Yuki's IFcomp 2005 reviews
Yuki
What I want to see:
- A decent plot.
- Originality.
- As few errors as possible.
What I don't want to see:
- Surrealist crap.
- Lame puzzles.
- Spoofs/"comedies".
- Troll games.
I will occasionally make exceptions to these rules, but those are rare.
As I've said in the previous comp, don't be bitter if I've
trashed your life's work. 90% of the interactive fiction games made
in the early-mid 80's were what I'd call "crap", too. Most of
these reviews contain spoilers.
Space Horror Part One by "Jerry".
What's this ? An html game in the form of a choose your own
adventure-type book? That's not something you see every comp. Well
let's have a look : The game begins with you, a college student,
studying for your finals while sitting in a restaurant. You go to the
bathroom and come back out only to find yourself in a "silent
earth"-type situation. All of the people, except for you and a young
lady you meet, have been abducted (or eaten, I'm not sure) by aliens
and the town you are in is being patrolled by werewolf-like creatures.
If you think that sounds strange, then you'll be even more surprised
to hear that coffee is the only thing that keeps them away (this is
reminiscent of the movie Evolution, where the only thing that kills the
alien monster is shampoo). There are multiple threads to the story and
this turned out to be just one of them, giving the game some potential
replay value after you're done. Because of the html format of this
game, there is no parser as such to comment on, but let's just say
that there were no "404s". Not much else to complain about, but
I'd imagine that most people won't like the lack of interactivity.
This turned out to be a fairly well written, if short (and somewhat
melodramatic) adventure. It's easy to cheat too, but I'm not going
to hold that against it.
6/10
Chancellor. By Kevin Venzke
First of all, this game starts off in a fairly generic fantasy setting
with you being sent on a "quest" by your father, which is really a
dream sequence that you wake up from later. When you do wake up, you
learn that you are really a college student who is trying to finish an
assignment. Okay so far, but it all goes downhill from there, or
rather, it didn't go anywhere from there. The accompanying text file
promises an adventure of "legendary difficulty". Some people just
don't learn do they? The author's last game (Kurusu City) was
extremely difficult too, mainly thanks to the
unsolvable-without-a-walkthrough puzzles and lack of clues (which it
was slated by many people for), however, what makes Chancellor
difficult was the fact that I didn't have a clue what I was supposed
to be doing or why. "So why didn't you just read the
walkthrough?" I hear you ask. Well unfortunately there wasn't one,
nor were any clues provided beyond the aforementioned dream sequence.
At first, I thought that the goal of the game was to try to finish my
assignment, but after attempting this I was told that I still had
plenty of time to do it later. I explored the building I was in, but
there wasn't anything especially interesting to look at in there or
anyone around to talk to. Wandering aimlessly around an uninhabited
dorm while being hounded by inane pizza references is not my idea of an
adventure, so after enduring this tripe for two hours, I quit. Was
something exciting supposed to happen? Or did I render the game
unwinnable? Someone please enlighten me.
3/10
PTBAD by Slan Xorax
Troll.
1/10
Mortality by David Whyld
Now this is more like it. Although there isn't as much freedom in
this as there is in other IF games (you are limited to multiple choice
decision making for most of the game), this one is rather good.
You've been employed by an old millionaire to guard his wife, which
eventually leads you into a sinister plot to kill him off. Throughout,
the game has a nice atmosphere and is well written. Nice ending(s) too.
7/10
Ninja 2 by Paul Allen Panks
"This has got to be better than the last one," I thought to myself
as I downloaded it, remembering last year's appalling entry. You, a
ninja, start off in a Shinto shrine, along with an ice dragon who is
playing games on a computer. I kid you not. I was about to put this
immediately into the "troll" category, but something made me give
it a stay of execution. So what's this version like? Well, let's
just say that those random and irritating "insta-deaths" are still
there, the parser is still appallingly bad and there still doesn't
seem to be much of a plot. Like the original, Ninja 1.30, this version
has plenty of howlers too:
>x dragon
"The ancient Chinese ice dragon appears to be smoking something...or
is it breathing fire at you ? Only the Kami know!"
You mean I can't tell if it's breathing fire at me or not? Yeah,
right.
1/10
Jesus of Nazareth. by Paul Allen Panks
Lord, why hast thou forsaken me? What eternal sin have I committed to
warrant playing yet another game by that mangy mongrel Paul Allen
Panks?
Name : Christ, Jesus H.
Mission : To convert people to your faith. (Well, sort of.)
To be honest, this game is marginally better than Panks's other
effort, Ninja 2, but it's certainly not without its problems. You
see, it's funny how the man who can feed the five thousand and turn
water into wine can't even successfully talk to a Roman soldier:
>talk to soldier.
You cannot do that here.
Erm, why not ? An explanation would be nice.
The parser is as bad as ever, too. It doesn't understand commands
like "south" unless they are abbreviated to "s", yet you cannot
go, say, south east by typing in "se". Sorry, not good enough. So I
started the game and wandered around a bit, before finally bumping into
a Roman centurion who tried to arrest me. A fight ensued. I must have
missed the part of the bible about Jesus scrapping with a Roman, but
unfortunately it would seem that I had got myself into another one of
those "Ninja 1.30"-type fight scenes (with incomprehensible
commentary to match) :
You raise your hands to attack the centurion...
>
Oh sweet mercy ! You DESTROYED centurion !
The sins of the son now outweighs the sins of the father.
>
@Press any key to continue...@
>
Your hit points are now: 97
The enemy centurion has: 69
Uh, I thought I'd just destroyed him...? Well it didn't really
matter because he killed me after this anyway. This was yet another
stinker of a game by Panks, so Lord, please forgive him of his sins
because I'm pretty sure the comp judges won't.
2/10
Mix Tape by Brett Witty
According to the readme file accompanying this game, Mix Tape is
"heavily story-based". That said, the story wasn't that
impressive and there wasn't anything special enough in there to
redeem it; Mix Tape is about two people ending a relationship and from
what I gathered, CDs and music were somehow involved (most of the
music/artists that were mentioned in the game I've never even heard
of, so the numerous references didn't mean anything to me). Maybe if
I knew what the music was all about then it might have all made sense,
but even trying to "ask character about music" didn't clue me in.
But that wasn't the only gripe; even if I had understood the music
references, I didn't particularly warm to either of the characters
(the guy in the game is a jerk with no perceivably redeeming qualities)
or understand what they saw in each other, so I didn't care anyway.
There were no puzzles as such, yet somehow I only managed to get 40 out
of the 82 points in this game after finishing it. God knows where the
rest of the points went...and who the hell is "Cibo Matto"?
4/10
Beyond by Mondi Confinanti
Now here was another one I thought was alright. It has a pretty surreal
plot that I can't be bothered to go into detail about, but it was
good nonetheless (let's just say it's a murder mystery). I didn't
encounter any parser problems and the conversations that took place
throughout the game were well structured and laid out.
A couple of the tasks you have to complete are awkward to do without
the walkthrough and I noticed one or two spelling errors, but nothing
too bad (considering that English was not the author's first
language, it was very good). Overall, an above average game.
7/10
Plague - Redux by Laurence Moore
Before this game begins, you are asked if you want to read the
introduction. I wanted to, but couldn't- selecting "yes" or
"y" just starts the game, as if I'd said no. Never mind, I'll
let that one pass. Despite that, the game looked very promising to
begin with. It was a little weird having it written in the first
person, but the scenery was alright and the characters seemed realistic
enough. There are a few spelling mistakes and punctuation errors in
there, but those are forgivable. Unfortunately, two minutes into the
game I encountered a bug that placed me in a completely blank room with
no means of escape (i.e. the game was rendered unwinnable). Strike one.
I emailed the author about this problem and he told me how to get
around it. It worked, and I was able to continue. Okay, I'll be fair
and give it another chance. In Plague -Redux, you play a young woman
stuck in a zombie-filled London (think of the movie "28 days
later") and presumably, the goal is to escape alive. You wake up in a
mall (why wasn't I eaten like everyone else?); everything is covered
in blood and no one is around to help you. That was when it all went to
pot. First off, let's establish one fact: Blood and gore are
wonderful attention-grabbing devices, but only when used occasionally.
When they are thrown around like confetti and put in almost every
single location of the game, they start to lose their pizzazz very
quickly.
The puzzles in this game (or at least the few I saw before I quit) were
contrived and poorly implemented. For example, picture this: anarchy
has broken out and zombies are running around eating what few people
are left in the city. You encounter a task that involves you trying to
get a bottle of water from a vending machine in a blood-stained room.
You need some money to get it, but don't have any, so what would
*you* do in this situation? Go on, be honest. You'd break into it,
wouldn't you? I tried it and here's the response I got:
>You know, I might just need the vending machine.
What on earth would I need the vending machine for? Presumably, I'm
now expected to go hunting around for money to put in this vending
machine (try finding it without the walkthrough) instead of following
the most obvious, logical solution of simply putting my size six though
the front of the damned thing and just taking what I need. Sorry, I'm
not buying that. Strike two.
So I explored this blood-covered place a little bit more and ended up
in a blood-covered toilet (noticed a pattern developing yet?) where
some zombies were busy munching on someone from inside a closed,
blood-covered cubicle (the parser didn't understand "open
cubicle", but understood "open door"). I opened the door and the
zombies came after me. I then tried to fight them off, or at least I
*tried* because I was asked to choose between "[F]ight" or
"[E]scape" and it didn't understand the command "f", so I
then typed in "fight" and was greeted with:
>That wasn't the answer.
So I tried "escape" instead, but the parser didn't understand
that either. I then (L)ooked, and to my amazement the zombies had
apparently disappeared(!). I couldn't be sure if they had or not,
because e(x)amining the zombies gives the same response in every
location in the game, whether there are zombies around or not. I moved
out of the blood-covered cubicle and lo and behold, the zombies were
back inside it again (did I mention that this cubicle was covered in
blood?). It didn't matter, though; by this time, I'd already had
enough of this blood-soaked comedy of errors, so I quit. "Plague -
Redux" certainly lived up to its name, because the game is bug-ridden
and judging from the fact that nothing in it has been edited since May
2005, lack of time cannot be considered an excuse for this. "But
isn't the game scary and atmospheric?" you ask. Read the above
review and tell me- would it matter?
Strike three; you're out.
3/10 (Might have got about 5/10 if there had been fewer bugs.)
That's all I could take for this year, so there you go.
Kevin Venzke
"Yuki" <nono...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> Chancellor. By Kevin Venzke
>
> The accompanying text file
> promises an adventure of "legendary difficulty".
Oops. I didn't mean for that text to be taken seriously!
> At first, I thought that the goal of the game was to try to finish my
> assignment, but after attempting this I was told that I still had
> plenty of time to do it later. I explored the building I was in, but
> there wasn't anything especially interesting to look at in there or
> anyone around to talk to. Wandering aimlessly around an uninhabited
> dorm while being hounded by inane pizza references is not my idea of an
> adventure, so after enduring this tripe for two hours, I quit. Was
> something exciting supposed to happen? Or did I render the game
> unwinnable? Someone please enlighten me.
It can't really be made unwinnable.
spoiler space
If you're getting hunger messages, you can reach the ground level
via the stairwell. Then you're supposed to find something to eat.
Hunger won't kill you, though.
Kevin Venzke
Yuki
Kevin Venzke
"Yuki" <nono...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1132169808.4...@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Can you send me a complete walkthrough, please?
I'm afraid I haven't written one. Someone told me recently they might
attempt to write one. Until then, I just have the tips file at
http://nodesiege.tripod.com/if/
(This is distinct from the hint file that comes with the game.)
Sorry!
Kevin Venzke
Mark J. Tilford
>
>
> Can you send me a complete walkthrough, please?
>
walkthrough below
It's hand-copied, so there may be some errors
out.s.se.sw.in.ne
x wood
w
get berry
e.nw.n
give berry to cherub
in
ask father about torch
z
get cherub
se.se.sw
put cherub in cave
s.in
z.z.z.z.z.z.z.z.z.z
open refrigerator
e.s.s.e.w.n.e.d.d.d.d
unlock door
u.u.u.u.w.s.e.w.n.e.d.d.d.d.n
w
x machine
n.n.n.w
z.z.z.z.z.z.n.n
open freezers
s.s.e.s.s.s
get object
x object
n.n.n.w.n.n
open can with opener
z.z.z.z.z
stand
x fire
get torch
get shoe
dig dirt with shoe
get coin
e.z
yes
w.w.w.w.w.w.w.w.w.w.w.w.w.w
(until you reach the figure)
search figure
i
x key
e.e
x footprints
n.ne
stand
sw.n.ne.se.nw
open washer
search it
put coin in slot
close washer
z.z.z.z
open washer
search it
se.u.w.s
x mailbox
x slip
enter window
open package
read note
w.n.n.w.n.n.
turn on stove
light torch
s.s.e.s.se
unlock elevator with key
s
s.s.e
read guestbook
get key
s.s.s
burn shadow
s.s.s.s.s
reach in hole
n.n.n.u.s
s.u.u.u.u.d.d.n.w.ne
x cot
n.ne.ne.w.n.n
light stove
light torch
burn janitor
s.s.es.s.s.s.e.se.u.u.u.u.w
unlock door with key
give marble to lindsay (or burn lindsay)
stand
Some things happen independently of the player (for example, I'm not sure
exactly what causes the stairwell door to unlock)
--
------------------------
Mark Jeffrey Tilford
til...@ugcs.caltech.edu
Christos Dimitrakakis
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> If you're getting hunger messages, you can reach the ground level
> via the stairwell. Then you're supposed to find something to eat.
> Hunger won't kill you, though.
>
I thought that this was particularly idiotic of the game. I tried to go
down the stairwell when not hungry and I could not get out. It would be
reasonable for someone to assume that you can not get out at all.
The game was mostly a case of guessing what you have to do - while a
puzzle is usually a case of knowing what you have to do, but not how.
Kevin Venzke
"Christos Dimitrakakis" <olet...@vtxnet.ch> wrote in message
news:pan.2005.11.17....@vtxnet.ch...
> spoiler space
>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> If you're getting hunger messages, you can reach the ground level
>> via the stairwell. Then you're supposed to find something to eat.
>> Hunger won't kill you, though.
>
> I thought that this was particularly idiotic of the game. I tried to go
> down the stairwell when not hungry and I could not get out. It would be
> reasonable for someone to assume that you can not get out at all.
Yes. (I did try to clue when the stairwell has changed, but I
think not so effectively.)
> The game was mostly a case of guessing what you have to do - while a
> puzzle is usually a case of knowing what you have to do, but not how.
I think you're talking mostly, or at least especially, about this segment
in the dorm. I was hoping the player would just decide to explore
here. Then the onset of hunger would be something that happens to
the player (not something accomplished), giving the player some kind
of goal.
Kevin Venzke
Yuki
>I think you're talking mostly, or at least especially, about this segment
>in the dorm.
The unfortunate thing, Kevin, is that I think he's referring to pretty
much the entire game. First of all, the first dorm scene could have
been about 1/5th of the size and I don't think anyone would have
complained. But I think the scene immediately following that, where the
solution was to dig for something illustrates the problem in a better
way. How was I supposed to know that I should be digging for things in
the first place? Sorry, but just saying that "there's a patch of
dry ground under your armor" doesn't cut it, because there's no
suggestion that the ground there needs to be dug, or that there is
anything important about it. All I thought was "the ground's dry
because the stuff hanging off the line is keeping the rain off it, like
an umbrella", not "the ground is dry, therefore there must be
something buried there". To expect the player to come to the latter
conclusion is, I believe, unreasonable and evidently Christos thought
so too. When that happens, we end up typing >quit and awarding low
marks, regardless of how good the rest of the game is. The worst part
about it is that you were told about this problem in the 2004 comp and
you haven't done anything about it.
Learn from your mistakes. Don't become another Paul Allen Panks.
Nathan
> How was I supposed to know that I should be digging for things in
> the first place? Sorry, but just saying that "there's a patch of
> dry ground under your armor" doesn't cut it, because there's no
> suggestion that the ground there needs to be dug, or that there is
> anything important about it. All I thought was "the ground's dry
> because the stuff hanging off the line is keeping the rain off it, like
> an umbrella", not "the ground is dry, therefore there must be
> something buried there". To expect the player to come to the latter
> conclusion is, I believe, unreasonable and evidently Christos thought
> so too.
Well, I didn't think so. It never occurred to me that the dry spot
might not be important, the way the text drew my attention to it.
And the description of the shoe suggested digging. This didn't even
feel like a puzzle to me; it just seemed so obvious.
Mike Snyder
news:1132252278.0...@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> Yuki wrote:
> Well, I didn't think so. It never occurred to me that the dry spot
> might not be important, the way the text drew my attention to it.
> And the description of the shoe suggested digging. This didn't even
> feel like a puzzle to me; it just seemed so obvious.
Same here. The shoe is even described as "scoop-like" or something similar.
I was looking for a place to dig as soon as I left the cave.
--- Mike.
Christos Dimitrakakis
>>
>> I thought that this was particularly idiotic of the game. I tried to go
>> down the stairwell when not hungry and I could not get out. It would be
>> reasonable for someone to assume that you can not get out at all.
>
> Yes. (I did try to clue when the stairwell has changed, but I
> think not so effectively.)
>
Why should it be locked at all?
>> The game was mostly a case of guessing what you have to do - while a
>> puzzle is usually a case of knowing what you have to do, but not how.
>
> I think you're talking mostly, or at least especially, about this segment
> in the dorm. I was hoping the player would just decide to explore
> here.
This is your own design choice, I am sure, and it can work well in some
cases. However the only actual puzzles in the game as far as I could see
were:
1) Entering the mouth
This seemed to be an obvious goal, as there was only one way to go ahead.
There were no other choices. I still don't know why you the character
wouldn't try to go somewhere else, but anyway, this counts as a possible
as it required you to think of a plan to reach a particular goal.
2) Getting out of campus
The motivation of the character seemed to be to 'finish the assignment'.
Then the hunger kicks in and the only thing you are required to do is get
out of the building. Getting the can and the can opener are
straightforward tasks, as long as you notice the items. I still don't
understand why the door had to be locked in the first place.
3) Getting out of the forest.
It seems that there is a theme: whatever area you are in now, you should
get out of. For once, there seems to be an obvious goal here: your gear,
you need it to face the monster. I thought that this was a puzzle but it
turned out to be a red herring. Again, there is no puzzle at all. You
just need to discover the torch - and I am not sure whether getting the
coin is necessary or not, but .. - and then wander around for a bit before
following the monster.
That does not seem like a puzzle to me either, i.e. there is no specific
goal that requires thinking to solve.
4) waking up somewhere
At that point I got tired of the game - I guessed it was another sequence
where you randomly go around until you end up in another scene.
I must finish by saying that it was not the lack of puzzles that made me
not enjoy the game - nor bugs, everything was done pretty neatly. It just
was not very appealing. Hope this helps.
Christos Dimitrakakis
> Yuki wrote:
> Well, I didn't think so. It never occurred to me that the dry spot
> might not be important, the way the text drew my attention to it.
> And the description of the shoe suggested digging. This didn't even
> feel like a puzzle to me; it just seemed so obvious.
Yeah, that was pretty simple, because as soon as I saw the shoe I thought
'dig', but of course it was not a puzzle. I just used 'dig ground with
shoe' in the only two available locations. So I don't know why it should
be there, apart from perhaps to suggest that you had this coin in your
clothes and it got buried under the ground?
Yuki
>
>
>At that point I got tired of the game - I guessed it was another sequence
>where you randomly go around until you end up in another scene.
I quit at about the same time too. Lack of credibility is something I'm
pretty critical about (read my review of Plague: Redux); perhaps if the
girl in the camp had mentioned losing a coin earlier while putting up
your stuff to dry, then perhaps the location of it might have made
sense and given the player some clue as to what to do next.
Kevin Venzke
>So I don't know why [coin] should
>be there, apart from perhaps to suggest that you had this coin in your
>clothes and it got buried under the ground?
I like this question.
Some people call this one of the "dream" sections. So I didn't feel
the need to make this very sensible from the first moment you encounter
it.
The girl denies burying the coin, by the way.
Kevin Venzke
Kevin Venzke
"Christos Dimitrakakis" <olet...@vtxnet.ch> wrote in message
news:pan.2005.11.17....@vtxnet.ch...
>>> I thought that this was particularly idiotic of the game. I tried to go
>>> down the stairwell when not hungry and I could not get out. It would be
>>> reasonable for someone to assume that you can not get out at all.
>>
>> Yes. (I did try to clue when the stairwell has changed, but I
>> think not so effectively.)
>
> Why should it be locked at all?
From a design perspective? At this point in the game, the ground
level is just a dozen locations with nothing of immediate interest. I
was hoping not to overwhelm the player with even more locations to
map. Then once the player is hungry, it isn't (theoretically) that hard to
find what you need on the ground level.
Kevin Venzke
Nathan
How many turns actually pass before you get hungry? Hunger hit me
before I had even finished finding out which dorm rooms were locked
and which unlocked. In order to find the stairwell door locked, you
would have to skip exploring the dorms altogether. Why would
anybody do that?
Kevin Venzke
"Nathan" <nts...@netscape.net> wrote in message
>> > Why should it be locked at all?
>>
>> From a design perspective? At this point in the game, the ground
>> level is just a dozen locations with nothing of immediate interest. I
>> was hoping not to overwhelm the player with even more locations to
>> map. Then once the player is hungry, it isn't (theoretically) that hard to
>> find what you need on the ground level.
>
> How many turns actually pass before you get hungry? Hunger hit me
> before I had even finished finding out which dorm rooms were locked
> and which unlocked. In order to find the stairwell door locked, you
> would have to skip exploring the dorms altogether. Why would
> anybody do that?
The hunger daemon is more complicated than a turn counter. It has
to be triggered by visiting certain rooms. Several things cause the
stairwell door to unlock.
The stairwell door is pretty close to your room door. Someone
wanting to leave the dorm could find it pretty quickly. Especially
in beta, I think many players suspected there was nothing of
interest on the fifth floor, anyway.
Kevin Venzke
Mark J. Tilford
>
>
> Nathan,
>
> "Nathan" <nts...@netscape.net> wrote in message
>>> > Why should it be locked at all?
>>>
>>> From a design perspective? At this point in the game, the ground
>>> level is just a dozen locations with nothing of immediate interest. I
>>> was hoping not to overwhelm the player with even more locations to
>>> map. Then once the player is hungry, it isn't (theoretically) that hard to
>>> find what you need on the ground level.
>>
>> How many turns actually pass before you get hungry? Hunger hit me
>> before I had even finished finding out which dorm rooms were locked
>> and which unlocked. In order to find the stairwell door locked, you
>> would have to skip exploring the dorms altogether. Why would
>> anybody do that?
>
> The hunger daemon is more complicated than a turn counter. It has
> to be triggered by visiting certain rooms. Several things cause the
> stairwell door to unlock.
Things which happen in response to apparently unimportant events (and
especially non-events) are very annoying, especially on replay. A first
time player is likely to wander through unimportant areas blindly, but
a second time player knows that there's nothing up top and stalls.
> The stairwell door is pretty close to your room door. Someone
> wanting to leave the dorm could find it pretty quickly. Especially
> in beta, I think many players suspected there was nothing of
> interest on the fifth floor, anyway.
>
> Kevin Venzke
>
>