What is your favorite text-based game (assuming you like text-based games) and why?

For me, I really like The End: Lost Souls Edition (d20 game). I like the idea of a literal post-apocalyptic stage and its focus less on combat and more on human survival (on a number of levels), among other things.

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Nethack or Zangband
To be honest, though, I usually play with tile-graphics on
it appears I may have gotten the wrong idea...but these are still technically text-games right?:D

Some hacking game that starts with a D...or something. It was quite cool, really, pretty fun. Even had its own scripting language.

The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy one

Massassi Forums

Rogue.

ZZT or Rogue.

HGttG is grand.

Zork and nethack hold special places in my heart as well though. [But yeah, tiled nethack is fun in that special everything you see /will/ kill you instantaneously way].

However in terms of things i play frequently, there are the muds of addictiom +3.

The foremost one is the Realms of Despair that i've been on for the last several years fairly consistently [though a lot less so during school terms]. Wonderful playerbase averaging 300 at any given time, the economy's a bit wonky in some regards, but that seems to be a problem with virtually any online game [*cough* SoJ's].

It's been partly catharsis and a way to avoid keeping logging back into my /previous/ mud of addiction +7 which was Achaea for a couple years before that.

Main website is http://realmsofdespair.com/ though there are lots of really exceptional user sites as well. If anyone ever feels like logging on, i run Acherontia and Hikedha, and would be happy to show you around sometime if i'm on.


My other current favourite is a smashing AvP casual lightning pk mud that's been around a few years, which i've followed since before it was even really in proper development. It's way fast-paced, but totally laidback and fun. Unlike most pk muds, almost everyone plays it like it's just all in good fun, you don't expect to live beyond a minute or so after deploy generally and there's not really any penalty for dying aside from sometimes scrapping eq [which is all bought cheaply in your race hq, and is all basically uniform, with variation primarily on weapon preference]. Unfortunately over the last several months there has almost never actually been people on, although before that there were usually at least half a dozen active players at any given time. A few days ago though i logged in to check and had a whole dozen so it may be on the upswing again. Drop in and check it out, the code and design is way sleek. I run a pred named Khnemu, xeno named Qhnemu and a 'rine named Lemmus

http://finalstand.archsysinc.com/avp/

[actually i should caveat that with the fact that a few days ago the server seems to have disappeared via telnet, so i'm not sure what the status is actually]

Zork
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Pesants Quest (Kind of..but not really text adventure)

Peasant's Quest...bah, I bet you know nothing of Space Quest or King's Quest!

Since when is Peasant's Quest a text-based game anyhow? Darn kids...

I used to play King's Quest all the time, Space Quest too though I got considerably less far in that.

If you count that, then you'd better count Monkey Island. Game owns.

Achaea
I used to be really awesome at that, but then I got bored and started cheating, got my character deleted... stopped playing.

I was raised around Space Quest and King's Quest.

Heh, interesting, I play Achaea currently actually. Used to play... AniMud I think it was, but that was years ago

Same here, but unfortunately I've never been too good at adventure games.

Still love 'em though

Zork, definitely.

And another here

I nominate PQ 2, SQ 1, and KQ (V or IV) - the one where you're the peasant boy under the evil wizard...

Oh, and my mate Dave made 'Escape from the Castle with Twisty Turrets' - that was brilliant

Nearly as good as Xenophobic sniper, and Michael Turner: Supermarine....

God he made so many good games....

(Ginuea Pig racing! With whips!!)

If we're talking about Sierra's text-based adventures, Quest for Glory 2 can definately be put out as my favorite. I prefer the newer version of QFG 1 tho'. Space Quest 3 most likely as well. Police Quest 2 can be jotted down as well. Space Quest 1 was bloody fun as well, Space Quest 2 was a bit mehish. And definately shouldn't forget the Colonel's Bequest, a fascinating old Sierra game if I ever played one.

As for the early KQ games... I played them, and geezes, they were weird, even back then to my fragile little mind. KQ2 most likely taking the cake... 'oi, there's Dracula. LET'S KILL HIM BECAUSE HE IS DRACULA, EVEN THOUGH HE PLAYED ABSOLUTELY NO ROLE AT ALL IN THE GAME SO FAR. Great, now I do all sorts of quests. Now I'm gonna get married. What the bloody hell is Dracula, Neptune, Little Red Riding Hood, grandma, the wolf and all the other folks doing there?

As for ascii-text-based games... Ancient Domains of Mystery.

Gruds in space, and a couple of Zork games.

Space Quests 4 and 6 were brilliant. I started replaying them last year, I got partway into the third and never finished. I should do that soon...

There's something great about text-based games. They can be so much fun. Unfortunately, they can also be very frustrating.