Re: Announcing: Fyleet, Crobe, Sangraal

[marsh@nettally.com (Steven Marsh)]

On Sat, 11 Sep 1999 20:22:35 +0100, "Kevin Forchione"
<Lysseus@email.msn.com> wrote:

<snip>

>Brute force and luck are *real* methods of problem solving, not to be
>snubbed in favor of some more *elegant* approaches.

The problem is that SAVE/RESTORE, used with brute force, takes away
some control from the author... control which (arguably) may be
necessary for the logical flow of the game.

Let's take a hypothetical example:  In the (fictional) game TyroLand,
you find yourself outside a maze, which needs to be navigated to win.
The programmer, not wanting to devote the rest of their lives to
coding this puzzle, has it unmapable (ie. can't drop objects or mark
things), lots of rooms, but only one solution (a bleedin' complex
solution... 20 steps, lets say).

That solution is in the possession of the Love Interest, from whose
house you must steal it (a scrap of paper that says NWWESEUD... etc.).

The author assumes the player is going to steal it, and later in the
narrative, sets up a confrontation between the PC and the Love
Interest, who is angry about the theft and violation of trust.  It
becomes a major plot point.

Now, the player can short-circuit this maze with a SAVE/RESTORE or
walkthru (since the solution doesn't change), but then the later
confrontation doesn't make any sense.  In essense, the player has not
"played fair".

Admittedly, in the examples given before there isn't much reason to
keep the player from (in essence) "cheating".  But that doesn't mean
there -aren't- possibilities for that.

[ULTIMA V SPOILER]

This actually happens, sort of, in Ultima V.  At one point, you need
to get a password (which doesn't change from game to game) from the
Bad Guys you've infiltrated; the only way to get it is to give up a
name of a wizard from the Resistance, who is killed in the game if you
tell them.  Now, this moral conundrum can be neatly short-cut by a
Restore after learning the password; the game continues as normal, but
the dramatic flow has been altered.  Fair?  I don't think so, but
YMMV.

[END SPOILER]

Just my opinions...

Steven Marsh
marsh@nettally.com
Too busy commenting on IF to actually -play- it...