Pirate Adventure (1978)

Play: 9/10 This is probably my go-to for early text adventures when/if I do return to them.. I'm growing to enjoy text adventures :-x I love the time aspect, especially with the tide. And oh, ok, I see you Scott, we are getting fish and water again. Indeed, I am noticing the shared language among all early text adventure games, from Colossal Cave Adventure to Cottage and Adams. The shared language was always apparent and seemingly clever, but obviously over time, I'm falling more and more in love with it (for now...). In many ways now this genre is feeling like text-only RPG, because I'm getting so into these interactive fiction pieces. Oh, and I like that it was entirely my fault when I died in this one (as far as I know, RNG didn't determine much and not many petty deadends/gameovers). I found this factor to be too easy in some of the other early Adams games but this one just makes it make sense, I dunno. Like, for instance, the only time I died in my playthroughs, in between fun and 100% completion, obviously I shouldn't have swam out when it's high tide smh. Finally, I love the straightforward-ish purpose of the text adventure like in Voodoo Castle, but much better. I wasn't so into the ambiguous purposes of even earlier text adventures.

Feel: 9/10 I liked this from start to finish, even when I died. Another enjoyable, fun early adams adventure. It was fun to think things like, "I think the sandy beach is the drop point?,,, Oh yes, it is" etc. Indeed, the fact that I liked that I wasn't sure was interesting: it meant to me that I'm starting to really enjoy text adventures it seems. I like how much you "enter" (well, go into) the objects visible in the room. I kept thinking how interesting it was that the gameplay of Colossal Cave Adventure became the assumed norm of these text adventures for a hot minute (I realize there weren't many options due to programming restraints, but like all of them you drop treasures in a specified room and venture out from there to solve puzzles? Can't help but find that peculiar that they hadn't expanded out much yet... excited to see where text adventure developers go as I get into the 80s and 90s. And wow, multiple islands, I love this. I love the tropical island/pirate setting, it excites me and reminds me of cheesy stuff like lego pirate PC game and destiny island in KH and so many others came to mind and disappeared. Finally, I can't believe I'm just now accepting/admitting/stating this, but I love that Scott Adams games make clear that you have 100% completion at the end with the treasures. I wonder how biased my rating is for this one because there's abundant accurate info about the game, and indeed the guide I used for my final playthrough (my only 100% one indeed) was entirely accurate.

Attachment: 8/10 Even though I definitely see myself replaying this (I can't wait to see the visualization/graphic version of this), it will only likely be when I return to early text adventure games. At least I know my definite 2 so far--Oregon Trail and this--and if I wanna be proper, Colossal Cave.