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General discussion (archive)New release: The Zork Anthology(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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Cook: Ok, it's my bad about the Monkey Island games - you can't download them from Abandonia. But I don't recall "The Adventures of Willy Beamish" (being the first example that came to my mind) being published as a freeware nor for free, or am I wrong? Either way, my point was that there are some games available on Abandonia that clearly aren't freeware.
That is true but we mark games according to their status - freeware, shareware, abandonware, etc. so that people know whether the game they download is completely free or is in a grey area. Also, as I said, we don't host games that are protected and have followed ESA rules on this. When GOG sells a game we host, we immediately remove it as well - same for Steam and other download sources. We don't host games just to host them for free, but to offer people a chance to play games which have mostly been forgotten and are nearly impossible to play anymore otherwise.
Posted January 18, 2011
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Cook: Well we probably could remove it, but wouldn't you guys and gals be like: "Why didn't you add Planetfall to the collection if you're selling The Zork Anthology" ;)
I remember a lot more documentation than what is offered here. The Zork Anthology I have boxed away somewhere came with some hilarious walkthroughs and a Planetfall aptitude test, for example.
Posted January 18, 2011
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Cook: Well we probably could remove it, but wouldn't you guys and gals be like: "Why didn't you add Planetfall to the collection if you're selling The Zork Anthology" ;)
Well, as I've been made aware, the pack is not a new one, and looked like that originally ;-)

I'm just slightly nervous, because you have never included the same game twice in different packs, as far as I'm aware, so the chances of seeing Planetfall and Stationfall in the same pack in the future suddenly seem slim :-/

I assume that Activision could make new packs for GOG, mixing and matching however they like, so hopefully Planetfall's inclusion in this pack will be seen purely as a bonus, as apparently it was originally. I hope that won't prevent it from being included in a possible future pack along with Stationfall.
Posted January 18, 2011
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Wishbone: Sorry, but the best way to maximize my chances of getting a reply from GOG staff seemed to be to quote one of you ;-)

I'll ask the question again: What on Earth is Planetfall doing in the Zork pack? That seems like the weirdest bundling decision you could come up with. Not only is it not connected to Zork in any way, it is also the first game in its own series. This means that if and when you include Stationfall in another pack, I'll have to buy the entire Zork pack (of which Planetfall is the only game I'm really interested in) in order to have both games in the series. And making a pack of a series, and including a completely random and unrelated game is just... weird. Well?
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Darling_Jimmy: That is probably a better question for Activision since Planetfall has been bundled in the Zork Anthology since it's release in the 90s.
Good answer!!!!!!!!!
Posted January 18, 2011
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Venom: We made one especially for you, enjoy! :)
Come on now, there's tons you could do for an HD Zork wallpaper. There are plenty of supplemental materials that can be referenced.
Posted January 18, 2011
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Venom: We made one especially for you, enjoy! :)
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RatherDashing: Come on now, there's tons you could do for an HD Zork wallpaper. There are plenty of supplemental materials that can be referenced.
Attachments:
asciibg.jpg (472 Kb)
Posted January 18, 2011
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Cook: *snip*
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Wishbone: Sorry, but the best way to maximize my chances of getting a reply from GOG staff seemed to be to quote one of you ;-)

I'll ask the question again: What on Earth is Planetfall doing in the Zork pack? That seems like the weirdest bundling decision you could come up with. Not only is it not connected to Zork in any way, it is also the first game in its own series. This means that if and when you include Stationfall in another pack, I'll have to buy the entire Zork pack (of which Planetfall is the only game I'm really interested in) in order to have both games in the series. And making a pack of a series, and including a completely random and unrelated game is just... weird. Well?
It's somewhat related. It's implied that the Zork games take place within the same universe as Planetfall, on a single non-Earth planet from which the Grues were taken. So, as a technicality, they take place in the same universe which makes them very slightly more related than some other Infocom adventures.
Posted January 18, 2011
OK, Mr. Gog, you officially suck. Why must you torment me with all these games I want. I really should be spending my money on my schooling. ;-(
Posted January 18, 2011
Zork makes sense as a GOG release because of its historical importance, but with text adventures - which have given rise to such a vibrant interactive fiction community with an impressive catalogue of genuinely good games available for free - there is actually less reason to go back to the "classics" than with any other genre represented on a site like this. Unlike, say, the FPS or the RPG, in the text adventure genre there haven't been any fundamental changes in gameplay mechanics (although plenty of experimentation within the established formula) over the years so the best games are really the best games of all time, not just (as with so many other genres) of a particular period with a particular emphasis on certain gameplay elements.
Post edited January 18, 2011 by KEgstedt
Posted January 18, 2011
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Posted January 18, 2011
It's certainly not the best collection of infocom games. IMO, Beyond Zork and Planetfall are the best games in there by a country mile.
Posted January 18, 2011
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Sid311: The games use DOSBox for DOS compatibility? I find this a bit surprising, as the games use Infocom's own Z-machine engine for which specific interpreters exist (think ScummVM for text adventures). Frotz, the most popular of these interpreters, has been ported to just about any platform imaginable (including Gameboy Advance, for instance).
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the_voivod: I agree. I mean it's easy to download separately, but I do feel if possible Frotz should have been included. I know (?) GOG and DOSBox seem to have a good relationship together, but I don't feel DOSBox should be used above all else when there are better alternatives.
Frotz or even Gargoyle would have been the better interpreters to use, in my humble opinion. I *think* the only time I've ever really used DOSBox for a text adventure was a few years back when I was playing Amnesia, but that's just because Frotz didn't really cooperate well with the game and I didn't know about Gargoyle at the time.
Posted January 18, 2011
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Sid311: The games use DOSBox for DOS compatibility? I find this a bit surprising, as the games use Infocom's own Z-machine engine for which specific interpreters exist (think ScummVM for text adventures). Frotz, the most popular of these interpreters, has been ported to just about any platform imaginable (including Gameboy Advance, for instance).
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the_voivod: I agree. I mean it's easy to download separately, but I do feel if possible Frotz should have been included. I know (?) GOG and DOSBox seem to have a good relationship together, but I don't feel DOSBox should be used above all else when there are better alternatives.
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.
Posted January 18, 2011
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Post edited January 18, 2011 by the_voivod
Posted January 18, 2011
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. EDIT: It's not about the price, really, charge $15 or $20 if you must, but I'd rather have comprehensive packages whose content is decided by other reasons than business ones.

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.

How are the (scans of the) touchies / feelies? Previous compilations reportedly had low-quality scans and/or were incomplete.
Post edited January 18, 2011 by pernegger
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Community
General discussion (archive)New release: The Zork Anthology(216 posts)(216 posts)
(216 posts)