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Post by dreadmack on Jul 14, 2006 17:45:10 GMT
Caverns of Kalte was a tad boring.... Who wants to freeze their balls off on a freakin' no-man's land like Kalte? Ok, sure, Vonotar went there to hide, but crap man! I'm SURE that the Darklords were lookin' for him too! Loy-Kymer woulda been slaughtered, but that's a price I'm willing to pay even though he seemed nice enough. Haha. I actually liked Caverns of Kalte... the setting of a frozen wasteland was very appropriate (Vonotar chose to retreat to someplace barren and inhospitable, which works against anyone who might seek to get him). The Darklords might well have been looking for him, but many of their minions and creatures (like the Kraan) might not be suited to the cold climate - Helgedad is a decidedly warmer climate than Kalte. Then again, I happen to enjoy arctic adventures, because the environment itself is half the challenge (for example, hunting not being an option for obtaining food, and the risk of things like frost bite). Even the way some of the enemies use the setting - like fighting ice barbarians on skis with their children on their backs. Rather a unique sort of encounter, really, IMO.
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Post by HuntingWolf on Jul 16, 2006 19:03:41 GMT
Yeah I see where you're coming from, but, well, it's neat and all, it just seemed boring to me. Maybe 'cause I do not like the cold that much. Dunno.
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Post by nigthhunter on Jul 17, 2006 9:59:48 GMT
The book in the Kai series that I least love is Cavern of Kalte. Cause as Canadian, I see winter with his snow and cold weather 7 months a year, so I don't need it in a gamebook that I used to evade reality. As BC have said, too much under crawling for me. The only positive I see it's the kalte firesphere and the silver helmet. And all items, goldcrowns and discipline that you get for doing it.
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Post by zagzig on Jul 17, 2006 10:26:58 GMT
Tough one this. Voted from FotW in the end. I really like FotW - there are so many cool moments in it - but I just like the other four more.
As for CoK, I always wondered why Vonotar didn't choose somewhere a lot further away - and a lot warmer - to hide out.
Great - now I've got an image of Vonotar on the beach in my head, complete with blue star-spangled speedos. Yuck.
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Post by Al on Jul 19, 2006 11:20:24 GMT
I think I need to jump in here to defend Caverns of Kalte, which I think rates as one of my all time favourite books (not just game books)... yes it was a bit like dungeon crawling, but personally, I just cannot think of any book in the series I enjoyed more (maybe the Darke Crusade) Al
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Post by Ramidel on Jul 19, 2006 18:25:16 GMT
Fire on the Water was just too linear. Also, I rather disliked a lot of the ethos in both FFtD and FotW where the whole point of the game was to boldly run away from whatever you find. You're ducking and diving for cover and hiding from the agents of the Darklords until the moment you get the Sommerswerd...that alone seems to turn LW from weakling to dynamo, and TCoK and TCoD both have Lone Wolf going out and cleaning up the mess that Zagarna made, then in SotS you get to whack Zagarna's heir and stall things for another couple books.
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Post by Al on Jul 20, 2006 10:56:44 GMT
I actually like the fact that in the first two books you ahve to run from a lot of conflict - shows how inexperianced and weak LW is when he begins, he is not a hero yet, but on his way to becoming one.
By the end of FOTW (I agree, it is a wee bit linear, but it was a real good book none the less) he is starting to be a hero, and even if he is hugely boosted by his magic sword, oh well, many heros in mythology are aided by magic or the gods.
Then he just gets more powerful, to the point that it unbalances the game - the Somerswerd is just too powerful, and it forced JD to up the abilities of LW opponents - the Somerswerd probably could have been a +2 sword/+15 to Darklords or something like that...
Al
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Post by Wolfus on Jul 20, 2006 11:54:18 GMT
I agree with you Al. Other possibility is to decide, that Sommerswerd is too valuable and important artifact to be carried over wilderness.
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Post by dreadmack on Jul 20, 2006 22:23:10 GMT
My way of looking at it was, yes, Lone Wolf in possession of the Sommerswerd is a hero beyond the abilities of most typical enemies... which is exactly how most people see him (take Captain D'Val's comment in Chasm of Doom about how having Lone Wolf with them is better than a hundred ordinary soldiers). There are still challenges that can kill LW, just not too many in combat. In some ways, this incredible competency in battle and all seems to add to the encounter in Shadow on the Sand with Darklord Haakon. You are asked if you have the Sommerswerd, and if you do LW boldy draws the sword, aims it at his foe to blast him into oblivion... and nothing happens, causing Haakon to laugh his behind off at you. At that point it's almost as if Lone Wolf is so confident in his abilities that he has, perhaps, forgotten just how dangerous some of his enemies can truly be. There are also a few opportunities thrown in there (especially in book 5) to have your belongings stolen or confiscated. That for me is the biggest kicker - you waltz through books 3 and 4 with the Sommerswerd, kicking butts and taking names, and then there's a chance when you actually have to fight a Dark Lord head on you've lost the Sommerswerd...
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Post by HuntingWolf on Jul 21, 2006 3:11:09 GMT
Everytime I lose the sword, it "magically" appears back in my Special Items. I wonder how that happens? *whistles innocently* Hey! Is that a rabbit over there?!
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Post by dreadmack on Jul 21, 2006 16:35:58 GMT
lol The funny thing about losing the Sommerswerd is the lack of repercussions, beyond the fact that LW no longer has it. A legendary treasure of Sommerlund, it gets stolen or better yet confiscated by guards of a foreign country... and no one chastises Lone Wolf for losing it, no one causes an international incident over a foreign power taking the sword, LW doesn't go back looking for it at any stage of his career, nothing.
One of the flaws, I guess, of gamebooks not being able to address every possible permutation in a story. In a full scale pen and paper RPG environment, even if I had to go fight Haakon without the Sommerswerd, you'd bet that afterwards I'd be going back to get it, one way or the other!
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Post by HuntingWolf on Jul 23, 2006 19:25:44 GMT
Yeah, agreed, but you hafta remember: Haakon always kills your arse without the sword, sooo yeah.
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Post by longhairyuppiescum on Jul 24, 2006 11:01:01 GMT
Yeah, agreed, but you hafta remember: Haakon always kills your arse without the sword, sooo yeah. Is that so? - I thought that this is one of the battles where not using the SW is the easier way (provided that you make the right decisions..)
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Post by Runeheart on Jul 24, 2006 11:13:06 GMT
Is that so? - I thought that this is one of the battles where not using the SW is the easier way (provided that you make the right decisions..) Yes and Yes...
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Post by longhairyuppiescum on Jul 24, 2006 11:23:33 GMT
You mean it's easier AND you get your arse.., or what?
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