MOE: A Vision Never Fully Realized

[TheReturnofDMD]

Hey

I know since it's release back in 1998, MOE has drawn criticism a nd largely mixed feelings from King's Quest fans, and also that there many fans who absolutely hate MOE and don't consider it part of the saga.
You have to consider all the turbulence that surrounded the game's development and the game industry itself. Around the time MOE was in mid development, in 1996, Sierra was sold and this delayed the development. I'm fairly certain that had this delay not occured, we would've had MoE in 1996 or 1997 at the latest.
You have to remember also that MoE was not developed in the way other KQ's were. MoE's development was shared between two of Sierra's studios, Belllevue (who was developing the content) and Dynamix (which was developing the engine.)
At that time, 1996, MoE would've been something fairly revolutionary. This was just before the era of Tomb Raider, and as much as people have tried to say that Robert was following trends; actually I think it was that she was starting a trend, but that others beat her to it. This was right before the big era of Playstation started, becoming a smash hit .
Yes, we had had 3-D Doom and Quakes, but they were nothing on this scale and not on the same level of detail as MoE would've been, with it's quest spanning many worlds that were very (at the time) artfully developed.
Not only that, but another factor which played into the MoE we eventually got was the departure of Ken Williams as CEO and Chairman of Sierra. Ken had even planned (as implied in a 1997 interview) that MoE was going to take advantage of the growing trend of online gaming.
With Ken in charge, Roberta had had full creative control over her vision; without his leadership, MoE became a free-for-all in which developers started injecting their own ideas into the game and Roberta lost her absolute control over the game.
Then, another factor which effected the game was that somewhere along the line, Dynamix failed to meet the deadline for the game's engine and it was buggy and so Sierra Northwest, in a panic, had to hastily build the engine itself. The new management of Sierra was interested in $, not in creative ideals.
So, in a rush to meet Christmastime sales, Sierra threatened Robert (who had been holding on to MoE for as long as she could to make the best product possible) with legal action and she was forced to give up her game, which led to the released of a half finished, heavily cut game.
A final note is that on the day of it's release, in November of 1998, Sierra,due to the CUC Scandal, was in the midst of being sold again so I'm sure this also effected the release, which came a full four years after KQVII.
So, when people try to criticize MoE, think of what Roberta was trying to achieve. She was trying to revolutionize the adventure genre for a new generation, push the limits of new technology as she had always done, and take risks, as she had also always done (If it hadn't been for her risky decisions, we probably wouldn't have had a female lead in KQIV.) It was a failed vision, due to changing times in the game industry, a new, unfriendly management at Sierra, and many roadblcoks along the way.
Had MoE have been released in 1996 while the Williams were still in charge, before Tomb Raider and Diablo, I think MoE would've been HUGE, and would've probably been a much better game, and might have even influenced the course of computer gaming...
But we shall never know, and why Sierra never made a Playstation port of MoE is something I'll never quite grasp.

[Suzie]

I personally never thought MoE was that horrible of a game. I pretty much bought it when it came out and completed it pretty fast. But I don't really have any fond memories of it like I have with some of the previous titles. I think MoE needed a more clear aim and time and it could have been a much better game. The idea of making it 3D was atleast something I consider a good move at the time, they just should have left out all the violence. I think if Roberta could have seen it through uninterrupted and things at Sierra had been better, nobody would have a problem with the game today. On the other hand, TSL might never have been thought of either, since the series would have ended better. But who knows. Connor is actually one of my favourite King's Quest characters due to how hated and misunderstood he is. Poor Connor! 

[Yonkey]

Wow, I agree, DMD, and never really looked at the game from that perspective before.

I guess the main reason why MoE failed was because it was being masked as something it wasn't, and being sold to fans that just weren't interested.  People criticized pretty much everything bad about it, but if it were released as a standalone product, it probably would have had great potential.  Possibly being the forerunner of many related franchises, like you mentioned.

So, the problem was sort of like a combination of mixing the wrong ingredients into a batter, and then serving it as muffins when most people were expecting something far healthier.

[Suzie]

I agree with you Yonkey!

And DMD too of course. I think MoE is a game that has to be taken up for revision. It's something of a paradox. It doesn't really stand well as a product, but the intention was good.

I always thought it was unfair to hate the game, since it could have been so much better, and it wasn't the authors fault that it didn't happen. 

[Yonkey]

Yeah.  I've seen a lot of people blame Roberta for MoE, which isn't really fair to her.  The creative direction of that game was someone else's responsibility, and from all the interviews I've read, she was always trying to be true to her vision of the game.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen, and MoE was the result.

I've heard some people say the game was still good... but not when compared with any other King's Quest game.

[dark-daventry]

DMD, you are absolutely right, as are all of you. I do believe that someday, Mask of Eternity will be remade, into it's original concept. If roberta is asked to redo mask of eternity into it's original intent, then we may yet see the future of us all. Or, perhaps a fan-base will step up to the plate and take the responsibility upon themselves to make Mask of Eternity anew. If as fan-base does so, they will definetely need to have the orignal ideas... I do wish that Roberta could release her original idea, and perhaps some artwork... Just something so we can all know what it was truly meant to be. We all know the history, but that's it. We know virtually nothing of the original story idea. Perhaps in a future time we will see Mask of Eternity V2... I personally did not like it too much, but my dad loved it...

[Deloria]

I heard tell Dangeling Participle is going to do so when he finishes with Adventures in Serenia.

[Delling]

...If roberta is asked to redo mask of eternity into it's original intent, then we may yet see the future of us all. Or, perhaps a fan-base will step up to the plate and take the responsibility upon themselves to make Mask of Eternity anew....

Well, the first seems improbable. The action genre has moved on as DMD pointed out. Mask of Eternity would have to take a new spin to be successful. The latter is probably the best recourse for all involved. A fan game would serve the interested parties and wouldn't necessitate any reliance on the... uhm... disinterested parties that screwed it up the first time (not Roberta, the management at Sierra).

Actually, I've thought of doing a remake myself as a total conversion of Oblivion or Morrowind, but those were just passing thoughts. If someone else is going to make a fan version, more power to him.

[dark-daventry]

If a fan-made remake was ever done, it should go in Roberta's intended direction. If you have to, contact her and ask her what her original ideas for Mask were, and then the rest would be up to the team making it. It should also use the style of graphics that roberta had originally envisioned (Not that the graphics Mask ended up using were not the original. Just if Roberta had a different style of graphics in mind, use those instead.) A re-make of mask should be what Roberta envisioned it to be. The remake to KQ2 ended up with a completely different storyline than the original (although I have no clue why. I don't see why the original KQ2 needed to be changed. It seemed fine to me.) Mask should be tweaked as the makers see fit... I am wondering whether mask was intended to go over a much larger scale. I mean that I wonder if mask was intended to have larger places to explore, and whole new destinations entirely. Whether it had a completely different story-line than the one originally envisioned...

[Deloria]

I'm not sure Roberta would legally allowed to be involved. But again, Dangeling Participle's going to start a remake of MoE when he finishes with "The Wizard and the Princess"

[dark-daventry]

My hopes are with him! I hope it will become a big hit! I just wonder how the graphics will be used....

[Deloria]

I think there's a thread in the off-topic forum section, but I can't look for it now.

[Dangling]

Yeah I can't honestly say that MoE was the greatest game I played but I still liked it.  Also I discovered that the scripting files and kq files can be opened in notepad/excel and edited.  I changed the experience monsters give me and it worked so I think I am going to go back and add a lot more monsters.