Ratings and Reviews by Marsh
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Laugh loud ha! Puzzle gud., July 4, 2023I'm revisiting games I played so long ago that I don't remember details, but were so good that I remember the impression they left.
I remember laughing all the way through Lost Pig. Proper, loud laughing. And I remember the puzzles being so good that I enjoyed them. I usually hate IF puzzles so much that I joked to another author I might fund a prize for puzzle-less IF.
This game's a joy.
Good in all ways, April 25, 2013I wrote the attached SPAG review, so won't add to that here.
From the Author
I poured this out in a tortured couple of weeks and was halfway through before I realised I'd bitten off more than I could chew. So only the major arcana are represented.
On the one hand, it's very interactive, because I was new to IF and really liked all the things I could make the library classes do.
On the other hand, I hid some hints a little too well, so the many comments the personifications can make never really got seen. The Fool says, in a throwaway line early on, 'Ask them about [topics to ask about].' Unfortunately the line was a little too throwaway; I don't think anyone asked the characters anything. For extra fun, ask the Empress about life, or about art.
I was pleased that a bit of a who's who of the IF world thought it was okay (http://members.aol.com/iffyart/reviews5.htm). After some years out there, it doesn't seem to contain any real bugs to fix. All in all, not bad for first try, I think.
If I were to alter it, which I might one day, I think I'd leave the outline and the cards the same. I'd just implement even more interactivity and better interraction between the many portable items.
Needs an Author's Cut, June 12, 2008The game deserves 4 stars. A good edit would get it 5 stars.
The implementation is utterly sound and the prose is consistent and error-free. And that alone is enough to set this apart from 80% of that year's offerings.
It's a beautiful game, and I got really immersed. However, there's a dream section that goes beyond the nightime otherworldly and into pure surrealism for the sake of getting some exposition done. It's not needed, and shakes the mood.
What I'm saying (non-spoilery) is that the conversation with the reporter could as easily have been done by a conversation with Chris, while flying through the dark in the car.
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