Fighting Fantasy #54: Legend of Zagor
Zagor! The very name of the Warlock of Firetop Mountain strikes terror into all who hear it. Banished from the world of Titan, the sorcerer is slowly but surely regaining his strength. Within Castle Argent, in the kingdom of Amarillia, Zagor has been transformed into a demon.
Such is his power, he must be destroyed. There are several adventurers willing to volunteer – mighty Anvar the barbarian, the warrior Braxus, Stubble the dwarf, Sallazar the wizard – but only one will be chosen. Are YOU that hero?
The third and final book in the ‘Zagor trilogy’, Legend of Zagor follows on from events in Return to Firetop Mountain, though this time the story takes place in another world. It was published in 1993 and written by Ian Livingstone.
Once again a hero is needed to thwart the plans of Zagor, who this time has fused his body with that of a demon. Unlike previous books and in fact unique in the Fighting Fantasy series, you get to choose from four different heroes to play as: Barbarian, Dwarf, Warrior and Wizard. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages which come into play throughout the story, a fact which makes this book quite replayable.
Once you have chosen a hero, you set off in search of Zagor. He is in the ruins of Castle Argent this time rather than beneath Firetop Mountain and, although this book has much in common with a dungeon crawl, it is much more dynamic; you can return to previous areas of the book in certain circumstances, for instance. The inhabitants and traps of in the castle also make more sense than in the previous two Zagor books; they all have a reason to be there, even the people who are friendly towards you (the knight you can meet is the only surviving knight and has holed up, for example).
The text itself and the way the story is written is an improvement again over Return to Firetop Mountain (which was an improvement over The Warlock of Firetop Mountain). Like the previous books, you still need to collect certain items along the way (golden talismans and silver daggers in this case) but you can still win without actually gaining any of these. And although the book is difficult, it is not too difficult; you always feel that you are not far away from winning and, with the choice of four different characters to play as, you always feel that the book is different on subsequent read-throughs.
Another thing that stood out to me in the book was the artwork: I have always been a fan of Martin McKenna, and in this book he has excelled. It really captures the story quite well.
My record with the book was not great. I played four times (once with each character) and didn’t complete it. I did make it to the final encounter with Zagor while playing as Stubble the Dwarf, but did not survive (I entered combat against him with only 2 STAMINA points…) Still, each read-through was quite enjoyable. Overall a good book and recommended.
RATING: 8.5 out of 10
Angst (Tower of the Sun) said,
July 4, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Hi EK
May I make a special request: Would you mind doing a review of FF’s “Bloodbones,” if you happen to have the time to spare and own a copy?
Kind regards
~Angst~
eternalknight said,
July 4, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Can do. It won’t be the next review done, but I will certainly do it!
lee said,
July 19, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I dont expect you did survive this book.It took me ages to beat it (and I always cheat on initial dice rolls),The thing I hated about the later FF books was how hard they were.The publishers obviously dont playtest them.My case in point is the book Spellbreaker.I beleive it is virtually impossible to beat it legitimately because the ‘true way’ requires you to throw four or so exact dice rolls.Otherwise the book is one of the best of the series (Spellbreaker that is).