# I have finally conquered a 15-year old computer game. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2005, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553 "2005-08-18T07:19:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/41 "2005-08-19T20:24:15Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Might and Magic I: Secret of the Inner Sanctum. > > Long and boring game, though I finally found out what the secret was online. I took me years to find a good site that would spoil the secret. I remember the relief of finding out what it was. That was what I was going to post. I beat all the other Might and Magic games up through VII (I never finished VIII, either, but then, who would want to?) but the first one, despite hundreds and hundreds of hours of gameplay, I could never level up high enough to beat most of the end-game dungeons. Since most of the later ones weren’t really that hard, I always wonder if I was doing something completely wrong with the way I played. I never beat King’s Bounty, which was the forerunner of the Heroes of Might and Magic series. I played the shit out of that game, but by the time I’d tracked down the last criminal, I didn’t have enough time left to raise a large enough army to take him down. It was all those deserts around his castle: it took _forever_ to cross them, and just ate away at your time like crazy. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/42 "2005-08-19T20:47:52Z")
> [@Edward The Head](#): > > I know you could get the entire document in Hacker, I’ve done that before. But then after that you just ran out of time. I’ve never seen a walkthrough on the net for that game either so I’m guessing that it just can’t be beat. We always thought that you had to take the documnet to Australia instead of DC but never got that far either. I’ve never won it either, but I know for sure there was an ending sequence. There was a secret password you could type on the “logon” section (not “Australia,” but something like “frontpage” or “banner” ) that would backdoor you into the ending, which featured some sort of newspaper front page story. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/43 "2005-08-19T20:50:07Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > There used to be a great site where you could play nearly every game that Infocom had released, online. You’d link up with the server via Telnet and play away. You could save and everything. > > I was really dissappointed when one day the site owner said that he had to take the service down at Infocom’s request. I was thinking; why would Infocom care?? These games are all 20+ years old, they’re all basically abandonware anyways. ☹ [LINK DELETED] ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/44 "2005-08-19T21:22:42Z")
> [@lno](#): > > What was the puzzle in the 7th Guest, **pinkfreud**? I played more than my share of that, and of its sequel, the 11th Hour. As I recall, it had to do with exchanging four white bishops with four black ones. Chess bishops, not clergymen. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/45 "2005-08-19T21:35:39Z")
I never did beat borderzone for Infocom. I finished the first two parts, but the third part, when you play as the Soviet spy, always got me because I would always be caught by the American spy before I could do what I needed to do. I just couldn’t type fast enough to make it work. I recently beat TIE FIGHTER CD-ROM completely for the first time, including all the training missions. I had finished the game before, but the last time, I had gotten stuck at the end of Battle 10(the one where you have to protect the freighters carrying missle boats), never could beat the level and used the topace patch to skip to the beginning of 13(which I then completed). This time I managed to finish the game, calling for reinforcements once or twice during the entire game, and using the invincibility once or twice, for missions late in the game that I couldn’t beat otherwise. Eventually, I need to get around to beating Albion and the sequel to Secret of Mana(which I can’t spell). ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/46 "2005-08-19T21:38:02Z")
Just remembered. I never beat Phantasmagoria either. I got to the last chapter, but then was convinced I didn’t have a vital object and the place I was supposed to get it from was no longer accessible. I uninstalled the game rather then replay, and later found out I had a substitute that would work just as well. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/47 "2005-08-19T21:47:53Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > As I recall, it had to do with exchanging four white bishops with four black ones. Chess bishops, not clergymen. 😛 Two white bishops and two black, on a 4x4 grid. That one wasn’t as mindblowingly insane as the microscope puzzle for me, though. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/48 "2005-08-19T21:52:15Z")
> [@lno](#): > > Two white bishops and two black, on a 4x4 grid. That one wasn’t as mindblowingly insane as the microscope puzzle for me, though. Yep, you’re right. It was two white bishops and two black ones. I don’t remember the microscope puzzle very well. Did it resemble the game Othello? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/49 "2005-08-19T22:33:09Z")
I first played _Short Circuit_ circa 1986 and couldn’t beat it. When I got another shot at it almost 15 years later, I played that mofo until I beat it, and then was crushingly disappointed by the lameness of the victory screen. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/50 "2005-08-19T22:56:01Z")
> [@AHunter](#): > > I have yet to beat “The Uninvited”. […] > I know there’s a passage in the damn maze that I have to get into (even though I don’t know specifically why) but I don’t know how to get past the teeming hordes of zombies that guards that passage in one place, or how to get past the barrier-stone that appears to lead to the same passage from the other end. Bleah. It took me forever to get through that damn maze, and that made me lose all interest in the game. The ending is soon after that. I hope I’m not spoiling anything by telling you that the ending is very, very anticlimactic – if anything, I’m saving you the trouble of feeling that you’re missing out on something. > [@lno](#): > > Want some rye? > > 'course you do! That was what made me stop playing _Return to Zork_, and it doesn’t bug me in the least that I’m never going to play that game ever again. One of the things I liked best about _Zork: Grand Inquisitor_ (great game, IMO) was when one of the characters (I think it was the one Starbuck played) gets drunk and just before passing out, mumbles “want some rye? 'Course you do!” ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/51 "2005-08-19T22:59:49Z")
Oh yeah, and in case you’re intent on playing it anyway… > [@AHunter3](#): > > I know there’s a door I need to unlock that won’t unlock in any of the usual ways, it’s still my theory that the clues about three elements (gold, silver, and mercury?? something like that) must have something to do with that. Either that or the locked box that I also can’t get into. Think periodic table and atomic numbers. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/52 "2005-08-20T00:30:46Z")
**pulykamell** , I have deleted the link you provided because my impression is that it’s a link to a site where you can play games, seemingly ignore copyright and appropriate payment. Straight Dope Message Board does not approve of, or permit, links to such sites. If my impression is incorrect, and this site does in fact have copyright permissions &etc, then email me and I will restore it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/53 "2005-08-20T00:58:46Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > **pulykamell** , I have deleted the link you provided because my impression is that it’s a link to a site where you can play games, seemingly ignore copyright and appropriate payment. > > Straight Dope Message Board does not approve of, or permit, links to such sites. > > If my impression is incorrect, and this site does in fact have copyright permissions &etc, then email me and I will restore it. Well, it seems to be a legal gray area. I think. I know the first three Zorks were released for free download by Infocom, and are still available through various channels. I’ve emailed Activision to see what they have to say about it. Activision no longer sells the Infocom collections. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/54 "2005-08-20T00:59:28Z")
For me, it was Montezuma’s Revenge for the C64. I coulda beat it if I’d ever bothered to make a map, I think, but where’s the fun in that? I also enjoyed Lurking Horror from Infocom, though I never got very far in it. I just liked the idea of eldritch horror lurking beneath a college campus that was very much like M.I.T. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/55 "2005-08-20T01:06:23Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > For me, it was Montezuma’s Revenge for the C64. I coulda beat it if I’d ever bothered to make a map, I think, but where’s the fun in that? I also enjoyed Lurking Horror from Infocom, though I never got very far in it. I just liked the idea of eldritch horror lurking beneath a college campus that was very much like M.I.T. Is there actually an end to Montezuma? I just figured it went on forever. Same with Pitfall. Or does that, too, have an end? ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/56 "2005-08-20T02:40:28Z")
Pitfall II has an end, but I’m pretty sure the first one just goes on and on, the point being to see who can rack up the highest score. I liked playing Montezuma’s Revenge, but kept dying. Same with Spelunker. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/57 "2005-08-20T03:05:21Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Activision no longer sells the Infocom collections. 1. Not true. 2. So what? –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/58 "2005-08-20T03:29:56Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > 1. Not true. Cite? Apparently something was supposed to be released in 2005, but I see no mention of it on the Activision website. All references I’ve seen to the Infocom collection say they can only be found on resellers. > [@](#): > > 1. So what? Some game manufacturers have stopped trying to protect their copyright on abandonware games, and have more or less turned a blind eye to such infringement, if not outright allowed it. I don’t know Activision’s position on these products, hence I’ve emailed them to see if they have an official stance on it. ---
**Author:** ![inkubo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@inkubo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkubo)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/59 "2005-08-20T04:02:11Z")
[A cite](http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/download.html) on free Zork. Also here [Another cite, same site, a homonym](http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/faq.html#PIRATE). _Activision Studios owns and maintains full copyright on all Infocom games. With the exception of the first three Zork adventures no Infocom game can be legally “downloaded for free”. I never respond to email about downloading Infocom games._ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553/60 "2005-08-20T04:56:31Z")
[Annals of Rome](http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=59). I recently started playing it again. Unbeatable and designed as such. Not too hard to get off to a good start but once the barbarians start appearing, all downhill. Damn generals turning against you really gets frustrating. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-finally-conquered-a-15-year-old-computer-game/317553.md?page=4)