More to the point which ahouldve been in this is why has the Decayer been reinvented? It's nothing like the description in Out Of The Pit. Also, who the hell would accept a challenge to win 20 Gold Pieces to spend a month on a dangerous island? You earn that just bumming around for a day in most gamebooks. Fighting Fantasy lore has been significantly ignored. But like you say in the summary, it's the best release since Scholastic took over, superior to both Port Of No Proofreading and Gates Of Higson Takingthepiss.
Yes I've heard that the ending is confusing. Bit of a shame. I like they are publishing new books, but wish they could be pushing the form a bit more rather than moving backwards. Ian Livingstone could still produce more good books, but he needs to recapture the fun of Deathtrap and City of Thieves WITHOUT going back to the IPs; he needs a NEW idea to express himself with. And yeah a new Steve jackson book would be awesome!
Thanks for your thorough and honest review! I've recently discovered these wonderful game books but am limited in time, so this review certainly helps inform my buying decision. Will likely opt for Sorcery! as the next adventure, as the most recent FF releases seem a bit weak.
I like your review - I do´t have the book yet, but as I find out there will be a new book by Livingstone, I expect it will be exactly as you tell here. Steve Jackson, please, save us from this average Livingstone´s hell!! :)
Anybody with the original Deathtrap Dungeon book, can you remind me if other, (not Throm) barbarian definitely dies, if we assume YOU of DD winning is the canon and YOU of AoA is other barbarian. I can easily see YOU of AoA escaping if the victory path of DD YOU doesn't explicitly kill off the other Barbarian.
The ending that sets up Deathtrap dungeon doesn't make much sense as Deathtrap dungeon implied you were a volunteer entering Deathtrap Dungeon but this implies you were forced just like the character in Trial of champions
@@BoardGameBollocks he should have done it so it's set after Port of peril and Azzur is punishing your character from that book and forcing him to compete in Deathtrap Dungeon after Deathtrap Dungeon and Trial of champions and not made a reference to Throm so that it could set up another sequel to Deathtrap dungeon
Not so. Reviewer here simply doesn't remember the count. Your character in Assassins enters The Walk 4th, in DeathtrapD you enter 5th. Now.... tell me who was 4th in? Ahhhsoooo! -_- Nod to Malthus D.
Well there was Throm, another barbarian, the Ninja, the knight and the Elf Princess. You could have been the other barbarian? If anyone but the volunteer from the original DD its rather anti climatic as you die anyway. The way this reads you'd have to be other barbarian I guess in AoA.
I agree with the majority of the things you pointed out. The thing with the provisions at the beginning is to make you forage for food. Yes, you do have provisions but who on an uninhabited island doesn't look for food just because they have 10 meals with them? I liked all the assassins but didn't like how you had to encounter each one or lose. there's no logic in that considering you're trying to avoid them not hunt them down. As it is aimed for kids, I don't think they would mind the ending the same way we would. I like the book and find it well written though more gameplay mechanics included would have been welcome. 6.5/10 for me.
The provisions thing makes no sense. The book explicitly punishes you for not finding food but you’re supposed to have it in your possession anyway...🥴
*Spoilers* I agree with this reviewer. The whole adventure on Snake Island was great, but once you leave the island, the adventure falls a part. The whole point of the adventure was to 'avoid' the assassins so you don't get killed, but the book puts you in situations whereby you end up fighting them anyway, and you can't use the 'escape' mechanic; pointless. The ending felt completely rushed and it was not satisfying at all. I got to Paragraph 400 and thought 'Is that it?' I felt let down. I don't get to kill the 'final boss' Lord Azzur, you don't even get the opportunity to fight him as the book instantly kills you even if you try! Maybe there will be a follow up whereby you enter Deathtrap Dungeon, win and then fight Lord Azzur, but I am not fully educated in the lore of Allansia, so I don't know the history of the character. The adventure is not particularly challenging and the writing style is catered for children. Rating: 3/5
I thought it was really cool, the characters and assassins were great and all the cool things that happen throughout the book, also a lot that happens and you hear from others is related to several other books which made it even better, but I agree the ending is very weak and you don't even get to fight the guy that is in the cover!!! C'mon Ian, that was pretty bad we don't ever get to fight the bad guy, but overall it was a great experience like the old books, I really enjoyed it I would give it an 8 out of 10 if you're a fan, if you aren't and don't know the lore from Allansia and the FF books, maybe a 7 out of 10, but it was good and entertaining.
I thought it was really cool, the characters and assassins were great and all the cool things that happen throughout the book, also a lot that happens and you hear from others is related to several other books which made it even better, but I agree the ending is very weak and you don't even get to fight the guy that's in the cover!!! C'mon Ian, that was pretty bad we don't ever get to fight the bad guy, but it's kinda understandable because he's always protected and it's very difficult to get him alone, so you'll probably will have a sequel to get Azzur. But overall it was a great experience like the old books, I really enjoyed it I would give it an 8 out of 10 if you're a fan, if you aren't and don't know the lore from Allansia and the FF books, maybe a 7 out of 10, but it was good and entertaining.
Its a prequel to deathtrap dungeon, but what I want to know is, since I've finished the book as it takes you to the beginning of deatrap dungeon can you take all the stuff that you get in AoA Into DD with you???
@@BoardGameBollocks Thought not had so much amazing with me! Ahh well a girl can try! Well off I go into the Deathtrap then on to the trail of Champs! Ps...totally not reading one right now haha
@@BoardGameBollocks Maybe, just maybe. It is a curious thing, how back in the day FF was acused of incentivizing witchcraft and had a mostly serious tone( concerning the illustrations also) and now it seems more like a product for chieldren. Are they printing new books for a new generation or for the old folks?
Gonçalo Ferreira That’s the endless question, however the old books sold millions and the new one have yet to take off. A major part of that was the amazing art...
@@BoardGameBollocks well,times have changed and we cant really expect a game book to be as sucessfull these days as FF was in the 80´ and 90´. Videogames are a thing and one simply cannot expect kids to flock to FF. Because of that i trully believe the target audience should be old readers, with the publisher focusing on high quality editions one can collect. As for the writting, we need a nice balance between a nuanced narrative to appeal to older gamers and low dificulty in order to captivate kids.
More to the point which ahouldve been in this is why has the Decayer been reinvented? It's nothing like the description in Out Of The Pit. Also, who the hell would accept a challenge to win 20 Gold Pieces to spend a month on a dangerous island? You earn that just bumming around for a day in most gamebooks. Fighting Fantasy lore has been significantly ignored.
But like you say in the summary, it's the best release since Scholastic took over, superior to both Port Of No Proofreading and Gates Of Higson Takingthepiss.
Yes I've heard that the ending is confusing. Bit of a shame.
I like they are publishing new books, but wish they could be pushing the form a bit more rather than moving backwards.
Ian Livingstone could still produce more good books, but he needs to recapture the fun of Deathtrap and City of Thieves WITHOUT going back to the IPs; he needs a NEW idea to express himself with.
And yeah a new Steve jackson book would be awesome!
Thanks for your thorough and honest review! I've recently discovered these wonderful game books but am limited in time, so this review certainly helps inform my buying decision.
Will likely opt for Sorcery! as the next adventure, as the most recent FF releases seem a bit weak.
Check out my FF playlist for another 17 videos. I go through all the Gamebooks and everything else Fighting Fantasy.
👍
I like your review - I do´t have the book yet, but as I find out there will be a new book by Livingstone, I expect it will be exactly as you tell here. Steve Jackson, please, save us from this average Livingstone´s hell!! :)
Hopefully Steve Jackson will release a book for the 40th anniversary
Anybody with the original Deathtrap Dungeon book, can you remind me if other, (not Throm) barbarian definitely dies, if we assume YOU of DD winning is the canon and YOU of AoA is other barbarian. I can easily see YOU of AoA escaping if the victory path of DD YOU doesn't explicitly kill off the other Barbarian.
Love it.Great reviews.
Hello mate, love your Fighting Fantasy videos. Did you ever get to reviewing the latest Secrets of Salamonis by Jackson?
Completely forgot about it. Thanks for reminding me 👍🏻
The ending that sets up Deathtrap dungeon doesn't make much sense as Deathtrap dungeon implied you were a volunteer entering Deathtrap Dungeon but this implies you were forced just like the character in Trial of champions
I don’t think the two characters are the same in which case why wasn’t the killer of zanbar bone present at the start of DD?
@@BoardGameBollocks he should have done it so it's set after Port of peril and Azzur is punishing your character from that book and forcing him to compete in Deathtrap Dungeon after Deathtrap Dungeon and Trial of champions and not made a reference to Throm so that it could set up another sequel to Deathtrap dungeon
Not so. Reviewer here simply doesn't remember the count. Your character in Assassins enters The Walk 4th, in DeathtrapD you enter 5th. Now.... tell me who was 4th in?
Ahhhsoooo! -_- Nod to Malthus D.
Well there was Throm, another barbarian, the Ninja, the knight and the Elf Princess. You could have been the other barbarian? If anyone but the volunteer from the original DD its rather anti climatic as you die anyway. The way this reads you'd have to be other barbarian I guess in AoA.
I agree with the majority of the things you pointed out. The thing with the provisions at the beginning is to make you forage for food. Yes, you do have provisions but who on an uninhabited island doesn't look for food just because they have 10 meals with them? I liked all the assassins but didn't like how you had to encounter each one or lose. there's no logic in that considering you're trying to avoid them not hunt them down. As it is aimed for kids, I don't think they would mind the ending the same way we would. I like the book and find it well written though more gameplay mechanics included would have been welcome.
6.5/10 for me.
The provisions thing makes no sense. The book explicitly punishes you for not finding food but you’re supposed to have it in your possession anyway...🥴
Great vid mate , going to have to buy some ff books again
House of Hell is my favourite one
That is a shame. Thanks for the review.
*Spoilers*
I agree with this reviewer. The whole adventure on Snake Island was great, but once you leave the island, the adventure falls a part. The whole point of the adventure was to 'avoid' the assassins so you don't get killed, but the book puts you in situations whereby you end up fighting them anyway, and you can't use the 'escape' mechanic; pointless.
The ending felt completely rushed and it was not satisfying at all. I got to Paragraph 400 and thought 'Is that it?' I felt let down. I don't get to kill the 'final boss' Lord Azzur, you don't even get the opportunity to fight him as the book instantly kills you even if you try!
Maybe there will be a follow up whereby you enter Deathtrap Dungeon, win and then fight Lord Azzur, but I am not fully educated in the lore of Allansia, so I don't know the history of the character.
The adventure is not particularly challenging and the writing style is catered for children.
Rating: 3/5
I thought it was really cool, the characters and assassins were great and all the cool things that happen throughout the book, also a lot that happens and you hear from others is related to several other books which made it even better, but I agree the ending is very weak and you don't even get to fight the guy that is in the cover!!! C'mon Ian, that was pretty bad we don't ever get to fight the bad guy, but overall it was a great experience like the old books, I really enjoyed it I would give it an 8 out of 10 if you're a fan, if you aren't and don't know the lore from Allansia and the FF books, maybe a 7 out of 10, but it was good and entertaining.
I thought it was really cool, the characters and assassins were great and all the cool things that happen throughout the book, also a lot that happens and you hear from others is related to several other books which made it even better, but I agree the ending is very weak and you don't even get to fight the guy that's in the cover!!! C'mon Ian, that was pretty bad we don't ever get to fight the bad guy, but it's kinda understandable because he's always protected and it's very difficult to get him alone, so you'll probably will have a sequel to get Azzur. But overall it was a great experience like the old books, I really enjoyed it I would give it an 8 out of 10 if you're a fan, if you aren't and don't know the lore from Allansia and the FF books, maybe a 7 out of 10, but it was good and entertaining.
Its a prequel to deathtrap dungeon, but what I want to know is, since I've finished the book as it takes you to the beginning of deatrap dungeon can you take all the stuff that you get in AoA Into DD with you???
Afraid not. You’re stripped of all your possessions before you enter.
Nice try though 👍🏻
@@BoardGameBollocks Thought not had so much amazing with me! Ahh well a girl can try! Well off I go into the Deathtrap then on to the trail of Champs!
Ps...totally not reading one right now haha
Say hi to Throm…👍🏻
hey!maybe there's a ''return to Deathtrap''..book planed .hunnn? I'm just saying !??
It reminds me - what is the last gamebook really written by Steve Jackson? It should be very long time ago...
Creature of Havoc
@@BoardGameBollocks 30 years back? I think there will be nothing new from S. Jackson...
@@jansmucar1325 That was such an amazing book though
the interior art looks awfull. what is your opinion?
I agree...it’s shite but not as bad as Port of Peril.
Maybe we got spoilt by Ian McCaig?
@@BoardGameBollocks Maybe, just maybe. It is a curious thing, how back in the day FF was acused of incentivizing witchcraft and had a mostly serious tone( concerning the illustrations also) and now it seems more like a product for chieldren. Are they printing new books for a new generation or for the old folks?
Gonçalo Ferreira That’s the endless question, however the old books sold millions and the new one have yet to take off. A major part of that was the amazing art...
@@BoardGameBollocks well,times have changed and we cant really expect a game book to be as sucessfull these days as FF was in the 80´ and 90´. Videogames are a thing and one simply cannot expect kids to flock to FF. Because of that i trully believe the target audience should be old readers, with the publisher focusing on high quality editions one can collect. As for the writting, we need a nice balance between a nuanced narrative to appeal to older gamers and low dificulty in order to captivate kids.
Can they PLEASE turn the franchise over to Jonathan Green already? He has far more talent than Livingstone.
I’ve contacted Scholoastic and asked them to give Mr Green a go...not heard anything
Amen brother
Your video was too quiet and even turning the volume way up did not work.
Probably a problem at your end. No issues here mate...
When I compare these Scholastic FF gamebooks to what Dever and his son are (were) doing lately - visually - this is just crap...
The art work isn’t great, is it...
The art work isn’t great, is it...
You talk too fast.
That’s a new one...