Text adventures: Which ones to play and how to play them?

[Erik_Twice]

I don't consider myself a retrogamer, most of the time I play old games because they are good games, with a aesthethic appreciation of an old era not being really important in my mind.

But sometimes I do fancy playing old games because they are from another time, like I did with Pole Position and Wasteland and this time the retrogame bug has told me to go and check some text adventures. Why not? There's probably some great stuff out in that the genre and it will help me expand my horizons a bit.

So far I've been mostly interested in Infocom's adventures, with one exception:

Planetfall (Seems accessible and fun)
Suspended (I really like the premise and the fact that it seems very strategic)
Wishbringer (Intended as an introductory adventure, perhaps it's a good way to learn how to play this kind of games)
Counterfeit Monkey (Amazing premise, seems to actually put the medium of text adventures to a great use and is actually from 2015 or so, so it isn't awfully dated).

I've been wondering if I could play them on my phone, though the need to map and take notes seems a bit of a problem. Is there an application or emulator to play this games on Apple mobile phones?

What about you, have you played any text adventures? What do you think?

[MrPopo]

http://trizbort.genstein.net/

Use that mapping utility. It's essentially an implementation of Visio that's optimized for mapping fiction. I used that to get through the first three Zork games. I'm also part of the way through Planetfall before I got distracted and wandered off.

[Ack]

Look, Zork is pretty much a requirement. You want to play text adventures, you need to play Zork.

[marurun]

Zork is great, but obtuse and hard. Start with Wishbringer.

[CRTGAMER]

Eliza

[Exhuminator]

If you want to play a true classic that I consider essential:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure

If you want to play a modern text adventure worth your time:

http://www.cabrerabrothers.com/cypher.html

Also, a few years ago a great documentary about text adventures was released, it was called "Get Lamp". It's worth tracking down and watching. Here's a trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzOPVe7Usms

[MrPopo]

If you hate yourself and want to hate Douglas Adams then play Hitchhiker's Guide.

[TSTR]

This whole idea sounds like it won't end well.

[BogusMeatFactory]

Text Adventures can be very daunting for some. My suggestion is to make maps, by hand or with a mapper like suggested ahead of time. Be in a quiet environment. Treat the game like you would reading a book. Get comfortable and be patient. Most games require a high level of awareness and the adrenaline is pumping and it is very easy for you to be in that mindset when playing text adventures. Being in that, "game," mindset is detrimental in enjoying a text adventure as you quickly will get impatient. With that in mind you need to find the right game. If you are looking for classic stuff, the planetfall series are fun and lighthearted. Also the later Zork games have better narrative and are a bit more comprehensible versus the original. Zork 0 in particular, written by Steve Meretzky is a good one. The one I recommend most though is, A Mind Forever Voyaging, again written by Steve Meretzky. The game offers minimal puzzles and focuses heavily on world exploration to offer an open-ended narrative. Also the content is highly relevant to the current events in the United States.

If you want a more modern text adventure, I highly recommend Blue Lacuna by Aaron Reed. It is very well written and offers up a lot different ways for the story to unfold. Try those out and if you would like more, please let me know. I will be more than happy to offer more choices.

[marurun]

Bogus, do you dabble much in the contemporary IF scene?