toilets on mars

WiltshireWizard · 12:45, 20 May 19

So,

ervin · 14:09, 20 May 19

Quote from: WiltshireWizard on 12:45, 20 May 19
So, way back in the mid 80s, when I was around 12, I remember buying the Mastertronic game One Man And His Droid... and not having the faintest idea what was going on. I read the instructions a few times but just couldn't make head or tail of it and, frankly, have never revisited that game since. Maybe I should, hoping that my forty-something old brain will now be able to understand what my twelve-year-old brain didn't!

Were there any games that you gave up on because you had no clue what you were supposed to be doing?

Toad Runner.
Clearly not a very good game, but I've always had a strange fascination with it.
Despite those damn 3-way doors where one pixel was supposed to give you a clue which door WOULDN'T lead to instant death!
Yeah, that was a "great" design decision!

WiltshireWizard · 15:01, 20 May 19

I never

zhulien · 16:08, 20 May 19

Have you tried flyspy? I could never get out of the start of the first screen.

VincentGR · 20:04, 20 May 19

Netherworld and if I keep typing I will end the space here.

zeropolis79 · 20:59, 20 May 19

Wizball was one i couldn't understand (and still can't)

Nich · 21:11, 20 May 19

Quote from: WiltshireWizard on 12:45, 20 May 19
So, way back in the mid 80s, when I was around 12, I remember buying the Mastertronic game One Man And His Droid... and not having the faintest idea what was going on. I read the instructions a few times but just couldn't make head or tail of it and, frankly, have never revisited that game since. Maybe I should, hoping that my forty-something old brain will now be able to understand what my twelve-year-old brain didn't!

Were there any games that you gave up on because you had no clue what you were supposed to be doing?

I'm glad to hear I'm not alone! I got One Man and His Droid as part of a compilation of 50 games and my 11-year-old self also didn't understand what I was supposed to be doing.

Years later, I tried playing it again, and while I finally managed to understand what I was supposed to be doing, I still couldn't complete the first level. I still hate the game to this day.

Another game that I have never understood how to play is Pneumatic Hammers. I didn't own this when I was young (thankfully), but when I tried to play it so that I could write a review on my website, I gave up.

WiltshireWizard · 08:38, 21 May 19

[quote

Targhan · 16:57, 21 May 19

Just try to play Troll. It's nicely made but... out of this world.

ComSoft6128 · 18:22, 21 May 19

Took me a long time to get a grip with The Sentinel - great game though.

mahlemiut · 22:46, 21 May 19

I've managed to finish Flyspy, although it is admittedly a bit mean to give you a laser with just one shot, with must be used to shoot the right thing before you can get more ammo.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/208238308

Cholo · 22:59, 21 May 19

Ah yes, One Man and his Droid i never did figure out how it worked. Got the Mastertronic version as well, loaded it up and after 5-8 mins thought "ok then, ill figure this one out later". Other games that got into that pile was usually expremely boring looking games usually simulators like Fighter Pilot & text adventure like Rigel's Revenge. Those 2 i did manage to play around in thou as all it took was a particular boring summer day deep in the school vacation time to make a 2 colour blue/green screen flight game turn interesting along with a text adventure game where you start the game in a dark room without any light.

Games i didnt get around to play was Geoff Capes Strongman, Starquake, Street Hawk & Explorer.

Tarzan is definately a game like Wizball that was released buggy or in prototype/rushed state and so both i just gave up on. With Tarzan i later tried emulator save states trying to clear the swings & poke for time, but inf time just mean you get stuck in a endless loop somewhere and the endless reloading of saves dont solve/tell you anything. If i recall right non of the Tarzan game maps is correct either,

Plenty of games that simply gets to hard later in the game or you can miss a vital game function so you cant get further.

Darren · 11:44, 08 June 19

There were a couple. Zorro and Master of the Lamps.

MiguelSky · 13:31, 08 June 19

Zorro, despite its basic graphics, is an amazing adventure with surprising and unexpected locations. I like Zorro more than Bruce Lee, although this one is very similar game in those terms.

reidrac · 14:17, 08 June 19

I think I understood most of the originals I played, but games loaded from a 90 min cassette, that was a different story.

Not having the inlay with the instructions could even make hard to find what were the keys to play it if there was no redefine keys (or if redefine didn't allow to redefine all keys); let alone grasp the mechanics if it wasn't very obvious what to do.

This is not just a thing from back in the day. A couple of years ago I was playing ZUB and I didn't know you could see a map of the area. So there you are, suddenly the game is harder because I didn't read the manual.

awergh · 06:38, 09 June 19

I don't remember any games being incomprehensible by themselves but in the box of games I was given with the 464 there were a few games without instructions:

The Secret of Bastow Manor
This wasn't really a failure of understanding what I had to do but a case of not knowing how to play a text adventure.
In particular that you had to come up with the right verbs. At the time I never managed to get through the front gate which isn't very good progress.
Now I can get through the gate and into a shed where I get stuck, look how much I have progressed

.
Hmm the tape isn't on cpc power maybe I should figure out how to do that sometime.

Bombscare
Never understood what I was supposed to be doing but I did figure out how to escape leaving the bomb to explode, I liked to think I was a success

.

Battle For Midway
I think I only loaded this once or twice but a war strategy game isn't really the sort of thing you can try to play without instructions.

remax · 21:38, 09 June 19

Quote from: WiltshireWizard on 08:38, 21 May 19

Really? I loved Wizball and 'got it' instantly! Knew what I was supposed to be doing. It's interesting isn't it how each of us can be so different in grasping and understanding different concepts (again, this topic is nothing to do with the 'difficulty' of a game, but just understanding what the hell is going on. I guess it also applies to life in general... )

I had a few months before getting in it... just because the manual said i had to press space to validate the bonus whereas it was jiggling the joystick that does it on CPC. It became one of my favourite game.

-----------

Another one i quite never got until the recent times is the one on my avatar : Thing bounces back. I never played the first one, and the game was very obscure... But i quite loved it, even if i didn't understood what i was supposed to do.

ivarf · 17:58, 13 June 19

Quote from: mahlemiut on 22:46, 21 May 19
I've managed to finish Flyspy, although it is admittedly a bit mean to give you a laser with just one shot, with must be used to shoot the right thing before you can get more ammo.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/208238308

Loved playing Flyspy. A really great start from a 14 year old coder for the CPC

Cholo · 22:36, 16 June 19

Also the Hacker games probably confused quite a few people as you get no instructions. I think i got Hacker with one of the AA tapes spo not much instructions there, but if you look at the original game manual it says very little too.

Gryzor · 11:25, 25 June 19

Quote from: VincentGR on 20:04, 20 May 19
Netherworld and if I keep typing I will end the space here.

Ah yes, Netherworld! I loved this game but I had no idea of how to progress. So I just floated around, admiring the gfx...

But fore me the game that has stuck in mind as incomprehensible yet irresistile was Into Oblivion, the very first game I ever bought (along with my 464). Absolutely no idea what to do, my less than basic English at the time not helping at all, but I'd be damned if I allowed that detail to ruin the experience of MY FIRST EVER VIDEOGAME

Also: lovely topic

vasilisk · 22:03, 26 June 19

Captain Blood. Never figured out what to do.

TotO · 22:21, 26 June 19

As all games without the instructions manual! $:-\$

dthrone · 00:18, 27 June 19

Amsoft's Qabbalah. I first had a copy when my neighbour copied me his Amsoft games discs as a youth. Kept coming back until a few years ago I made it my personal mission to figure it out.

Initial dabbling in 2012 -
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/games/qabbalah-info-with-spoilers/msg46161/#msg46161

Then finally cracked it in 2016 -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlOYOwGWZy0

Definitely a hole in my life filled

tjohnson · 07:07, 27 June 19

Were there any I didn't understand, yeah lots.... Soul of a robot, I recall playing it but not really knowing what I was suppose to do, probably the most prominent game was Jack the nipper. Still no I idea to this day.

scruss · 20:46, 29 June 19

I used to get tapes of miscellaneous "things" from all over Europe. One was supposed to be an adventure thing called Wapton Village Race that seemed to have no way of doing anything. After some extended random keyboard bashing, my brother got it to go from the first screen to the "Congratulations! You are now an honorary Waptonian!" finish screen with no conscious effort.

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