Wishbringer (1985)

Preliminary: Ooooo, described as "very easy but so charming"?!?!?! Sounds right up my alley!! I can't handle hard games and I love being charmed :-p I love love love the idea that you can first play it using the wishing stone to make your life easier, and then play it again and again to learn how to get the highest score. I realize that's quite common in text adventures, but usually the alternative is brutally hard-and-die and slowly learn it--not still finish it but choose to go for a higher score later! Now, that's replayability imo.

I played Release 68, the original release from May 1, 1985, but because I did not have access to the original Z-file, I played it via DOS. But it was Release 68

Play: 8/10 I love how it scaffolds learning the game for you, first going so far as to ask you "what next?" (and eventually telling you it wont anymore) or telling you when you gained points toward your 100% completion (omgggg, you know I love the traditional text adventure 100/100 goallll). And I love seeing an advanced parser that's still simple enough, being able to use "it" after referring to an object in the previous message, etc. No wonder this was so highly reviewed, it probly did serve as an effective intro to text adventures... if only other text adventures didn't pride themselves in frustrating mechanics, even after the technology for better parsers was out there! Similarly, the descriptions allow you to envision your journey without being one of those overly wordy ones I've suffered through in the 80s, nor detract from it being an "interactive fiction" novel still in many ways. Excellent balancing in that regard

Feel: 8/10 A rare example where even I have to admit a game is easy (I take this back haha, mid- and end-game weren't that easy at all). I remember even the text adventures for children were a bit challenging to me heh, this one is truly an introductory or learning game, and is presented as such. Not "for children," but for audiences new to the text adventure universe. Well, there did end up being the usual maze segment, which I did attempt to map... and wound up referring to a solution out of laziness lol. But my map was coming together and I could have solved it with a bit longer! Plus, there were no tacky RNG-based deaths along the way or dying of thirst to make mapping frustrating--I just wanted to finish the game before movie time with Michael haha. That's how I like a text adventure challenge: worth investing time in, without it being tacky and frustrating with constant deaths. Instead just, well, adventuring. And lol what an innocent collection of places--the post office, the public library (yay for libraries!), but oh wait! Things got darkerrrr and magickyyyy. I love that! I love when an adventure seems simple and then gets darker and more imaginative. Yes! Oooo how cute the white house with the little mailbox from Zork. And lol omg! "The little mailbox "clump-clumps" happily into view" my heart!

Moments like that made me wish this had graphics or that there were a graphic remake of it (how is there not.... this wasn't an obscure title..) Awww, the mailbox later rubs your leg too, and other cute things when waiting etc (I had to wait quite a bit due to the annoying "tramp of marching boots" factor. That was the only thing that annoyed me, having to run away from the Sergeant, but I mean, I suppose they needed some challenge. Still, I almost gave up cuz I kept having to avoid them during already hard enough (for me lol) puzzles... it was nice they added the Mailbox being cute during moment like that to help me push through :-p The story becomes kinda The Ring-esque with the movie part haha

Attachment: 8/10 Cute, without feeling tacky. Fun and doable, without feeling like a complete pushover. Simple, while still imaginative and adventurous. Referential for people who have played many text adventures, but also fresh and unique and able to be introductory. How cute, it even urged me to Save the game when I should haha. Okay, ngl, this was not at all easy to me and I had to refer to solutions lol, at least to get the highest score but even then... This was a standard, and good, text adventure imo. Cute how it's like a parallel experience, with the poodle being a bloodhound etc., an interesting and cute adventure. At last, I reached the end with 100% (largely thanks to multiple online sources ha, because I didn't rely on a Solution from the beginning I had to refer to multiple sites for info... but that makes for a fun true adventure! my style, at least :-p )

Completion: 100/100 Score in 185 Moves (darn Sergeant making me wander for a bit! and some other wandering heh...) Playtime: ~50 mins