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Post by tyrion on Aug 3, 2020 12:21:13 GMT
Last group of the original series. I don't understand why wizard didn't republish knights of doom, as they did the other Jon Green ones.
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vagsancho
Knight
Posts: 810
Favourite Gamebook Series: CRYPT OF THE SORCERER
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Post by vagsancho on Aug 3, 2020 12:39:27 GMT
Number 60 is not bloodbones?
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Post by a moderator on Aug 3, 2020 13:00:09 GMT
Eye of the Dragon was published before Bloodbones.
The fact that, had Puffin gone on with the series after Curse, they would most likely have made Bloodbones book 60 is irrelevant: what happened takes precedence over what was at one point planned. Otherwise the 11-20 vote should have included The Lord of Shadow Keep. Yes, it may have been published as part of a completely different range, but an early edition of Serpents indicates that it was scheduled as FF book 13...
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Post by Wilf on Aug 3, 2020 13:11:38 GMT
For the first time, Keith Martin actually delivers the goods and writes some decent FFs.
And he wrote Legend Of Zagor, too.
Legend, Deathmoor, and Eye are the three weakest links here for me, and by a very long way. The others all have much to commend them, especially the Jonathan Green titles... well, unless you actually tried to roll a die whilst playing them!
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vagsancho
Knight
Posts: 810
Favourite Gamebook Series: CRYPT OF THE SORCERER
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Post by vagsancho on Aug 3, 2020 13:16:28 GMT
I would say best books here probably being revenge of the vampire and curse of the mummy.
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Post by The Count on Aug 3, 2020 13:31:23 GMT
Eye of the Dragon is by far the worst of this lot. Of the remaining books which all have many good points, Curse of the Mummy has far too many ridiculous fights, even for a Green title.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,547
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Aug 3, 2020 13:33:43 GMT
From my favourite period in the series to my least favourite. Too many long, overly complex and overly difficult books.
My first votes go to the two ultimate Keith Martin slogathons Night Dragon and Legend of Zagor.
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Post by deadshadowrunner on Aug 3, 2020 13:47:21 GMT
My first votes go to the two ultimate Keith Martin slogathons Night Dragon and Legend of Zagor. That's funny, I find the other two Keith Martin books bigger slogs. Eye of the Dragon and Revenge of the Vampire are my votes here. Revenge because it gave me a literal headache the last time I read it, compared to the figurative one that Island provides.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,547
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Aug 3, 2020 14:10:59 GMT
My first votes go to the two ultimate Keith Martin slogathons Night Dragon and Legend of Zagor. That's funny, I find the other two Keith Martin books bigger slogs. Eye of the Dragon and Revenge of the Vampire are my votes here. Revenge because it gave me a literal headache the last time I read it, compared to the figurative one that Island provides. They're overly long too, but I think they have their good points to balance them out. Island has an interesting mystery to uncover, creepy locations to explore and excellent Russ Nicholson illustrations. Revenge is pretty thrilling in places and does a good job of building Heydrich as a villain - arguably better than in his first appearance where he plays second fiddle to his sister. Legend on the other hand is exploring every nook and cranny of one, not particularly interesting, location. Night Dragon has too many bits that are just plain dull: looking for the Endymion for instance. I do like the dreamtime sequence though. Both are filled with fights with cumbersome extra rules too.
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Post by philsadler on Aug 3, 2020 15:48:41 GMT
Eye of the Dragon has the worst plot ever conceived of by a human being.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,744
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Aug 3, 2020 16:22:25 GMT
Eye of the Dragon is nothing to do with nothing encounters. Deathmoor starts pretty well but then nosedives.
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Post by stevendoig on Aug 3, 2020 17:14:34 GMT
Legend - dull dull dull slog not worth more than one playthrough because you will fall asleep.
Revenge - broken
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Post by vastariner on Aug 3, 2020 17:23:29 GMT
Has to be EotD as a rehashed version of a decade-old adventure. Dull dungeon crawl.
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Post by tyrion on Aug 4, 2020 19:19:09 GMT
I do like Keith Martin's books, even if they do to on for such a long time. I can't believe they are the same number of references as, say, midnight rogue. He does cram in a lot into a reference, e.g. description, fight, stuff you get from winning a fight, options for what to do next. I don't think I've ever sat down and completed one of these later ones in one sitting. Like my avatars in the book, I need a rest after a while!
I can't defend revenge of the vampire though, it is an absolute mess.
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Post by stevendoig on Aug 4, 2020 19:34:25 GMT
This is interesting. Eye of the Dragon is rubbish, but it IS playable, which is more than can be said about a few others on this list!
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Post by nathanh on Aug 4, 2020 20:51:00 GMT
Some quality books here. You've got Island of the Undead which is an excellent adventure that would be top tier if there wasn't that early ghoul gating your progress. Spellbreaker which is so much fun to just dip in and read despite being completely unplayable. Night Dragon is the most epic adventure. Legend of Zagor takes longer to plan your route than most gamebooks take to play---don't expect to finish this in one sitting. Nice just to read at random too. Then you have Eye of the Dragon which is hilarious. I laughed out loud several times just in the intro. The tale of an idiot working for another idiot who happens to be an antique valuations expert.
I picked Curse of the Mummy because it seems a bit generally dull to me both to play and read, and Deathmoor because I remember being bored by this when I was young. I haven't played the rest, unless you count Revenge of the Vampire in French, which you shouldn't because my French isn't up to it.
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vagsancho
Knight
Posts: 810
Favourite Gamebook Series: CRYPT OF THE SORCERER
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Post by vagsancho on Aug 4, 2020 21:05:11 GMT
I picked Curse of the Mummy because it seems a bit generally dull to me both to play and read I understand... and at the same time I do not understand. I see curse of the mummy as an absolutely PERFECT and Flawless book. But then, very strangely, it is not in my top 10.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,547
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Aug 5, 2020 5:41:53 GMT
Uh-oh, looks like Deathmoor is for the chop. Always consider this the most unfairly maligned book of the series - cleverly designed and a lot more fair than Waterfield's other gamebooks. Plus top Russ Nicholson art. Oh well.
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