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For KoL, yes, I have joined a clan in my 2.5+ years. But, I haven’t used the Chat. I haven’t ventured into Hobopolis, either. That and eventually the PvP are somethings I still need to check out. Right now, I’m exploring the sea depths.

The bit you quoted was in regard to Twilight Heroes. There’s something in that game (not KoL) that I found lacking.

As for Zork… I’m tempted to in-game-mail a few of the people at the top of the food chain to ask them what they find appealing to the game so that they opt to purchase more turns. Maybe it’s the same thing that makes people on Facebook want to throw sheep at each other. (*shrug*)

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That something for a fair share of the long-term players is, believe it or not, the community. Did you look into finding a clan that fit your play-style? After 2.5+ years, I’m fairly sure you probably have, but it’s worth mentioning. It makes a huge difference to have /clan while burning through turns on the grind that is the level 11 quest. Meets become a real-life part of the game, which then makes coming back to the game more attractive.

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Games like Kingdom of Loathing and Twilight Heroes, are what lit a fire under me to create my own, Urban Legions.

Kingdom of Loathing is incredible. Since the day I stumbled upon it via Wikipedia (looking up “Trifids” of all things), I have been hooked and play it practically every day since. I love the sense of humor. I love collecting all the crazy items. After ascending about 8+ times, the quests are getting a little tedious. But, they add new content, which makes me want to play it even more. I haven’t even broken into the Hobopolis or PvP sides of the game, and it’s kept me entertained for 2.5+ years.

Twilight Heroes… I played for a while. Then, I got stuck on one of the quests. After a while, it got repetitive and I dropped it (mostly). I go back every once in a while. It’s not a bad game. It’s as easy to pick up as KoL. It’s got a good sense of humor, and I’ve enjoyed playing it. Yet, it lacks something (for me, at least) to want to keep playing it. Maybe they’ve found that certain something that I lacked, and maybe I should pick it up again.

Urban Legions… Why did I create this game? Because I told my friend about KoL, how much fun it was, and we both agreed it was something we should try doing ourselves. During the creation of the game, we broke away from several traditions, but kept various elements we enjoy from playing other games. One of the things we broke away from is character creation. All characters start the same except for their names. You enter a name and an alias, and you’re off and running. Stats? We limit it to Brains and Brawn. I mean seriously… How often do you roll for Constitution while playing D&D? We also wanted the game to play differently. The world is very much open ended. There is an over-arching plot that we continuously add to, but there are various side quests along the way. We are light years behind KoL in the amount of content, but of what we already have, we are already building a community of people who play on a regular basis and crave more (By the way… We love you guys and gals!). Like the others, KoL, TH, and LoZ, we provide a few turns per day with the options to subscribe for more turns per day or to buy a big block of turns that you can slowly whittle away. Sure, he and I would love to make enough money from this to one day quit our day jobs and focus solely on this and a few other projects up our sleeves, but the enjoyment we have of creating something that we are most proud of and trying to constantly out-do ourselves is also so incredibly rewarding.

So, back to Legends of Zork… As I said, I enjoy playing these kinds of game, if not for seeing “what not to do”. One of the first things that irked me is the combat. I can’t control what my character does in regards to combat, so why even go through the motions of creating a character? The next thing that bugged me… I went to my inventory to see what I thought I gained, but didn’t. To get back into the game, the only way I could figure out was to go back to the map and into the location I was just at. This took another couple of action points to do. Seriously?! It takes an action point if I want to view my character and click ONE LOCATION on the map?! Are you fbleeping serious?! That right there should have been caught during beta. I can see “Exploring the Area” as one action point, and maybe healing at home, but picking which area you want to explore, especially when there is no easy way to go from your inventory back to where you just were?! After that, I decided to call it a day. I think I still have about 22 of my 30 Action Points left. Anybody else want them? Anyone?

If ya’ll know of who else is out there in the world of browser-based games such as these, drop me a line. I’d love to check out the “competition”. And, if ya’ll would like to try Urban Legions, I’d also love to hear what you have to say aboot our game, both the good and the scathing.

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Hell, it’s not even like it was some kind of fetch quest where somebody asked for 10 gems. It was just a word that turned into a number. Where’s the weight behind those words and numbers?

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A few things.. Your link to “the original Zork” is a link to a web-based version of Dungeon. Now, if you meant the original Zork, that is, what Zork itself was based upon.. then that makes sense. But the way you phrased it, I think it’s confusing, because it also sounds like you’re comparing *this* new web game to the “original” (i.e. real) Zork… which itself was based upon Dungeon.

Also, “the loot you collect sells itself” isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In the PS2 “The Bard’s Tale” (which is itself a remake, reimagining, spiritual sequel, depending upon one’s point of view) of the original game, when you get better weapons, the old worse ones do indeed turn into money. That is actually a GOOD thing, IMHO. So this feature doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing.

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How awesome must it be to be that artist right now? “Everyone liked the bit I did. Dunno what’s wrong with you guys. *walks away whistling*”

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I obviously have to agree that LoZ is not Zork at all; I haven’t seen anything Zorky at all besides the map and the references to Double Fanucci and the “FrobozzCo Magic …” prefix. It looks very much like a generic Progress Quest model made by developers who didn’t know whether the marketing people would eventually make a licensing deal for Zork or Clone Wars or the Powerpuff Girls.

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I block those instantly. They’re just data-mining apps.

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