Re: [Bookclub] LYG + JFW

["Niz" <nizam_ahmed@REDACTED>]

Doug Jones wrote in message <38F54EF5.F04E5E69@espressivo.com>...

> The other thing I thought these two games had in common was sort of a
>ho-hum ending.  In LYG, it was probably appropriate, but I think it left
>a lot of questions unanswered.  The ending in JFW seemed to just be
>there to add some sort of closure.. but I felt there should have been
>more to it.  I felt myself screaming at the monitor, "THAT'S IT???"  All
>it seemed like was, 'Whee, you've defeated the ice wizard.  Big deal.
>It's time for hot weather.'  The writing that was there earlier in the
>game was not there in the ending.


Yes, I agree the ending for JFW was very rushed: imprison the ice wizard and
in one big chunk of text the fire witch is free, John is restored. and the
world is saved! I always expected there to be something more to JFW. The
linking of the mundane "real" world and the fantasy world underneath was an
intriguing concept, but my experience of this game suffered becuase I played
it after the excellent Comp 99 game "Bliss", which similarly takes a stock
fantasy text adventure scenario but gives it an amazing, clever twist. I was
expecting a similar kind of twist at the end of JFW, but of course it never
came, so there is never any explanation of *why* there is a fantasy world
underneath John's house....