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Post by zut on Feb 4, 2011 10:51:55 GMT
I like all of them - some less, some more. But if I have to choose one - then it's The Jungle of Horrors. Followed closely behind by The Dungeons of Torgar. I like those LW books involving travelling and the journey in TJoH gives me a feeling of freedom and at the same time a feeling of foreboding as Gnaag is mustering his forces for the invasion. Plus Danarg is a nice devil's nest - full of ancient evil, yet independent of the Darklands and its inhabitants are not consciously aimed at killing the last of the Kai. They just kill everything that wanders into the swamp.
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Post by askhati on Feb 4, 2011 13:23:28 GMT
Yeah, we all prefer mindless evil to focused evil... plants.
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Post by egleris on Feb 5, 2011 2:25:05 GMT
My own favorite is LW 12. Despite its many fallings, I think it has a much more deep and, moreover, original atmosphere to it than any of the others; while there's lot of cool settings in the Magnakai series, the difference of situation you run into in book 12 - naval combat, infiltration, mountains, snow - is far wider than any of the others. Also, it has the same epicness of book 2, wich was among the few where I really felt the fate of the world to be completely in Lone Wolf hands, but it is less linear and a lot more fair. Beside, I felt that all the others disconnected quests Lone Wolf had been doing the whole series where finally coming to a worthy conclusion; the fact alone that you get to destoy the Darklords once and for all, beside giving meaning to every book that came before, also was the perfect closure for the series. I think the real strenght of this book is that it has a bit of everything the other had - there's exploring, there's fighting, there's sneaking around - and it managed to give it a very good balance. I honestly think this make it the best one of the series, because it come to a closure and do so by giving you a sample of everything and giving meaning to all that's happened up to that point.
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Post by Zipp on Feb 5, 2011 4:50:37 GMT
I wouldn't regret book 6: it deserves its votes. Great book and probably my favorite of the LW MSN series thus far.
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Post by Ofecks on Feb 5, 2011 21:00:02 GMT
TKoT for me. I love cross-country adventures, acquiring/spending gold, and I love/hate the Stornlands, so yah. Plus it's chock-full of epic, memorable instadeaths. Yawshaths, Amory, Tekaro Gate, sewers... Plus plus The Silver OPLOL Bow of Duadon. It just seems like a very well-crafted adventure with lots to see and do. My only gripe is being forced down the river. Would be nice if Mongoose expanded that one and added overland paths to Eula.
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koreth
Kai Lord
The Cener Druids rule all. Accept it.
Posts: 110
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Post by koreth on Feb 5, 2011 22:12:35 GMT
I voted for The Cauldron of Fear, with the Kingdoms of Terror a very close 2nd.
I liked the political intrigue and the sudden reappearance of Kimiah, despite the extreme difficulty of the fight. It was a kind of a "he can't be here, I was done with him in Book 5 " moment. I thought it made a very good connection as the Orb of Death was mentioned in book 5 and I was "what's that?"
I liked the everything new feel to book 6 with Magnakai disciplies to learn and the stornlands being an interesting place. The lorestone hunt did start to get stale, however.
Book 12 had a little too quick of an ending for me.
Didn't care much for book 11. Anytime you're in a different dimension, I think it is hard to relate. I had the same problem with Grey Star going there too, couldn't relate to the environment. And I don't know how it "should" be. It is supposed to be weird, but if it gets too weird, then it is just a pointless random encounter.
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Post by Zipp on Feb 5, 2011 23:38:53 GMT
Yeah, we all prefer mindless evil to focused evil... plants. Cheers.
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Post by johntfs on Feb 6, 2011 2:11:37 GMT
It was a very close match in my mind between two books that were essentially polar opposites, The Kingdoms of Terror and The Masters of Darkness. TKoT is a very low-key book and the first time Lone Wolf feels like he's a "big fish in a small pond." He runs into people who really don't know or care who he is. In the Kai series, LW tended to inspire either awe or hatred, depending on which side those in question were. In TKoT LW is on a more personal quest and encounters a wider circle of people dealing with their own situations and I like that. I like the sense of Magnamund become more than simply a glorified gameboard and more of a real, functioning society.
TMoD is totally different. Everything from the get go is totally focused on LW and his quest to save his world by destroying the Darklords. Everything seems to get turned up to 11. The stakes, the landscape, the beings. Really, everything except for the combats, which are generally tense but manageable even without the Sommerswerd. And the final moment with LW killing Gnaag and Zlanbeasting it out of Helgedad before it blows like the Death Star is just a truly cool moment and an extremely satisfying end to the book and series.
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Post by kolinovic on Feb 12, 2011 11:21:14 GMT
Have to say, I'm a little bit surprised by the lack of love for The Jungle of Horrors! I wonder if it's because of the high standard of books it's up against?
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Post by Sphigx on Feb 12, 2011 13:14:52 GMT
My favourite book of this series is The Kingdoms of Terror. The book is not particularly difficult, but I like the descriptions, which remind me of 16th-17th century Germany and the Thirty Years' War.
The book looks like a Lonely Planet Guide of the Stornlands, with historical accounts: why the lorestone of Varetta ended up in Tekaro, Vynar Jupe's feats, etc..
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Post by Zipp on Feb 14, 2011 7:58:22 GMT
There's a discussion about disliking (and liking) Jungle of Horrors on the MSN female lone wolf thread.
My own reasons for not liking Jungle of Horror have mainly to do with the Jungles themselves. I think they don't live up to their name. You fight one Agarashi and potentially a few other things, but they're all stuff we've seen before (aside from the Xlorgs and goblins). Spiders, Snakes, Ghagrim, and Vordaks. I really wanted the jungles to freak me out with diseases, bizarre creatures, and days of wandering lost. Instead you enter, use Paido's magic-thingy to find the temple, and make a bee line for it. Weak sauce.
Best part of the Jungles is that pool-that's-actually-a-monster and the fruit-spiders. That was the kind of creepiness I expected all the way out, not to mention much more wandering potential and much less linearity. The jungles was the kind of place I feel a Fighting Fantasy would've done better justice to.
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Post by bittermind on Feb 14, 2011 10:25:05 GMT
I vote 'The Jungle of Horrors'.
Partly, for sheer nostalgia value: one Christmas, many years ago, my mum gave me 'Flight From the Dark' and 'The Jungle of Horrors'. FftD was enjoyable enough. TJoH was tricky - quite a pain, getting past that Helghast with just 3 Magnakai Disciplines and no Sommerswerd.
So, in part because it was the second LW book I ever read - and the first of the Magnakai series - it gets my vote.
Secondly, it has a little of everything in it. It has city settings and gloomy wilderness settings. You've got memorable NPCs (sorry, supporting characters) - Kezoor, Trost, Dwarven barman, Tadia the Prophetess, and crying mapmaker woman. And you get to spend the whole book with Paido, who ranks up there with Banedon for sheer NPC awesomeness.
(You can even be pretty nasty in this book if the mood takes you - have you ever eaten your own food in the inn, and then picked a fight and massacred everybody in there? You get to throw Fireseeds like hand grenades, and everything!)
Yeah, Book 8 definitely gets my vote. Even though I did feel a bit cheated by Paido's unavoidable, PC-proof abduction.
Bit of an unfair comment above about Book 12 not giving enough attention to Helgedad - you spend the whole story inside one Darklands stronghold in both Book 14 and Book 25, and I'd say they're still some of the more yawnsome moments of the series. Probably better that Book 12 steered clear of that.
On the other hand, I got my copy of Book 12 from a second-hand shop; the pages were water-damaged and a bit yellow. For me - and my residual memories of the first time I played it - that loses points for it.
It was cheap, though.
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Post by manslayer on Feb 19, 2011 17:03:36 GMT
This one was hard to vote; I chose Dungeons of Torgar I like Tagazin (as a villain, I mean I think there's a good mix of stealth/battle Castle death I didn't like much; it just felt like I didn't have much purpose...
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Post by Sphigx on Feb 20, 2011 0:25:09 GMT
My own reasons for not liking Jungle of Horror have mainly to do with the Jungles themselves. I think they don't live up to their name. You fight one Agarashi and potentially a few other things, but they're all stuff we've seen before (aside from the Xlorgs and goblins). Spiders, Snakes, Ghagrim, and Vordaks. I really wanted the jungles to freak me out with diseases, bizarre creatures, and days of wandering lost. Instead you enter, use Paido's magic-thingy to find the temple, and make a bee line for it. Weak sauce. Best part of the Jungles is that pool-that's-actually-a-monster and the fruit-spiders. That was the kind of creepiness I expected all the way out, not to mention much more wandering potential and much less linearity. The jungles was the kind of place I feel a Fighting Fantasy would've done better justice to. The 'Jungle' is actually a swamp.
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Post by Zipp on Feb 22, 2011 22:47:40 GMT
Terminology aside, the point remains exactly the same. More so, in fact.
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