Quote Originally Posted by Jinx View Post
treat or trick
Trick or Treat?

Jinx stands before the door. Hesitating no more, she boldly declares her intentions and opens the door herself. The gentleman acquiesces and allows you to enter a medium-sized waiting room. It is decorated in a stately manner, with lush carpets and bold red floor curtains that flow towards the ground like a waterfall. Pieces of furniture - cupboards, drawers and boxes adorn the room around the sides, but the most absorbing feature was the door in the back wall. Naturally attracted to the door, you go to open it, but find it is locked. The door has a knob, and you try turning it every which way, to no effect. You kick the door, to no effect. You shoulder charge the door, but before long you must stop to catch your breath. Breathlessly, you confront the gentleman.

You appeared to have stumbled into a fetch quest, my honoured guest. You see, the way into the exhibition is through that door. I have the key, but I cannot enter without first obtaining twenty-five miniature candy apples. It is part of this obscure religion that I practice. Once you give me twenty-five candy apples, I will give you the door key. I would help you search, but I am a humble quest-giver and have no autonomy.

Irritated that entry into the exhibition was delayed by a trivial, meaningless task, you give the gentleman a look and begin to exit the waiting room, only to find the door locked.

Ah, yes, that door is now closed. I do hope it doesn't impede your progress.

Further annoyed by his smarmy tone, you resist the urge to punch him (and therefore fail the quest) and begin searching the room. There was an incredible array of furniture. You spent much time rummaging through drawers, checking every nook and cranny. The candy apples were wrapped - thank goodness - saving your hands from the sticky toffee. You wonder why the gentleman even needs candy apples, or wonder why he hid them in the drawers. You conclude that the man is a deranged lunatic, and continue searching. Mercifully, finding them is an easy task. But try as you might, you can't seem to find the last one. You keep checking and rechecking and re-rechecking to no effect. Frantically, you look back to the gentleman, who was still standing in the same place as before. He responds, as if intimately aware of your intentions.

Oh, you can't seem to find all of them? What a pity. But come to think of it, I do believe there was one miniature candle apple past the locked door here. He points to the door you walked through earlier. Yes, I'm almost positive. But that door closed once we entered this room.

Your face falls.

You thought the fetch quest was part of the exhibition, right? Oh no, what I was in fact showing you was a case of an unwinnable game. This particular gaming horror was rife among early adventure games. Games like King's Quest, Sonic, even Metroid can be made unwinnable, be it through glitch, bug or design. Thankfully, such fatal errors are becoming rarer and rarer, but they can still happen. Unfortunately for you, you and I appear to have been swallowed up by one.