|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 19, 2021 0:41:29 GMT
Masks - 9/14/12 - 1 reroll I got a 4 again for the fire. Reroll to the rescue! A reroll that I no longer had when I rolled a 9 when trying to claim the orb. Alas.
Masks - 9/14/12 - 2 rerolls It had to happen eventually. My ability to fend off equal skill enemies ran out and a wight killed me early on.
Masks - 10/14/12 - 2 rerolls This is going to take a while, isn't it? Despite using both rerolls, I couldn't roll the magic numbers and missed the orb.
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 19, 2021 2:21:42 GMT
Masks - 10/14/12 - 3 rerolls Think I could borrow the Orb from Talisman of Death? Masks - 10/14/12 - 4 rerolls I accumulated all those rerolls then rolled a 3 first try. I continued on until I ran out of provisions in Morgana's lair. I only had 9 stamina when I faced her. Then 5 when I faced Ifor. Then we were both on 1 stamina. Even knowing I had a 3 skill advantage over him, I was slightly anxious when I rolled. Luckily I managed to win and save the world. By my count, at 13 attempts, this shares the crown of most difficult book so far with Seas of Blood. Much as I like Robin's writing, his game design is appalling. I'm glad to be putting this one behind me. Onward to Creature of Havoc, one of my favourite books in the whole series.
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 19, 2021 4:38:03 GMT
Creature - 7/14/7 I always seem to struggle with simultaneous enemies. The flesh feeders knocked me down to 1 and the strongarm finished me off.
Creature - 8/14/7 I was unlucky and fell down the stairs.
|
|
|
Post by Peter on Nov 19, 2021 5:48:26 GMT
I was unlucky and fell down the stairs. What a great quote!
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 19, 2021 6:45:45 GMT
Creature - 8/14/8 I took too long killing the hobbit and then rolled the wrong number so I got enslaved by the wizard.
Creature - 8/14/8 - 1 reroll So close. I made it most of the way through but failed to mount the ophidiotaur. This made victory impossible and me into dinner for the crew of the Galleykeep.
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 19, 2021 7:53:44 GMT
Creature - 9/14/8 - 1 reroll *sigh* As much as I love this book, I hate the beginning of it. Even with a reroll I random chanced my way into unavoidable death.
Creature - 9/14/8 - 2 rerolls The hobbit managed to last 1 round longer than I needed him to. Despite my rerolls, I couldn't convince my character to kill the wizard and got enslaved.
Creature - 9/14/8 - 3 rerolls Even with instant kills and only taking half damage, I just couldn't fight off the enemies very well this time. I eventually went down to the blood orcs.
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 19, 2021 10:05:52 GMT
Creature - 10/14/8 - 3 rerolls The skill point that made all the difference, I made it onto the Galleykeep, destroyed Marr's mirror and I am back to being a human. As has seemingly become customary, the successful run has me using precisely zero of my accumulated rerolls. Despite the rather frustrating beginning, this is one hell of a good gamebook. And the good times continue to roll as up next is Beneath Nightmare Castle. I'm glad I get another good one before I have to slog through Crypt.
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 19, 2021 21:54:51 GMT
Beneath - 7/14/7/7 I couldn't break down my cell door so I had to fight a half dozen soldiers. This went poorly. Beneath - 8/14/7 It's nice to have an easy one again. I was lucky enough to be able to buy the head of the trident which helped a lot with the combat once I found the shaft to go with it. Xakhaz was rather disgustingly exploded by means of a weird green orb and order has been restored to Neuberg. Okay, this is it. The one I have in equal parts been anticipating and dreading. Just how many times will I die in the Crypt of the Sorcerer?
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 19, 2021 23:35:01 GMT
Crypt - 7/14/7 I won. First try. Next book please... What... Oh, okay, fine, I got killed by the rad-hulks. Crypt - 8/14/7 I hit the rad-hulk once before I died. Crypt - 9/14/7 The harpoon flies didn't affect my skill this time, so I managed to kill the first rad-hulk. Crypt - 10/14/7 Maybe if I die enough times they'll get bored and leave. Crypt - 11/14/7 Despite having the skill advantage, the dice were still on the rad-hulks' side. Crypt - 12/14/7 Okay, I knew I'd need to go superhuman, I didn't expect to need it for the first fight. Crypt - 13/14/7 I must have had magic dice. My skill was unaffected by the harpoon flies, my sword didn't get stuck in clay, and I didn't get killed by a hill giant. The only non-stat-related roll that didn't go my way was the iron eater but that would have been asking a bit much. So I made it all the way to Razaak who then won the first two attack rounds, activated his super move and turned me into a zombie.
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 20, 2021 1:07:35 GMT
Crypt - 14/14/7 My luck couldn't last forever. Clay is sticky and I am dead.
Crypt - 14/14/7 - 1 reroll The reroll saved me from the clay golem but then a hill giant hit me with a rock.
Crypt - 14/14/7 - 2 rerolls All the way to Razaak and then zombified again.
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 20, 2021 4:56:43 GMT
Crypt - 15/14/7 - 2 rerolls The harpoon flies took both my rerolls and the clay golem got me in the very first round.
Crypt - 15/14/7 - 3 rerolls Cursed dice! I needed all 3 rerolls for the clay golem, then the hill giant rocked me.
Crypt - 15/14/7 - 4 rerolls It's done. I needed 1 reroll for each of the 3 random kills (harpoon flies, clay golem and hill giant). I used the final one on the iron eater but it didn't help. Despite only having a 2 skill edge over Razzy, I beat him in 10 straight rounds, had my full 14 stamina and won.
That was interesting. Still only 13 attempts but the highest skill I've needed so far. On to Star Strider which I remember nothing about. I have a vague sense of not liking Luke Sharp's books very much but we'll see how it goes.
|
|
|
Post by philsadler on Nov 20, 2021 7:21:40 GMT
What a great, well-designed book.
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 20, 2021 7:48:32 GMT
What a great, well-designed book. Couldn't agree more. Who doesn't love a 0.5% chance of winning even with maximum stats?
|
|
CharlesX
Baron
Posts: 2,204
Member is Online
|
Post by CharlesX on Nov 20, 2021 8:05:46 GMT
What a great, well-designed book. Couldn't agree more. Who doesn't love a 0.5% chance of winning even with maximum stats? It's strictly below 0.5%; and the writing is rubbish, as well. I wonder what vagsancho even sees in this gamebook?
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 20, 2021 8:25:41 GMT
Star Strider - 7/14/7/7 This is an example of why the rules around initial values were put in place. I started 7/14/7 and finished 7/34/12. Luck was actually 15 at one point but there were 3 luck tests in quick succession near the end. Well, even ignoring the amusing oversight regarding initial values, this isn't very good. I just finished reading it and I still don't remember anything that happened in it. Oh well, up next is Phantoms of Fear which I really liked as a kid though I suspect the gameplay will be rather awful with Robin Waterfield as the author.
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 20, 2021 8:34:55 GMT
Couldn't agree more. Who doesn't love a 0.5% chance of winning even with maximum stats? It's strictly below 0.5%; and the writing is rubbish, as well. I wonder what vagsancho even sees in this gamebook? It's very Livingstonian, if that's what he likes then Crypt would suit him down to the ground.
|
|
kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,462
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
|
Post by kieran on Nov 20, 2021 9:41:12 GMT
Oh well, up next is Phantoms of Fear which I really liked as a kid though I suspect the gameplay will be rather awful with Robin Waterfield as the author. Are you going to attempt both paths to success (ie building up your Power score and item gathering)?
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 20, 2021 9:56:50 GMT
Oh well, up next is Phantoms of Fear which I really liked as a kid though I suspect the gameplay will be rather awful with Robin Waterfield as the author. Are you going to attempt both paths to success (ie building up your Power score and item gathering)? I wasn't going to but I saw that Champskees has a guide for each path so they must be more different than I remembered. For the power method, I will be starting at 13 instead of 8 since you need 22 to face Ishtra and the guide only allows you to add 9 to your starting power.
|
|
|
Post by jmisbest on Nov 20, 2021 11:09:01 GMT
Are you going to attempt both paths to success (ie building up your Power score and item gathering)? I wasn't going to but I saw that Champskees has a guide for each path so they must be more different than I remembered. For the power method, I will be starting at 13 instead of 8 since you need 22 to face Ishtra and the guide only allows you to add 9 to your starting power. I've had a idea, since you only need A Initial Power of 13 on the route were you beat the villain in what I call A Power Fight when you use the item gathering route how about you only start with A Power of 8?
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 20, 2021 11:26:30 GMT
That's the plan. I only made an exception for the power fight path because it would be impossible otherwise.
|
|
|
Post by jmisbest on Nov 20, 2021 11:33:31 GMT
Oh well, up next is Phantoms of Fear which I really liked as a kid though I suspect the gameplay will be rather awful with Robin Waterfield as the author. Are you going to attempt both paths to success (ie building up your Power score and item gathering)? I'll be honest I also though it would be awful with Robin Waterfield as the author but I'd never read anything he'd wrote before that, which means that I had decided that he was a bad author simply because everyone I knew, at the time, that had read stuff he's wrote considered him a bad author, so I decided to give it a try and I actually liked it
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 20, 2021 11:43:18 GMT
I like Robin as a writer. It's the game part of his gamebooks that is terrible. If I treat his books as plain choose your own adventures with all the dice rolling removed, they're a lot more interesting but that is not the purpose of this thread. So I must deal with the terrible gameplay that comes with his books.
|
|
kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,462
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
|
Post by kieran on Nov 20, 2021 12:24:51 GMT
So I must deal with the terrible gameplay that comes with his books. Gameplay-wise I think Deathmoor is pretty fair - there's not many abrupt instant deaths or tough dice rolls compared to his other three and there's a couple of clever features. Unfortunately, it's probably his weakest book from a writing perspective. Phantoms and Rebel Planet have big flaws but I think they also have some pretty strong gameplay elements mixed with the bad. Not much positive to say about Masks on the gameplay front though!
|
|
|
Post by jmisbest on Nov 20, 2021 15:36:54 GMT
So I must deal with the terrible gameplay that comes with his books. Gameplay-wise I think Deathmoor is pretty fair - there's not many abrupt instant deaths or tough dice rolls compared to his other three and there's a couple of clever features. Unfortunately, it's probably his weakest book from a writing perspective. Phantoms and Rebel Planet have big flaws but I think they also have some pretty strong gameplay elements mixed with the bad. Not much positive to say about Masks on the gameplay front though! I can think of something positive to say about Masks on the gameplay front and the positive thing I have to say about Masks on the gameplay front is that despite some very hard dice rolls its still a lot easier to beat then Crypt of The Sorcerer
|
|
|
Post by a moderator on Nov 20, 2021 17:24:40 GMT
"This car that has no wheels or engine is not as seriously damaged as this one that had been compressed into a small block of metal by a crusher."
|
|
CharlesX
Baron
Posts: 2,204
Member is Online
|
Post by CharlesX on Nov 20, 2021 18:12:33 GMT
"This car that has no wheels or engine is not as seriously damaged as this one that had been compressed into a small block of metal by a crusher." So, gameplay-wise, what does that make Spellbreaker and Blood Of The Zombies? A car compressed into a very small block of metal, and then into factory parts? A car so seriously damaged, the garbage dump guy vaporized it with lasers (dreamin' about doing that to my Livingstone collection) 👍?
|
|
|
Post by a moderator on Nov 20, 2021 18:44:03 GMT
Spellbreaker is a differently shaped block of metal. Or, if you add in the surrender option that should have been included in the revised edition, one that only got half way through the crushing process bedore being rescued with a big magnet.
Blood was dipped into a vat of quick-setting resin after being crushed, then encased in concrete and dropped into the lowest point of the Mariana Trench.
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 20, 2021 19:11:51 GMT
So I must deal with the terrible gameplay that comes with his books. Gameplay-wise I think Deathmoor is pretty fair - there's not many abrupt instant deaths or tough dice rolls compared to his other three and there's a couple of clever features. Unfortunately, it's probably his weakest book from a writing perspective. Phantoms and Rebel Planet have big flaws but I think they also have some pretty strong gameplay elements mixed with the bad. Not much positive to say about Masks on the gameplay front though! I don't think I've read Deathmoor, I bought it to complete the set but I don't think I ever actually read it.
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 20, 2021 21:12:36 GMT
Phantoms - Items - 7/14/7/8 I made the mistake of *checks notes* inhaling and an evil wind knocked down my stats. This led to me dying at the hands of some corrupted roots near Ishtra's lair.
Phantoms - Items - 8/14/7/8 I failed to find one of the essential items while searching the wild man's home.
Phantoms- Items - 8/14/7/8 - 1 reroll My breathing problems continue and I can't fight off the wild man in my weakened state.
|
|
|
Post by terrysalt on Nov 20, 2021 22:34:15 GMT
Phantoms - Items - 9/14/7/8 - 1 reroll I burned my reroll to avoid being tempted into giving up my quest which meant that I once again failed to find the amber in the wild man's house.
Phantoms - Items - 9/14/7/8 - 2 rerolls Stupid piece of amber!
Phantoms - Items - 9/14/7/8 - 3 rerolls The evil wind ensured I died to the wild man again
Phantoms - Items - 10/14/7/8 - 3 rerolls I finally found it! And then I got killed by dark elves almost immediately afterwards.
|
|