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An Everyday Tale of a Seeker of Gold

by John Wilson and Sean Doran

Tolkienesque, Satire
1986

Web Site

(based on 4 ratings)
2 reviews

About the Story

Accompany BULBO on his quest for the fabled treasure of the mighty Dragon SMOG.

On this "epic" journey you may encounter such famed travellers as "Grand Alf" & "The Dwarves", not to mention the notorious & sometimes hungry "Trolls". You will need to cross rivers, climb mountains and do battle with untold enemies but it will all be worth it in the end!!!


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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Decent "homegrown" first effort from 1986, December 19, 2020
by Denk
Related reviews: The Quill, Adventuron, DAAD

(browser version - port made with Adventuron)
This is a fun little spoof of The Hobbit with some nice puzzles and humour. Some of the puzzles are "pun-based". However, the "genre" 'homegrown British text adventures from the 80s' is to some extend something you need to learn how to play, just as you need to learn how to play parser games in general. To some extend you need to be more accurate about which verbs you apply in these homegrown games from the 80s. Still, some verbs and phrases became a sort of standard within that "genre". Also, do not expect a lot of feedback if you try an incorrect command. You will never know if a verb is accepted by the game unless you find that it works.

Add to this, that this was the author's first effort (though the browser port I played was first made in 2018), you must expect a few guess-the-verb/phrase issues here and there. However, there is a sort of indirect limited "hint system" in the game, though it is not clear if it is intended to be used or only if you are really stuck. I used it whenever I could, and still, I needed to consult a walkthrough a few times.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed this quite a lot. If you are unfamiliar with British homegrown text adventures from the 80s, I propose that you see it as a learning curve. If you are stuck for a longer time, don't hesitate to consult a walkthrough. You will learn as you go along and you will get the hang of the style and probably solve most puzzles by yourself anyway.

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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
A rather humorous stroll through a familiar landscape., May 29, 2014
by LaFey (Porto, Portugal)

Well written and humorous. Of course will be fighting the parser at times (vanilla Quill?) - but if you remember to strip your action to the bare basics you'll get by to "Smog" unscathed without too much hassle. Oh, there and back again, for there is a chest in your burrow that needs filling. Remember to use "RAM SAVE" and "RAM LOAD".

A regard to the author, owner of the fabled Zenobi software company which managed to publish a fine number of good IF far well into the late nineties. So all hail the Balrog, the Cat and the Cockroach.

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An Everyday Tale of a Seeker of Gold on IFDB

Recommended Lists

An Everyday Tale of a Seeker of Gold appears in the following Recommended Lists:

Tolkien's Middle-earth games by Fredrik
Games that are explicitly set in the fantasy world Middle-earth, created by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Polls

The following polls include votes for An Everyday Tale of a Seeker of Gold:

Non-Infocom games of commercial era worth playing by tekket
What commercial games published between 1980-1993 other than those by Infocom do you think are worth playing?

Best of The Quill, PAW and GAC by Denk
More than 1000 games were made with the British tools "The Quill", "PAW" and "GAC" through the 80s and early 90s. Some bad, others worth playing today. I would like to know which are the best. Those with the most votes are probably among...




This is version 10 of this page, edited by Lance Campbell on 30 December 2021 at 10:53pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page