Eduard the Seminarist

In this game, you are in a seminary and are trying to do... something. The game is never clear about what you need to do.

The game is short, with a few puzzles. I kept trying things on my own, then looking at the walkthrough for the next step, but there are so many ways to lock yourself out of victory.

In the end, I think that this game is a bit too fiddly for my tastes.

Join the amazing adventures of Eduard in this action packed thrill-ride of one mans quest to make it to....to.... a poetry reading?!


Story:

Unlike many of the games I have been playing lately, this is the one area where ETS really falls short. There is not even an introduction sequence to set the mood of the tale or establish what you are supposed to be doing.

Things do not improve much as you play along in search of the means to meet up with your buddy Scardanelli. I had hopes upon reading the newspaper that I was about to encounter a cool plot twist (I think it is cool when an author starts you off in a seemingly boring and mundane place only to pull the rug out from under you a little ways in) but I was disappointed. In fact, I'm not sure that the author knew exactly what he wanted to do with Scardanelli, considering the fact that you can refer to him by two different names later, one of them being connected to the newspaper. Unfortunately, that plot line is never explored or explained.



Interaction:

The coding on this is better than the story (probably because there is some code while there is not really a story here). There are a couple of guess the verb problems. "Get onto trampoline" works while "get on trampoline" does not. Several other instances of this had me reaching for the walk-through.

The instant death from the window was lame. I had accidentally typed "s" instead of whatever direction I had meant to type and then...BAM... I'm dead. I went back to see what had happened and this is what I discovered:

x window

you see nothing special about the window

climb window

I don't think much is to be achieved by that

climb out window

I only understand you as far as wanting to climb the outside

jump out window

I only understand you as far as wanting to jump

s

You jump out the window and land most unsoftly on the ground.



Now I know that it is fun to kill the player off, but there should have at least been a warning. Something like, "A fall from this height could kill a man" and then if the player did it again...BAM you're dead. That still does not explain why jump out window did not work, especially when that is exactly what happens when you die.

There were a few other issues, such as missing exits from room descriptions and a general lack of purpose. I also was able to make myself stuck in the Gym by dropping the candle and having it go out. I then had to reload the game because I could no longer move around. (Once again, no warning).



Presentation:

This looks like all the other Inform games I have ever played.



Did I have Fun:

I did not hate this game, but I did not really like it either. So while I did not experience a lack of pleasure (like one might get from obtaining frost bite on the colon), I did not have the time of my life. Doubt I'd ever play this again.



Final Thoughts:

I just can not find the point to this game. There is little to no help from the author. You are probably going to need the walk-through to get all the way to the end of this but then again I can't really think of a reason to do so. There is no resolution other than a "you win" ending of about 2 sentences. I guess this is appropriate considering that there was not much of a story to resolve.