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Showing All | Show by Page - egostat (1st Level, Abyss), October 13, 2023 - Tabitha / alyshkalia, September 27, 2023 - gattociao, August 16, 2023 - Hikari Starshine, May 22, 2023 - biscuit, April 30, 2023 - WorstPunk, September 29, 2022 >INVENTORY - Paul O'Brian writes about interactive fiction Up until about halfway through Ad Verbum, I found that it was very well prepared to handle anything I threw at it. However, as I moved to other puzzles, it started to reject perfectly valid commands, which caused me to lose faith in the game with distressing speed, despite how impressed I had been with it up until then. After that frustrating period, I turned to the help and didn't try very hard to solve the rest of the puzzles, which is a shame because some of them were really excellent puzzles. The problem is that because Ad Verbum requires such specific input, when it isn't prepared to handle what little input is valid under its rules, it seems much more broken than does a typical IF puzzle when it rejects alternate solutions. I can't say I blame it -- frankly, I'm astonished by how well coded it is already, even despite what it still lacks -- but that didn't make my experience any more fun when the game was rejecting correct answers.
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| Direct link | Add a comment - TheBoxThinker, January 28, 2022 - Titania Lowe, January 24, 2022 - tmack, October 14, 2020 - Xuan Li, July 1, 2020 - Zape, June 23, 2020 Aligning Alliterative Aspirations: Admirable. Accompanied Accoutrements: Average, June 7, 2020 I decided to give this game a try as it seemed right up my alley. Spurred by the positive reviews on sections with alliteration, I was excited for the ways my vocabulary might be challenged, and I'll tell you, those sections are every bit as engaging as the other reviews say. The effort put into the descriptions in these alliteration rooms was very impressive, and they meshed perfectly with the interactive fiction medium. I think it was worth playing just for those sections. Most of the other areas, with the exception of the library, were mostly a bit frustrating for me. There was a particular puzzle with a certain animal that gave me a headache, not for the core of the puzzle, but figuring out how to format the text to enter. In the end I did need to consult the hint sections for multiple puzzles, and part of it was the un-intuitiveness, thus the 4 stars. I would play an entire game of alliterative word puzzles any day though. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
- Katrisa (Houston), May 7, 2020 - kierlani, March 30, 2020 - IanAllenBird, December 14, 2019 - querent, November 15, 2019 Exciting English exercises, entertaining enigmas. Expect ennui expunged. Enjoy!, May 10, 2019 by deathbytroggles (Minneapolis, MN) Like Infocom's Nord & Bert, Montfort created an essentially plot free game for Americans with a love for wordplay. Also similar to its predecessor, there is a built-in hint system that will ensure you don't get stuck. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
- elias67, March 12, 2019 - mrfrobozzo, January 17, 2019 - Spike, December 19, 2018 - Ploppy, December 16, 2018 - Vigorish (Bradenton, Florida ), November 15, 2018 - yaronra, July 16, 2018 - wisprabbit (Sheffield, UK), June 17, 2018 - ikkinlala, June 16, 2018 - DustyCypress (Hong Kong), May 19, 2018 - nosferatu, February 1, 2018 - Guenni (At home), January 26, 2018 - hoopla, December 14, 2017 - lkdc, December 1, 2017 - Wanderlust, August 3, 2017 - Smidge, July 9, 2017 - EngineerWolf (India), December 18, 2016 - alexvicegrab, October 28, 2016 - jeffhos, October 13, 2016 - kala (Finland), April 13, 2016 1 of
1 people found the following review helpful:
Enchanting word-play game that starts very strong and peters out, February 3, 2016by MathBrush Ad Verbum was one of the first IF games I played, and still a favorite. In this mid-length, story-lite game, you must collect and throw away various items by using constrained commands (commands that don't use certain letters, commands that only use the top row of the keyboard, repetitive commands, etc.) Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
- branewurms, January 1, 2016 - Aryore, December 13, 2015 - brian.j.sanders, September 29, 2015 - leanbh, July 30, 2015 - Lanternpaw, May 18, 2015 - Thrax, March 11, 2015 - Catalina, January 22, 2015 - Matthew Darby (London, United Kingdom), September 20, 2014 - Sobol (Russia), September 12, 2014 - shornet (Bucharest), August 28, 2014 - Indigo9182, July 1, 2014 - lisapaul, January 10, 2014 - Christopher Bogs, December 8, 2013 - DAzebras, November 28, 2013 - streever (America), November 26, 2013 - Adam Myers, September 19, 2013 - Christina Nordlander, August 5, 2013 - Sdn (UK), July 23, 2013 - dutchmule, July 22, 2013 - E.K., June 12, 2013 - KGH (North Carolina), June 10, 2013 - Shadow Fox (Texas), May 13, 2013 - Floating Info, April 3, 2013 - Destarex (Colorado), December 21, 2012 - Edward Lacey (Oxford, England), December 7, 2012 - Brianna, December 5, 2012 - Lingling (Perth, WA), November 20, 2012 0 of
1 people found the following review helpful:
Unusual in such a good way, September 8, 2012by Dida I had a feeling Ad Verbum would be good when I realized it was all about wordplay. I absolutely adore logical puzzles! So this was right up my street. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
- Molly (USA), July 17, 2012 - Andrew Schultz (Chicago), May 3, 2012 - Herr Rau (München, Germany), May 1, 2012 - Domaknitrix (Virginia), March 9, 2012 - Relle Veyér, March 1, 2012 - Bran Rainey (Windsor, Ontario), February 25, 2012 - Lazarus Long, February 12, 2012 - Hywel Dda, February 11, 2012 - dbigs, January 18, 2012 - trojo (Huntsville, Alabama, USA), October 4, 2011 - Jeff Zeitlin (Greater New York Area), September 6, 2011 - katz (Altadena, California), January 24, 2011 - The Year Is Yesterday (California), December 11, 2010 - Mr. Patient (Saint Paul, Minn.), November 12, 2010 13 of
14 people found the following review helpful:
Wisely wrought, wicked wordplay works well, September 22, 2010by Victor Gijsbers (The Netherlands) Ad Verbum is a great wordplay game, and one of the few works of interactive fiction that can claim to have been inspired by the work of Georges Perec. Its greatest claim to fame are undoubtedly the rooms where all descriptions, including all the library responses, are written in such a way that each word begins with the same letter (w, n, e, or s), and where only input in the same format is accepted. Try taking something and then going south when you only type words that start with an 'n'. These puzzles are excellent and wittily implemented. The same high quality is maintained in the library, where several other forms of constrained writing are practised. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
- Joel Webster (Madison, WI), July 26, 2010 - Celestianpower (Gloucestershire, UK), July 25, 2010 - SarahTheEntwife (USA), July 7, 2010 6 of
6 people found the following review helpful:
Witty Wordplay With Wry Whips, June 9, 2010by tggdan3 (Michigan) The game has no plot to speak of, which is fine. The puzzles are similar to Nord and Bert, where you use wordplay to obtain items, and to exit rooms. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | View comments (1) - Add comment
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7 people found the following review helpful:
Clever puzzles based on wordplay, June 7, 2010by Bernie (Fredericksburg, VA) Ad Verbum is solely a puzzle game (no story or plot). Unlike traditional IF puzzles, the puzzles in Ad Verbum are word puzzles, mostly of 'guess the verb' form. In general, I detest 'guess the verb' puzzles, but this game succeeds beautifully by creating logical constraints for the verbs. While playing it, I found myself happily mulling over synonyms for 'take' and 'exit'. The writing in the game is very clever, and the author does an exceptional job of following the rules presented in the game, managing to give entire room and object descriptions using only, for example, words that begin with 'w'. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Remove vote | Add a comment
- o0pyromancer0o, April 24, 2010 - Danielle (The Wild West), April 22, 2010 - MyTheory (Missouri), March 25, 2010 - loungeman (Bilbao, Spain), January 4, 2010 - TempestDash (Cincinnati, Ohio), December 4, 2009 - tadjinar, October 9, 2009 - lupusrex (Seattle, WA), October 4, 2009 - Juhana, September 24, 2009 - GDL (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), July 1, 2009 - Mark V. (Madrid, Spain), June 2, 2009 - Ben, February 9, 2009 - Shigosei, January 22, 2009 - Otto (France), January 11, 2009 - Cheryl L (Australia), January 11, 2009 - Audiart (Davis, CA), January 3, 2009 - Nathan (Utah), October 25, 2008 - hywelhuws (Clynnog Fawr, Wales, UK), September 17, 2008 - madducks (Indianapolis, Indiana), September 5, 2008 - Wesley (Iowa City, Iowa), September 1, 2008 - NotVerySubtle, August 1, 2008 - Alizarin (Monrovia, CA), July 24, 2008 - alice-meynell, July 20, 2008 - Nathaniel Kirby (Pennsylvania), July 11, 2008 - perching path (near Philadelphia, PA, US), June 19, 2008 - tinroof, June 14, 2008 - felicitations, May 9, 2008 - brattish (Canada), April 8, 2008 - J. Robinson Wheeler (Austin, TX), April 3, 2008 - jfpbookworm (Hamburg, New York), February 25, 2008 - puzzler (Everett, Washington), February 10, 2008 - Ziixxxitria (California), January 27, 2008 - DJ (Olalla, Washington), January 24, 2008 - Matt Poush (Des Moines, Iowa), January 11, 2008 - Pseudo_Intellectual (Vancouver, Canada), December 31, 2007 - oddgrue (California), December 30, 2007 - Tyrog, December 14, 2007 - PSilk (London, UK), November 26, 2007 - Alan De Smet, November 12, 2007 - Emily Boegheim, November 10, 2007 - Hauston (Seattle, WA), November 3, 2007 - Sam Kabo Ashwell (Seattle), October 30, 2007 - Stephen Bond (Leuven, Belgium), October 26, 2007 - Pseudo_Intellectual (Vancouver, Canada), October 25, 2007 - Sami Preuninger (New York City), October 23, 2007 - Michael R. Bacon (New Mexico), October 21, 2007 - Corey Arnett (British Columbia, Canada), October 20, 2007 - Tracy Poff (Hamlin, West Virginia, United States), October 19, 2007 Baf's GuideA wordplay game reminiscent in some respects of Infocom's Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It. Some of the puzzles work better than others--a few are just obscure--but there's one section of the game that's simply astounding. Specifically, there are alliterative rooms where the parser has been rewritten to allow only commands in which every word begins with a certain letter--and all the responses are likewise rewritten. For example, >EXAMINE EFFIGY elicits "Enemy effigy. Extreme enormity evident. Execrable evildoer!" The puzzles in this section involve figuring out the appropriate commands to take certain objects and get out of the rooms, but it's more rewarding simply to try to push the limits of the game's literacy (and it takes a lot of pushing). The rest of Ad Verbum doesn't quite live up to that portion of the game, but the alliterative section alone makes it worth trying. -- Duncan Stevens
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