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Legend of Kyrandia

Erebus

Arcane
Joined
Jul 12, 2008
Messages
4,763
I'd heard of the series, but had never played it before. Recently, I decided to give "Hand of Fate" a try and really enjoyed it. I'll probably give "Malcolm's Revenge" a try in the future. LoK 1 doesn't appeal to me so much, possibly because the main character doesn't look very interesting.

I briefly read about the story of LoK 1 before starting to play its sequel and it was more than enough : the plots have almost nothing in common. In Lok 2, the land of Kyrandia is disappearing bit by bit and the kingdom's mystics can't figure out why. Then a giant sentient hand (seriously) tells them that what they need to stop the destruction is a magical anchor found at the center of the Earth. A young alchemist named Zanthia is chosen for the mission (apparently, she was a minor character in LoK 1). Zanthia plans to create a teleportation potion to get to the center of the Earth quickly, but as she comes back to her swamp house, she has an unpleasant surprise : somebody has just destroyed most of her equipment and stolen the rest. Getting to her destination is going to be harder than she expected.

"Hand of Fate" isn't as horribly difficult as many adventure games of the 90s. Most of the puzzles rely on using the right items (or making the right potions), but they're not especially convoluted. You don't have to search forever to find an item that should be fairly common and a few puzzles have more than one solution. All in all, the game is fairly merciful : Zanthia will often give clues regarding the way to solve an obstacle. She can die, but that usually requires a gross error of judgement. And you can't get stuck because you missed a necessary item and can no longer go back to obtain it (an unsatisfying way of failing also known as the SIERRA!RAGE!). In fact, Zanthia loses almost all of her equipment at the beginning of each new part of the game (there are about half a dozen of them, some longer than others).

The adventure is quite entertaining and Zanthia's a nice heroine. There are a lot of imaginative or amusing encounters and the places we get to visit are pretty diverse. The humor, while not as good as what's found in a Monkey Island game, is nevertheless fairly amusing. The plot isn't the main focus of the game, but it's fairly decent and has a few fun twists.

All in all, a good way of spending a few hours. I played the floppy version, but had a look at the CD version on Youtube ; Zanthia's voice actress isn't bad, but I don't think the voices add much to the game.
 

Stabwound

Arcane
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
3,240
I think Malcolm's Revenge is the best of the series. Multiple paths, fun main character, interesting world, what's not to like? Other than some illogical puzzles, which are in virtually ever game of the time.
 

Sceptic

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 2, 2010
Messages
10,871
Divinity: Original Sin
I don't like HOF. Puzzles are a joke compared to LOK, and that's saying something considering LOK's were pretty poor overall. HOF kept a lot of the pointless trial and error (like all that shit you have to do on Volcania - pure pointless filler) but with the difficulty level being even lower than LOK it's just a pain to play. And the endgame is an abomination (WTF is this "click on the right spot to not die" arcade shit doing in my adventure game?). Story is OK and Zanthia herself is fun, but the gameplay's just terrible.

MR's by far the best. Multiple paths, multiple solutions, multiple endings, great main character and world... and the puzzles (aside from a few obscure ones) are a huge improvement over the previous entries.
 

Erebus

Arcane
Joined
Jul 12, 2008
Messages
4,763
(like all that shit you have to do on Volcania - pure pointless filler)

You don't really have to do a lot on Volcania : it's not hard to figure out that the inhabitants are wasting your time and to find the right way to get to the next part of the game. While it's not a very enjoyable part of the game in itself, I was rather amused by the way it plays with the frustration of the player.

It's true that the puzzles could have been a bit more difficult, but I'm really not fond of the head-banging puzzles found in many other adventure games ("No April, you can't get the key without a clamp, a clothesline and a rubber duck ! And there's only one of each in your whole world !").
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
MR is soulless decline (bone collection, WHEE), but I'm not surprised that Codex C&C fetishists like it.

I did like the part where you get turned into a mouse, though.
 

RK47

collides like two planets pulled by gravity
Patron
Joined
Feb 23, 2006
Messages
28,396
Location
Not Here
Dead State Divinity: Original Sin
I think Malcolm's Revenge is the best of the series. Multiple paths, fun main character, interesting world, what's not to like? Other than some illogical puzzles, which are in virtually ever game of the time.

I think that game buried the franchise. I know what to expect in Myst and did not get the hype nor bought the game. 7th Guest was also one of those I skipped. I enjoyed Hand of Fate (Zanthias <3) and the first Kyrandia (Lots of Sierra-like deaths but fair) tremendously, imagine my disappointment at Malcolm's Revenge after the first segment is over. Completely fucked up - it's not the dying part that I hate, it's just...super trial and error.
 

Castanova

Prophet
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Messages
2,949
Location
The White Visitation
I'll add my vote as HoF being the best, LoK being pretty excellent as well, and MR being pretty damn bad. I actually replay HoF every few years. One of the most memorable adventure games for me.
 

Jasede

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
24,793
Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut I'm very into cock and ball torture
LoK was great; it was the first adventure game I legitimately owned. It came for free on an issue of either PC Action or Gamestar, two local gaming magazines. It had full English voice-acting so I remember it pretty well. Who didn't have fun mapping that cave with the fire berries?

I fondly remember being stuck FOREVER at the gemstone puzzle because I just couldn't find out how the actually begin it. Nobody told me there was a fixed gem that is unique that you can only find by clicking in a certain spot! I never played the others, though Zanthia was a real bro in LoK.
 

SCO

Arcane
In My Safe Space
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
16,320
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
LoK was one of the most annoying games ever. The maze, the droppable consumable stuff, the backtracking, the deaths, the tiny amount of text or hotspots, the lame protagonist...
Even lure of the temptress was less annoying

Pretty nice music *track* though

edit: everyone disagrees! THREAD IS A SUCCESS
 

Boleskine

Arcane
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Messages
4,045
Cool news! That should mean they'll complete the trilogy at some point, too.
 

LizardKing

Scholar
Joined
Apr 12, 2012
Messages
126
Brandon is the worst name for an adventure game protagonist, ever.

Joe Kucan actually voiced him in the first game, not sure about the sequels.

The first Kyrandia had some bad design decisions.
Gems appearing randomly, backtracking, that fucking maze..
It's still a charming game, appealing visuals and Frank Klepacki did some nice tracks there.

I had LoK2 back when it was released, but I never had a chance to play it because some asshole stole it.
I will definitely check out LoK2 and LoK3 as soon as they are available on gog.
 

groke

Arcane
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Joined
Dec 28, 2011
Messages
2,395
Location
SAVE THIS CHARACTER? NO.
Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Torment: Tides of Numenera BattleTech I'm very into cock and ball torture
First Kyrandia is only Kyrandia.

And DAT SOUNDTRACK!

Also, as with every Westwood game, the adlib soundtrack is equally fantastic (if not better), but if I link to that one Jaesun might yell at me.

PS: OP is a faggot, Brandon is probably the greatest adventure game protagonist ever because:
 
Last edited:

suejak

Arbiter
Patron
Village Idiot
Joined
Aug 16, 2012
Messages
1,394
My favourite is also the first, but I literally get erections for graphics/audio like that.

Never beaten any of them coz they're just too bland. They're essentially King's Quest clones, and I hate King's Quest.
 

Fowyr

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
7,671
HoF is not the best adventure game overall, but still I greatly enjoy replaying it every four or five years.
 

MRY

Wormwood Studios
Developer
Joined
Aug 15, 2012
Messages
5,703
Location
California
Kyrandia was one of my first games. The fact that you could eat both apples and thus condemn yourself to an impossible game hours later was seriously enraging for a 12 year old. That said, the game is pretty sweet, if for no other reason than because its use of colors is so confident and thematically consistent. I mean, I love the muted palette Vic used in Primordia, but for other reasons, I love the deep purples, reds, and greens that weave their way through Kyrandia.

For whatever reason, I never got into the second game. I think my patience for trial-and-error had gone down, and -- being a teenager -- the less angsty/serious plot actually was a net negative for me. I'm sure if I played them now, I'd like HoF more than LoK, but at the time, HoF felt like it was just making a joke out of a serious and interesting setting.

[EDIT: Also, I refused to play Malcolm's Revenge because the changed art style was so hideous. How can anyone defend the game? Whatever its other merits, any game that ruins visuals like that deserves nothing but scorn.]
 
Joined
Mar 14, 2012
Messages
1,464
Divinity: Original Sin Torment: Tides of Numenera Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath
Whoa.. I've just bought the whole trilogy and realized that Kyrandia 3 is really ugly. :(
When I was a kid I never noticed that it had low-polygonal prerendered backgrounds instead of good old pixel-art ones from Kyrandia 1/2 which are still looking goddamn majestic.
 

Stabwound

Arcane
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
3,240
Malcolm's Revenge is the best game by far. Y'all motherfuckers need jesus.

The only problem is that it's "wacky" and many of the puzzle solutions make zero logical sense, but I like that it has multiple paths and solutions. Great game.
 

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