Devil’s Palace in an interactive text adventure written by Greg Hasset for the TRS-80. This marks the eighth text adventure that we’ve played by Mr. Hasset who was somewhat of a wunderkind.
We had recently played through Curse of the Sasquatch also written by Greg Hasset and with that game I felt that perhaps the developer had turned a corner so I was eager to play Devil’s Palace. There had been an actual plot in Curse of the Sasquatch and it had been unique for the time. Unfortunately with Devil’s Palace, I never even understood what the plot was until I read the above ad. Furthermore, I wasn’t even sure what the evil was in the game and I’m going to go on record saying that the way you have to defeat the evil was just plain ridiculous.
Devil’s Palace is much harder than any of Hasset’s previous games to date. I had to play the game without any kind of save capability so I was forced to restart the game several times.
There should be (and probably are) an entire series of articles written about what makes a good puzzle in interactive fiction. Normally a puzzle is a tool used to advance movement within the game or in the overall plot. A good puzzle should be part of the game’s atmosphere. We have experienced several different kinds of puzzles in the interactive fiction that we’ve played thus far. The puzzles have involved navigating mazes, unlocking doors, manipulating objects, interacting with characters or creatures in some way, recognizing patterns and lastly guessing the verb. The last really isn’t a puzzle but becomes one in a sense because the player has the right idea but cannot type the exact verb that the author wants.
The puzzles in these adventure games are supposed to be a challenge and finding your way past that challenge is part of the enjoyment of many of these games. Until that is, when you can’t solve the puzzle. Maybe we have missed something somewhere in the game or we haven’t taken the time to really think the problem through. I get that the logic of puzzles doesn’t necessarily match the logic found in the real world. However I do believe that there DOES NEED to be a sort of logic in the puzzle itself. It probably seems that I’m babbling here and now you’re probably wondering when is logic not logical.
Many puzzles that we encounter do have a sort of common sense to them. So even though the setting may be in a fantasy or futuristic environment we may find that we apply a little real-world knowledge to solve many of these puzzles. There are other puzzles where that real world knowledge doesn’t come into play at all. I am thinking of the Scott Adams adventure Strange Odyssey where you had to fiddle with and manipulate the machine in the cavern in order to figure out how it works. It is only then through a lot of experimentation that you figure out the process and then apply that knowledge to move forward. Lastly, there are the puzzles that just make no sense. They violate what I have called “fair play rules” in the past. These are puzzles that make no sense or require you to read the developer’s mind to know what the hell is going on. These kinds of puzzles can actually lead to frustration and anguish and actually decrease enjoyment of the game.
I bring all of this up because when I mentioned that Devil’s Palace was the hardest of Greg Hasset’s games so far; I didn’t mean in a good way.
There are two different magic words that you find in the game. In and of itself I have no problem with the use of magic words in these games and I was easily able to overcome the puzzles where these words needed to be used in arbitrary locations. The magic in the game however stopped making any sense with the introduction of the magic whistle in the beginning of the game. There are six different times where you need to use the magic whistle in the game and none of the uses are consistent with each other. I would suggest that if you find yourself “stuck” in the game try blowing the whistle. Besides the magic words and whistle there are also a sceptre and magic wand to deal with.
I had to get a hint or resort to a walkthrough three different times in order to complete this game. I do not like to do that and it is an absolute last resort for me. When I reach the point where I am frustrated, no longer enjoying myself or have had a tremendous amount of time elapse then I’ll look for a hint. One of the hints involved guessing the verb. I had the right idea I just couldn’t find the appropriate verb that Hasset had in mind. The second time I had to resort to a hint involved the crystalline figure and the ruby in the game. This comes very close to violating my “fair play rules” simply because we just never clearly defined the magic powers of the magic whistle. The third time I needed a hint involved dealing with the “evil” in the palace tower. This is what ultimately ruined the game for me. The way in which the “evil” is dealt with is just plain silly. It doesn’t make any sense at all, comes off as ludicrous, and further illustrates the poor context of the “evil” present in the game.
I beat Devil’s Palace but I don’t feel very good about it. I had to resort to using a walkthrough on three different occasions and all three were actually justified as no amount of time would have allowed me to solve the aforementioned puzzles.
Now there are some good puzzles in this game. It is also the largest of the games created by Mr. Hasset sporting many map locations. However the poor plot and the puzzles that make no sense make Devil’s Palace pale in comparison to Hasset’s previous Curse of the Sasquatch.