VIC Game Club No. 2 – The Count

Discussion, Reviews & High-scores

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How do you rate The Count?

Highly Recommended
7
70%
Good
3
30%
Average
0
No votes
Disappointing
0
No votes
Not Recommended
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 10

hasseapa
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Re: VIC Game Club No. 2 – The Count

Post by hasseapa »

akator wrote:I created a VICE snapshot for the start of the game that should work for others. If someone could verify it works, I'll add it to the first post to make loading the game easier.
The Count - Start of Game VICE Snapshot.zip
It didn't work for me but I am using VICE 2.4 (and as said in a previous post, I use the Mega-Cart image).
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beamrider
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Re: VIC Game Club No. 2 – The Count

Post by beamrider »

I think Snapshots only work on the exact same version of VICE under which they were saved.
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akator
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Re: VIC Game Club No. 2 – The Count

Post by akator »

hasseapa wrote:It didn't work for me but I am using VICE 2.4
Thanks for trying.
beamrider wrote:I think Snapshots only work on the exact same version of VICE under which they were saved
Good to know. I learn a little something new every day :)
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Jeff-20
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Re: VIC Game Club No. 2 – The Count

Post by Jeff-20 »

I was so hopelessly stuck on this one back in the day. When I finally solved it, I didn't know how to feel about the clever(?) twist. Still, I would say it's better than Adventure Land. Adventure Land was more like an intro to the genre.
High Scores, Links, and Jeff's Basic Games page.
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Ola H
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Re: VIC Game Club No. 2 – The Count

Post by Ola H »

Have tried it out for 45 min now and am generally pleased with my progression. Seems like I have explored quite a lot and still have much options left to try, but I may only be kidding myself :mrgreen:

Priority number 1 is definitely a candle or lantern. I have found two or three locations where it's too dark to see and just matches don't cut it.

The time/move factor is very cool. I particularly like the way the postman comes with deliveries at certain times during the days.
Last edited by Ola H on Fri Feb 10, 2017 12:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Ola H
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Re: VIC Game Club No. 2 – The Count

Post by Ola H »

I'm itching to get back to play it and try some new things, but at the moment I don't have the time. Some quick observations though:

I really like the terseness, that's how I remember playing text adventures and that's why I preferred them on the Vic. When I got my C64 I didn't enjoy text adventures quite the same - they were too wordy and consequently felt less like games and more like books.

I remember buying Curse of the Werewolf for the Vic when I already had a C64 since two years. I enjoyed it and played it a heck of a lot more than most C64 adventures. The short descriptions allowed for fast navigation and many locations to map. And as the items were distributed randomly each new round, it also felt much more dynamic and - again - much more like a game.

Infocom adventures in particular was a pain: long-winded description and long disk access times made them slow to play and discouraged playful trial-and-error. Some I could still enjoy and accepted as deserving of their status, but their essence was something else and they were neither as intuitive nor as evocative as my Vic adventures. Also, the wordiness at times felt strained – overwrought and flowery.

But! Purple prose or not, the long descriptions, above all, created a disconnect between the act of playing/participating and the game world. The longer the descriptions and the more adjectives used, the greater the risk that the parser couldn't deal with all the stuff described. In any case, the possibilites of interaction never grew at the same rate as the word count.

It's the same phenomenon that makes many modern games unpleasant for me. Every bag, button, belt, strap, pocket, fold and lace is depicted on your avatar in 3rd and 1st person action games, but they are just for show, you still interact with your inventory just the same as you did 20 years ago. And while increased graphics fidelity might improve atmosphere, I'd say it almost always detracts from beliveability if that increase isn't matched by increased possibilites for interaction - not an easy task for designers and programmers...

I like when every pixel count. I like it aesthetically but I also like it because it feels like there is meaning and opportunities present in every pixel. Hence the games I loathed the most were 1990s Amiga and PC PD-games where shoddy versions of old arcade classics like Asteroids were "spruced up" with photo realistic textures. The believability of the "world of Asteroids" was gone for me.

All in all, I really enjoy the Scott Adam school of text adventures 8)
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akator
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Re: VIC Game Club No. 2 – The Count

Post by akator »

I made it through day 2. I died even more times on day 2 than day 1. This is one of those times when I especially appreciate save states in an emulator :D

There's no way I could get through this without taking notes. Some of the object juggling and use is completely silly, but I still find it very entertaining. Although, I couldn't help but groan over "coughin."
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Ola H
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Re: VIC Game Club No. 2 – The Count

Post by Ola H »

I'm beginning to feel stuck :( The vent puzzles me, the oven puzzles me, I cant get into the dark passage or the dungeons, and I don't know the use of the daises and the mallet :? And what is the use of a pharmacological boost when the night goes on forever and you can't move...? Well ... I guess I could move if I had a lamp of some sort but I can't find any. The matches alone don't help and the content of day's two gift doesn't seem to do anything useful either.

It feels quite complex as the passage of time opens the possibilities of locations being different at different times and days. Well.. I am not giving up quite yet but at the moment I feel completely lost!
hasseapa
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Re: VIC Game Club No. 2 – The Count

Post by hasseapa »

At last another session. Maybe I was not really stuck before as I immediately made good progress when I approached the plot in a slightly different way. Now I look forward to a productive day 3!
akator wrote:I made it through day 2. I died even more times on day 2 than day 1. This is one of those times when I especially appreciate save states in an emulator :D
Yeah, lots of instant deaths would make this game unbearable without saving.
akator wrote: Although, I couldn't help but groan over "coughin."
Is there a name for this type of problem in adventure games?
Coffin & Cigarette problem? Or more in the spirit of the problem itself, Coffee 'n' Cigarette problem :roll:
hasseapa
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Re: VIC Game Club No. 2 – The Count

Post by hasseapa »

hasseapa wrote: Now I look forward to a productive day 3!
Well, it wasn't... I am stuck and also a bit mad!

I guess I have underestimated the game. I haven't made any notes at all and certainly not a map.

I think I will start with a list of all objects.
hasseapa
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Re: VIC Game Club No. 2 – The Count

Post by hasseapa »

Finished it! I was indeed very close to solve it yesterday.

Incredibly tense feeling as I approached the crypt for the final time, knowing that Dracula himself should (but would he?) be there.

Unfortunately I did it in the dark the first time (didn't believe it would work but it did). I then did it with proper lighting and I must say that the final encounter with The Count himself was much in tune with the rest of the game: "Dracula.". An object like any other, but considerably less wordy described than, for example, "A century worth of dust.".

Although I think it could be improved in numerous ways (even on a limited systems like VIC) I don't hesitate to vote it "highly recommended".

It reminded me of Jordan Mechner's The Last Express from 1997. I played Last Express for the first time only two years ago and it quickly became one of my all-time favourite game. The fact that a VIC-game can give me a somewhat similar experience is amazing to me.

Now that I have finished it, I can safely read up on the Count. For example, this article by the Digital Antiquarian: http://www.filfre.net/2011/07/the-count/
It is safe to read for anyone as it hardly contains any spoilers (dumb-waiter problem is revealed though). He says that Adams did not continue along the path that The Count led the way to, but recommends Infocom's Deadline as a successor. Gotta try it!

Incredible how much fun minimalistic VIC-games like Squeeze and The Count can be. I choose them over any modern system game. No contest.
hasseapa
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Re: VIC Game Club No. 2 – The Count

Post by hasseapa »

Long blog post on The Count with several comments by Scott Adams himself. Good read but lots of spoilers!
http://gamingafter40.blogspot.se/2009/0 ... ure-5.html

Youtuber Angry Video Game Nerd also covered The Count :roll: Well, he probably made a lot of young gamers discover the joy of text adventures?
https://youtu.be/sDR8HKC9wgI?t=82
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Re: VIC Game Club No. 2 – The Count

Post by Kakemoms »

I usually don't play games on my Vic-20, but all the talk about this one has triggered my interest. :mrgreen:

BUT, I have tried two versions of VICE and they all come up with random characters/repeating text around the screen..
TheCount.png
Edit: Ah, disabling memory block 1 seems to do it...
hasseapa
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Re: VIC Game Club No. 2 – The Count

Post by hasseapa »

Playing The Count was almost like being “in the zone” – everything just clicked for me and I actually found it quite easy. It’s funny because I haven’t played any text adventures in many, many years. The sole exception is Adventureland, which I played in 2015 on three nights (but did not complete).

As a contrasting example - yesterday I tried Draculaland, an “Interactive Fiction” from last year. According to this review https://emshort.blog/2016/04/04/dracula ... n-johnson/ it is much easier than The Count and can be completed in an hour. Well, I am stuck at a measly 16% after more than an hour!

This is the first modern text game I have tried and it may be that I am simply not accustomed to new conventions? The game seems pleasantly retro in many ways but I hate its click based interface. It totally breaks the immersion for me and the creativity of the problem solving is seriously crippled.
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Ola H
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Re: VIC Game Club No. 2 – The Count

Post by Ola H »

Some progress: found the torch and used my cigarettes in the right place. I doubt I would have get the critical pun if akator hadn't provided the clue though ... pretty strange use of a pun as a puzzle if you ask me .. not obvious at all to me - I actually found it immensly clever :oops: (though harmful to suspension of disbelief).

But I'm still stuck and can't avoid getting bitten. The night goes on forever - I don't get it. I guess there is a lot left to figure out.
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