Judgment Rites – History Lesson, pt. 1

 by Will Moczarski

Disclaimer: Because this is an episode with a lot of attention to detail (and because work and life are just crazy right now) I've decided to split the post in half, you know, to let you know I'm still alive and all. 

The third mission is called No Man's Land, and it really feels like a proper Star Trek episode. It begins – as it so often does – with a routine mission that is suddenly interrupted by a distress call. The Enterprise is on its way to Omega Corvus to probe some radiation clouds. However, the fact that Kirk is expecting an uneventful mission in his log entry is nothing if not the first giveaway sign that all hell will break loose. Yes, we will even be dragged into a World War, no less.

Judgment Rites – Who Watches the Watchers

 by Will Moczarski

In our second mission, the crew of the Enterprise is looking forward to taking leave on a planet called Nova Atar. Just like in the TOS episode "The Immunity Syndrome", that ain't happening. There's a bit of crew banter about Kazakhstanian Cognac, and then an emergency call from the Science Vessel Demeter interrupts all further planning. Demeter was located in orbit around Balkos III when the ship was suddenly scanned. That alone wouldn't be unsettling, however, the Demeter's commanding officer Gellman tells us that the inhabitants of the planet are just entering their own stone-age. Gellman is concerned that they may have triggered an old defense mechanism from a sunken civilisation. In the spirit of "better safe than sorry" he pulled his ship up to a higher orbit and made an emergency call for good measure. 

In Soviet Russia brandy inwents you.

I run some of the new data by the computer - Nova Atar (our original destination), the Demeter, Balkos III (our new destination), Gellman, and the Balkosi - but learn nothing new. Then I check my trusty star map and head straight for Balkos III. I command Sulu to steer the Enterprise into the planet's orbit and assemble a landing party consisting of the usual suspects. 

Don't be coy, doctor.

Upon arrival we are scanned by the unknown entity but that is hardly surprising if you take into account where we landed. This is not a stone-age environment but rather the remnants of a technologically advanced civilisation. Or maybe not even remnants? What is this set-up? As soon as I regain control, the three computer consoles in the room are suddenly protected by impenetrable force fields. It seems that somebody is a little touchy about their personal data while they don't mind scanning us down to the Bones.

Judgment Rites – I hope you like to click on computers a lot.

 by Will Moczarski

Last time I promised to take a look at the manual with you and walk you through it before starting my first mission in Judgment Rites. However, the manual is quite long (36 pages) and takes a no-nonsense approach to explaining the game, meaning it is far more informative and much less entertaining than the manual for, say, Pepper's Adventures in Time.

Two pages stand out, though. Firstly, there is a cute little text from the team about what it means to be a Trekkie and that it has been a great privilege to work on a Star Trek game (shown above). And then there is this beautiful black & white picture of the team: 

What looks like a "T" located near the middle of the team is actually an "I".

There's also some information about the factions that are likely to bother you at some point in the game (Elasi, Romulans, Klingons). And of course it contains an in-depth explanation of the interface which is truly necessary if you've never before played one of Interplay's Star Trek adventure games. It's very similar to the one used in 25th Anniversary as there are two main areas that work a bit differently. You start out on the bridge which is where you can be pulled into bothersome space fights or consult Mr. Spock's computer using a keyword system not unlike, say, conversations in some of the earlier Ultima games, meaning if you get it wrong even just a little bit the fancy 23rd century computer won't know what the hell you're asking it about. If you navigate to the correct section of the star map (more on that below) you will advance the main plot – if you go just about anywhere else, it's more space fights for you. 

Game 146: Star Trek: Judgment Rites – Introduction

by Will Moczarski 

Source 

It's time to boldly go where only Joe has gone before...for this blog, at least. Riding on the success of Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, Interplay decided to do a quick follow-up using the same engine. Star Trek: Judgment Rites was released just in time for the holiday season in November 1993 and is generally considered to be the better game. Taking into account that 25th Anniversary scored a respectable 45 points although it was impossible to skip the bothersome action sequences (Joe was ultimately and understandably unable to beat the game fair and square) I'm mildly optimistic that we will have fun with this one. 

The game was designed by a band of six among which the name of Michael A. Stackpole (yes, it's the author!) is probably the most famous. However, some of the others can pull their weight, too. Elizabeth "Liz" Danforth's career in game development began in the mid-1970's, and she apparently has been part of the industry to this day. The latest famous game she worked on is Wasteland 2 (2013) although it may just be me who's unfamiliar with the others. Scott Bennie contributed to 25th Anniversary as well as Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (1997), Star Trek: Starfleet Command (1999) and Starfleet Command II: Empires at War (2000). He was also involved with The Lost Vikings (1993), Descent (1995), and Fallout (1997) to name but a few. A varied and storied career if I ever saw one.

Pepper's Adventures in Time – Final Rating

 by Will Moczarski

When I started playing Pepper's Adventures in Time for the blog (way back when) I singled out the manual as a true labour of love. I stand by my assessment. However, I also remarked: "This is beginning to sound like work, or worse - school." And if I ask myself the pertinent question: was the game fun and did it meet its goal of teaching me something as well? I'm not sure what to answer. Did I learn something? Yes, lots of trivia. Would I have learned more had I known next to nothing about US history? Possibly but...the game tends to work sort of like an old-school museum. The "TRUTH" button is a stand-in for reading the plaques, and you learn a lot about the artifacts but not so much about the broader strokes of history. Your mileage may vary but I felt that a kid playing Pepper will pick up a lot of tidbits and facts which means that the most absurd ones will probably stand out and continue to linger in the back of their head. The game is edutaining, but is it educational? I doubt it.

On the other hand, TAG regular Vetinari claims he learned a lot about history when he played Pepper around the time of its release. Maybe I'm wrong but the TRUTH button sure felt a bit like the Neuschwanstein episode in Gabriel Knight 2 at some point - I fear it belongs in a museum.

But we're not here to rank a game based on its educational merit but rather to see how it fares with our six PISSED categories. Let's do that instead of waxing didactic, shall we?

Pepper's Adventures in Time – Won!

 By Will Moczarski

400 points in my pocket, and one more act to go. This time around we need to find out how meat was cooked in colonial households, learn about colonial cures for fleas, compositions for the glass armonica, blue dye, and taxation without representation. Sounds like a wicked school day to me.

Actual objectives are as follows: 

• Get into Penn Mansion,
• Rescue Lockjaw,
• Prove General Pugh's a Fraud!

Time to tie up all these loose ends, it seems. If you think back to act 5 you may remember that it involved a bit of time-travelling to the year 1787. Instead of witnessing the Constitutional Convention firsthand we learned about Ben Franklin's troublesome gout. Then we went back in time to 1764 again, which is why middle-aged Ben now looks quite young to Pepper. The jolly founding father, not knowing about our time travel shenanigans, takes that as a compliment, of course, and then the chitchat makes way for some serious plotting. Ben hands Pepper a custom-made kite and wants her to go windsurf across the river with it. After that, she is to distract the sentries at the front bridge with food. While Pepper proceeds to sneak into Penn Mansion, Ben will rally the colonists in order to put pressure on the General. (He does not acknowledge that it was us who did all the legwork for the rallying in the previous act by performing some mind-numbing...well, what's the opposite of a fetch quest? A spread quest?)

Pepper’s Adventures in Time – Back Without A Vengeance

 by Will Moczarski

Well, on to the penultimate act of Pepper’s Adventures in Time we go! Let’s dive right in...

Act 5: Pepper Visits the Constitutional Convention or The Key to an Old Ben’s Heart

In the fifth act we need to learn about gout, Ben’s raccoon skin cap, unusual uses for a kite, Ben’s role at the Constitutional Convention and eyeglasses invented by Ben. As usual, these will be necessary in order to solve the quiz at the end of the act. The objectives needed to progress to the final act are: 

* Distribute Ben’s Special Editions

* Go to the Constitutional Convention

* Get Advice from Ben

That’s fairly unspecific. Let’s see how we fare with this one! 

On the first screen we see Ben working on a new pamphlet. He wants to help the people get back to the “good old colonial ethics of hard work and diligence”. No more hippy-dippy for Mr. Franklin, it seems. Pepper asks whether Ben couldn’t just go to Penn Mansion and ask for Lockjaw, seeing that he’s a “pretty important guy in Philadelphia”. Ben turns her down, telling her that he was never on good terms with General Pugh and thus his influence doesn’t extend to his mansion. Pepper suggests they just raid the joint but Ben tells her that the Mansion is well guarded. He is positive that he can help her cross the river and sneak into the Mansion – it’s getting her out he’s worried about. Pepper then suggests that the townspeople of Philadelphia might be able to help but Ben tells her they’d need a reason to gather at Penn Mansion because they won’t rally against the General for a dog they don’t even know.

Pepper’s Adventures in Time – One Taste & You Get It.

 by Will Moczarski

Welcome back to Pepper’s Adventures in Time! Last time we managed to make Ben Franklin lose his no-good hippie ways by taking him along for the kite/key experiment. It worked like a charm: lighting struck, and Ben is back to his own self again. Thus, act 4 begins, and the hot tub is...let’s just say it reminded me of this:

Source

I manage to salvage quite a lot of items from this mess: Ben’s backscratcher, his fan, a lever, a stepstool that seems too big for Pepper to carry around, and his paddles. His book of “Hindu Meditations”, unfortunately, is ruined. Being primed by the well-hidden item in the previous act I keep on pixel-hunting for a while before I re-enter the Franklin Mansion. 

The objectives of this act are to 

•  find proof of General Pugh’s dishonesty,
•  rescue poor Richard.

Not a long but a tough to-do list. But as I wrote before it’s really all smooth sailing from here on.

Pepper's Adventures In Time – Always One Of A Kind

By Will Moczarski

The last time I ended my narration on a cliffhanger, promising a grisly death scene - however, that was only half true. But more about that in a while. When we last left the game we were busy collecting items to build a Leyden jar and subsequently conduct the famous Kite/Key experiment in order to get Ben Franklin out of his cozy hot tub. On the surface of it he promised to help me with my experiment if I topped up his tub with some hot water - however, my secret agenda is to get the man back into science, obviously.

Pepper's Adventures in Time – Can You Handle The Taste?

by Will Moczarski

Shortly before the ending of act 2 the game switches back to Lockjaw who's still serving time as a playdoll for the spoiled daughter of the Pugh family. There's a brief cutscene showcasing Lockjaw's torments at Ima's hands (and voice, particularly) before we get to take control of the dog once more. 

Pepper's Adventures in Time – The Dude Abides In Philly

Welcome back to the first exploration phase of Pepper’s Adventures in Time! A short recap: Our pet was dognapped by the spoiled daughter of an evil British colonist and we are looking for clues on how to infiltrate their mansion and bring Lockjaw back. Also, Pepper is looking for Ben Franklin who has succeeded in turning Philadelphia into a veritable Hippie town. Parts of it, at least. Our objectives for this act are simply to meet the colonists and Ben Franklin. To pass the obligatory test we’ll need to be all ears whenever somebody starts talking about British taxation acts, millinery shops, Ben Franklin’s influence on the colonial post office, the Penn family, and potholes. 

It may just be my pot-luck. 

It’s right on the first screen that we meet some laid-back fella called Marty Hardy tossing a frisbee off the screen, calling me “little dude”, going on about “big bad Ben” and whatnot. He’s not exactly helpful with any of my inquiries; we only learn that the Guvner is big on taxes and curfews. Marty also tells me that the “flying disk” (aka, the frisbee) is Ben Franklin’s greatest invention which would not be too shabby for anybody but people like Ben Franklin, I guess. 

Who will win? Historical inaccuracy or the last-minute addition of self-referentiality?

I leave the screen to the left and arrive at the Governor’s Mansion. Unfortunately, there are several guards blocking my passage, and I am unable to sweet-talk them into letting me pass. Maybe Pepper’s story is just not good enough – she’s claiming to make a delivery of nice, fresh air. Try selling fine leather jackets next time, kid! There is some kite string stuck in a tree but Pepper can’t reach it. The two guards mock me when I try to grab it but they still take it down and give it to me. When I talk to them one of them hints that he may be corruptible if I bring him food. Other than that they are quite rude, insulting me when I try to approach the bridge or even the little river.

Pepper's Adventures in Time – What's the Worst That Could Happen?

Written by Will Moczarski

When we left Pepper last time she was just getting ready to mosey around the small settlement of Philadelphia in the year of 1764. There’s a man called poor Richard (after Ben Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack) clapped into wooden stocks who tells me all about Benjamin Franklin’s strange transformation of late. The once wise man has now turned towards foolishness and frivolity, and Richard wonders why. Poor Richard has a very dry mouth and asks Pepper for her help. Naturally, I pick up a dipper conveniently placed nearby, fill it up, and help Richard to some water. I then free him from his conundrum and Richard is very thankful, although he suspiciously states that he must now hurry back to “B--, er, back to my family.” Does he mean Britain? Ben? Did I help the wrong guy?

We're talking about Boston, right?

Because the game is targeted at kids the inventory is very streamlined. Pepper decides that she has no use for the dipper anymore and puts it right back. A soldier then comes along and accuses me of helping a criminal to flee. Pepper tells the man to "chill out" but he won’t have any of it. He cockily informs me that he’s the King’s own watchman and proceeds to grab Pepper and handles her quite violently, especially considering she’s a child. Our trusty dog Lockjaw decides to get in there and bites the watchman but in the end we both end up trapped inside a wooden building. The watchman is walking to and fro outside and we can’t do anything without him telling us to stop, prompting humorous and snide remarks from Pepper. 

Missed Classic: The Paradise Threat – WON! (with Final Rating)

 

Written by Will Moczarski

Did I say I was stuck? Well, that didn’t last long. Just a short recap to get you up to speed: My protagonist had reached a room with a sleeping dragon who ate me when I woke him up by attempting to talk to him, climb him, or attack him. I found out rather by coincidence that I was able to plant the seeds from the beginning once more here, causing a giant plant to grow right away. However, when I tried to “climb plant”, the dragon woke up and ate me. When I tried again...it worked! What had I done wrong?

This is how it's done.

It was a typo! In my transcript I could see that I typed in “climb plano” which caused the parser to understand “climb [wrong word]”, assuming I’d want to climb the dragon. In other words, it is vital to type “climb plant” and only that will work. Be very wary of typos, kids, or the dragon will eat you. It’s an educational game!

Missed Classic 133: The Paradise Threat (1982) – Introduction

 

Written by Will Moczarski

We’re back with our odd little company from Chapel Hill, NC, still going by the name of Med Systems in 1982. Although the company’s final adventure game was Asylum II they went on to release the three final games by the unusual and quirky game designer Jyym Pearson. If you’re interested in Pearson’s always surprising work you may want to read my coverage of his first six adventure games for this blog: 1 2 3 4 5 6. With Pearson’s two final games, the Med Systems marathon comes to a close, and I’m excited to have simultaneous coverage with Jason Dyer from over at Renga in Blue once again! Be sure to read his take on The Paradise Threat as well!

Once again, you say? Yes, we already teamed up for Lucifer’s Realm, you see, and The Paradise Threat is not only Jyym Pearson’s next game but a direct sequel to it! A quick reminder: In Lucifer’s Realm, our protagonist died right at the beginning of the game only to be sent to hell where Satan begged him to help him get rid of Adolf Hitler who had plans to overthrow the place. Because of our good deeds towards Satan (!) we are starting the next game floating up to paradise where a group of valiant men now needs our help way up there because Adolf Eichmann, one of Hitler’s most notorious followers, is causing trouble with the infernal Deecula Statue. 

Game 136: Pepper’s Adventures in Time (1993) – Introduction

By Will Moczarski

It’s time for a Sierra game! Pepper’s Adventures in Time was an entry in the short-lived (1991-93) Sierra Discovery Series that Jimmy Maher regards to be "[a]mong the most rewarding hidden gems in Sierra’s voluminous catalog". You can read about several of the previous games from the series on our blog as many of them are adventure games or at least games with features reminiscent of adventure games, meaning our authors’ appreciation sometimes surpassed the actual PISSED rating. Reiko awarded Castle of Dr. Brain (1991) 46 points but EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus (1991), being the first proper adventure game in the series, scored an impressive 60 points. Not bad for a game targeted at children! Roberta Williams’ Mixed-Up Mother Goose (1991) is so far a future missed classic whereas Mixed Up Fairy Tales (also 1991) was reviewed by Aperama, scoring an equally impressive 54 points. Then there’s Quarky & Quaysoo’s Turbo Science (1992) which is neither an adventure game nor actually developed by Sierra but it’s still part of the Discovery Series so a short review for our blog wouldn’t be out of line, either. The sequel to Castle of Dr. Brain, called The Island of Dr. Brain (1992) scored 45 points but again Reiko thought it was "fun to play" and it may well have scored higher on an alternate PISSED scale more suited to puzzle games. Alphabet Blocks (1992) is another non-adventure game not developed by Sierra but this one is even less likely to appear on the blog as it’s targeted at very young children (ages 3 and up). Finally, Lost Secret of the Rainforest, a game from the current gaming year and the sequel to EcoQuest, scored a little lower than its predecessor at 55 points. All of this bodes well for Pepper’s Adventures in Time which is the final adventure game from the series. So far, the average score of the series is 52. The Discovery Series was continued (or should I say stretched out?) for three more games: Spelling Jungle (1993), Ready, Set, Read with Bananas & Jack (1993), and Turbo Learning: Mega Math (1993). None of them was developed by Sierra but by the two companies responsible for previous non-Sierra games from the series: Bright Star Entertainment and Jeff Tunnell Productions.

BloodNet – Final Rating

by Will Moczarski

The time has come for the final rating of the "cyberpunk vampire adventure game" BloodNet – or is it a cyberpunk vampire RPG? When I started reviewing this game back in fall 2022, I made two predictions: there’ll be more coincidental Muse lyrics than “time is running out” in my posts before I get to pen the final rating. And “exploring the far reaches of Cyberspace” will surely be a chore. Both of them were wrong. Cyberspace was alright (although there are some who will beg to differ), and I refrained from quoting Muse altogether as far as I'm aware. Before I try to break down the sprawling mess that is BloodNet, however, let's take a look at what the contemporary magazines had to say about it. 

BloodNet – WON!

 by Will Moczarski

Whatever the case: I’m back. Those are the words I ended my previous BloodNet post with, and they are just as suitable for picking up on it again. That was on May 19, 2023, so it almost took me a year to be “back” this time, hopefully for good. Now I could bore you with long explanations why it took me so long but I think it doesn’t matter at this point. Whatever the case: I’m back.

Last time, I finally jumped over the huge stumbling block that was the fight inside Grant’s Tomb. The spike in difficulty had been unprecedented at that point and the remainder of the game was comparatively easy. I finished BloodNet on May 22, 2023 riding high on my previous success, clocking in at 28 hours. Fortunately, I recorded my playthrough. Also, I wrote much of this post back then but because I had to get back into the plot (as is probably the case with you) I decided to rewrite most of it (you'll notice by the shift from past to present tense when the new introduction ends).

So, where were we? I won the fight at Grant’s Tomb, killing Abraham Van Helsing in the process. Also, I freed Alexander Tennant only to see him die on me. To make things worse, he told me that Van Helsing was not really dead. I’d have to stab his heart to make sure. From looking at my notes I figured that was fair game since I hadn’t managed to find Deirdre yet (my main objective once upon a time). It was time to shape up and tie up with some loose ends.

Now going back out into the streets felt strangely satisfying having spent so many hours inside that damn tomb (although the in-game time hardly advanced, naturally). I stocked up on ammo at Vince’s and only then did I notice (or remember, really) that my proud party of six had shrunk to only three members. Rymma Fizz and Monique St. Clair had stuck it out but the others would never come back from the tomb. 

I decided not to repeat the fight hoping for a better result as I still had some potential party members waiting for me out in the streets. Also, I had been stuck in cyberspace, not being able to continue with the “lost kids” plot. Going over my notes I figured that Chuck was likely the right person to talk to, so I went out to add him to my party. (I had tried that in some of my earlier save states but he didn’t seem like a good fighter to me. Maybe he’s of more use to me in the cyberspace.)

Now especially during the endgame I was quite happy that I had been really thorough at keeping notes. I could quickly look up where to find other party members such as Garrick Fizz who’d finally be reunited with his wife Rymma now. He was on the same street corner as Chuck, too, which was kind of convenient...

BloodNet – Grant's Tomb

Written by Will Moczarski

Finally I did it. I survived the fixed encounter in Grant’s Tomb and am free to explore the colourful world of BloodNet once more. Because it took me about 6.5 hours of pure game time (not counting thinking up new tactics, buying new weapons, recruiting new party members and generally bumbling about to find out if it's possible to skip the encounter altogether) just to win this one encounter you might rightfully say I’m pretty bad at RPGs. Still the spike in difficulty was unprecedented and quite surprising. None of the combat in the game up to this point had even been challenging. It just didn’t seem to matter where I placed my guys and which weapons I used as long as I used the expensive ones. Also, I had very good armour going into Grant’s Tomb, a rested party of six, freshly bonded and blessed soul blades, and some of the best recruits you can add to your party altogether. 

Simon the Sorcerer - Final(ly) Rating

 

(Source)

By Will Moczarski

Here goes nothing! It took me six months to rate this game which must be a record for the blog. What happened to me? Laukku put it very nicely: “Still distracted by BloodNet, he claimed not to have forgotten Simon the Sorcerer's final rating in that game's introduction post.” 

Sorry about the long wait, I was (and still am) busy playing BloodNet among other things. To refresh my memory I reread all of my posts and played through the whole game once more. There will be two more Simon posts in the near future (about the talkie version and about the contemporary reviews) but finally the score will be revealed. And what can I say? It sums up my opinion of the game quite well.

BloodNet – Still Rattling My Soul Box

By Will Moczarski

Me after 15 hours of BloodNet

Let me start by saying that if this game was an actual adventure game I’d like it a lot. It is true that it doesn’t contain many puzzles in the traditional sense. Instead you constantly need to keep track of what all of the NPCs are telling you, making it more akin to detective games (such as Maupiti Island) than to traditional puzzle-based adventure games. And since I would argue that Simon the Sorcerer (which I played right before this one) didn’t have that many more puzzles it is actually the combat that makes BloodNet so cumbersome. After a while the random encounter rate with Shock Maraud’s goons is all but insane and even if most of the fights are winnable (so far) they usually aren’t enjoyable at all. Now I like a good RPG as much as the next addict but this is not a good RPG. It could be a decent adventure game but it’s really the combination of both that bogs it down.

However, I’ve made some progress and feel that I’m approaching the endgame. I have Melissa Van Helsing in my party now – yes, the Big Bad’s daughter! – and have got enough soul blades to clean up Central Park (possibly even the Hellfire Club). Van Helsing’s Apartment, looming large on my list of unexplored places (I got killed right away) from the very beginning, now feels likely as the site of the final confrontation. But before I get ahead of myself let us first relate how I got there. 

I started by checking out my list of open quests. My behaviour towards my quest log has slightly changed. When I was still madly in love with the game which is to say before combat became a more regular requirement my ambition was to solve each and every fetch quest lest something good be hidden at the end of it. Now that I have stumbled into various traps and was disappointed by some serious non-reactions of thankless NPCs I have set my sights higher. These days I try to find out what might be relevant to the main plot and prioritise that. If there’s a particularly interesting quest which seems unlikely to be relevant I shall try to solve it nevertheless. I really want to finish this game in the nearer future and get my life back, i.e. play something else for a change. Which is not to say that I don’t enjoy the game anymore full stop. It’s still a good game. But the honeymoon is over if you know what I mean.