Fighting Fantasy: Island of the Lizard King #5 FINALE
GOLD ERGO SUM found rotten pineapples in a barrel in CHOICE #134 in Section 134, but also a bottle filled with a liquid with a "musty smell". He wasn't going to fall for any tricks at the last moment by drinking it in CHOICE #135's Section 6, but instead advanced to the next room in Section 353.
This was the LIZARD KING's magical laboratory. GOLD ERGO SUM heard footsteps, and drew his Fire Sword to face his next opponent in CHOICE #136's Section 360 rather than hide under a bench in Section 77. This was the TWO-HEADED LIZARD MAN. Gaining an extra head was no more powerful than being a generic mutant.
TWO-HEADED LIZARD MAN
SKILL 9
STAMINA 9
Turned out both heads spent the entire fight bickering with each other about who was allowed to control the sword arm. Even dual sixes on Round 1 from GOLD ERGO SUM couldn't convince them to put aside their differences, and they were silenced in Round 5. GOLD ERGO SUM rescued a Dwarf, but didn't have the Picklock's Wire needed to take the Section 393 option in CHOICE #138. He had gone Southwest to the HEADHUNTER village instead of Northwest to meet the old thief. GOLD ERGO SUM had to settle for Section 216, then 180.
Chances are that the Dwarf was supposed to help against the BLACK LION, the penultimate boss.
BLACK LION
SKILL 11
STAMINA 11
The LIZARD KING watched the fight with mild amusement as his pet dueled with GOLD ERGO SUM. The BLACK LION's jaws sank into the adventurer's torso in Round 2, only for our hero to redouble his effort and win all but one Round afterwards. The BLACK LION dodged GOLD ERGO SUM's sword in Round 7 when both sides rolled 19, but GOLD ERGO SUM would be wearing its pelt if he survived.
With both the Monkey and the Fire Sword, the LIZARD KING's SKILL was reduced to a paltry 6, no better than a HOBGOBLIN. He still had STAMINA 15, so the fight would take a while. The LIZARD KING was practically catatonic in combat due to its phobia of the Monkey, and the only time GOLD ERGO SUM was in danger was during Round 5 when he became overconfident and rolled a 17.
CHOICE #140 was a final trap in Section 153, if a simple one to avoid. GOLD ERGO SUM's options were to salute the surviving troops in Section 188, loot the LIZARD KING's clothes in Section 54, or cut the Gonchong proboscis in Section 384 and follow the Shaman's advice.
Before the Gonchong can withdraw its proboscis from the Lizard King, you slice through it with your sword. Both the Lizard King and the Gonchong are now slain (turn to 400).
The true ending of Island of the Lizard King:
You throw the vile Gonchong over the wall and stand on the battlements in full view of your men. A cheer rises from below and you watch with satisfaction as they easily defeat the Lizard King's demoralized troops. The battle is over and victory is yours. The Elves, Dwarfs and men can now return to their homes on the mainland and the slave mines of Fire Island will close for ever. Mungo would have been proud of you.
That's it? We don't get to plunder the LIZARD KING's gold stash? Oh well, GOLD ERGO SUM is the first adventurer to win a Fighting Fantasy, and with legitimate stats too! Congratulations, Realms Beyond member who is the namesake for this character but has nothing to do with this thread!
"I wonder what that even looks like, a robot body with six or seven CatClaw daggers sticking out of it and nothing else, and zooming around at crazy agility speed."
Fighting Fantasy: Island of the Lizard King CHOICE Map
If you want to make sense of all the CHOICE #s in this Let's Play, or try out the book for yourself, consult the attached Word Document.
Island of the Lizard King is more merciful than Warlock of Firetop Mountain in the sense that you won't complete the game, only to fail because you didn't find some arbitrary item. The setting is much more linear, with nothing on the scale of the Maze of Zagor to map out. However, combat is generally much more difficult than in Warlock of Firetop Mountain. The only enemies that have 10-11 SKILL that I've encountered in Warlock of Firetop Mountain came at the end and had spells and items to either skip them (Dragonfire) or make them easier (Potion of Invisibility).
But in Island of the Lizard King, even mandatory beginner foes have 10 SKILL, whether it's the GIANT CRAB or the PIRATE CAPTAIN. There's no trick for the STYRACOSAURUS with 11 SKILL if you went to see the Shaman, and that's immediately followed with a MUTANT LIZARD MAN with 9 SKILL. Maybe Ian Livingstone assumed the players would always make characters with maxed stats, even if you're "supposed" to roll dice? A weak character might win Warlock of Firetop Mountain with planning, but anyone with 8 SKILL in Island of the Lizard King is doomed from the start.
"I wonder what that even looks like, a robot body with six or seven CatClaw daggers sticking out of it and nothing else, and zooming around at crazy agility speed."
(June 12th, 2022, 09:10)Gustaran Wrote: I think I had suggested it around 2019. I hereby declare you the George R.R. Martin of gamebook reports.
And of course you should consider the "Sorcery!" Tetralogy.
George R.R. Martin. . .Hey! I at least finish some of my Let's Play series! And it's only been 3 years, not anticipated since the 1990s!
As for Sorcery, isn't that the series where the spells are based on the reader's memory? Wonder how that would work for a comprehensive playthrough.
Don't know what Fighting Fantasy I'll write about next, but that'll come with some future Thriftbooks order that hasn't happened yet. My next report will be about a video game with mechanics that will be familiar to Realms Beyonders. . .
How did you enjoy being thrown off the battlements by the LIZARD KING?
"I wonder what that even looks like, a robot body with six or seven CatClaw daggers sticking out of it and nothing else, and zooming around at crazy agility speed."
(June 12th, 2022, 10:55)Herman Gigglethorpe Wrote: As for Sorcery, isn't that the series where the spells are based on the reader's memory? Wonder how that would work for a comprehensive playthrough.
Yes, if you only buy the gamebooks. However, they published and sold an additional spell book for the Sorcery! series as well, so I would think you could start a playthrough and use said book.
If you are willing to resort to PDF, scans are widely available. Just google "sorcery spell book pdf".
Quote:How did you enjoy being thrown off the battlements by the LIZARD KING?
As in any George R.R. Martin book, the best characters die early.
But truth be told, I realized nostalgia clouded my view. The Fighting Fantasy series is not really well done. Especially the monster stats are absurdly high in some books.
(June 13th, 2022, 13:35)Gustaran Wrote: As in any George R.R. Martin book, the best characters die early.
But truth be told, I realized nostalgia clouded my view. The Fighting Fantasy series is not really well done. Especially the monster stats are absurdly high in some books.
That could explain why the later Song of Ice and Fire novels are less popular.
George RR Martin is the indirect source of one of the funniest Mary Worth storylines. Dawn is depressed after what must have been her 10,000th breakup, and starts watching Game of Thrones over and over. She lies back on the couch and says "Life is brutal". Her dad Wilbur takes her on a cruise ship to cheer her up, except it's essentially the Costa Concordia. As everyone tries to get off the boat, he says something like "Life really is brutal!"
Fighting Fantasy's combat system is purely luck-based and the monster stats don't fit with the "even a weak character can win" official premise. Dave Morris handles RPG gamebooks better, since those are deterministic ability, item, and codeword checks. Heart of Ice is still challenging even if you're experienced with gamebooks, so it's not like randomness is necessary to make them hard.
Supposedly Steve Jackson wrote some of the more innovative Fighting Fantasies when he worked solo. House of Hell is one of the more well-regarded installments, and that has unusual mechanics. I may play that one sometime. Which Fighting Fantasy books do you remember from nostalgia, Gustaran?
"I wonder what that even looks like, a robot body with six or seven CatClaw daggers sticking out of it and nothing else, and zooming around at crazy agility speed."
(June 13th, 2022, 17:33)Herman Gigglethorpe Wrote: Which Fighting Fantasy books do you remember from nostalgia, Gustaran?
Keep in mind that not all Fighting Fantasy books were available in German.
One of my favourites was "Deathtrap Dungeon", because of the straightforward setting which I found quite fitting for a gamebook. I also remember that "Sword of the Samurai" had a pretty cool setting and "City of Thieves" was another favourite as well. "Forest of Doom" was the easiest, unless I am misremembering.
But what impressed me most was "Sorcery!" because you could take your items with you from one book to the next, at that time this blew my mind . Funnily, the library in my town only had the first book out of the four available, and I think I somehow got my hands on number 2 years later. Because they were out of print, I only managed to buy all 4 books for nostalgic reasons when eBay became a thing.
(June 14th, 2022, 09:51)Gustaran Wrote: Keep in mind that not all Fighting Fantasy books were available in German.
One of my favourites was "Deathtrap Dungeon", because of the straightforward setting which I found quite fitting for a gamebook. I also remember that "Sword of the Samurai" had a pretty cool setting and "City of Thieves" was another favourite as well. "Forest of Doom" was the easiest, unless I am misremembering.
But what impressed me most was "Sorcery!" because you could take your items with you from one book to the next, at that time this blew my mind . Funnily, the library in my town only had the first book out of the four available, and I think I somehow got my hands on number 2 years later. Because they were out of print, I only managed to buy all 4 books for nostalgic reasons when eBay became a thing.
Deathtrap Dungeon and City of Thieves seem to be popular in general. Forest of Doom is also considered one of the easiest by other readers. So your opinions align with the Fighting Fantasy websites that I've seen. Island of the Lizard King is part of the same series as City of Thieves + Deathtrap Dungeon, but is considered the weakest installment. I picked that one because it was easily available for a reasonable price on Thriftbooks at the time.
Is it possible to complete each Sorcery! as a standalone, or do they expect you to drag some seemingly useless item from the first book to win the last? (If Sierra the adventure game developer published gamebooks, they would be that cruel!) Sorcery! continues the venerable tradition of adding an exclamation mark to the title, as seen in Hijacked! in the other thread.
Were the Fighting Fantasy books translated well into German? Or were they more like 1980s Japanese video games released in English?
"I wonder what that even looks like, a robot body with six or seven CatClaw daggers sticking out of it and nothing else, and zooming around at crazy agility speed."
Quote:Is it possible to complete each Sorcery! as a standalone, or do they expect you to drag some seemingly useless item from the first book to win the last?
Every book can be completed on it's own. But playing all of them in a row gives certain advantages: Often it's something minor (like skipping a fight with a patrol because you heard about secret entrance in a previous book), but sometimes you can instakill a miniboss with a certain item or avoid a bad trap. In the app version on iOS, you can basically reach optimal playthroughs with more gold, better items, higher stats, etc...
Quote: Were the Fighting Fantasy books translated well into German? Or were they more like 1980s Japanese video games released in English?
Oh the translation itself was great, really well done by a professional translator who obviously understood the fantasy theme of the books.
However, there is one irritating habit that sometimes occurs in German translations: The translators (or maybe the publishers) tend to alter the book title. I have no idea why.
- Let's say a book is called "Starship Traveller": Too boring, now it's "The Universe of Infinity".
- "Deathtrap Dungeon"? No way, let's call it "The Labyrinth of Death".
- "Sorcery!"? In Germany it's the "Analand-Saga" (well, admittedly the last one sounds cooler in German ).
This is rather irritating when you are looking for a walkthrough and only realize half-way through the English text which book is actually being talked about.
(June 14th, 2022, 14:35)Gustaran Wrote: Oh the translation itself was great, really well done by a professional translator who obviously understood the fantasy theme of the books.
However, there is one irritating habit that sometimes occurs in German translations: The translators (or maybe the publishers) tend to alter the book title. I have no idea why.
- Let's say a book is called "Starship Traveller": Too boring, now it's "The Universe of Infinity".
- "Deathtrap Dungeon"? No way, let's call it "The Labyrinth of Death".
- "Sorcery!"? In Germany it's the "Analand-Saga" (well, admittedly the last one sounds cooler in German ).
This is rather irritating when you are looking for a walkthrough and only realize half-way through the English text which book is actually being talked about.
The translation problem reminds me of my time playing Trials of Mana solo challenges in Collection of Mana. Most of the guides in English for game mechanics were old enough that they used Seiken Densetsu 3 fan translation names instead of the new official translation.
Spanish versions of the Choose Your Own Adventure series have different titles too. For example, Survival at Sea is called "¡Naufragio!" (Shipwrecked). Comet Crash is more melodramatic: "¡Peligro! Nos ataca un cometa" (Danger! A Comet Attacks Us!). Search the Amazon! is different too: "La desaparición de los delfines" (The Disappearance of the Dolphins). The Antimatter Universe becomes "A través de la puerta electrónica" (Through the Electronic Portal).
"I wonder what that even looks like, a robot body with six or seven CatClaw daggers sticking out of it and nothing else, and zooming around at crazy agility speed."
I hereby declare you the George R.R. Martin of gamebook reports. 
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