What I feel these games needs to do

[Mr. Freeze]

I actually made an account just to post this when I heard the announcement, lol. I've bought games from you guys in the past and I've enjoyed that fact that you stayed true to their original source material in terms of atmosphere and feel. I also like that y'all actually read these forums and take things we say into consideration.

However, like many others here, I felt a slight sense of unease when I heard this announced (and a great deal of excitement!). As a loyal fan of the series, I'm extremely happy that the series is getting its first official game since 1998, but I'm also worried it won't get proper treatment since all your previous games have had a very distinct style to them. I'm sure all you at Telltale have realized that most of the old fans feel the same way and you've taken it into consideration, so I don't mean to insult your intelligence with this list; I just need to vent and know that I got this out there somewhere.

1. They need to feel like the old games: A very broad statement, so I'll try to clarify. A moderate amount of camp, but not an excessive amount. And please, please don't overextend into trying to make it more dramatic like The Silver Lining.... unless you've got a truly phenomenal script for any game you decide to take that approach with. I've enjoyed their game for the nostalgia, but it doesn't feel like a true King's Quest game to me. It's taken a very strong "Tell, don't show" approach in terms of explaining the characters and story, and all that translates into is a lot of cheesy dialogue followed swiftly by a facepalm. That aside, the same style of humor being present is very important to me. And, just saying - a great way to maintain a similar feel is to get some of the original voice actors. A lot of them frequently come back to do work on fan games, particularly Josh Mandel (the iconic King Graham).

And I can't stress this enough... make sure the narrator doesn't suck.

2. I don't want to play the same games over, except in 3D: I understand you want to try to appeal to new gamers as well as pleasing the old fans, so this shouldn't be too much of a problem. So please, feel free to take a lot creative licence with these games. Change up the stories a little bit (as long as they're still good), make completely new dialogue, come up with lots of new puzzles, etc. Just be sure that the style does justice to the traditional games and that the characters are essentially the same people.

3. The puzzle logic needs to be the same and there needs to be an adequate amount of ways to die: A lot of people have exaggerated how often you could die in the old games. Besides the obvious falling off cliffs, there wasn't literally a death on every screen. But at the same time, we shouldn't really feel safe when playing a King's Quest game, which is another problem I have with The Silver Lining - it's really obvious when I'm safe and when I'm not. It shouldn't ever be like that.

4. Inclusion of The Black Cloak Society: The only real loose end in the series and the main reason most fans haven't felt closure (aside from the poor job done in KQ:MoE). Whether or not you guys explain it in these games or choose to explain it in any potential future sequels, I don't really care. Just a mention of it would be great.

So, that's the end of my little rant. I'm looking forward to seeing the results and I'll surely buy it regardless of what I think from any previews we get. If all turns out well, then who knows? Maybe we'll finally get an official conclusion to the series we all love.

[Irishmile]

I agree with everything you said... but one thing that should be added is that they really need to up their game with clickable things... you play the old games and the narrator describes just about every little thing you click on.. and everything that the character does..... they even describe little things like windows, door, roads.... everything.

My biggest complaint about ToMI was that it felt very small... there was not a whole lot going on visually in the background... it really should have been more lush and populated... lets not do that again with KQ.

[Lambonius]

Originally Posted by Mr. Freeze

I actually made an account just to post this when I heard the announcement, lol. I've bought games from you guys in the past and I've enjoyed that fact that you stayed true to their original source material in terms of atmosphere and feel. I also like that y'all actually read these forums and take things we say into consideration.

However, like many others here, I felt a slight sense of unease when I heard this announced (and a great deal of excitement!). As a loyal fan of the series, I'm extremely happy that the series is getting its first official game since 1998, but I'm also worried it won't get proper treatment since all your previous games have had a very distinct style to them. I'm sure all you at Telltale have realized that most of the old fans feel the same way and you've taken it into consideration, so I don't mean to insult your intelligence with this list; I just need to vent and know that I got this out there somewhere.

1. They need to feel like the old games: A very broad statement, so I'll try to clarify. A moderate amount of camp, but not an excessive amount. And please, please don't overextend into trying to make it more dramatic like The Silver Lining.... unless you've got a truly phenomenal script for any game you decide to take that approach with. I've enjoyed their game for the nostalgia, but it doesn't feel like a true King's Quest game to me. It's taken a very strong "Tell, don't show" approach in terms of explaining the characters and story, and all that translates into is a lot of cheesy dialogue followed swiftly by a facepalm. That aside, the same style of humor being present is very important to me. And, just saying - a great way to maintain a similar feel is to get some of the original voice actors. A lot of them frequently come back to do work on fan games, particularly Josh Mandel (the iconic King Graham).

And I can't stress this enough... make sure the narrator doesn't suck.

2. I don't want to play the same games over, except in 3D: I understand you want to try to appeal to new gamers as well as pleasing the old fans, so this shouldn't be too much of a problem. So please, feel free to take a lot creative lisence with these games. Change up the stories a little bit (as long as they're still good), make completely new dialogue, come up with lots of new puzzles, etc. Just be sure that the style does justice to the traditional games and that the characters are essentially the same people.

3. The puzzle logic needs to be the same and there needs to be an adequate amount of ways to die: A lot of people have exaggerated how often you could die in the old games. Besides the obvious falling off cliffs, there wasn't literally a death on every screen. But at the same time, we shouldn't really feel safe when playing a King's Quest game, which is another problem I have with The Silver Lining - it's really obvious when I'm safe and when I'm not. It shouldn't ever be like that.

4. Inclusion of The Black Cloak Society: The only real loose end in the series and the main reason most fans haven't felt closure (aside from the poor job done in KQ:MoE). Whether or not you guys explain it in these games or choose to explain it in any potential future sequels, I don't really care. Just a mention of it would be great.

So, that's the end of my little rant. I'm looking forward to seeing the results and I'll surely buy it regardless of what I think from any previews we get. If all turns out well, then who knows? Maybe we'll finally get an official conclusion to the series we all love.

I agree wholeheartedly with everything you've said, except the Black Cloak Society part. I think it was a lame idea to begin with. Ooh, a secret society of evil wizards and witches that all wear black robes??? Real original, Jane. Personally, I'd like to either see a true reboot, where we start with Sir Graham on a new quest to become king OR a series of totally standalone stories that don't touch the storyline of the original games in any way.

PS: You are dead on about The Silver Lining. I couldn't have said it better.

[Mr. Freeze]

Really? I thought it was a great idea. It adds the possibility that there's more to the story that meets the eye; that perhaps all the misfortunes that's happened to the royal family weren't merely coincidence. Story depth is something I'm all for.

[MusicallyInspired]

But that's exactly what TSL did....and you've already shared your thoughts on that. Roberta herself always meant for every game to be their own story and said the only correlation was with Manannan and Mordack (being brothers). She wasn't even all that happy with what Jane added to KQ6 in terms of correlation.

[Mr. Freeze]

I never said TSL's story was bad. I think it's pretty good for a fan game so far. My main problems are with the overall script (the tone it takes, how it describes everything), dialogue, and voice acting. Notice how I didn't get into specifics other than *perhaps* all the misfortunes weren't coincidence since some of the villains were intertwined in more than we knew prior to KQ6. That's all KQ6 alluded to, and that's all I'm leaving it at.

She may have meant for the games to be standalone, but that doesn't mean it's not objectively better for the story to explain the connection. I think it could be a really good idea if done right.

[MusicallyInspired]

Originally Posted by Mr. Freeze

She may have meant for the games to be standalone, but that doesn't mean it's not objectively better for the story to explain the connection. I think it could be a really good idea if done right.

That's really quite subjective.

[Mr. Freeze]

Somewhat, but then again, so are a lot of art-based opinions.

There are, however, a lot of things that are generally recognized as being good elements of stories. Layers of intelligent complexity without bordering convolution is usually a good thing. How good the final product ends up being if they decide to go down this road would be a result of how smartly and carefully it's treated.

[Simo Sakari Aaltonen]

The thing is, fairy tales and storybooks never had this kind of interconnectedness. Not saying it is a bad idea in general, just that I believe it is not the right choice here...

As we all know, official King's Quest incorporates numerous fairy tales, legends and myths in its world. But it lets them remain distinct from each other, in keeping with the spirit of the source material. We are not expected to believe that Rumpelstiltskin is Pan's father, for example.

So adding this further layer of nearly everything and everyone being intertwined à la Wold Newton or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or the X-Men loses the simplicity that archetypal stories and myths depend on for their effect...

[Vainamoinen]

Originally Posted by Irishmile

My biggest complaint about ToMI was that it felt very small... there was not a whole lot going on visually in the background... it really should have been more lush and populated... lets not do that again with KQ.

Errrr... have you played "Back to the Future" yet?

[Mr. Freeze]

Originally Posted by Simo Sakari Aaltonen

The thing is, fairy tales and storybooks never had this kind of interconnectedness. Not saying it is a bad idea in general, just that I believe it is not the right choice here...

As we all know, official King's Quest incorporates numerous fairy tales, legends and myths in its world. But it lets them remain distinct from each other, in keeping with the spirit of the source material. We are not expected to believe that Rumpelstiltskin is Pan's father, for example.

So adding this further layer of nearly everything and everyone being intertwined à la Wold Newton or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or the X-Men loses the simplicity that archetypal stories and myths depend on for their effect...

True. It makes several allusions to fairy tales that never have interconnectedness and whatnot, but what I have in mind is for them to merely explain something that was briefly mentioned. It doesn't have to become a drama. KQ6 is by far and large considered the best KQ game so far, and they managed to introduce a possible connection without losing the quality of the game.