While I wouldn't say it was one of my favourites I always liked the arctic-mountain setting and woodcut style illustrations for this one. Also the death spell is kind of a cool idea.
It's a great idea, I just wish it had formed the backbone of the book really, instead of being tacked on at the end. Would have made a more interesting adventure than the yeti and snow witch stuff.
Brilliant to watch another passionate review of these books. Having not seen this book for 30+ years, the cover was instantly recognisable (isn't the human brain incredible!?!). I didn't recognise the artwork inside so I'm pretty sure I never owned this one, ...and it sounds like that's for the best (I struggled even with the easy books!). Thanks Mike for another peculiar jaunt into the past. 😀
I've been tracking this for years before I bought it. There's something about that snowy, cold setting. I have to confess, that I always cheat, so I didn't notice the hardness. I don't want to be the person, who has been trying to win Crypt of the Sorcerer for two decades.
Another interesting and entertaining video! I continue to enjoy your Fighting Fantasy reviews even though I have no experience with gamebooks. I agree with you about the artwork in "Caverns of the Snow Witch." I do love the woodcut look of the drawings, but they lack the "you are there" feel.
@@michaelbartlettfilm I like the illustrations very much! In some of my own drawings, I go for that woodcut look. But the drawings in "Caverns of the Snow Witch" (at least the ones you showed in this video) do make me feel more like a spectator, as opposed to feeling like I am right there and in on the action (like the illustrations in some of the other FF gamebooks you have reviewed do). So that is my only criticism of this artwork. In and of itself, I think it's great. But in an FF gamebook, I think the artwork in the others you have reviewed is more appropriate in style.
Great video. I didn't try this one but those enemy skill levels are brutal and present a real barrier to enjoyment if the player is just constantly defeated
Je suis Français et j'adore visionner vos vidéos sous-titrées dans ma langue. Fan depuis ma première découverte des livres dont vous êtes le héros à mes 9 ans en 1986, je me suis inscrit à votre chaîne et ai hâte de connaître vos impressions détaillées sur mes DF préférés que sont "Le Manoir de l'Enfer" et "Le Talisman de la Mort", ainsi que tous les autres, bien sûr....
I believe this is intended as a prequel to Forest of Doom, hence all the shenanigans when you get to the Dwarf village. I don''t remember this one being particularly hard, so obviously I cheated in the battles. You are right that Livingstone expects a higher skill from the player, than most dice rolls would give you (what's the average on a d6 - 3.5?). He does this a lot... I think this is definitely one of the weaker ones, but at this point the secondary authors had not come on stream and Jackson was writing Sorcery, so Livingstone was basically carrying the line on his own. Quantity therefore trumps quality.
@@michaelbartlettfilm I thought so too! It was only relatively recently I discovered how early Sorcery was published. Are you going to review them as well?
@@williammoore9794 First, I'm going to see how long I keep these reviews of the main series going. I start to lose enthusiasm after Creature Of Havoc, but let's see. Then I might do Sorcery and The Cretan Chronicles.
@@michaelbartlettfilm Creature of Havoc is one of the best ones, and I think it was Jackson's last, so it would be a good choice to stop there if you're not doing the lot. The Cretan Chronicles are a blast from the past. I haven't seen them for nearly 40 years!
The idea of the spell killing you is quite interesting.. it could have made a good concept for an entire book where you start incredibly powerful and with very high hp but the difficulty would come from the fact that quickly in the book you get cursed and you slowly weaken and lose your maximum hp etc. The book could be quite open because the idea would be that if you take too much time getting lost or going the wrong way, you would eventually get very weak. But if you use the hints and logic to make it quickly to the person that cursed you then you can defeat them relatively easily…
You may be interested to know that one of the later FF books (Daggers of Darkness?) began with you being stabbed by a poisoned dagger. Over the rest of the book you had to shade in part of a diagram on your adventure sheet until you got the antidote. If you filled in all the spaces beforehand you were dead...
Interesting that this gamebook was so disjointed; it was originally submitted to a fantasy magazine up to the point of slaying the Snow Queen. I agree. I didn't like this one for the same reasons. But I did like the death spell idea; your companion who could read the spell on the cavern wall reacts at the time but as you say divulges that later. It creates the interesting idea that being illiterate and dumb is sometimes a good thing for an adventurer!
I like the book, if im just skimming and not trying to play it fair... so many of the early books were overly difficult, to me. Warlock of firetop, house of hell, temple of terror, city of thieves, deathtrap dungeon.. those books all summarily handed me my ass! Still loved em, though.
Great observation about rhe artwork. I had this one but never read it, probably because I didnt like the art either. Whereas i loved Forest of Doom, even though the narrative is a bit limited, because the art was great
The art makes such a difference in those books, doesn't it? They're a huge part of the atmosphere and whether you really get involved in the realism of the game.
I absolutely love these videos. Such a cool flashback.
Cheers, Reuben, glad you're enjoying them!
While I wouldn't say it was one of my favourites I always liked the arctic-mountain setting and woodcut style illustrations for this one. Also the death spell is kind of a cool idea.
It's a great idea, I just wish it had formed the backbone of the book really, instead of being tacked on at the end. Would have made a more interesting adventure than the yeti and snow witch stuff.
Brilliant to watch another passionate review of these books. Having not seen this book for 30+ years, the cover was instantly recognisable (isn't the human brain incredible!?!). I didn't recognise the artwork inside so I'm pretty sure I never owned this one, ...and it sounds like that's for the best (I struggled even with the easy books!). Thanks Mike for another peculiar jaunt into the past. 😀
Thanks, Steve! (PS. Bought Performance from HMV!)
I've been tracking this for years before I bought it. There's something about that snowy, cold setting. I have to confess, that I always cheat, so I didn't notice the hardness. I don't want to be the person, who has been trying to win Crypt of the Sorcerer for two decades.
Ha, ha! I feel your pain!
Another interesting and entertaining video! I continue to enjoy your Fighting Fantasy reviews even though I have no experience with gamebooks. I agree with you about the artwork in "Caverns of the Snow Witch." I do love the woodcut look of the drawings, but they lack the "you are there" feel.
(Funny thing is, while I was editing the video, I was starting to like the illustrations more!)
@@michaelbartlettfilm I like the illustrations very much! In some of my own drawings, I go for that woodcut look. But the drawings in "Caverns of the Snow Witch" (at least the ones you showed in this video) do make me feel more like a spectator, as opposed to feeling like I am right there and in on the action (like the illustrations in some of the other FF gamebooks you have reviewed do). So that is my only criticism of this artwork. In and of itself, I think it's great. But in an FF gamebook, I think the artwork in the others you have reviewed is more appropriate in style.
Great video. I didn't try this one but those enemy skill levels are brutal and present a real barrier to enjoyment if the player is just constantly defeated
Yeah, it's not even fun if you're Skill 12 Stamina 12!
Je suis Français et j'adore visionner vos vidéos sous-titrées dans ma langue. Fan depuis ma première découverte des livres dont vous êtes le héros à mes 9 ans en 1986, je me suis inscrit à votre chaîne et ai hâte de connaître vos impressions détaillées sur mes DF préférés que sont "Le Manoir de l'Enfer" et "Le Talisman de la Mort", ainsi que tous les autres, bien sûr....
Merci beaucoup! La prochaine video sera Le Manoir de l'Enfer!
(I might have mixed up my French and Spanish there!)
@@michaelbartlettfilm No, you didn't.
J'aimerais que vous consacriez également des vidéos à "Titan" et "Out of Pit", afin de mieux comprendre le LORE des Fighting Fantasy Books.
Je ne les connais pas bien, ces livres, mais je discuterai "Sorcery" de Steve Jackson.
@@michaelbartlettfilm Sorcellerie!. : il s'agit de ma série préférée devant les Défis Fantastiques! Je l'ai découverte de 1986 à 1988!
I believe this is intended as a prequel to Forest of Doom, hence all the shenanigans when you get to the Dwarf village.
I don''t remember this one being particularly hard, so obviously I cheated in the battles. You are right that Livingstone expects a higher skill from the player, than most dice rolls would give you (what's the average on a d6 - 3.5?). He does this a lot...
I think this is definitely one of the weaker ones, but at this point the secondary authors had not come on stream and Jackson was writing Sorcery, so Livingstone was basically carrying the line on his own. Quantity therefore trumps quality.
Wow, didn't realise Steve was writing Sorcery this early on. In my head, Sorcery happened much later!
@@michaelbartlettfilm I thought so too! It was only relatively recently I discovered how early Sorcery was published. Are you going to review them as well?
@@williammoore9794 First, I'm going to see how long I keep these reviews of the main series going. I start to lose enthusiasm after Creature Of Havoc, but let's see. Then I might do Sorcery and The Cretan Chronicles.
@@michaelbartlettfilm Creature of Havoc is one of the best ones, and I think it was Jackson's last, so it would be a good choice to stop there if you're not doing the lot.
The Cretan Chronicles are a blast from the past. I haven't seen them for nearly 40 years!
The idea of the spell killing you is quite interesting.. it could have made a good concept for an entire book where you start incredibly powerful and with very high hp but the difficulty would come from the fact that quickly in the book you get cursed and you slowly weaken and lose your maximum hp etc. The book could be quite open because the idea would be that if you take too much time getting lost or going the wrong way, you would eventually get very weak. But if you use the hints and logic to make it quickly to the person that cursed you then you can defeat them relatively easily…
You may be interested to know that one of the later FF books (Daggers of Darkness?) began with you being stabbed by a poisoned dagger.
Over the rest of the book you had to shade in part of a diagram on your adventure sheet until you got the antidote. If you filled in all the spaces beforehand you were dead...
@YoshMaster Even though this gamebook doesn't exist, I already love it way more than Caverns!!
Yeah always felt this entry over stayed its welcome. So linear that it felt it would never end!
Interesting that this gamebook was so disjointed; it was originally submitted to a fantasy magazine up to the point of slaying the Snow Queen. I agree. I didn't like this one for the same reasons. But I did like the death spell idea; your companion who could read the spell on the cavern wall reacts at the time but as you say divulges that later. It creates the interesting idea that being illiterate and dumb is sometimes a good thing for an adventurer!
Ha, I suppose you kind of ARE illiterate and dumb when you start out as the monster in Creature Of Havoc!
I like the book, if im just skimming and not trying to play it fair... so many of the early books were overly difficult, to me. Warlock of firetop, house of hell, temple of terror, city of thieves, deathtrap dungeon.. those books all summarily handed me my ass! Still loved em, though.
Ha, I'll admit I totally gave up on the Warlock maze. Life's too short!
Book 9 was one of tge books I completed in the 90s.
You deserve a medal, mate. I never really got there!
Sounds like a lot of F.U. in this one. The bird man illustration looks really neat.
(Now I'm an older geezer, I had to look up FU on the internet just to make sure it meant what I thought it meant!)
Great observation about rhe artwork. I had this one but never read it, probably because I didnt like the art either. Whereas i loved Forest of Doom, even though the narrative is a bit limited, because the art was great
The art makes such a difference in those books, doesn't it? They're a huge part of the atmosphere and whether you really get involved in the realism of the game.