Game 72: EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus - Introduction (1991)

Written by Reiko

EcoQuest will be my first "normal" adventure game for the blog. Castle of Dr. Brain was a puzzle game primarily, and Timequest was a text adventure with a few graphics. But not only is EcoQuest intended to be an easy game, since there's no way to die or cause an unwinnable state, but it's also a game with an agenda: environmentalism. So maybe it's not such a normal game after all.

Missed Classic 25: Dragon’s Keep (1982)

Written by Joe Pranevich

Is that dragon a sock puppet?

One of the things that I love about “Missed Classics” is that they give us a chance to dig into the history of the games that we love, by playing some of the classic games that inspired them. We can better understand trends, follow the career path of prominent designers, and tell the story of how our great games became great. I feel so much more prepared to talk about a game like Cruise for a Corpse or Sherlock Holmes (coming soon!) because we’ve looked at games like Mystery House, Witness, and The Colonel’s Bequest. I also have a vaguely OCD-need to be a completist, but at least (I hope!) it’s an interesting trip.

That brings us to today’s Missed Classic: 1982’s Dragon’s Keep, best remembered for being Al Lowe’s very first game. We’ve already looked at two of his later children’s games (Winnie the Pooh and The Black Cauldron), but we need to rewind much further. Before embarking on his game design career, Al Lowe was a 36-year old public school teacher and musician who wanted to teach himself programming. As an educator, it may have been a natural choice for him to make his first halting steps as a designer by sticking to what he knew: building fun and educational activities for kids. The outcome of his programming experiments were two games, Dragon’s Keep and Troll’s Tale, as well as a new career.

Elvira II - Won!

Written by Deimar

Dirk Gentley Journal Entry #6 "Finally, after way too much bait and switch, I have managed to rescue Elvira. And I only had to kill a real vampire, although a bit old-fashioned; re-animate and de-animate a monster made of human parts; resurrect a dead priest; bring some magic mumbo jumbo to the crazy Indian janitor; and kill one of the major demons in hell. And all of that in the span of a night. Go me? I certainly hope Elvira’s reward is worth all the personal nightmares I am going to have from now on."

Finally, after many hours of dungeon crawling, I see the light at the end of the tunnel. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, as the game still has one last curveball to throw in my way. But first a recap. Last time we had cleared both the catacombs and the spider nest, having “rescued” two Elviras. I was still lacking the one in the haunted mansion. The only rooms I had not cleared there were the attic with the vampire and the basement with the Frankenstein’s monster, which had a door behind it.

From my previous playthroughs and the hints in the library I knew I had to re-create the Frankenstein experiment, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember how to defeat the vampire to set the experiment in motion. And I tried everything. Every spell which could remotely be related, every weapon and several deaths trying to desperately click on things in the room. I even faced dead-ending myself by taking a stake in the catacombs behind a destroy magic spell and nothing worked. The library was of no help, and it only noted that primal vampires have very few weaknesses. I was starting to fear I had missed or used an item I should not have, but after my initial RfA in my first post my fears were dissipated. I’ll try my best here for a clickbait title: You won’t believe what happened after.

New Poll: Choose the best Missed Classic of all times

By TAG team

We’ve had a poll for games in our main list, but never one for Missed Classics, so this time you’ll get to decide which of them you liked best. We’ve included only Missed Classics we have completed so far in the poll.

Since you might not remember all of the Missed Classics we have covered, here’s a quick rundown. Our very first Missed Classic was Mystery House, the first in Sierra’s Hi-Res Adventure -series. Other parts of that series covered on our blog have been Wizard and the Princess and Mission: Asteroid, and Joe Pranevich has promised we’ll see the rest of them on the blog some day. In addition, we’ve also reviewed Sierra’s only all-text adventure, Softporn.

Where it all began

Elvira II - Arachnophobia

Written by Deimar

Dirk Gentley Journal Entry #5 "Dust on my boots, on my cap, on my jacket… Even in parts where the sun doesn’t shine. And not the good kind of dust. The one that reminds you of the journey you have left behind. No, bone dust from killing an army of undeads. And avoiding ghosts. And travelling through a dungeon of traps. And even convincing a powerful necromancer that his food had made me sick. And here I thought I had finally rescued Elvira, it was just another spawn of hell. I went to the earth’s core and I only got a lousy Indian holy lance. Well, I guess it is time to stop complaining and go back to work."

After all the work done to get to the lance, the dungeon still had a surprise for me. Just after going back to the church, an evil force prevented me from moving and something that looked like an skeletal angel with a scythe killed me. So much for finishing the catacombs. Reading the library entry for this monster, it is an angel of death that can kill with just one touch. Apparently I really pissed someone off down there because it is supposed to be one of the most dangerous evil entities. As there was no information regarding how to kill it or protect me from it, I took a look at the spell book just to discover the Unholy Barrier spell, that protects you from these eventualities. The price? A simple prayer book. I took good care of not using the one dedicated to the deceased father Callahan but the one I found in the mansion.

Not so intimidating now, are you?