Skipping the fondly-remembered Midnight Rogue, as I don't have a copy this time around as yet, tonight I tackled Chasms of Malice - and it was no substitute. Nowhere near.
In fact, CoM is perhaps the most disappointing FF book in the series this far in. It was random, overstuffed with background information that was not worth learning (in hindsight) and stupidly difficult. I mean, your character is a third-assistant rat skinner working in a shite restaurant somewhere, and you're expected to save Khul by defeating a bunch of ancient demon type things and retrieving a magic shield of some description? FFS.
I'm dumped in a cave with barely an explanation what's going on, and the first thing I find is a dead rabbit. Oh great, I've been plucked from obscurity and sent on a quest to save the world, and the first thing the book throws at me is a reminder of the daily grind!
I'm captured by an elf and thrown in some dungeon type thing where I encounter the first of seven 'Khuddum' I have to defeat - with a skill of 10 and stamina of 12! Lucky I'd rolled 11/23/9, so dispatched it without too much trouble, but jeez. Have some thought for the weaker rat-skinners out there, huh? I escape captivity, only to run into another one - this one of similar strength, or even stronger if you're missing your sword. Hmmm. I wolf down the rabbit before battle, win, and head on.
Next up I have to cross a lava stream by jumping on the correct sequence of rocks, a la Indiana Jones. I know the sequence, as some trolls were singing it earlier, follow it... and die!? That was the last straw.
No replay on this one, no way. In addition to what I saw, there are ledge battles where each has a 50% chance of death, and other reviewers have not spoken highly of the book. It's not particularly well-written, and basically just sucks.
I wish I had Midnight Rogue.
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3 comments:
I know the sequence, as some trolls were singing it earlier, follow it... and die!? That was the last straw.
Aren't you approaching the blocks from the other side at that point? And if so, did you bear that in mind and reverse the directions? It may well be a genuine mistake on the author's part (this is by far the worst of his books), but I don't recall having trouble with that bit.
Ridiculously late in the day to join the party, but I remember CoM less than fondly.
Being stubborn, I did restart and restart and restart and even resorted to flow charts and graphs. It made no difference whatever. I still died horribly on a random roll each and every time.
The only way to even remotely 'enjoy' this book is to ignore the pathetic 50/50 ledge fights. If you do not, then the book is utterly ruined.
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