|
|
Post by drmanhattan on May 2, 2022 9:57:53 GMT
Yes, I recall that as a wee lad some 40 years ago I don't think I ever completed books 3 and 4, so with the wife away all weekend I dug out my old books and played the Shamutanti Hills. I completed it on attempt 4, but then for fun (I really enjoy this), mapped every reference in sections as a kind of route map, I just have 2 refs that I missed that I am trying to fix (also now looking for a new copy of the book since mine has exploded and all the pages are out of the binder. haha I will probably post some maps and sketches I made for the hell of it later, but I had a few questions and observations 1) I had not realised how many of the 456 refs are just "this spell doesnt work, no such spell, you dont have the item"! 2) There are quite a few instant death passages, I was surprised how many! 3) Is the hunchback on the bridge just a liar or is there some other demon in a maze, since hilariously on one of my runs before I chatted to this guy I took RIGHT at every junction and thats basically just fail, fail, fail, fail, dead. It was amazing to me that I picked literally EVERY SINGLE CHOICE except the correct one while working out how to get to the manticore, who then battered me as I'd used up all my stuff and even Libra. 4) I thought I saw a recover stamina ref at the start when you cant have lost any now the important questions 5) are the books 100% standalone, I cant remember if there are items you NEED to complete future books, and then if it is standalone, is there a list of which items you really want otherwise future books become nigh on impossible. I cant remember if I need that locket with a face on it, and I have the Khare keys and Flanker reference, just curious. ENjoyed it a lot but Khare I remember loving so I will play properly until I beat it and then do the mapping. God help me when I get to the last one. For the record in this one, I "continued" when I died and just noted the deaths, i.e. assuming I'd follow the exact same path as before. My deaths: Lotus Flowers, yes, haha, I forgot about those. Little shit Jann Demons Deluge Manticore did me heres my character sheet   and my crazy mapping (ended up a dozen or more pages) linking all the refs postimg.cc/DmQs7L8d]![]() i.postimg.cc/DmQs7L8d/dd.jpg |
|
|
|
Post by drmanhattan on May 2, 2022 9:59:04 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by drmanhattan on May 2, 2022 10:06:13 GMT
The ref I am missing (if you find them before me please let me know I'd be delighted)
319 seems to be a failed YOB leading to 256 where the giant squashes you, but you do have giants teeth there, and there is a YOB with a different reference in 2 places so I don't know if 319 is a mistake or if there is anywhere else you meet a giant earlier on before you got any giants teeth?
I cannot find a spell block in a paragraph where 319 is listed
|
|
|
|
Post by scouserob on May 2, 2022 11:09:53 GMT
The ref I am missing (if you find them before me please let me know I'd be delighted) 319 seems to be a failed YOB leading to 256 where the giant squashes you, but you do have giants teeth there, and there is a YOB with a different reference in 2 places so I don't know if 319 is a mistake or if there is anywhere else you meet a giant earlier on before you got any giants teeth? I cannot find a spell block in a paragraph where 319 is listed
Paragraph 319 is an orphan paragraph.
There is no way to get to it, similar to paragraph 192 in Warlock of Firetop Mountain.
I remember this as when I was mapping out I had move everything about to to squeeze it in at the end. |
|
|
|
Post by drmanhattan on May 2, 2022 11:32:46 GMT
oh wow, so someone else is as mad as me! please post your entire map that looks great, I will try to turn mine into some kind of route map, I think I saw some plugin for VSCode that let you make circles and link them and have collapsible sections and stuff.
Great that I was not going mad not finding where 319 came from!
|
|
|
|
Post by scouserob on May 2, 2022 13:09:07 GMT
oh wow, so someone else is as mad as me! please post your entire map that looks great, I will try to turn mine into some kind of route map, I think I saw some plugin for VSCode that let you make circles and link them and have collapsible sections and stuff. Great that I was not going mad not finding where 319 came from!
I've added the full map to the Fighting Fantasy Book Maps Thread:
The Shamutanti Hills Map
Good luck with the VSCode, I'd be interested to see the results. |
|
|
|
Post by a moderator on May 2, 2022 14:59:16 GMT
Is the hunchback on the bridge just a liar or is there some other demon in a maze, since hilariously on one of my runs before I chatted to this guy I took RIGHT at every junction and thats basically just fail, fail, fail, fail, dead. It was amazing to me that I picked literally EVERY SINGLE CHOICE except the correct one while working out how to get to the manticore, who then battered me as I'd used up all my stuff and even Libra. I think you must have misread what the hunchback says.(My emphasis). So he's saying that you need to turn left every time to avoid the traps. |
|
|
|
Post by drmanhattan on May 2, 2022 17:05:31 GMT
That makes a lot more sense thx |
|
|
|
Post by scouserob on May 2, 2022 17:17:01 GMT
Traps as deadly as Medusa's gaze greet travellers who [...] take passageways not to the left.(My emphasis). So he's saying that you need to turn left every time to avoid the traps. I like the way the information is scrambled. You could get it wrong by mid-parsing the sentence outright. (Say by missing the ‘not’.) Or by correctly parsing it as: Bad things not to left. And then mistakenly over-reversing it as: Good things are to right. |
|
|
|
Post by scouserob on May 2, 2022 17:34:19 GMT
4) I thought I saw a recover stamina ref at the start when you cant have lost any You can lose stamina in Cantopani (the first village), so I’m guessing this recover stamina paragraph must be when buying a meal at Cantopani’s inn? If so then you are right there is no way to lose stamina before this, however eating also has the secondary purpose of ensuring you don’t lose 3 stamina the next morning so it isn’t entirely pointless. (Plus at the amazing price of just one gold piece that meal is a bargain!). Going to the Cantopani store is better than the inn in any case. I can’t help much with your question 5 as I’m only 3 books in and haven’t looked at the book 4 solution yet (to avoid spoilers). I seem to remember that the sun jewel from Kharé is a big help against the Baddu Beetle in The Seven Serpents. It may be worth looking in the solution threads for more information on your fifth question. |
|
|
|
Post by a moderator on May 2, 2022 18:10:30 GMT
The books are all beatable in isolation, but the later ones will be more challenging without certain items and information found in the books that precede them.
|
|
sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,677 
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
|
Post by sylas on May 2, 2022 22:19:03 GMT
I've always played these as a whole 4 part series, but I don't think I've ever played each one standalone. Might be a nice challenge.
|
|
CharlesX
Baron
Posts: 2,168
Member is Online
|
Post by CharlesX on May 2, 2022 22:40:28 GMT
I've always played these as a whole 4 part series, but I don't think I've ever played each one standalone. Might be a nice challenge. From memory playing standalone Sorcery! 1 is short and easy, especially easy playing as the wizard. Sorcery! 2 somehow feels noticeably more linear, and incomplete. Sorcery! 3 can be fun, the Moon serpent is an issue playing as the warrior. Sorcery! 4 is my favourite standalone and in the series, long and with lots of memorable encounters. You might even enjoy the later Sorcery! more without the excessive powerups. |
|
sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,677
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
|
Post by sylas on May 4, 2022 15:01:11 GMT
I've always played these as a whole 4 part series, but I don't think I've ever played each one standalone. Might be a nice challenge. From memory playing standalone Sorcery! 1 is short and easy, especially easy playing as the wizard. Sorcery! 2 somehow feels noticeably more linear, and incomplete. Sorcery! 3 can be fun, the Moon serpent is an issue playing as the warrior. Sorcery! 4 is my favourite standalone and in the series, long and with lots of memorable encounters. You might even enjoy the later Sorcery! more without the excessive powerups. S1 would have little difference I guess. The only thing you might change is not having to go the way of the Pilfer Grass to acquire the Locket which is super useful in S4. S2 and S3 will allow you avoid more items guarded by dangers since those items would be more useful in their follow-up books. Definitely more linear without the Flanker encounters. Not sure where it could be incomplete? S4 might be quite challenging as standalone although the Hardwood Spear tends to sort out most problems. Wonder if it can be completed without it? |
|
|
|
Post by a moderator on May 4, 2022 15:37:59 GMT
S4 might be quite challenging as standalone although the Hardwood Spear tends to sort out most problems. Wonder if it can be completed without it? I don't think it can. IIRC, if Ridd the Gnome recognises you as the Analander (which he will if you didn't play Serpents and kill all the Serpents which are at liberty), you cannot survive unless you have the blessed Hardwood Spear. |
|
CharlesX
Baron
Posts: 2,168
Member is Online
|
Post by CharlesX on May 4, 2022 21:08:59 GMT
From memory playing standalone Sorcery! 1 is short and easy, especially easy playing as the wizard. Sorcery! 2 somehow feels noticeably more linear, and incomplete. Sorcery! 3 can be fun, the Moon serpent is an issue playing as the warrior. Sorcery! 4 is my favourite standalone and in the series, long and with lots of memorable encounters. You might even enjoy the later Sorcery! more without the excessive powerups. S1 would have little difference I guess. The only thing you might change is not having to go the way of the Pilfer Grass to acquire the Locket which is super useful in S4. S2 and S3 will allow you avoid more items guarded by dangers since those items would be more useful in their follow-up books. Definitely more linear without the Flanker encounters. Not sure where it could be incomplete? S4 might be quite challenging as standalone although the Hardwood Spear tends to sort out most problems. Wonder if it can be completed without it? S2 can feel incomplete without the spell items carried over from book 1, I'm just not much of a fan of S2 because the spell gates feel like an item hunt, there's quite a few instant deaths, but OTOH the items you gain can be handy in later S. I'm a huge S fan but sometimes it feels like one of those 80s computer adventures where you're strongly supposed to do something in the early stages or you get in trouble sometime later. Normally there's just a way around it. |
|
|
|
Post by misomiso on May 11, 2022 7:19:13 GMT
All of the books are completeable as stand alones.
As to the character of each book: -
B1: Very Easy. Shouldn't really have any problems. Multiple paths to victory.
B2: Actually quite hard. A 'deathtrap dungeon' style of book where you have to collet certain items, but harder than Deathtrap. A lot of people consider this the best book of the series.
B3: Not as hard as B2 but just a bit weird. Least popular of the series maybe?
B4: Medium to hard difficulty. Similar to Citadel of Chaos in a structure.
Generally you are correct that all the Spell entries take up a lot of time and make the books shorter.
Here's to Sorcery! 5 soon!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by misomiso on May 11, 2022 7:19:51 GMT
Also I would VERY MUCH recommend the Inkle Apps of the series, at least for 1 and 2. They are great implementations of the series and well worth playing, even if you have player the paper ones.
|
|
