The first computer thread got me thinking: there was a game we used to play that I could never get past the first scene of, but loved to play. Now I know it was based on the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, but at the time I had no idea what was going on.
It was one of those old RPGs that only had text, and you typed in your commands. Anyways, I could never ever pass the first part because who in the hell would guess that you were supposed to lie down in front of the tractor. Not me anyways. I died over and over again, but never-the-less, I loved it.
Now I want to find it again. I tried googling and the massive hits I got were too terribly disconcerting, so I figured I would put it to hatrack.
Does anyone know where I could find this game? Or a good database that I could search?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
WARNNG! This will suck hours away from your life and utterly ruin any workplace productivity.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
Yay! Thank you thank you thank you! (Specifically Chris, but Papa and Dag for great info)
You do not know how happy this makes me.
And bulldozers are tractors.
I will now spend absolutely all of my time at work playing this game until I get fired for it.
Posted by Soara (Member # 6729) on :
I like the fact that I can look at a 9-letter acronym and know exactly what it means instantly. I feel very cultured.
Posted by Vasslia Cora (Member # 7981) on :
Eek! Not again, I spent hours on this and I never could get past the vogon ship, dispite the fact that I used a guide at times.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Did you use THE Guide? Because it helps.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Is the original "Adventure" available online anywhere?
Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
Oh dear...clearly, the Hitchhhiker game is going to be my gateway drug for RPGs. Curse you! *shakes fist* Curse you all!
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
Link to the original Invisiclues for when you get stuck.
(Maybe you won't... but the HHGTTG adventure game has some VERY lateral thinking problems in it...)
Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
I'm trapped in the pub. &#$*(^@#!!!!!!!!!
Posted by andi330 (Member # 8572) on :
how do you get the babel fish
Posted by Palliard (Member # 8109) on :
Man, I remember scratching around trying to figure out how to get a Babel Fish, that really stretched my gaming awareness.
I haven't regretted that since. That sort of thinking has saved me from one or two nasty situations since then.
Posted by andi330 (Member # 8572) on :
thank you for your insight. now can you tell me how to get the fish?
Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
Ah, I was trying too hard to follow the book. No peanuts for me! I guess now I will die of matter transference. Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
Hmff. Impatient young 'uns.
See, back in the '80s when text adventures first came out, the playing style was that you'd play one for a while, you'd get stuck... and then you'd let your subconscious work on things for a while before you tried again. (And then, if you were REALLY desperate to figure out an adventure, you'd buy the Invisiclues hints booklet to figure it out.)
Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
Hey! I'll have you know that I'm aggressively ignoring those hints, tempting though they be!
(and I'm stuck on earth. Dead. With the thumb on the ground. Maybe I should do something with my screwdriver or pocket lint. Hmm. Or maybe I should concentrate a bit more on my paper.
All right. Pocket lint it is. Chris, you weren't wrong with that warning o' yours.
)
Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
I am earthbound and grumpy. stupid wind. and I can't steal Prosser's digital watch, which probably would do nothing, but would give me satisfaction.
Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
Not fair! Arthur would never do a thing like that! Also, 4 pages worth of my paper!
(Because I needed more escapism in my life...)
Posted by Swampjedi (Member # 7374) on :
I tell you what - when I was 6, I got frustrated to the point of tears because the bulldozer always killed me. I had no idea what to do.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
I can't IMAGINE reading a walkthrough of the Babel Fish puzzle. It's one of the greatest puzzles of ALL FREAKIN' TIME.
Resorting to a walkthrough for that puzzle is literally denying yourself the pleasure of what is, for many gamers, one of the most memorable game experiences EVER. It'd be like reading a walkthrough for how to get the security card in Planetfall. Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
Great. I needed a little down-time for my brain and now I'm stuck blowing myself up trying to get the plotter. It *said* I needed to type in the second word of the second verse of the captain's current favorite poem, but that isn't working. Posted by Zalmoxis (Member # 2327) on :
It can be done. It took a while for me to figure it out, but I did.
Of course, now (well, now = several hours ago because I play in spurts) I'm stuck in the dark again and have no idea what to do.
Posted by Zalmoxis (Member # 2327) on :
Oh, wait. I think I see your problem. As with most thing -- the best thing to do might be to try going back over the process -- what you have done, what it said to do, etc. ;-)
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Have you gotten to the second verse of the captain's favorite poem?
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
Why not then?
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
quote:-tell prosser to stop bulldozing your house. -Looking confused, Mr. Prosser says, "I don't see any bulldozing your house here!"
I'm having a hard time here. The farthest I've gotten so far is to the bar, where I got really drunk and told lots of good stories and died. Ah well, I have 8 hours to kill, and I'm sure my boss doesn't want me to do any work today.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
quote:When will you come to your senses and solve this puzzle?
Ok, now the game is insulting me. I'm stuck in the dark on the vogon ship.
I don't want to use the Invisclues, because that would be like cheating, but this is getting rather frustrating.
Edit:
quote:4 out of 5 sensitive people solve this puzzle right away.
Again with the insults.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
In the game's defense, it's NOT a particularly hard puzzle. Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
*stuggling valiently not to say something that will get me banned*
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
Ok, am I supposed to do anything to help me in the dark before I push the green button.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
GAH! Stupid stupid stupid
I am an idiot!
(finally got it)
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
That game is such a joy. If you want to win really quick, type in escape and see what happens.
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
One thing you may want to remember is that the game's insults often contain clues as to how to solve the puzzle. For example, the 4 out of 5 sensitive people comment has two clues stuck right in it.
Also, save your game. Save it often. Save it now. This ain't one of your namby pamby point and click adventure games where as long as you get from one stage to the next, you're doing fine. There are a bunch of places where something you didn't do earlier on in the game is going to make your present task impossible. Also, one of the central transportation puzzle jump off points has a randomized destination and I think at least one of them kills you if you go there twice.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
I credit Infocom games for teaching me to read very, very carefully as a young child. Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
quote:For example, the 4 out of 5 sensitive people comment has two clues stuck right in it.
Yeah, it took me far to long to figure that one out. But eventually it clicked.
Now I'm trying to keep the upper-half of the room cleaning robot from taking my babel fish.
I love this game.
Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
quote: There are a bunch of places where something you didn't do earlier on in the game is going to make your present task impossible.
So what you're telling me is that having failed to get the Babel Fish, but arriving safely at the Heart of Gold anyway means that, in fact, I am screwed. Yay! Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
So not only do you have to save often, but you have to change the name of your saved game every time so that you can go back to each step if you need to?
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
You kids, without your experience playing Text Adventure games. Yes, save your games with different names that describe the state of things at that time.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
You don't technically need the Babel fish to proceed, but you DO need the atomic vector plotter. If you arrive at the Heart of Gold without it, you'll find out eventually that you can't go on.
(And note: since you need the Babel fish to get the vector plotter, you need the Babel fish. Preferably before the Vogon captain calls you in.)
---------
You know, I look back at certain adventure games and wonder how we -- a people now spoiled by the inability to actually LOSE our adventure games, thanks to the fact that almost all bad decisions have no real consequences in such games nowadays -- would have reacted to them were they released today.
Consider Starcross, where you wouldn't discover until the LAST TWENTY TURNS of the game that using the gun for any other purpose -- ever, even once -- made it impossible to win. So then you had to replay the whole game and look for alternate solutions to the puzzles you used the gun to "win." All three of the Zork games had "tricks" like this that'd force you to replay -- and all three also included time-limiters (in the form of the lamp) that prevented you from dawdling.
In Enchanter, I vividly remember not being able to figure out how to get the sacrificial knife (to cut the gordian knot) because I frotzed myself early in the game, and thus -- having never wandered around in the dark -- never noticed the faint glow behind the painting. But by that time, I was smart enough never to use the "swiss army knife" Dispel Magic scroll, because I'd learned that any time you found something that was universally useful, you'd only ever get one of it and it would be required in the endgame. I was about 13 years old, and I wrote to Infocom's offices demanding some solution. I got a reply back from Steve Meretsky, actually, that consisted entirely of "you frotzed yourself, didn't you?"
[ June 09, 2006, 01:30 PM: Message edited by: TomDavidson ]
Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
I got exploded by the glass case. Then the Vogons came. Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
Me too. Apparently breaking the glass is not how you get the atomic vector plotter. Blasted cleaning robots, I'll get you!
Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
Hey! Maybe I should take my mail with me and try plugging the hole with that ! I wonder if I can do anything with the hook. Maybe I should buy another cheese sandwich and stuff it into the hole.
Or stab Ford with the screwdriver until he wakes up. Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Yes, take the junk mail. Take EVERYTHING.
I cannot stress this enough. In this game, as in almost all Infocom games, TAKE EVERYTHING.
And it's even more important in this game than most. Because -- and I'm going to save you some agony here -- there is a puzzle at the end which randomly selects from all the items of a certain type in order to determine which is required for its solution. Unless you failed to pick one or more of them up, in which case it selects only from the list of items of that type you DIDN'T pick up. Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
So your saying I have to start all over and get the mail? How do you know what all you should get? It keeps mentioning Prosser's watch, so should I try to take it?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
You can TRY to take Prosser's watch. I recommend the attempt. But it's not possible. Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
OKAY. DAMN BABEL FISH, LET ME GET YOU AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I even tried to pick up Dentrassi underwear to plug the hole. I *fail*. I am going to check the clues now. *hangs head in shame*
Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
I showed powerful restraint and did NOT get all the answers. That said
I HATE THE WORLD!
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
That's okay. By this point in the game, it's already blown up.
Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
No hot-dog parrallel universe effect? Now I am sad.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
Plug the hole? That's interesting, I didn't even think to try that. I'm following a different route.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
What the heck? I went to restore the game, right? It asked me which game I wanted it to restore and listed the ones I had saved. One had a really long name and I just typed in the first part, hoping it would load the right game. But it loaded someone elses game instead. Can I just load anyone's game if I know what they saved it as? That seems a little odd...
Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
Why do I still have the thing which my aunt gave me but I don't know what it is, if I dropped it on Earth? Will this be explained?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Well, duh. It's the thing your aunt gave you which you don't know what it is.
If you've ever had a thing like that, you know you can't ever get rid of it, no matter how hard you try.
And before you go, "Oh, that thing must be useless," I want you to consider something:
The thing reappears, even when you drop it. And you can put a lot of stuff in it. In a game where you have to pick up nearly everything you see, can you imagine a use for the thing? Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
No! I can't imagine a use for anything! GAH!
Okay, sorry. I'm still trying to get this freaking babel fish! I HATE YOU BABEL FISH!
Granted, I haven't been trying every day for hours, but I've come back to it several times and I am not getting this.
I must be dense.
PL - Did you ever get it?
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
BABEL FISH SPOILERS - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You need 4 items.
You can annoy others with one item that normally annoys you. One is of upmost importance. One of them you don't steal, but you do borrow. One of them is sartorially questionable.
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