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Post by tyrion on Jun 14, 2020 10:08:42 GMT
So I thought I'd do a poll for the best ff books ever, but in a slightly different way. In each round, you vote for your least favourite from a batch of ten books. The one voted as least favourite is eliminated from the next round until there are two left. Each poll lasts for a week. Voting then moves on to the next ten and so on until we are left with the 14 best ever ff.
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Post by Law on Jun 14, 2020 11:31:41 GMT
So I thought I'd do a poll for the best ff books ever, but in a slightly different way. In each round, you vote for your least favourite from a batch of ten books. The one voted as least favourite is eliminated from the next round until there are two left. Each poll lasts for a week. Voting then moves on to the next ten and so on until we are left with the 14 best ever ff. THIS I LIKE!
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Post by philsadler on Jun 14, 2020 11:57:35 GMT
Oh, and let's try to be honest. No voting for the ones you've 'heard' are the worst but the ones you've actually played!
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Post by Law on Jun 14, 2020 12:35:47 GMT
Oh, and let's try to be honest. No voting for the ones you've 'heard' are the worst but the ones you've actually played! True. Since we're going in order of 01-6X I still have to play and complete:
- Rebel Planet
- Robot Commando
- Masks of Mayhem
- Star Strider
- Phantoms of Fear
- Chasms of Malice
- Battleblade Warrior
- Daggers of Darkness
- Fangs of Fury
- Dead of Night
- Black Vein Prophecy
- Legend of The Shadow Warriors
- The Crimson Tide
- Moonrunner
- Siege of Sardath
- Island of The Undead
- Deathmoor
- Mage Hunter
- Eye of The Dragon
- And Night of The Necromancer
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,437
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Jun 14, 2020 13:27:23 GMT
Nice idea
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Post by stevendoig on Jun 15, 2020 10:35:46 GMT
No surprises this round!!
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Post by tyrion on Jun 16, 2020 13:51:40 GMT
No surprises this round!! Not really, but in the interests of fair play and all that. There might be a subsection of ff readers who really like sci-fi and detest any book in which you have a backpack. 😂
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Post by tyrion on Jun 19, 2020 11:30:38 GMT
Getting into 'I didn't even know that was a ff book' territory now. I'm going to vote for the least memorable one i think. As with all books you've read, if you pick it up again and have no idea what is was about, it probably wasn't that good.
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raid
Squire
Posts: 3
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Post by raid on Jun 19, 2020 12:07:30 GMT
I only ever played Wizard Edition FFs and the only one of these that actually got a reprint was Armies of Death so I guess I'll have to go with that. It's not even a good book anyway so I don't feel bad for voting it as my least favourite.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,437
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Jun 19, 2020 12:31:26 GMT
While I think its reputation as "WORST FIGHTING FANTASY EVERZZZZ!!!!" is a tad undeserved, Sky Lord is definitely the weakest of this fairly strong set.
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Post by stevendoig on Jun 19, 2020 12:35:29 GMT
Voted for Sky Lord. There are worse books certainly. The biggest crime for any book is to be 'boring', and Sky Lord isn't that!
It's just unplayable and a whole lot of nonsense!
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Post by a moderator on Jun 19, 2020 14:03:28 GMT
Getting into 'I didn't even know that was a ff book' territory now. I'm going to vote for the least memorable one i think. As with all books you've read, if you pick it up again and have no idea what is was about, it probably wasn't that good. Not being memorable is an indication that a book probably wasn't great, but it also suggests that the book wasn't so hideously awful that it managed to indelibly inscribe great swathes of its irredeemable badness in your memory, never to be forgotten, however hard you try. Not that any FF books are that appalling, but there are some books I've read that I wish I could forget.
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Post by Wilf on Jun 19, 2020 18:02:50 GMT
For my money, there's only two decent books in this run.
But even among the weakest run of FFs, Sky Lord still gets my vote by a very long way.
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Post by The Count on Jun 19, 2020 20:56:02 GMT
In a way, I can appreciate and find amusement in the glorious insanity of Sky Lord. As such, I wasted my vote on something that won't be as universally loathed.
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Post by a moderator on Jun 19, 2020 21:40:26 GMT
For my money, there's only two decent books in this run. Only two? I'd say three. Maybe four. Which is still a pretty poor success rate.
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Jun 20, 2020 18:27:53 GMT
For my money, there's only two decent books in this run. Only two? I'd say three. Maybe four. Which is still a pretty poor success rate. At least four for sure. Them being Slaves of the Abyss, Portal of Evil, Vault of the Vampire and Dead of Night. Gothic Horror, mysterious goings on, and conspiracies. Armies of Death was a great idea poorly executed [see Way of the Tiger: Warbringer! on how to actually combine a wargame and a book]
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Jun 20, 2020 18:39:49 GMT
While I think its reputation as "WORST FIGHTING FANTASY EVERZZZZ!!!!" is a tad undeserved, Sky Lord is definitely the weakest of this fairly strong set. I can't stand the book, Kieran! I got it as soon as it came out and I remember going from being perplexed, then dismayed, then actually cross at the book. Pursued by the blob, I put thought into getting what I considered would be useful items only to realise I should have picked up a tibia bone, a medicine ball and a cinnamon stick instead of a revolver a sonic screwdriver and a flare pistol. And that ship to ship combat with Pitch and Yaw ... what the Hell was all that about?! Utter rubbish from 1 - 400. WORST FF EVARRR!
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,437
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Jun 20, 2020 18:44:47 GMT
While I think its reputation as "WORST FIGHTING FANTASY EVERZZZZ!!!!" is a tad undeserved, Sky Lord is definitely the weakest of this fairly strong set. I can't stand the book, Kieran! I got it as soon as it came out and I remember going from being perplexed, then dismayed, then actually cross at the book. Pursued by the blob, I put thought into getting what I considered would be useful items only to realise I should have picked up a tibia bone, a medicine ball and a cinnamon stick instead of a revolver a sonic screwdriver and a flare pistol. And that ship to ship combat with Pitch and Yaw ... what the Hell was all that about?! Utter rubbish from 1 - 400. WORST FF EVARRR! Haha, yes that Pitch and Yaw bit is terrible. Thankfully it's avoidable.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,437
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Jun 20, 2020 18:47:10 GMT
Only two? I'd say three. Maybe four. Which is still a pretty poor success rate. At least four for sure. I guess I'm alone in thinking the 30s quite strong! Although the 40s is probably the best period for the series.
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Jun 20, 2020 19:06:49 GMT
I guess I'm alone in thinking the 30s quite strong! Although the 40s is probably the best period for the series. I think the 30's are pretty good too. The four i mentioned were ones I think are great books from the series as a whole, not just talking about the 30's. Battleblade Warrior is quite good, expanding the world, referencing back to the Siege of Vymorna in Titan and pitting us against the Lizardmen again. Stealer of Souls is ok, but for me the Luke Shape books tend not to be my cup of tea. I don't know what it is, the style? they feel a bit random? is it the unmappability? They are good for replay value though.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,437
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Jun 20, 2020 20:08:39 GMT
the Luke Shape books tend not to be my cup of tea. I don't know what it is, the style? they feel a bit random? is it the unmappability? I quite like their randomness (so long as they're not full of random instant death like Chasms of Malice and the second half of Star Strider). More can happen in the first 20 sections of a Luke Sharp book than in the entirety of some other books. He's also the only FF author who could pull off the race against time gimmick. All the others were too restrictive (eg Seas of Blood) or pointless (eg Slaves of the Abyss).
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Post by The Count on Jun 20, 2020 23:37:40 GMT
I find the 30s to be the most consistently average, and closest to the first 10.
Vault of the Vampire and Slaves of the Abyss are clear stand outs.
I get why Sky Lord is loathed, and I didn't enjoy it when younger - now I find it mildly entertaining in places now because it makes no sense and like a bad soap opera, it's not boring in it's insanity. It still isn't a good book, but there are worse parts of the series.
The rest are all reasonably playable - Armies of Death suffers from being a post Warlock Livingston book of course - and well written, just not outstanding. I only find one of them to be boring though, and even then there are worse examples of a tedious FF such as the comic book one which I frequently forget exists.
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