Tarzan and the tower of diamonds

[stevendoig]

My latest charity shop find. Been a couple years since I've picked up a 20th century game book! - it cost a pound. Must be rare coz it's silly priced online - unfortunately my copy is missing apiece of the cover!!

I'll play it through a couple of times and write a few thoughts in a day or two.

[kieran]

Oh my god, that book is probably worth more than a tower of diamonds at this stage! I saw it once for £30 and didn't buy it and it still haunts me.

[stevendoig]

I admit, I let oot a wee squeal of excitement in oxfam when I pulled it off the shelf. Must be more careful - they might have bumped the price up!

[bloodbeasthandler]

Gotta keep that poker face on til the moment the money changes hands and the book's away in your bag. It's most appropriate for carboot sales rather than charity shops, where the prices might go up if someone spots a keen interest.

Were you tempted to say, 'By the way, I don't suppose you've got any more of these books back there in the storeroom have you?'

You going to keep heading back to the shop to see if any more stuff like that turns up? It might have been the first of many...

[stevendoig]

I never thought of car boot sales - pretty sure I would make it too obvious!!


Unfortunately I found the book in Dundee. I don't go there very often. Might have to now!

[stevendoig]

OK, had one playthrough so far. It's decently written with lengthy two or three page references. The art is OK but a bit lifeless somehow. There was a tremendous 3 way choice on one section which boiled down to

1). Should you do this
2) should you do this
3) or should you think of something better?

Strangely enough, option 3 was right choice! Anyway, I never got near the fabled 'tower of diamond' so I'll try again the night.

[a moderator]

That reminds me of an error in the puzzle-based gamebook The Search for the Golden Puffin. In one section, the options read:

• (wrong answer)
• (correct answer)
• (very wrong answer)

Not sure what the proofreader was doing when they okayed that page.

[stevendoig]

Another playthrough and a win this time!

There is a lot of text involved but luckily it was dectly written. A very big continuity problem however that took me out the story.

Early on you can go off the beaten track and end up saving a man who tells you lots of things about the tower and lots about the family from a crashed plane you find at the beginning.

This man eventually wanders off. However you then meet up with the family who impart the very same information and you react as if its news to you! Even worse you meet up with the rescued man again and it's written as a first encounter.

Anyway, it was an okay book.

Annoyingly, I had half a dozen endless quest books when I was a laddie but they are long gone and I dinny think I ever even read them!. I do have one other ( at the moment) so I may post about it soon!


What do others think of the endless quest series in general?

[a moderator]

I've read a few of them, but they never really grabbed me very much. The image of the crystal coffin from book 22, The Endless Catacombs, helped inspire the ice coffin in my Fantazine mini-adventure, but the gamebook that went with the picture was nothing special. As I said in my blog:

The eponymous catacombs are actually very limited in scope, and the 'collect items to defeat the evil wizard' plot is not enlivened by the way that the correct choice in pretty much every decision is blatantly obvious. Seriously, it's almost like:

The undead monstrosity is about to attack. What will you do?

Encourage your brother to search for the hero inside himself, claim the magic sword that is his birthright, and save you and the rest of the party from certain death (turn to 35).

Geoff Hurst in the 1966 World Cup final (turn to 74).

[kieran]

I like the series a lot and have most of them bar the super pricey ones. They are a lot simpler than FF (in gameplay terms at least but they usually had better plots and characterisation) though generally better written and more engaging than CYOA. Since they couldn't really resolve combat, a lot of the books cast you as a child who should generally avoid combat situations which some don't care for but it never bothered me.

Although Endless Catacombs is a firm contender for worst book in the series.