For SAVE/RESTORE to function correctly you will need to set the system time before you start Zork.
(There will be a grace period before you can RESTORE a recently SAVEd file. We can’t have a lot of Zork-processes overloading the system!)
:pdset
760917D
!.
Use a date like it’s the 70s… There’s bound to be a Y2K-problem otherwise.
I don’t know how long the grace period is, but to be on the safe side just advance the date 24h before you RESTORE.
The PDSET had quite a funny warning…
PDSET.115
Please don't use this program unless you know how.
You are certain to break something if you happen to hit the wrong key.
Type Control-Z to exit, or ? for a reminder of the commands.
I’m happy to report that it’s possible to play the game all he way to the end!
You are in the Tomb of the Unknown Implementer.
A hollow voice says: "That's not a bug, it's a feature!"
There are two candles here.
In the north wall of the room is the Crypt of the Implementers. It
is made of the finest marble, and apparently large enough for four
headless corpses. The crypt is closed. Above the entrance is the
cryptic inscription:
"Feel Free."
There are four heads here, mounted securely on poles.
There is a large pile of empty Coke bottles here, evidently produced
by the implementers during their long struggle to win totally.
There is a gigantic pile of line-printer output here. Although the
paper once contained useful information, almost nothing can be
distinguished now.
>score
Your score would be 500 [total of 500 points], in 674 moves.
This score gives you the rank of Cheater.
>
You’ll need the _msgs_-file and som juggling with :PDSET for SAVE/RESTORE to work (see earlier in thread).
The game is the 500 point version without any end-game. The reason I played it was to see if there was any noticeable difference with my reconstructed MDL-version for Confusion. I found a couple:
Refer to last items with IT works in this version.
Solution to “Loud Room” is more like in later Zork’s in this version (this is probably a Confusion problem with the input).
In this version you can use multiple items with GET and PUT.
Playing around a bit with it I think this is before the more advanced parser. It seems that it only understands verb-noun. If I remember the history correctly the more advanced parser was installed later that summer.
And there is NO sword! I can’t seems to move beyond the Troll (no melee yet). There must be another solution…
I remember discussion of an extremely early version where you could throw the knife and let the troll eat it and expire…
Sure enough:
throw knife
The troll eats the knife and develops an internal hemorrhage. Hedisappears along with his axe, and the way is clear. The bloody knife
remains behind.
If I remember the history correctly - Dave Lebling invented the Grues because it was so absurd that you would stumble around in the attic and then die by falling down a pit.
The pits came from Colossal Cave (Adventure) and Grues were added because pits in a cave might make sense but they are a bit silly in an attic.
Of course Dave Lebling didn’t actually invent Grues, but borrowed them from Jack Vance’s “Dying Earth” books. Interestingly enough (to me anyway) Dungeons and Dragons also borrowed heavily from Vance’s books, namely the “fire and forget” spell-casting system, yet did not have Grues, despite including nearly every other creature of mythology and legend and then some. While it is true that the Monster Manual II published in 1983 did include monsters called elemental grues, these are nothing like the darkness inhabiting creatures Vance describes.
While Zork Zero isn’t my favorite Infocom game by any stretch, one thing I thought was kind of clever was that for the first part of the game you’ll fall into a bottomless pit if you don’t have any light. After a certain puzzle, this changes so that you are eaten by a grue instead.