Most underrated FF gamebooks or other products

[CharlesX]

In the spirit of Christmas, what are some of the most underrated FF products, gamebooks or otherwise?
   I'm a real fan of Gascoigne's Titan, which was FF's white-belt answer to The Silmarillion. I like the FF set around the seas, Seas Of Blood, Demons Of The Deep, and Bloodbones, they just appeal to my sense of adventure. I think Vault Of The Vampire is amazing with its sense of atmosphere. I like the way Livingstone pulls no punches with his old-school gamebooks, even if his later gamebooks haven't always been as good as his earlier ones. I've a real soft spot for Port Of Peril, with its difficulty level it's better to me than the misfire Starship Traveller.
   Happy Christmas!
   P.S. btw partly inspired by inverting \ sibling about the Biggest Disappointment(s) in FF thread.

[daredevil123]

IMO, the most underrated FF author is US Steve Jackson. His three books aren't particularly challenging or strongly written, but they're fun, fair and delightfully non-linear. They don't seem to get much love from the FF community though (I just posted about my amazement that Kieran ranked Robot Commando below Sky Lord). I also love Jackson's use of multiple 'good' endings, which I think is interesting and should have been used more often in FF. I particularly enjoyed assassinating Minos but losing my own life in the process, ending my adventure in 'a glorious failure'.

[tyrion]

I'd go with keep of the lich lord as being underrated. Sure, you can to straight to the keep and win in 35 or so references, but that's missing the point. I'd even go so far as to say that we might see in this the beginning of fabled lands, where side quests are as interesting as the main plot.

[vastariner]

Siege of Sardath, although I think on here people do rate it.

The twin player books are very good as well, they're under-rated for the simple reason that they keep getting forgotten. Even by Gascoigne who forgot about Gundobad when doing Titan.

[Wilf]

Dec 25, 2021 22:04:26 GMT vastariner said:

The twin player books are very good as well, they're under-rated for the simple reason that they keep getting forgotten. Even by Gascoigne who forgot about Gundobad when doing Titan.

I was just about to post exactly that.

[kieran]

Dec 25, 2021 19:24:22 GMT daredevil123 said:

I just posted about my amazement that Kieran ranked Robot Commando below Sky Lord

I do actually rate his other two books, particularly Demons.

Based on Wilf's ranking, the books I rate significantly higher than the community average are:
Appointment with FEAR
Trial of Champions
Sky Lord
Daggers of Darkness
Portal of Evil
Return to Firetop Mountain
Deathmoor
Eye of the Dragon
The Crown of Kings

I think I gave reasons for the above in that thread. But some books that are largely ignored by the fan base and criticised by the few who do note them are the four Goldhawk books. I think they have a fun Saturday morning cartoon show vibe and even though the first three are typically Livingstonian in design, the fourth, Ghost Road, is really good with multiple ways of handling each encounter. One of Ian's best actually.

[terrysalt]

Dec 25, 2021 19:24:22 GMT daredevil123 said:

IMO, the most underrated FF author is US Steve Jackson. His three books aren't particularly challenging or strongly written, but they're fun, fair and delightfully non-linear. They don't seem to get much love from the FF community though (I just posted about my amazement that Kieran ranked Robot Commando below Sky Lord). I also love Jackson's use of multiple 'good' endings, which I think is interesting and should have been used more often in FF. I particularly enjoyed assassinating Minos but losing my own life in the process, ending my adventure in 'a glorious failure'.

Demons didn't do much for me but the other 2 are excellent. I agree that Steve 2 deserves more credit than he usually gets.

[sylas]

Titan
Out of the pit
Black vein prophecy
Portal of evil
A rough guide to the pit
The riddling reaver
Spectral stalkers

[Law]

Legend of Zagor, if any game book has informed the Souls-borne series more than perhaps 'Knights of Doom' (sans 'Berserk') it's this one.

And without Demon's / Dark Souls, there would likely have been no 'Hollow Knight' or 'Blasphemous' for me to enjoy.

Loads of RPG elements that I personally loved keeping track of and it really puts the "fight" in fighting fantasy, what with its unique attack patterns for so many adversaries and multiple weapons for you to choose from.

McKenna's artwork is also unforgettable.

[The Count]

I agree with Steve II being underrated, especially in comparison to Steve I who is equally overrated - this is even more evident on other sites

In terms of individual books
Scorpion Swamp
Demons of the Deep
Fangs of Fury
Sky Lord



and the cover of Black Vein Prophecy

[nathanh]

I sort of want to say Legend of Zagor as well, but if we're being fair then it's more a case of mismatched expectations---I think most people who enjoy this type of gamebook would rate Legend highly.

I think Eye of the Dragon is genuinely underrated. Given previous highly-rated books in the series, the "funhouse dungeon" style is appealing to the FF audience, and Eye is a totally serviceable example of one.

[Peter]

Dec 26, 2021 13:47:39 GMT Law said:

Loads of RPG elements that I personally loved keeping track of and it really puts the "fight" in fighting fantasy, what with its unique attack patterns for so many adversaries and multiple weapons for you to choose from. 

McKenna's artwork is also unforgettable.

I fully agree with you, but, as I said recently, I found there was just a bit too much of it.

As I have been approaching each book without expectations, I wasn't disappointed or turned off by the format. I would like to have seen more like this.

[petch]

I don't know much about fan opinion elsewhere (I'm happy here and am too apathetic to research other communities), but going by the poll last year the books that I ranked most highly above the average here were Freeway Fighter, Night Dragon, Crypt of the Sorcerer, Daggers of Darkness, and Seas of Blood. I gave reasons for all of the above in that thread at the time, so I won't bother going over it all again now. Although one of the reasons I gave for liking Daggers so much was because I enjoy shading in that funny little guy on the Adventure Sheet. I stand by that.

[misomiso]

I like Stealer of Souls as it was not too hard and very atmospheric at the end. Fun for the casual reader I think.
Also I love Armies of Death - I don't think the adventure is that great or the Battle system was implemented well, however the concept of it was so good and the idea of leading your army round to fight an army full of demons, orcs, and other Evil creatures is very compelling.

[natwa]

I agree with Stealer of Souls being greatly underrated. It's near the top for the "regular"(non-Sorcery) FF gamebooks for me, while on polls it seems to end up in the middle or slighly below the middle. I like it both for plentiful interesting encounters and for it covering so many different environments and bringing to life so many different kinds of atmospheres in the space of one book. It includes both wilderness adventures and encounters, dungenon adventures and encounters, and for the final part a kind of surreal "what is real" place. And although it may seem very old school in its approach, it also eventually it also breaks with that with ,before the final part, giving your character the opportunity to learn magic and use it, in a way that seems more integrated than IL use of the same option in TOT. Also a small twist or two near the end. Yes, it is quite easy, but I never understood why this has to be a problem, as long as moving through the story i fun and there are plenty of fun,exciting and interesting things to do and encounter in the book, all of which is the case with Stealer of Souls.

I also rate Rebel Planet quite highly compared to both this group and the bigger FF community.It's in my top 10 of regular FF books, while it seems come in near the middle of most FF polls It's a long time since I played it now, so maybe I would change my mind if I played it again, but I really enjoyed how Waterfield brings the different planets to life and the intense atmosphere.

I also rate Space Assassin much higher than most other people. It's almost in my top 10 of FF gamebooks, while on polls, it seems to be either ranked quite low or near the middle. I enjoy the many quirky characters and encounters and I like that they unlike in, say Sky Lord, never "break" the gamebook.

For the rest of the FF gamebooks that I seem to rate higher than most others, the difference between my opinion and the polls and/or the opinion of this group or the greater FF community seems mostly to be a matter of a quite small degree. and/or vary quite a bit from poll to poll and between different segments of the FF community.For instance, I do include both Portal of Evil and Spectral Stalkers among my Top 10 of Ff books, while on polls they usually seem to end up outside of the top 10, but no worse than 20th place and although I also have Forest of Doom, in my personal top 10, which means I rate it much higher than most other people here, it's apparently highly rated in the FF facebook group

[misomiso]

+1 for Stealer of Souls.

Always really rated that book as it's very atmospheric and you can defeat it frst time which was a nice change to other FF books.

Also agree Martin Mckenna's Art is fantastic.