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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Jun 11, 2022 22:38:22 GMT
When are scholastic going to reissue Jonathan Green's books, just so we can see what a good one looks like? I hope never. Not because I don't like his books. I do. I just want no more reprints, EVER, because I'm sick to bloody death of them. Instead let him be given free rein to write what he wants in the FF universe and be paid a decent amount of money to do it, and get to choose an artist for illustrations. ...particularly with regard to difficulty. Alone among the previous reprints, Jon Green made adjustments to his books in this regard - reducing the strength of some opponents, giving an option to surrender in Spellbreaker etc No-one else bothered to do that. |
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Post by a moderator on Jun 11, 2022 23:11:57 GMT
...particularly with regard to difficulty. Alone among the previous reprints, Jon Green made adjustments to his books in this regard - reducing the strength of some opponents, giving an option to surrender in Spellbreaker etc No-one else bothered to do that. A pity the surrender option wasn't added to the correct route. And that the unfair rolls to get the Heal-All and pass the second witch trial weren't changed. In theory, the edits were a good idea. In practice, the ones made to Spellbreaker were of little to no help. |
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Post by slloyd14 on Jul 6, 2022 15:09:52 GMT
That just makes it worse. Of course it's difficult, we all realised that when we wrote our own when we were 12. And to be offered a book deal after a drink with the boys on a nod and a wink? Ffs. When are scholastic going to reissue Jonathan Green's books, just so we can see what a good one looks like? I know Jonathan Green might be reading this, but I would say his books are as variable they are good, particularly with regard to difficulty. Spellbreaker is just as tough as Crypt Of The Sorceror, Knights Of Doom plays like a Warhammer FRPG done by Ian Livingstone, and Curse Of The Mummy is dull as a desert (forgive the pun) with excessive difficulty even according to the editors and very little replay value. But I know what you mean, after he found his feet Jonathan Green wrote some very good Fighting Fantasy's. Jon Green's post Bloodbones stuff is much fairer, less concerned with secret numbers and has deeper storylines. Bloodbones is a kind of halfway house where it is more fair than his 90s stuff but has a few tough opponents. I expect it was written in the 90s and then changed a bit when it was released. Jon has said on his blog that when he wrote the new books, he became less concerned with catching cheats and more intent on being entertaining. |
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678 
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Jul 6, 2022 15:19:52 GMT
I know Jonathan Green might be reading this, but I would say his books are as variable they are good, particularly with regard to difficulty. Spellbreaker is just as tough as Crypt Of The Sorceror, Knights Of Doom plays like a Warhammer FRPG done by Ian Livingstone, and Curse Of The Mummy is dull as a desert (forgive the pun) with excessive difficulty even according to the editors and very little replay value. But I know what you mean, after he found his feet Jonathan Green wrote some very good Fighting Fantasy's. Jon Green's post Bloodbones stuff is much fairer, less concerned with secret numbers and has deeper storylines. Bloodbones is a kind of halfway house where it is more fair than his 90s stuff but has a few tough opponents. I expect it was written in the 90s and then changed a bit when it was released. Jon has said on his blog that when he wrote the new books, he became less concerned with catching cheats and more intent on being entertaining. I remember reading somewhere that Jon expanded Bloodbones a lot in the jungle section. But, yeah, tough as nails yet totally beatable with good stat rolls. |
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Post by terrysalt on Jul 6, 2022 21:15:59 GMT
Jon has said on his blog that when he wrote the new books, he became less concerned with catching cheats and more intent on being entertaining. As a kid, I used to have a piece of paper with all the secret numbers and codes on it so in effect the "If you really fought the troll, you'll know how long his beard is. Turn to the reference 16 times the number of centimetres it was" stuff just made me cheat even more.  So probably a good thing he stopped trying to catch people out. |
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Post by hallucination on Jul 23, 2022 20:05:31 GMT
Well: Blood of the zombies, Gates of death, Sky lord.
Hmm, what else? The scifi ones tend to be underwhelming and there are the broken/unplayable ones already mentioned in this thread. But truth be told I have a soft spot for Crypt, Spellbreaker, and a couple other near impossible ones, I just don't play those ones. I read them
But among those I certainly play, a controversial pick (?) would be Citadel of Chaos. The magic is cool. Just not a gamebook/story i could get into/enjoy that much.
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So probably a good thing he stopped trying to catch people out. 