Liking it so far, but I get the impression I might need to be a bit more careful.
Carl Sun Nov 2 10:52:05 2014
For Robert Douglas;
Was this intended to be a demo/quick adventure?
SPOILER
As I posted earlier, I defeated the final boss in about 6 moves from start to finish, and only 3 tries at the game. I had to leave the Schyth in the graveyard but escaped with my life, seemingly a good ending. Is that the completion? Or am I missing something? Is it possible to get the Scyth too somehow?
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I presume you mean Alec Worley rather than Robert Douglas.
None of the gamebooks are 'demos', whatever that means, but they are all different sizes. For example, The Diamond Key has 1000 references, Garden Of Bones has 50. If you want to know how big a gamebook is before you play it, you can look here. You know that you have reached the best ending if you get a "CONGRATULATIONS / You have completed..." message - which, in this case, you will have done.
SPOILER
So, no, you can't get the scythe.
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Robert Douglas Mon Nov 3 18:13:43 2014
@ Carl,
Sorry, I'm not the author of Garden of Bones. I did actually give it a try a good while ago, got killed very early on. It's very well written with some good ideas.
Richard Evans Sat Dec 6 21:45:49 2014
Lots of fun...
SPOILER
I enjoyed the fact that you weren't supposed to take the scythe; normally FF is just killing wizards and stealing their stuff and this thankfully dispenses with the latter!
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Erika Thu Jan 8 15:05:17 2015
It was a very scary hyperfiction
kitkat Sun Jan 18 04:43:02 2015
you cant pick your ending like at all :P
Decklin Wed Feb 25 02:03:05 2015
love this game
Jonathan Sun Mar 22 01:38:58 2015
A nice, concise and well written adventure.
Babap Sun May 31 01:24:37 2015
I really like this story, and the fact that it has
SPOILER
Two ways to victory
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The thing is: the final battle is too difficult, and there is no way to weaken the "boss", so very often players will get stuck there.
chase Tue Aug 4 07:19:24 2015
i think you should put a checkpoint into each of these stories it sucks having to restart every single time. im not going to restart. in fact i think im done reading these stories. dont get me wrong they are great but once again the time it takes me to read it all and then go back to the same place i was at. its unbearable.
Robert Douglas Tue Sep 15 12:41:19 2015
@ Chase,
I can understand your frustration, however you can actually 'bookmark' your progress within an online gamebook on FF Project. It's similar to manual saving in video games. Bear in mind that saving at a particular point wouldn't guarantee success as the player might have missed a vital item, note, or choice further back. Paperback gamebooks were no less different as regards restarting from the beginning and determining the correct path - not to mention favourable scores and lucky die rolls make a difference. Many veteran fans would certainly remember the many hours spent in finally achieving success. But then, persisting to overcome a difficult challenge is a huge part of the gamebook idea; some fans have complained in the past that some adventures were too easy! Jonathan Green's 'Knights of Doom' is one example of hard difficulty, yet the in-depth writing, world atmosphere, and brilliant illustrations are entertaining enough to play through at least several times. Sometimes death entries in themselves were very memorable and ingenious (featured in all FF titles).
TheStabbyBrit Sun Sep 27 17:28:41 2015
Seems odd that there is apparently no way to help the girl AND find the mandatory items required to complete the adventure.
SPOILER
Also, the "best" ending can be obtained with one skill check and one fight.
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Still, I've played the hell out of this, so I can't knock it too much. I just wish there was a bit more of it!
Rose Sun Jan 10 18:02:01 2016
Oh my god, second time I've tried to complete this and then died in combat. So annoying!
nasu Sun Dec 18 06:50:07 2016
this took literally 2 minutes and i took the scythe just cus lol
Hud Tue Jan 3 21:02:44 2017
Died within minutes, loved it
MadRol Fri Feb 17 15:35:38 2017
Well... That was quick!
bluejuice915 Tue Apr 4 15:14:14 2017
A good quick game. I literally completed this during school out of boredom, without maping. It was good. Quality plot, skilled execution, and variety of choices in how to win. I'm hoping I missed a insta-death near the end, because those are always a nice touch. Very good though. Grade: 99
RogueOne Fri Nov 3 13:37:06 2017
Done!
Pristha Thu Aug 2 00:17:04 2018
cool how it feels like I'm the person
paul Fri Mar 15 17:35:42 2019
killed by skellies.
Metodej Fri Mar 22 17:41:23 2019
Finaly i get into this ffproject. Garden of bone is short, damn good written and hard as fvck. Played 5th time and still cant finish it!
Drekketh Tue Feb 11 07:30:41 2020
Although a short and relatively easy adventure, prose and writing is beautiful.
AW Mon Apr 13 14:27:10 2020
Miss these books
Winner Thu Sep 17 13:00:55 2020
first try
Mage Thu Oct 21 02:01:33 2021
Another one down!
Cable Fri Nov 25 15:39:26 2022
Got em
YARD Thu Sep 14 14:06:26 2023
Another one of the bite-sized 50-ref adventures on here. I maintain that the format is nearly always too small, and at least 70 are needed (i.e. Lair of the Troglodytes) to help avoid the right path feeling insubstantial, as seen with many comments here. Perhaps the only exception I recall is The Cold Heart Of Chaos, which had a more reasonable main path length due to being a lot more linear (and heavy on skillchecks) than this and most other stories of this size. Well, and I guess Impudent Peasant! felt good at 50 refs and quite a bit of freedom, but it did seem to have a lot more text per ref than is usual for these stories as well.
The background here is VERY heavy on references to canon books, possibly setting a record of sorts. The adventure itself feels like Bad Moon Rising where your character can actually die - and not just because both are set in tombs! Besides that, I found the writing of some "action scenes" really reminiscent - refs like 6 or 45 (or the ultimately doomed alternative to 45) are just really cool. Generally, the writing flows well, there are a lot more incidental characters than you might expect from its length and they all do their best to leave an impression, and the final bad ending is actually quite impressive. I also like that unlike too many other stories, this one has been pretty thoroughly proofread already.
At the same time, I am really glad that there are two possible ways to win - in part because viable choices are good, sure, but mostly because one of those ways makes absolutely no sense.
SPOILER
What were those bellows even meant to do originally? Why on Titan did Lucius keep them there, in spite of his whole mistwalker habit? It feels about as contrived as the whole "bottle with powerful restorative potion just randomly floats down the river past your boat" in Rebels of the Dark Chasms.
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Some other encounters also seem weird, particularly considering your stated background.
SPOILER
How did you survive Deathtrap Dungeon in the first place if a single, old guy with a broken sword and Skill 6 was able to instantly kill you? Or indeed, if a single disembodied head was able to ambush you and immediately knock out your sword, regardless of Skill?
For that matter, an EMPTY BOTTLE dealing 4 damage (i.e. twice as much as a sword strike) is incredible, in a bad way. You would also think that someone who had survived a whole gamebook before would know wear a freaking helmet? Or should we take this as a sign that Hakasan Za really was the canonical protagonist of Deathtrap Dungeon, since she also does not seem to like helmets, as seen from the illustrations?
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Some comments on the mechanics as well.
SPOILER
At 14, you lose your sword and fight with a branch, of all things, yet receive no Skill penalty? Those heads are certainly weak enough that you would expect the penalty to be in place. (Not to mention you would expect the Dwarf's axe to be more effective than makeshift clubs.) There is also no Skill penalty at 44?
The Club is not actually added to inventory at 67/63.
Talking to Gunben makes no difference in how you choose to approach 7?
Does the scorpion instakill you at 54 if it wins a round, or only if it rolls double sixes?
Luck point additions are a little irrelevant in the digital version.
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Lastly, I mentioned that the story has already been proofread quite well, so there's not much for me to point out this time.