Stormslayer (Fighting Fantasy: Wizard 2 #4) by Jonathan Green

Stormslayer (Fighting Fantasy: Wizard 2 #4) Reviews

• 
  Neville Ridley-smith

  Some gamebooks are average. Some are lousy. And then there are those that get everything right.
  
  This is one of those books. Here's what it gets right:
  - the story is good - I mean it's standard fantasy-fare but it's got a decent amount of originality and good combination of ingredients and there are decent long pieces of exposition
  - player agency! This is where most gamebooks go so wrong. They give you choices that are basically random. In this book, if you die, it's because you made a bad decision (or got bad dice rolls). What's more, it encourages heroic actions - villagers won't be happy if you don't help them - consequences are logical
  - it throws in extra stuff like having characters along for certain parts of the adventure using techniques like "while you have DwarfGuy along, if you come across an entry with an asterisk, subtract 20 and turn to that entry number"
  - the adventure is basically split into 4 sections that can be tackled in any order
  - the art is good
  - there's a satisfying big conclusion
  
  The only thing I'd say is that the book seems hard from a dice rolling perspective. (I never actually play these books in the proper way so I can't be sure.) Some of the damage that gets dealt out seems quite extreme.
  
  Published quite recently, it's obvious that it's written by a very experienced gamebook writer - someone who's learnt all the tricks to making them good - someone in fact who had his book voted #1 out of all the Fighting Fantasy books - Jonathan Green. Well done Mr Green!
• 
  Víctor Martín-Pozuelo

  Hombre, pues muy guapo, la verdad. Me lo pillé porque el autor comentó que lo escribió porque se estaba preocupando por el cambio climático pero luego no va para nada de eso. De todos modos, todo bien.
  
  No me gustan mucho los libros de estos donde tienes que estar tirando dados y tal PERO BUENO reconozco que he hecho mis trampillas haciendo medias (si tiene skill 5 y yo skill 10 pues le unto pero bien no hermano??).
  
  El caso es que este librojuego está muuuy bien hecho porque realmente da la sensación (de hecho se puede hacer) de que tienes mucha libertad y puedes empezar haciendo unas cosas y luego retomar otras que te has dejado atrás. En otros librojuegos hay una falsa sensación de elección, en este realmente puedes decir "oye pues primero voy al mar y la montaña me la dejo para después".
  
  Además hace un montón de cosas chulas de las que me gustan a mí, que no es simplemente elige ir aquí o elige ir allá, sino que a lo mejor llegas a un párrafo y te dice "la próxima vez que aterrices en un párrafo con un asterisco, resta 20 y ve al párrafo con el nuevo número". Esto está muy chulo porque la primera lectura NO DESVELA TODAS LAS COSAS QUE HAY OCULTAS.
  
  Recomendado.
• 
  Jeffrey

  Ah, the joys of the Fighting Fantasy gamebook. It brings back so many memories of time spent at the kitchen table with two dice, a pencil, an eraser and a crudely drawn map as I slogged my way through dungeons.
  
  This is a different form of adventure that has multiple parts that can be done in any order but managed to still feel cohesive as a single narrative.
  
  The only downside to it was it was difficult (a LOT of fighting) and at times, the author tried to insert offbeat humor which didn't work for me.
• 
  Chris Dw i

  Stormslayer is pretty good.
  
  Jonathan Green provides you with a lot of context and a lot of story throughout the adventure and it makes for a nice change of pace. On top of that, the adventure is genuinely pretty interesting and entertaining.
  
  In this one, you aren't playing as a nobody. You're playing as a somebody and villagers are eager to help you on your journey. In fact, it's almost as if you're a witcher from The Witcher universe but people actually like you and it's great.
  
  The creatures that you'll fight are fantastic. Whether it be the Lovecraftian horrors that live in the ocean, or the animated and charred skeletons of adventurers who died in the magma tunnels of the Hellish Mount Pyre.
  
  All in all, you're in for a fun adventure with plenty of story. You'll find yourself in some tough fights, and you'll find yourself having to make tough choices, but it feels as if you've accomplished something when you reach reference #400 and close the book. Even the introduction is interesting before the gamebook hands the reigns over to you and lets you take control over your adventure.
  
  4/5. Another solid adventure.