Queen's Wish 13: The Game might be Innocent!

Well! Things are much better now! I've been playing for the last few days and I decided to take my own advice to just stick to one area for awhile.

And indeed, that has brought the game back into some coherence for me. I went to the Vol and got involved in the storyline there. And, amidst that, I returned to a placed called the "Infernal Pit" and there, lo and behold, I found that scorpion that I couldn't defeat earlier. It was not in the Scorpion Pit. It was in the infernal pit.

And I was able to smash it. Had some decent loot, but again, the loot in this game isn't even one tenth of what it is in earlier Spiderweb games, and I still miss that.

I also went to one of my forts and tried to install some runes and augments into my equipment. That's easier said than done, but I managed to make some good upgrades. Also got rid of some equipment that's been clogging up my inventories. There are no stackable items and it's very easy to get full.

But I managed to make a great decision in my storyline: I helped the Owens (enslaved people in the Vol) and got them to be vassals of Haven (our home empire) again. That was a major plot point.

I know there's more to do in the Vol, but finishing a serious plotline made me feel much better about the game. 

So I headed off to the Ukat, and will stay there until I manage to get some advances in that plot. I just finished off some Naga:

Yeah, it kinda does all look alike.

I still don't like the combat system of all-in-one-go dungeons. It might work for serious players but not for lousy players like me. I don't like it that I can't find the loot I'm used to finding. I don't like it that there are no secret passages.

But I was the one screwing up the plotline in the game by jumping around in it so much. 

So now I expect to be able to enjoy the game more.

UPDATE: Taking a hiatus from this game because Jonathan Boakes had finally released his new Dark Fall: Ghost Vigil. I do intend to come back and finish this game, because I think I'm getting fairly close to the endgame. I'm close to level 20, which I've read is the highest you can go. So, until next time!

FINAL UPDATE: No, I'm not going to finish (writing this in January, 2022). My medical difficulties have prevented me from getting to my Macintosh, and that's where I have this game. I'm not starting over. I just wasn't enjoying it enough, and now that so much time has passed since I've played, I've lost the plot anyway. So this becomes the first Spiderweb game I didn't finish. Well, if I want more Spiderweb fun, I have all of his other games. Sorry, but that's it on Queen's Wish.

Queen's Wish 12: Some Thoughts on Differences

Well I really do need to do a blog post on this game. Yes, I've been playing it in spits and spats. Just not entranced and compelled the way I've been in the older Spiderweb games.

So I have some thoughts on the differences between this game and the older Spiderweb games.

First, I'm sure that part of my problem is that I'm jumping around too much. This is a fault in me, not in the game. I find that when I can't do something, I'll just jump into another area and continue with that place. However, by that time I've forgotten the gist of the plot in that area.

Second, I really really really really really miss picking up random loot. It does give me a little charge when I find stuff (Looky! I found a wand!) Jeff explained that he knows players get little shots of dopamine when they find loot, but he wanted to focus on other things. That's fine for hardcore players who know how to manipulate the stats (I don't even understand the stats and am not remotely interested in that stuff). But I like that little dopamine shot. It's a big reason I play.

I also really really miss finding secret places. There aren't any magic buttons to push in this game (shoot, I used to love wall bumping in the original Avernum/Nethergate engine).

Third, and this is the real biggie: you have to finish the dungeons in one try or come back and start over. Again, this is for hardcore players. I am not one. And I'm finding that this change from the earlier games above all is the one that's killing the game for me.

Because: we only have so much magical energy. There aren't even any potions we can get to replenish it. The only way we replenish magical energy is by sleeping, entering one of our own forts, or killing enemies. But the charge you get back from killing the enemies isn't nearly enough. 

And that means that you can't use your energy, if you have any left, until you know for certain that you're facing the boss. So, I have to save nearly all of my energy for buffing and especially for healing, because that's the only way I can get through these places. There just isn't enough juice to use on hostile spells unless you want to risk facing the boss when you're bone dry.

If you can't use your energy because you don't know what's coming, that means your only option for combat is hack and slash. In my case it means that nearly all I do is shoot arrows. 

And that gets old. It is not interesting. It is not fun.

And plus, after I gained a few more levels I went back to the scorpion pit to kill the boss scorpion. The boss scorpion was gone. Apparently I'd cleared the place already. So I can't even do that.

Will I finish the game? I hope so. I do like the blocky art. Also, the writing in this game is the best Jeff's done in ages. It's funny and nuanced and adds an enormous amount to the game.

But there are many other games on my computer that are more fun than this. Right now I'm playing out of loyalty to Spiderweb. I'm glad Jeff tried something new, really I am. It's going to be a great fit for serious players. But I'm a casual player, and it just isn't hitting enough of the cylinders for me. I know I could switch to casual difficulty from normal where I am now, but I've never done that with a Spiderweb game and I really don't want to do it. 

Perhaps I should. I dunno. Also I should try staying in one area until I really can't go on there. That would put a lot more sense into the game I think.

We'll see.

Next Entry

Queen's Wish 11: Procrastination

I actually have been playing in short bursts every day or so, but I'm just not compelled to do this game, unlike the earlier Spiderweb games. I think it's just kind of the same old, same old all over the map.

Yes, there is some variety in the fights, but mostly the fights are just the fights. If I can't win one I try again, and if that fails again I just zoom over to another part of the map and work there.

I think that interrupts the storyline. Each of the three map areas has a distinct storyline, but you have to jump away and back again to it.

I rather like the artwork, although that also becomes a bit of the same everywhere. 

So when I couldn't slay the dragon in the Vol, I managed to get to the places in the other two where I'm dealing with the powers that be. They have all given me quests—what a surprise. 

I am progressing, truly I am, but with other Spiderweb games I could hardly hold myself back from playing. This one is, oh, I really ought to get back to the game. 

I'm also not a fan of the finish-the-dungeon-in-one fight scenario that Jeff put into this game. He said on the Forum that he wanted to make it a real challenge for the player. Well, in his earlier games he didn't have a problem making challenging fights. 

Ok. Another spider fight.

In fact, that may be one of the things that contributing to my malaise. In Avernum, for example, we could play part of a dungeon, come back, and the monsters we killed would still be dead. So the story continued. We wanted to go back and finish that dungeon! I still haven't gone back to try to get that scorpion. I kinda dread it, instead of wanting to make progress.

Also, we don't get points for just random trash fights, only for completing quests. There's no loot to scavange; the treasure hunt is gone for the most part.

Well, no doubt when I make some real progress things will get interesting again. I hope.

Beginning to wonder.

Next entry.

Queen's Wish 10: Getting Killed

Well I have really been moving along for the past couple of days! Haven't done much, but kept getting killed when I was just sure I could beat the deadly scorpion in the infernal pit.

So far, I haven't managed it.

But first, I ventured further into the Vol, and I found an odd place with odd humanoids who offered portals to other areas, or dreams. OK, I decided, why not. I bought a dream for 30 coins. Didn't seem to do much at the time. 

Now, I know that it's usually a bad idea to accept such offers, but I did it.

Shortly thereafter, when I got killed by the scorpion, I was sent back to the original fort and got a message from Mom (the eponymous Queen). She said she'd noticed that I'd found this odd area, and warned me not to accept the offered dreams.

Oops.

Well, it'll turn up sometime in the future as a bad thing. I imagine that I will survive, however. I just made it more difficult for myself.

But the infernal pit is really quite nice:

The boss battle

I've gone through the first two encounters several times. The goal is just to use arrows and save my magical energy for healing and curing when I get to the boss battle. However, I used up most of my scrolls the other day (these are much more scarce in this game than in earlier games) and I just can't manage to stay alive long enough to beat the thing. Tried about six times.

Finally I thought OK, I'm just not quite strong enough to do this yet. However, I wondered if I might be strong enough now to go back to one of those areas where I was warned not to proceed. So I chose the Ukat area.

This time I didn't get the warning. Yeah, it was a fight, but not all that difficult. So I'm in the Ukat northern area now and have already rebuilt another fort. 

Plus, I learned a new thing about the game. I got into a difficult battle with some "Mire Boars" in a mine. Large things they were. I just shot arrows at them and took care of the first wave of them one at a time. Got killed on the first effort to get the boss, then on my second try I found a new way to approach the area that narrowed the passage they could get through.

My first effort. Did not go well.

Got lucky. The boss attacked me. I had enough health left to wail away at him and I got him. Got the message that I had cleared out the dungeon. However, three more of the minions continued the attack, and I was way down in health by that time. I tried to run with my main character after the my other three characters got killed, but it finally got me.

However, I had killed the boss and got the "mission complete" message, so to speak. I figured that was enough. Went back and righto, yes, I had done it! I reported the quest to the manager of the mine, went back down, and those three nasty mire boars were gone.

So. Just get the boss. After that you're done. I was also able to explore the whole area and found several boxes containing my loot.

So that was quite satisfying! 

Tomorrow I'm going to continue in the northern Ukat area. I think I'll go back the Ariel area after that. Once I get more done in those places I ought to be strong enough to go back to the infernal pit and get the scorpion boss.

Still have plenty more to do however, because I'm only making a small dent in the medals so far:

We get medals. 

I can never get all the medals in Spiderweb games, because at least one is for completing the game on the "torment" setting, and I'm never even gonna try that. I did do an Avadon game on "hard," which was hard.

Anyway, I'm back to enjoying the game despite not being able to treasure hunt.

Till tomorrow!

Next Entry.

Queen's Wish 9: Fight!

Wow! Well I fired up the game today because I was waiting for someone (late) to show up here, and got into quite a fight with some drakes. 

I just stumbled upon this dungeon, which turned out actually to be a dungeon, well, a jail anyway, and innocently went into the basement. Found a buncha lizards, including basilisks. Basilisks no longer kill you as they do in the early Avernum games, but they stun you and take you out of commission pretty easily.

I managed to defeat them all. By that time, however, I was pretty much out of energy and needed some health restoration.

So at that point, I ran into some serious drakes, who turned out to be the bosses of the area. I was sure I couldn't beat 'em, and in fact they took out my main character pretty quickly.

But, I thought, I will try again, because if you don't defeat the bosses everything regenerates when you come back to the dungeon in this game. Still didn't think I could win, but this time I was more careful, used bows and arrows from a distance (actually those do fairly decent damage) and realized that I had quite a few consumables that could really help. Those included some group heal and group protection scrolls. I also have two healing potions per character now, and was able to transfer one to a really damaged character.

It took some time, but I managed to keep everybody alive and won! Got some tremendously good loot, too. This time I didn't want to leave it behind.

But when I went upstairs I found even more beasties! More lizards, more hellhounds, but also more nice loot in those chests.

Plus, I leveled up again. 

So that was fun! 

I also cleared out a rather nice looking castle. There are a couple of locked doors in it that I couldn't open even after defeating the fairly powerful bosses. I checked the Spiderweb forum and learned that I'll find the location of the key somewhere else in the game. So I'll wait for that.

Nice place! I'm impressed!

So that was a pretty good day's adventuring! I still would like to be able to do treasure hunting, but if the fights are going to get this interesting then I'll be happier. At least there was some good loot in the chests this time.

I'm still wandering around in the Vol, and haven't yet encountered any message that I'd better come back when I'm stronger. I may be strong enough now to try those places in the other two areas. But I'm going to go as far in this area as I can before I go back to try those places. 

Should have more time to play tomorrow! Good! I need to get this game done by Oct 24, because Jonathan Boakes in releasing his next game then.

Next Entry.

Queen's Wish 8: Leveling Up

I'm getting ever more deep into the Vol area, and have just encountered an eyebeast! Yay! A holdover from the other games. Also a tough enemy. I beat it the first time, but my lead character died. I didn't want to use a return life scroll, so I just went upstairs and reported the victory. 

Humph. Everybody else leveled up. Probably my main character didn't. 

So I went back and did the fight again three more times and on the third one I slaughtered the beast. Got some nice levels, and am using one of the cultural benefits of my other characters. Also got some nice loot.

But, I have figured out why I'm not playing this game as compulsively as I've played all the other Spiderweb games. 

It's those chests. Jeff hasn't hiden loot all over the place. It's all in easy-to-find chests after we finish battles. OK, that makes it easy, but it also destroys one of the main things I love about Spiderweb games—the joy of finding loot.

I mean, we can't even loot the mangled bodies of our victims. We can't steal stuff from the odd rotting corpse that we find lying around. What kinda adventuring is that?

Really, it's ruining the game for me. The game just turns into a series of fights that start to seem mostly the same. Yes, some enemies are tougher to beat, like the eyebeast, but the variety just isn't there as in the older games.

Of course I will finish it. But the lack of treasure hunting and the no-personality characters is really sucking the interest out of the game for me. The characters in Avadon had perhaps too much personality, but going to the extreme opposite just isn't working.

So. I will of course continue. I'm just not into it as much as usual, and that's why.

Glad to see an eyebeast, though.

Teensy-tiny eyebeast.

Next Entry.

Queen's Wish 7: Into the Dungeons

Moving much farther into the "Vol," the last major area of the game. I haven't yet run into that warning that I'm not strong enough yet, so no doubt I still have several things to do there.

I did manage to slay a rather large lizard, after getting slaughtered. But I went back and took care of its minions before the lizard came into view, and that solved the problem. One thing in the fight I lost however, I summoned a construct, placed it near the minions, and until they killed it, the thing kept the minions nicely occupied. Wasn't enough for that fight, but I learned something. Nice.

I made a mistake. I had a choice to fight an old drake and take its hoard or let it go. I'm me, so I let it go. Now I'll never know what I could have had in the hoard, and actually was pretty strong when I made that decision, so I'm pretty sure I could have won the fight.

Still, I'm me. It was an old drake. Let it go.

I have added another character, this one from the Vol. They're all supposed to have different charateristics, but so far I haven't been able to tell. 

I finally found some stone (turns out the Vol is the place to get stone) so I have added more shops in my forts, especially Fort Haven, the home base. It seems that as you add shops, you get better gear to buy. So, that works out pretty much the way any other RPG would work: as you get further into the game you get better gear. Still haven't found any consumables such as wands of fire or such, but maybe that's good. I'm notorious for hoarding them.

Am still enjoying the art work:

The entry fight into the Vol

Outside the same fort

I also cleared out another mine for which I so far don't seem to have a quest, or at least it isn't showing up in my journal. Will track that down at some point.

I left off while facing the Scorpion Pit. It contains fairly large scorpions.

The scorpion pit

Left off there! Will probably get back to the game later today.

Enjoy!

Next Entry.

Queen's Wish 6: More Travels

It seems that we can only do so much in one area, then we have to go to another. I have cleaned out the cinnabar area without getting a quest for it (or at least, it isn't in my quest list—it'll turn up later and I'll get the reward automatically). I have disrupted the evil experiments of a crazed wizard, only to find him starting up again. 

I have fought off various monsters while getting trapped in tree mazes, and I have conquered the Gardens of Pulchritude.

The Gardens of Pulchritude were interesting. We get charmed and take certain actions (mostly fighting other charmed monsters) until at last we face the evil tree.

Fighting Wolves. Some are large.

Boss Fight. The Evil Tree

The tree is a boss, but if you just keep wailing at it eventually it goes down. Ignore the little helpers it spawns and just keep whacking at the thing.

I'm hampered in my fort building efforts by a lack of stone. Really going to have to find some stone.

My new character is working out quite well. I like him better than the last one, although of course we can retrain anybody to make them exactly like the character we had before. I'm tending to concentrate on two fighters, a healer and a sorcerer, because I'm stuck in the past. My healer, however, started out as a fighter, so he's still pretty good at that.

Also I have acquired some better weapons. No doubt I'll find even better as the game progresses, but these are having a quite satisfying effect.

Along the way I looted a drake's den to find some kind of special item. Thereon hangs a Doctor Who joke:

Click to embiggen

I have apparently hit the wall in this area. As in the Ukat area, I got a warning that I might want to come back when I'm stronger and have better equipment. I did try to go forward but yeah, I can't get through the next fight.

So I have departed and am going to the Vol, the desert area (the Ukat is swampy and the Ahriel is nicely forested). Currently I'm in the middle of what might turn out to be one of Jeff's puzzle areas. For the first time I had to find a key to get into a room in a fort that I'm trying to get through. I found it and got in, and I've paused there. 

Today I have massive housework, and my sister is coming down, so I may not get any more playing time until tomorrow. So, till then!

Next Entry.

Queen's Wish 5: Changing Characters

I actually did play for both of the last two days, but have been lazy about posting here. I decided to give up on the western area and go east. Turns out that yeah, I'm strong enough now to operate in that area.

However, when you go to a new area you get the chance to add/remove characters from your lineup. I missed doing that in the Ukatish area, although I can go back and do it anytime, but this time I thought I'd try it. I got a blurb from the game that said all I had to do was hit the "edit party" button.

Oooohkaaaay. But where is the "edit party" button? Searched everywhere on screen for it. Finally had to go ask on the Spiderweb forum. Duh. It isn't labeled. You just hover your cursor over the bottom buttons and the third one turns out to be, you guessed it, "edit party." 

So I added a green-skinned fighter. Made a mistake at first and charged out into the wilderness without equipping the guy. (I also forgot to remove the equipment from the guy I deleted. Might be able to get that back, though.) But training him was fun, because I had 12 skill points! 


Yes, I am a really bad RPG player. It's amazing I can get by the opening areas in these games.

Entrance to Ahriel lands. Pleasant, no?

I have met with the various required leaders of the Ahriel, most of whom could care less about anything. One or two is responsive, so those give you your quests.

Not interested. Go smash slimes.

Anyway, I am now fighting my way through the Ahriel lands. Have defeated slimes, monster plants, zombies, spiders, and huge giant mirelings, so far. Interesting how these enormous enemies look so intimidating, but they're really not that tough unless they're bosses.

New characters on the enemy side, too!

I am using my magic a lot better, I think. I actually played a lot yesterday. Will do a bit more today, soon!

Next Entry.

Queen's Wish 4: Slaughtering Foes

I got my new keyboard! So now I can cancel actions. Don't like the touch of the thing, but it's a super cheapo model so I guess I shouldn't complain. I also finally remembered to look up the keys for quicksave. I've been doing it the old fashioned way, which is stupid. Now I can just use the F3 and F4 keys.

Did most of my stuff in Ukatish lands to the west. The most major challenge was the Mist Maze. Got wiped out on my first try, but was more judicious about how I used my magic on the second try and it was fairly easy to wipe out the three shade shamans. Neat!

You really can't get lost.

Also wandered around in the beginning area looking for the spots that I had trouble with earlier. Found 'em! The most difficult turned out to be just a dialogue choice on my part. If you choose to leave the tower you find, you get away clean. If you choose to burn it down you wind up fighting major slimes. I've learned that I wouldn't get skill points for fighting the slimes, so I took the easy way out.

But I did run into the various environmental monsters, such as this nifty spider:

Very cool. Really not as tough as it looks either.

I did learn a new thing about the game. I fought my way through a haunted mine and could not defeat the ghosts in what appeared to be the boss area. It was a tough dungeon and I had to reload a couple of times before I realized that I just wasn't strong enough to get it done. So I left, but as I exited the place I got a message that I had cleared out the mine and the quest was complete. OK.

Later I decided to go back when I was stronger and take on the baddies. But they were gone. The mine was in control of the living miners again.

Missed my loot.

I think that if I had not reported the quest as complete to the character that asked for it, I might have been able to go back in and do it again. Verdamnt, I missed out on what should have been a good bit of loot. So this, again, is quite different from other Spiderweb games.

But I'm feeling more confident about what I'm doing now. Clearly I'm still in early stages, because the range of items for sale that I can't access yet is pretty large. At last I'm finding more magical items, and I even found an excellent spear in the Mist Maze. Just occasionally you do find a few items in the environment. So I'm slowly upgrading my equipment.

So far I haven't had the option to get new companions. I'm upgrading the ones I have pretty well, so I'd really kind of like to stay with this party even if they don't have personalities. But we'll see. I know Jeff has new stuff in this that I'm sure I haven't encountered yet.

But the novelty is good. Yeah, I know how to play Spiderweb games, but this one is challenging me to learn new stuff. So that's good! So far I like it almost as well as Avernum, and better than Avadon.

Onward!

Next Entry.

Queen's Wish 3: Heading Out to Reclaim the People

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OK! I have mostly finished with the opening area, although there are a couple of more difficult places that I will conquer later. I tried to move east to reclaim the lands that use magic, but the magic was way too strong for me, as yet.

So I headed west into the swampy areas. I have actually found one of our forts, the aptly named Fort Muck, and have built my first two shops there. Wandered around and slew some ghosts, but mostly I'm looking for a mine that's infested with . . . well . . . something. Nobody will say what. So that's for tomorrow.

And in my new shops I see that there will be abundant magical items for me to get. We can't just find them in this game though. We have to buy them. Haven't decided if I like that or not but I will say one thing: it's keeping my inventory uncluttered. I'm famous for not using my consumables. I'm getting through the fights pretty well without the goodies, I'm finding. So far.

However, I have stumbled upon the odd rotting corpse every so often, and have gained coins from those encounters. Just wouldn't be a Spiderweb game without rotting corpses lying around.

Here's another new gameplay rule for this game: in previous Spiderweb games, once you killed a monster in a dungeon it stayed dead. You could clear out a dungeon with several efforts. Not so here. You have to win the whole quest on the first try. Plus, we don't get skill points for just killing enemies. We only get points for completing these quests. It does add some complexity to the game. You'd better be sure that you're ready before tackling something really difficult.

I ran into what might be a glitch, but maybe isn't. I had apparently only partially completed a quest when I teleported back to Haven, our home base, to rest and recuperate. I leveled up and did the skill trees for my characters. I know I saved the game, then I quit. But when I returned, that saved game was gone, reverted to an earlier save. I think it may be because I didn't finish the quest, I shouldn't have had those skill points. Maybe it's a bug, but it does make some sense.

I continue to enjoy the very simple artwork.

Inside, talking to folks.

And here's a nice little village.

Who will we meet?

I actually played for a great deal of the day. Still enjoying it a lot. Oh, I found out why I can't cancel an action. You indeed are supposed to use the escape key, but my ancient keyboard is getting rather spotty and the escape key isn't working. I ordered a new cheapo keyboard from Amazon that is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Ought to help!

So! Till then!

Next Entry.

Queen's Wish 2: Whither Do I Wander?

I have completed my first fun full day of Queen's Wish. I confess that I'm still trying to figure out some of the basic gameplay stuff, such as how to cancel an action, but I have found out that indeed, you really can only acquire items from containers that you find. These mostly occur around enemies that you slay, so it's basically the same thing as looting the bodies in other RPGs. But it means that I will miss out on one of my favorite activities: searching all around for goodies to loot. Maybe Jeff just got tired of hiding stuff.

But: where to go? At first, of course, you encounter fairly easy combat, but there's a fairly large area in which to roam, and it's really just up to whim where I go. Most of these early enemies are pretty easy, but I have encountered two that I can't yet manage. 

What happens when you get killed (sort of)

I've cleared out a couple of mines and a couple of mansions. So far I'm playing the loyal, merciful princess. You can choose to be a brat, but that just isn't me, is it?

A monster in a mansion

However, I have, with a bit of difficulty, figured out how to build the shops that we need in our forts. These give you bonuses and are in themselves useful. You can get the smithy to attach helpful runes to armor and weapons, rather as in Avadon. You can buy weapons, and here's a major difference from other RPGs: you really do have to buy all your weapons and armor, apparently. You don't take it off the enemies you slaughter. I have found a few things in containers, however. 

I now have a smithy, an apothecary, a barracks (this gives us some kind of bonus in fighting) a weaver, a mill and a distillery, which will make me money. Eventually, as I move out into new lands I'll establish this stuff in the forts there too.

One of my shops

I have achieved level four! The skills trees in this game are really much easier to manage than in the Avadon and later Avernum games, so I appreciate that. I rather miss having both a healer and a sorcerer, but I gather that I might be able to make one of my characters into a healer. Must try that!

Anyway, it's a real Spiderweb game, and has some humor which is always appreciated. I think I've pretty much cleared out the beginning area except for those two enemies (might try those again now) and I'm ready to branch out into one of the three areas that I'm supposed to re-conquer. 

So! Onward!

Next Entry.

Queen's Wish: The Conqueror: 1 WooHoo! A New Spiderweb Game

At last! A new game from Spiderweb! I had a new experience: I decided to back this game on Kickstarter, with the promise that I would get my own copy when the game released. It released today and indeed, I got my copy! WooHoo!

This is a rather newish effort from Spiderweb. While many of the tried and true Spiderweb gameplay elements remain, the whole look of the thing is quite different. It's very retro, of course, as always, but this game has a whole new look that apparently flashes back to some historic stuff. Never having played the historic stuff I don't recognize it, but it has a real charm.

Very blocky, but it has its charm

I have completed my first mission. Quite a few things are rather different in this game from what I've been used to. The combat is similar, but I'm finding it a bit more difficult to follow. No doubt I'll get used to that fairly quickly. 

I had quite a bit of difficulty retrieving items from chests. So far the only way we appear to be able to get items is to find them in containers. Turns out you have to click on the item and then click on the spot in your inventory/or paper doll figure to retrieve items or to equip them. Took me several minutes to notice that the opened container was over on the right-hand side of the screen.

The items are on the right

Not being able to pick up items from the landscape is a major difference from the games I'm used to, and I'm missing the opportunity to spot and grab loot. Stuff such as gold vases are on the ground, but we can't get them. Also, apparently when we grab things like silver bars from containers, we simply automatically get the money for the item. No doubt that will save some effort in lugging the stuff around, but it also means we have far less control over it and cannot drool over our loot. Hmmmm.

However, so far the skills system seems to be quite a bit easier. I have leveled up once, and when we do that we gain two skill points. It's easy to see what we can get for them, because those items are in full color on the skill tree. All we need to do is click on them. I think we also can unclick stuff to get points back and re-spend them. That's way easier than in earlier games.

Pretty easy, actually

Well I am having fun! A bit different, yes, but still without question a Spiderweb game! I'm playing this on my Mac, because I'm spending far more time in the room with the Mac at present. Also, it is massively easier to take screenshots on a Mac than in Win 10. Massively easier. I have a large collection of cat pics here too, so I won't want for blog pics.

Oh, also, while we pick up companions throughout the game, apparently, we can switch them out, rather as in Avadon. Each one comes with different skills. So far, however, they do not appear to have personalities, unlike in Avadon. 

I have defied the game's storyline and have chosen as my icon an old lady with short white hair. Lots of fun to see the references to my youth. But it really does look a bit like me! Hah!

Until tomorrow! I'm really looking forward to more of this! Yay!

Next Entry.

Uninvited 3: Going Waaaay Back in Time

Apologies for being gone so long from this great black and white, good looking game! Buncha stuff happening in my actual life took me away from gaming. 

However! I remembered that I had loved this game so much when I first played it that I wrote my own solution for it at the time. I called it a "solution" instead of a "walkthrough," because actually those didn't exist then. (Must have played it mulitple times.) Also, there was no internet. At all. So I did it all myself!

I'm really amazed that I solved this thing 30 years ago. This is not an easy game. Probably what saved me was the fact that it's inventory based, so that at least allows options. Keep trying stuff and eventually you get there.

But I looked in the garage where I was pretty sure I had stored the game, and there it was, and there in its original box was my walkthrough! I decided that I would just follow that to see how I did.

I even mapped the maze (of course there was a maze), but didn't need the map because I had written out a step-by-step solution.

Ran into lots more monsters. Got eaten by the dogs because had a typo in the spell I'm supposed to speak to them. (How did I figure that out all those years ago?) Got eaten by the vampire because I didn't "operate" the cross on him, but operated him on the cross. 

Still, this is a nifty, fun little game. A highly worthy beginning to graphic adventures. This version is exactly the old game, athough it isn't centered perfectly in the screen, but who cares? Everything is there. The sound often is a bit delayed. 

But anyone who wants a not too easy walk down memory lane to the very beginning of graphic adventures really ought to try this little gem. 

Some screenshots:

Can you get past the doggies?

If not, they will eat you

The chapel—entryway to . . . somewhere . . .

Helpful hint: Operate the cross on the vampire, not the vampire on the cross.

The game never disappoints in its fun texts

Your goal is this screen

You even get a certificate for winning! Note that you could print this 

on your dot-matrix printer!

I blame Uninvited for my point-and-click adventure game hobby. This game really did start me off, and later I played Shivers and then bought the second Gabriel Knight game, knowing nothing about it but because I though it might have German in it (it did). Those three games really did it for me. 

Every time I start a new adventure I'm trying to re-create the fun I had with Uninvited.

Uninvited 2: Searching, Searching . . .

I've actually been playing a little bit for a couple of days, but am only now getting around to blogging about it.

Searching, searching, searching the house for stuff. I actually remember literally every screen I've seen so far, but then, I played this so many times 30 years ago that that familiarity isn't surprising.

I did look at the color version for one shot. This is what happens if you stay in the car too long:

Oopsies!

As we know, it's fairly easy to die in this game, so save early, save often.

Found another nice ghost! But how to get rid of him. Try everything. If you don't have the required item in your inventory yet, you can leave. He will still be there when you get back. Once you vanquish him you will get what looks like a rather useful item.

EEK!

Other than that, I've just been exploring the house. Have found some nicely done rooms--well, nicely done for a 30-year old game, at least. Really, these were impressive graphics at the time.

Master bedroom. Items are here!

The master bath with original decor

And I had forgotten about this way to die:

Nice description here.

I think I'm getting pretty close to going outside. I have one more clue to go back and note down (involving atomic numbers of elements). But which path to take?

Is it a yellow brick path?

I might have some more time to play tomorrow, although I'm getting to the end of Dickens' Dombey and Son, so I might be reading instead. I'm doing a Dickens immersion, getting through all the books I haven't read (well, other than the short stories, which I'll get to when I need a Dickens fix). That might take precedence!

Next Entry.