Elvira II - House on Haunted Hill

Written by Deimar

Dirk Gentley Journal Entry #3 "My luck had run out. As per usual. My careful exploration of the studio offices yielded nothing. Except for a encounter with a witch. In the literal sense, with lightning bolts, molts and all the complete package. Lucky for me, she was allergic to steel. Unlucky for me, that meant more brain matter across my new security jacket. In any case, I will have to follow the clue the janitor gave me and try to find those magical items in the cursed sets..."

Having finished the exploration of the studio offices, it is time to delve into the real meat of the game: the three cursed studio sets. Access to each one of them is granted through security doors in a hall in the first floor of the studio offices. And when I say security I really mean it, as opening each one requires introducing a value from the anticopy wheel of doom™. The door number 1 hides the set of “Kiss of the spider”. Right after entering this set, Elvira appears to warn us (and mock us, of course) about the dangerous nature of the place.

What’s behind door number 1?

An Elvira!! Glad the game is over so fast. I thought it would last longer but I appreciate the brevity (and the pun)

Bait and switch. No Elvira, just your regular insect-infested dungeon

Cruise for a Corpse - Gambling Debts and Hidden Affairs

Written by Joe Pranevich

A very expensive clue!

Last week, Raoul and I dug deeper into the death of Niklos Karaboudjan, the wealthy patron who invited us on to his cruise only to die before we even met him. We found some interesting leads: that Suzanne and Niklos had a difficult relationship, that Tom made a shockingly expensive purchase even though he is having financial difficulties, and that Father Fabiani has a gambling problem. I do not know know how all of these clues will connect, but I can say one thing with confidence: the butler did it.

As the game settles into something of a routine, I am going to divide this post into two parts: first, I will discuss the routine and the way the game plays then document my play as usual. The game is extremely linear and new leads are revealed slowly through dozens of conversations, but the plot is pretty interesting and I’ve found it fun to try to keep track of all of the relationship and disputes that surround Niklos and his extended family. Some of the rest… is less fun.

Missed Classic 22: Robin of Sherwood: The Touchstones of Rhiannon (1985) - Introduction

Written by Alex

Yes indeed, here we are. Another Robin Hood game, and my first Missed Classic for The Adventure Gamer. Yeah! After I played and reviewed 1991’s excellent Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood, fellow TAG writer Joe Pranevich threw down the gauntlet and challenged me to play The Touchstones of Rhiannon. And like a dumb-dumb, which should come as no surprise to anybody reading this blog, I accepted. So if it turns out that this is a great game, thanks Joe! And if it turns out to be a horrible one . . . thanks Joe!

Cruise for a Corpse - Looking for Clues (In All the Wrong Places)

Written by Joe Pranevich

Pardon me, sir. Why are you sitting on my bed?

Last week, Raoul and I tried to find our sea legs as we finished exploring the ship-- or at least as much of it as we could access. We spoke to a few of the possible suspects, but most of the passengers were missing or unwilling to talk to me. You would think that more people would be willing to talk to me, or at least seem somewhat concerned that there was a murderer in their midst. At any rate, the time was now 8:50 AM and it’s time to see what else is new onboard the ship and whether I could get into any previously locked areas.

The first change that I find is that there is now a mechanic in the engine room, but like all the other crewmembers on the ship, he doesn’t seem to have anything to say. Working my way from room to room, I discover that Julio is hanging out in our room now… but sitting on MY bed. How rude! I talk to him again and new dialog options about Suzanne have opened up; he tells me that she recently spent five months in the hospital and came out looking ten years older. I wonder what happened? I race back to Suzanne, but she doesn’t want to talk about her illness to me. Very suspicious.

Missed Classic 21: Seas of Blood - WON! And Final Rating

Written by Joe Pranevich

A mysterious mountain, soon to be filled with pirate booty!

Welcome back! Where we last left our evil pirate adventure, I had just discovered the mythical mountain of Nippur, the location where I am supposed to store twenty treasures to win the game. Unfortunately, I had located only thirteen of the treasures in my voyages around the Inland Sea and not all in one go. It is pretty clear that not only do I need to work out the rest of the puzzles, but I also need to figure out the correct order to approach the various cities and islands to ensure that I get to the end without running out of food, hit points, crewmembers, or all three.

In my retelling, I will skimp on narrating all the running around and experimenting. I played through aspects of the game six times, with many reloads each of those times, to inch my way forward. Sometimes I would bee-line to a specific island to try something new, other times I would try out different routes to see what might make sense. I also started playing through the gamebook to see if that gave me any clues (more on that in a bit), but there were fewer than I expected and a large number of red herrings. With the disclaimer out of the way, let’s go pirating!