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Post by hynreck on Nov 6, 2013 14:06:17 GMT
Here's another one of my old reviews, as salvaged by the always reliable Mighty Mudworm. As with the other salvages, I'm going to read this now and rewrite as I see fit. Shouldn't be much, in any case.
Another new one for me, though this one I remember eyeing on many occasions when I was young, being quite enthralled by the amazing cover. It's still amazing today. Les Edwards did one hell of a job. I quite like his somewhat realistic approach to the work, even by Puffin standard of back then.
Inside illos do the job most of the time, but Bob Harvey isn't my favourite artist. I don't know, something about his pen stroke, his little scribbles, the way it looks and feels the same from book to book. Some of his art is pretty good in this, suitably moody, while other are more hit or miss... would it have been hard to look at a picture of a shark and a dolphin and try to copy? That's all subjective, I guess - the artist's vision and such - but such things make me cringe all the same.
I also got a laugh at Steve Jackson's idea of a "Gothic" cathedral in the middle of Atlantis... Oh well. Otherwise, I thought the story worked most of the time. It's engaging enough. It's full of clichés related to the sea but that's to be expected (whenever a book is the first of it's bunch to tread new waters, etc. bad pun intended) and that's kind of what I wanted anyway. I expected sea dragons and mermaids and deep ones and Kraken (though the mythology is quite mixed here) and the author delivers without holding back. All the sea-related encounters you can think of are probably in there, one way or another. So that was quite satisfying.
I also enjoyed that book way more than the author's previous and first entry: Scorpion Swamp. It's much more readable, with one fleshed-out story, instead of this crucial element being thinned in three as in Swamp. Here it is spread and split into multiple endings, with a satisfying grading of achievements. For once (but not the last time) you can reach the end - and live - with different results, giving you a certain sense of achievements while giving you the choice to start over one day if you ever want to try to reach the ultimate ending; the most successful one. The Rings of Kether did something similar, but on a smaller scale with two endings if I'm not mistaken.
In conclusion, not being too fond of Scorpion Swamp, I kind of expected this book to be of a similar tedious drag, but ended up having fun. I guess that's all that matters.
And there it is. I'm still surprised at how short my early reviews were in comparison with the latter ones. I guess for the most of you that would be a good thing; less of me going on mad rant. I mean, there's only so much absurd you can swallow in one day, right?
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Post by hynreck on Nov 1, 2013 12:29:19 GMT
As of this writing, there's only 8 hours left to the Kickstarter. Those on the fence should decide now! With a little luck, we can reach the 45K stretch goal and some sweet free music. I know this isn't the busiest forum, but straddlers reading this have had at least a last warning.
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Post by hynreck on Oct 30, 2013 14:25:00 GMT
I'll keep that in mind. But since it's unfinished, I'll probably only read it anyway. Good job from whoever is responsable over there.
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Post by hynreck on Oct 30, 2013 12:20:16 GMT
Looks very good, greenspine. Love that the way it is done makes it look like a real FF too. Could have fool me. I'll have a read through when I have a few minutes to spare.
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Post by hynreck on Oct 29, 2013 19:21:14 GMT
Indeed. That hydra of epic proportion would provide quite the mess. I wouldn't be against a real sea of blood, in a weirdly hellish type of fantasy setting, one filled with insane sharks, but here it is quite obvious that it means that the seas are going to run red with the blood of our enemies, or crewmates and self, most probably. But hey, it might not have seem so obvious to younger eyes.
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Post by hynreck on Oct 29, 2013 16:14:14 GMT
Another one of my reviews salvaged by the mighty Mudworm. I think it's mostly intact, though I will go ahead and edit as I see fit.
This is another new one for me... and I must say, I enjoyed it much more than I believed I would. Thing is, I never was a big fan of pirates and all things piratey, so it was hard to get excited by the prospect of playing one in this book (well in my case, half-playing by the rules, I know). Add to that some background information, like the unimpressive Space Assassin and the interesting, more fleshed-out Rings of Kether, all from the same author, and I wasn't sure what to expect.
First thing's first: that particular gamebook format; picking up treasures, slaves, counting the days; make it so that I nearly had to play it straight: Sure I cheated on stuff like naval battles and such, but there was no point in cheating the gold I obtained or the slaves. No use in cheating the amount of days it took, too, as this is also part of the original wager. So I went along with it and it took me a longer time than usual (more so than other ordinary adventure except, probably, Steve Jackson's books that requires tons of clues).
But it was worth it, as overall I did enjoy the trek through the seas, the plundering, the author's refined writing, the breath of fresh, salty air. This adventure is full of options, of available path to take, and I applaud the diversity. It sure must be hell to get all 800 + pieces of gold to win under the 50 days barrier, but still, at the very least, I was (would) enjoy myself doing so.
The inside illos by Bob Harvey are okay, more or less. Having experienced Mr. Harvey's art before in Talisman of Death, I sometimes find that his art is hit or miss. I don't dislike him, but I'm not overly thrilled by his style. The cover is, overall, nicely done. It kept reminding me of a review I once read online where the author criticized the fact that the water is red/pinkish. He complained that the sea we navigate on is not truly made of blood. What a laugh. The way some people's mind work is often boggling. If you are on this board, sorry about that, but that was a silly thing to complain about (I have since then learn that he was indeed on the UFFF board, and has now made the move to here too, like many of us. He's a real nice guy too, with lots of good stories under his belt, so don't put too much thought into this little stab of mine. After all, we were all young once and prone to such mistake. We can't always see the big picture, even today!). So, Seas of Blood left a good taste in my mouth, you could say. Too bad Andrew Chapman kind of fell off the map after. I know he prepared another FF book that never saw the light of day... too bad. Just when the guy finally achieved some kind of balance: found his footing as a writer, you could say found his hand instead, truly, there it ended.
Wanted to add, I really enjoyed the end battle against the Cyclops. The concept was very interesting. Too bad all my tries ended up in a very anti-climactic fashion. It's annoying to K.O. such a fearless opponent with a chop to the ankle or a blow to the armpit. Chapman should have written a little something in the victory section, something like: having stunned the mighty Cyclops, you move in and kick him straight in the jaw, falling on your back doing so.
Not much of a conclusion, I guess. So I'll now add: Let's hope Avenger can avoid such anti-climactic finales. If you ARE going to punch Cthulhu, better do it with style! ...yes this is the end of the Kickstarter for Way of the Tiger, only 3 days to go, so... go!
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Post by hynreck on Oct 24, 2013 18:45:47 GMT
OK here's my review of Caverns from the UFFF, thanks to the almighty Mudworm once again. It's a salvage, and most of it seems there, but I'm not 100% sure. In any case, some of it is not as clear as I was hoping it to be, so I've gone and done another slight edit/revision work. Nothing fancy, same core as before.
Oh yeah. (who starts a review with oh yeah? Well I did, apparently) La sorcière des neiges is a book that I never really knew well. I knew of its existence, yes, but just because it belonged to one of my cousin, back then a girl of only a few years older than I was. It was the only one that she had. I always assumed that it was the case because she was a girl, and that one obviously is all about girl stuff (witch and all that)... right? Hmm. Yeah, I have had my share of stupidity leak now and then, I guess. So, quite a few years later I bought myself a copy, fearing those books to be soon extinct, and rightly so, too, and played it. Now I've replayed the Wizard edition, and boy I had forgotten a whole lot. I know now that it has something of a bad rep, what of it being the (possibly needlessly) extended version of a short story, extremely linear and well, now that I've been through it, quite hard. Or should I say harsh? There's a lot of split choices that meet back not too far ahead... you can't get lost, but if you choose the wrong way or forget to pick the right item, that can and probably will spell your doom before long.
Now for a bit about the art. It's funny how I remember initially viewing the inside illustrations as bad... crude perhaps was the word I was looking for back then. Now today I find most of them awesome. The amount of details is fantastic and the technic, which makes it look like wood cuttings, well, I don't think I've seen that technic being employed anywhere else. Except perhaps with some of John Blanche in the Sorcery! series? As for the cover, covers should I say, for the old original english and french version as for the Wizard one, they are both made by Les Edwards and depict scenes from inside the Snow Witch's caverns and are all rather well done. But for my taste nothing beats the original with the strangled Orc, while the french one appears to have crop the original image so that only the Orc can be seen, giving the impression that he his screaming his hatred to the heavens, or the cavern's ceiling anyway, and might mislead a new reader into thinking that it is the titular Snow Witch, as I was once fooled. The new cover, with the Snow Witch exiting her sarcophagus seems wrong somehow, too soft, too plain and ordinary. Not the way I imagined it, even going as far as the shape of the sarcophagus. The way the Snow Witch is depicted in the inside illo is much better, more convincing. That's the way she should have been on the new cover, minus the nose ring. She can lose that. I realise that in the 80's it was probably viewed as the ultimate badass symbol, but nowadays it's not only common, but cliché, and certainly unworthy of such a great witch. The story isn't the most original, but it's good most of the time, doing what it's supposed to do with minimal but effective descriptions for atmosphere. It does become a bit tedious near the end, especially the Healer part, with lots of fan service with references to other books, though back then it was probably more for the sake of advertising and as filler.
Overall, I enjoyed going through the book again, though found it frustrating to meet regular "checkpoint" where I was stopped cold for not possessing a certain item.
Well, not my best review, certainly not thorough, but there it is.
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Post by hynreck on Oct 22, 2013 16:17:48 GMT
Here is my review from the Unofficial FF forum. You can all thank the almighty mudworm for his good work here, without him, most of my reviews (and some of yours) would have been lost. As it is, it turns out to be not so bad. Since the page he got back was all kind of bunch up together he asked me to take a look at it and clear out my review, and since I was already taking the time to do that, I thought, hell, I'm going to slightly edit it as well, as I used to write those in a hurry. So there it is, almost as it was:
Le marais aux scorpions, as it is called in french, was a book I first read long ago at my cousin's place. I think it was the only one he had; I know he wasn't much of a reader, that's for sure. Alas, it had to be that particular book. In truth, though, perhaps he did have the right book for him as this book is much more about gaming than it is about reading. I myself didn't bother to buy Scorpion Swamp until much later, and even then it was a used french copy. But now I just finished reading my used Puffin copy (no choice this time) and with my memory refreshed I can now conclude... What a bad book it is for a cheater. See, since I don't have the time to play proper each and every book of this series, I cheat for stats and fight, that sort of thing, except for stuff like items found and spell gems used. If I reach a dead end because of one of those reasons, I start over.
Doing the map in Scorpion Swamp (which I did bothered to do) is essential for finding the right way and minimizing mistakes. It's easy to lose skill and stamina and use up all your gems too fast in this swamp if you keep to guesswork and only rely on memory. Repeat play, for the serious player, will ask him to elaborate stategy depending on his goal, to avoid certain jonctions or plan just how many times he can pass through a dangerous clearing (like those damn Sword-Trees).
But for one like me who just wants to get through it... how tedious and repetitive. Most of the clearing are on the boring side (especially on a second or third time through) of things and the only challenge from the book (cause if you are making a map you can't get lost) is coming from having your stats slowly depleted until you're doomed. Nothing coming close to an intellectual challenge (apart, like I wrote, from building up a stategy over time about how to best cross the Sword-Trees junction, er, I mean overall swamp, of course).
For a time I felt like I was crossing another Forest of Doom, one a bit more cohesive, perhaps, but not enough to keep me interested. Since I was cheating on stamina loss and battles, I ended up maping the whole of the swamp. It might turn useful one day, if I ever play it by the rules, but it was a bit of a snore fest. The illustrations are mostly good, well done. But I'm not a fan of the Robin Hood-esque type of characters depicted. I like my Brigands without tights and pantyhose, I thank you. Also, in the same vein, most of those faces made me want to hit them. I don't know what it is, but my aggression gauge just flared up everytime I look at them. Look at the Brigand Chief, the ranger, the thief or that Master of Gardens. Don't you just feel like punching them? Just for being the way they are? One other (useless or useful?) thing I learned on my journey, is that a Ranger can just melt into the woods when he wants to. Must be a great skill. I wonder if he went dating that Slime I met back there? I also learned that if you call your book Scorpion Swamp, you better put some scorpions in there to justify the name. Three occurences should be good, right? No. Could have been called Swamp of the Masters, though, I guess (look at that, this mound of dirt is my kingdom! And you think I had to pay a huge amount of gold coins for this critter-filled mud lot? Right? No! I got it basically next to nothing! Now you can call me Master!) (I will not, I will call you madman).
And remember, the only real crime in Scorpion Swamp is the amount of tights on display!
And that's it. People, don't let the fact that the name of Fearthealmightymudworm is heading every thread on this board (nearly). He's only the Messenger, or I should say preserver of the old ways, bringing a bit of the order and topics from the old forum back to the light. Feel free to post in those topics, to keep things alive, or to make up your own. Now, GO!
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Post by hynreck on Oct 10, 2013 13:49:42 GMT
Hopefully they will improve as you go along (perhaps not the poorly written careless errors part, Mongoose is notorious for their inability to proofread anything, see The Maters of Darkness as a primary example), I heard some good things about the latest, like the Dire stories and such. And yes, hopefully Mantikore is better at it.
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Post by hynreck on Oct 9, 2013 15:54:00 GMT
Well, I've now done my part and pledged. I would encourage everyone here with a minimal interest in the subject to do so. Even 5$ would help. Let's keep the gamebook world (and dream) alive.
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Post by hynreck on Oct 3, 2013 12:17:56 GMT
Do not worry, there will be paperbacks, as confirmed by Dave Morris on the Fabled Lands blog. They will be further down the road, of course, and it is unsure if books 0 and 7 will be made available, but the rest will be there eventually. But, as written on the kickstarter page, the money pledged now will also serve the purpose of making sure the futur editions will be properly edited and corrected. So even a little pledge goes toward a greater good, so it is not a waste. ...at least if you intend on playing the books proper.
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Post by hynreck on Oct 1, 2013 19:48:45 GMT
Well that's good news, I really wanted to know, thanks. I'm more of a dead tree type of person, but maybe one day I'll play him in the digital world. Hopefully some tweaks are being done to the gameplay.
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Post by hynreck on Oct 1, 2013 18:34:28 GMT
Yes, mostly I'd say you can skip on all the nonsense, which means I will certainly loose about 1000 posts but hey, it's alright! Just stick to the meat, well, whatever you can find, of course.
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Post by hynreck on Oct 1, 2013 15:49:50 GMT
That's all the ones I've been able to find so far; NO NIGHT DRAGON YET! Poor old Vagsancho... Any signs of Vagsancho in here yet? I suspect I won't be able to miss him once he does his triumphant return! If we want him here, I've heard that saying Razaak's name three times in the mirror is enough to make him appear. ( Vagsancho, not Razaak)
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Post by hynreck on Oct 1, 2013 15:31:56 GMT
...but, but, it's page 15! With page 19 it's just about the most important page ever! Everyone knows that...
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Post by hynreck on Oct 1, 2013 14:29:41 GMT
Let's hope the kickstarter is a success. I don't have any of the books, so now seems like the right time to pledge, even though I find this to be on the expensive side of things. Still, if the quality is there I'll be happy.
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Post by hynreck on Oct 1, 2013 14:21:46 GMT
More like not going on. But good things are stirring like crazy over at Sparkfurnace (Dave Morris and co.) and even Lone Wolf is not dead yet, might even pick up some steam with Mantikore at the helm, who knows? So maybe that will stir the granddaddy of it all into action once more.
Now the question is where's JH Brennan at? Still alive? His books could used new releases with proofreading...
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Post by hynreck on Oct 1, 2013 12:52:54 GMT
Hello all, I'm Hynreck (none of that Dominic Madness) from Montréal, Québec, Canada. So yes I live in an igloo and I'm surrounded by beavers, savages and maple syrup, in that order. To clarify, the savages are all beautiful naked women and we're snaking on mapled beavers. Does that make sense?
Anyway I'm 37, been a long-time fan of gamebooks, currently own all Fighting Fantasy, all Lone Wolf in french and buying the re-release in English, now from Mantikore, got a few other series in the mix, Sagas of the Demonspawn, Golden Dragon, Cretan Chronicles, Grail Quest, etc. Currently buying the Critical IF as they are released and planning on pledging for The Way of the Tiger. So, enthusiastic, I am.
Am planning to write a gamebook of my own one day as half of you, but that might be in the year 3000 so don't hold your breath. Am also helping in writing a game for a family member working at Ubisoft (but the game is his own pet project, so...) but life and children make me sleepy late at night so it's hard to do the work.
Also, it is true that I haven't been present very much at the unofficial forum before it closed down (sad), some of it was due to the change (and the fact that that change brought a drought of members), but lots of it was simply due to the fact that I was stuck neck deep in work. And since I mostly do my postings from work, there wasn't much of a choice for me but to cut back. So if the same thing happen here don't you all go worrying. It is not because I don't like you guys, it is just because a pointy-haired demon is breathing down my neck!
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Post by hynreck on Oct 1, 2013 12:27:58 GMT
You do what you can, almightymudworm, it will be nice and fun to see what you can come up with. ...and Paltogue, the Dom thing was a one time only special Well, make it two times I guess!
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Post by hynreck on Oct 1, 2013 1:45:54 GMT
Hello, Dominic Marcotte here, some of you know me under this same old username. Wait, that's not the introduce yourself thread... Nevermind then. I'm happy to be here and hopefully we'll be able to move on. Those are great times for gamebooks, exciting times, if not for Fighting Fantasy that much. I mean, have you seen all the re-release for the Golden Dragon series, the Critical IF (virtual reality), the kickstarter for The Way of the Tiger? Even Lone Wolf keeps on trucking albeit at a very slow pace. Exciting.
As for myself, I'm quite disheartened to have lost all my reviews. They were not that well-crafted but I did pour a lot of time into those. Of course it's my own damn fault for not making any backup copies. Blame my naïvety. But I'll be thinking twice before posting any new one (I was thinking of doing all the other gamebooks I own eventually). Well, we'll see. In the meantime, let's hope we can all find each other one more time in here before the Grim comes a-calling again.
Dom
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