Goblins is an odd little text adventure that seems like a cross between a pick your path to adventure scenario and a slot machine.
When the game first begins you are asked if you want to rescue a prince or a princess.
Once you make your decision you are then instructed that in order to reach the princess you must have the following requirements met: a magic sword, a luck score of 75 or more and at least 15 victories.
You then embark on your quest and it plays like a choose your own adventure path scenario.
Above is a sample of the choices presented before you with each screen. Your choice may lead you to another location or it may lead you into combat. Combat is much like pulling the lever on a slot machine. It is very random and you are at the whim of hidden mechanics as you await the random outcome. If you lose in battle it can drastically lower your luck points or you can find yourself deceased and must begin again.
The screen is split into two parts. The top part of the screen keeps track of your statistics. Remember that in order to rescue the princess your luck score has to be higher than 75. Your luck increases when you avoid a random misfortune or receive a benefit or boon. There are a number calamities that can befall you. The elements such as rain, cold, heat, floods, earthquakes, etc. can affect your luck. Your boat can spring a leak and force you to swim ashore as another example. You can discover an item and find yourself cursed which not only affects your statistics or physical form but also lowers your luck score as well.
The combat scenarios which you find yourself in seem tongue and cheek rather than dramatic (you face 1000 orcs and can emerge victorious). It is imperative that you find the magic sword or many of the combats are not going to go your way.
Once you do finally have more than 75 luck points and 15 victories a new branching path will eventually appear. It will take approximately 45 minutes to an hour to reach the necessary requirements.
The rescue is a bit of a let down as once again the pervasive humor in the game rears its ugly head again.
Goblins is a strange little game that takes approximately an hour to play. It is a bit different from anything else that I’ve encountered so far in the 1979 play list but I don’t think I would recommend it unless you’re a gaming historian making your way through a list or set or requirements like myself.
This sounds quite a lot like the sort of game someone would write for a programmable calculator back when I was in High School in the mid ’90s.
It wouldn’t surprise me Ross. In 1979 a TRS-80 had 48 kb of memory compared to the 160kb Rom/24kb ram that the lowest graphing calculators had in the 90s. I’ve seen some pretty impressive little programs written on a programmable calculator. Thanks for stopping by and commenting