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From: Deinst@world.std.com (David M Einstein)
Subject: Re: [review] Katana and The Oracle
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Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2002 21:14:24 GMT
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Dan Shiovitz (dbs@cs.wisc.edu) wrote:

: The Oracle (Brandon Allen) TADS:

[snip]

: and the geography pared down (there's one area that
: consists of no less than 45 rooms, of which maybe 8 are significant or
: interesting, and there are two time limits restricting your
: wanderings).

   While I agree that the geography could use paring down,  I disagree
with this as an example.  The 'puzzle'that contained the 45 rooms and the two
timers did an execlent job of setting the tone at that point in the game.
I also think that it is an excellent example of how to use timers to add
a sense of urgency without harrassing the player.  Now, I will admit that
my sense of proportion may have been affected by playing "The Oracle"
immediately after playing Amissville, a game conatining two timers implemented
solely to harrass the player (Judging from the amount of liquid laying around it
was probably meant to have three, but the drink timer was either not
implemented or incorrectly implemented.)  Complining about the extra
rooms in the pool in "The Oracle" is like complaining about the extra
'rooms' in the 'maze' in "Hunter".


: And then there's cool stuff like how water ties together all the
: rooms, but it works differently in every location, and how this place
: is old and shows it. I think coming after Hunter, in Darkness hurts
: this game, since it's frankly not as good a cave crawl, and they're
: both primarily about being cave crawls. But that doesn't mean this
: doesn't have style of its own.

I would have no reservations about recommending it to a newbie over Hunter,
if only because the puzzles are almost antizarfian.
