Telltale's KQ is gonna suck..
No really though, I'm not looking forward to it. But we'll see. It's not like there's anything we can really debate, argue, or nitpick about because there's absolutely ZERO INFORMATION released on it at all so far.
I actually don't really have any special need to see King's Quest back in action. However good or bad it will be it'll be nothing like the originals, that's pretty much a done deal in any game reboot scenario. I'm happy with where the games are now and wouldn't care if they never got rebooted again. I certainly hope Space Quest stays that way, for instance. Fangames are nice, though.
Let's be honest though:
Would it be the same as the originals even if Roberta Williams herself was at the helm, with a revived Sierra backing her? Let's say Sierra never died and Roberta didn't retire as a result--I don't think things would be the same anyway. Regardless of what criticism KQ8 got, it's obvious she wanted to go more into that direction--even considering multiplayer for a future game.
Personally, I like having the KQ name around, alive, and in business. I believe that whille TT's game might not be quite as good as a Sierra KQ game, it'll still have the same spirit, the same feel, etc.
Fangames...Meh. Fangames offer fan service, which seems to consist of toying with the backstories or general stories set by the original designers; TSL is guilty of this, as is KQ2VGA and KQ3+ to a lesser extent. I don't want fan service; KQ was never about that. You can pretty much play any game in the KQ series without playing the previous ones; They're all standalone stories for the most part, even KQ4 and KQ6 which are the most "connected" games. You don't have to play KQ3 to understand KQ4; Same goes for 6 and 5. But look at games like TSL and KQ2VGA--Heavily depending on the existing universe to the point that a new player wouldn't care.
There's only ONE fan group I would trust with the KQ franchise, and they're going out of business, sadly (Hint: It isn't AGDI, or TSL). They're the only group out there that ever reminded me of Sierra both in spirit and in their products and in their whole atmosphere--and they're going to be gone--I wish it wasn't so.
Roberta's intent was indeed to hand off the series to new people, and with the exception of KQ8, that's pretty much what happened--KQ6 is mostly a Jane Jensen game; KQ7 is basically entirely a Lorelei Shannon game. Now it's TT's turn. And despite their history--they may just hit it out of the ball park. I'm an optimist until proven otherwise. I supported TSL until I was SHOWN what it was going to be, through trailers, demos, etc.
I don't simply hate a game before it's released due to who creates it, and the reverse is true. I love Sierra, but I also realize not every product of theirs was pure gold. Some--especially in the later days--were pure crap. Likewise, while TT has a history (to you) of poor products...It's possible they might be being very careful. They know as much as anyone how sensitive the KQ fanbase is.
Let's face it: We can't stick to the 1990 VGA Point and Click, etc model forever. It's a sad truth. I wish 2D games ala KQ5 were what's happening, but they're not. The adventure game genre has to evolve, or it will truly die. Ken and Roberta felt that way back in the 1990s and I agree.
Really, the whole "dumbed down" adventure game started with Sierra. Phantasmagoria is pretty much like a protoype for TT's games. It took me days, sometimes even up to a few weeks to solve KQ and SQ games. Phantasmagoria I finished in a little under 2 days--without a hint book or guide. It was easy. That's the direction Roberta was taking adventure games...So even if let's say KQ8 wasn't a "hack and slash" game--It probably would've been alternatively an interactive movie type game like Phantas, but in 3D--Not far removed from TT's own games.
With each evolution, the adventure genre has gotten more and more "dumbed down". The addition of graphics took away one's ability to imagine the landscape surrounding you, took away the "Interactive Novel" quality about the genre, took away much of the difficulty. The point and click interface further dumbed down the genre by very much limiting your level of interactivity with the game world. Finally, it came to KQ7--Even more dumbed down interface.
So...It's not like what TT's doing isn't without precedent, really. It'd have never been the same, even with Sierra still active, Roberta still writing, etc. It can't stay 1990 or 1992 forever, even if we want it to. I'd rather see KQ alive again, than watch it stay dead and fade away into obscurity.