I was hoping to close out the year with a personal ranking ot all the gamebooks here, but there are still a couple left, so I'll have to wait for an opportune date in 2024. (Perhaps an anniversary ot something or other on here? I would be surprised if there were no such dates this January/February.) Still, considering I did not discover this place until June, it's been a lot, and I formed plenty of impressions here in the past several months. While there were more than a few downs, the times where writing here has surprised me in a good way more than outweighed those. Now, I just hope this place can stay strong, and that I'll be able to contribute to its archives, hopefully as soon as this upcoming year.
Background - A fair wage for three week's work. + as the door opens, letting on a gust of cool air (in?)
49 – no punctuation after the two options.
16 but can often by blocked by avalanches + his new-born state (?)
18 But only silence and the small of strong chemicals comes from the kennels.
20 a shaved headed man + a black robe that ends at his knee an (and?) enamelled breastplate worn over the top. + Tooled brown leather riding boots covering him from knee to tow.
21 and open you lantern long enough to extinguish it.
51
"Is he dead?" she asks.
"No," you reply. She looks disappointed, and glares at the corpse with hatred - really funny, and there should probably be another word here.
69 Apprehensively, you wait as (she?) begins to write on a sheet of parchment. + What did you say? (write?)
84 You make some jokes with the others travellers
87 Almost all of the glowing crystals are gone, gouge marks next to the holes indicated (indicating?) that they (have?) all been prised out.
+ when you suddenly here a voice and freeze.
+ The are two doorways
112 The paladin all dismount and forming a line move towards the together + using the starlight and the cover afforded by the scrubby by the roadside (?)
178 As your oxen-draw wagon (oxen-drawn?) + a few round stone-huts siting directly by the road-side. (?) + before you begin to see the signs of stone begin cleared away by pick and chisel. (?) + They give you a guide as you how long you have travelled,(?)
225 and you are suddenly gasped by some invisible force
234 She is silent in though for many moments,
247 A strange-looking women pulls the door open
310 pouring down through the crystal dome "Strange one, this vampire.
321 and his thick braided bread reaches his waist.
333 There be many avalanches recently. Hope you make (it?) through.
338 and leave him in a ticket of trees (thicket?)
368 a high vaulted ceiling above hang at intervals with chandeliers. + It is lit by a great coal bonfires
391 may fight and only kill if he choses to.
395 Will a man in the desert who comes up a golden goblet filled with water, + Take you golden cup and go!
+ Where did you come from, man? is weirdly anachronistic.
396 Then they will let you past (pass?) without delay.
408 a jet of of noxious gas is expelled.
435 After resting for a few moments, you start pulling on the rope, you haul your belongings through the pipe
458 Do you only believe in justice and order is it is easily achieved?"
459 to one of the other potential entrances :
495 just it case that makes a difference + her eyes half open + The guardsman all seem to accept this, but are far from happy.
500 The lighted door
502 also pass the doors to more official's offices
523 I can't do that," you reply.Do you want to
555 But its not good
625 painted in life like colours.
718 It is suitable for settling aflame burnables
736 as the powerful venom does it work.
740 then the locks on the click
807 the tree- thick body + Each one holds a pole- sword + She wears a sort green silken coat
833 You feel light a weight has been lifted from the room and your own shoulders.
846 When you are finished, two serpent woman
888 You listen at the doors, but heae nothing
905 Their snake parts are black scaled
931
trying to reunite with it at your new location You feel some resistance
1014
Anyone important own it? (owns?)
1026
of great value and beauty.However,
1087 small and made of wood more often that stone (than?) + Only the dark slate rooves are uniform. + Well cared for lawns + a life-sized statue of a woman in a flowing robe. He hands are empty + the shine of Aringarator the Dragon-Slayer.You are momentarily distracted + Perhaps you should prey for a blessing.
For that matter, how can you even kill the High Priest once he does take the Key?
And if the Key can revive the recently dead...wouldn't this have allowed Kianmay to revive so many casualties on your way? From fallen guards to at least some of the opponents? The main argument is that the revived ones would often just want it for themselves, but it's rather undercut by the way she wants to deal with Raul. (For that matter, what stops her from reviving evil people then sending them to sleep?)
The Wolf is so laughably OP, he has to be one of the few characters capable of confronting Outsider!'s Aria at the peak of his powers. Thing is, all the spiel for how good and honourable he is in spite of being a werewolf rings rather hollow after the story about him always decimating his OWN soldiers - which you NEVER get to confront him on.
Same for the King of Darken Wood - why can't we ask him to explain how all his philosophy gels with CONDEMNING AN ENTIRE TOWN TO DEATH BY PLAGUE, not to mention two interlopers who appeared to have the best of intentions, all for the sins of one? Not to mention that it was the wood which came to that town, not the other way around.
At the same time, our protagonist finds a talking crow who claims to be the king of a wood THAT JUST WIPED OUT AN ENTIRE TOWN - and he "ignores the claim of royalty" and has no sense to be polite, even obsequious, to someone who obviously warrants that?
Worse, someone described as a talented liar in the first ref cannot lie about being a dragon worshipper to the obviously dangerous priestess, and predictably gets blasted for it? Why are we not allowed to leave after we got the notes from the orc tome but before we have investigated the dig?
Being "unable to help them" at 426 when we literally have the ring of keys is amazing.
The complete irrelevance of seeing Kianmay's secret early on is also amazing, in the worst way.
Predictably, the King of Darken Wood does not care that we have already killed a goblin at 43.
Also predictably, 770 is NOT altered if you had already read the sorcerer’s letter about the queen.
The dialogue about the golden apple with the demon unchanging if you DO know what it is is a further continuity issue.
Interesting that we have the option to show necromancer’s wand to Kianmay, but not the zombie rat.
Or that the Wolf’s guards do not care about the zombie rat.
Or that we are afraid of the amulet, but not the hell axe.
Why can't we argue that Kianmay seen with Darm must be an illusion when we already know of his powers?
It’s actually EASIER to kill Darm with a normal dagger than a crystal one if you have the armband?!
I have no idea whether 801 bypassing your armband was cool or awful.
The description of Gilmore’s tent is good, but 182 being completely non-interactive DETRACTS A LOT from the experience. I do NOT want to read about my character covering a lot of territory on his own and then suddenly burning stuff and indirectly causing others' death in a single paragraph - I want to control all of that.
It’s so weird that everything at 304 is non-interactive as well. No checks for all the complicated actions you have to do - again, considering how great the rewards are.
Options at 1052 seem to make absolutely no sense considering how much holy power you would have already seen by then?
WHY can’t we loot any metal armour or proper swords from the dead soldiers at 67?! Indeed, why do we get a choice to try and steal a sword at 234, but can’t just loot one earlier?
We also do not get to loot a crossbow at 11? (Another ref devoid of checks for complex actions.)
Buying an extra blanket does not help to make our rest at 84 or at 178 any more comfortable?
We can knock out the old priestess to get the key from her, but not the sleeping paladin at 466, who is apparently not even a real paladin?
END SPOILER
Gameplay stuff/bugs.
SPOILER
Failing to sneak into Gilmore the Groat’s tent suddenly takes you all the way to ref 360.
Sadly, too many other mandatory or near-mandatory events early on also suffer from giant lapses of logic - often combined with that surprising bane of too many gamebooks here, auto-choices. In contradiction to pretty much all interactive storytelling advice, The Diamond Key has a surprising dearth of actual interaction (whether through choices or checks) on its paths (as opposed to choosing paths) for much of the gamebook, and is almost completely void of consequences, then presents a massive glut of both at what amounts to the very end.
The one constant throughout the gamebook, though, is the truly broken gameplay, in the sense of combat and risk-vs-reward ratio. As promising as the system is (and I certainly like that thanks to it, human enemies have roughly the same stamina as you, rather than the frankly artificial disparities of ~10 points between the player character and a typical human(oid) combatant nearly everywhere else), the actual fighting is virtually never interesting or tense in the way so many other gamebooks here have managed it. A large reason why is being able to get some of the most helpful items in the game literally for free at the start thanks to highly generous check-free auto-choice refs, then encounter optional encounters upon optional encounters that all have some difficulty of discovery or of completion, yet whose awards are duplicative fully (I read here with surprise that the author considers being able to get three of the most powerful weapons at the same time a point of pride, rather than the VERY opposite) or partially (bonuses upon bonuses for an already broken character, or which merely present you with yet another way to "win" yet STILL get the exact same awful ending you would have already seen many times by then thanks to much easier ways of getting to it.
The effective default ending, 800, is really one of the absolute worst-written endings I have seen on here. It's less-dumb than the bad ending of A Saint Beckons, and has some stiff competition from Riders of the Storm or Wrong Way Go Back, but it's not a good place to be in. The way it's written, with that mirror of the Background paragraphs (a narrative device far less clever than many think it is) would have made sense for an ending where you abandon the whole thing once it gets hot and better yet, take the Key for yourself once literally nobody can stop you. However, that is something you are NOT allowed to do at that point (in spite of all those refs, and of being able to do/attempt a whole lot of fairly evil/selfish things both before and after) and after what you ACTUALLY achieve, with the powers you would have by then, that ending is completely nonsensical. At times, it outright breaks continuity, but sadly, it's far from the only thing to do so.
An incomplete list of continuity-breaking and rail-roading.
SPOILER
Why are we not allowed to use rope and grappling hook to climb the wall at 117 and 251?
It's weird that literally everything is automatic at 251.
Auto-fight with the orc beast at 351 is also hardly the best experience.
322 being such a long and non-interactive paragraph also isn’t that satisfying. We are often given fairly obvious choices to be suspicious or not (i.e. with the oxen), but here, he can handle everything automatically, from conversing with the barman to going over the gate.
WHY can’t we use the lockpicks at 322, and instead have to rely on ludicrously blunt plot armour?
123 feels so weird after clearing out the Groat’s band, and also perhaps the whole vow to deal with the orc excavators.
Ref 182 is possibly the worst of auto-choices.
How does the protagonist’s and Kianmay’s surprise at the orcs’ written language makes any sense after they had already seen the tax collector write?
Interaction with Zarim staying unchanged even if you interacted with the other High Priest before is predictably disappointing.
You can talk to the merchant guards at 396 even if you already have done that before.
We can just get bitten and turned into a werewolf, and not receive any reaction from Kianmay about it at all? Can’t ask if her powers would work at that either, not to mention attempt the Key?
AND BECOMING A WEREWOLF DOES NOT EVEN ALTER ENDING 800?
727 is NOT altered if you had already seen Kianmay’s wings?
Why is it that even after going through the trial for becoming Champion of Light and doing everything right, we STILL cannot do anything to interrogate Laremidan, and our only options are to wait to kill him openly or stab him in the back?
Same for the sorcerer pretending to be High Priest. It's incredible that the option to incapacitate him effectively REQUIRES you to attack the priestess unprovoked, and even though he is literally unable to cause you harm if you have the Armband (the very armband which REQUIRES compassion to get), you always kill him automatically otherwise?
Longtime observers here probably noticed how I set out to go through everything on here in the middle of the year, and nearly managed it too. It was at another one of Ulysses' works, Contractual Obligation, where I found I also had limits, and had to take a break three months earlier. I knew full well that The Diamond Key was the absolute largest work here, and I initially intended to save it for last, but the perspective of restarting CO was so unappealing, I had to change my plans.
I had high hopes, mainly due to the excellent The Ravages of Fate. In hindsight, I suppose I should have guessed that as the latter was one of Ulysses' later works, and this one of the earliest, there would be a substantial gulf - or indeed, that the The Ravages of Fate worked so well because it was so tightly wound and condensed. Then again, I also had the counterexample in front of me, as Gavin Mitchell's Outsider! is both larger than his (much) later works, and very clearly superior to them.
In all, I had hopes. Unfortunately, I can't say they were fulfilled. At one point, I would outright say I hated the whole thing, but now that I finally see this victory screen, I just feel the strange mix of contentment, exhaustion and disappointment.
Funnily enough, by typical gamebook standards I "won" on third try, getting to ref 800 then, and getting very close on the first try, where the character fell in the final battle. Only then did it take dozens more attempts to get here - which should say a lot about the difficulty curve, or the lack thereof.
If I have to start discussing the shortcomings of this, it might as well be here. I have seen comments from Ulysses Ai where he acknowledged that too much of the material is hidden away, but that's a bit of understatement. Some of the absolute best writing here can only be seen with a truly incredible confluence of events.
SPOILER
Like "going to hell the second time", which can end up completely impossible if you do the Groat fight, which seems like the thing you SHOULD be doing narratively, and get too many guards killed randomly, which then leads you past the town where you can get the rat. Not to mentuon you have to first replay enough to know the right person to talk to, then guess the right chemical combination, THEN fight the demon and lose (itself not very likely, as a character strong enough to find the demon in the first place is likely to be strong enough to avoid a hit) THEN pass that skill check.
END SPOILER
Or ref 495 (plus the refs immediately before and after) which is absolutely beautiful and makes this stand out so much from a typical gamebook - and which also requires you to
SPOILER
Guess that knocking out the priestess would be a GOOD thing to do, even though everything you taught by both Kianmay and the Darken Wood is about staying away from unnecessary violence AND because talking to her normally clearly shows her to be good and discourage violence against her - AND then FAIL a luck check - a luck check which is technically difficult, sure, but a luck value of ~18 is also easy to get to by that point, even reasonable to shoot for if you aim to get the Firesword. If you first pass the luck check, guessing that you'll see something far more interesting if you fail is really difficult.
END SPOILER
This wouldn't be that much of a problem, if it weren't for the incredible weakness of the many earlier events you have to go through. Most notably, EVERYTHING to do with the Griffon forces is narrative ballast. They are never interesting, inexplicably anonymous (it makes no sense why the protagonist who had just come from the south had never heard of that southern lord before), and their function could have been fulfilled by more Arantator forces with little loss to the narrative. Worst of all, the author wrote in two ways to deal with them, yet somehow both are INCREDIBLY stupid. I wish ref 495 replaced one of them - as is, the reaction of soldiers there makes no sense, and the other one is just laughable both in the security arrangements and the lack of desire to do anything after coming all that way already.
This was my first Fantasy Fight book and it was pretty fun. I kept getting lost in the hallways but that was the fun of navigating and picturing my surroundings.
The rules have changed this year. This year, 50% of the weighting for the results will be due to judges and 50% of the weighting for the results will be due to popular vote.
I also won't be hyperlinking any books this year.
Entries are to be sent to lindenbaumprize@gmail.com.
The closing date is 5pm GMT on the 20th February 2024.
Full rules to be found at:
Lloyd of Gamebooks: 2023/2024 Lindenbaum Prize announcement
The Lindennbaum Prize is sponsored by Peter Agaopv, contributor to Lloyd of Gamebooks and owner of Augmented Reality Adventure Games who is very generously providing the first prize.
The Lindenbaum Prize is also sponsored by Crumbly Head Games who is providing free licenses to The Gamebook Authoring Tool as prizes and also has a free version of the Gamebook Authoring Tool that goes up to 100 sections.
The Lindenbaum Prize is also sponsored by HJ Doom who is providing a miniature to the winner.
Many thanks to Tammy Badowski for donating her time to the Lindenbaum Prize.
I have avoided checking out the comments for this one and the previous one after resorting to it for the first, where I got stumped by certain items being at "Continue" prompts instead of getting used automatically. Here, though, I still discover something new that way. Namely:
SPOILER
That the electronic strait jacket is not just actually useful in the first place, but happens to be the best way to deal with the Death Bot?! I thought that tossing a smoke bomb and then relying on your luck was the best option available to you.
This is certainly NOT what I expected the strait jacket would be for. My first guess was that you would throw it at the burly man who is "owned by Harry" and beat the right combination to the safe out of him, because come on, that seemed like an obvious use! (And certainly more obvious than just having to restart, one way or another, until you stumble upon the right combination)
The other guess was that you could use it on the pirate leader on the path where you kill the shuttle guard and take his place, thus getting to stay alone with the leader for a while, and this was how you would get the daughter's location. Oh well.
Well, this certainly was shorter than the ones before it!
Not sure what to say here. On one hand, there are two REALLY strong encounters here, with the pufferfish and the hyperspace watcher. Both actually add surprising gravity to the silly premise, and the former also manages to be really funny as well. On the other hand, the boss, such as it is, isn't great - yes, it's intentional, but the other character who is meant to compensate for his charisma void doesn't do it too well either. It doesn't help that conversations with her get the worst of the not-that-interesting running gag this time.
I am also not sure what to say about the character seemingly becoming more of a jerk as he is growing in power (both physical and organizational.) If actually intended this way, then it's certainly character development, and sadly, it's realistic character development as well. However, I have my doubts, and much will depend on the subsequent episodes to show if the scenes I have in mind are representative of the shift, or simply out-of-context.
Mechanically, I suspect this adventure is actually considerably harder to win properly then it was intended to be, simply because of this.
SPOILER
21 A few are locked, but in the one the space-rat emerged from you find a blaster. – And yet, that blaster is NOT added to our inventory?
END SPOILER
The limitation you have to deal with here can seem particularly arbitrary at times (you get to be equipped with a whole spacesuit, but not with a pack or a bag of any kind?), but then again, the whole series is about arbitrary boons and burdens alike.
Lastly, ther's not AS much proofreading needed this time.
In some ways, this actually felt somewhat easier than the previous installment. Granted, that was probably mostly due to getting used to the series' tricks than anything else. Some time was probably saved by reading the comments on Planet of the Spiders, which revealed a small, yet useful detail
SPOILER
That is, that the blaster is actually useful this time, and not a total waste and a sign you are doing things wrong and are destined to fail, like in the previous two.
END SPOILER
And the experience of Hellfire helped too, partly due to the same "you keep finding things on various paths that are really useful, but not useful enough vibe" (though the previous instalments also had that, it didn't feel remotely as extensive) and partly due to a (thankfully?) rarer element, that of
SPOILER
Violence and cruelty you can avoid in the moment being ultimately necessary to win. Granted, Hellfire also placed a lot more gravity on those slayings than this does when it comes to those two poor tribesmen, but then again, the series has an altogether different tone, and all that. Though, refs 32 and 76 compensate for that, with some standout writing for what are ultimately trap options, and not even particularly compelling ones.
END SPOILER
Altogether, though I would say that in a way, it actually feels like a better Hellfire (not to mention a substantial improvement over its own predecessor) in that you have to do some comparable things to win (including one parallel that is a bit of a spoiler, yet immediately obvious once you get there), but it feels far more satisfying here to get closer and closer to the winning path, simply because this does not have a final boss who effectively does much of the work of removing their own defences for you. Plus, the check that avoids you failing post-boss-battle in Planet of the Spiders and the pathway to neutralize it was undoubtedly funny, yet also truly arbitrary. Here, it actually feels pretty clever once you figure it out. Plus, while the antagonists here are less interesting than in the previous one, and the runnning gags continue to be very hit-and-miss, robot encounters (including that completely skippable one) more than offset this with their impeccable logic (or "logic").
Mechanical things.
SPOILER
Raft remains in your inventory even though 37 says that it floats away?
At 227, trying to talk immediately locks you out of using the smoke bomb?
The ref shown when you equip the Comet for the first time says it does 4 damage, yet it actually seems to be 5?
END SPOILER
And proofreading.
SPOILER
Background you were blinded by love.Upon arrival + thank-you note.As you + lord Gablentite.If you + That Pomplompotom become your girlfriend! 2, 224, 248 – no question marks after options? 4, 10, 11, 24, 41, 46, 51, 64, 107, 113, 116, 126, 127, 128, 135, 148, 149, 150, 176, 177, 186 188, 194, 202, 220, 222, 241, 244, 255, 277 – occasional issues with punctuation & direct speech At 175, why are you at -2 even if you do have a laser knife? At 179, we are only allowed to use a blaster on our counterpart if we also have an energy whip? 4 you first saw the pirates on deck C , and so 27 After you unappetising meal 30 You are awakened from your peaceful dozing see something ahead. + down the swift flowing canal. 42 the large purple leaches 64 presumably the space-pirate's own. + Just follow the space pirates shuttle + a fee of 50 galactic Roubles (capitalization). 70 you have to pull off the large purple leaches 76 technological superiority you posses in the form of the blaster. + half vaporised + a number of golden skinned fruits 79 Fear of consumption proves the greater motivator that desire to consume 83 the large purple leaches 95 across the leach-ridden waters. 105 "That is almost 2 years from now!" you exclaim (missing period.) 107 it's a Comet : a wi-fi-controlled 114 for more combinations that you can punch 116 into the Pirate's shuttle. 130 and light candles on then other side of the room 144 You sit up in alarm, but it is just your fried. + She is brought to sit at your side.Suddenly, something clicks in your mind
165 has seared closed the wound 187 but it seems you have out paced them! 209 fragments of bejewelled goad leaf
