Spectrum Computing

Inspired by the random search facility upgrade and [mention]WIWC[/mention]'s old WoS thread, I thought I'd challenge myself to have a crack at the odd text adventure now and again as I don't think I played all that many BITD.

Realistically I'm unlikely to finish any, so I don't mind spoilers and may look up hints if I get stuck. Basically if I've played it a few times over a couple of weeks I'm going to consider that a resounding success.

Anyway, this month's pick is:

Time Quest

...a Quill'd budget adventure from 1985. It got 6/10 in Crash, could be worse.

From the instructions and the review it seems to be a Lords of Time/Eureka type affair, where you have to traverse between time zones to stop a lunatic from getting his hand on a load of weapons.

Well, I've had a few goes at this so far.

It's not bad. Have died a few times. At least not from thirst or hunger though. The first time was after leaving the time machine door open when attempting to time travel, oops...



Have only wandered around the first time zone, which appears to be a medieval setting.



I'm guessing the author just had "The Quill" and didn't have "The Illustrator", as the graphics are constructed from the standard Speccy font/graphics and form part of the location description. There are pics for just about every location I've been to, though some are a bit sketchy (the above pic is one of the better ones).

One plus point is that you seem to get a response when you EXAMine things, rather than the standard "You see nothing special" response.

I have problems with the gun. I can't remove the safety latch.

I'd forgotten I'd picked up that gun.

I was trying to fight the knight with a crowbar. No wonder I died.

[Edit: Someone else is playing it too? Wahaay..!]

Wow, who's that?

I only ignored the knight.

Ah... "TURN CATCH OFF".

The first time the knight followed me and killed me.

Then I played it again and he got bored and wandered off.

...Maybe because I appear to be a knight now.



Who am I to ignore the advice of "Merlin Leclerc". I thought I'd better go back to the time machine and try the next time zone.



(cough) typo (cough)

OK, so time zone B, looks like I can only head east through a dark tunnel towards some light. Wonder where I'll end up?



If ever there was an...



...moment...

Aaargh....!!

Oh, this is bringing back memories.

I had this on cassette back in the early days of my Spectrum ownership. The tape and inlay looked home-made "Scorpio Gamesworld" and IIRC it was a freebie/discount for joining some kind of subscription games club.

Was pretty confusing and I don't remember completing it. I think that earliest achievement went to Sherlock which was a lot slicker.

Still, nice seeing it back.

Should've let the tigers munch on the gladiator, rather than you.

Mork, great job, but don't show the solutions to the puzzles, pls.

Sorry Cruelman, I didn't realise anyone would play along.

But I'm glad for the comaraderie.

Will use spoiler tags from now on.

To tell the truth you didn't spoil anything to me yet.

There doesn't seem much else to do in the arena. Maybe I'm missing something.

Erm....





That was probably the easiest adventure game I've ever played in my life...

That was fast.

WTF, I didn't even visit the fourth time zone.

Yes, it took me by surprise as well. [Edit] Oh, you did it a lot quicker!

I suppose there are actually only three time zones (as I think you start in the 4th?). And time zone B (the Roman one) seems to be basically just that one arena location, and I'm not sure what you can actually do there or if you have to go there at all..?! Who knows, maybe you do.

Right - I've just looked at the Tipshop solution (I'm allowed to as I've finished it... ). That's quite weird, it seems I missed a big chunk of the solution to the final part, but you don't appear to need to do a lot of it, and can finish the game in a simpler way. Not sure if that was the author's intention.

Overall I quite enjoyed it, despite the occasional speeeling error and the slightly basic-looking graphics. There seem to be a few random but irrelevant events occurring at certain locations, and places and people that you don't actually need to see to complete the game. The author has been nice enough to provide a decent amount of feedback for the player in the form of the EXAMine command, and hints when you die on how to avoid it next time round.

Morkin's score - a solid 4/5. One of the better Quilled adventures I've played. Mainly because it was relatively painless - didn't expect that!

I didnt' use the rope.

Me neither. I didn't even find it.

I'm trying to play Lost in the Desert, for which theare no hints or solution. Not even a review. I'm already stuck. I'm scoring 20%, but it's a pretty easy score to reach.

Anybody else wants to try.

WIWC wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2019 8:20 pm I'm trying to play Lost in the Desert, for which theare no hints or solution. Not even a review. I'm already stuck. I'm scoring 20%, but it's a pretty easy score to reach.

Anybody else wants to try.

Just got really far in 'Lost in the Desert'... then realised that what I was playing was a completely different game called 'Lost in the Desert' that has been incorrectly included on that entry in the database! Looking at WOS, the Z80 has been misfiled for a long time as it's incorrect there too!

So thanks for helping me find that mistake! I've got a new game to research now.

Edit: The game I was playing was Walter Pooley's 'The Pyramid' which refers to itself as 'Lost in the Desert' on the title screen which is probably how it ended up filed under the wrong entry.

Which begs the question - which game is WIWC playing?

Kweepa wrote: ↑Tue Jul 09, 2019 3:36 am Which begs the question - which game is WIWC playing?

The 'correct one' as the scoring is broken in the Walter Pooley game.

8BitAG wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2019 11:17 pm So thanks for helping me find that mistake! I've got a new game to research now.

"You're welcome."

Go on then, I'm game. Though given the title I'm already anticipating the 'You are thirsty', 'You have died of thirst' messages...

Perhaps a new thread?

Oh god, this is horrendous...! It's already got multiple ticks in the "Morkin's adventure dislikes" boxes and I've only seen about 5 locations.

Not only did I get thirsty almost immediately, but I got thirsty milliseconds after quenching my thirst. Loads of objects, and an object carry limit, well that's fun. Areas of darkness and my torch runs out whilst desperately trying to shift another billion objects away from the dark room, while constantly wasting turns sipping water.



I'm giving up before I start trying to figure out which swear words it understands... Oh, too late, I've started already..

[mention]WIWC[/mention] how could you foist this pain upon us...