KQ fan games

[Emily]

Probably most people who are posting here already know about these, but if not...

AGD Interactive's remakes -- KQ1 and KQ2 in VGA style (like the original KQ5 and KQ6). Plus a KQ3 remake is coming very soon! Their artwork is beautiful and in the later remakes they expanded on the storylines to make them more cohesive.

The Silver Lining -- episodic continuation of the series, the third episode (of five) was just released. Takes the story in a darker direction, but I'm liking it.

Infamous Adventures -- also did a KQ3 point & click remake

I'm super excited that Telltale's going to be making KQ games, but for a while there it looked like the fan games were the only new KQ we'd ever get, so these are always going to have a special place in my heart...

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by Emily

I'm super excited that Telltale's going to be making KQ games, but for a while there it looked like the fan games were the only new KQ we'd ever get, so these are always going to have a special place in my heart...

I would be more excited if they made a KQ and you would be still there.

[Tjibbbe]

I always suspected that a Telltale King's Quest-series would be the only thing that could bring Emily back to the TTG-forums.

The last time I played King's Quest was years and years and years ago, and I couldn't get into it back then. I've always been a Lucasarts adventures-man. I'm pretty interested in checking them out though. I like the fact that you can't get into dead ends in the fan remakes (and I'm not talking about dying, but about getting your game in an unwinnable state. I hate that). I'll download those remakes and I'll check them out when I've got some time in a week or so. A couple of questions for people who know more about this than me:

* Is it possible to get your game in an unwinnable state in the later games of the series (the ones that they didn't remake), or was that something that only plagued the early entries? That would be enough for me to not even try to start the later games.
* How different are the remakes to the originals? I'm pretty impressed with the amount of work they put into the backgrounds, voice acting and gameplay updates, but I'm not the biggest fans of fan remakes expanding/changing the storylines of the originals. Do the remakes stay true to the spirit of the originals?
* How connected are the different games in the series? I always got the impression that every game was pretty much a standalone mix of various random fairytales.

I'm actually rather curious to play these games again after all those years. The complete pack is only 10 dollars on steam, so I might buy them if I like the remakes.

[Zigma]

I am wondering about Laura Bow: Dagger of Amon Ra? Has anyone ever played this?

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by Tjibbbe

I'm actually rather curious to play these games again after all those years. The complete pack is only 10 dollars on steam, so I might buy them if I like the remakes.

Do that. It's worth the money for KQ 5+6(+7) alone.

[MusicallyInspired]

The King's Quest games all take place in completely different lands for each title, but the characters you play are most of the time always members of the royal family or connected to the homeland of Daventry in some way. They're not completely unrelated, but unrelated enough for each game to stand on its own.

[Lambonius]

Every King's Quest game except for 7 and 8 has dead ends. In KQ6 they are VERY hard to stumble into, but in KQ5, they are all over the place. KQ6 has the best balance between storyline, challenge, great interactivity, etc. KQ5 is a classic, and my favorite of the series--very high fantasy, but definitely punishing. If you like that sort of thing though, it's your bread and butter. I would say give KQ6 a try if you want to see the best the King's Quest series has to offer.

The remake of KQ1 is pretty much 1:1 with the original (SCI version). The KQ2 remake has a completely rewritten story, and only bears a passing resemblance to the original game in terms of locations and main characters. It's VERY different, but great in its own right.

[thesporkman]

So the third episode of The Silver Lining just came out. I played the first episode, which I probably beat in under twenty minutes, and then I only played the first couple of minutes of the second episode before I got completely bored with the bland, stilted writing. Is it worth going back to it? Does it get better? Are there at least some good puzzles in the second or third episodes?

[doom saber]

Originally Posted by thesporkman

So the third episode of The Silver Lining just came out. I played the first episode, which I probably beat in under twenty minutes, and then I only played the first couple of minutes of the second episode before I got completely bored with the bland, stilted writing. Is it worth going back to it? Does it get better? Are there at least some good puzzles in the second or third episodes?

I am with thesporkman on this. Only played a few mins of ep 2 because of the very same reason that sporkman pointed out. I wonder if the episodes get better.

[Emily]

* Is it possible to get your game in an unwinnable state in the later games of the series (the ones that they didn't remake), or was that something that only plagued the early entries? That would be enough for me to not even try to start the later games.

Yes. In fact I have a vague memory of almost reaching the end of KQ4 only to realize I had used up an item I needed near the very beginning. I don't remember that being particularly frustrating (which is odd), but I do for some reason remember getting a very bad score on a math test in conjunction with making this realization. Maybe I stayed up all night replaying.

If you want to play them, though, I'm sure you can find guidance online about what exactly not to do in order to avoid this (or ask here and we can tell you). KQ5 is definitely the worst. I don't have memories of getting horribly stuck in that one but I played it with a hint book by my side, which may have had something to do with it.

* How different are the remakes to the originals? I'm pretty impressed with the amount of work they put into the backgrounds, voice acting and gameplay updates, but I'm not the biggest fans of fan remakes expanding/changing the storylines of the originals. Do the remakes stay true to the spirit of the originals?

They absolutely stay true to the spirit, which is why I like them so much. Although AGDI's King's Quest 2 strays pretty far from the original in terms of story and puzzles, the original didn't much have going for it in the way of story to begin with, and I thought they did an excellent job of taking the basic elements of the original game and spinning it into a much more cohesive experience. Their upcoming KQ3 Redux won't go quite as far in that direction but it will have some added puzzles and locations. If you prefer a more purist remake, the Infamous Adventures version of KQ3 is more 1:1.

* How connected are the different games in the series? I always got the impression that every game was pretty much a standalone mix of various random fairytales.

They're all standalone, but only the first two are really a mix of random fairytales (and fetch quests). KQ3 was the first to really attempt to tell a story, and the stories got more complex in each game after that.

I reviewed KQ1-6 for Adventure Gamers a few years back. You might want to check out those reviews to get a better idea of each game's story and gameplay. I personally would start with the remakes and then try KQ4 if you're adventurous (ha!) enough to tackle the parser; if not, maybe skip ahead to 5 or 6.

I played the first episode, which I probably beat in under twenty minutes, and then I only played the first couple of minutes of the second episode before I got completely bored with the bland, stilted writing. Is it worth going back to it? Does it get better? Are there at least some good puzzles in the second or third episodes?

Episode 3 is my favorite so far. I liked the first episode because I was excited to be playing a new KQ game and recognized that it was basically an introduction, but it's true there's a lot of talking and not a whole lot to do. (Ironically, King's Quest 6 also starts off with a lot of talking and not much doing...) The second episode is more fleshed out but I found myself stuck in a few points so the pace started to drag. Which was sometimes true in the original games as well, but for some reason it's harder to forgive twenty years later. (I blame it on my ever-shortening attention span...) I did appreciate that they added an option for short narrations. I thought that helped keep things moving a bit better.

Comparatively, I thought episode 3 was really awesome. It has some clever puzzles and an extensive sequence in the middle that really ramps up the tension, plus the story goes in a crazy direction that makes me really interested to see how it all turns out. It's like the first two episodes were doing a lot of setup, and with ep3 we've hit the really exciting stuff. (And frankly you could probably skip episode 2 completely and still get into ep3 without being too lost. I mean, I played ep2 five months ago so there was stuff I didn't remember going into ep3, but it didn't keep me from enjoying it.)

I am wondering about Laura Bow: Dagger of Amon Ra? Has anyone ever played this?

Own it (boxed!) but haven't played it. Hmm, maybe I should one of these days.

[thesporkman]

Originally Posted by Zigma

I am wondering about Laura Bow: Dagger of Amon Ra? Has anyone ever played this?

That's another really awesome game written and designed by Josh Mandel that Roberta Williams usually gets credit for. It's a murder mystery story set in a museum with lots of interesting characters. It had a really awesome dialogue system based around a notebook with tons of different topics you could ask every single character about, which compensates for the lack of a parser like the first Laura Bow game had. If I remember correctly, it's a bit like The Last Express and like the first game, where the plot will advance on its own without waiting around for you, so instead of just solving puzzles to advance the story, the object of the game is to snoop around and uncover all the mysteries before you reach the end.

[Lambonius]

Originally Posted by thesporkman

It had a really awesome dialogue system based around a notebook with tons of different topics you could ask every single character about

Wow. You must be joking. Laura Bow 2's dialogue system is possibly the WORST designed system in adventure game history. Every time you want to talk to anyone, you have to click to open the notebook. Click to select a topic. Click to select a subtopic. Close the notebook. Etc. EVERY. FUCKING. TIME. I can not imagine anything more tedious. No other Sierra game was such a chore to play as that one. Gabriel Knight came close, but was handled much better and the dialogue was better written.

Oh, and let's not forget the fucking QUIZ at the end of the game. Ugh. What a terrible experience.

Colonel's Bequest is a fucking classic though. Shame they screwed up the sequel so badly.

[thesporkman]

Originally Posted by Lambonius

Wow. You must be joking. Laura Bow 2's dialogue system is possibly the WORST designed system in adventure game history. Every time you want to talk to anyone, you have to click to open the notebook. Click to select a topic. Click to select a subtopic. Close the notebook. Etc. EVERY. FUCKING. TIME. I can not imagine anything more tedious. No other Sierra game was such a chore to play as that one. Gabriel Knight came close, but was handled much better and the dialogue was better written.

Oh, and let's not forget the fucking QUIZ at the end of the game. Ugh. What a terrible experience.

Colonel's Bequest is a fucking classic though. Shame they screwed up the sequel so badly.

It's been years since I played it, but I don't remember being annoyed at having to click a lot. I just remember liking that there were lots of conversation topics and unique responses for most of them for most of the characters. I still prefer the parser-based dialogue of the original, but I thought the notebook was a pretty good point-and-click compromise. Maybe nostalgia is making me remember the game as being better than it was, but I remember liking it a lot.

[philthethrill]

I enjoyed it too, but the scenes where the different suspects were dead really scared me. What I liked about the game was the music, especially the Archaeologist song and the Museum Waltz. I also liked the colorful cast of characters.

[Tjibbbe]

Thanks for all the answers everybody! I downloaded the first two remakes, now all I need is some time. I think I'll use a guide to avoid the dead ends in 4 and 5, but it'll be a while before I get that far. I played a tiny bit of the first remake, and I'm actually rather impressed by the scale, even though the first game is probably not even that big compared to the later games. I wonder how that will translate to a Telltale game.

Anyway, thanks again everybody, you've all been very helpful!

[Radogol]

I'd just like to chime in and say that while I was never a big fan of King's Quest - not in terms of design, at least, even though I was dazzled by the world and graphics back in the day - AGDI's King's Quest II remake is one of my favorite adventure games. Expertly written, with clever puzzles and fantastic pacing, it really is a masterpiece. Can't recommend the game enough.

[Lambonius]

Originally Posted by thesporkman

It's been years since I played it, but I don't remember being annoyed at having to click a lot. I just remember liking that there were lots of conversation topics and unique responses for most of them for most of the characters. I still prefer the parser-based dialogue of the original, but I thought the notebook was a pretty good point-and-click compromise. Maybe nostalgia is making me remember the game as being better than it was, but I remember liking it a lot.

Heh...yeah, to be fair, I probably would have been more forgiving if I had played the game back in the day. But trying to play it for the first time a few years ago, I found the dialogue system horribly clunky and very immersion breaking. I loved Laura Bow 1 though. There was a real sense of mystery, exploration, and discovery in that one that I felt was missing from its sequel.

[ATMachine]

Apparently one of the AGDI team members REALLY hates the fact that Telltale's gotten the KQ license. He sounds very bitter, and is even making vague accusations of impropriety on Telltale's part in picking the IP up. Not that he isn't in a privileged position to know, but I wonder whether this might not be a case of sour grapes.

[MusicallyInspired]

You're kind of exaggerating here. Those posts don't really portray that he hates Telltale at all. Like anybody else on our team we wish we'd gotten the license as well, but it's not like it's a definite no now that Telltale is doing sequels.

Incidentally, KQ3Redux's release date has just been announced. You'll have it in your hands this Wednesday evening (Feb 23rd) PST time.

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by MusicallyInspired

Incidentally, KQ3Redux's release date has just been announced. You'll have it in your hands this Wednesday evening (Feb 23rd) PST time.

Great.