*chuckles*
To be honest... I have been considering going back and replaying TSL again. I just haven't done so, because my outlook on the series has changed over the years, my sense of humor and what I can consider good writing has changed. At the time I'd first joined and gotten into TSL (concurrently with Sierra in general), it was all new and fascinating for someone like me, and at
that particular time I'd considered it the absolute best KQ game ever, overall (aside from the Valanice and Manannan thing, I don't think anyone likes that connection TBH)- it had the best soundtrack, the visuals were gorgeous, Graham's characterization as an older gentleman was on point, the relationships between Graham and Valanice/Alexander and Cassima/Rosella and Edgar were all very sweet, and there was a good sense of lore and worldbuilding and intrigue and tension about where the plot was going. It certainly wasn't perfect (I don't like the Isle of the Beast segment, both because of the way Beauty is characterized/designed and the hedge maze puzzle, no matter how many times I play it, I can never remember where the second half of that puzzle is off the top of my head despite that being the case for every other puzzle), but at the time, it was
good.
And then, 2015 hit, and the 2015 Reboot (IMO, I know not many will agree with me, especially on here) of KQ blew most of that out of the water. It took a lot of what I already liked about TSL (music, visuals, characters etc) and pulled it off even better in my eyes. And, unfortunately, it kinda overshadowed TSL for me, and that game overtook the spot for "Best KQ Game," and when I think of the characters of KQ, what I see in my mind and hear mentally, are those characters from KQ2015, not TSL.
I feel bad about that sometimes, since I was one of the more prominent posters here once upon a time, defending Phoenix as one of their biggest, staunchest fans about most everything negative said about TSL, and I do it (not did, do, because there's still tired complaints about it) for the Reboot with as much fervor even now, as I did TSL back then.
I just feel a bit scared, I guess, about potentially playing it again, looking at it with fresh eyes so to speak, because I'm afraid that now that I can look at things more critically, more constructively, that I'm going to look at this game and say, "This isn't nearly as good as I remember.
" and view it more negatively at worst, and at best as "It's Good, but not Great," y'know? That's kind of what I consider AGDI's KQ2+ is the latter, because once I actually stopped and paid attention to the writing, the lore, the characterization etc, there were some major problems in it that I feel should've been fixed, seeing it in hindsight (also an art critique of AGDI's I've had for a while is "
Why does nobody blink?! That's creepy that the only thing that moves is their mouths!"), and I'd hate for the same to happen with me and TSL.
Will I still laugh at the snarky Narrator ribbing Graham? Will I still feel the danger of Shadrack oppressing the Royal Family of Daventry? Will I still be drawn into the lore of the Silver and Black Cloaks? Will I still be heartwarmed by Graham and Valanice as a couple? Will I still love the vision scene of Graham's in part 3 where he's mentally saving Valanice on horseback, which was one of my favorite parts of that chapter? It's been so long- seven or eight years in fact -that I'm honestly not sure. I've changed a lot since then, I think. We all have. I definitely wouldn't say that it's "So Good, It Might As Well Be Canon" like I might've said way back then to Phoenix, that's for sure. I acknowledge that it's an alternate universe where some things went a bit differently, at least. But I won't deny the impact it's had on me, and I'm honestly hoping that my memories and nostalgia weren't steering me wrong.
