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Post by tyrion on Jun 25, 2020 14:36:19 GMT
It's a bit sad I can do the books in the right order for these polls from memory. I'm just waiting for a pub quiz round on ff books. Oh, and chasms of malice was knocked out last round.
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kieran
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Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Jun 25, 2020 14:45:12 GMT
Have to go with Robot Commando. Technically well designed (for the most part - robot combat isn't very balanced and why are medpacks so weak?) but it's just a whole lot of nothing.
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Post by stevendoig on Jun 25, 2020 15:56:28 GMT
Yep, Robot Commando for me too. As I mind, it is DULL.
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Post by Wilf on Jun 25, 2020 18:28:40 GMT
Once again, my pick from last round still remains, so my vote is unchanged.
This would be a lot more interesting if the books in each round were randomised.
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Post by tyrion on Jun 25, 2020 18:44:56 GMT
Once again, my pick from last round still remains, so my vote is unchanged. This would be a lot more interesting if the books in each round were randomised. Good point, might mix it up a bit after 31-40 round 2
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,453
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Jun 25, 2020 20:42:43 GMT
It's not looking too good for poor old Star Strider. I actually think the first half of this book is great with loads of genuinely amusing comic moments (I love the bit where you force an old lady off the bus to take her seat and the other passengers are disgusted by you) but it takes a downward turn when you reach Paris and then an absolute nosedive in London where it becomes almost as unforgiving as Sharp's next book. It also suffers from the pointlessness of accessing terminals in the first two cities. The terminals in Paris give you the same information and more. I think it would be better if one terminal gave you the president's location and the other two warned you of instant deaths in the underground. And there is the whole Initial stats confusion too.
With some relatively minor tweaks, I think this could be the best of the space-faring FFs. It would be my top choice for an edited re-release.
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Post by Wilf on Jun 25, 2020 21:08:21 GMT
I genuinely don't understand the dislike for Star Strider. It's certainly Luke Sharp's best book, and it's an intricately constructed runabout with a solid story and a great chase sequence at the end.
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Post by Wilf on Jun 25, 2020 21:09:35 GMT
Aren't all the instant deaths in London along the routes which don't appear on the map? It makes perfect sense that the map steers you away from the illusory exits...
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Post by The Count on Jun 25, 2020 21:33:02 GMT
I am quite upset that Chasms of Malice has been judged so harshly as I always enjoyed it Robot Commando still bores me more than Crypt annoys me.
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Post by peasantscribbler on Jun 25, 2020 21:33:59 GMT
I've been voting for Crypt of the Sorcerer. Perversely, it might be one of my favourite books in this bracket if I had never looked up the solution. It's the sociopathic choice you have to make early on that put it beyond the pale for me.
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Post by peasantscribbler on Jun 25, 2020 21:43:49 GMT
Once again, my pick from last round still remains, so my vote is unchanged. This would be a lot more interesting if the books in each round were randomised. Good point, might mix it up a bit after 31-40 round 2 I dunno, I'd kind of like to see who wins each of the original brackets and the boot order. If you're going to switch it up, maybe devise something systematic based on the number of votes received in the first two rounds. Heavy weights against heavy weights and light weights against light weights. Something like that.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,453
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Jun 26, 2020 6:34:23 GMT
Aren't all the instant deaths in London along the routes which don't appear on the map? It makes perfect sense that the map steers you away from the illusory exits... Sadly no. There are routes along the map that have instant deaths. Unless of course I misread the map which is quite possible.
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Jun 26, 2020 10:15:48 GMT
I genuinely don't understand the dislike for Star Strider. It's certainly Luke Sharp's best book, and it's an intricately constructed runabout with a solid story and a great chase sequence at the end. I was one of those who voted for SS off the back of a decades-old recollection of it which focussed on that chase through the underground at the end of the book. You've got me feeling a bit guilty now! I'm going to play through it again over the next few days and see it through new eyes, hopefully as a sort of FF meets Bladerunner.
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Post by a moderator on Jun 26, 2020 11:45:19 GMT
I'm sure that at one point in an earlier poll the number of votes for one of the books decreased, so either it's possible to change your vote or we've been hacked by someone who really didn't want that book eliminated from the running.
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Post by dragontyrant on Jun 26, 2020 12:05:05 GMT
I'm sure that at one point in an earlier poll the number of votes for one of the books decreased, so either it's possible to change your vote or we've been hacked by someone who really didn't want that book eliminated from the running. It's possible to change your vote while the poll is active.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jun 26, 2020 16:42:10 GMT
I'm sure that at one point in an earlier poll the number of votes for one of the books decreased, so either it's possible to change your vote or we've been hacked by someone who really didn't want that book eliminated from the running. That may have been me. I found at one point that I seemed to have selected Temple of Terror for the chop, which would be rather unfair as I don't think I've ever played it, so that box was unticked. (Mostly I haven't been voting on these – except to help ensure Starship Traveller was dispatched into a black hole.)
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Post by philsadler on Jun 26, 2020 18:18:33 GMT
I changed my vote at least once!
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Jun 27, 2020 9:39:40 GMT
I genuinely don't understand the dislike for Star Strider. It's certainly Luke Sharp's best book, and it's an intricately constructed runabout with a solid story and a great chase sequence at the end. I was one of those who voted for SS off the back of a decades-old recollection of it which focussed on that chase through the underground at the end of the book. You've got me feeling a bit guilty now! I'm going to play through it again over the next few days and see it through new eyes, hopefully as a sort of FF meets Bladerunner. Ok Wilf, I played through the book yesterday. It’s been so long that half the book felt brand new to me. On my first playthrough I died at para 305 with a failed LUCK roll. Maybe I'd been an idiot in my choices to get there and I deserved it? Without going into an in-depth review, there’s a lot in there to like. The setting is good - a hostage rescue mission on an Earth in decline, but especially the androids some of which are ‘turned’. I like the puzzles and the sense of urgency imposed by the timer. I like the humour in there too. Artwork was really good and fitting. I struggle with the randomness though, which runs like a seam throughout Luke Sharp’s books. Roll two dice. If they are the same you die. Repeat three times. Roll three dice and add the totals. Now roll a dice and add to your stamina. If that total is lower, you die. I don’t much like the ‘do you go up the left ladder or up the right ladder?’ choices where one leads to unconsciousness and/or death and the other to freedom. I want a bit more information or else the chance to change my mind. Paragraph 180 and the illustration that goes with it. Did I miss a clue or is that just a straight one-in-three chance of success? Fair play though, real life can be like that I suppose. You can go down a wrong alley and get stabbed. Characters not fleshed out, for example Arana the Rogue Tracer. Read para 130. An ally comes and goes in a few sentences. A lot of his books are like that. They fly along at a fair old pace – maybe too fast? Anyway, this is all just my opinion, and know that I still enjoyed it!
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Post by Wilf on Jun 27, 2020 12:25:46 GMT
I want to re-read it now. It's been a little while since I did...
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Post by stevendoig on Jun 27, 2020 14:55:54 GMT
Play it by the rules in that particular book and not what you are used to. - There are no caps to stats.
I canny mind what my luck score was by the end , but it was massive!
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Post by daredevil123 on Jun 27, 2020 15:08:42 GMT
I think it's inevitable that Creature of Havoc will be the winning book from this batch. Anyone disagree?
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,453
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Jun 27, 2020 15:52:38 GMT
I think it's inevitable that Creature of Havoc will be the winning book from this batch. Anyone disagree? Isn't it the top two go through? Creature will probably be one, but not sure what the other will be.
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Post by Wilf on Jun 27, 2020 16:45:26 GMT
I think it's inevitable that Creature of Havoc will be the winning book from this batch. Anyone disagree? Nope!
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Jun 27, 2020 17:00:04 GMT
Looks like Star Strider is going to be dragging CotS down with it into the abyss. Creature of Havoc is fairly certain to go through, and (if two go through) presumably one of the others with no votes so far. I'll make a guess that Beneath Nightmare Castle.
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Post by tyrion on Jun 27, 2020 17:35:13 GMT
Two go through for each group of ten. So probably coh for this group and one other. It's funny that coh is one of the best designed ff books but also (apart from being set in allansia) completely unrepresentative of the series as a whole.
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Post by Wilf on Jun 27, 2020 20:48:41 GMT
Had a runthrough of Star Strider myself this evening. I'd forgotten how many random dice rolls could kill you in this story, though it's nowhere near as severe as, say, Chasms Of Malice. There were a couple of blind chance survival choices, too - I had a one-in-four chance in Paris, and I agree that the mandatory one-in-three at 180 is a bit of a bugger, too. But the London Underground map held true - I found no instant deaths that didn't stray from the map. I managed to get both location codes - one of them twice - and had some thrilling Zip Car chases and Android fights along the way. Even caught a couple of Rogues.
I rate Star Strider as above average for one of the generally below-par sci-fi gamebooks, and I hold Luke Sharp's books to get worse as they go along, so as the first one, this is certainly the best. I love the artwork, too.
Star Strider isn't a classic FF, but it's certainly not a bad one, and it's very underrated.
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Post by a moderator on Jun 27, 2020 22:12:54 GMT
But the London Underground map held true - I found no instant deaths that didn't stray from the map. Section 331 corresponds to the station at map coordinates 826/827:165/166. The map shows exits to the north, east, south and west. The text states that the tunnel south is blocked, but gives options for taking any of the three other exits shown on the map. Section 27 states that the exit east (corresponding IRL to the stretch of the Piccadilly Line connecting Leicester Square and Covent Garden) is an illusion covering a lethal trap.
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Post by The Count on Jun 28, 2020 0:58:52 GMT
But the London Underground map held true - I found no instant deaths that didn't stray from the map. Section 331 corresponds to the station at map coordinates 826/827:165/166. The map shows exits to the north, east, south and west. The text states that the tunnel south is blocked, but gives options for taking any of the three other exits shown on the map. Section 27 states that the exit east (corresponding IRL to the stretch of the Piccadilly Line connecting Leicester Square and Covent Garden) is an illusion covering a lethal trap. Everyone knows you should never get the tube between the two as it's far quicker walking, and both stations should be avoided anyway due to tourists, so it's a clever design feature.
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Post by Wilf on Jun 28, 2020 2:20:25 GMT
Gah! There had to be one!!
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Post by a moderator on Jun 28, 2020 11:14:03 GMT
It's how I failed the book when playing it for the 'books in order' thread at the previous forum, so the details are there in my write-up. It stuck in my memory because it annoyed me for being an authorial cheat. It would have been a great trap if the 'tunnel' hadn't been on the map, allowing attentive players to figure out that something wasn't right. Having the route depicted and then going, "Nah, it's not really there, sucker. Now you're DEAD, ha ha!" is not playing fair.
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