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A Flame In The North




jhaelen
Thu Feb 19 13:13:12 2015
I already enjoyed 'A shadow on the north' but felt it was a bit short due to the branching, but 'A flame in the north' is truly epic. I like how there seem to be (at least!) two entirely different approaches to succeed.
It's a really cool mechanic that the first part is running on a timer, encouraging replay to optimize your moves and achieve as much as possible before the climactic battle.

I've just been wondering why several of the fights seem to be so hard with the enemies always evading my attacks. How is it determined if they evade? Is there anything that can be done to prevent them from doing that?
There are in fact three different routes to success, one of which is much shorter than the other two. The way some enemies evade your attacks is not part of the standard mechanism, it's defined on a case-by-case basis, presumably to introduce some variety in combat. Here's an example from the original (reference 125) :

GLAIVE THIEF STAMINA: 6 SKILL: 6

Special Condition: AGILITY: when you win a combat round, roll a dice. If 1 or 2 the thief dodges your sword, sustaining no STAMINA damage.

I've implemented these special conditions as closely as I could. There's nothing you can do about it in general, but what I would say is that this is a relatively easy gamebook for its size, and if a fight appears too difficult at first glance there is always a way to improve your chances.

jhaelen
Fri Feb 20 10:42:14 2015
Thanks for the explanation - I guess I must have had some really bad luck with the dice rolling then :)

I've been following hints for a third solution but wasn't sure if it's actually achievable - good to know there's a way!

I've also had fun trying to hunt down the Crimson Hand - so far I managed to find and defeat four of them.

I'm not sure how difficult this gamebook is compared to others, but I like that it's generally very fair and the consequences of taking various actions always make sense. So, again my compliments to the author!
My victory using the most obvious route was a close call indeed: In the end I had 1 stamina left...

I'm really looking forward to the conclusion of this trilogy.

P.S.: I think I found one error: In paragraph 255 you get to choose between using a hammer or a mace - the paragraphs for these two choices seem to be swapped.
It is possible to kill all five of the Crimson Hand.

There's a rough difficulty rating for each of the gamebooks here. It looks like A Flame In The North will either be 'fairly easy' or 'medium difficulty'.

Thanks for pointing out the error. In fact they aren't reversed, it's a mistake in the text at 555 which until I just corrected it said 'mace' when it should have said 'hammer'.

Claire
Tue Mar 10 12:13:06 2015
Hi,

Richard, thanks so much for a wonderful game. I've been hooked on it the last few days but not managed to crack it yet.

I understand there are a few ways to win.

At present I'm concentrating on reaching Lord Fenric's
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Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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Richard
Tue Mar 10 13:41:01 2015
Dear Claire,

Thanks for the feedback! With regard to your questions...

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As to the antidote,
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Claire
Tue Mar 10 13:53:13 2015
Hi again Richard,

Thanks for the help.

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Richard
Tue Mar 10 14:32:51 2015
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Sugar
Sat Mar 21 13:15:07 2015
Star - optimum ending reached
I have thoroughly enjoyed this well-written and thrilling adventure. Waiting for more!

josh
Wed Apr 22 02:26:22 2015
Star - optimum ending reached
wow, that was a truly awesome experience. I cant wait for the next chapter to the story! I thought the first part was awesome but this, this is something else. I felt so cool leading a hole army against the necromancer, and if I do say so myself I did so very well. Anyway

josh
Wed Apr 22 04:47:57 2015
On a side note of this story's well written brilliance, and fantastically played strategic options. Well can anyone tell me when the third part will be released?

jack
Wed Jun 17 04:27:56 2015
Star - optimum ending reached
dope

Stephen Balnave
Tue Jul 14 03:56:37 2015
Star - optimum ending reached
Combat was much more challenging than in the Shadow in the North. I had to replay it multiple times due to unfavorable die rolls. Good story though. The time limit added to the urgency and excitement.

Red Art
Tue Sep 1 06:36:06 2015
Star - optimum ending reached
Truly epic. It's a great feeling to see that your actions have a significant impact in the battle's development.
I have really begun to admire your work and this masterpiece gamebook proves how great of an author you are. Thank you Richard Evans.

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Smito000
Thu Sep 3 13:25:44 2015
Just completed the yesterday after repeated bashings, great adventure, looking forward to the next one.

Sophia
Thu Jul 7 20:43:31 2016
Star - optimum ending reached
I just played through the first two of the trilogy (which I loved), and I'm wondering if part 3 is out yet.
All I know is I don't have it.

Dean
Tue Mar 14 11:32:41 2017
Star - optimum ending reached
A really brilliant adventure! I can't wait for the final chapter :)

Dean
Thu Mar 16 11:07:46 2017
Star - optimum ending reached
A really brilliant adventure! I can't wait for the final chapter :)

Jorge C
Sat Apr 8 16:10:08 2017
Star - optimum ending reached
great books!! lots of paths to follow and decisions to make but its quite addictive!

Emanuele
Mon Jul 17 18:26:59 2017
Really good story, very well written. It is a pity that the third (and final!) installment is not available. Considering the amount of time that has passed with no news, I am a bit discouraged in hoping that the final chapter will be ever available.

Nevertheless, many congratulations to Richard Evans!

Emanuele
Wed Jul 26 17:20:35 2017
Star - optimum ending reached
I am replaying to try kill all five assassins of the Crimson Hand. So far I have only found four of them.
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I have replayed a few times now with no luck. Anyone knows where is the one I am missing? Is there any reward for killing all five of them?

Riftwalker
Wed Sep 27 15:39:43 2017
Star - optimum ending reached
Good but a bit short. Looking forward to part 3

SteveA
Mon Nov 19 19:03:53 2018
Star - optimum ending reached
This has been quite an impressive adventure. The starting from the Shadow of the North reminded me of times when I'd just installed a new fantasy game on my computer (i.e. Everquest or Dark Age of Camelot) and the epic buildup in Flame of the North reminds me some of the Dragon Reborn series. The city defense theme was also particularly enjoyable to see, especially considering I'd actually been thinking of creating an adventure with some similar elements. Kudos to you Sir or Madam. Between these 2 adventures I've probably spent at least 10 hours. Thanks to FFPROJECT.COM as well for making the material so accessible.

paul
Sat Mar 23 22:04:08 2019
Skull - non-optimum ending reached
should have used words rather than action :(

Thalantyr
Fri Aug 23 16:55:45 2019
Where's the final part?

I love these books. :)

Brent
Thu Mar 12 02:48:26 2020
Skull - non-optimum ending reached
Very well written but Titan fight provide's no options that result in anything other than death. Final battle is not heavily impacted by character actions.

Andyzero
Thu Aug 6 00:56:44 2020
Star - optimum ending reached
Very good. Shame the third story was never made.

Joonseok
Mon Dec 7 21:09:28 2020
Can you get the download links for the Doc versions of "A Shadow in the North" and "A Flame in the North" working again? I would much prefer to print out the adventures and read them.

Brob
Mon Apr 12 12:00:16 2021
Hello, is the sequel "A Light in the North" available?
As far as I know it is not yet written.

Brob
Fri Apr 16 12:28:56 2021
Thanks, I hope we can read the completed sequel soon! Looking forward to the epic conclusion!

ZMFC
Wed Jun 7 20:43:23 2023
Well I messed up real quick but this is very well made.

MPerera
Fri Sep 8 01:56:35 2023
Star - optimum ending reached
This was a challenge and I died quite a few times, but it felt great to finally win that awful battle in the end!

Too bad there isn't a third book, this journey really deserves completion.

YARD
Mon Sep 18 13:02:43 2023
Star - optimum ending reached
Finally saw all the four endings!

I must say, this seems like the primary candidate for a suggestion I voiced earlier, about "intermediate" ending markers. For all the other stories, they would promote some of the endings which currently give skulls even though you survive and are not doing too badly at the end of them, but here, they would demote the

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Since it's really, really clear that they are not meant to be seen as "successful", even if it can still take quite a bit of effort to win in those ways.

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Speaking of:

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YARD
Mon Sep 18 13:33:56 2023
Less important weirdness:

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And some continuity.

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With these comments out of the way, I'll concur with everyone else that this is very much a worthy follow-up to A Shadow in the North, one which retains its strengths and improves upon it as well. The city really is in a desperate situation, as you can see even from afar, with the rain of ash at 101. Once inside, the numerous times you can stumble into traps (or at least tricks/shakedowns) laid by the seemingly friendly characters only underscore that. Same goes for even more minor details, like the way herbalist’s stall is laid out at 159. The "taxation" option, and the response to it, is excellent. And I am not even getting into the "core" encounters required to either escape or to mitigate Necromancer's hordes. Perhaps the only exception is that 110 feels surprisingly idealistic.

YARD
Mon Sep 18 13:43:46 2023
I should also say that the Talrasian Mage/Defender is a much better defined protagonist now, and his dialogue/internal monologue is actually pretty great when you make the right choices. More importantly, even many of the wrong/less-desirable choices have internal monologue that is convincing, which is no easy thing to do. In general, the addition of a timer, with quite a range of options being "feel-good" but offering you nothing substantial and taking up time, is certainly a step forward from there being effectively no benefits to avoiding rest and speeding along in the first part (other than that one time you get ambushed for more STAMINA than if you had just walked through the night.)

There's clearly been more of an effort to add modifiers and such to battles as well: while they can sometimes go a bit too far (i.e. the Wraiths up until you guess the one option which works the best on them), when they work well (i.e. Acolytes of the Blade). it stands out. (And also makes the ways you get to bypass those encounters, like the really awesome one at 277, all the more precious.)

Further, I was already impressed how even the goblin army in A Shadow in the North actually thought through military tactics properly (in fact, they were smarter than the Wildlings/Starks in A Game of Thrones, never letting their prized trolls go anywhere without armour, while Wun Wun was infamously wasted in a completely predictable manner), but the Necromancer's army takes this much, much further.

The only exception, ironically, is the Titan: the one time where "game" REALLY visibly overpowers "book", and the logic of power curve (bosses must be last) overwhelms the military logic (there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON not to send out the Titan first, since it is literally completely useless outside of a siege or a massive pitched battle, while the basic ghouls, the fancier chitinous creatures and especially the fliers have far, FAR greater day-to-day utility, and all are wasted pointlessly if a Titan can do the job either way.) That aside, the siege is still an awesome moment: while Hunger of the Wolf also had a pretty good one, with similar mechanics, this is clearly on another level.

Unfortunately, it seems extremely unlikely that we are ever going to get A Light in the North nowadays, almost a decade since these two instalments. It reminds me of a story you probably don't know of (but really should): a free RPG Maker game called A Blurred Line - that one had a more sci-fi/science fantasy setting, but it was also quite dark, and remarkable for having a substantially branching plot, particularly for a JRPG-style game. Like here, it was only done to about two-thirds, and the final third is over 20 years past the initially promised date.

I wonder if for both of these cases, it's the same issue as what befell Berserk and A Song of Ice and Fire - the authors started out without too many ambitions, and readily embraced genre conventions along the way, but once they got going, they became so engrossed in the worlds they made, that to write out an ending which everyone could see from the start, an ending which the genre conventions they used as building blocks had demanded, began to feel like an unthinkable chore rather than as a triumphal conclusion, and so it never happened. Perhaps the parallels with Dark Souls and with The Banner Saga (which is much more group-focused, yet follows practically the same structure of "journey-capital city siege-cleanse heart of darkness") ended up weighing too much. Or perhaps it was the dreaded logic of the power curve again: how do you top fighting a hydra, a Titan and winged undead beings, in addition to the elementals and wyrms of the first part?

YARD
Mon Sep 18 13:47:01 2023
And now, proofreading. Split into sets once again.

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YARD
Mon Sep 18 13:48:51 2023
The other set.

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