How is it in terms of cruelty, then? And logic? After "Curses" and "Jigsaw", both of which I gave up on, read the walkthrough for, and asked aloud, "How the hell was anyone supposed to think of that?", I haven't been dying to try anything else by him.
It feels like I'm around halfway through, after four or five dedicated hours of play, without consulting any outside help. Taking a break from it for now. For all I know.
The prologue is odd in that you have to solve a fairly involved puzzle before you can even save your game, and you'll probably die and restart many times before then, but it's a small map. I was never frustrated. (And I didn't solve it the "right" way.)
Actually the whole game is odd for reasons you'll quickly discover if you do start playing it. I have twice solved puzzles through brute force and luck (yes, luck; there's non-determinism afoot) and then happened upon their more elegant solutions, well after the lock had been opened. I'm not sure I like that much. But I still dig the game.
So, given access to the interactive fiction archives... can you recommend any "beginner" games? i.e. stuff that won't make me want to defenestrate my laptop because I'm forced to play "guess the parser" or "sorry, you didn't frob the frammistan 850 turns ago, and now you're screwed."
What comes immediately to mind is my colleague radiotelescope's own Dreamhold, which was written specifically for the purpose, and includes a togglable "tutorial voice". (I played without it and thought it was a great game.)
Emily Short has also written an intended beginner-friendly piece called Bronze, which I have not played yet.
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Date: 2006-04-10 12:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-10 12:47 am (UTC)The prologue is odd in that you have to solve a fairly involved puzzle before you can even save your game, and you'll probably die and restart many times before then, but it's a small map. I was never frustrated. (And I didn't solve it the "right" way.)
Actually the whole game is odd for reasons you'll quickly discover if you do start playing it. I have twice solved puzzles through brute force and luck (yes, luck; there's non-determinism afoot) and then happened upon their more elegant solutions, well after the lock had been opened. I'm not sure I like that much. But I still dig the game.
Hintlet: The PDF "feelie" that'd downloadable,
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Date: 2006-04-10 12:49 am (UTC)The PDF "feelie" that's downloadable from that web webpage contains some hints and is a fun read too.
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Date: 2006-04-10 09:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-10 09:38 pm (UTC)Emily Short has also written an intended beginner-friendly piece called Bronze, which I have not played yet.