Decline New King's Quest game - MASSIVE DECLINE Everything is shit

[FeelTheRads]

It really blows my mind when I see people defend QTEs.

Of course they do. It's the easiest way of pretending you're playing a game without actually playing. Hell, you can even train monkeys to repeat keystrokes, it must be like second nature to them, may the dorito pope bless their hearts and may cold Mountain Dew always fill their glasses.

 

[Fronzel Neekburm]

If they wanted to make yet another shitty Platformer, why in the fuck did they need the Kings Quest name?

Activision could have saved (thousands(?) and just made a new game with a new IP.

Blackthorne pretty much nailed it in an earlier post. The King's Quest nametag is literally the only thing this bland shit has going for it. Otherwise, no one would care one way or the other.

Besides, never underestimate the power of ragebuy! Even in the most blatant cases of franchise rape, there's going to be a ton of oldschool fans so deluded that, even though they're usually smart enough to see right through the mantra-like bullshit they're being fed by PR departments, they figure they should still give this a chance, even if it's just to prove to themselves that, yes, the final product really is that shitty. The world would be a better place if these people just went with the old Jack Horner credo: "If it looks like shit and it sounds like shit, then it must be shit." and spend their money on something worthwhile instead of crap with a nostalgia-goggled nametag.

 

[buzz]

King's Quest is not mainstream even by niche PC gamer standards, not kidding. When I was a kid, I used to play adventure games with a couple of buddies. The only Sierra title we ever managed to get back then was GK3 and Police Quest. Bootlegged/pirated LucasArts games, Broken Sword, TLJ and Syberia a bit later, even something like Future Wars. I only knew about the *Quest games from a computer magazine that just namedropped Sierra, but not really tying any info to them. You need to dig really deep to find anyone who knows more about this series than faintly hearing the name. It's in the same ballpark as the goldbox games and magic candle in terms of popularity.

There's a reason why Telltale did Sam&Max and Monkey Island but cancelled their KQ game.

 

[taxalot]

I do not blame Telltale. They are fully respectable in my books. Their Sam and Max games were actually very good despite the episodic format. Tales of Monkey Island was disappointing but it tried. Strongbad was also weird but entertaining. When they bought adventure games licenses, they did the adventure games they could.

Then they moved to interactive movies. Now, to be honest, the first season of Walking Dead was a pleasant surprise. It IS an interactive movie, but I actually believe there is nothing wrong with interactive movies in itself. It's a thing. It's not really a game, neither a movie. You either like it or don't. I happened to like TWD. Compared to that abomination of Heavy Rain, it was a masterpiece of writing and storytelling. Telltale has my full respect.

What I do have a problem however, is calling things what they are not. Calling this game King's Quest when it's not King's Quest make you look like an asshole. Writing in online magazines that it's "true to its roots" make you look like an ignorant dork. That's just it. You cannot really compare what those Odd Gentlemen do to what Telltale is doing. The latter are much more honest in their work, in a "take it or leave it" kind of way.

 

[TheGreatOne]

It's in the same ballpark as the goldbox games and magic candle in terms of popularity.

I think that's an exaggeration, and that goldbox and magic candle aren't in the same category (magic candle is more obscure obviously)

KQ does have some mainstream recognition on youtube

2.4 million views

500k views. Those guys have also done Space Quest and other Sierra games as well if I recall.

 

[FeelTheRads]

King's Quest is not mainstream even by niche PC gamer standards, not kidding. When I was a kid, I used to play adventure games with a couple of buddies. The only Sierra title we ever managed to get back then was GK3 and Police Quest. Bootlegged/pirated LucasArts games, Broken Sword, TLJ and Syberia a bit later, even something like Future Wars. I only knew about the *Quest games from a computer magazine that just namedropped Sierra, but not really tying any info to them. You need to dig really deep to find anyone who knows more about this series than faintly hearing the name. It's in the same ballpark as the goldbox games and magic candle in terms of popularity.

There's a reason why Telltale did Sam&Max and Monkey Island but cancelled their KQ game.

Some piracy statistics from some third-world shithole don't really say anything about what happened in the actual world.
I guess LucasArts games were overall always more popular and all magazines were always babbling about them, but by the time computer magazines started to appear in the area most Sierra series were already ending. But while you didn't hear about KQ1 you also didn't really hear about Maniac Mansion or Zak McKracken either.

 

[buzz]

Still, considering the current modern gamer who doesn't probably have a clue that there was a TES game before Skyrim or a Fallout before FO3 (or Warcraft games before WoW, not fucking kidding), selling them King's Quest as a brand seems weird. You might as well make a new IP, it would probably hold similar value.

 

[TheGreatOne]

They're scam artists like JES. They're putting all their bets on riding on nostalgia value. By the time peopple who are nostalgic for old school KQ realize the game is nothing like a proper KQ game, they've already grabbed the money and made a run for it.

 

[SCO]

You're too young.

 

[buzz]

You're too young.

Uhm, that was the point? If kids like us (interested in adventure games in the first place) had no idea in the late 90s/early 00s about such games, what are the chances your average CoD kiddie would? Because a CoD kiddie is the target audience of their "reboot", not one of those couple of hundred of thousands people that bought the games in the golden age of adventure games.



What I was trying to say is that the franchise in question is old (20 years since KQ7) and not as cult-famous as other adventure game franchises like Myst or Monkey Island, so the actual brand power is not really there. Which makes this particular franchise rape by Activision stupid.

It's like doing a Zork action game. What's the point? Whoever knows or played Zork is either a guy like us who'd consider it an abomination or too old to care about video games anymore. For everyone else, the game could've been called anything at all and it would still be just as relevant.

 

[SCO]

The point is the journalists giving it the attention it doesn't deserve.

 

[Blackthorne]

It's true. People read books in the past because the technology for movies was not there.
It's the same with games.

I want this printed on paper and sent to every gamer that the goddamn mail-men can find. I want this on mugs, I want this on T-Shirts, I want this sent to the president of every goddamn gaming company.

This is probably the best thing I've read about the whole subject of games lately, and this is the kind of shit games journalists should writing about, instead of the crap about either "video games as art" or "video games as a social tool"... THIS is games. I digress. But it's sad when a simple quote on a forum somewhere makes a greater satirical point about the production of video games than anything else I've read in years.

If I make a sequel to QFI, I'm putting you in the game as a fucking guru.


Bt

 

[abnaxus]

They might actually make something worse than Mask of Eternity.

 

[Tehdagah]

It really blows my mind when I see people defend QTEs. "Oh! Heavy Rain had them! Fahrenheit had them!" Sometimes good things have shitty elements in them - this does not give the shitty idea any validity. I really don't KNOW if this "King's Quest" will have QTEs, but it seems likely. It also irks me that I have seen people refer to these as "adventure game mechanics". If someone were to do this to me, in person, I would probably throttle them as I explained to them how their revisionist and apologist views of adventure games has lead to their doom.

I will say - this "teaser trailer" and conveniently timed publicity stunt of giving Ken and Roberta Williams an "Icon Award" has left me wanting for sure - let's see some game-play, some REAL gameplay, and show me how you really "innovated" the charm, magic and wonder of King's Quest. Or if you really did make Dragon's Lair 3. I'm glad all the kids think this is so cool, but older gamers like me aren't so impressed by cheap tricks.


Bt

QTEs are just reflex mini-games. People are seeing too much trouble in something so simple.

 

[Athelas]

It really blows my mind when I see people defend QTEs. "Oh! Heavy Rain had them! Fahrenheit had them!" Sometimes good things have shitty elements in them - this does not give the shitty idea any validity. I really don't KNOW if this "King's Quest" will have QTEs, but it seems likely. It also irks me that I have seen people refer to these as "adventure game mechanics". If someone were to do this to me, in person, I would probably throttle them as I explained to them how their revisionist and apologist views of adventure games has lead to their doom.

I will say - this "teaser trailer" and conveniently timed publicity stunt of giving Ken and Roberta Williams an "Icon Award" has left me wanting for sure - let's see some game-play, some REAL gameplay, and show me how you really "innovated" the charm, magic and wonder of King's Quest. Or if you really did make Dragon's Lair 3. I'm glad all the kids think this is so cool, but older gamers like me aren't so impressed by cheap tricks.


Bt

QTEs are just reflex mini-games. People are seeing too much trouble in something so simple.

If you can succeed at something with blind repetition, it's not very good gameplay design. QTE's usually boil down to this (die the first time when you fail to perform the completely new button combination in 2 seconds, get it right the second time). It's also usually an excuse to cut gameplay (instead of fighting the cool giant monster, you get to watch a cutscene where you deliver a lucky fatal blow with a QTE),

 

[pippin]

The problem with QTEs is that they completely take you away from the game. Played Fahrenheit and when main guy was supposed to have a regression, and something plot related happens but I couldn't care because I was playing Simon Says with mr Cage. The only point when this felt relevant was when claustrophobic girl must navigate through really narrow spaces.
By the way, there's an in-game poster which says "Citizen Cage". No kidding.

 

[Boleskine]

QTEs nothing more than a tool to keep players from falling asleep while they watch, rather than play, a game. False sense of control and influence over the game's narrative.

 

[Taluntain]

Some bizarre motivation forces me to make this post.

My experience with the King's Quest series.

By a drunken old fart.

My gaming background goes way back to the late 80s. Even though I never played the games back in the day, the phrase "King's Quest" popped up time and time again, from guys I knew at school, from the gaming mag(s) I read back then, and so on. It wasn't just a thing, it was something spoken of in revered tones, even though it was just a game series. "A new King's Quest game is coming" was a phrase that seemed to make far too many people wet their pants with glee. Only the Ultima series was more revered back then. Space Quest was just something funny and silly, and the Larry games were something people loved to chastise in public, but played extensively at home when no one was looking. (Just trust me on that last bit.)

Today I own the King's Quest Collection that comprises of KQ 1-6 (the one with the minotaur from KQ6 on the front) plus a budget re-release of 7. I do not own a copy of KQ8. Meanwhile, a friend of mine who pretty much grew up on the King's Quest games, who discarded almost all of his game stock some years ago (and some of it to me) STILL holds on to his copies of the Roberta Williams Anthology and KQ8 to this day. He loves the series, almost worships them. Now I have to bring him the bad news that there's a new King's Quest game coming, and that it's even worse than KQ8.

While I've had a go at all the KQ games (except KQ8, for obvious reasons) I've only completed the first four. Here's the thing: Despite having completed the first four KQ games, I barely remember anything worthwhile from them. A screen here, a snippet there (mostly from KQ3) but that's it. KQ5 always felt wrong somehow, so I never got far with that (I never even managed to reach a point where I should hate/loathe the owl.). KQ6, on the other hand, though I never completed it myself, I remember parts of it vividly. In my books, KQ6 is the highpoint of the series. Memorable setting, memorable (side) characters, memorable puzzles, and who can forget "GIRL IN THE TOOOWWWEERR!"? KQ7, no memories. Looks Disney-esque, but that's it.

How does my memory compare to other Sierra games? I could fire up Larry 1 right now and complete it before dawn without any outside help, even though I haven't played it in over a decade at the least. I might forget some of the protocols of Police Quest 1, but otherwise get very far. I remember BOTH ways to get rid of the Spider Droid in Space Quest 1, and could get as far as Space Quest 3 (or even 4) without any outside help. But King's Quest 1-4? "404 - memory not found"

What many people have said here is true, King's Quest was by far the weakest "Quest" series that Sierra had going. But it was the first, the one that got the ball rolling. Without it, we would not have had Roger Wilco, Larry Laffer, Sonny Bonds or even Willy Beamish. We might go as far as to say that without King's Quest we would not have Maniac Mansion and the entire LucasArts catalogue of adventure games. It has its place in gaming history. But sadly, that is where King's Quest belongs, in the history books. Trying to revive an old corpse like King's Quest isn't feasible, regardless of what Roberta Williams thinks of it. Just forget it.

And that is precisely what these "Odd Gentlemen" should do: Forget it. Pack it up and move on. Whether they realize it or not, they're tampering with gaming history here. In the worst way possible. They've strayed too far from the formula that makes a KQ game, there's no correlation. At best they could (should, in fact) make a new IP, using the assets they've already created, and feel free to point out "how strong an influence King's Quest has upon it" and leave it at that. "An homage to King's Quest" has a lot better ring to it than someone digging up the dessicated corpse of the King's Quest series and raping it live at some stupid Las Vegas show.

...

Drunken rant over. Carry on.

The first KQ I played was actually KQ6 - it came bundled with a boatload of various hardware like CD-ROMs (as it came on CDs and this was a novelty back then), graphics cards, Sound Blaster, etc. And I've got a lot of memories of it, mostly because it took me ages to make much progress and because I didn't get past the labyrinth until I got a walkthrough, but I digress. KQ7 I liked quite a bit as well; it sure was cartoony, but that's part of its charm. Some fond memories of that as well. Then just for the sake of completeness I've played through the first 5 games as well, but quite honestly, the only thing I remember about it is that I did it. I'd probably feel different if the order I'd played them in was reversed, but going from something much more advanced in every aspect to games like KQ1-5 and expecting to get impressed in any meaningful way was probably unrealistic. I had pretty much the same experience playing MM1 from inside DoTT for the first time. "Ooh, how quaint... well, that was fun for 10 minutes, let's get back to this century." They simply made the games the followed the early adventures so much better in every respect that going back just didn't make sense to me.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

I actually like KQ VII better than 1 or 2, and would put it roughly on par with V. I get why it gets such a bad rap; it's a marked departure from its predecessors (particularly its most immediate predecessor), but the environment art (Bountiful Woods, Ooga-Booga, Folderol, Etheria), is, IMO, some of the best in the series, and its plot is second only to KQ VI. The only criticism I've found very valid is about its level of ease. If the game was a little bit longer/puzzles were a little bit harder I would easily put it above IV on my ranking of the series.

This post also just made remember the song written for VII's opening cinematic. Fuck. That shit's gonna be stuck in my head now.

 

[DragoFireheart]

I'm not a Kings Quest fan and this shit is making me depressed.

Shit really does happen and then you die.

 

[Darth Roxor]

All the whining in this thread made me pick up KQ 4-6 on GOG

This better be good!

(yes i have huge sierra adventure game deficiencies)

 

[DragoFireheart]

All the whining in this thread made me pick up KQ 4-6 on GOG

This better be good!

(yes i have huge sierra adventure game deficiencies)

I remember being younger and playing KQ 5 a little bit. Remember being in the village, exploring.

I also remember how every other screen killed me, be it instantly dying in the forest or death by scorpion.

 

[TheGreatOne]

All the whining in this thread made me pick up KQ 4-6 on GOG

This better be good!

(yes i have huge sierra adventure game deficiencies)

Enjoy the puns

 

[Skunkpew]

I remember when KQ5 came out how much I hated it. It was the first adventure game I remember playing that was icon-based rather than parser or verb-based. The icons seemed so different at the time and even then they seemed so limiting. But to me it's a solid game and I'm glad the text parser has been left behind. It's the text parser that's so limiting, since if you're presented with a screen of objects you should be able to interact with them directly without having to fiddle with the parser, and the challenge should be in the puzzles and relationship of the items.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I remember when KQ5 came out how much I hated it. It was the first adventure game I remember playing that was icon-based rather than parser or verb-based. The icons seemed so different at the time and even then they seemed so limiting. But to me it's a solid game and I'm glad the text parser has been left behind. It's the text parser that's so limiting, since if you're presented with a screen of objects you should be able to interact with them directly without having to fiddle with the parser, and the challenge should be in the puzzles and relationship of the items.

I feel rather differently about text parsers - I miss them because their limited nature allowed me to express my creativity, in a way; or at least certainly to think about puzzles in a different light. I also think fondly on parsers because I basically learned English by playing old Sierra adventures - especially Hero's Quest, Conquests of Camelot and King's Quest 3. Adventure games felt much more expansive during the parser era, to me - and this isn't just limited to Sierra games, I played all sorts of text based adventures, from Infocom games to obscure titles on the MSX such as Amazonia or Monte Cristo.

I remember being distinctly bothered when Sierra changed their production pipeline to their icon-based SCI, and I couldn't get into early SCI games such as KQ5 or SQ4; I also didn't care for the Larry or SQ1 remakes. However I did eventually warm up to it with Police Quest 3. I still can't think as fondly of the icon-driven games as the parser ones.