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Post by Joseph Joestar on Nov 8, 2014 23:39:48 GMT -5
I have to draw a text adventure, I hate you guys so much you have no idea. Oh, you should draw a Grue! This is a fantastic idea. Get on it, kal, chop chop.
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Post by zerker on Nov 9, 2014 8:18:19 GMT -5
To be fair, one of the downloads for the GOG edition is an illustrated bestiary of Zork creatures (the Beyond Zork Lore and Legends PDF).
But the picture for a GRUE is just a pile of bones, an empty helmet and a broken axe. I have no idea how many of the rest actually show up in the first Zork (YET).
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Post by Ryusui on Nov 9, 2014 13:44:58 GMT -5
There is no known difference between various computer ports, right? I was planning on playing the C64, Spectrum or Amstrad version since I have those handy at the moment. There might be some slight revisions in later releases, but the actual game itself shouldn't be any different between contemporaneous releases; the game's written for the Z-Machine, a VM for running text adventures, which was ported to each platform Infocom released its games on. In fact, if you can access the actual contents of the disk image, you should find a file with a ".zip" or ".dat" extension; if you can transfer it to your PC, it should run in any Z-Machine interpreter.
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Post by Joseph Joestar on Nov 9, 2014 19:47:18 GMT -5
I've mapped a decent amount of stuff but haven't made much progress. Once I clean up my maps I'll put them up, if any of you feel better about sharing maps amongst ourselves than existing ones.
When you get to the maze, if you want to make your own map, you'll need to drop items in each new room you enter or you won't have a frame of reference about where you are. Afterwards reload and then walk the maze using your map.
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Post by Joseph Joestar on Nov 10, 2014 9:35:47 GMT -5
Here's something of potential interest - it's a typewritten manuscript for the 1986 interactive fiction game "Amnesia" by Electronic Arts; it's interesting seeing the way it's organized with regards to the conditional statements, and stuff about randomized content. ascii.textfiles.com/images/amnesia_manuscript.pdf
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Post by Ike on Nov 10, 2014 18:17:13 GMT -5
Just want to drop in here to say that Zork: Grand Inquisitor was the first PC game I owned and it rules. Thanks
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Post by Joseph Joestar on Nov 10, 2014 19:15:59 GMT -5
Just want to drop in here to say that Zork: Grand Inquisitor was the first PC game I owned and it rules. Thanks Is that the one with the severed head puzzle?
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Post by Ike on Nov 10, 2014 19:22:55 GMT -5
No, I don't think so. It's the 3D one with the live action actors and the dollar store Indiana Jones knockoff.
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Post by Bobinator on Nov 10, 2014 20:42:29 GMT -5
You're probably thinking of Zork Nemesis, which tried to make the series all grimdark and such before Grand Inquisitor went the entirely opposite direction.
("I! AM! THE BOSS! OF YOU!")
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Post by zerker on Nov 11, 2014 19:17:49 GMT -5
Time for some spoilery hints of things I've figured out. I'll be excluding things I've been told by others and let them post themselves. To get down in the Dome Room... Tie the rope to the railing. You can't get up this way, but if you keep exploring, you'll end up out in the Cave connected to the south branch of the Round room. You can also find the torch here, which will let you give your lantern a rest. Maze directions: To get to from Troll room to the corpse: W (enter), S, E, U
To get from corpse to Cyclops room: SW, E, U, W, SE
To get from Cyclops room to Troll room: NW (enter), S, D, S, N, E
To get from corpse to Grating room: SW, U, D, NE
To get from Grating room back to corpse: SW (enter), SW, D
To get from corpse to Troll room: N, W, S, E
Maze map (probably less useful than the directions, honestly). Icons are whatever I dropped on the ground to map that room. U and D represent up/down paths. EDIT: MORE! When you find the adventurer in the maze... Do NOT type 'get all'. Or save first and try it . If you want to get back to the house easier... Go through the Maze to the Grate room. Unlock the grate with the skeleton key (if it wasn't obvious) then head up and back to the house (south then south if you didn't explore the forest before) and go back down the trap door. The door will no longer shut behind you! This makes it much easier to put items in the case. To traverse further north than the Reservoir: Go into the Dam maintenance room, and press all buttons other than the Blue one and grab the wrench. Go back outside and turn the bolt using the wrench. This will drain the reservoir. If you're wondering what's up with the pile of plastic under the Dam... It's an inflatable boat! You get a hand pump later.
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Post by xerxes on Nov 16, 2014 10:58:51 GMT -5
Woah, thanks Zerker! I definitely didn't realize that about the "pile of plastic." When I see/read the word "valve" I think it's something I can turn, open, or close...
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Post by zerker on Nov 16, 2014 12:16:52 GMT -5
Oh yeah, and with regards to that... make sure to clearly place any sharp objects inside it before setting off. Anything in your pocket will puncture it.
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Post by Joseph Joestar on Nov 17, 2014 9:41:41 GMT -5
Well I beat the game, but I had to cheat and look up two treasures' solutions do do so - so I guess I'm disqualified? At the same time, one of the two was a completely arbitrary and bullshit puzzle; all I can say is that if you see an object and can take it, take it. If you get points from it, it's needed to finish the game. That's another obscure puzzle that I found out the answer from zerker or sotenga: You need to put treasures in the trophy case in the living room at the start. Obvious, right? Oh yeah, and with regards to that... make sure to clearly place any sharp objects inside it before setting off. Anything in your pocket will puncture it. Make sure to grab the buoy when you're on the boat. Another one (well, series of interrelated treasures) that's hard to find but somehow I figured out was... You know the egg at the beginning? The one you got when you climbed a tree north of the house? It needs to be opened (which isn't made apparent that it even can be, when you look at it. If you crack it open you're fucked. But it gives you a clue that there's something you need inside. You need to give it to the thief and give him some time to open it for you. If you don't then you're fucked. ...but that's not the end of it... You then need to take the clockwork canary and wind it back at the place with the tree you found the egg. Then you'll get a brass bauble, which the game gave you no fucking indication existed, aside from the fact that "hey there's a canary chirping" and winding the canary makes it sing. There were a lot of puzzles like that I found out because either I was fucking around or because I figured the game would expect you to do something stupid like that based on a really minor clue.
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Post by zerker on Nov 17, 2014 19:57:54 GMT -5
So apparently you actually need to find all the treasures to beat the game. From talking to Joestar on IRC, here's the full list. Make sure to put them all in the case A crystal skull A trunk of jewels A crystal trident A chalice A leather bag of coins A platinum bar A sceptre A painting A torch A large emerald A clockwork canary A brass bauble A pot of gold A jewelled scarab A jewel-encrusted egg An exquisite jade figurine A sapphire-encrusted bracelet A gold coffin A huge diamond
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Post by Joseph Joestar on Nov 18, 2014 10:22:22 GMT -5
So apparently you actually need to find all the treasures to beat the game. From talking to Joestar on IRC, here's the full list. Make sure to put them all in the case Also I didn't know you had to put them in the case until zerker told me - ironically I noticed it's in the booklet, but I somehow didn't notice, lol. In retrospect, it would have been nice if they gave you a list of treasures you were looking for in the "flavor text" instead of talking about the Flatheads and such. Not that it's bad - the flavor text stuff in the manual is rather funny and it does a good job setting the tone for the weirdness in the series (which isn't always apparent in the first Zork at least). I've started Zork II but haven't gotten very far. Also I've been doing some reading up and I'm debating playing one of Infocom's last games for comparison with their first. I'd played part of Shogun years ago but never finished it; I'm debating whether I should play that or Journey (which is a fantasy text adventure game). From what I've seen/read, Infocom moved away from having more open-ended games and started doing linear, narrative-based games more along the lines of visual novels. Shogun certainly was; it also wasn't a very good adventure, and a lot of stuff required that you'd read the novel (which I had because I'm a weeaboo and that was near the peak of my weeabooness phase). Similarly I was reading that EA's last text adventure, Amnesia, was incredibly linear and only really had the illusion of being a big, sprawling game - it had tons of locations, but most of them served no purpose or were deathtraps, forcing you to stick to certain areas (although apparently part of that was because half the script was cut in order to fit on a floppy). One question I have for Kurt or others is, (since I haven't played any Legend Entertainment games) - are the games from Legend more linear as well?
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