09/11 Top-10 Text Based Games

[BydoEmpire73]

I hate to say it, but I haven't played most of those titles. Had to vote for Zork, the king.

I was playing Lurking Horror in a browser Apple 2 emulator for a bit last year and really enjoyed it, but text adventures are very time consuming and I don't have a lot of time right now.

[Leathco]

I;ve played Zork and Hitchhikers Guide, and I'd have to say my preference was HGTTG. The humor kept me playing.

[meu2]

I’m afraid I haven’t played too many text adventures for more than a few minutes. The closest I have to a favourite text game is Alter Ego (it has graphics, but the main content is text). Superb game that is more engrossing than most modern blockbusters.

[BydoEmpire73]

I'm surprised UK Mike didn't pick "Rogue" or "NetHack" since after all, ASCII art is "text based."

[Nurmix]

I must admit that while my friends and I had access to many of these text adventures on our Atari 8-bits back when we were swapping floppy disks with each other (and even purcahsing some of them in store), I don't remember ever actually completing any of them. I did enjoy them, but got a lot more out of games like the Ultima series, which I did play to completion.

There was, however, a text-based "game" that I did spend a lot of time with back on the Atari 8-bit. It was by Don't Ask Software (the same guys who made the "SAM" voice synthesis package). It was called "ABUSE". Basically you typed things in and it insulted you. And there were certain things you could do to get it upset as well. If you started making fun of it's mother, it would eventually get mad and tell you not to insult "Sylvia Atari".

If you told it to go away, the screen would fill with garbage and a horrible hissing sound would come out the speakers. If you hit a key, the sound would stop, and it would ask... "did you miss me?". Answering YES would allow the game to continue. Answering NO would bring back the screen garbage and the hissing noise.

You could hit the BREAK key, and it would give you an error as if you were in Atari BASIC. Then if you typed something like LIST, it would say something like... "you are ugly, rather boring, and wrong if you think you are in Atari BASIC". Then the insults would continue.

The best though was to turn off the Atari's floppy disk drive. Then it would pause for a minute, and finally ask... "what's wrong with my disk drive, idiot?".

It was hilarious!

Here's a little information I found on it:
http://gury.atari8.info/details_games/2147.htm

[Gordon Bennett]

Level 9 were marvelous and Delta 4 great for a laugh, but when it comes to text adventures Infocom were the true masters. Personally I think their best were Trinity for its concept and intricate story and Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It for its brilliant and innovative use of the text adventure format to create something that could only be done with text.

[oddword]

Zork is the only one I can remember.

[Mmmbacon]

Day one RGRU'er, I even had a shoutout on one of the early shows (im Mmmbacon on the forums. listend to scott even longer when he was the best part of that other podcast.

I have been an rgru evangelist, getting a lot of people to listen to the show. I've had your back when people talk about your length issues (yes, pun intended). I said all this to say this: KNOW THIS, I’m a huge fan of what you guys do. I look forward to the new episodes with great expectations. Please don't take the following as anything other than constructive criticism. On to it.

To my delight the Top 10 Text Adventures were the focus of the Top 10. I couldn't WAIT. The single biggest thing that I like about you guys is how you complement each other. While one may not be good at X at least one of the other two can speak with sort of authority. The value of your show shines in the top 10. The best thing that happens during a top ten (besides Laughing my ass off at UK yelling a Socal making noise with his sausage fingers on his keyboard during the podcast) is the fact that the subject of the top ten, gets its due, gets its respect. Often, the winner will not only be the best game of its category, sometimes it's made known that it created an era. Text adventures deserve this treatment. And they got it. Until number one was revealed. I could NOT believe my ears. The Text Adventure Top Ten was rendered invalid and a farce due to your glaring exception. Top Ten Text Adventure. Did you guys maybe misunderstand the topic? How in the name of Will Crowther did you leave off Adventure!!!! Ad-freaking-venture!!!! Not only did you leave off the game that literally spawned the genre and era, but you didn't even MENTION it? You failed to mention that Marc Blanc and Dave Lebling have publicly stated that Adventure caused the CREATION of Zork!!! That’s right the game you left off, is literally responsible for the winner of your top 10!!! Hell, it even tip's it's hat to Adventure by using one of Adventures magic words (PLUGH) in the game. This is an oversight of EPIC proportions. To put it in terms that Scott will understand, this omission would be like people praising basically any electronic device without acknowledging the development of the microchip. All electronic devices are created because of the invention of the microchip. Anyone that knows the most basic fact about text adventures or interactive fiction knows that anything involved with the genre is a direct result of Adventure. I may sound like a raving lunatic or freaked out IF dude, but I'm not. I’m just a fan of the games of my era and really hate to see an oversight like this on what I consider the authority when it comes to retrogames. It sucks that there will be young listeners to this podcast, are gonna get curios about this zork thing and end up investigating and playing a few IF titles, yet not know to play the one that started it all. But, all is not lost! You can restore your credibility!! All you have to do is, during the next Top 10, have a little small blurb about leaving out Adventure. Or at least point out the fact that the omission of adventure caused some random dude with a weird nickname to post a freakin manifesto concerning text adventures. But please consider saying something about it. I’m not looking for a "we were wrong" type statement either. Just a little addendum. Maybe you can even shoehorn in the fact that there is still a fairly bustling IF community, still making IF and even taking it to new heights with Inform7, an innovative IF Language. Some games even rival the masters of Infocom. And then maybe supply a list of links to current games and sites. Anyway, enough ranting, I seriously hope you consider my request. Either way, you guys are still my favorite retrogame podcast, you have provided me with hours of enjoyment. And for that, I am thankful. Thanks!!

Yours in XYZZY
Mmmbacon

P.S. It's Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy. You have Hitchikers Guide To The Universe on the website...

[SubaruBrat]

I've had your back when people talk about your length issues

Sometimes our depth can be tough to handle.....


But your right, and this is why we say day in and day out our listeners are the battery in the show. Just because we record it does not make it fact. Our list is drawn from our memories, if a game was not in our area then we did not experience it. And this piece of history was missed. So MMMMMMMBacon, great catch.

[RetroPom]

Bit of an omission. Infocom were inspired to write Zork in US, and L9 to pen Colossal Cave in UK.
It also has an interesting backstory-Check below:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Crowther

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Woods

http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq...09/000009.html

Also, were Scott's 'Shipwrecked' and 'Sir Loin' games from www.textadventures.co.uk actually around BITD?

PS. On smut....anyone else remember 'The Farmer's Daughter'?
I NEVER made it up that damn ladder!!! LOL

Great show-Only at end of Top 10 at mo...