Wow, really couldn't have put that better myself! (No really, I couldn't. I'm so damn jealous!). The puzzles where you had to choose the right options in the right order were ingenious! My personal favorite of these was in The Golden Crate where you had to figure out how to get closer to the Death Bot to disable it with the item (the actual item you use seemed to be a bit random though).

The other thing I liked about the Wrong Way Go Back series was how things from one book helped you to solve puzzles in the next e.g.

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The story is a real gem too. In the middle of all the stand alone gamebooks and books with unfinished sequels (Outsider, Bodies In The Docks) it's really nice to have a continuing storyline.

Oh, and Glen. Sorry for that inaccurate rant on best endings :-(

Glen
Fri Jul 20 18:22:33 2012
The Dead World

@Ulysses

There are two things that I really like about the WWGB series which I believe are somehow special and either not done at all or done very poorly by other gamebooks.

Path-dependent Dialogue

I very much enjoy the variety of situations where the order in which dialogue options are selected impacts the reactions of the person you are speaking with. Bonus points if it is logical to boot!

Creativity rewarded by extra content and/or combat bonuses

Although present in many of the episodes, this is in my opinion best in The Golden Crate. Solving optional puzzles along the way impacts later events in a positive manner. There are many examples of this along the entire series and I think it is a great hallmark.

As to requests for the latest (last? :( :( :( ) edition: creative puzzles. The sandwich puzzle in The Spider Planet was a little odd, I still don't understand why the correct choice is the way it is. Even so, it was creative, and I love to see creative puzzles which are either rare in other gamebooks or totally original to this one. Puzzles which are more "global" in nature, being tied in with several events throughout the book, are the most rewarding. Although naturally very hard to design, and even harder to design well, I do personally enjoy this the most.

Fighting fantasy is all about the story and making good choices with interesting outcomes; on the gaming side, it is about the excitement of combat and the challenge of puzzles. I am personally more of a puzzle/story man, so my ideal final episode (cry cry cry) would include some crazy awesome logical deep puzzling.

:D

C-Star
Fri Jul 20 09:47:29 2012
The Dead World

Oh, and when I mentioned the idea of a powerful enemy, i meant as an optional combat, where you are given plenty of warning that he's good. When I saw the Giant Lizard, it's ridiculous SKILL score reminded me of Final Fantasy's superbosses, and that's where this idea came from. I realize it's probably a stupid idea though.

C-Star
Fri Jul 20 08:33:29 2012
The Dead World

Wow, thanks for this massive insight! Well, sinse I started from the beginning, none of the combats were overly difficult. The only overpowered opponents ie. Death Bot, Giant Bear; were all avoidable. But CO caused me some frustration.

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In the end, I downloaded the text version and used that to figure out what I was doing wrong. The only other thing was

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Ulysses
Fri Jul 20 02:29:37 2012
The Dead World

@ C-star

Episode 7 doesn't contain much fighting, since...well you'll see. But Episode 8, the finale is intended to contain several well-crafted combats. After the disappointment of playing Diablo 3, I am certainly not going to create more difficulty by just increasing opponent stats. I'm also going to include non-lethal resolutions, so you can surrender with a penalty of some sort if an opponent is too strong, to avoid the situation where you do everything right but then die because of unfavourable dice rolls; and also for the sake of those who jump in at the start of Episode 8 and thus have a weak character. Readers who have developed a character through the whole series should be able to win and reap the rewards.

If anyone has any suggestions, things they have seen in combats that are frustrating, or things they would like to see; you can post them here and I will take all comments into consideration.

C-Star
Thu Jul 19 14:37:36 2012
The Dead World

You mean that you're going to find a way to nerf overpowered characters? That makes sense, I guess. Due to the lowered dice rolls for stats that you get, it becomes difficult to do some of the combats unless you carry over characters from the start. Mind you, though

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@The Hammer
I'm kind of a noob on these boards, so you probably shouldn't take my word for this, but I think anyone can write a gamebook for the site. Can someone else give a definite answer on that? It says in the FAQ's that
So long as it is complete, I will certainly put it on the Downloads page but whether he will make an online version depends on several factors.

Ulysses
Thu Jul 19 01:56:02 2012
The Dead World

Many people have revealed they have high SKILL characters in the WWGB series. It may alarm you to know that if Episode 7 plays out as I intend, you will end up with lower SKILL than you started.

The Hammer
Wed Jul 18 23:34:18 2012
General Chat

Hello

I really like all the gamebooks on this website and how blind people can easily play them as well. I was just woundering can anybody make an amiture gamebook on this website ?
Thanks.

C-Star
Wed Jul 18 15:26:27 2012
The Dead World

I should probably stop asking so many questions and figure things out myself :-D . Ah, I really liked the choice based combat as well. They're really exciting compared to the simple dice roll combats. I can't wait for the next chapter in Wrong Way Go Back. Feel like pwning everyone with my Skill 16 character :-D

Ulysses
Wed Jul 18 02:50:25 2012
The Dead World

@ C-star

Addendum

Generally, for weapons training I do want to accommodate whatever choice players prefer. Certainly for the major battles in Episode 8 (of which there will be several against rival suitors) you will be allowed to use your favourite of the 4 weapons (blast rod, energy whip, lasersword/maimblade, or flaming wi-fi morningstar).
The reason this was not allowed in The Dead World was because of the choice-based combat in the fight against the monster. Reading "you swing your weapon and cause an injury" is far less interesting that reading "you twist the top of the grinder and then flick pepper into his face. He stumbles back with a cry trying to wipe the burning pepper from his eyes. Giving him no respite you leap forward and swing the pepper grinder, striking him on the head with a satisfying crack..."

Ulysses
Wed Jul 18 02:06:54 2012
The Dead World

@Glen

After finishing The Diamond Key I too was intrigued by the Dragon under the mountain and commenced writing another 1000 reference gamebook about it. I wrote about two thirds of it, but I've done nothing with it for a couple of years because I am a little concerned about all the time and energy I have been investing in writing gamebooks for little return. For this reason I have decided to finish off the Wrong Way Go Back series, then consider whether or not produce anything further. Ideally some sort of publishing would allow me to go on forever, but in the meantime I need to be more mindful of how I am spending my time.

@C-star
Your description of The Dead World is accurate. Its reason for existing was to create a buffer between Episode 5: Contractual Obligation and what will now be Episode 7: Return to G15-275 since both of these adventures are based on a cyclical structure where you can loop through the same references for a long time. To alleviate potential frustration, I wanted to put a branching-structure adventure in between.

As for your question: WARNING! SUPER SPOILER!

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O H
Tue Jul 17 19:20:58 2012
Midnight Deep

I am having trouble with midnight deep. I Keep dying as soon as I enter one of the black doors the the cube and the serpent and the other thing.

C-Star
Tue Jul 17 08:48:23 2012
Outsider!

Ah, Outsider must be one of the exceptions to the rule then. Sorry for the confusion.

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I loved Outsider too. A single playthrough takes a pretty long time! There's quite a few twists and turns and the multiple endings give it a lot of replay value. Shame the sequel never happened though...

Glen
Mon Jul 16 18:53:39 2012
Outsider!

@C-Star: did you finish Outsider!? The final reference is the middle of a combat.

C-Star
Mon Jul 16 15:55:13 2012
The Dead World

Also, I just finished The Dead World. The whole thing seems like a kind of 'bonus level' with stat boosters everywhere (That's not an insult by the way, in case it sounded like one). I have a few questions.

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I'm regretting not getting laser sword training now! Only got whip training, then I'm handed swords in Hypertrout and The Dead World :-(

C-Star
Mon Jul 16 15:41:28 2012
The Diamond Key

Glen, generally the best ending in a gamebook Is the last paragraph in it. So paragraph 1000 would be the best. (Not 100 percent sure though) I think there are some exceptions in some gamebooks though, so you can't just peek at the last paragraph and spoil it. But the general rule Is Last Paragraph=Best ending.

Glen
Mon Jul 16 15:24:19 2012
The Diamond Key

Wow, that took a long time. Outsider! is certainly huge. To follow up from my earlier post, I would now like to ask:

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I also just finished The Diamond Key and would like to mention that it was yet another great romp from Ulysses. Thank you! I found the sheer variety of the adventure staggering. I do have one question regarding it:

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Robert Douglas
Mon Jul 16 12:47:43 2012
The Curse Of Drumer

Hi All!

I'd just like to say, again, thanks for the positive comments concerning 'The Curse of Drumer'. It's a big uplift for authors who have given much of their time and effort towards a project shared with fans alike.

However, for certain reasons, I'll no longer be contributing to the Fighting Fantasy Website. But I'm more than happy to send future projects to FF Project - not to mention Windhammer of this, and next year.

In the meantime, if you have any comments or suggestions regarding any of my adventures, I'd gladly receive them. Flaws to my gameplay or style I'd approach with a constructive attitude - I actually quite enjoy learning from mistakes!

Glen
Tue Jul 10 12:42:25 2012
Outsider!

I can answer my own question: no, it's not!

C-Star
Tue Jul 10 11:20:57 2012
The Golden Crate

Got it now. I was doing that every time, but made the wrong conversation choice while stowing away every time.Turns out

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Loved the book, now onto the Hypertrout!

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