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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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!”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Annals of Rome. 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.
