Zork II
Encyclopedia
Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz is an interactive fiction
computer game published by Infocom
in 1981. It was written by Marc Blank
, Dave Lebling
, Bruce Daniels
and Tim Anderson
. It was the second game in the popular Zork
trilogy and was released for a wide range of computer systems. It begins where Zork I
left off and leads into Zork III
. It is Infocom's second game.
armed only with the trusty brass lantern and sword of elvish antiquity. The purpose of the game is not initially clear.
The Wizard of Frobozz is soon introduced. The wizard was once a respected enchanter, but when his powers began to fade he was exiled by Dimwit Flathead. Now bordering on senility, the wizard is still a force to be reckoned with. Your goal, as you venture into the wizard's realm, is to avoid his capricious tricks and learn to control his magic.
Like its predecessor, Zork II is essentially a treasure hunt. Unlike the previous game, the ten treasures are tied together by a crude plot. Finding the treasures does not end the game, nor are all the treasures needed to finish the game. Instead, the adventurer must figure out a way to use the treasures in order to reach the game's finale.
The seven special spells are:
Interactive fiction
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
computer game published by Infocom
Infocom
Infocom was a software company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced one notable business application, a relational database called Cornerstone....
in 1981. It was written by Marc Blank
Marc Blank
Marc Blank is an American game developer and software engineer. He is best known as part of the team that created one of the first hit text adventure computer games, Zork....
, Dave Lebling
Dave Lebling
P. David Lebling is an interactive fiction game designer and programmer who has worked at various companies, including Infocom and Avid....
, Bruce Daniels
Bruce Daniels
Dr. Bruce Daniels is an American computer programmer and business executive who has worked for Hewlett Packard, Apple Computer, Oracle, Borland, Sun Microsystems and his own start-up Singular Software, which created Mac database management software...
and Tim Anderson
Tim Anderson (Zork)
Tim Anderson is a computer programmer who helped create the adventure game Zork, one of the first works of interactive fiction and an early descendant of ADVENT . The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 in the MDL programming language on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Anderson, Marc Blank,...
. It was the second game in the popular Zork
Zork
Zork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...
trilogy and was released for a wide range of computer systems. It begins where Zork I
Zork I
Zork: The Great Underground Empire - Part I, later known as Zork I, is an interactive fiction computer game written by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, Bruce Daniels and Tim Anderson and published by Infocom in 1980. It was the first game in the popular Zork trilogy and was released for a wide range of...
left off and leads into Zork III
Zork III
Zork III: The Dungeon Master is an interactive fiction computer game written by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, Bruce Daniels and Tim Anderson and published by Infocom in 1982. It was the third game in the popular Zork trilogy and was released for a wide range of computer systems...
. It is Infocom's second game.
Plot
The player begins in the Barrow from Zork IZork I
Zork: The Great Underground Empire - Part I, later known as Zork I, is an interactive fiction computer game written by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, Bruce Daniels and Tim Anderson and published by Infocom in 1980. It was the first game in the popular Zork trilogy and was released for a wide range of...
armed only with the trusty brass lantern and sword of elvish antiquity. The purpose of the game is not initially clear.
The Wizard of Frobozz is soon introduced. The wizard was once a respected enchanter, but when his powers began to fade he was exiled by Dimwit Flathead. Now bordering on senility, the wizard is still a force to be reckoned with. Your goal, as you venture into the wizard's realm, is to avoid his capricious tricks and learn to control his magic.
Like its predecessor, Zork II is essentially a treasure hunt. Unlike the previous game, the ten treasures are tied together by a crude plot. Finding the treasures does not end the game, nor are all the treasures needed to finish the game. Instead, the adventurer must figure out a way to use the treasures in order to reach the game's finale.
Spells
12 of the spells are cast commonly throughout the game, the other seven are only cast by the wizard in special circumstances. The twelve common spells are:- FALL - causes the target to stumble and fall, sometimes fatally
- FANTASIZE - causes the target to hallucinate
- FEAR - causes the target to become afraid of the caster
- FEEBLE - temporarily reduces the target's carrying capacity
- FENCE - prevents the target from going anywhere
- FERMENT - makes the target drunk, movement becomes random
- FIERCE - causes the target to become aggressive, may cause the sword to glow red
- FILCH - causes the target to be moved to the caster's inventory
- FIREPROOF - causes the target to become immune to fire
- FLOAT - causes the target to levitate
- FREEZE - paralyzes the target, preventing any action but waiting
- FUMBLE - causes the target to drop what it is holding
The seven special spells are:
- FLUORESCE - causes the target to emit light; cast on the adventurer by the wizard if the lamp runs out of power and the adventurer is in the dark (if the player has scored over 200 points).
- FRY - destroys the target (cast on the adventurer by the wizard if the player attempts to attack the princess)
- FUDGE - produces the smell of chocolate if cast by the player, transforms the player into a fudge statue if cast by the wizard. Cast by the wizard (fruitlessly) if the player requests the demon to "give me the wand"
- FREE - frees a captive target; used by the demon on himself if the player poorly phrases the request for the wizard's wand
- FROBIZZ, FROBOZZLE, FROBNOID - cast by the wizard near the game's end in an unsuccessful attempt to control the demon (if player requests the demon to kill the wizard)
Treasures
Ten treasures need to be collected in order to complete the game. Once collected, the treasures are given to a demon who will complete a single task in return. If all ten treasures cannot be recovered (for whatever reason), the demon will accept the sword itself in place of one of the treasures. The sword can also be used as payment to one of the gnomes (see below) if the player finds himself stuck in either the bank or the volcano.Glitches
[Bug in certain versions when giving an unintelligible command.] "I can't see the Gnome of Zurich anywhere!"External links
- View Zork II packaging and Play Zork II online at the Gallery of Zork.
- Zork II information and overview
- Scans of the Zork II package, documentation and feelies
- Infocom-if.org's entry for Zork II
- The Infocom Bugs List entry for Zork II
- The Dot Eaters page featuring a history of the Zork games and Infocom
- Play Zork II online at iFiction.org