Not to spoil anything within any of the books, because it's worth playing them all blind at least once, but The Forest of Doom is an excellent gateway book, not too difficult yet it remains interesting enough throughout.
Nice Vid. Having only owned the first Scholastic edition of House of Hell, which incidentally helped me decide to get the old puffin ones, your video was informative and useful. A couple of things I want to say based on my observations and previous knowledge of these re-releases. Whilst it may seem overly critical, this in no way a knock on you guys but Scholastic in general. Those golden spines are notorious for flaking off bits of the good with use, leaving a crusty and patchwork looking spine. The newer ones from the second batch, which is FF #7 onwards have more durability, thankfully. The interior art for these newer releases by children's illustrator, Vlado Krizan, are simply appalling when compared to the originals. They were definitely dumbing down for this era of releases. They also cheapened out using poor quality stock paper and greyscale effects on the art which lacks the impact and detail of the original line drawings. Some of the newer ones from the latest batch actually have decent cover art but the decision to porthole them in the middle of the cover showing only 10% of the actual art is ridiculous. Crystal of Storms is clearly aimed at toddlers which doesn't do her book any favours, at least it's full cover. I did notice that Island of the Lizard King, Appointment with FEAR, and in particular Deathtrap Dungeon do have good covers - on the inside first page in no colour! So rather than use the good artwork in full colour they again, in my opinion, made yet another blundering error. Oh, Scholastic. Will you ever learn!?
Thanks for your informative comment. I did notice the porthole art situation which is a bit of a shame, but I didn't realize the rest of what you mention. Ultimately as long as the gameplay is intact that's fine for me personally, but less than ideal. I'll probably look for earlier editions should I choose to flesh out my collection later.
Oh absolutely! And if you are playing with your son I'm sure you'll both have great fun. Like you, I played them back in the day so to speak. I was born c.85 so by the time I was reading them they were already in the 40's of the series. From my pov, I think the artwork is a good third of the overall enjoyment and atmosphere but if you're not too bothered then they do indeed play just as well as they ever did.
Now seems a rather appropriate time to swallow some humble pie and actually pay Scholastic some positivity. Having recently received my signed copy of the latest release of RtFM, it appears the spine and cover have slightly improved, the pages although still have that weird during effect to the edges, do appear brighter and better quality. And the best surprise, they disposed of the previously mentioned appalling interior art, and put the originals by the superb Martin McKenna back in. It does appear as though they've listened to feedback, great stuff!
Well I was just perusing Warlock of Firetop Mountain today, as I'm thinking of playing it tonight, and I do have to agree that the interior art pales in comparison to the original. What were they thinking???
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Not to spoil anything within any of the books, because it's worth playing them all blind at least once, but The Forest of Doom is an excellent gateway book, not too difficult yet it remains interesting enough throughout.
Nice Vid. Having only owned the first Scholastic edition of House of Hell, which incidentally helped me decide to get the old puffin ones, your video was informative and useful. A couple of things I want to say based on my observations and previous knowledge of these re-releases. Whilst it may seem overly critical, this in no way a knock on you guys but Scholastic in general.
Those golden spines are notorious for flaking off bits of the good with use, leaving a crusty and patchwork looking spine. The newer ones from the second batch, which is FF #7 onwards have more durability, thankfully.
The interior art for these newer releases by children's illustrator, Vlado Krizan, are simply appalling when compared to the originals. They were definitely dumbing down for this era of releases. They also cheapened out using poor quality stock paper and greyscale effects on the art which lacks the impact and detail of the original line drawings.
Some of the newer ones from the latest batch actually have decent cover art but the decision to porthole them in the middle of the cover showing only 10% of the actual art is ridiculous. Crystal of Storms is clearly aimed at toddlers which doesn't do her book any favours, at least it's full cover. I did notice that Island of the Lizard King, Appointment with FEAR, and in particular Deathtrap Dungeon do have good covers - on the inside first page in no colour! So rather than use the good artwork in full colour they again, in my opinion, made yet another blundering error.
Oh, Scholastic. Will you ever learn!?
Thanks for your informative comment. I did notice the porthole art situation which is a bit of a shame, but I didn't realize the rest of what you mention. Ultimately as long as the gameplay is intact that's fine for me personally, but less than ideal. I'll probably look for earlier editions should I choose to flesh out my collection later.
Oh absolutely! And if you are playing with your son I'm sure you'll both have great fun.
Like you, I played them back in the day so to speak. I was born c.85 so by the time I was reading them they were already in the 40's of the series. From my pov, I think the artwork is a good third of the overall enjoyment and atmosphere but if you're not too bothered then they do indeed play just as well as they ever did.
Now seems a rather appropriate time to swallow some humble pie and actually pay Scholastic some positivity. Having recently received my signed copy of the latest release of RtFM, it appears the spine and cover have slightly improved, the pages although still have that weird during effect to the edges, do appear brighter and better quality. And the best surprise, they disposed of the previously mentioned appalling interior art, and put the originals by the superb Martin McKenna back in. It does appear as though they've listened to feedback, great stuff!
@@earlofdrumer1851 Good to hear! That makes me feel better, hah!
Well I was just perusing Warlock of Firetop Mountain today, as I'm thinking of playing it tonight, and I do have to agree that the interior art pales in comparison to the original. What were they thinking???