reaching the ending with only a 30-40% completion rate.
Off the top of my head: I never learned anything about the alphabet, never knew about the white cubes, didn't get any of the special items… In a normal playthrough, no doubt the fact that I missed loads of stuff would have doomed me, as it just gets incredibly harder if you don't have naught to show for, but since I cheat at battles, and Luke Sharp loves to give the player options, I ended up finishing the book in one sitting anyway, just like his last two books, only this time it felt even more severe, as if I sleepwalked my way through. I kept expecting Mr. Sharp to put a final stop to my adventuring due to my severe lack of knowledge/appropriate items, but he never did. He basically let my cheating ass win. Of course, it's my own damn fault and I don't blame him for wanting to give us a fair game. But it led to a somewhat unsatisfying adventure, surprisingly enough... but let's take it from the top (this is nearly the end of this review, how can I dare say that?).
David Gallagher is the illustrator for both the cover and inside illos here, and while that cover is great, showing real talent, inside illos are a mixed bag. I've got to admit that the idea of hiding the cubes inside the illos is well done and interesting, though (not that I ever was aware of their significance before being done with the book... sigh).
It will be fun to go back to this one whenever I decide to play fair, next century (should have played fair from the start. Now that I'm considering playing Lone Wolf, Way of the Tiger, Golden Dragon and what else fair... maybe not Demonspawn, though, I'll see, I feel a bit guilty towards FF). Same thing for Daggers. Storywise, I'd still give Daggers the edge (daggers, edge, can't go wrong with this one, it's even pitted against Fangs you know, why's a clever brain like mine going to waste in a drone job I'll never know, perhaps that's the problem, but I digress), so far, for a pleasant ride. I thought FoF had too many Jack-in-the-box moments that feeled absurd and too many hidden riddles for the right balance. But I might change my mind on this in the future.
Some last nitpicking: It's a beautiful map on the inside cover (mine's in colour and the book, a used one, is in pretty good shape which is nice), but it's also quite a useless map. There might be occasions where it's needed, but I haven't met one. Last thing: I thought it weird how some character (it might be Astragal, my memory is hazy), says that Zamarra is a small city of sort. For crying out loud, it's got 14 massive walls the enemy army needs to go through!! If that's the case, what's a big city like??? (lol didn't remember that one, that is weird, anybody knows more about this?)
Well, I think that's it. Like I said it feels light, probably missing a bit to it but not sure. In any case, I've added enough insane ramblings to bring it to an apparently respectable size. Please, do not point to me my failings, as I'm already painfully aware of them. Thank you!
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Post by hynreck on Dec 5, 2013 19:14:13 GMT
Why? We are postings, but there isn't much to go on, you must admit.
Dammit, I went and posted again on this cursed thread!!
SALAZAR!!!!
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Post by hynreck on Dec 3, 2013 19:47:30 GMT
I've read this thread but just because nobody tells me what to do!
*sulk*
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Post by hynreck on Nov 27, 2013 13:44:53 GMT
I catch them whenever I can, which is not that often. So I'm also not up to date. But you know how it is: you get a chance once in a blue moon to watch an episode; it's bound to be one you've seen before even though there's perhaps hundreds you haven't seen!
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Post by hynreck on Nov 25, 2013 13:30:18 GMT
Very good indeed.
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Post by hynreck on Nov 25, 2013 13:28:00 GMT
The background does a reasonable job of setting the tone, but the main plot is a bit meh: there are some evil lizard-men so you have to go and get a special sword. Who would have thought of that? Everyone. That made me laugh. Reminded me of that joke in the Simpsons in the parody of Ocean's 11, when Lisa states at the end that she had the idea of switching the key from every movies she ever saw. Sorry I can't be more precise!
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Post by hynreck on Nov 22, 2013 20:07:27 GMT
Sorry I've been busy for awhile, but I've now pull through and since today is especially quiet, I'm going to do this one. If it keep that quiet, I might even be able to do Demonstealer... (well one day, need to finish writing it up first and some elements from it are fading away with time, oh well, what's new?) Anyway, thanks to Mudworm as usual. This review of mine seems abnormaly short. Let's see.
Another new book for me (Just about nearly 90% of the Fighting Fantasy range was new to me back then, so this became my usual way of starting a review. Not clever, but I hope, sincere). Funny enough, I can't recall for the life of me ever seeing it on shelves when I was young... the french version anyway. Maybe the cover and title were vastly different, enough to fool me, so when I get a chance I'll look into it, maybe it will bring back some memories (well I had a chance since then. L'Empire des Hommes-LĂ©zard which translates literally to Empire of the Lizard Men. So, different title, yes, but the same cover otherwise, so as a last resort I'll blame the store for not keeping proper stock...) (oh, and it didn't bring back any memories, obviously, sorry).
I wasn't too impressed by the cover, mostly due to the choice of colours that look too childish for my taste. Inside illos are fine, though: good work by Alan Langford, striking a nostalgic chord since I've owned Island of the Lizard King since forever, but some of them did feel rushed to me. Maybe it's not the case, but all in all I found them quite pleasing.
Gameplay wise, this one seemed much fairer than the last adventure, Chasms of Malice, thank you very much. Far less insane, I might add (and now I might add as well that just about every FF gamebooks this side of Sky Lord seem and are fairer and sanier. I will not go as far as to claim that it is so for every gamebooks out there, as I have not experienced them all, yet). Story is pretty much classic stuff all over the place, but still well done and entertaining. It even felt at time like a Lone Wolf story, which isn't a bad thing at all. I mean, you've got a city besieged? Check. You've got a lone hero on which the fate of the world (his world, anyway) rest on his shoulders? Check. You've got a long trek to do to go to a special place (mine was the jungle setting)? Check. You must enter said special place - catacombs, dungeons, forsaken sunken city - to retrieve the macguffin that's going to save your people? Check. You even got some backstabbing! What more is there to ask for? (well except for a good massage, I like it when my massotherapist backstab me, wait, no, I don't like that part, I'm confused, it's friday and the sudden lack of work and nosebleed is making me delirious)
And there you go. I'm aware I missed some particularly interesting Orc funeral, but hey, it's going to be for another time. Conclusion: not my favorite book, but far from being my worst experience either. An enjoyable readthrough.
And there you go. Once more, not that profound but what can I do? Oh yes I could stop hallucinating and go home, I guess. On the other hand, I bet none of you can find what was inserted today in that old text of mine. Right? Right!
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Post by hynreck on Nov 19, 2013 20:39:08 GMT
Shanzikuul returns ...and snarls with frustration as he sees your wounds have closed. "So! You were cunning enough to bring a ham sandwich were you? Enjoy it, leaky-boots, it shall be your last." For my part I chuckled at this. ...and my girlfriend doesn't understand why I always carry a ham sandwich in my pocket, just in case.
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Post by hynreck on Nov 14, 2013 17:07:38 GMT
Well, I've gone and pledged for Beyond the Pit. Let's see what will come out of that.
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Post by hynreck on Nov 14, 2013 13:11:47 GMT
It's quite amazing, really.
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Post by hynreck on Nov 13, 2013 19:44:04 GMT
OK. Here's some more salvage from my savior Muddy-didly-Wormy. Let's see if I can clear my review out of this mess.
The following bit is not the review, more me answering to previous posters, but I kept it anyway for the bits of info found in it... and for posterity, of course: I remember this one from my youth since I own a french copy. I remember I liked it quite a lot, even going so far as trying to play it proper, without cheating. But I'll give it a fair fresh review once I get there in my going through the books in order (currently at Caverns of the Snow Witch...). And yea, it's full of that great creepy-ass artwork from Ian Miller. Amazingly atmospheric.
On to what should be my real review: Les spectres de l'angoisse is a book I've owned for a long time, now. Can't remember exactly when I got it, but I would venture to say no further than 1989... Guess it would help me remember if I'd look at the french publication date, but I don't have the book with me right now (and I still can't do it years later, I'm that kind of pathetic, you know), so that guesstimate will have to do. What I do remember clearly is that I was very fond of this gamebook, having played it enough time that my adventure sheet was (and still is) well worned-out with writings left and right and obvious marks of eraser abuse. I remember it left a lasting impression (other than on the paper), a good one, but before reading it again recently in it's original version, I couldn't remember much from the book itself except the main plot and its most striking feature: the use of dreamland as an alternate universe. It still holds well today. The writing and descriptions - the atmosphere depicted - are a cut above the usual average FF and veer/aim clearly toward a more mature territory just like other gamebooks tried before, namely the Sorcery! series.
Then there's the illustrations... Ian Miller delivers masterful artwork, creepy and original, full of details, perfectly complementing the story. I don't think I've ever seen creepier trees in my life, this side of that one tree in Sleepy Hollow. Miller's work here is one of those happy instance of two artists combining each others strong points to form a cohesive whole stronger than the parts making it; it elevates the book to it's memorable height just like Iain McCaig did for Deathtrap Dungeon or Russ Nicholson for The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.
Though it's not a perfect book, as pointed out by members of this board before (from TUFFF; too many instant and unfair death or the way the hero, a wood elf, falls for way too many forest traps that should have been basic 101 training) it is still plenty of fun, with good replay value (especially due to the duality of the end dungeon, with the dream world being offered constantly as an alternative) and the remarkable artwork makes it a memorable experience that's hard to forget.
Of notes: as usual, the french version lacks some illos from the original english version. 4 or 5, like the Cryo-Sphinx, and most surprisingly, Ishtra himself. I guess you can understand how happy I was to finally meet him, even though you can find him on the french cover... without his crocodile suit. Plus the illos in french are reversed and way too dark, loosing quite a bit of details from Ian Miller's work. And a quiz question for you guys out there: Is it supposed to be Morpheus on the original cover? That would be my guess. (I think this was answered as being yes, if I remember correctly)
Yep here's from the man who did:
July 26 07 12. greyarea13: Hey, Hynrek, yup, pretty sure that's Morpheus on the front cover. . Dunno where his sunglasses and trenchcoat are though?
13. hynreck: Yeah, he sure got ugly since last time!! ^_^.
And that concludes that chapter of history.
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Post by hynreck on Nov 12, 2013 13:24:20 GMT
Comments? Dream on. <-- you need to use the creepy doctor from hell voice from Jacob's Ladder to be really effective.
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Post by hynreck on Nov 12, 2013 13:22:19 GMT
Oh yes! That'll teach me to take 3 min. to post.
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Post by hynreck on Nov 12, 2013 13:21:39 GMT
Do we have a winner? The suspense is killing me! ...not really, though.
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Post by hynreck on Nov 11, 2013 19:10:30 GMT
I don't know if I can welcome you in any kind of official fashion, but welcome! I might understand your need for anonymity, but can you at least divulge your old TUFFF username?
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Post by hynreck on Nov 11, 2013 15:24:54 GMT
Just added you in my fav and will be following you whenever I get a chance. Good going.
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Post by hynreck on Nov 8, 2013 20:38:49 GMT
Don't have anything to play it on, otherwise I would, it looks superb.
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Post by hynreck on Nov 8, 2013 20:37:28 GMT
Was Blacksand a Kickstarter project too? I've not purchased it yet. To be honest, Inkle and Tin Man aside, the whole of FF looks a bit shaky at the minute. And that includes the online community. There has been next to no activity on any of the forums (including this one) recently, and I'd have thought there might be some buzz about Sorcery! 2 at least. And it would be nice to see a bit more reaction to the Fantazine, which contains so much good stuff. Blacksand was on indiegogo (which amounts to the same thing). Yes, FF is about the solo books and I feel the community really needs those coming out to keep things upbeat. Yes, that's about right for the solo books. Since FF gamebooks seems to have, again, gone the way of the dodo (well, you know, there could be undead dodos), well, I'm getting my fix wherever I can find it, and right now it's coming more from Spark Furnace, and to some lesser degree, Mantikore and the occasional grab of used gamebooks. I'm still reading the Fantazine, though. Pretty good stuff, but it was a wise move to adopt a more general approach towards gamebooks.
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Post by hynreck on Nov 8, 2013 17:33:00 GMT
Here's another review salvage from the depths by the Almighty. Let's see how I can improve it. Or make it worse.
Here's another new book for me. Sure, I've seen it sitting on the shelves often when I was a young Fantasy Fighter, but I never found myself compelled to pick it up. Something about that woman on the cover just striked me wrong. I slightly remember some vague Trek vibes about her, which might have put me off... Perhaps I thought the team from Starship Traveller had finally landed and thought: no way am I getting suck back into that black hole.
Recently though, for the last year or so (this dates back my review to a precise no when of existence, seriously, I should be careful about peppering my reviews which such imprecisions), I found myself intrigued and pretty excited at the prospect of playing/reading it, because, as I read more about the FF series in general, I found that BNC is quite rare amongst the FF: it's a horror-themed hommage to Lovecraft. Having been a big fan of Lovecraft for many years, going so far as to master the art of Lovecraftian storytelling to the point it became boring, I was very curious about playing a book in that particular universe. Sure, over the years, Lovecraft and me have grown apart, being that Lovecraftian stories are basically the same, but BNC offered the promise of breaking apart the mold, or, at the very least, offering a new point of view on a worn-out subject matter.
The disturbing elements in Neuburg are indeed plenty and satisfying. From what I read, they come in slow and steady from the beginning, and pick up pace once inside the keep. The deaths are numerous and disturbing… most of them plain brutal. Nothing like being eaten or digested alive by all the atrocities roaming around Neuburg. Or what about a sip from a barrel full of loped-off heads? Or getting diseases from the ten thousand tongues girl? Or slowly changing into a tree? Or being crushed by stones thrown of a great height by soldiers just for the amusement of said soldiers?
The inside illos are a mixed bag, but most of them are disturbing enough or at least gives a good idea of what's supposed to be going on. Cover is overall nice, but the choice of the Spike Maiden is a bit tame, considering what can be found inside the book. However, it's understandable I guess if they still wanted to sell this book to children... Which they shouldn't, really. Along with House of Hell, this is one of those spooky gamebooks that should be reserved for the slightly more grown-up crowd. Overall, though, quite enjoyable. Well done.
So here we go. Some edits, some easy to spots... There was some good conversation started by this book, and quite a few good reviews. Too bad it seems lost, but maybe we can go on from here.
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Post by hynreck on Nov 6, 2013 16:57:42 GMT
ahah, good examples. Of course, that was just me trying to put myself down, again, just for the sport of it (what sport?). I've written my fair share of absurdities... I recall, for instance, doing my walkthrough of Creature of Havoc with a DOOM-style approach. Not sure anybody found it funny (or comprehensible) but me but it was, what's the word?, cathartic? Or maybe something less dramatic. Me fail English? That's unpossible.
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