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General discussion (archive)New release: The Zork Anthology(216 posts)(216 posts)
(216 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted January 18, 2011
Today's second release is, beyond doubt, the most oldschool one in GOG.com's history. Read below to find out why.

The Anthology includes Zork I, Zork II, Zork III, Beyond Zork, Zork Zero, and Planetfall. This means six titles in total, all hailing from the 1980s, weighing in at a whopping nine megabytes. Yep, that means just around one floppy disk per game.
That means plain text and gameplay based on text input, but beneath the rough exterior lies a beauty that's hard to find in more modern games. Countless unforgettable situations and descriptions from the Zork series have become iconic in more contemporary fiction, both printed and interactive.
With such timeless and absolutely enthralling games, set in a crazy, surreal world, packed with a witty narrative and sarcastic, dark humor, what's there not to love?
So light your bronze lantern, pick up that Elvish sword of great antiquity and embark on a journey to (re)discover the world of Zork. You will not be disappointed.
Posted January 18, 2011
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pernegger: I must say I was really exited about this release because of the great teaser / buildup, but now I've got to say ... meh.
I mean Zork is great, it's definitely on my list of games to play and all, but ... why this selection? Why not all Zork games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zork#Zork_series) or a lot more Infocom games (The Lost Treasures of Infocom I & II, Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom, ...) in one package?
It's just that I feel a bit nickel-and-dimed lately, especially with the Activision releases. There really was no need to split the King's and Space Quest series in that way and it feels the same way here.
For much the same reason Blood was called One Unit Whole Blood: to align with the retail release.
Posted January 18, 2011
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cheeseslice73: I disagree. Gog should try and keep as close to the original games as possible. By throwing out the original interpreter, you'd basically be disallowing the possibility of running the game on it's original hardware, or near as, and as you say, it's not hard to obtain an appropriate interpreter for just about any platform of your preference.
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the_voivod: I definitely see your point of view, but I still feel GOG themselves could provide something. There's no reason not to include Frotz alongside DOSBox, allowing a choice within the original installer.
*Ahem*
Attachments:
frotz.png (17 Kb)
Posted January 18, 2011
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Cook: Either way, my point was that there are some games available on Abandonia that clearly aren't freeware.
Can't help in thinking that's kind of the point of the site. Freeware goes onto Reloaded (formally known as Abandonia Reloaded).
Posted January 18, 2011
This is a game i must play

I would of brought it now if i wasn't overdrawn
Posted January 18, 2011
Here ya go ADD kids (since your imagination is obviously lacking):

http://nwn2-zork.blogspot.com/
Posted January 18, 2011
deleted
Posted January 18, 2011
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pernegger: Can the games be played with modern Z-CODE interpreters like Gargoyle? I don't see the point of emulating a whole DOS PC to run something that could run native on pretty much anything. Though having the option to use the original interpreter is really nice.
Yes, they can.

And on non-modern interpreters like Frotz, they look just like they did inthe eighties.
(although not sure if you can run original frotz -not winfrotz- in Vista/W7)
Posted January 18, 2011
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Gremmi: I believe Red_Avatar is confusing 'freeware' and 'public domain'.
Or just something released under a "free" licence like the (L)GPL which allows anyone to modify or distribute (even for monetary gain) a program so long as the modifications are released under the licence as well.
Posted January 18, 2011
Hmm... Aren't we missing on Grand Inquisitor?
Posted January 18, 2011
This definitely a welcome addition to GOG´s catalog.
Posted January 18, 2011
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the_voivod: Hmmm, I've not used Gargoyle, I have to say. I've heard it's good but I do recall it has (had?) issues with graphics though.
That one I can't comment on personally as I haven't used it to play anything that uses graphics... :S I typically try to use TADs for anything I know that has graphics (and of course if the game supports it). Quite a neat little program so far. I'll try tracking down something with graphics and see if Gargoyle has any issues, but the few games I have played on it play wonderfully.
Posted January 18, 2011
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the_voivod: Aaah, it's an old version though (and only for that game). At least, it doesn't work with my Win 7 computer so DOSBox is the only fall-back in the default GOG installation.
You can change the data file extension to that of the proper z* version, like so:

Zork I = .z3
Zork II = .z3
Zork III = .z3
Beyond Zork = .z5
Zork Zero = .z6
Planetfall = .z3

and they will all run hunky-dory in your favourite z-code interpreter.
Attachments:
easy.png (44 Kb)
Posted January 18, 2011
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pernegger: Can the games be played with modern Z-CODE interpreters like Gargoyle? I don't see the point of emulating a whole DOS PC to run something that could run native on pretty much anything. Though having the option to use the original interpreter is really nice.
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Sid311: Yes, they can.

And on non-modern interpreters like Frotz, they look just like they did inthe eighties.
(although not sure if you can run original frotz -not winfrotz- in Vista/W7)
Probably. Most of the games aren't timing dependant, but there are one or two (like Border Zone) that will break if played on a fast PC.
Posted January 18, 2011
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the_voivod: Aaah, it's an old version though (and only for that game). At least, it doesn't work with my Win 7 computer so DOSBox is the only fall-back in the default GOG installation.
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Darling_Jimmy: You can change the data file extension to that of the proper z* version, like so:

Zork I = .z3
Zork II = .z3
Zork III = .z3
Beyond Zork = .z5
Zork Zero = .z6
Planetfall = .z3

and they will all run hunky-dory in your favourite z-code interpreter.
You don't even have to change the extensions if your interpreter isn't too fussy about them (the Frotz version I use isn't).
Posted January 18, 2011
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Afthartos: Hmm... Aren't we missing on Grand Inquisitor?
We're missing all the graphical adventure games. Judging by this release, Activision will probably eventually release them one at a time. ZTUU will probably turn up with Grand Inquisitor (though, that's freeware anyway). Fuck knows if we'll ever get Enchanter, Sorceror and Spellbreaker.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)New release: The Zork Anthology(216 posts)(216 posts)
(216 posts)