Text Based Games

[Sabby]

Ages ago, I got a PC games magazine, and on the disc was a text based game. It was some H P Lovecraft thing. All I had to do was write commands, like, leave room, or, look at table. I liked it a lot.

Now, lately, all I ever hear about is MMO's... and I hate them! I hate MMO's so much Dx so much, that it made me want to go and play a game for the story elements alone. So, I wanted to try a text based game again...

I google 'Top 10 text based games' I find a top 10 list is easier for me if I'm not familiar with the subject.

What do I get? 7 pages in, and all the results are for text based MMO's...

Gah >.< fuck off Google. Could a human being please help me here? All I'm looking for is a newbies guide to text based games...

[Oniya]

Try googling 'Zork' or 'Infocom'.  I know that the original Zork game has been ported to an online server - I found it through Wikipedia once.  Infocom was the premier company producing those text-based games (They also did the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game, and Leather Goddesses of Phobos, as I recall.)

[Avis habilis]

Somewhere out there is a site whose 404 page is Zork. Literally Zork - as in "Page not found. You are in an open field west of a big white house with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here."

Ah, here it is: http://thcnet.net/zork/index.php

[Oniya]

The one I was referencing is actually a full port of the game. 

[Tatterdemalion]

Ages ago, I got a PC games magazine, and on the disc was a text based game. It was some H P Lovecraft thing. All I had to do was write commands, like, leave room, or, look at table.

I'd venture to guess that's The Lurking Horror, and yes, it's indeed one of the Infocom classics. Other titles of theirs which might prove particularly worth looking into are Trinity and A Mind Forever Voyaging. (By the way, for a more recent text adventure in the Lovecraftian style, check out Anchorhead.)

Could a human being please help me here? All I'm looking for is a newbies guide to text based games...

No sooner said than done: here you go, and pay attention especially to the introductory linkage.

[Sabby]

I'd venture to guess that's The Lurking Horror, and yes, it's indeed one of the Infocom classics. Other titles of theirs which might prove particularly worth looking into are Trinity and A Mind Forever Voyaging. (By the way, for a more recent text adventure in the Lovecraftian style, check out Anchorhead.)
No sooner said than done: here you go, and pay attention especially to the introductory linkage.

Thank you for the link, but I can't make sense of anything there...

[Oniya]

Hit this link for the Beginner's Guide to Interactive Fiction.  It takes you on a step-by-step to the portion of the server where you can download text-based adventures that will work on your machine. (I had to poke through the site a bit to find that.  Not terribly intuitive front page.)

[Tatterdemalion]

Thank you for the link, but I can't make sense of anything there...

Hmm. Do you mean the archives themselves, or how to set up a game so that it'll run on your computer? (The old DOS-based text adventures might have troubles all of their own on modern systems.) Would this article help? And here is a selection of some well-received IF which you might try out, including that Anchorhead I mentioned earlier.

[Miss Arha]

You should head on over to Mudconnector.com

They have a comprehensive list of text muds.

I personally had a love affair with Achaea.

I played there for 10 years. It is a complex and rich world though however, and takes a while to get into it.

But go to the connector, you are sure to find something that will suit your tastes.

[Miss Arha]

MUDs are technically MMOs, but they are just the same as Hobbit on the Spectrum that I used to play when I was young. lol. Just the characters talk back!  Everyone is surprisingly in character compared to graphical games like WoW. Suck it and see!

[Sabby]

Giving Anchorhead, Shade, and Delusions a try.

[Miss Arha]

Have fun. I heartedly recommend Achaea and Aetolia (if you like it a little darker). *throws her head back and cackles*.

[Sabby]

I don't know how many times I've already said I hate MMO's >.>

[Tatterdemalion]

I don't know how many times I've already said I hate MMO's >.>

To be fair, these days the player population in the majority of MUDs tends to be so sparse that you can pretty much forget all about that "MM" part... If you could find one such game that's focused on puzzles and quests instead of hack and slash (let alone PvP), it'd effectively be no different from the old-fashioned text adventures designed for a single player.

As a side note, many of these modern exercises in interactive fiction are often built on a smaller scale than the older games, as you've presumably noticed with Shade. If you happen to be looking for something that'll require more time and effort to solve, I could throw in a recommendation for Once and Future. Perhaps the last text adventure originally intended for actual commercial publication, it's now available for free, as the heyday of IF was already long since over by the time that the project was finished.

[Sabby]

I'm looking for longer stuff :) but I can't find much in my desired genres...sci fi, fantasy mostly. All I see is mundane crap like visiting New Work with a time machine >.<

[Tatterdemalion]

Well, for something a smidgen more expansive and a mite less mundane... Let's see... Would you prefer superheroics closer to home as in Heroine's Mantle or otherworldly exploration as in Worlds Apart?

[corwynn]

Are you looking for stuff that is heavy on storyline, has lots or little puzzles, or other stuff?

My favoriite text game is still the original "Adventure." http://www.rickadams.org/adventure/

It's essentially entirely puzzle-based, but with lots of exploration with vivid descriptions, and has some fantasy themes, though it is by no means over the top in that respect.

Also if you want to search on your own, try searching either "Interactive Fiction" or "Text Adventure" to get better results.

[Sabby]

Good storyline and action sequences, puzzles are okay. I love the conflict of fantasy settings, and I'd love the prospect of a fight scene in text based.

[Talia]

This isn't a text based game ...but does any body play Heavy Rain... I'm going to start looking into it as I find the game exciting. If any one plays it feel free to give me input....Just Pm me.

[glimmertwin]

Ah, Zork..my old friend.  I asked for Zork for Christmas in 8th grade, thinking it was a cool graphics game.  I was a bit disapointed but fell in love with it and got Zork II and III later.  I never finished Zork III (got stuck in the maze).  About 20 years later I found it online and got a hint and finally finished it.  Yeah me!  lol.