posted
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.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
I like the fact that I can look at a 9-letter acronym and know exactly what it means instantly. I feel very cultured.
Posts: 464 | Registered: Jul 2004
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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.
Posts: 503 | Registered: May 2005
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Oh dear...clearly, the Hitchhhiker game is going to be my gateway drug for RPGs. Curse you! *shakes fist* Curse you all!
Posts: 866 | Registered: Dec 2003
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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.
Posts: 196 | Registered: May 2005
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Ah, I was trying too hard to follow the book. No peanuts for me! I guess now I will die of matter transference. Posts: 866 | Registered: Dec 2003
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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.)
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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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
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.
Posts: 866 | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
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.
Posts: 1069 | Registered: Feb 2005
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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.Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
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. Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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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.
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
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. ;-)
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
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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.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
That game is such a joy. If you want to win really quick, type in escape and see what happens.
Posts: 6026 | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
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.
Posts: 10177 | Registered: Apr 2001
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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! Posts: 866 | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
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?
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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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.
Posts: 10177 | Registered: Apr 2001
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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?"
posted
Me too. Apparently breaking the glass is not how you get the atomic vector plotter. Blasted cleaning robots, I'll get you!
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
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. Posts: 866 | Registered: Dec 2003
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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. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
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?
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
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*
Posts: 866 | Registered: Dec 2003
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