IF Comp 2009: Earl Gry

Comp entry pages say “Earl Grey” but it distinctly says “Earl Gry” at the top of my interpreter.

I don’t know if I’m just not good at puzzles, or if the puzzles in this game are silly and arbitrary. I flailed around for a long time trying to solve it myself. I never would’ve solved within two hours without the walkthrough.  The whole bit about the cluster/luster of rocks is ridiculous.

If anyone solved this without the walkthrough I’d like to know how they did it and how long it took.  Because the comp rules are two hours of play, I wanted to see the whole game.

The story is nice. It has a cute symmetry to it, and the text is fairly enjoyable. Some puzzles, like the pauper/paper are understandable enough, but I wasted a lot of time walking back and forth between the ogreling and the pauper before I understood that just talking to them enough and in the proper order was all I needed to do to move forward from that part.

I like that the game gives you easy second chances if you die without saving.

I really don’t have any idea how to score it.