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King's Quest Episode II: Revenge of the Sh*t

Started by Rock Knight, November 24, 2015, 01:59:19 PM

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Rock Knight



If chapter one of the King's Quest revival was the traditional bright and happy adventure in a fairy tale land, chapter two is more like that moment in Shrek when they wake up the dragon. There is still that wonder factor from the environment, but everything is darker and there is a legitimate threat in a world that, up until now, has been fairly passive (in comparison to a massive dragon chasing you).

Episode two's story features Graham as a new king, and as things start out he isn't finding his new role particularly easy. Having to deal with all the problems of the realm and then some in the opening scene results in Graham taking a walk outside into the dark and rainy town. But things don't seem quite right, and before you know it goblins sweep around him and take him away to their underground home.


After fumbling around in the darkness, you realise you are in a prison cell with no way to get out and very low strength. Fortunately for Graham, the goblin home has been covered in cobwebs – and not being creatures to live in squalor, the Goblins decide that Graham is the perfect candidate to clean them up thanks to his height. As you leave your cell on your quest to clean all the cobwebs, you find the other members of the town have also been imprisoned, so as king you decide it is your duty to save them – although it's not quite that simple, as they are all slowly dying.


Despite only getting to see the first hour or so, I can safely say that this is a much darker episode (in both tone and environmental setting). Characters can be killed off, and most likely will unless you are very good. The entirety of what I saw (apart from the intro) took place in the underground goblin caves, which is a very interesting and different environment. While there is a good chance it will open up later on in the episode, there was a lot more backtracking and returning to areas in this episode than the last. This doesn't mean that it's a disappointing environment, though: I'm sure there will be tons of great and surprising areas that are as memorable as those in the first once things start to open up, but having to constantly track back to areas you have seen tons of time isn't the best.

But the art is still stunning. I learned on my trip that all the artwork is hand drawn, as in they get the 2D shapes of textures; draw on them; scan them in, and then wrap them around the models in the world – which seems like a crazy amount of work. Everything is different underground, apart from the returning character models (some of which have seen changes themselves), and the new goblins are incredibly cute yet menacing at the same time.


Puzzles feel slightly more challenging than last time, but one of the many solutions will usually make itself clear within a decent amount of time, whether that results in the outcome you wanted or not is a different story. A new mechanic of living through multiple days means that sometimes the solution to the puzzle isn't possible until you have had a sleep, and offers up an interesting new mechanic. Most importantly, I never became frustrated with any of the puzzles, even when I was running out of ideas I would remember something I had forgotten about, sparking that aha moment.

The charm of King's Quest is still ever present despite the darker tale, and (of course) the voice acting remains on point. The characters that you loved in the first episode are now in a very different situation, which means you are much more emotionally attached to them. How the story plays out will be interesting to see, and will most likely depend on how long things remain in the relatively small starting area.

Chapter 2 is certainly bringing a lot of new ideas to King's Quest, but it keeps the charm and style of the first. The change in tone and location may be a move that some (especially the younger audience) don't like, but now there's a real sense of danger, which adds to the overall package greatly. Perhaps the most telling thing about episode two is that I refused to stop playing when the studio representative asked the first time, just so I could get an extra five minutes with it, and right now all I want to do is play more. I would happily skip all the Christmas festivities if it meant I could get the entirety of episode two right now.



Which looks even more like it could've easily been released on PS2!

GrahamRocks!

#1
Hehehehe! Nice pun there!  ;D Though I would have waited until the third episode came to light, and named this post "Attack of the Something" Still, Star Wars joke! Topical.

Huh. I don't remember seeing those pictures of Graham wearing his crown in the article though (the one of him holding the rope and the one of him sitting on his throne).

He looks so glum in that last one...  :(

Jack Stryker

Well, he is pretty glum when KQ2 starts.  Maybe that screenshot is at the part where he starts thinking about how lonely he is and how badly he wants a Queen to come home to.

GrahamRocks!

#3
Good point. And the whole Goblins deal isn't helping.

*glare* In all seriousness, RK... quit it. Nobody is going to like you if you keep acting like this *points to title of post* You're testing even my nerves.

Rock Knight

Quote from: GrahamRocks! on November 25, 2015, 06:04:00 AM
Good point. And the whole Goblins deal isn't helping.

*glare* In all seriousness, RK... quit it. Nobody is going to like you if you keep acting like this *points to title of post* You're testing even my nerves.

it's not my fault that the game is total and utter crap.

GrahamRocks!

That's just Numbers's opinion, and even he isn't constantly bringing it up. He didn't like it, he explained why, and while I don't agree with him obviously, I accept that, partially because I'm trying to better at someone else's opinions and partially because the review was actually really funny. Numbers, you got a good sense of humor! Heck, I kinda expected him to have a low opinion of it, or at least neutral.

You're just gullible. You've been like this since his review. Taking it as gospel, when it's not supposed to be. You don't like it anymore. Okay, I get f***ing get it, man. So stop saying how much it sucks, because you're becoming a broken record and nobody's listening to you or believing you anymore about it. Constant repetition of "This game is crap!" won't change anyone's mind on it. Normal people judge things for themselves usually, not let a single negative review define their love or hatred of a game. You're not nearly as excited for episode two than you were for one, I get that. But you're doing nothing good to be constantly trying to bring us down to your level and wanting us to "come to a revelation" that the new game sucks. It's not going to work, because we're not sheep or drones or whatever. We form our own opinions and thoughts on games like these.

I hate the Leisure Suit Larry games after game three. I don't consider Codename:Iceman to be that good of a game. I consider EcoQuest to be cheesy but cute. That's my opinion.

But it's not like you care. You're just going to keep doing this forever and ever. Your obsession runs as deep as an abyss in an ocean, and it kinda creeps me out. And I'm someone who has Asperger's Syndrome, and given how focused on a subject we can be, that's saying something.

I would say, "Please stop.", but I know you won't.

Rock Knight

The new KQ game lacks any of the borderline horror aspect which colored the Sierra classics. It lacks any f***ing heart. It's just this big kiddie-friendly wanna-be Pixar movie. The tone is all off and the humor is incredibly stupid. Say what you will of KQ7, but that game didn't feature a literal Bridge-Troll who says he keeps his horn "hidden under [his] butt". Do you think Roberta Williams on her worst day, on a day where say she toked an ounce of weed, would write something so bland and stupidly childish? This game has no f***ing soul. It's a KQ game written by hipsters for Tablets. It's Hipster Nu-KQ.

Even KQ5, arguably the silliest KQ game, didn't feature anything as horrid as a QTE "Bridge Troll dance"

I mean jesus christ. There's bad games and then there's this crap. This game, to KQ, in my opinion, is what the Star Wars prequels were to Star Wars. That's how much I hate this game. I can't understand how anyone who liked say, KQ6, would enjoy this game. It's not just a tonal departure, everything is different. Graham's character is entirely different. Daventry is entirely different. The whole backstory is entirely different. Graham is Doc Brown with bad puns. There's not a single character from fairy tales, mythology or folklore. This game is just a lame ripoff of Pixar movies in tone, The Princeless Bride in plot, with no connection to the KQ games outside of character and land names being thrown in. Slap any other label on it and it'd just be generic storybook adventure game with nowhere near the level of publicity this crap has gotten. It's a generic, high fantasy stupid children's nonsense. KQ was never high fantasy, and never generic. And that's the worst thing about this game; it's totally generic and bland. None of the original KQ games were generic, even the lesser entries.

GrahamRocks!

*tiredly motions with a swirling finger gesture* Yeah, yeah, yeah... Whatever you say, man.

Numbers

I'm gonna have to side with GrahamRocks on this one. I didn't like the game, but it's not keeping me up at night. And it's just the first episode we've seen so far. TSL's first episode was pretty underwhelming too. Who knows, maybe episode two will be a step in the right direction for me, and an even better experience for those who enjoyed the first one.
I have no mouth, and I must scream.

GrahamRocks!

#9
When has there ever been an episodic game that had its first episode go completely smooth with no complaints from fans or critics? I can't think of any, really.

Seriously, dude, the way you're talking about the game now... it feels like you're trying to PARODY people who complain endlessly about everything and every little detail.

Numbers

I feel like this thread needs Baggins to come in and point out all the inconsistencies between this game and KQ1, the same way he did with KQ6 and TSL.





"Note the differences. The cave is gray in KQ1, whereas in KQ2015, it is a blueish color. The dragon is neon green in KQ1, whereas it is blue-green in KQ2015. The dragon in KQ1 is much smaller. It does not have an arrow in its eye in KQ1. It has bucked teeth in KQ1, whereas in KQ2015, its teeth are spinier. It does not have a horned snout in KQ1. In KQ2015, there is a bell and moss on the ground, where there were none in KQ1. There was no wheeled contraption to feed the dragon in KQ1. There are no pink stalagmites or stalactites in KQ2015. In KQ1, you defeat the dragon with your keyboard, whereas in KQ2015, you defeat it with your console controls. I have way too much time on my hands."
--Baggins
I have no mouth, and I must scream.

GrahamRocks!

Eh, the dude's banned. He's not going to be coming back anytime soon.

Anyway... back to chapter two. Am I the only one who mistook the picture of Graham confronting the Goblins as the episode two preview as looking moreso snowy than rainy art style wise? I guess I still was in the mindset of "It's clearly fall/autumn in Daventry in episode one" so I guess my mind saw the next season. Either way, it's nice and dramatic. :)

Numbers

I have no mouth, and I must scream.

GrahamRocks!

#13
I know.

I'm just feeling out of it today, can you tell? Stupid allergies making my head all stuffy.

Numbers

You have control over what you type in, allergies or not. You have plenty of time to think about what you're writing. You don't have to write stuff spur-of-the-moment if you're feeling out of it.

But back to this thread's topic. There aren't many people talking about KQ2015's second episode...which must mean that nobody cares anymore and it's doomed to fail, amirite?
I have no mouth, and I must scream.

GrahamRocks!

#15
Ooh, I can smell the blatant sarcasm from all the way down in Texas.

I wish we had more news articles, but I'm patient enough.

No, no, you gotta be saying this constantly: "Where's chapter two?! Where's chapter two?! When's the release date?! [insert joke involving no news about chapter two that's appropriate to the picture that Sierra Games posted on their official FB page here]"

Regardless, sounds like we're heading into darker territory for this one. *Mr. Burns impression* Excellent, excellent...

Not that I disliked the lighterhearted tone of the first episode, per se, but I do expect things to get deeper and darker as time goes on, otherwise nobody will take this game seriously.


Rock Knight

Quote from: Numbers on November 27, 2015, 05:24:36 PM
I feel like this thread needs Baggins to come in and point out all the inconsistencies between this game and KQ1, the same way he did with KQ6 and TSL.





"Note the differences. The cave is gray in KQ1, whereas in KQ2015, it is a blueish color. The dragon is neon green in KQ1, whereas it is blue-green in KQ2015. The dragon in KQ1 is much smaller. It does not have an arrow in its eye in KQ1. It has bucked teeth in KQ1, whereas in KQ2015, its teeth are spinier. It does not have a horned snout in KQ1. In KQ2015, there is a bell and moss on the ground, where there were none in KQ1. There was no wheeled contraption to feed the dragon in KQ1. There are no pink stalagmites or stalactites in KQ2015. In KQ1, you defeat the dragon with your keyboard, whereas in KQ2015, you defeat it with your console controls. I have way too much time on my hands."
--Baggins

http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/TOG_universe




Rock Knight


GrahamRocks!