The Gamer's Quarter

ApM · Last edited by ApM on Sat Jul 07, 2007 8:51 pm; edited 1 time in total

I envy you, person who can resist tracking down a copy of Devo Presents Adventures of the Smart Patrol. I can't. I'm almost certain I would play it for five minutes and really not enjoy it (see: The Residents' Bad Day at the Midway), but for some reason I will feel spiritually unfulfilled until I have it in my posession.

In a similar vein, I have been obsessing on and off for a decade about Chaos: A Fantasy Adventure Game, solely on the basis of a lukewarm review I once read. I guess because the story is based on chaos theory? Even after seeing this screenshot:

I am still intrigued by this game for reasons my conscious mind is not privy to. There's finally a copy on eBay right now, for $5 even, but I am strong. I will not give in.

Clearly there are forces acting upon me beyond my comprehension. I'm not even joking. This post is a cry for help.

sawtooth · . Joined: 02 Nov 2005 Posts: 419

haha, man, that screenshot. Oh, dear me.

I've wanted to play Pyst for a long time but as I've aged (more importantly matured), it's not exactly a high priority.

I remember MYSTy actually had a passable spoken word intro and references to popular mac games at the time, like the BOBs from Marathon in a hell-looking place. And the title sequence faded in MYYST at the very beginning, as well. It also used quicktime vr!
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Roam Unit · . Joined: 23 Jan 2006 Posts: 14

Hey, Chaos! I've actually been going through my stack of old adventure games, and I'm feeling a somewhat similar sort of inexplicable sadness over the absence of some of the odder adventure games. I mean, sure, Zork Nemesis was good, but what about James Burke's Connections? It's sort of like Sewer Shark, if Sewer Shark were hosted by a portly, balding man. And didn't really involve shooting things so much as solving puzzles.

Anyway, being in a similar position, I can't exactly help you to get that grainy, washed-out monkey off of your back, although I'm guessing that the process will probably involve a sliding tile puzzle or six. I will say, however, that if you find yourself feeling any sort of urge to play Conspiracies - any urge at all, no matter how fleeting it might be - you should probably just end it all. It's just not worth it.

dessgeega · Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 11:16 pm Post subject:

i've been playing yumemi mystery mansion, which is like myst without a cursor. so all you can do is move around and examine things. kind of interesting!

also, talking butterflies.
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Lockeownzj00 · . Joined: 16 Aug 2005 Posts: 214

What system, dess?

I've been wanting to play "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" for a while now. I will someday.

dessgeega · Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 8:54 am Post subject:

sega cd!

i'm vaguely curious about i have no mouth but i must scream, but i'm also vaguely terrified.
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Lestrade · Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 11:29 am Post subject:

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Hey, guys, I would try to help you out with the I Have No Mouth... game (which is shockingly one of the very few PC games that survived my parents house), but I would kind of feel bad because H. Ellison's website still sells it new. Convince me to put an ISO up on the interwebs.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

ApM · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 10:27 am Post subject:

Because he's kind of an asshole about copyrights?

Also, because it's a DOS game from '95, and who knows if it'll work right under DOSBox?

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Well, with most other things right now it is in St. Louis, so I will probably put this up the second half of July. I remember it being mildly difficult because of the solutions to the puzzles involving more than just simple lock and key type mechanics. I am also not familiar with the original short story which this is a sequel to. Also, it creeped me out a lot.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is an ugly, brooding and crippled game. It's also a masterpiece. It's one of the most involving experiences you're likely to get out of your computer. As tacky as it may get, it will still propel you, face first, in the misanthropic paranoid nightmare for which you only have yourselves to blame.

It's great for so many reasons, if only because it's written by a man who doesn't like computer games, and sure as Hell doesn't like you. That's why he insisted the game be impossible to beat.

It's the most extreme form of morality tale, one that all the idealists out there should try and deal with.

You can also find the ISO here and the original short story here.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

internisus · . Joined: 25 Nov 2006 Posts: 354

This is somewhat off-topic; everytime someone starts talking about Myst-like games or interactive fiction or posts and link to zarf, I begin to feel really really good and creative, as though a dose of ambition has been injected into my bloodstream. That IC dev topic on Inform 7 was fabulous, for example. I think that IF must be much more fundamentally important to my ideas about videogames and narrative than I have ever realized. So, I guess, thanks for making this thread. :emo:

D-A-I-S · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 123

Hey, ApM, you ever play Starship Titanic?

Impressions if you have, please?

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

There's so much games could learn from IF. In a way, it's far more flexible a medium, and I enjoy it for its metatextual qualities.

I own Starship Titanic. Never got very far into it, as that was years back. My memories of it are good. It's weird anf funny at the same time. I'll probably have to install it again.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Starship Titanic is a fun game, just be prepared to deal with Adams bizzare sense of logic. I had fun just using the text parser and talking with all the robots inhabiting the ship, plus there are some really fun puzzles. It's not as great as I hoped it would be (there are still a few dull and/or obtuse puzzles) but I still enjoyed it for the sense of humour and the concept behind the game. It was kinda nice having an adventure game that didn't really bother with a story and just revolved around getting to higher class rooms, fixing broken parts of the ship/robots and getting back home.

I also like collecting Myst-style games, but because I really love multimedia heavy games. Some of these things are so creative and engrossing, despite being terrible terrible games. I plan to write an article about it some day, but not soon.