My only real life ambition is to finish every Infocom game. I’ve finished a number:
Zork I
Zork II
Deadline
Zork III
Starcross
Planetfall (twice, once as a kid in the 80s, once in the last two years)
Enchanter
Infidel
Sorcerer
H2G2
Wishbringer (but that was a very long time ago and I want to play it again)
Stationfall
which leaves, I think, 25 more.
So what do you think? Which order should I tackle the rest? I was originally thinking chronologically, but that would leave me only Shogun, Journey, and Arthur at the end, which may not be the best.
Also, are there any you would leave out altogether as not being “canon” Infocom? What about Quarterstaff, for instance?
I would probably just do it chronologically - anything else would probably wind up concentrating the misfires in some other way, and at least with the chronological approach you get to see the development of their design and technical approaches play out linearly, and by the time you get to the last couple games being so close to the end will hopefully give you momentum to finish (I hear you really want to use hints for Journey, and Shogun too if you haven’t read the book lately).
Gotta work in a playthrough of Cornerstone midway through, of course.
The problem with playing in chronological order is that the catalog peaks near the middle. That is a matter of taste, of course, but it’s not an unusual assessment. Spellbreaker, Trinity, and AMFV are all close together, and I would space them out (as my stalled out playthrough at Gold Machine might attest), or else not worry about playing everything and get to them soon.
What post-Trinity games do I suggest for general interest? Including ones that you’ve played:
Plundered Hearts
LGoP
Lurking Horror
Stationfall
Plundered Hearts is in a class of it’s own, I think, and my favorite of the lot. I like Ballyhoo, but it feels unfair sometimes. Many people are enthusiastic regarding post-Spellbreaker games with “Zork” in the title, but it’s not a feeling I share. Not enough to push other games out of the way, at least.
That isn’t to say there aren’t good games. Arthur is a pretty solid conclusion to a series playthrough, as Joey says. Lots of people love Hollywood Hijinx. I don’t, but I get where they’re coming from. I suppose I’m suggesting my favorites. After that, read some reviews and see what sounds fun.
If you want to keep going with Journey and those less-appreciated games, it isn’t a waste of time, but it takes a level of commitment. I’m glad I played Journey, but I have a hard time recommending it.
I’d just avoid two duds in a row. What you count as a dud varies from person to person, but I think most people don’t like at least one of the two remaining murder mysteries (I think they’re Witness and Suspect?)
Cutthroat and the soy one with timed text are generally not positively received either, or Seastalkers. So if you cut those with some of the great games mentioned above it should keep you from losing hope.
That must be Witness. With good reason, as it’s too short, too finicky to communicate with, and does not fit in well with the other two murder mysteries. Suspect is a much better effort in that sense, but flawed in others (unbalanced difficulty). In fact, my lowest point is not with the later games, but with Seastalker.
While writing about it, I learned that many people love the Witness. I don’t, which is how I learned. Nobody contested my take on Seastalker, though, which suggests a consensus. It’s pretty bad!
Takes are much more mixed on Cutthroats, for which convincing cases can be made for and against. I wouldn’t avoid it, though not all players will care to explore every wreck.
Pacing out bad games is a pretty good idea, though I’m harder on the back half than a lot of people are. I think the issue with the later games isn’t “these are terrible!” Rather, for me, it’s “these games aren’t pushing me to finish a massive playthrough of over 30 titles.” Here are some games I wouldn’t play consecutively, either because of quality, length, or other concerns:
Tier I:
Suspect
Seastalker
Shogun
Journey
Shogun
Border Zone
Tier 2 (controversial, not everyone will agree)
Nord and Bert
Zork Zero (love it or hate it, it’s just really really long)
Moonmist
The only reason I exclude Witness is that it is too short to drain too much enthusiasm. It isn’t very good (EDIT: though in fairness the opening is a classic, as is the newspaper feelie)
The thing about Cutthroats is that it feels under-implemented. First, because it randomly picks one of two shipwrecks, so the game you play is half the size of a “normal” Infocom z3 game. And second, because Infocom just didn’t have a lot of resources to put into it. (The Maher article notes that there’s traces of two more shipwrecks that never got implemented.)
Yeah. I appreciate the formal experimentation of Cutthroats, but I don’t think it was able to get where it was trying to go. The other shortcoming is that the most complex and fully implemented part of the game is hiding your bankbook from (I’m going to try to remember the name without looking) McGinty and whatnot, and perhaps that sunk (heh) the time budget for the rest of it. I think most of us, even if we like it, would have enjoyed more diving.
If I were you, I would finish the remainder chronologically, but give myself permission to skip around a bit as I went along. No reason to force yourself to play something you’re not interested in when you’re salivating for another title—these are meant to be enjoyed, after all.
I did this too (although I returned to it about six years ago, not two) and was surprised at how my perception of it changed. Kind of like reading Catcher in the Rye at age 14 and again at age 45.
I tend to feel the best order is more-or-less chronologically, except swap Deadline and Zork III (so you play all three Zorks in a row) and swap Arthur and Journey – I feel Journey is a good one to end on because it’s so different than the rest of the canon, and feels like “what might have been.”
I liked Planetfall a lot more in my forties than I did at 10. I became more appreciative of the workings of Floyd from a writing and design pov. Zork I was my fave of its trilogy back then, but III is my favorite now. I’ve enjoyed returning to all of them, even the ones I don’t like. But I know not everyone is so intense about this stuff.
