After playing a couple of Infocom games during the 80s, I've always carried a torch for Interactive Fiction in its many guises, mutating into MUDS [multi-user dungeons], free-form RPGs and MMORPGs [Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games].
Unfortunately, I wish I never bothered with Wishbringer. Perhaps at the ripe of age of 33, I am too cynical and jaded, and simply expected too much. But with location descriptions re-defining brevity (I typed 'verbose', and to my horror, I was already in verbose mode!), I was extremely surprised at how basic Wishbringer is. If you substitute 'beginner' for 'pre-pubescent child', then the demographic may be spot on. But even as a teenager, I would have hated this. Yes, the parser is good, even if not up to usual Infocom standards, and there are those touches of quality that make all Infocom games stand out from the competition, but Wishbringer feels far too sparse, the story too simplistic and the puzzles feel too telegraphed.
Embarrasingly, I only got as far as the Olde Magick Shoppe on my first outing before I ran out of time, but I do not feel compelled to try again. Even getting that far needed force of will and effort not to /quit and delete the game from my hard-drive.
I couldn't recommend Wishbringer to beginners of IF, simply because the beginning has a complete lack of immersion. The frustrating part is that there are glimpses of the Infocom magic, but I'm going to head straight to Starcross first.
Note: because it is Infocom, I will give Wishbringer another try. But nostalgia ain't what it used to be.
Regards,
Riotgirl
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