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Post by schlendrian on Jun 14, 2019 13:25:32 GMT
Or with Seas of Blood, for that matter?
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Post by Pete Byrdie on Jun 14, 2019 14:01:12 GMT
Or with Seas of Blood, for that matter? I found Seas of Blood a terrific book. But then it was only the second FF I played, so there's nostalgia there, and I was also a fan of stories of Odysseus, Jason and Sinbad, which the book largely scavenged for ideas. But it's extremely tough to win, and with all the extra rules I can understand some people being alienated by it. But it was still great fun, with lots to explore. Appointment with FEAR was complicated, but still fun.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,449
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Jun 14, 2019 14:59:50 GMT
Or with Seas of Blood, for that matter? My main issue with Seas of Blood is it should have felt like a rip-roaring adventure with plunder waiting to be uncovered all over, but most encounters seem to kill off half your crew, slap a hefty time penalty on you and reward you with about 2 gold pieces.
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Post by schlendrian on Jun 14, 2019 17:53:19 GMT
I see. Like Pete, I mostly have nostalgic recollections from a time when I wasn't playing by the rules and just liked the setting. Should probably give it a try sometime, to get the disappointment. On the topic of the thread, I don't own F.E.A.R, so i'll shut up now
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Post by Peter on Apr 21, 2020 3:43:46 GMT
I've just been thinking (I do that from time to time). You are supposed to spare the lives of the villains of Titan City (stop when they get down to 2 stamina), but what about the shark near the beginning of the book? Is this a blanket rule for the whole book, or does it apply specifically to villains?
Hahaha. "ZAP! BIF! POW! The shark realises the error of its ways, and surrenders to local law enforcement officials." That's a funny thing to picture.
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Post by daredevil123 on Apr 21, 2020 8:27:13 GMT
I assumed the shark would swim away in defeat once it was reduced to 2 stamina but I could be wrong.
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Post by Peter on Apr 22, 2020 8:14:30 GMT
You're probably right. But I prefer my version.
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Post by vastariner on Apr 22, 2020 9:04:46 GMT
It's not a villain of Titan City. It's a villain of the ocean. So you kill it.
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Post by vastariner on Apr 22, 2020 9:07:07 GMT
Or with Seas of Blood, for that matter? My main issue with Seas of Blood is it should have felt like a rip-roaring adventure with plunder waiting to be uncovered all over, but most encounters seem to kill off half your crew, slap a hefty time penalty on you and reward you with about 2 gold pieces. That sort of makes sense. Otherwise you could run one trip around the Inland Sea and retire on the proceeds. Plundering ought not to have such huge profit margins to make it a viable long-term business.
And, of course, after years of depradations from marauders, it makes sense that the ports and so on have decent defences or a scorched earth policy.
As it is, a Gold Piece seems to be, roughly speaking, a tenner, so even at the end of that intense period of pillaging, you only end up with £8k or so. It's not big business.
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Post by daredevil123 on Apr 22, 2020 9:52:36 GMT
That does raise the question of why anyone becomes a pirate if the rewards are so low, though. Maybe you and Abdul are motivated more by a desire to declare yourselves rascals than by actually gaining wealth.
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Post by vastariner on Apr 22, 2020 20:01:23 GMT
Same logic as why anyone deals drugs. For the vast majority, they're earning less than minimum wage. But there is that one in a hundred thousand chance that they will end up at the top of the pyramid, wealthy beyond measure.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,449
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Apr 23, 2020 7:25:58 GMT
My main issue with Seas of Blood is it should have felt like a rip-roaring adventure with plunder waiting to be uncovered all over, but most encounters seem to kill off half your crew, slap a hefty time penalty on you and reward you with about 2 gold pieces. That sort of makes sense. Otherwise you could run one trip around the Inland Sea and retire on the proceeds. Plundering ought not to have such huge profit margins to make it a viable long-term business.
And, of course, after years of depradations from marauders, it makes sense that the ports and so on have decent defences or a scorched earth policy.
As it is, a Gold Piece seems to be, roughly speaking, a tenner, so even at the end of that intense period of pillaging, you only end up with £8k or so. It's not big business.
It might be realistic but it's not the fun plunderthon that the back of the book promises.
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Post by The Count on Apr 26, 2020 22:49:11 GMT
This is the only gamebook that I remember absolutely loathing when younger. Yes, others had difficulty issues (Crypt) or were poorly executed concepts (most of the sci fi ones really...), none were as incomprehensibly rubbish as this. Maybe as I was never a fan of comic books, I was never going to be as interested as I was in fantasy fare such as Demons of the Deep and Temple of Terror. However, that doesn't negate just how tedious and inane the whole thing is. I should have enjoyed the puzzle aspect - I didn't, . It read like a very tired cliché then, and reads as even more of one now.
The only thing it has going for it is that it's not gates of death which may even be worse.
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Post by vastariner on Oct 29, 2020 20:23:52 GMT
Quick thought on this.
If you pretend you have ALL the special skills, do you end up guaranteed to fail? Like by following an ETS option it means you miss the right references for Super Strength - and then if you have Psi Powers you miss out on the ETS ones?
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Post by a moderator on Oct 29, 2020 21:23:06 GMT
Probably not guaranteed, unless you must go with the first Super Power listed whenever more than one is applicable. Nevertheless, the disadvantages almost certainly outweigh the benefits. - Likelihood of missing clues if you choose the wrong Super Power in the situations where you're sent to a different section for each one.
- Increased risk of reaching one of the 'if you have this power, you die' endings.
- Endgame confusion owing to the incompatibility of clues found with different powers. "The meeting is taking place at two different dates and times in a submarine at the airport on 3rd Avenue..."
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Post by jmisbest on Nov 28, 2020 14:00:53 GMT
In Appointment With FEAR theirs 1 thing that has always bothered me. What do you think?
At paragraph 226 you fight back against 2 muggers, 1 of them tears you shirt, this reveals you Silver Crusader Uniform, they realize who you are, surrender, once they're released they tell other criminals who you are and this ruins you career
The thing that has always bothered me is that you never use your Super Power, so what stopped The Silver Crusader from trying to bluff his/her way out of trouble by telling the 2 muggers that he/she is not The Silver Crusader, rather he/she is on his/her way to A Fancy Dress Party and The Silver Crusader Uniform is his/her fancy dress outfit
1 thing I forgot to mention is that 1 thing that The Silver Crusader could have done that would have increased his/her chances of convincing The 2 Muggers that he/she isn't The real Silver Crusader is to point out that The real Silver Crusader wouldn't have risked revealing who he/she is when the robbers are only 2 muggers and he/she isn't carrying much cash
Think about it. All it would have took was 1 or maybe 2 consecutive Luck Tests, a maximum of 3 more paragraphs and turning to paragraph 226 wouldn't result in instant defeat
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,449
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Nov 28, 2020 18:33:17 GMT
If you had psi-powers, it should have been fairly easy to befuddle the muggers.
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Post by jmisbest on Nov 28, 2020 18:46:57 GMT
If you had psi-powers, it should have been fairly easy to befuddle the muggers. That can be explained as psi-powers only being 1 of the books 4 super-powers but trying to verbally persuade the muggers that the uniforms actually a fancy dress outfit could, in theory, be attempted by anyone
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Post by The Count on Nov 29, 2020 5:34:05 GMT
because it is a stupid book
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Post by jmisbest on Oct 1, 2022 9:06:18 GMT
Many years ago someone I knew and hated only beat Appointment with Fear on his 1st attempt because of his racist opinions about Chinese people, he was using The ETS Power, he had to guess between The Chinese Laundry and The Biomechanical Engineering Place, because of his racist views of Chinese people he guessed and he was right
So how unfair is it that he only beat Appointment with Fear on his 1st attempt because his racist opinions about Chinese people resulted in him correctly guessing that the meeting of F:E:A:R was being held in The Chinese Laundry?
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Post by a moderator on Oct 1, 2022 16:08:50 GMT
I'm not sure if this is merely an attempt to stir up outrage regarding a minor incident that occurred a long time ago, or a veiled accusation against Steve Jackson. Regardless, nothing good can come of it.
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keef
Squire
Posts: 3
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Post by keef on Oct 5, 2022 15:04:07 GMT
Just had my first play through of this in years - and failed, obvs.
It’s so frustrating because there’s a LOT in this that works, and could have been built further. But it’s just utterly arbitrary and counter intuitive. All you can do is blunder through. Thinking about what to do actively works against you - I mean, there’s an instance where you face a super villain whose power is psychic, and having psi-powers as your superpower means instant death rather than a centrepiece battle. It’s like everything plot based is sacrificed in service of the structure.
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