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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:26:31 GMT
From TUFFF... Ah, this book holds special memories for me... I know there are a million bugs in it, most of them relatively harmless, but it's one of the books I remember buying the moment it was released and there was something about the atmosphere of the book that always just gripped me from the start. Hearing mixed reviews over the years from various people, (something that Keith Martin always seems to get) I wondered what YOUR take was on it? I mean, yes it is special to me because it reminds me of being a kid, winter afternoons inside at school reading because it was too cold / dark to go out at 'last break', but I also enjoy the story and the setting too. What does everyone else think? ~ Vae Victis! ~
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:27:14 GMT
From TUFFF... It's one that I never really got into. Which is a little odd, given that it was part of the batch that got me back into gamebook collecting. Then again, that lot did include four titles I'd never previously owned (the others being Shadow Warriors, Crimson Tide and Curse of the Mummy), so the 'new book' factor got diluted. I'll give it another go some time soon, maybe even try a proper blitz on it.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:27:40 GMT
From TUFFF... Enjoyed it, possibly because of my interest in arctic exploration, the frozen north always gets a thumbs up from me. There was also an ineffable atmosphere around the ice cathedral. Boffo, a good one.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:28:21 GMT
From TUFFF... I found this book extremely tedious. Keith Martin's prose style and gamebook construction rarely works for me, and this (alongside Vault Of The Vampire) is one of my least favourite KM books.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:29:16 GMT
From TUFFF... I quite like this book. True, it's challenging and has difficult fights but I like that sort of thing as long as the fights are not too unfair. The only thing I really didn't about the book was the small print which I'm guessing was the result of money saving for a few less printed pages. Two Words
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:29:53 GMT
From TUFFF... This ain't one of my favourites but it has its moments. I like the start with finding the sphere, then the trek to the ice palace is a tad dull. The ice palace itself is quite atmospheric but it's annoying that you have to visit the locations in the right order. Also the puzzles there would give Einstein a headache. Like most Keith Martin books it outstays its welcome. I do like Pete Knifton's artwork though - very cold and grim.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:30:24 GMT
From TUFFF... Did any of you solve the ice music puzzle? I got the clocks fairly easily but I can't seem to figure out this one...
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:32:04 GMT
From TUFFF... Did any of you solve the ice music puzzle? I got the clocks fairly easily but I can't seem to figure out this one... I struggled long and hard with the clocks, and eventually had to be told the answer (a unique occurrence in FF). The music one was a lot easier, IMO - I worked that one out soon enough. It's a bit much when a puzzle in a kids' book is hard enough to defeat an intelligent (well, -ish) thirty-something like myself...
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:32:34 GMT
From TUFFF... Right, I might revisit that then. I solved the clocks in seconds, but I've been struggling with the notes for hours. Care to give me a clue?
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:33:19 GMT
From TUFFF (two weeks later)... Come on Wilf! Are you going to put me out of my misery?
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:34:40 GMT
From TUFFF... Come on Wilf! Are you going to put me out of my misery? Sorry - didn't see your first reply! Will get back to you later tonight (when I have the book in front of me).
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:35:45 GMT
From TUFFF... Think of how notes are applied to lines and gaps in musical scores...
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:36:18 GMT
From TUFFF... Still don't get it.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:38:41 GMT
From TUFFF... Bottom line is the note A, or something. Then the next gap is B, next line is C and so on. To get letters above G, you need to make a distinguishing mark on the musical note.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:39:04 GMT
From TUFFF... Sorry, I forgot to reply to this again, didn't I?
I'm so rubbish at remembering things.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:39:35 GMT
From TUFFF... That was the direction I was heading in, but it didn't seem to make sense... I'll try again
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:40:13 GMT
From TUFFF... The number of ticks on the notes tells you which part of the alphabet the letter is from. Two ticks is A-H; one is I-P; none is Q-X.
The height of the note will tell you which of those eight letters the note corresponds to - the lower down it is, the nearer the beginning of the alphabet.
(There are no Ys or Zs in the message.) Hope this helps.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:42:14 GMT
From TUFFF... That's infuriating. I guessed something along similar lines, but tried no ticks for A-H first. Time to try again. Thanks! I wonder if there's call for a dedicated FF puzzles thread?
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:42:38 GMT
From TUFFF... There is a thread, but to find it you must solve a series of clues, each more fiendish than the last.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:44:00 GMT
From TUFFF... I wonder if there's call for a dedicated FF puzzles thread? I think to keep things simple not having a thread is fine. If we have a puzzles thread then people will have to scroll through to find the answer to the puzzle they want, or we will have to have a separate section for each book, and we already have two - one for the books themselves, and one for solutions. If you have the solution to a puzzle and wish to share it, maybe the solutions place would be a good spot for it, but to be honest I think it's fine discussing it where we already are ~ Vae Victis! ~
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 1:53:27 GMT
From TUFFF... Could someone please tell me what the organ puzzle actually says before I throw this sh***y *** book into the wall? I have taken it upon myself to finish all FF books, I am however not expecting to like them all. I hate this one. The puzzles are ridiculous for one... I mean did it really seem that obvious to you Keith Martin? Did it really? Did you actually ask people to solve them within an hour? The clock one seemed to make some sense.... until the 24 hour clock bs... (wow, that made a lot of sense, that's immediatly what jumped into my mind! Some of these clocks must be 24 hours! because we see these around a lot!..) I dont even want to know what the number sequence thing is, I just went through all the paragraphs to see what the answer was which was pretty much the exact opposite of fun. . I read the hint of the organ one and seriously that seemed obvious to some of you? OF COURSE, it's related to blocks of letters form the alphabet! How could I have been so blind and stupid?..........Then there's the ridiculously high amount of fighting. I know it's called FIGHTING fantasy but come on, I'm at 18 fights and I'm not even done with the book. Anything north of 15 is a bit retarded. It's not like FF has thrilling fighting mechanic... How about making the fights matter instead of just having tons of throwaway fights? The only good point about this book is that it doesn't have sudden deaths paragraphs... at least I haven't come upon one so far. I guess it must have some but they are apparently very few. Though I'd take that over sh**ty puzzles. At least with sudden death I can just start over and avoid it, problem solved. I GUESS the story and atmosphere COULD be enjoyable if they weren't abslutely spoiled by everything else. Oh yeah and too many objects. Not only too many, but a lot of them apparently useless. I haven't used a quarter of what I've found so far. Unless that is I all get to use them in the last ten paragraphs of the books. Anyway, please someone end my misery and tell me the organ thing (I know it's apparently optional but apparently really hard if you don't figure it out) so that I can finish it and never touch it ever again. I mean obviously it doesn't lead to paragraph cause I've already tried this. Twice. I tried the hints and still couldn't make out an intelligible sentence from that.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 2:11:59 GMT
From TUFFF... It's something like "summon thingy one hundred times", if you imagine the staves as an alphabet, A at the bottom, work out how to get hundred and the rest will follow. .
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 2:13:02 GMT
From TUFFF... The poster above Vastariner would do well to read my post on the previous page of this very thread.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 28, 2013 2:13:59 GMT
From TUFFF... Ok so I had read your thing and I must have been too angry and tired cause I wrote down the thing wrong. I had times and somehing that looked like a hundred but the rest was not very intelligible. Also I didnt get that the 3rd and 4th notes were counted as having one tick thing. Anyway, slightly less p*ssed off now. But still dislike this book all the same.
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Post by hynreck on Dec 13, 2013 16:53:32 GMT
This is my review salvaged by Mudworm from somewhere on the next pages of the old TUFFF. Looks right at first glance, but I'll have a deeper look all the same. Maybe some stuff could use the proverbial edit button.
Another new book! This one I remember well from my youth, what with such a striking cover, especially because I thought I'd never pick it up. Such a silly illustration - what, a flying tower?? It's not that it's particularly ugly, but it is peculiar (well, the tower is a bit ugly, but the drawing is still well done, I just don't agree with the artistic view). It's not just the subject matter, either, but the drawing itself. If the book wasn't titled so, I would have thought that it looked more like some giant cement magic wand, somehow spewing fire from one of it's decorative gargoyle. As opposed to when the tower is finally revealed and described in all it's glory, as something gigantic and black... I imagined something nearly metallic, like a medieval starship, with a large round opening at the bottow from which an immense column of fire pours down, showering all under in liquid flames.
So, a silly premise and cover, but a not so silly adventure, and certainly an author determined at not looking silly, and by that, I mean he meant business by delivering some maddeningly hard gameplay and bang-your-head-against-the-wall puzzles, ensuring no-one would ever get through ToD alive, at least on a first try. If you did, congrats and go buy yourself a lottery ticket. Now.
Seriously, fights are numerous and hard in this book. Most have special rules thrown into them that can put you at a serious disadvantage (a trademark of the author, Keith Patio. Er, I mean Martin, or course). Some of the easiest enemies, Ice Ghosts with a Skill of 7, are made hard if you are not equipped with a mace. Others are willing to hurt you freebie style right before or after the battle.
Nothing comes easy in this book. Certainly not the puzzles. Reading from this thread only (the old TUFFF thread is what I mean here, though you can still sample it in this one) makes it obvious that many a fellow FF adventurer spirit's been crushed mercilessly by the obscure and quite insane puzzlers found in the pages of this book. I mean, everybody loves a challenge now and then, it's good for the wits, but puzzles of this caliber are just no fun. And no fun is opposite of what such a book is supposed to make you feel, so no more, okay? Let it be a warning, and a benchmark from now on, on which I will judge every puzzle that as yet to come in the books following (having now read all FF had to offer in the main serie, I can now confirm that Tower of Destruction owns some of the hardest puzzles out there, if not the hardest). I mean, come on. The author even goes so far as to insult the player through the mouth of the elf serving up the clock puzzle, by telling you that he won't reward people with no skills or wits. Oh thanks a lot mister, maybe I'll return the favour by writing a scathing review. But I'll try to stand above this, to be virtuous.
Otherwise, and lucky for Mr. Martin, I suppose, I found the story sufficiently good to keep me interested for the time it took me to finish it.
This paragraph seems a bit disconnected from the main review, sorry about that. Something got lost in translation I suppose. But here is how it goes: Lots of weird things going on in this book, weird imagery, plenty of action, twists and turns. It's hard to say if Keith Martin was inspired at times or just feeling really bored, throwing shit at us just for the sake of it. In any case, it was entertaining enough to keep me going. Oh and full of Golems. Don't remember seeing that much golems before, even in Masks of Mayhem where they were seriously lacking. Gotta love a Golem on rolling skates… Pete Knifton's illos were mostly nice, but I kept feeling that guy should have illustrated sci-fi FF... if sci-fi FF would have survived the crippling Sky Lord blow. His drawing lines are very... spaceships and superheroes. Maybe, again, it's that Iron Man Golem on roller skates that make me say this (damn, doesn't that sound fantastic? I hope they give Iron Man roller skates in Iron Man 4).
An interesting book, but highly frustrating. Can't wait to die next time I play it fair!!
And that's what we got here. Not so bad, feels almost right! Cheers.
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Post by a moderator on Feb 3, 2014 15:28:03 GMT
I'm currently ploughing through this book for my blog, and I may have discovered an error that's not mentioned in the wiki.
The Tower of Rainbow Ice contains the book with the Ice Bird, as well as an out-of-reach Incense Burner that you have the option of casting a Linkcut spell to get. But you learn the Linkcut spell in the Great Tower after giving Lefarel's spirit that book. And you're not allowed to revisit locations in the Palace. So unless it's possible to learn Linkcut somewhere else, you can't use it to get the Burner because you won't learn the spell until after your one permitted trip to the tower with the Burner in.
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Post by hynreck on Feb 3, 2014 16:38:08 GMT
This wouldn't surprise me a bit, you know.
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Post by champskees on Feb 4, 2014 5:45:42 GMT
I'm currently ploughing through this book for my blog, and I may have discovered an error that's not mentioned in the wiki. The Tower of Rainbow Ice contains the book with the Ice Bird, as well as an out-of-reach Incense Burner that you have the option of casting a Linkcut spell to get. But you learn the Linkcut spell in the Great Tower after giving Lefarel's spirit that book. And you're not allowed to revisit locations in the Palace. So unless it's possible to learn Linkcut somewhere else, you can't use it to get the Burner because you won't learn the spell until after your one permitted trip to the tower with the Burner in. I believe I came to the same conclusion. Maybe I am overstepping here, but I also couldn't find anything on the wiki about the Ice Bird/Book issue. I remember the book specificly stating that the bird and the book cannot be separated. So if you give the ghost the book, you would lose the entire piece.
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Post by a moderator on Feb 4, 2014 13:14:15 GMT
The (still unfinished at this point in time) blog post contains musings on the separability or otherwise of Bird and book.
In my current attempt at Tower I retain the book, but Tower featured in the December monthly challenge, and I gave the book away on that occasion, as I'd already visited places in the wrong order and messed things up, so the consequences are still reasonably fresh in my memory. Part of the reason I posted here about the perceived bug was because I'd have to go off on that bit too tangled a tangent to bring it up in the blog.
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Post by a moderator on May 24, 2014 12:26:24 GMT
My TUFFF playthrough:
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