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16 Years since MOE with the Announcement of KQ9 - Yet Roberta and Ken is there

Started by daventry, October 29, 2014, 09:25:10 AM

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How would you feel IF Roberta and or Ken Williams being Involved with KQ9

I would Freak Out if they Help make KQ9
5 (100%)
Their Old School, let New People take up the reigns
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 5

daventry

We've heard about Sierra making a comeback, but then a Company called http://blog.theoddgentlemen.com Announced a New KQ9 Project where Two People from the Past came to the Team who are None Other then Roberta and Ken Williams themselves. :suffer:

http://www.postudios.com/blog/forum/index.php?topic=14100.msg360519#msg360519

Why would they even be there when they said many years ago they are Done with Computer Gaming.

Sure there were Fan Games up to TSL in witch Roberta and Ken never continuously supported Phoenix Online by saying how each Chapter of TSL is better then the last or anything in that standard.

Now all of a sudden out of nowhere they are there seeing Images of KQ9 including a Very Old King Graham.

Does that mean they are interested in making KQ again, could they Help make KQ9 and would you like to see them behind the Throne of KQ9 so to speak.

stika

I think having the original creators working on it would always bring a touch of legitimacy to the project. I personally would love to see them working on it.

JDHJANUS

I would definitely love it, and I'm glad that they've been included in the process, but at the same time, I think it's exciting that they're passing the torch on, so to speak, to a new generation. I like to think of it in a similar vein to comic books. Obviously, when you have a series where a person like Stan Lee, who created so many memorable characters in the Marvel Universe, was a prominent name in it, you would definitely want him to be involved in future installments of the series. But at the same time, he has opened his creations to let other people interpret them and take them into entirely different directions than what he established, with sometimes amazing results.

Another comic book example is in Disney comics. Carl Barks was THE name for Disney Duck comics from the 1940's to the early 1970's, and he created a lot of names in that universe that are commonplace today. But then came along Don Rosa, who considered himself to be a protégé of Barks, and he took the Duck universe in a fantastic direction, while still paying homage to the works that Barks himself set up.

I see The Odd Gentlemen doing the same thing. I think they definitely have the right mindset behind it, and aren't trying to create some stupid game that has no real connection to the series whatsoever. But at the same time, it's comforting to know that they're trying to include Ken and Roberta in the creative process, so at least they can get some good feedback by the people who created the series.

Talk to you later!

JDHJANUS
Josh
Please tell me the answer. Is fate unchangeable? Even at his most powerless, man's existence is never without meaning. - Suikoden's Intro

GrahamRocks!

As much as I love TSL, I have to agree. TOG's KQ is probably gonna be up there for best canonical game next to 6. TSL and AGDI's remakes share my top spot of best fan games though.

Numbers

Quote from: GrahamRocks! on October 29, 2014, 03:59:18 PM
TOG's KQ is probably gonna be up there for best canonical game next to 6.

Somehow I doubt that. Current adventure games are a mess of glitches, bad graphics and extremely easy puzzles. I don't think the new King's Quest is going to be any different.
I have no mouth, and I must scream.

GrahamRocks!

Tales of Monkey Island. Cognition. Broken Age.

Those are all different. Yet different isn't bad. Just because a game is easy, doesn't mean it's bad. Just because the graphics aren't as good doesn't mean it's bad. You are so cynical, it's unhealthy. Does no game give you joy? Just to play and have fun?

Graphics shouldn't make or break a game for you. Being difficult doesn't equal a good game. And glitches are usually fixed with patches either officially or fan made.

Are you ever happy with anything?

Numbers

Tales of Monkey Island: weird-looking graphics, and from what I've seen, undoubtedly glitchy and easy.
Cognition: again, weird-looking graphics, mixed reception (especially the final episode) and, while harder than Tales, is still nowhere near as hard as old-school adventure games.
Broken Age: never even heard of it.

I'm sorry, but there is much more bad than good in the current adventure game industry. You've named only three exceptions to the rule, and I still have problems with two of them.

Graphics are, contrary to what you might believe, extremely important, and there are many games that looked promising at first, but were ruined by awful graphics that either tried and failed to be photo-realistic (any Grand Theft Auto game, but especially 5), or were drawn in a style that just plain hurts your eyes (the Sly Cooper games).

Difficulty is also an important factor. No one likes games that can be beaten in two hours (Telltale's Jurassic Park episodes, for instance). Games like the Command and Conquer series, most of the Final Fantasy series, and the Dark Souls series have one thing that most games lack: non-artificial longevity. Unlike short, easy games, you definitely get what you pay for, and that's a challenge. And when you beat the games, you feel like you've earned it.

The problem with arguing that glitches get fixed with patches falls short when one takes into consideration that if the developers did their jobs correctly, there shouldn't have been glitches to patch in the first place. Batman: Arkham Asylum, one of the most complex and intricately designed games ever made, had almost no bugs upon release, and the ones that are present aren't game-breaking.

And to answer your last question...


I have no mouth, and I must scream.

GrahamRocks!

Hmph! >:(

I'm just sayin', Numbers, here is everybody excited and optimistic (cautiously or not) about this game... and then you come along and are being all negative about it.

Not everyone thinks like you. Some people WANT easy games. Imagine if you will, you come home from a rough day. Would you rather play an easy, relaxing game or would you rather play a nut bustingly hard game, which could stress and annoy you even more.

Numbers

Hard games are how I unwind from stress. And the hardest game in the world is much easier than real life ever is.
I have no mouth, and I must scream.

stika

I don't think we'll ever truly see a return to Sierra-like hard games. For better or worse the market just doesn't appreciate that sort of difficulty. Even the 20th Anniversary Edition of Gabriel Knight received a bit of flack for its old-school puzzles despite having a non-intrusive hint system.

JDHJANUS

I agree with Stika and GrahamRocks. Although old-school difficulty can be pretty fun, with a few indie exceptions, adventure games (and gaming as a whole, honestly) have been moving in a progressively easier direction in the past 15 years. If you look at early text adventure games, such as the "Adventure" game that inspired Roberta to start the King's Quest games, it is INSANELY hard. MUCH harder than King's Quest I. King's Quest VI or Sam and Max Hit the Road are significantly easier than King's Quest I or Maniac Mansion, and modern adventure games like Broken Age (which, since you haven't heard of it, is the game that Tim Schafer (former LucasArts game developer) Kickstarted back in 2012 that started the Adventure Game Revival Movement) and The Walking Dead are significantly easier than King's Quest VI or Sam and Max.

It's the same in other genres as well. Take first person shooters. Games like Halo and Call of Duty, while obviously graphically superior, are significantly easier than Wolfenstein 3D or the original Doom. Final Fantasy X is ridiculously easy when compared to the original Final Fantasy, as is Dragon Quest VIII compared to the original Dragon Quest. New Super Mario Bros U is easier than the original Super Mario Bros, etc.

Yes, the old-school games will probably always be popular with the generation that grew up on them. That's why stores such as GOG, the Playstation Network, and the Virtual Console have old school games to cater to us who grew up with the rise of video games. But it is an obvious trend across the board the 21st century gaming is significantly easier than the gaming of the 1980's or early 90's. I'm sure the new King's Quest will be no exception. TOG are going to be trying to create a fun game that pays homage to the series, yes, but they're also a company trying to make money, and as such, they want to try to reach the widest audience possible. The vast majority of the current generation of gamers don't have the patience to spend 2 weeks trying to figure out one simple puzzle. They'll lose interest and walk away.

Depending on your approach to gaming, it can be a bit disheartening to see the current trend. If you like more old-school difficulty in games, there are several indie development studios that have some more difficult style games. Quest for Infamy (published by Phoenix, and developed by the awesome Infamous Quests), for example, supposedly has a lot of old-school difficulty. I've also heard that J.U.L.I.A.: Among the Stars (a game created by CBE Software) also is a really fun but somewhat old-school difficult game. I'm sure there are a lot of others out there as well.

Talk to you later!!

JDHJANUS
Josh
Please tell me the answer. Is fate unchangeable? Even at his most powerless, man's existence is never without meaning. - Suikoden's Intro

GrahamRocks!

To be fair, Broken Age didn't come out until this year.

But if I may reiterate what I said to Josh:

I can remember my first adventure games I had were Carmen Sandiego and the Great Chase Through Time (which is apparently a remake of "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?") and Nancy Drew: The Secret of Shadow Ranch.

The former I never completed because I got stuck. The latter I completed... years later as I got stuck there at least twice.

I didn't like that. I don't LIKE being stuck on puzzles. I don't like hard puzzles because I don't like being stuck.

People complained that a few of TSL's puzzles were hard (won't say which because it'll spoil things for you), but I didn't find it all that bad. In particular, people hate the last couple puzzles of episode 4. But I didn't. Though I admit, I only knew the solutions due to a Let's Play of TSL, but I didn't mind. I think it was the music too that helped!

stika

I do know we've had people say that they love to be challenged so they actually wanted the puzzles in a lot of our games to be harder... much harder.   :P

snabbott

There are different kinds of "hard" puzzles.
There are the ones that are hard because they require careful thought. I like those.

Then there are the pointlessly hard puzzles:
-Hard because you have to be in the right place at the right time with no way of knowing what that is.
-Hard because they are illogical and require trying every inventory object on everything in the game until you randomly find the right solution (moldy cheese, anyone?)
-etc.

I don't like those so much.

Steve Abbott | Beta Tester | The Silver Lining

Numbers

I think KQ2+ completely nailed it and proved that old-school adventure games could not only be done today, but also better. There was only one really stupid puzzle in it (going to the grandmother's house during the night to get Wolfsbane when the house is completely out of the way of your current path and you would never know to go there on your first playthrough). And Space Quest Incinerations proves that you can forego doing remakes and instead do original stories based on older franchises and still knock it out of the park.
I have no mouth, and I must scream.

GrahamRocks!

Wolfsbane? When did we get that? I played KQ2+ and I never saw that in-game! The way you killed the lead werewolf was:

Getting the silver needle from the creature in the haystack after giving him the cloth which you get from the birdcage from Hagatha's cave.

Grab the reed by the lakeshore.

Dip the silver needle into the swamp water.

Combine the poisoned needle with the reed to make a peashooter (or do that before poisoning it).

FIRE!!

There's no wolfsbane in the game. Though speaking of that game, did anyone ever figure out what the stake/picket did?

Numbers

You go to the grandmother's house and get Wolfsbane (or whatever it's called) from under the pillow on her bed. When you get ambushed by the wolves just outside the church, you pour the Wolfsbane on yourself to scare off the wolves. You can kill them with your sword if you want, but you get no points for taking that route.
I have no mouth, and I must scream.

GrahamRocks!

*Narrows eyes* I don't recall EVER seeing that in-game. But fine. Next time I play it, I'll look for that. Because all I remember finding was the cloak and the ring.

Numbers

http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/927708-kings-quest-ii-romancing-the-stones-vga/faqs/40727

Everything is right here (though it is referred to as wolfbane, not wolfsbane). Seriously, consult a walkthrough before you go making declarative statements about a game you clearly haven't played to completion.
I have no mouth, and I must scream.

GrahamRocks!

Excuse me, but I HAVE completed it! Twice! I'm just trying to get the full score (one thing I think I missed for sure was the meat on the table). Four points short. I used a point list the first time and not once did it bring up that.

Hmph! So you were right. But! There's NO indication I can or need to go back to the house at all! Of COURSe I wouldn't have known that!