TSL Updates!

[VampirateLoyal]

*Blows dust off of old account* Hey everyone!

Soo, I have been a mostly silent follower of this game since it was first being designed way WAY back when the preview images kind of looked like characters from Sims 1 against the backdrops from the old games (and I was excited about it THEN!)
I also wrote a story for my college paper a long time ago about the stuff with Vivendi and Activision; and upon the new release of TOG's King's Quest, I started to get worried that they had shut you all down for good.
It is so, so awesome to see these updates, and I cannot wait to finish all five chapters of this amazing game. It's been years since I played the first two chapters, and I'm currently unable to play any of them due to the fact that I have a Macbook instead of a PC (I'm hoping to find a way to Wineskin them and play them that way), but I remember how true to the series it all was, and how happy I was to see scenes from the sixth game, which was my favorite. When I saw the screenshots from Chapter 5's preview, I literally screamed at the Ooga Booga picture.
I know this is taking a lot of time and people are working on the sidelines trying to kick through this last stretch, but oh MAN the work put into this so far I'm already positive this is going to be awesome.
I've recently started re-playing the old games to get over a really long state of depression, so I'll probably drop in again from time to time to talk about King's Quest when I've run out of things to play.
Anyway, just wanted to stop by here first and say again, thank you thank you thank you!

[KatieHal]

Thanks everyone! And welcome back, Vampirate

What else would I change...this is just my list, though we've talked about this before amongst the team as well, so some of it comes from that. I wouldn't tie it QUITE so tightly to the originals. This is a bit less of an issue in the released version but in the original, longer, script, we tied in EVERYTHING and it was far too much. Even in the game as it is, we put a little too much effort into tying together certain things, villains, characters, storylines, etc. Since we edited the storyline into the 5 eps "mid-stream", if you will, the cobbling together is rather clumsy in some spots. Certain things would've been easier to just cut rather than finding a reason for them to still exist, if we had the chance to rewrite it instead of work with what we already had written, recorded/created, etc.

[Numbers]

Yeah, I think Hakim's ominous comment about Mordack, specifically the "stories where the villain never dies" bit, feels a bit sloppy, given that...well, Mordack is dead, killed off for real in The Four Winds, and not coming back. It feels like foreshadowing something that will never happen. Another bit is Jollo making an offhand remark about Alhazred escaping from the dungeon, then never bringing it up again, even though an event like that should be kind of a big deal.

[KatieHal]

Yeah--in the original, much-longer script, those villains were going to show up again later on. EVERY villain was going to show up alter on, which, in retrospect, is way too fanfic gone wild!

[GrahamRocks!]

Speaking of that, I heard once someone bringing up that the game was good but a bit "fanfic-y" at times. Except this is a fan made game, using your own concepts and ideas and expansions on canon which were never there or were different in the original canon (which is what an actual GOOD fanfic does, not the stereotypical bad ones which everyone focuses on) so technically, unless you go for something like AGDI's remake of 1 which added almost nothing new besides voice acting, the graphics turned into VGA (which admittedly did look gorgeous), a couple new descriptions (like the dagger) and one new death... isn't EVERY fan game "fanfic-y" of a sort? Don't see why you guys were singled out when, really, stuff that you did had been done before like involving the BCS, having every villain be connected, having some greater destiny for the Daventry Royal Family...

[Numbers]

I guess you could say that, while there's no problem with having continuity tie-ins here and there, there are cases where it becomes "continuity porn," where there's simply too much stuff all tying together. In some instances, ambiguity is more appreciated than having a solid answer for every little plot thread. I don't know that anyone cared about the Witch of the Dark Forest from KQ5 getting stuck inside a lamp, but she got brought back for The Four Winds regardless.

[MangoMercury]

I forone appreciate the in-jokes but then they were something of an era :V

[Numbers]

Yeah, they haven't aged well, have they?

[waltzdancing]

I can say that some, if not all the stories in the four winds were just for fun. They were ideas that the writers had about various parts of the game. All the stories there are fan fiction. If I can remember correctly, none of the stories there were even tied into the game. It's been a while since I looked so if I am wrong, remember I am human

[GrahamRocks!]

Nah, some of them were. There's the thing with Alhazred escaping, the announcement of Rosella and Edgar's engagement, the very first article deals with Alexander and Cassima's wedding and coronation, there's the failed attempt at opening Chessboard Land and o the public, the Horoscopes by Madam Mushka...

[waltzdancing]

While the Four Winds played in the realm of King's Quest we did try to look beyond King's Quest and tried to expand the universe a bit but none that directly related to TSL. All fan fiction takes place in an already established world so there is bound to be cross over. I'm not trying to start and argument, I just have a personal connection to the writers and dislike that their work is being ragged on. I understand and respect your opinion about it but remember that it was done for fun and to build a resume and ask that you please respect the authors' imagination. .

[GrahamRocks!]

Sorry if I was too harsh!

[snabbott]

I guess you could say that, while there's no problem with having continuity tie-ins here and there, there are cases where it becomes "continuity porn," where there's simply too much stuff all tying together.

Numbers is the anti-Baggins (not a bad thing )!

[waltzdancing]

Sorry if I was too harsh!

It's okay. I just get defensive about people's hard work Especially when I knew how proud they were of their work.

[Numbers]

Numbers is the anti-Baggins (not a bad thing )!

Well, when you put it that way...

I distinctly remember Bludshot saying that the KQ Omnipedia had articles about TOG's continuity not fitting the old series' continuity, and at one point brought up the disparity between TOG's goblins and the MoE goblins as proof that TOG's KQ isn't canon. Because we all know how consistent the old games were with their fantasy creature treatment. Remember how the trolls stayed exactly the same in between games? No difference between the KQ1 bridge troll, KQ4 cave troll, and KQ7 Vulcanix trolls. No difference whatsoever.

It's okay. I just get defensive about people's hard work Especially when I knew how proud they were of their work.

My apologies if I pissed you off. My writing style isn't the same as TFW's is, hence why it's not to my liking. But I'm not personally trying to drag those authors down. I'm just pointing out what I didn't like about them, and I would still recommend people read TFW if they want supplementary material for TSL.

[GrahamRocks!]

And for all my dislike of those scenes I pointed out (and admittedly the "How is Alexander as a person?" line by Graham makes me moreso confused rather than annoyed unlike the scene where Graham doesn't get the Black Cloaks plan which did annoy me), the rest of the writing is really good!

And I can totally understand why you're defending it so much, because I actually do the same thing! Especially when this was and is, in my mind, one of the best KQ games I'd ever played simply because of the writing and characters. Nobody before or since has gone into so much detail! And while the new game has surpassed TSL as my favorite, I'll always have a soft spot for it.

And to be fair to the Omnipedia and Bludshot here... I think by episode 3, most of the fanbase has kind of figured that they're taking the Marvel route anyway, so to speak. Which is fine by me!

And normally I probably would be agreeing about the Baggins thing, but... I don't like bashing or cracking jokes about him anymore, now that I've actually met him over FB. He's actually a really nice guy and has matured a lot, and I feel terrible for hating and being so harsh to him now.

Also, defending people's hard work especially in writing... I know how that feels. I'm defensive and stubborn about "my babies" too.

[waltzdancing]

My apologies if I pissed you off. My writing style isn't the same as TFW's is, hence why it's not to my liking. But I'm not personally trying to drag those authors down. I'm just pointing out what I didn't like about them, and I would still recommend people read TFW if they want supplementary material for TSL.

To bad the four winds isn't going. I would like to read some of your stuff It was always a treat to see different writing styles.

[Numbers]

I'm considering doing my own "re-imagining," if you will, of the entire KQ franchise, including The Wizard and the Princess, AGDI's remakes, TSL, and TOG's continuity via a set of "novelizations." I've actually started The Wizard and the Princess, and of course, I'm taking extreme liberties with the game's non-existent plot and characters (not that I think anyone would mind this). I've already outlined how each chapter will play out. Unfortunately, I only wrote the first five chapters and I haven't touched it in over a year. Needless to say, my interpretation is considerably darker than the actual game is, which is why I'm not advertising it as a KQ story, just a story set in the KQ universe.

It's a small, self-contained story that stands on its own without delving too deeply into characters and locations from other games, besides the fact that it's set in Serenia, which is where the first half of KQ5 takes place. I won't begin work on the remaining KQ "novelizations" until work is completed on TOG's KQ and TSL episode 5 is released. I want to know what the whole story is before I start the remaining games.

[GrahamRocks!]

Sounds cool.

[waltzdancing]

Very interesting. I've been writing my own novel for four years now. I use it as a stress outlet. It's funny when I go back to reread them because I can remember what stupid thing happened at work or what good thing. Usually it was pretty stupid It's fun to create a world or interact with another world.