Date: August 23, 2001 Version: Final E-mail:
[email protected]
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"Your greatest challenge lies ahead - and downwards."
Complete walkthrough written by Darrell Wong (DKW 001).
=============================================================================
OBLIGATORY BORING DISCLAIMERS -
I wrote this walkthrough as a service to fellow gamers who need help with this
game. I gave this FAQ to GameFAQs and nowhere else, and everything on their
site is free for the viewing. So if anyone tries to sell you this walkthrough,
don't pay a cent. And DEFINITELY never never ever try to claim it as your own
and sell it. That's plagiarism, you can get into serious trouble for it, and
the risk of that is definitely not worth whatever laughably small pittance you
could get for my works.
The Zork trilogy and everything related to it is copyrighted by Infocom. All
rights reserved. You know the drill.
WHERE TO GET THIS GAME -
This game is "abandonware", meaning that it is no longer commercially produced.
You can download it freely from www.gamingdepot.com. (There are other sites,
but I think this one's the most reliable.) You'll also want the instructions,
which are available at Infodoc.plover.net/manuals/index.html.
INTRODUCTION -
Zork I. The game that started it all for legions of text adventure gamers,
myself included. I remember when I first ran into this game. It was a
first-generation Apple, monochrome monitor, 128K tops. I and numerous
classmates spent hours just moving around, finding things, and running into
trouble. Of course, we only had access to the computer for a short time every
day, and we didn't have a disk to save games on. And since we didn't have the
instructions, we didn't really know what to do. We didn't even know where to
put the treasures. Ah well. Those were the days.
A few years later, after my family got its own computer, I got the entire
trilogy on a set of floppies. I was able to get further and explore a lot
more. Unfortunately, I still didn't really know what to do, and I still didn't
have the instructions (a common problem back then...honestly, how did I ever
cope?) so that's as far as it went.
Now, many, many years later, having downloaded the games and original
instructions onto my current computer, *and* knowing what to do, I was able to
finish all three games. In the process, I gained an appreciation for the text
adventure. Indeed, the appeal of a game that doesn't have byzantine graphics
requirements, mind-blowing memory and disk space requirements, a
god-freaking-zillion things to remember, and the tendency to crash every four
minutes was not lost on me.
Of course, it's easy for me to say that now that I've actually *finished* the
blamed thing. ;-)
Well, I'm sure there are some of you out there who, like me, were never able to
get very far into Zork I when it was originally released. And some of you who
heard about how cool the game was, downloaded, played it, and now need some
help. And at least a few who enjoy reading the stuff I write (hi, Asako!) This
is for all of you. Enjoy.
OBJECTIVE -
You're an intrepid adventurer who's been inspired by stories of the legendary
realm of Quendor, better known as the Great Underground Empire. This empire,
once the mightiest in the world, collapsed just a few decades ago, and the
great caverns lie empty. Tales abound of the abandoned treasures that still
remain. As the game begins, you arrive at an ordinary-looking white house in
the middle of a forest clearing. The last known entrance to the empire is
rumored to be in there. And so the start of a grand journey begins...
There are a total of nineteen treasures, which you must place in the house's
trophy case to win the game. As you complete tasks, you'll earn points and
advance in rank. Your score is *not* affected in any way by the number of
moves you make. The maximum possible score is 350, which carries with it the
exalted title of Master Adventurer.
GENERAL TIPS -
Save your game regularly. I cannot overstate the importance of this. There
are just too many ways to screw up, and even one bad blunder can make the game
impossible to finish. In particular, anything which ruins a treasure or
prevents you from obtaining a treasure effectively ends your quest. *Always*
save before starting any tedious and/or dangerous task and save again once
you're successful.
With so many items lying around, it's very easy to get overloaded. You're
limited by both weight and number of items (eight is the maximum). Check your
inventory once in a while and be sure to drop items which have no further use.
There are a few ways to get killed, all of which are covered in the
walkthrough. Good news: If you die, you return to life (exactly where depends
on how far you've progressed). Bad news: You have a limited number of second
chances. Worse news: When you die, everything you're carrying gets scattered
to the winds, *and* you lose a fistful of points. Bottom line, dying stinks,
so don't ever stand for it; insure yourself with a saved game.
Darkness is your enemy. Whenever you enter a dark area, a grue (a vicious
monster which can only survive in darkness) will come along and eat you (which
kills you, of course) 1-3 moves after you enter the dark area. The only way to
protect yourself is to move to a lit area or turn on your lantern (the primary
light source in the early part of the game). You can't pick up anything in the
dark, including the lantern, so don't drop it without a good reason. The
lantern has a limited amount of power, so turn it off when you don't need it.
Whenever you're underground, you'll periodically be confronted by a thief
(who'll be described as a "seedy looking character carrying a sack" or
somesuch). He'll either 1) steal any treasures you're carrying and any that
happen to be in the room, or 2) size you up. If the former happens, there's
nothing you can do. In the latter event, if you leave the room immediately,
you'll avoid trouble. Otherwise he'll rob you or, if you don't have any loot,
either attack you or leave disappointed. The thief can be a real pain,
especially if you're carrying a treasure you don't want to lose, so it's a good
idea to...er, eliminate him as a threat as soon as possible. The walkthrough
will show you how.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMPLETE WALKTHROUGH -
[Notes: For convenience, I use abbreviations for all directions, including up
(U) and down (D). I've included location notes so you know where you're
supposed to be. As with most text adventures of the Infocom era, many commands
have to be typed in precisely to work (one of the main raps against the genre).
This is especially true for enter/exit commands and using items. My
walkthrough is designed to get the toughest parts of the game done first. It's
not the *only* way to finish the game, but definitely the most painless. As
with most walkthroughs, I only cover the essentials; feel free to explore on
your own. There are all kinds of things to look at, read, and learn in the
Great Underground Empire that you might find interesting.]
You start off in front of the house. Don't go in just yet. N. N (Forest
Path). U. GET EGG. Here's the first of your adventure-killing pitfalls,
i.e., dropping the egg while you're in the tree. *Don't*! D. S. E (Behind
House). OPEN WINDOW. W. OPEN SACK. Neither the water nor the lunch serve
any purpose, but you will need the garlic later. Leave it for now. W. OPEN
CASE. Hold onto the egg; you have to find a way to open it (safely!) first.
GET ALL. MOVE RUG. Ah, here's your ticket to the GUE. OPEN TRAPDOOR. D. No
turning back now! And your adventure begins in earnest...TURN ON LANTERN. S.
E. GET PAINTING. The chimney leads to the kitchen, but you can only go up
with a very light load, far less than what you're carrying right now, so forget
it. W. N. Save your game and go N to the Troll Room. A vicious troll lurks
here and he'll probably attack you the moment you enter. Respond in kind:
ATTACK TROLL WITH SWORD. Repeat until he's dead. He's a clumsy fighter, so
you should easily dispatch him without taking any damage. If not, restore your
game and try again. DIAGNOSE after the battle if you're uncertain. You'll
want all your strength for your next (and last) fight, which will come up
shortly. DROP SWORD. You don't need it anymore, and you can disregard the
troll's ax as well. W. Hoo boy, a maze, what a delight. You *did* remember
to save after beating the troll, right? Incidentally, the thief will probably
show up for the first time while you're in the maze. Don't worry if he robs
you; in fact, that's exactly what you want. If he sizes you up, GIVE
EGG...that's right, let him have it...and leave the area posthaste. If he
doesn't show up, restore and go through the maze again, or just wait until he
appears. Okay, you're at the start of the maze. S. E. U. You find the
remains of an adventurer who foolishly tried to navigate the maze without a
walkthrough...and what do you know, he's got stuff on him. GET COINS. The key
unlocks a grate in the forest, but it just leads back to the maze, so ignore
it. Best leave the skeleton and knife alone, too. SW. E. S. SE. Out of
the fryer and into the broiler; a cyclops bars your way, he's as indestructible
as the cavern walls, and worse, he looks a little hungry. Stay calm...SAY
"ULYSSES". The monster will tear out of the room, opening up a path back
to...the Living Room! Much better than that musty 'ol chimney, eh? E. E.
PUT TREASURES IN CASE if you still have any. E. U. The attic is dark, which
is why you need to keep the lantern on. (Yes, you can get eaten in the attic!
Man, those grues are ruthless...) GET ALL. D. W. W. W. Save, take a deep
breath, and take the ladder up. You're in the thief's Treasure Room, where he
puts all the treasures that he steals from you, and he's none too pleased about
you finding it. ATTACK THIEF WITH KNIFE and repeat. The thief is *far*
deadlier than the troll, and there's a very good chance that you'll get killed.
If so, restore and retry. Don't try to take him on with any other weapon; the
sword is practically useless (you keep hitting him with the flat of the blade
for some reason), the axe is slow and ineffective, and the dead adventurer's
knife is cursed and will kill YOU if you use it! Anyway, once you finally
dispatch the scoundrel, save. You can now take all the treasures in the room,
including the thief's own silver chalice. And guess what, when he opened the
egg, he found another treasure inside! You have no more need for weaponry, so
DROP KNIFE. GET ALL TREASURES. D. E. E. TURN OFF LANTERN. PUT ALL
TREASURES IN CASE. If you're badly wounded (DIAGNOSE if you're curious,
although you don't really need to since you won't take any more damage for the
rest of the game), you'll have to make another trip to get everything. This is
no big deal. GET CANARY. This takes it out of the egg. E. E. N. N (Forest
Path). WIND CANARY. The songbird appears, responds to the canary's song, and
in the process drops a brass bauble. Three treasures from one, amazing...GET
BAUBLE. Return to the Kitchen. GET GARLIC. W. PUT CANARY AND BAUBLE IN
CASE. Six down, thirteen to go! OPEN TRAPDOOR. D. You'll notice that the
trapdoor doesn't close this time. Apparently, whoever closed the door wanted
to give you the feeling that you were trapped, thus creating tension. But now
that you've opened up a different way out, there's no longer any fear of
entrapment, so barring the trapdoor has lost its purpose. Or something. TURN
ON LANTERN. N. E. N. NE (Reservoir South). E. You're now at the Flood
Control Dam #3, which created the huge reservoir you just passed. N. GET
MATCHES. N or E (it doesn't matter). Here we have the Zork trilogy's first
"lady or tiger" quandary in the form of the colored buttons. Okay, the yellow
button is the one you're after. The red button just turns the lights on, while
the brown button reverses what the yellow button does (and is thus useless).
Avoid the blue button at all costs. PUSH YELLOW. GET ALL EXCEPT TUBE. You
get the tools, and the chests simply fall apart. The Tube 'o Gunk is useless.
S or W. S. S. Hmm, what does a green light mean? TURN BOLT WITH WRENCH.
DROP WRENCH. W. The reservoir is now draining rapidly and will be crossable
when you come by here again. SW. S. S (Round Room). SE. E (Dome Room). It
looks like a dead end. And isn't, of course. TIE ROPE TO RAILING. D. You
wind up on a tall pedestal in the middle of a room, atop which rests a new
light source. TURN OFF LANTERN. GET TORCH. The torch's light is endless, and
as long as you have it you can leave the lantern off (hang onto it, though;
you'll need it later). The torch is also a treasure, by the way, which is why
it's a good thing you already killed the thief. D. GET BELL. S (Altar). GET
ALL. Before going further, check your inventory and make sure you have all of
the following: candles, book, bell, torch, screwdriver, matches, garlic,
lantern. This is the maximum number of items you can carry, by the way, so if
you can't pick up something make sure you're not carrying anything extra. (By
now any damage done by the thief should have healed, so you can carry a full
load.) *Save*, go D, and go D again to the entrance to the Land of the Dead.
You have to exorcize the spirits to gain passage. Do the following in
succession: RING BELL, GET CANDLES, LIGHT MATCH, LIGHT CANDLES, READ BOOK.
Don't dally or the exorcism will fail. Once the spirits disperse, DROP CANDLES
AND MATCHES AND BOOK, then go S to the Land of the Dead. Here's a nice reward
for your efforts! GET SKULL. Note: You have a limited time from when you
first enter the Altar room to perform the exorcism. If you wait too long, the
candles will burn down too far to light, and you're sunk. Also, if you don't
take the candles, they'll burn down *even if you blow them out*! Incredible
but true. Taking the candles and blowing them out *might* prevent them from
burning down, but there's really no point in doing this when you already have
two light sources. It's best to just do the exorcism right away and get it
over with. There's nothing else to do in the Land of the Dead, so leave. N.
U. You can't go back, so you may as well go forward. N. Like the Dome Room,
this only looks like a dead end. TOUCH MIRROR. Although it appears that
nothing's happened, you've actually been transported to an identical-looking
room (this one's north of the reservoir; the other's south of it). N. Eureka,
a new area (an old coal mine, to be exact) W. The slide is your ticket out of
here; leave it for now. N. W. N. There's a bat guarding this room, which
will immediately pick you up and drop you someplace far away...unless you have
garlic. Which you do, of course. DROP GARLIC. As long as the garlic is in
this room, the bat will stay put. GET FIGURINE. E (Shaft Room). PUT TORCH
AND SCREWDRIVER IN BASKET. You're about to enter a room containing a lot of
coal gas, and if you're carrying anything with open flames, you'll get blown to
bits. N. TURN ON LANTERN. D (Gas Room). GET BRACELET. Save before going E.
You're now in a "non-descript part of a coal mine"...yep, you guessed it,
another maze! NE. SE. SW. D. You should be at the Ladder Top. If
not...well, you know what to do. D. S. GET COAL. N. U. You have to get
back to the Gas Room now, and the path is *not* the same as the one you
originally took! "Standard level" my eye...N. E. S. N. Gas Room, yay. U.
S. PUT COAL IN BASKET. LOWER BASKET. As you've probably guessed by now, that
shaft leads somewhere important, and now you're going to go there. Go all the
way back to the Ladder Bottom, then W. DROP ALL. You must be completely
unburdened to fit through the passageway. Oh, and *don't* turn off the
lantern! W. You're now at the bottom of the shaft...which is dark, which is
the other reason you had to put the torch in the basket. GET TORCH AND COAL
AND SCREWDRIVER (GET ALL doesn't work because they're inside another object).
S. Bet you were wondering why you made that extra trip just to put the coal in
the basket. OPEN LID. PUT COAL IN MACHINE. CLOSE LID. TURN SWITCH WITH
SCREWDRIVER. OPEN LID. GET DIAMOND. A lot of work, but the payoff was worth
it, no? DROP SCREWDRIVER. N. PUT DIAMOND AND TORCH IN BASKET. RAISE BASKET.
E. GET ALL EXCEPT TIMBER (it's useless). Return to the Gas Room for the last
time. U. S. GET DIAMOND AND TORCH. DROP LANTERN. With the thief dead and
the Gas Room no longer a threat, you can use the torch without fear for the
rest of the game. W. S. E. S (Slide Room). D. Remember that ramp you saw
in the Cellar? Well, guess where you are now. U. PUT ALL TREASURES EXCEPT
TORCH IN CASE. Wonderful, you're halfway there and you've already done all the
hard stuff. It's nothing but smooth sailing the rest of the way. D. N. E.
E (Round Room). E. This is the Loud Room, which is pretty weird; anything you
enter (including LOOK or INVENTORY) will do nothing but cause an echo. That
should be a hint...SAY "ECHO". The room will quiet down, and the platinum bar
is now free for the taking. GET BAR. W. W. N. NE. Back to the reservoir,
which is now drained. N. So there *was* something hidden under all that
water! GET TRUNK. N. N. GET TRIDENT. You've just hit your weight limit, so
leave the air pump for now. S. S. S. SW. SW (East/West Passage) and back
to the Living Room. PUT ALL TREASURES EXCEPT TORCH IN CASE. Time now for a
return trip to the Temple. D. N. E. E. SE. E. D. D. This time go E to
the Egyptian Room. GET COFFIN. OPEN COFFIN. GET SCEPTRE. Now, instead of
trudging all the way back to the Living Room, go W and S to the Altar and PRAY.
This instantly zips you to a clearing in the forest! Which happens to be near
where you want to go next. E. E. S. E (Top of Canyon). D. D. N (End of
Rainbow). WAVE SCEPTRE. Hot dang, one becomes three again! GET POT. You've
also turned the rainbow into a bridge, which you'll need pretty soon. You're
weighed down again, so it's time for another return trip. SW. U. U (Top of
Canyon). W. W. E to the now-familiar Forest Path, and back to the Living
Room. It's very easy to get lost in the forest, which is why you should follow
these steps exactly. Thankfully, there are no dangers here, so if you do get
lost, just keep wandering until you find a familiar landmark. Again, PUT ALL
TREASURES EXCEPT TORCH IN CASE. Almost done! Return to Reservoir South (you
know the way by now!). N. N. GET PUMP. S. S. E. D. Leave the "folded
pile of plastic" where it is and INFLATE PLASTIC WITH PUMP. Not surprisingly,
it's a boat. DROP PUMP (or not...it really doesn't matter at this point in the
game). ENTER BOAT. LAUNCH. Kick back, relax, and wait for the current carry
you downstream. Ignore the first landing; it just leads back to the Loud Room.
Keep waiting until the buoy shows up, then take it. OPEN BUOY. Looks like it
wasn't just a warning marker after all. Assume nothing in the GUE! By now
you're at the last landing area, and the water's become very treacherous. LAND
or E. You can also land at the second landing area (to the east) before
opening the buoy, but you *must* land by the third landing area or you'll
plummet over a waterfall to your death. GET OUT. GET EMERALD. DROP BUOY. If
you're at the third landing area, go N to the second landing. GET SHOVEL. NE.
DIG SAND WITH SHOVEL four times to find the buried scarab. GET SCARAB. SW.
DROP SHOVEL. S. S (Aragain Falls). Go W twice, crossing the rainbow bridge
to the End of Rainbow, and go all the way back to the Living Room. PUT ALL
TREASURES IN CASE. What's this, counsel from a benevolent deity? Or maybe the
mysterious person who locked the trapdoor? Whoever it's from, follow it. L.
Hey, that parchment wasn't there before! L AT MAP. Southwest, huh? Return to
the west of the house, the place where...yes...it all began. And there it is.
SW. Save your game if you like, then go W into the barrow.
Well done, Master Adventurer! You've slain the villainous thief, uncovered
numerous long-forgotten secrets, and recovered all the treasures of the first
part of the GUE. But your journey has just begun, and a whole new set of
tricks and twists, as well as a new enemy, lie ahead.
The adventure continues in (what else?) Zork II.
=============================================================================
END NOTES -
I would like to thank GameFAQs for being so kind as to put up my walkthroughs.
I know text adventures aren't exactly en vogue right now, but I *also* know
that there are plenty of gamers out there who grew up on them and were sad to
see them leave the mainstream. At GameFAQs, there is no such thing as dead,
obsolete, or out of date; without them, I would not have even considered
writing walkthroughs in the first place.
Zork is a, well-written, well-programmed, thoroughly entertaining trilogy, and
it's unfortunate that I'm only now able to appreciate it for what it is. I
have Gaming Depot to thank for having the chance to play these classics again
and the Infocom Documentation Project for reprinting the original instructions.
Abandonware is a wonderful development in computer gaming, one which I
wholeheartedly endorse.
My website is home.hawaii.rr.com/dkwff.
