glassner@unc.cs.unc.edu (Andrew S. Glassner) (01/30/88)
Has anyone played the game "Fool's Errand" on the Mac? Is it any good? About 4 months ago a friend mentioned the game to me with high marks, but I've never seen it. Is it shareware or buyware? Is it fun? -Andrew - -- ---- ------- ------------ -------------------- --------------------- Andrew Glassner UUCP:decvax!mcnc!unc!glassner ARPA:glassner@cs.unc.edu
garth@swatsun.uucp (Garth Snyder) (02/01/88)
glassner@unc.cs.unc.edu (Andrew S. Glassner) writes: > > Has anyone played the game "Fool's Errand" on the Mac? Is it any good? > About 4 months ago a friend mentioned the game to me with high marks, but > I've never seen it. Is it shareware or buyware? Is it fun? The game is essentially a bunch of about 60 puzzles bound together with a kind of mystico-medieval plot. The main character of the story is the fool, who is on a mission to search the land for fourteen lost treasures. The story of the fool's journey is inscribed on a long scroll which is divided up into a number of segments; with each segment is associated a puzzle. As puzzles are solved, more and more pieces of the scroll become readable. There are always a number of puzzles outstanding, so you will very rarely be blocked by the need to solve a particular puzzle to continue. After all the puzzles are solved, there are some meta-puzzles that must be solved. I can't comment on this aspect of the game as I am only at the point of having solved all the first-order puzzles. When you complete the game, the manual promises a four-minute animated display; there is an animated prolog as well, but it is much shorter. In my opinion, this game is one of the best ever. BUT you have to like puzzles. In particular, you must enjoy word-search puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, and word-scrambling puzzles, since about half the puzzle inventory is drawn from these categories. The other puzzles are all pretty much unique and unclassifiable, and range from bizarre Mac-interface puzzles to brilliant procedural puzzles to clever "find out what the puzzle is here and solve it" problems. There are also a few coordination puzzles. The software is supplied on three 400K disks, and is not copy protected. It runs just fine off of my 60M LaCie hard disk. -------------------- Garth Snyder UUCP: {seismo!bpa,rutgers!liberty}!swatsun!garth Swarthmore College ARPA: garth@boulder.colorado.edu Swarthmore, PA 19081 ALSO: {hao,nbires}!boulder!garth --------------------
hunt@cg-atla.UUCP (Walter Hunt X7031) (02/02/88)
In article <1560@tulum.UUCP> garth@swatsun.UUCP (Garth Snyder) writes: >glassner@unc.cs.unc.edu (Andrew S. Glassner) writes: >> >> Has anyone played the game "Fool's Errand" on the Mac? Is it any good? >> About 4 months ago a friend mentioned the game to me with high marks, but >> I've never seen it. Is it shareware or buyware? Is it fun? > > [Glassner provides a synopsis.] >After all the puzzles are solved, there are some meta-puzzles that must >be solved. I can't comment on this aspect of the game as I am only at >the point of having solved all the first-order puzzles. When you >complete the game, the manual promises a four-minute animated display; >there is an animated prolog as well, but it is much shorter. It took three solid weeks of messing around, a few hours at a time, to get to the end. Three avid puzzlers and Infocom vets, myself included, worked at it. It's very addictive, and very clever. After you solve the sixty puzzles in the main game, you find out that nearly half the game is left to play! The graphics, including the animation at the end, are extremely well done. > >In my opinion, this game is one of the best ever. BUT you have to like >puzzles. In particular, you must enjoy word-search puzzles, jigsaw >puzzles, and word-scrambling puzzles, since about half the puzzle >inventory is drawn from these categories. The other puzzles are all >pretty much unique and unclassifiable, and range from bizarre >Mac-interface puzzles to brilliant procedural puzzles to clever "find out >what the puzzle is here and solve it" problems. There are also a few >coordination puzzles. I agree completely. This game also is complex and intriguing enough to play more than once, some months apart; my wife is going it alone at the moment, six months after we (& a third friend) did it together. >The software is supplied on three 400K disks, and is not copy protected. >It runs just fine off of my 60M LaCie hard disk. > and off our 80M Jasmine. It's probably best off a hard disk. Buy the game; it's truly wonderful. I can't wait to see what they do by way of an encore. Walter Hunt CG
john@felix.UUCP (John Gilbert) (02/02/88)
In article <963@thorin.cs.unc.edu> glassner@unc.cs.unc.edu (Andrew S. Glassner) writes: >Has anyone played the game "Fool's Errand" on the Mac? >Is it any good? About 4 months ago a friend mentioned the >game to me with high marks, but I've never seen it. Is it >shareware or buyware? Is it fun? > I have played the game to completion, and enjoyed it thoroughly. It consists of a long involved story, broken into small chapters. Most chapters require that you complete some kind of puzzle before being allowed to go to the next. Soem are word games, some require dexterity with the mouse, some are memory, and some are just plain logic problems. Once you have completed the story, you must then complete the Sun's map to find the 14 hidden treasures. All in all I found this game quite refresshing. It caused me to think beyond remebering where I have been and what I have collected and who I have killed. You can get it mail order for under $30, and I would recommend it. When you win you get a 4 minute "animation" played for you. John Gilbert -- John Gilbert !trwrb!felix!john