He promptly pulled out 80 Finnish marks, and the two exchanged money for goods, completing another transaction.
"Dude, you definitely won't regret this."
" Backpack," Xiaoxiao chuckled, deftly stuffing the money into her purse before slinging her backpack back over her shoulder. "Let's go, the others are waiting to buy the tickets."
With these two masterpieces for Christmas, I wonder how many transactions will take place today.
Linus weighed the box in his hand and silently sat back down at the table.
"The developer—it really is Infocom."
He flipped the card case over to the back and saw the words "[GAMENOVAInfocom]".
Linus was surprisingly unmoved by Gamenova, a game company that dominated North America and even wielded considerable influence in Europe.
After all, I don't play games myself. I know NovaEngine is very useful and Gamenova is a good software company, and that's enough for me.
But this game has slightly changed his opinion of Gamenova.
It's already 1987, or even late 1987.
The era of wordplay is long gone.
It doesn't make sense for a major corporation to choose this time to develop a sequel for a flop game that's already outdated.
Especially now, during the most important Christmas season, every inch of land is incredibly valuable.
"Um?"
As soon as Linus opened the box, he noticed something was wrong.
There's even a small enhancement chip included.
The SOJ packaged metal plate leads can be easily connected to the host computer by simply inserting it into the pre-installed chip socket on the NovaXeno chip.
"A super large number coprocessor capable of processing ±922 quadrillion numbers?!"
He admitted that his cerebellum shrank slightly when he saw that long string of numbers that he couldn't count at a glance.
What the hell is this thing?
Where did this cutting-edge technology come from?
Linus quickly picked up the chip and carefully examined the inscription on it.
"A 32-bit wide 16-bit processor----"
That's strange, how did this thing achieve this level of performance?
But besides that, there was something else that puzzled him even more.
What amazing game needs such a large number of numbers?
The fact that this thing is specially packaged inside the card case and sold as a bundle definitely proves that it's a package deal with the game.
But Linus had played Zork and knew very well that it was a text-based Adventure game.
It's just an RPG at best.
Although it supports many instructions and offers a good degree of freedom, it has virtually nothing to do with large numbers.
This curiosity, ironically, gave him the motivation to actually try it out.
Although Linus doesn't play games, he still owns a NovaXeno just to tinker with the NovaEngine.
"Could it be that Gamenova has transformed this IP into a modern graphical RPG?"
If that's the case, it would actually be a disadvantage for Linus.
The beauty of Zork lies in its unique hardcore feel.
With the support of highly optimized complex instructions, Linus can tell the PC actions in almost natural language.
It would be a real shame if the game were to become a modern RPG like this.
There are just too many RPGs lately. While the genre is popular, it's no longer a particularly innovative technological achievement.
I grabbed the handle, loaded the disc, and turned it on.
The first step, naturally, is the standard name-choosing process.
May I ask your name?
[Name here pls----]
[Press A to begin your journey]
The design is simple, not unlike classic works from the 8-bit era.
Both are text boxes that allow players to freely enter their IDs.
Linus was slightly taken aback.
At such a high price, he had originally thought he would see the legendary character creation system from Gamenova.
What happened to the promise of being able to freely change clothes, hairstyles, and skin tones in the new game?
Why is there only a naming stage?
He entered [Linus] in the ID field and then pressed the confirm button to enter the game.
He initially thought the game was just a bit rudimentary at the beginning, but what followed left him completely dumbfounded.
The screen is divided into two parts: a left-hand tab navigation bar and the right-hand main content.
Aside from a dense array of tabs and a [Task - Survival Task 1] prompting him to chop wood, there was absolutely nothing else.
It's so simple it's almost too simplistic.
"A 16-bit next-generation game console plus a dedicated coprocessor—and this is what they developed?"
Linus frowned slightly.
Is that correct?
The company that created such amazing software as NovaEngine has actually made a word game? Shouldn't it at least be 2D?
Yes, in Linus's view, this game is undoubtedly a word game.
No matter how many well-designed icons it uses, or how flat, clean, or high-end its visual style is, it's all the same.
Because its gameplay is driven by text, not visuals.
To put it bluntly, its essence is not much different from "Zork".
If Zork is a wooden stick, then this game is the Legend, dazzling Ecalibur stick, a symbol of ecstasy and despair.
The exterior has changed, but the core remains the same.
"How can they be so respectful of the original work in a place like this?"
Linus scratched his head. In a way, this could be considered a good thing.
This at least proves that "Zork" is still "Zork," and that GAMENOVA didn't simply reskin it and completely distort it just to shock the world.
After glancing at it for a moment, Linus suddenly realized that he had absolutely no idea how to play the game.
In terms of gameplay, it's no longer the same game as the one I was familiar with, "Zork".
The DOS command line window is gone, and he can no longer directly enter commands to do things as he used to.
Following the prompts, Linus reluctantly selected the [Lumberjacking] tab and chose a tree.
Loading successful.
There is nothing else.
Linus Torvalds never dreamed that a next-generation Christmas blockbuster on a 16-bit machine would be played like this.
He doesn't need to do anything.
With just a click, the tree tab started automatically counting down and began cutting down trees.
It even automatically starts a second round after the first round, requiring no additional action from the user.
If you don't even need to play, can this still be called a video game?
In short, I followed the instructions and went through the beginner's tutorial.
Linus's expression grew increasingly serious as the project progressed.
He suddenly realized that the game was not quite what he had imagined.
It's frighteningly complex!
It possesses a highly sophisticated RPG combat system.
Based on the player's skill level, food, equipment, and various panel attributes, a fully automatic battle can be waged against the enemy.
The addition, subtraction, multiplication, and calculation of various data left him dizzy and even a little unable to keep up.
There's even more to explore in terms of gameplay systems.
To make even the most ordinary, tattered bow and arrow, he would need to start from the arrowhead, shaft, and fletching, and also make a short bow.
All of this requires him to obtain resources through two separate tabs: mining and logging.