Just ASCII +
A Column Covering Interactive Fiction and Other Nongraphical Adventure
Games

Adventurer vs. Red Dragon
by Simon de Vet
(click to enlarge)

By Erik Reckase

Part Six: Magical Infocom Adventures
or
“Is a Zorkmid the Root of Boll Weevils?”

When I set my personal goal of replaying—and winning—all of
the old Infocom adventures, I had no idea that it was going to be so hard.
I’m beginning to think that I solved a rare few of the games the first
time around, fifteen years ago, as most of the puzzles in these games
seemed fairly unfamiliar. In any case, I’ll be presenting reviews of the
most magical of the Infocom interactive fiction games in this column,
namely Wishbringer, Enchanter, Sorcerer, and Spellbreaker. All
of these games allow your character to use magic in one form or another,
with fairly funky consequences.

Wishbringer—written
by Brian Moriarty

Wishbringer is the tale of a lowly postal clerk in the seaside
village of Festeron. Instructed by your oppressive boss to deliver an
envelope to the magic shop across town, you discover that the cat belonging
to the magic shop’s owner has been kidnaped. Unless the stone Wishbringer
is offered as ransom, the cat will surely perish! Your mission is to vanquish
the evil and restore the town to its peaceful state.

Although this game was rated “Introductory” on the packaging,
I still found it fairly difficult to solve. It is a great introduction
to interactive fiction, though, as the game coaches you through the initial
set of puzzles before setting you loose. Even though this is not a graphic
adventure, I still found parts of this game to resemble “pixel hunting”
in that every single thing needed to be examined before progressing. There
are a number of objects that need to be retrieved in town prior to delivering
the envelope that, if left behind, may force you into a dead end later
in the game (one of my least favorite practices in adventure games). On
the positive side, some of the puzzles have multiple solutions, so you
don’t have to read the writer’s mind to finish the game. (Side note: Unlike
the other three games reviewed here, this game is not part of the Zork
universe … but you may recognize some familiar places while playing.)
As far as nifty packaging goes, Wishbringer included with the original
distribution a plastic “rock” that glowed in the dark—neato!

Enchanter—written
by Marc Blank and David Liebling

In this first game of the Enchanter trilogy, you start as a fledgling
necromancer. An evil warlock, Krill, has taken over the land, and the
Circle of Enchanters has convened to try to thwart the dark power. As
Krill would undoubtedly notice, and dispatch, any experienced conjurer
that came to defeat him, the only solution is to send an inexperienced
trainee to sneak up on him. You are called before the Circle and sent
on your mission. If you succeed, you will be granted a place at the Circle,
but if you fail …

Rated “Standard” on the packaging, there is a balance between
fairly basic puzzles and nearly impossible ones included with this game.
The best advice, as with all games by these two authors, is to try everything,
regardless of the silliness factor. The gibberish spells are loads of
fun, and they introduce a stable foundation for all Zorkian magic in the
future. I consider the map puzzle in Enchanter one of the all-time classics,
mixing limited resources with creative onscreen descriptions … but at
the same time, getting past the guarded door to be able to start the map
puzzle was far too difficult. Enchanter is not very large, but
the inclusion of the spells significantly expands the vocabulary arsenal
you are armed with and allows greater depth in exploration. I’m particularly
fond of the conversations overheard after “nitfol”ing the frogs,
and don’t forget to “zifmia” the Implementors.

Sorcerer—written
by Steve Meretzky

In the years following the defeat of Krill, you take your magical studies
to the next level, studying under Belboz, the head of the Circle of Enchanters.
Belboz, who has acted very strangely recently, withdrawn and preoccupied
with his work, has suddenly disappeared. If evil forces are at work, the
entire world may be in danger …

Sorcerer is rated “Advanced” on the packaging, although
I found it to be easier than both Enchanter and Spellbreaker.
Short of one or two real doozies, the puzzles are fairly logical,
requiring careful thought but no creative insight. Maybe I finally reached
my stride playing these games while immersed in Sorcerer! This
is one of the first Infocom games to utilize a primitive form of copy
protection—included in the original packaging was an “Infotater,”
basically a code wheel that provided a series of colors for each of twelve
different creatures found in the Zorkian world. These colors are used
to open a box early in the game—the game randomly selects a creature,
and you must have access to the colors to open the box. Sorcerer contains
one of the most mind-numbing puzzles I’ve ever encountered in an IF game.
I’m still not sure I like how it turns out, and I’m definitely sure that
I couldn’t have solved it without a walkthrough. Yes, I’m talking about
the time travel puzzle in the gas-filled mine—gee whiz, Steve, how
long did it take for you to come up with that one? There’s also some “just-plain-fun”
stuff in this game, with a few amusement park rides to relieve your poor
necromancer’s tension.

Spellbreaker—written
by David Lebling

By saving Belboz from the evil demon Jearr, you earned the right to head
the Circle of Enchanters once Belboz retired. With that new position comes
great responsibility, so this time it’s all up to you. Magic has become
strangely ineffective or erratic over the last months. During a meeting
of the Enchanter’s Guild at Borphee, all of the guildmasters, other than
yourself, are turned into small amphibians! Your goal is to identify the
source of this transmogrification and stop it before everything is destroyed.

The hardest of the Enchanter trilogy, Spellbreaker is rated
“Expert” on the packaging, and it deserves every bit of it.
You will, in the course of playing this game, come upon numerous white
cubes, all of which can transport you to different locations. The cubes
were the least of my worries—I simply could not get most of the puzzles
in this game. I guess I’m too set in my ways to let my mind stretch in
directions that I don’t expect, and this game is built upon that very
concept—thinking outside the box. I used a walkthrough for about
50% of this game, probably the most I’ve ever used one on an Infocom game,
so I think it’s fair to say that Spellbreaker is just too durned hard.
It is fun to try to figure out what it going on, though, and should be
played for completeness—just remember, if you can’t figure it out,
it’s not because you’re a poor IF player, it’s because Mr. Lebling went
to MIT.

* * *

I’ve included a link to the Invisiclues pages below, since I used them
extensively while playing these four games. Finding the games, however,
may prove much more difficult than playing them! I rarely see the Masterpieces
CD that I own available anywhere, but the smaller Collections with
four or five games each are much more common at places like eBay
and the Game TZ. If
you don’t mind electronic distributions, there are downloadable versions
of the Collections available from Activision’s
store for $8.95, a steal!

InvisiClues:
Available in the 1980s, InvisiClues were books of hints for Infocom
adventures that were printed using invisible ink (similar to the old lemon
juice and candle trick, but a little bit safer). By using the special
pen provided, you could get incrementally more helpful hints for all of
the puzzles in the games! This actually works better in HTML format, as
you avoid the temptation to flip through the book, inadvertently spoiling
a surprise that will come later in the game. Highly recommended.