TT's King's Quest: R.I.P. (aka Really Improbable Project)

[exo]

Bt - there is no humor in this blackened land of dashed dreams and cynicism. Hold your tongue lest you make someone laugh and face the fact that there is nothing of substance in this entire forum beyond expectations, bitterness, naivety, and youthful dreams of nostalgia.

Your humor is not welcome among the deluded souls who wander these barrens.

[Blackthorne519]

AH! The Dashed Dreams of Daventry!

You all know what happened to Daventry, right? 1,000 years passed and it became Lytton, California.

Bt

[MusicallyInspired]

Ah. That's why Graham sounds American.

[BagginsKQ]

But the news in Lytton, talks about the kingdom of Daventry as if it coexists someplace else!

"My name is Laura," said the young woman. "And I took your football as evidence in the bonking of one Larry Laffer. But a policeman took it away from me."

"Thank you," said Rosella. She wasn't sure what a policeman was, but she decided to set out to find one.

She came across a man in blue. "Have you seen my football, blue knight?" Rosella asked.

"I'm not a knight, I'm Sonny, a policeman. I took your football for an official investigation. But when we found out Larry Laffer was involved, we decided not to prosecute the bonker. Some guy in a white coat took your football."-From "Rosella's First Quest"

Which means Lytton and Daventry must coexist in some kind of Time Warp!

[exo]

not to mention that you actively see an assembly line of King Grahams being built under the street in LSL1. Which means.... THEY ARE ALL ROBOTS!

Wake up Graham!

Whoah... I know kung fu.

[BagginsKQ]

Or actors, as Larry discovers the actress portraying Rosella later on.

Edward and a Unicorn from Daventry was kept in some formaldhyde vats in the Layendecker museum! Graham apparently ended up in Hell to be tormented by skeletons for eternity.

Under certain circumstance, Whittlin Willie will switch to tell the ballad of King Graham. On a newspaper clipping in the General Store, we learn that King Graham of Daventry was no longer responsible for any debts incurred by his wife Valanice, his son Alexander, or his daughter Rosella.

Roger Wilco discovered from grafitti in a bathroom that Graham is apparently a crossdresser (perhaps forshadowing Alexander?).

Graham, Larry, Rosella, Sonny, Roger Wilco, and others all got together to play cards once (Hoyle I)!

[exo]

don't forget Crazy Nicks Software Picks.

[BagginsKQ]

"King Graham of Daventry was no longer responsible for any debts incurred by his wife Valanice, his son Alexander, or his daughter Rosella."

Yep, something must have happened to the chest of Gold! Gold hyperinflation?

[inm8#2]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/02/...telltale-games

No mention of King's Quest, other than by IGN in the first paragraph.

[BagginsKQ]

Only two parts that might be 'connected'. Ign's mention of KQ at the beginning, and they mention later on that Telltale said it is working on a handful of projects including the Fables "tie-in". Nothing specific about what these other projects happen to be.

"Beyond The Walking Dead, Telltale also has plenty of projects in active development, including Fables, which was announced nearly two years ago."

Which it seems they are probably still farther down the pipeline.

[MusicallyInspired]

Walking Dead has had a huge impact on the company as far as how we look at things and how we do what we do.

I think that says a lot.

Also:

David Cage has kind of gone on our path, which is asking ‘where do we take adventure games from here? How do we evolve it and make it more of a storytelling medium and less of a puzzle-based medium?’

I don't call that evolution. Why is story so much better than puzzles? They are both equally important to me. This is the basis of my decline of interest from Telltale and why I never liked BTTF.

[RAnthonyMahan]

Mmm...yeah. That quote is a big red flag.

I'm tired of people thinking gameplay and story have to be mutually exclusive. It seems most games either have high emphasis on gameplay and low on story (e.g.: Mario, Doom) or the other way around (Planescape: Torment, Heavy Rain). Ideally, every game would be great when it comes to both story and gameplay, which isn't an impossible task. Deus Ex is a perfect example of this. It's got a creative, fleshed-out setting and a captivating plot, but even without that it's a great mixture of FPS/RPG/stealth gameplay. Or to use an adventure game example, there's The Longest Journey. Great setting, great plot, great characters...and what do you know, great puzzles (except that awful rubber duck one at the beginning ).

If Telltale wants more focus on storytelling, that's great. I'd encourage that, especially since every last one of Telltale's games have been well-written, and that talent should shine all it can. But that doesn't mean getting rid of puzzles. Story and gameplay are not enemies, they're meant to complement each other.

[Lambonius]

Originally Posted by RAnthonyMahan

Mmm...yeah. That quote is a big red flag.

I'm tired of people thinking gameplay and story have to be mutually exclusive. It seems most games either have high emphasis on gameplay and low on story (e.g.: Mario, Doom) or the other way around (Planescape: Torment, Heavy Rain). Ideally, every game would be great when it comes to both story and gameplay, which isn't an impossible task. Deus Ex is a perfect example of this. It's got a creative, fleshed-out setting and a captivating plot, but even without that it's a great mixture of FPS/RPG/stealth gameplay. Or to use an adventure game example, there's The Longest Journey. Great setting, great plot, great characters...and what do you know, great puzzles (except that awful rubber duck one at the beginning ).

If Telltale wants more focus on storytelling, that's great. I'd encourage that, especially since every last one of Telltale's games have been well-written, and that talent should shine all it can. But that doesn't mean getting rid of puzzles. Story and gameplay are not enemies, they're meant to complement each other.

Yes! Very well put. I couldn't agree more.

[jonathanfrisby]

I think any mention of King's Quest by IGN is cause to not entirely count Telltale out yet...

[BagginsKQ]

I won't disagree, the 'on-rails' approach to story telling can really take you out of the 'game', its more akin to that old ride at epcott center, where people in your cart could all vote on the 'ending' of the ride, and then get the ending. Or if no choice was made, given a random ending.

It's also very much a revert back to the old "make a choice/choose your own adventure' books which were often said to be the inspiration for early Adventure games and sub-genre 'interactive novellas'(which are super popular in Japan). They have their place in the history of 'adventure gaming' but shouldn't be the only form of 'adventure gaming'.

Even Roberta Williams in one interview (circa Phantasmagoria just before she started working on KQ8, IIRC) nodded to wanting to moving games in that direction of story telling more organic environmental interactivity. That is as she explained old style adventure-game puzzles were a something she saw as a limitation in the technology, because of limited resources you couldn't do things you might choose to do in a real-life situation. She was hoping to make things more interactive, more of a virtual reality.

Of course even the way Roberta described it could end up more like an action game (a game like Thief series, or Deus Ex may fit into storytelling more environmental interactivity), than what Telltale has done, which in many ways stifled 'interactivity'. Although it does rely more on environmental interactivity and on the spot choices.

[Blackthorne519]

IGN only mentioned it because they'd mentioned it in their own article, three years ago.

They're not doing it. If they were, they'd have done it by now. The IPs they have now are far more interesting and lucrative for them.


Bt

[Chyron8472]

Originally Posted by Blackthorne519

IGN only mentioned it because they'd mentioned it in their own article, three years ago.

They're not doing it. If they were, they'd have done it by now. The IPs they have now are far more interesting and lucrative for them.

Plus, I doubt the license from Activision hasn't expired by now.

[MtnPeak]

Quote:
David Cage has kind of gone on our path, which is asking ‘where do we take adventure games from here? How do we evolve it and make it more of a storytelling medium and less of a puzzle-based medium?’

I am so sick and tired of people from Telltale talking about how they are supposedly "evolving" the adventure game genre. What they are doing is nothing new and is NOT even making true adventure games. And who the hell do they think they are with the suggestion that they alone are going to change a genre?

As I posted before, they are basically making games that rely more on QTE's (Quick Time Events) than on letting the player have more control and freedom to explore the virtual world. What they are doing is closer to interactive movies. This is NOT NEW. Telltale needs to quit acting like they are some great pioneers and innovators, since what they are doing is basically Dragon's Lair with dialogue trees, more story and an easier interface.

Clip from the QTE-filled, interactive movie and apparent inspiration for Telltale's new game design direction:

http://youtu.be/P3XNQja0H7I

Telltale's apparent philosophy is to reject much of what actually makes adventure games adventure games. It is time to stop calling Telltale an adventure game developer. We should call Telltale what they are: an interactive movie factory whose management has explicitly rejected the idea of challenging puzzles and of giving the player the freedom to explore.

[BagginsKQ]

IGN only mentioned it because they'd mentioned it in their own article, three years ago.

Actually only two years ago on the 17th of this month. Do you have a problem with simple math?

It will be three years next february (2014).

[MtnPeak]

Originally Posted by Chyron8472

Plus, I doubt the license from Activision hasn't expired by now.

I think Replay Games is going to end up doing a new King's Quest.

They got Leisure Suit Larry, and I think they will be working with Mark Crowe on a new game in the near future. Based on a recent Josh Mandel comment on Kickstarter, some have speculated that Mark Crowe is doing the Larry Reloaded box cover art and logo, and that Crowe (and Scott Murphy?) will probably have more involvement with Replay in the future.

I would welcome a KQ from Replay, since at least they love the original series and understand adventure gaming.