Reviews by samuraipoet
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too hard for your first game. , October 27, 2010For an IF specifically designed for first-time players, the world was surprisingly large, and un-necessarily complex. There were more than a handful of puzzles and rooms that didn't have a thing to do with the main quest, and some of them were just plain dead-ends that didn't lead anywhere, and were never explained.
As for the difficulty, an IF veteran would probably be able to get through this piece without using the built-in hint system, but for an absolute beginner, the hints are the only thing that keeps the puzzles from becoming all but impossible toward the end.
Here's the thing about the writing - it's good, but really confusing. Plotkin obviously knows his way around the english language. There's some significant talent here, but ultimately, the little snippets of narrative that you're constantly uncovering don't join up to make any kind of coherent big-picture. it's really hard to resist the urge to give up trying to make sense of the story alltogether.
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