Unfinished Text Adventures

[fuzzel]

Following on from Lurkio' and I's attempts to complete Magus' What's Eyeores (solved) and Locks of Luck (getting there..), I wondered if there were any text adventures for the beeb for which there are no solutions posted on the web. By unfinished I mean games where the solution doesn't give a maximum score.
If anyone can think of any, please post and I'll get cracking !

[lurkio]

For games without any known solutions at all, try searching for games without solutions, using CASA's advanced search:

• http://www.solutionarchive.com/list/no_ ... tform%2C4/

Wow, that's a lot of unsolved games!

[fuzzel]

Anyone got any suggestions as to what I should play next ?

Level 9, Robico, Magus, Topologika and Acornsoft games are out as I've done them (except Acheton, I think I'll retire before I play that one).

I'd prefer to play a game that has no solution posted online.

[fuzzel]

Just done a search on CASA for games without solutions, Five Stones of Anadon looks promising. Think I'll download and dip in.

[fuzzel]

Just finished Five Stones of Anadon and uploaded to CASA.

Now what's next on the list ?

[lurkio]

You are a machine!

[fuzzel]

After Locks of Luck, Anadon was a walk in the park !

Think I'll do Five Spheres of Goliath next.

I think I'm just putting off playing through LOL again and completing the walkthrough.

[fuzzel]

Five Spheres of Goliath solved and walkthrough uploaded to CASA (< 24 hours, although I did play it as a kid).

A fun little game this one, with sound effects (although they slow the game down and become tediously repetitive in the shuttle car and the lift).

One sound effect reminded me of Dare Devil Denis !

Next game please ...

[iamaran]

I've never played any of these, but Cube of Zoth is supposed to be a good one, as is Oxbridge by Tynesoft. Quest for the Holy Grail by Epic is missing a solution, which surprises me as it was very popular. Sticky Fingers has an interesting sounding storyline.

[fuzzel]

Hi Iamaran, many thanks for the suggestions. I've just downloaded and ran each of the four games before deciding which to play.
Epic's Holy Grail has a very professional feel to it with a high quality introduction and decent amounts of location text so I think I'll start
with that one. Sticky Fingers also looks pretty good (novel idea for a storyline) so that will be next. Oxbridge isn't perhaps my cup of tea with very limited location text but at least it does include mode 7 graphics. A&B's Cube of Zoth looks like one of those type in BASIC games so that will be last.

I'm glad you mentioned Epic because I was given a copy of Wheel of Fortune as a kid and loved it, it was a bit bizarre and the mode 7 graphics
really added to the strange atmosphere it generated. I then bought the disk of The Lost Crystal by mail order (this was a big game as I recall) and this also became one of my favourites. So I'll definitely be playing their other games at some point - Castle Frankenstein and Kingdom of Klein. Shame there weren't any more...

[fuzzel]

I've Just finished Quest for the Holy Grail. I liked the colour coded text for the different areas of the game.
It wasn't a tricky game once I worked out how to deal with the coloured knights (whose side are you supposed to be on anyway?).
I was stuck for a while until I realised the candles in the monastery weren't just part of the description. After that it was plain sailing.
This was one of those games where the authors seem to think that a high number of locations (many repetitive) means they can charge more for it, but it means using several sheets of a4 to do the map which is a pain. I finished with 7400 out of 8000 but not at all sure what I missed. I'll type up the walkthrough and upload it to CASA later. Then its time for Sticky Fingers !

[fuzzel]

Sticky Fingers by Eclipse and Jeff Tullin. Take a bow Jeff, great little game, a wacky Yorkshire version of CATCF. Not easy either !

How on earth was this game found ? I've never heard of them.

[fuzzel]

Quest for the Holy Grail walkthrough uploaded to CASA.

I'm now stuck in Sticky Fingers (had to be said!) but will persevere. I think I need a list of commands as there are one or two strange objects
which might require unusual actions...

[iamaran]

Glad you're enjoying!

[fuzzel]

Just finished Sticky Fingers! However, it looks as though I may have taken a short cut as there seems to be plenty more of the game to explore.
I think I'll write up the short solution and then try to do the long solution before uploading to CASA.
It's been great fun and had me seriously stuck for a few days (until I realised, don't always believe what you read).
It's a bit like Willy Wonka on acid (drops). Or something by Scott Adams' demented twin (who's a big Roald Dahl fan).

[fuzzel]

I've now finished the long version so will upload the solution to CASA later on.

Now what to play next ? Any suggestions ? Preferably one of the unsolved CASA ones. Taking a quick look at the list (3 pages worth) there appear
to be some good quality games among them if the opening screens are any guide.

Iamaran's suggestions of The Cube of Zoth and Oxbridge are on the shortlist..

[fuzzel]

Sticky Fingers walkthrough submitted to CASA. I'm working my way through the three pages of unsolved CASA games, noting the ones of
interest (and there are more than a few). A lot of them look pretty basic though, though hopefully I'll get to them eventually.

[fuzzel]

Looks like its Staff of Law next by Potter Programs. This looks suspiciously like its based on the
Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson, one of my top 10 books of all time.
Shame the text is a bit sparse (based, that is, on CASA's screenshot).

Maybe first though I'll get round to typing in my walkthrough to LOL.,,,

[fuzzel]

Started on Cube of Zoth and am pleasantly surprised. It's an Adventurescape game with a nice looking multi-coloured screen and also uses disc access, presumably to cram in lots of locations, puzzles and objects so I have high hopes for this one.

[fuzzel]

Great game this Cube of Zoth. You have to play several mini-adventures separately from each other which begged the question, what if I need an object from one to complete another ? I've just finished the northern "Pacific" adventure and you get dumped back at the start minus your
collection of objects so that solves that little dilemna. Now for the "City" adventure. Good fun this one...

[fuzzel]

I've just finished the west level on Cube of Zoth. I got stuck for a while in a prison cell (locked door obviously) with only a cup of tea
and a laser torch. Anyone guess how I escaped ?

I'll have the last section done and dusted and uploaded to CASA by Sunday night !

[fuzzel]

Another game bites the dust ! Zoth is defeated ! I'm 10 points short of the maximum score so will try to find it before uploading solution to CASA.

Recommendations for my next adventure ?

[iamaran]

From those without solutions, the following are supposed to be very good: Cops by Alpine, Dreamtime by Heyley, It's Magic by Central Computing, Oxbridge by Tynesoft.

[fuzzel]

Thanks Ian, I'll start one of them on the weekend.

I've just uploaded the solution to Cube of Zoth to CASA although I didn't find the missing 10 points. Perhaps someone could have a go and find it ?

[fuzzel]

Thanks for the suggestions, iamaran, I chose It's Magic by Central Computing and have had a go at it this afternoon.
It's written in a similar style visually to Level 9 and Magus so I'm liking it already. I've solved a couple of puzzles and have realised that you
have to cast spells in the game. After wandering around for a while I found I had the Fireball spell but then used it on myself (fatally) without
saving state beforehand and I don't know what I did to get it. Has anyone played the game and can give me a hint as to how to get it back ?

[fuzzel]

Does anyone have any game documentation for "It's Magic" ? I'm trying to learn how to cast spells and 'm hoping the documentation will help
with this and other aspects of the gameplay.

If you type WORDS there's a list of game commands but they're no use for spells.

[fuzzel]

I've just partly answered my own question. After scouring my collection of BBC Micro User's I've found a review of It's Magic in the May 1990 issue
(page 49) which includes some tips about how to use spells. The review was by none other than Barbara Gibb, once of this parish I believe.

[evert67]

Very interesting to read, fuzzel! I played a lot of text adventures in my BBC time, but not recently. It becomes time I pick up this old hobby again.

[fuzzel]

Hi evert67, nice to hear you're thinking of sharpening your axe, polishing the old brass lamp and clearing the moths out of the old treasure sack.

I've been playing the old beeb text adventures off and on for the last 5 years or so now, and with a comprehensive archive of games available, I can
always find something new to play.

So do you go for an old favourite like an Acornsoft or Level 9 game, an easy one to get yourself back into the swing of things like a Scott Adams game,
or go for something new like It's Magic ?

[evert67]

I my BBC time I played mainly Acornsoft and Level 9 adventures (although I started with the classic Adventure) and a couple of other ones that got high ratings in magazine reviews. So I guess I'll continue in that direction. But if you know any high-quality adventures not fitting in those categories, I'd definitely be interested. I prefer adventures with not too many bells and whistles. I also prefer good (!) textual descriptions over graphics. And a good story, of course.

And I'm really interested in what you did with the laser torch in the prison. I couldn't even come up with a word to operate this torch other than "switch on" or "burn rails". Being Dutch, my command of English is not too bad, but when you have to be very creative in your use of words, it sometimes becomes difficult for me. Hence I prefer a solution sheet, which I'll obviously only use when I'm really stuck.

Are there any Acornsoft or Level 9 or other very good adventures (never played Scott Adams - is he good?) you'd classify as not too difficult?