The original length of TSL

[kindofdoon]

Episode 1 contained about 1 hour of gameplay, and Cez stated that Episode 2 is "about 4 hours to complete". Assuming that Episodes 3-5 are as long as Episode 2, then the whole of TSL will be about 17 hours long. Wow!

But as I understand, Episodes 1-5 originally comprised the first 2 of the 9 planned chapters of TSL. If the remaining chapters were the same length as the first 2, then the original length of TSL, with all 9 chapters, would have been around 76.5 hours! Can that be accurate?

[Cez]

It was extremely large, I can tell you that. Chapter 5 for example was double of what this current game is.

[KatieHal]

And had most of the stuff I wrote! *tear* *pours one out for lost chapters*

[kindofdoon]

I know you've stated that you won't develop chapters 3-9 for free. If no one offers to commercially support these chapters, will you perhaps release the script anyways?

[KatieHal]

We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

[kindofdoon]

Well, at least you had the courtesy to not use the suffer. Thanks for that.

[Fierce Deity]

Yeah, I'd still like to see what the original idea was. Maybe, when you are releasing your own commercial projects (Corridor 9 for example), you can release little bits of the story on the side. If Activision allows you to make a profit off of The Silver Lining after these five chapters, I have no quarrel with paying for the extra chapters. I'd love to see the original vision you had for the game.

[kindofdoon]

It would be SO cool if Chapters 3-9 came out "Developed by Phoenix Online, Published by Activision".

[snabbott]

And had most of the stuff I wrote! *tear* *pours one out for lost chapters*

If you send it to me, I'll tell you how great it is!

[KQ5Fan]

Wait, does that mean this game won't provide closure to the story?...

[B'rrr]

that can only be if the entire royal family is killed.

[snabbott]

The plot has been reworked so that there will be closure with the eposodes that are being produced. I don't know whether it will be the same level of closure as it would have been with the full 9 chapters, but they're certainly not going to leave a cliffhanger - which is pretty much what you would have had if they had released Chapters 1 and 2 (Episodes 1-5) as they were.

[KatieHal]

What Stephen said. We reworked the story when we condensed it to provide a complete narrative; it's not everything that would've been in the whole 9 chapters, but it's still a full story.

[Cat1]

Personally I hope there's not too much closure!  I don't want my nice idealistic/fairy tale "and they lived happily ever after... until next time" feeling ruined.  I would be a bit sad if every loose end was carefully tied up and we were left feeling like "that's the end of that"!  But I guess if that happens I can always pretend that, like MOE, TSL doesn't exist and we're still living happily ever after at the end of KQVII 

[Fierce Deity]

Personally I hope there's not too much closure!  I don't want my nice idealistic/fairy tale "and they lived happily ever after... until next time" feeling ruined.  I would be a bit sad if every loose end was carefully tied up and we were left feeling like "that's the end of that"!  But I guess if that happens I can always pretend that, like MOE, TSL doesn't exist and we're still living happily ever after at the end of KQVII 

But the ending to KQVII was so rushed, I felt. I rather liked MOE, but in the off chance that TSL does not provide closure, I'll stick with the ending of KQVI and believe that Rosella doesn't get a happy ending. 

[Cat1]

Yep pretending that VI was the last one would work too   And true - VII possibly ended a bit too suddenly, but I liked the way it ended happily and at the same time still left you with questions.  I would hate it if, at the end of TSL, they told us something like, "so, after defeating Shadrack and the black cloak society, and thus putting an end to the forces of evil for ever, Graham and his family lived in peace and harmony for the rest of their lives and never had another adventure.  Graham's adventuring cap was put in a glass case in the Daventry museum..."    I don't like being told all these things - I like imagining for myself what might have happened!  Plus (the real reason) I want there to be potential for more sequels!  Maybe I'm cruel to want there to be potential for more trouble and strife for Graham and his family, but after all they're not real  

[Fierce Deity]

Yep pretending that VI was the last one would work too   And true - VII possibly ended a bit too suddenly, but I liked the way it ended happily and at the same time still left you with questions.  I would hate it if, at the end of TSL, they told us something like, "so, after defeating Shadrack and the black cloak society, and thus putting an end to the forces of evil for ever, Graham and his family lived in peace and harmony for the rest of their lives and never had another adventure.  Graham's adventuring cap was put in a glass case in the Daventry museum..."    I don't like being told all these things - I like imagining for myself what might have happened!  Plus (the real reason) I want there to be potential for more sequels!  Maybe I'm cruel to want there to be potential for more trouble and strife for Graham and his family, but after all they're not real  

True, ending it so that another game can't be made (like killing off the family members for instance) would definitely be a troublesome matter for fans of the series. However, the whole Black Cloak Society has been a widely speculated topic of discussion for the series, and many have already speculated that every villain that has ever interfered with the family's personal business has done so for the benefit of the Black Cloaks. I do want their to be some closure so that these past games (and the family's past strife) can be rectified for the greater good. In other words, I want to see Shadrack get his comeuppance. 

[Cat1]

Well ok then, I can put up with the end of Shadrack/the Black Cloak Society as long as they leave us some potential future adventures  

By the way, are there any references to the Black Cloak Society in VII?  I haven't played it for a while but can't remember coming across any?

[Fierce Deity]

Well ok then, I can put up with the end of Shadrack/the Black Cloak Society as long as they leave us some potential future adventures  

By the way, are there any references to the Black Cloak Society in VII?  I haven't played it for a while but can't remember coming across any?

Nope, no actual references to the Black Cloak Society. People joke around because there was a black cloak that Princess Rosella puts on to make herself incognito while Malicia is looking for her. I did see an unofficial list of the "members of the Black Cloak Society" on the King's Quest Omnipedia, and Malicia was listed as one of the members (but so was Lucreto, so I'd take the list with a grain of salt).

I think it's interesting that people want to believe that all of the villains from the series were members. The Black Cloak Society was an idea by Jane Jensen and was only referenced in KQVI; it was never really supposed to amount to much. Yet it's the one thing that I think is driving the fans for an ending that provides closure.

[Bludshot]

That was quite a vision, to make an 80 hour freeware game.  I hope you guys found a way to make these five episodes one single story.