The lady in the magic tower can only be rescued if you picked the right special skill at the beginning of the game. But as Nameless One said, you don't have to try too hard. Rescuing her isn't what i'd call rewarding... But if you really wsh to do that here's the way:

SPOILER

END SPOILER

Hope you find that helpful, waterbased.

Anyway, about the difficulty rating suggested by Dark, I'm not sure if it'd be as helpful as it sounds, the reason being that different people will have different opinions about what's difficult. Not everyone might agree with the list provided by the site admin. The ones at the two ends of the list are probably easier, since I don't think anyone here would dispute that a book like Hellfire is more difficult than, say, Impudent Peasant. But those in the middle would be hard to rank. I, personally, would rank Bodies in the Docks further below the list, mainly because of the difficult combats at the end, even though the 'true path' is easy to find. It all depends on what you're ranking them by. If combat difficulty is the main criteria, Curse of the Yeti would obviously be first, since there are no actual combats or stats in the book. But if the difficulty is about finding the true path, it would go a lot lower, due to the rather confusing maze-like settings.

Not to shoot this idea down entirely though. For the ranking list to be really helpful, it would need a more detailed structure. Perhaps a difficulty rating in all the usual criterias (with numerical 1-5 values), then making the list using the average values. For example:

House of Horror:

Combat Difficulty: 2

Navigation (finding the true path): 4

Random Disasters: 1 (there are no references whereby you are just told to roll a dice, not testing any stats, and die if you roll an odd number, or a value below 3)

Stat-testing frequency: 2

Amount/lethality of dead ends and deathtraps: 3 (probably connected with navigation as well, but navigation also involves having enough clues to know where to go next or where to avoid, while this one also takes into account of how much chance you have of surviving when making the wrong options, in addition to how often you run into them).

Item-hunting: 3

Average rating: (2+4+1+2+3+3)/6 = 3.5

Perhaps no a very accurate rating either. There are probably other difficulty factors which I hadn't considered. This is just a rough sketch of the ratings structure I have in mind. Another way is to display the ratings for all the factors rather than just showing the average. That way, the readers can choose for themselves whether they like to navigate a complex maze or fight tough monsters, of perhaps all of them.

Just a suggestion, of course. I do realise it might take quite a bit of work and time, perhaps more than necessary. I personally don't mind if there's a difficulty rating or not, much better to find out by reading. After all, the site admin and the book authors aren't making us pay to read the books, so we won't have to worry about wasting money on a book that we end up hating. :D Anyway, if you do set up a ratings section later, I hope my idea is worth considering. (though of course, you might have already thought of that).

Dark
Sun Nov 20 18:31:39 2005

Well personally Gbf, it wasn't in terms of dice rolling that I was thinking of the difficulty raiting. After all sinse these books are online, you can add whatever page your on to the favourites list and thus have a save point. i hope this isn't cheating or against the rules, I just felt that something like Hellfire is a bit much to play through in one sitting.

Anyway, as far as difficulty goes, I was thinking purely in terms of puzles and alternate paths, and also to a lesser degree, how much of a maze the game locations are. this would mean that novices who come to the site --- like me, wouldn't find themselves embroiled in the horrors of something like Hellfire or Laire of the trogs too soon.

while I know that some people who come here are obviously big fans of the genre and have been playing for years, others (maybe because they need a screen reader), might not.

I've played through bits of interactive fiction aka Text adventures such as Zork before, but these are generally different from gamebooks sinse you can often go back to where you were before, there's no combat whatsoever, and a greator --- sometimes too great! emphasis on finding your way. There are also no stats, and thus no rewards other than in game ones such as opening a locked door.

for this reason some difficulty ratings would be sort of nice.

Btw, thanks for the hint reguarding project.aon, I've been wading through the Lonewolf series and very good they are.

jml
Sat Apr 22 15:30:20 2006

what is the maze masters riddle answer in midnight deep. i donot! under stand!!!

Me
Fri Apr 28 06:47:04 2006

Hello jml.
I won't tell you then answer, just let me emphasise this piece of information:
The number of flowers in the lake doubles overnight!

asgardian
Sun Jun 18 01:35:44 2006

Well, I've finished Impudent Peasant and Black Lobster, both of which were quite good given the limited timeframe. Midnight Deep was more challenging. Like the old FF books, it really traded on the fact that certain scores were high. You need a Skill of 12 and then be able to find the extra 4 points that can go to Luck to survive. That's fine, but it debunks this myth that characters with low stats can survive. Curse of the Yeti was tad odd, as once a certain item was found it led to a very easy win.

On another note, I think it a real shame that Mark J. Popp's site is gone. It was a great read. I salvaged what I could from the link for later reading. I wonder if Wizard had it closed down with the revival of the FF line? I hope Mark didn't close the door thinking FF was finally gone and actually miss the rebirth.

Anyway, onward.

I remember well that the original gamebooks contained a statement to the effect that they could be completed fairly easily, whatever the initial dice rolls were. This was nearly always a lie of course, and the same seems to be true of the amateur gamebooks. The notable exception is House Of Horror, but as you have noticed Midnight Deep and Andrew Wright's gamebooks avoid the problem altogether by having different mechanisms for determining the initial values.

I have no inside information about what happened to Mark J. Popp's site, but I tend to think that if Wizard had wanted to steal his domain name they would have done so when they first started publishing FF (then they could have put it on the books). The available evidence is consistent with the idea that Mark simply lost interest a long time ago and let the domain lapse, or maybe even sold it.

Claire
Sat Mar 10 21:06:42 2007

Hey,

Just wanted to ask, you know in midnight deep when you're at the thre doors in Shadnezzar, I've gone through them all in turn and the story just ends there. What do I need to have in order to get through one of them without dying?

Claire
Thu Mar 15 16:48:17 2007

Hey, could someone please please please help me with Midnight Deep. It's driving me mad! How do u get through one of the three doors in Shadnezzar, I die every time I go through one. I must need something to get through one of them. If someone knows, will they please help me out!

Gamebook Fanatic
Fri Mar 16 11:57:29 2007

I haven't played Midnight Deep for a long time, so I can't give you the details. This is what I can remember:

SPOILER

END SPOILER

Sorry I can't be of much help. I know those are rather vague, but if you've already encountered any of those I mentioned above, you should know which "door" you have to take. You may want to flip through the earlier pages in the guestbook. I believe others have asked similar questions before (and were answered).

Claire
Fri Mar 16 15:07:45 2007

Thanks a lot for that, I actually don't have any of those items, don't know how that happened. I think I'm going to start the game over again. Should be fun, thanks again.

Claire
Sat Mar 17 14:02:26 2007

Hey everyone,

I've just finished Midnight Deep. What a classic!! I think that and Outsider are the best gamebooks I've finished so far. Can't wait to do more.

Jayde
Sun Apr 1 06:25:59 2007

Hi, folks. I have a question about Midnight Deep. I've gotten fairly far in that game, but every time I reach the part where you must go to sleep (you pass through a door in a temple, with monks), I end up dead. I obviously need sigils of either the light, the middle or the dark path, but I don't know which sigils are which and don't know how to find out. Could anyone list which I would need upon which path? Beyond that, I think I'm good.

Claire
Sun Apr 1 12:42:27 2007

Jade,

In relation to Midnight Deep, I had to ask the same question a while ago. I finished the game by going the good way, you know through the light, I presume you can win regardless of the path you choose.

Anyway, for going the good way, you need to first choose the good way when you're in the dream and the old woman asks you to choose a door, you wake up and have an object with you, I can't remember what it is. Anyway, when you're on your travels you must come across a snake and kill it, you take the snake's skin with you and when you reach the next village, you go to the jeweler's and she makes a bracelet out of the skin, then wehn you come to the monks' place, go through the good door and you won't die.
Also, if you wish to go the bad way, you choose the third door in the dream and wake up with an object. Then on your travels, you must spend a night in a graveyard, battle with a ghost thing and afterwards you get another object, thehn when you come to the monks' place, you take the third door.

That might seem a bit vague, but hope it helps. Just remember that whatever way you choose in the dream, you must continue on that path later on.

Guest Thu Oct 25 18:19:57 2007	Midnight Deep is AWESOME. Could you add a downloadable verison? Its as good as all but the very very best FF books
	You can get the original text here : http://www.shadowvault.net/amateurgamebooks.htm.

farisz
Mon Jun 16 16:43:10 2008

help me with these problem please!!!

SPOILER

END SPOILER

duffmeister
Sat Aug 23 10:45:09 2008

Does 'Midnight Deep' have multiple endings (ie: can you be a champion of balance)?

SPOILER

END SPOILER

Meneginas
Mon Sep 8 11:04:11 2008

Hi there,

First and foremost my congratulations on the great work done on this website.

Now to my question.

SPOILER

END SPOILER

Can you please offer any help as I am intrigued by the atmosphere of this book and I would hate having to leave it incompelte.
All the best
Meneginas

duffmeister
Mon Sep 8 16:27:11 2008

Meneginas:

SPOILER

END SPOILER

Kemian
Fri Jul 31 16:07:15 2009

Hi can anyone give me a hint with Midnight Deep
Im at the part where

SPOILER

END SPOILER

Thanks for a great site. Much enjoying the games so far. keep up the good work

asgardian
Sat Aug 1 05:03:56 2009

Kemian,

from memory this is what you have to do:

SPOILER

END SPOILER

Oriol
Sun Aug 30 12:16:59 2009

Stuck on midnight deep:
I get through the whole thing, and when I get to the ruins there's a place with 3 doors, I tried each but I need tokens. Went through the whole thign like 5 times and I can't find the tokens anywhere.
Any hints?
Thx

21 to 40 of 75 | [next] [previous] | [first] [last]