Newsgroups: rec.games.int-fiction
Path: gmd.de!xyzzy.gmd.de!blasius
From: blasius@gmd.de (Volker Blasius)
Subject: non-English IF (was: Infocom: Which should I play?)
Message-ID: <blasius.6.758375803@gmd.de>
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Organization: GMD, Sankt Augustin, Germany
References: <1994Jan11.133103.23688@arbi.Informatik.Uni-Oldenburg.DE> <lemayCJHuC3.4J7@netcom.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 1994 11:56:43 GMT
Lines: 48

In article <lemayCJHuC3.4J7@netcom.com> 
   lemay@netcom.com (Killer of Trees) writes:
>
>Which begs the question -- have there ever been interactive fiction
>games in languages other than english?

I know three commercial German illustrated text adventures by an outfit 
called Weltenschmiede (published by Software 2000):

- Das Stundenglas (which I don't know, published 1988 or so)

- Die Kathedrale (which I solved with a lot of help from the separately
  available Hint Book, ~ 1990)

- Hexuma (which I just gave up because I couldn't solve a puzzle even with
  the Hint Book, 1992 or 1993)

All three have just been republished together on a CD, a sequel about a Cave 
World or some such is announced.

I played Die Kathedrale (which was inspired by Eco's Der Name der Rose) to 
the end because of it's atmosphere; the puzzles are very hard and clues are 
very hard to find, too: you have to "examine" each and every noun mentioned 
in all the long descriptions given everywhere; this is the only way to get a 
new description which my contain a noun that gives another description that 
may lead to a vital clue not available otherwise. Other clues are hidden in 
a 50 page (paper) complicated history of the cathedral, which you have to 
learn more or less by heart to get the right associations when you come upon 
something in the game. I really can't imagine someone being able to solve 
all the puzzles without help. Oh yes, I almost forgot: you have to very 
careful to choose the correct wording or you will get an answer that will 
lead you in a totally wrong direction.

The two games I have are rather buggy, too: sometimes you get descriptions 
for the wrong room; some commands sometimes claim that objects from your 
inventory don't exist while others work on them; etc. My problem of not 
being able to continue in Hexuma though I have all I need and do what the 
hint book tells me to do, may be one of those bugs.

Oops; this got rather long. I only wanted to tell you: Yes, there is IF in 
other languages than English.  :)

Volker

--
Volker Blasius, GMD-I8.iT  <Volker.Blasius@gmd.de>
Gesellschaft fuer Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung
(National Research Centre for Informatics and Information Technology)
