Very like with the acorn instance above, we had identified what to do—we had simply not finished it to the sport’s relatively exacting and typically obscure requirements. The important thing was to make use of a glowing gem as a lightweight supply, which my brother and I had lengthy understood. The issue was the textual content parser, which demanded that we “put gem in mouth” to make use of its mild within the tunnels. There was no different place to place the gem, no different solution to maintain or connect it. (We tried all of them.) No different makes an attempt to make use of the sunshine of this shining crystal, irrespective of how clear, well-intentioned, or succinctly expressed, would work. You place the gem in your mouth, otherwise you died within the darkness.
Coming back from my reveries to the dialog at hand, I caught Ars Senior Editor Lee Hutchinson’s cynical comment that these sorts of puzzles have been “the one solution to make 2–3 hours of ‘sport’ final for months.” This appeared relatively stunning, nearly offensive. How may one say such a factor concerning the video games that coloured my recollections of childhood?
So I made a decision to replay House Quest II for the primary time in 35 years in an try and defend my very own previous.
Large mistake.
We’re not on Endor anymore, Dorothy.
Play it once more, Sam
In my reminiscence, the House Quest collection was full of sharply written humor, intelligent puzzles, and enchanting artwork. However once I fired up the unique model of the sport, I discovered that solely one in all these was true. The artwork, regardless of its blockiness and restricted colours, remained charming.
As for the gameplay, the puzzles weren’t a lot “intelligent” as “infuriating,” “apparent,” or (extra typically) “relatively obscure.”
Discovering the glowing gem mentioned above requires you to swim into one small spot of a multi-screen river, with no indication prematurely that something of significance is in that precise location. Attempting to “name” a hunter who has captured you does nothing… till you do it a second time. And the much less stated about making an attempt to throw a puzzle at a Labian Terror Beast, typing out varied phrase permutations whereas demise bears down upon you, the higher.
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