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Infocoms interactive fiction games

v1rus

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Which ones are worth a shot?

Also, any other devs from that time making similar games?
 

Bumvelcrow

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Which ones are worth a shot?

Also, any other devs from that time making similar games?

Most of them are good but difficult. My personal faves are Stationfall (very hard), Spellbreaker, Trinity, Starcross, and Leather Goddesses of Phobos. A gentler introduction would be Wishbringer, and the Zorks are good old fashioned treasure hunts.

Jinxter by Magnetic Scrolls is another personal favourite of mine.
 

Bumvelcrow

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In particular, he regards Trinity as the best Infocom title.

It's certainly the most atmospheric and thought provoking, but I'm not sure I'd regard it as amongst the most fun to play. DA loves it because it gives him the opportunity to talk about himself for a couple of months. Bitchiness aside, he's usually pretty good at unveiling the strengths and weaknesses of Infocom games, and in particular he nailed why Stationfall is so good.
 

Strange Fellow

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^Interesting, that's one I haven't played.

I'll second Bumvelcrow's recommendations for Stationfall, Starcross and Leather Goddesses of Phobos (you might want to do Planetfall instead of Stationfall first, as the latter is its sequel). There's also A Mind Forever Voyaging, which is more of a "literary" thing and not very puzzle-focused in comparison with the rest, but very cool.

Also, any other devs from that time making similar games?
Thanks for enabling me to be that guy that plugs the Legend text adventures at every opportunity (though it's kind of an Obsidian/Troika to Black Isle kind of situation, I suppose, rather than a completely separate company). Spellcasting, Timequest, Eric the Unready, Gateway. In particular, they avoid the tendency of some Infocom games of being bullshit hard, and they have a very comfortable engine/parser with great art. Highly recommended.
 

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DA loves it because it gives him the opportunity to talk about himself for a couple of months.

DA is definitely quite verbose, however I'm not sure I would bring that accusation against him; though prolix he hasn't struck me as particularly self-centered. What makes you think this?
 
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Bumvelcrow

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Thanks for enabling me to be that guy that plugs the Legend text adventures at every opportunity

There was also Death Gate, which was better than the books. Although by that point they'd moved on from a text parser to a kind of text/point-and-click hybrid. I keep feeling I should like Legend but despite having memory and general technology that Infocom could only dream of, their games always seemed to be lacking something undefinable.
 

Bumvelcrow

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DA is definitely quite verbose, however I'm not sure I would bring that accusation to him; though prolix he hasn't struck me as particularly self-centered. What makes you think this?

Probably because he's more knowledgeable about Infocom than me and it's hurts my nerdy pride. But more seriously he tends to portray his blog as an unfiltered history but it has rather too much of himself in it. Think of it as one man's unchallengeable opinion and it's more enjoyable, and I still enjoy reading it. His retrospective on Lords of Midnight also hits the nail on the head.
 

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Thanks for enabling me to be that guy that plugs the Legend text adventures at every opportunity

There was also Death Gate, which was better than the books. Although by that point they'd moved on from a text parser to a kind of text/point-and-click hybrid. I keep feeling I should like Legend but despite having memory and general technology that Infocom could only dream of, their games always seemed to be lacking something undefinable.
Well, Infocom probably has higher highs, but also much lower lows in my opinion. Legend's games are just very comfortable, well-rounded, consistent experiences that strike the right balance between challenge and bullshit that I feel Infocom sometimes misses (I will accept that that could be because I'm still terrible at adventure game logic, despite having played a lot). Probably most importantly, though, I played them growing up, while Infocom was mostly skipped somehow. That's the kind of press you can't buy.

I will say this for Legend, no caveats: I think they should work very well as an introduction to the genre or as a bridge between point and click adventure games and IF. If I were new to the whole thing I might have bounced off if I started with something like Stationfall or Bureaucracy.
 

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I unfortunately have little to add to Bumvelcrow and Strange Fellow's recommendations, they've both mentioned all the highlights. I'll reiterate some of their advice and try to add some of my own.

My personal favourite is Trinity, way up there. I don't know if it's the best one puzzle-wise, but its puzzles are excellent regardless, and it is one of the best (if not THE best, and I don't use this kind of ranking lightly usually) written games ever. Leather Goddesses of Phobos and Spellbreaker are two other fantastic ones (though Spellbreaker is the third in a trilogy, and the first two (Enchanter and Sorcerer) are worth playing). Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is worth it if you like the books/radio series. The Zork trilogy are classics, not exactly easy but not among the hardest either.

None of these are easy games and I wouldn't consider any of them a good introduction to IF. As Bumvel mentioned, Wishbringer is a good introduction and quite easy. A Mind Forever Voyaging is also very easy, and one of Meretzky's most original cretions. There's also Plundered Hearts, not the best but a good ease-into.

The one Infocom game I'd say to stay away from is Infidel. Some of the others are odd but interesting experiments (Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It), though some of these can also be very tough and not always fair (Bureaucracy).

Legend games tend to be a good introduction to IF, as they're easier than Infocom's. Eric The Unready in particular is really good, very funny, and the parser is EXTREMELY flexible and will respond to pretty much anything you can think of. Timequest and Gateway are also excellent (Gateway II not as much). Spellcasting 101 is quite good, it's a Meretzky-naughty version of Enchanter (though both sequels are very inferior).

There were a lot of good independant IFs released in the 90s and early 2000s. Andrew Plotkin was a good one, hist most famous is Spider & Web. I forgot the name of the author, but there's one called Perdition's Flame that is now free I think and that's not a bad introduction (no death, no dead ends, puzzles are not easy but very fair). Going into more difficult territory, one of my favourites is t-zero, which is what playing a James Joyce IF would feel like (it's a VERY hard game too). On the easy side, Adam Cadre has made some very simple ones that are extremely well-written, namely Photopia and Shrapnel, and a "real" IF game that's also very good, Varicella.

This should keep you busy for a while :P
 

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My personal favourite is Trinity, way up there.

I'd love to love this one more than I do. The writing is phenomenal, but it feels like a series of brilliant vignettes rather than a coherent story. If I could only take three Infocom games to a desert island it would certainly be one of them, along with Stationfall and Spellbreaker. I was never so much of fan of the two earlier games in the Enchanter series.

If you can find the feelies for Bureaucracy then they are absolutely hilarious, well worth a read through. Shame the game itself never matched the packaging.

I just remembered The Lurking Horror. That was quite a good one with a surprisingly oppressive atmosphere. It left me a little disappointed as to the realities of university life! I also have a soft spot for Journey. If it wasn't their last game it was one of the last, and it was probably what you'd call an interactive novel these days, with RPG elements. A lightweight but enjoyable story that was meant to be the first part of a trilogy which never happened when Activision :argh: shut them down.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

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Which ones are worth a shot?
The Zork Trilogy, i.e. Zork I: The Great Underground Empire, Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz, and Zork III: The Dungeon Master
Planetfall / Stationfall
Enchanter / Sorcerer / Spellbreaker
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Wishbringer (designed to be relatively easy, so perhaps a good introduction to text adventures if you've never played one)
Moonmist
The Lurking Horror

Also, any other devs from that time making similar games?
Not sure if you're serious about this, since many other developers made text adventures modeled after Infocom games, adding their own quirks such as a still image for each location. In particular, look for games by Magnetic Scrolls and Legend Entertainment.
 

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I'm only now realizing that I've played far too few Infocom games. I've played HGTTG, but that's only half the first book and only worth it for the Babel Fish puzzle.

I've also played the Lurking Horror, I still remember how I felt after finding the missing students...

And Bureaucracy is meant to be unfair, that's the whole point of the game! You are supposed to game the system at every turn to progress.

At least I have something to look forward to in the future. :)
 

v1rus

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Not sure if you're serious about this, since many other developers made text adventures modeled after Infocom games, adding their own quirks such as a still image for each location. In particular, look for games by Magnetic Scrolls and Legend Entertainment.

I was, but I didnt phrase it right - was asking are there any developers that made worthwhile games Like Infocom.
 

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Possible heresy: If you're a "modern gamer" who wants to go back and play a text adventure in the Zork universe, skip the original trilogy and just play Enchanter/Sorcerer/Spellbreaker.
 

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Possible heresy: If you're a "modern gamer" who wants to go back and play a text adventure in the Zork universe, skip the original trilogy and just play Enchanter/Sorcerer/Spellbreaker.

Hmmm. I think I know what you mean, but I don't think any modern gamer is going to touch any of these games with a barge pole. The Zorks and the Enchanter trilogy certainly feel different, the former is more primitive (although Zork 3 is a step towards Enchanter) and traditional and the latter feel more like being part of a story. Interestingly, one of the reasons I like Spellbreaker more than the other two is because it reminds more more of Zork.
 

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I like The Lurking Horror and A Mind Forever Voyaging the most out of the ones I've played.
 

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