<!--
	Title: Journey: Infocom's first "role-play chronicle"
	Author: Shay Addams
	Source: Questbusters, v6(6)
	Date: June 1989
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

What's a "role-play chronicle," you ask? When I saw this label on the package, so
did I. It took a few days on the road to find out: it's *like* role-playing, for your
character leads a party of adventurers on a mighty quest, but emphasizes the story—courtesy
of a treasure trove of prose penned by Marc Blank—over the usual focus on hit points,
skills and combat. Another wrinkle lies in an abundance of alternative conclusions.

<figure class="float-right">
<img src="/public/img/articles/questbusters-journey-review/journey-screen-shot.jpg" alt="Journey screen shot">
<figcaption class="bold center">Mac II version</figcaption>
</figure>

Your party consists of Praxis the Wizard, a physician named Escher and the leader, a
carpenter called Bergon. Your character is Tag (who may be renamed), a mere apprentice food
merchant through whose journal this tale unfolds.

There's no character generator, for there are no attribute or skill points, no experience
points—in fact, there are no points of any kind, not even for solving
puzzles. (Certain characters do possess exclusive skills, however, that come into
play in pertinent situations.)

From the town of Lavos, your party strikes out to find Astrix (at least my first
party struck out!). According to the story, Astrix is the last wizard in the land—an
interesting situation, since Praxis is also a wizard. (A call to Blank revealed that
Astrix is the last of the "true wizards," hundreds of years older than Praxis, a descendant
of this clan.) But only Astrix can tell you how to to halt the five-year series
of plagues, disease and famine caused by the Dread Lord (who, luckily, didn't know
the spells that would cause holes in the ozone layer or devastating oil spills.)

## *The Mythology*

When you manage to find Astrix in his tower atop Sunrise Mountain, he tells the
story of the Seven Stones. Created long ago, they contain the "very strength and
essence of our world." The elves, dwarves, nymphs and wizards were each
entrusted with one of The Four. To stop the Dread Lord, you must first reunite the
Four.

After finding three of the Four (it turns out Astrix already has the Firestone,
which I imagine must be shaped like a radial tire), you visit Astrix again for the
next mission—to find the Two—much the way you return to a wizard in many RPGs
to learn of your next quest This makes it a three-stage game, one whose puzzles
grow increasingly more difficult After getting your hands on The Two, you'll finally
go after The One. (Rumors say another stone was dropped from the game because it
would have logically been called The Zero, but Infocom already had a game called
*Zork Zero*.)

Other characters will offer to join your group. Just outside Lavos, I let Minar
enlist, and his knowledge of the area allowed my party to avoid a bandit attack that had
killed a member of my original group. Sometimes these NPCs get killed or lost,
and you can't always be sure whether that's good or bad. If you don't lose Minar,
there's no room for Hurth to come aboard, and without this Dwarf you'll
have a tough time reading the runes that mark hidden rooms and other surprises.

As you reach specific places or meet the right people, the option to "Tell Story"
or "Tell Legend" becomes available to some characters. Hurth the Dwarf, for instance,
reveals the background of the four Dwarf Gates leading to various parts of
the outer world: Bern i-Lav to the plain of Lavos, another to the forest
of Elves, and a third to the mountains. The fourth gateway is the mysterious one through
which the Dwarves hope to someday depart for their home world.
Other legends and tales cover Orcs, Elves, the Sun Towers and various elements of
this land's intriguing mythos.

Unlike *Zork Zero*, there is no parser for entering commands. Instead, you click on
menu choices in several boxes along the bottom of the screen. Some commands
apply to the game, others to the party, and yet others to individuals. As you enter
new rooms or situations, the menu options may change to reflect the capabilities of
party members. I used to refer to this as "floating menus," but Michael Berlyn
(who did *Oo-topos* and *Tass Times*) recently told me the appropriate term is
"context-sensitive button interface" (which explains why he's writing adventure
games and I'm writing *about* them). This implementation of such an increasingly
common interface functions smoother than many I've used.

## *The Essence of Magic*

Spellcasting reminded me of the *Ultima* magic system, for it involves mixing
the four essences of air, fire, earth and water in different combinations to cast
flare, glow, blaze, lightning, mud, elevation, tremor, rain and wind. As the story
progresses, you'll discover new reagents that arm Praxis with more spells. Only the
spells for which you have the necessary essences will appear in the "magic" menu
when you punch "cast" on Praxis' menu. The essences are mixed automatically if
you have enough of the right ones.

One nice touch is that if combat ends before a selected spell is cast, it won't be
wasted, which happens with most combat/magic systems. However, you can't
rely on magic to get out of every predicament. Praxis, after you tell him to cast a
spell, may be prevented from doing so if Bergon deems it a poor move at that stage.

The drawback to a button interface, as always, is the way it restricts your freedom
to manipulate objects. You can't directly "get" or "use" things in your
inventory. If you choose the proper option and possess the right item
(such as a rope) in the proper situation, the text describes how you then use that
item. You don't have to eat or sleep, either, for these are handled similarly.
Combat is usually a matter of choosing a tactic (flank, etc.) and maybe a spell, then
jabbing the "combat" option.

## *Puzzled Again...*

Most puzzles take the form of traditional text adventure logic problems, such
as the two-step solution to crossing a chasm, which involves casting two spells
in the correct order. This is to be expected from Blank (one of the Founding Zork-Masters
of the Known and Yet to be Mapped Universe). Your choice of lying
or telling the truth to people may also affect the course of future events.

In some cases, you get no second chances. Upon finding the rune-marked
entrance to a prison, you'll see the "enter" option in the first menu. But "proceed"
past this point, then go "back" to that location, and the option to enter the
prison has vanished. So whenever new menu options, such as "Parley" or
"Get Advice" appear, or when "Examine" is an option for more than one character,
always save the game before examining everything and exploring
those new options. Most people should like the alternative solutions that are
available for some puzzles.

The first two "mazes" are rather simple. You can figure out how to get to
Astrix's tower by looking at a map bought in Lavos. (A magic spell may illuminate
this puzzle's solution for some.) But the maze inside the cave near the
lake is more ingenious. With each step, you get the "you're lost in a winding passage"
type of message always associated with mazes in text games like *Zork*. In a
take-off on the way those were best solved—by dropping a series of objects
to determine when you've entered the same location again—Blank frees you
from the maze the instant you drop something.

## *Dozens of No-death Endings*

The manual says there are "virtually no dead-ends...any action you take advances
the story toward one of its many endings," only one of which is deemed
best. I asked Blank about this, and even he couldn't determine the exact number
of alternative endings: "...there are dozens of them. The game can end at certain
points if you haven't got certain things (such as stones), or if you lose too many
party members...there are very few places where you get killed."

So far none of the endings have led to my character's death (though Astrix
flipped out once and jumped from the tower). In a typical adventure, most
"alternative conclusions" turn out to be nothing but different ways to die. In Journey,
however, an unsuccessful ending might see the group give up and return to
its starting point, upon which you read the final entry in the journal.

Rather than offer on-line clues as in some Infocom games, *Journey* waits till
the end to present you with a list of "Musings" related to various places you
went astray. On my first outing, I was unable to find Minar after he disappeared in
the lake. When my party finally failed in its mission, one of the Musings suggested
that I should have searched the lake area more thoroughly, which led to Minar's
rescue. Musings usually just point you in the right direction rather than provide
outright answers, and do so in a style that makes them part of the story instead of
an intrusion. Another plus: Musings are available only for puzzles you failed to
solve, so you can't race through all the clues and spoil the game for yourself, a
drawback to other on-line clue schemes.

<div class="article-sidebar-box float-right-half" style="border: 3px solid;">
<h2 style="font-weight: normal; font-family: var(--article-sans), sans-serif; margin-top: 0;">Marc Blank on the "Role-Play Chronicle"</h2>

"The name wasn't mine, it came from Infocom's marketing department. I wanted to
call it 'role-playing fiction.' They came back with Role-Play Chronicle, and I said,
'What does that mean?" They said, Well, it's like a chronicle,' and I said, 'Yeah, it
sort of is, because it's told in the past tense.' So they just sort of invented a phrase—it's
not my favorite, either, but it's passable, and I don't think *Journey* will stand or
fall on what category you put it in. There are a lot of games that are called this type
or that, but what really matters is what people think of them.<br>
"In a way I look at *Journey* as I did at *Deadline*, in that it's an experiment. Until
*Deadline*, most games were fantasies like *Zork* and *Wizard and the Princess*. We
tried to go into a different genre with *Deadline*. It's sort of the same thing with
*Journey*, because we've learned a lot about interactive storytelling, but it's been sort
of clunky and not directed. I thought it would be interesting to design a story in
which you really couldn't get stuck...the choices you have to make are more tied
into the story than into the minutia of manipulating objects. That really led to the
whole style of telling the story and the interface: all that came out of the desire to
try something like that."

</div>

## *A Computer Art Gallery*

The graphics perfectly complement Blank's eloquent descriptions of the local
myths and monsters. You don't see a new one in every location, but there are over
120 unique illustrations. Done by Donald Langosey (who also illustrated *Shogun*),
they represent some of the few game graphics that truly qualify as computer
art. The dungeon scenes are particularly striking, an example of how a talented
artist can enhance the atmosphere conjured up by imaginative prose. Unfortunately,
there are no sound effects or music, even during the title screen.

An unlimited number of games can be saved, and you can name them. A handy
window facilitates saving and restoring by allowing you to scroll through a list of
saves and click one to open it. It supports a second drive or hard disk and a printer
(for the text, as in Infocom's all-text games). The packaging includes a foldout,
color map, and you even get a little velvet bag with a genuine quartz crystal
(Infocom's first New Age trinket).

The Amiga reference card says gamers with more than 512K can change the
amount of free memory, which may be necessary if running the game while multi-tasking
among it and other programs; otherwise, it might hang up, or access the
disk more often.<br>
**Conclusions:** I started to call this this the most literate role-playing game yet,
but still feel funny calling it a role-playing game—it feels more like an illustrated
text adventure with a button interface, one with only minimal role-playing
aspects. Even so, Journey plays like a page out of Tolkien's *Lord of the Rings*
(actually, with "around 70,000 words" of text, it's really more like several chapters).
I was fascinated with the quirks and history of the Elves, Dwarves and other
inhabitants of this fantasy land. Hardcore Orc-slayers may find the pace a bit
slow, but it's not really *slow*—*Journey* just has a different rhythm than a typical
RPG or adventure. Adventurers seeking a fantasy land with a convincing mythos
and an absorbing story will find the end of the rainbow in *Journey*. Blank's contribution
to adventure gaming, which he describes as "a true melding of the two
game types, interactive fiction and role-playing," marks another bold move for
Infocom, introducing a new style of illustrated adventuring that I prefer over *Zork
Zero*. And I found it more satisfying than *Beyond Zork*, which attempted to
combine elements of role-playing with the text adventure. It delivers equally engrossing
entertaining, and when playing *Journey* I felt more like I was participating
in a real story. (The sequel, we hear, will be called *Sentimental Journey*.)

<hr style="border-top: 6px double;">

**Skill Level:** Advanced<br>
**Protection:** In Packaging<br>
**Price:** $49.95<br>
**Company:** Infocom/Activision