Category: Otaku

Back in June 2008 I promised a blog post containing gamebook reviews and I figured it was about time I delivered. Happily, my ever-increasing collection has swelled a bit recently, so some of these are very new – and unusual – additions!

Blood Sword (1987)

I’ve got the first two books in this four book series that some say are the best gamebooks every written. On top of the superb writing, fantastic art and very complex world is the fact you can play each book using a party of one to four characters (of different classes). Combat is also tactical, involving movement and range. These books were the ultimate evolution of the gamebook before the genre faded away somewhat, and in my opinion very deserving of the high accolades they have earned.

Fabled Lands (1985 & 2010)

An incredibly complex series of books that see you traveling all over a fantasy world. What you do and in what order is entirely up to you, with very little over-arching story guiding events. Think of it as a sort of massively upgraded Scorpion Swamp with a world that spans not one, but six different books. Yes, you can (and will) be referred to an entry in an entirely different book from time to time, which means it’s probably time to move on with the story. I owned – and played through – only the first two books and given the difficulty of finding the others at reasonable prices assumed I would never continue. But the first four (of six) books was reprinted last December and I can now continue my journey. (Note, by the way, that Dave Morris also wrote Blood Sword amongst many other series).

Starlight Adventures (1985)

These came in the post just this week, so I haven’t played them yet. I had to share them though, since I was so surprised they existed. These are two books from a ‘for girls’ series of gamebooks published by Puffin in the mid 80’s to capitalize on the success of the Fighting Fantasy series (and gamebooks in general). They don’t have any real ‘system’ (no combat, inventory, stats or dice rolling) but are much longer than typical choose-your-own adventure books with much more complex (girl-oriented) stories. I can’t wait to read one!

Enemy Of Chaos (2009)

Not a gamebook per se, instead a choose-your-own adventure that is unusual, intelligent, ambitious and even (sometimes) funny. The story is a bit hard to describe: think of a bizarre hyper-fantasy about a normal person (you) jumping between realities (for no apparent purpose) and ending up in many strange situations not dissimilar to what you may expect in a nasty, hopeless (and I mean that literally) melange of Douglas Adams and Monty Python. I can’t say I really recommend this book, but I can say it was an interesting read.

The Regional Accounts Director Of Firetop Mountain (2011)

An extremely funny book, especially if you have a fondness for the Fighting Fantasy series. I found myself laughing out loud many times as the book not only cleverly told a funny, absurd tale of an office temp forced into a fantastic world, but at the way the writers lampoon the styles and trappings of gamebooks in general. Ignore the blurb on the front, this is no choose-your-own-adventure, but a gamebook throughout, with all the conventions such as stats, inventory and combat (not to mention great art!).

But the humour is what makes it killer. To give you an idea of how dry it is, here’s a photo of one entry:

If you think that is funny, then this book is highly recommended 🙂

Destiny Quest (2011)

First of all, this book is massive! A trade paperback, with 782 entries spread across 534 pages, it comes in at over 1.5 inches thick. This is a brand new gamebook (not a reissue), the first in an ambitious new series. I was amazed to see that the basic design of the book was completely original. So much so, in fact, that if I were to compare this to any other game, my first choice would be (believe it or not) World of Warcraft.

After creating your character, you choose quests from a map. Each quest leads to an entry in the main text, which in turn plays out like a conventional gamebook (combat, choices etc). Once you finish the quest you return to the map to pick your next one. Quests are colour-coded by difficulty (using the same colour conventions as WoW) and when you think you are ready you can advance the story by taking on the boss of that map and moving to the next zone (the gamebook contains three maps).

The character is extremely complex, with a class, professions and 11 different armour slots (chest, feet, neck etc.). This is most definitely a gamebook for players accustomed to computer RPGs, and for a first effort I must say I am very, very impressed.

If you are at all interested in gamebooks, then I strongly recommend you check out Destiny Quest. Here’s hoping the series doesn’t end at a single volume.

That’s it for now, but that’s not it for my gamebooks. I have a special set of related – and very different – books that will require their own entry. I’ll try not to wait three years this time 🙂

Yesterday the PSN store came back up after 5+ weeks of being unavailable, and amongst the new offerings on the PS store was a Wizardry: Labyrinth Of Lost Souls ($15), a brand new Wizardry game!

It’s been quite a few years since I have played a new Wizardry game, and even then the one I played wasn’t in English. The last time a new Wizardry game was released in English was way back in 2001, when Wizardry: Tales Of The Forsaken Land was released for PS2 (it was a great game, by the way, and notable for featuring art by the now very famous illustrator Shunya Yamashita). So I’ve been eagerly awaiting this new, download-only version.

So how is it? I played for several hours yesterday, forming a six-person party (2 Fighters, Thief, Bishop, Priest & Mage) and fully mapping the top floors and half of the second floors of the two available dungeons. It’s as grindy and ominous as all previous games in the series (which is a good thing) and is also very low-budget in that it lacks monster animations and a lot of flashy effects. That said, the graphics are probably the best I’ve seen in a Wizardry game and the gameplay is every bit as good (and Wizardry-ish) as I hoped for!

Although the game is translated (unlike the screenshots in this post), the voices are not. Furthermore it lacks even the barest minimum of a manual, so unless you are experienced with the series prepare to be confused a lot, at least initially. This is not a beginner-level Wizardry game by any means!

Overall I’m loving it so far, and can’t wait to delve deeper into the dungeons to see what grim fate befalls my stalwart group of adventurers!

In Japan this game was called Wizardry: Torawareshi Tamashii no Meikyuu and it was also a downloaded game via PSN. However a sequel was released (‘Wizardry Twin Pack‘) on disc, which contained this entire game. I have heard there is some hope this sequel may be released in the US as well, possibly on disc. Let’s hope that happens.

If you’re a bit confused by the lineage of the series (“What are all these Japanese Wizardry games?”), you may be surprised to know the Wizardry series has been a hit in Japan for many, many years. Even during it’s heyday in the west (around the time of Bane Of The Cosmic Forge and Crusaders Of The Dark Savant) the games were being released in Japan and doing well. Even when the Wizardry brand ended in the west (Wizardry 8 was the last – great – game) it continued in Japan, mostly on portables and game consoles.

Incidentally, some of the recent Japanese Wizardry games can be a real beast to acquire, especially for westerners. Not only are they produced in low print runs (mostly because of piracy, sadly), but some of them have also been retailer exclusives (such as a recent DS Wizardry) themselves in short supply.

These days I don’t know exactly how many Wizardry games now exist (hrm, I smell an upcoming blog post), especially beyond Wizardry 8. I do know however that the Japanese ones I have played are all superb, absolutely keeping the tradition of Wizardry alive. Unfortunately it is very rare they get translated for us to enjoy in English, so we must savour the chance when we can.