KQ2+ and The Father

[Jafar]

Well I wouldn't say all gnomes . That's stereotyping you racist you.

I figured spinning straw into gold is just something most Gnomes know how to do.

[Baggins]

That's still stereotyping assuming most gnomes turn straw into gold... In fairy tales I can think of only one gnome that knows that skill .

[KatieHal]

Well, how many gnomes have you known?

[Baggins]

Quite a few garden gnomes, but that's about it. I don't assume most gnomes live in the garden. That's a nasty stereotype.

Oh and there is that travel gnome guy... But I again don't want to say most gnomes "travel". I wouldn't want to push the stereotype.

I know alot of gnomes in World of Warcraft, and there is steretype that all or most gnomes are engineers... Also not necessarily true Unfortunately my gnome couldn't spin straw into gold, or he might have actually been rich...


Course in King's Quest the majority of Gnomes we have seen live underground, and mine for riches (MOE)... now if they could spin straw into gold, why would they need to do that?

In the KQ novels we learn about gnome merchants who career paths are making magical ropes, or magical shoes...

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

[KatieHal]

Well, there we go then. Gnomes have many career options before them: spinning straw into gold, being engineers, traveling, sitting in a garden, and making shoes and/or toys.

BUT THAT'S IT.

[crayauchtin]

ALL gnomes, however, are short.



In my version of events, there's more than one magical spinning wheel. Maybe the one in KQ1 is less legendary, maybe he keeps his career a little more hush-hush.

[Baggins]

Well, there we go then. Gnomes have many career options before them: spinning straw into gold, being engineers, traveling, sitting in a garden, and making shoes and/or toys.

You missed, mining, gnomes (MOE), scientist/terramancer/sage gnome (MOE), Armor smith (MOE), Weapon smith (MOE), Apothecary gnome (MOE).

Oh, ya the rope making and glove making gnomes heh heh.

BTW, in World of Warcraft there are quite a few career paths for Gnomes besides "engineering"...

Mining, enchanting, jewelcrafting, herbalism, skinning, alchemy, blacksmithing, inscription, leatherworking, and tailoring. Archaeology is on its way too . They can also be mages, rogues, warlocks, warriors, and death knights, and soon priests... in the lore many other things :p...

ALL gnomes, however, are short.

Well, not necessarily if you go back to History of Middle Earth, gnomes are the same as the Noldor elves IIRC (think Rivendell). Which are as tall as any other elves LOL. They appeared in early draft, or first edition of the Hobbit got changed, because people kept on confusing them for little people. Tolkien changed the races names in second edition, as I recall to avoid future confusion.

The career paths of the Noldar are wide. Lots of lore-masters, hunters, scouts, musicians etc, etc. Anything that was mentioned as going on in Rivendell really.

Apparently there were people that thought his name "orc" was a reference to the whales (orca):p....

Oh, anyone remember David the Gnome? There were house gnomes and forest gnomes in that universe. They all had assorted jobs, some were carpenters, some cooks, some nature magicians (I.E. communicating with animals), some were physicians (David was a gnome doctor/vetinarian, IIRC). Think everything job humans do, but closer tied to nature in some way. The town/house gnomes that lived in human cities, on the other hand tended to be less connected to nature, and a bit more like the domovoi, bringing luck to the house owner, or helping with chores around the house without the owners knowledge.

[crayauchtin]

Isn't David the Gnome the one where they all have pointy hats?

[Baggins]

Yes, yes it is. If you like high fantasy, I highly recommend it. I'd buy the dvds if they ever made them :p... It was very well done for a children's series. I think it was based off some children's novels actually, so that might actually explain why they were so good. The series even had a rather bittersweet ending, not something you'd expect out of a kid's series.

Although I'm speaking through nostalgia, and haven't seen them in ages. Don't know what I would think of them now that I'm older. I might have grown out of them, and they may not be as good as I remember. But still worth taking a look at, I think.

[crayauchtin]

Yes, yes it is. If you like high fantasy, I highly recommend it

Well, you know I'm all over that now that you reminded me of it. High fantasy is my obsession, as you should know by now!

I must have watched them once, I have a vague recollection of them. I also had a toy that (I think?) was a bad guy in the series, because I used to have nightmares about it and I always had a pointed hat on in them. And yet, I still played with it all the time.
Okay, and I was like three at the time.

But, seriously, I don't remember *actually* watching it. I'm going to have to go find the episodes online -- you know they gotta be somewhere!

[KatieHal]

I remember watching and loving that show. How did it end though? I don't think I remember that.

[Baggins]

Not sure if this was in the regular series or one of the full length movies it spawned.
[spoiler]David and Lisa grow old, nearing the last year of their life. They make the long journey to gnome equivalent of the dying lands, where they are transformed into trees. Basically gnomes do not exactly die, their memories and what not dies, but they continue to live. So their "remains" becoming a living memorial of sorts.[/spoiler]

[Allronix]

My two cents is that I'm a fanfic writer who got introduced to the whole King's Quest universe with King's Quest 6 after the software dealer threw it in with the computers my twin and I got for graduation. With the pair of us being storytellers, mythology geeks, cartoon geeks, and Neo-Pagans this was high-end stuff. One of the really nice toys we had growing up was the Junior Classics illustrated collection of fairy and folk tales...so we pretty much blitzed through the puzzles.

However, starting with 6 is why I likely took the Black Cloak as a given, and as a consolidating mytharc. It makes sense and builds a unified story through the games. It took until I was in college to get my mitts on the King's Quest and Space Quest collections (the latter introduced to me by a snarky roomie I still see on Livejournal). I also snagged the Compendium. None of the above helped in trying to see the games as discrete entities.

King's Quest 2 was my least favorite out of the bunch because it seemed "thrown together." Some puzzles, like obtaining the undersea key, were far too easy. Others, like the bridle and snake, just didn't make enough sense.  Characters were just "there," but had just enough to wonder "what's the connection?" Why did Hagatha steal the nightingale, and why can't we find a way to deal with her? What was up between Granny and Dracula?  Why was the antiques dealer in the middle of nowhere? Why did the world of the tower look so strange?

What AGD did was take all those loose ends, nonsense puzzles, and unanswered questions and wove in a structure that made sense. So Granny was the Countess? That explains the cape and ring. The antiques dealer is in the town, which makes sense, and that little twist with the nightingale? That was evil, but wonderfully done! The undersea part is a tougher challenge with a little arcade sequence. Valanice isn't as much of a pushover as she gets to spar a little with Hagatha, and there's a legitimate reason she can't get out as well as an explanation of what the lion was doing there.

Where it gets the crowning moment of awesome award, though, was the Air Gem tests. The first one was nifty, seeing a wee Graham meeting King Edward. The second was dark, devastating, and powerful stuff. The third contains both a hillarious Easter Egg for all of you who wanted to kick the owl into next week as well as an attempt to weave the controversial Mask of Eternity into the greater story line.  The Father as a shadowy, thoroughly evil mastermind behind the secret society brings it right back to KQVI, with their long-term plotting and shadowy agenda.   

AGD did for KQ2 what the best fanfic writers should aspire to.  They filled in the holes, they added an emotional punch, they answered the lingering questions, they toyed with audience expectations, and they really enriched my viewing of the canon installments. But, like the top-shelf fanfic, you can't see canon the same way after seeing it, either. 

[Odball89]

Gotta agree with Allronix on this one - KQ2+ is take it or leave it. Strong continuity was never what KQ was about anyway - the game's great and can be enjoyed on its own without overwriting the original, especially considering in terms of a tight story, it easilly outpaces quite a few of the originals. It's also pretty professionally done for a fangame - I hope TSL looks as good once all is said and done.

[crayauchtin]

That's what I've been saying all along Allronix!