Quest by Roger Plowman and David Betz Fantasy 1979

About the Story

Quest has a very complicated history. The above 1979 date is the first known published version, written in RSTS/E using a time-sharing operating system on the PDP-11 16-bit minicomputer; version 3.0 has a 1986 date and the TADS documentation bundled in the ADVSYS zipfile on the if-archive web site by Roger Plowman is dated 17-09-1996.

The version I am playing is however v 1.2 from 1986 in DOS and was updated by David Betz. The game comes bundled in an ADVSYS folder which I downloaded via the if-archive web site. Included are notes about the game together with the source code and details of how to program in TADS.

The first problem I encountered was that save game slots via DOSBox-X corrupt the game file. Try and restore a same game state in this way and it subsequently crashes with an "error reading message code" reply. Fortunately the game allows the "save" and "restore" commands which do work ok. There is another glitch in the inventory state as the game unusually shows (or at least tries to) the number of items you are carrying at any one time with the message "OBJ=X" on screen after each command. Unfortunately this does not seem to increment as you collect objects so stays at 0 throughout the game. The inventory limit seems set quite high as I have yet to be told my hands are full.

The basic premise is that you have stolen a map from a wizard and he has cast you into a valley full of dangerous creatures and traps as a punishment. Can you escape? Amongst the NPCs besides the savage wolf are a mysterious red-headed woman who hides behind a tree and vanishes if you try and pursue her.

All this plays out in a claustrophobic valley from which you futilely try to escape; the sequence in which you attempt to climb out only to be stymied by the sloping cliff walls is very well written and neatly encapsulates the protagonist's frustration; it reminded me of nothing so much as that masterpiece of cinematographic claustrophobia: "And Soon The Darkness" from 1970 in which Pamela Franklin is fated to travel backwards and forwards in her own flat piece of french countryside: "And Soon The Wolf" perhaps.

If you are as fond of old-style text adventures as I am you will be delighted with the quality of the writing in this. The descriptions are both long and compelling and it appears to have the difficulty quotient set somewhat higher than Willie Crowther's game. Early on the aforementioned savage wolf appears randomly and it takes a lot of dodging and saving to reach a stage where you can send it to its lupine afterlife.

This is definitely worth a place in the "Museum of Old Classic Text Adventures". Just save often and take your patience pills in advance.

Game Details