2/7/17 at home, 1 hour session. I am beginning to wonder if I am cut out for this game at all. After my encounter with the thief I have spent the majority of my time wandering through the passages randomly, looking for treasure to loot. I forgot to keep up my map and got hopelessly lost for a while, but somehow found my way out of the cave and to the front of the house again. I went west of the troll room, but finding a labyrinth I decided to leave that as a last resort. I wanted to make sure to explore absolutely everything before getting lost in there. This plan didn’t seem to be working for me though. After this hour of fruitless wandering, I decided to get off and enter the labyrinth next time. This session has again brought forth the thought that this game just doesn’t have enough cues and markers to drive a character in the direction that they should go to push the narrative forward. I spent at least fifteen minutes puzzling over the Gate to Hades, before deciding that I must need something that I’d find later for it. Zork just doesn’t seem all that user friendly when it comes to narrative direction. As a dungeon simulator, it is great fun, and I will keep playing gleefully, but I am pretty convinced that this game shouldn’t be played with the expectation of a satisfying narrative. Also I wonder if this game has any end to it. I know that as far as story goes, I’m hardly into it at all, but it seems to me that this type of game wouldn’t have an “ending” in conventional terms. The manual implied that my only goal in the game is to find treasure. A worthy goal, but certainly not all that interesting as far as stories go. Hopefully more happens next time.