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

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

They released a screenshot from the latest chapter of a Sphinx. Who will be voiced by Lorraine Touissant (from Orange is the New Black).

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

A new concept art of Rosella (protagonist of KQ's 4 and 7)

 

[Infinitron]

They turned her from a Disney princess into a Terry Pratchett heroine?

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

She's got a bulge in the her pants....

 

[Blackthorne]

Seriously, it looks like rejected art from Final Fantasy. I really have just concluded that I don't care for Evan Cagle's art design for this game - it's tonally bonkers, and then you add in the shitty writing and you've got a solid turd wrapped in a King's Quest name. I really don't care if any more chapters of this game come out. They threw King's Quest into a blender with some hipsters and served up a shit smoothie, and I'm not pretending it's anything other than that.


Bt

 

[Jackalope]

They probably decided to replace the long-haired maiden Rosella with a tomboy wearing MC Hammer's pants, because hipsters and feminism.

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

Seriously, it looks like rejected art from Final Fantasy. I really have just concluded that I don't care for Evan Cagle's art design for this game - it's tonally bonkers, and then you add in the shitty writing and you've got a solid turd wrapped in a King's Quest name. I really don't care if any more chapters of this game come out. They threw King's Quest into a blender with some hipsters and served up a shit smoothie, and I'm not pretending it's anything other than that.


Bt

I'm in the game to see where it all ends up, but yes, the art direction has been terrible. It doesn't fit KQ at all. And yes, the game has a very hipster feel to it. Too many pop culture references and no fairy tales. KQ was never about pop culture references.....

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

King Graham = Osama Bin Laden?

 

[Jackalope]

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

I just wanted to inform those who have not played that there is a character named Mr. Fancycakes in this reboot of KQ.

 

[Jackalope]

Yep, and he's a goat. Though I'm convinced the artists who worked on this game don't know what a goat is.

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

Sierra has revealed that King’s Quest - Chapter 4: Snow Place Like Home, the penultimate chapter in the new King’s Quest adventure developed by The Odd Gentlemen, is expected to release worldwide on Sept. 27 for the PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Windows PC via Steam.

“King's Quest is approaching its final chapters, but there are still plenty of adventures, surprises and puns to be had,” said Matt Korba, president and creative director of The Odd Gentlemen. “Today we are incredibly excited to announce that players will be able to experience the last two chapters and bonus epilogue of King Graham's journey before the holidays.”

King’s Quest - Chapter 4: Snow Place Like Home opens on the fateful night when King Graham and Queen Valanice’s infant child Alexander was stolen from them. When Alexander mysteriously returns home 18 years later, however, Graham must decide how to reconnect with the boy he’s spent a lifetime searching for. And as father and son work together to solve the towering challenges of the puzzling Ice Palace, questions linger about just what happened all those years ago.

 

[Ivan]

odd gentleman should have stuck with PB Winterbottom

 

[Jackalope]

“Today we are incredibly excited to announce that players will be able to experience the last two chapters and bonus epilogue of King Graham's journey before the holidays.”

We get a new episode every 6 months, but now they want to release two episodes and an epiloge before Christmas? Sure, goood luck with that. :D

 

[Blackthorne]

Yeah, they're dumping out the rest of this quickly, and then moving on. They ran Sierra into the ground, again.


Bt

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

Yeah, they're dumping out the rest of this quickly, and then moving on. They ran Sierra into the ground, again.


Bt

What makes you say that?

 

[Redlands]

Yeah, they're dumping out the rest of this quickly, and then moving on. They ran Sierra into the ground, again.


Bt

What makes you say that?

Common sense.

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

Yeah, they're dumping out the rest of this quickly, and then moving on. They ran Sierra into the ground, again.


Bt

What makes you say that?

Common sense.

I haven't seen any evidence that it's the massive flop purists are claiming. As to "dumping the rest of this quickly"...Chapter 4 will be out 9/27. The last chapter was released in April...There's only one more chapter and a 94mg epilogue...I don't see how having one chapter out in September, and then say, another in December is "dumping it out quickly." I understand many here hate this game, but the "it's the worst game ever/biggest flop ever/they ran Sierra into the ground again" bitterness is a bit hyperbolic. Is it the best game ever? Nah. It's an enjoyable and flawed KQ game.

 

[Boleskine]

Seemed to me the Sierra Humble Bundle was a fundraiser for finishing this game since Activision doesn't want to waste any more pennies on it themselves.

I haven't seen any evidence that it's the massive flop purists are claiming. As to "dumping the rest of this quickly"...Chapter 4 will be out 9/27. The last chapter was released in April...There's only one more chapter and a 94mg epilogue...I don't see how having one chapter out in September, and then say, another in December is "dumping it out quickly." I understand many here hate this game, but the "it's the worst game ever/biggest flop ever/they ran Sierra into the ground again" bitterness is a bit hyperbolic. Is it the best game ever? Nah. It's an enjoyable and flawed KQ game.

That's funny, most of the hyperbole in this thread has come from you after you first stormed in here upset with anyone who wasn't mega hyped for what looked like a pretty mediocre game. Is the shill inside you reawakening? Let's look at some of your older posts.

The trailer for the second chapter looks horrible. Like a Nickelodeon kids movie.

This game needs to be cancelled

Looking back at how I defended this shitty, generic, shallow game, I'm ashamed. This game honestly kind of killed my interest in both King's Quest in general and Sierra games as well. At least Mask of Eternity had heart. You can say it wasn't a real KQ, and tonally and gameplay wise, it was a total departure. But you could also tell the game was made with real heart, Roberta was trying to do something new, bold, big. Mask of Eternity also at least kept to tying puzzles and the storyline to myths, folklore and legends - it had that unique fantasy kitchen sink thing that really defined King's Quest more than anything else. This game tries so hard to be this charming, Disney/Pixar like experience that it just falls flat. The characters are utterly shallow, overused cliches and really stock fantasy tropes. You have your lanky, underdog, sort of effeminate modern hero. Butch, tough inspiring female. A black character who is 'pissed off'...Ugh. Just such a shitty, generic game. If it didn't have the King's Quest label and PR attached it wouldn't have even sold 20k copies.

...

Seriously, I apologize for shilling for this game. I wish it wasn't made. I wish Activison would leave Sierra's corpse alone and let the brand rest with some dignity.

Not reverse psychology, just plain hatred.

You really think it cost more than 1.5 mil? I'm obviously not in the game industry but I figured a game with PS2 graphics wouldn't have cost so much.

As to the new KQ game: Forgettable with a tablet ready interface. Mask of Eternity was better. I just wished we could've gotten an SQ7 done right.

Even KQ7 had genuinely creepier moments, and more heart, than this shit fest of a game.

King Graham now has a very edgy soul patch. And you get to revisit Daventry again, and deal with the same forgettable cast of characters again, this time in an underground realm of the cheaply-drawn goblins:

King's Quest Episode II: Rehash of the Clone,

Due out Dec 16th

Yes, they included more scenes of Graham squeeing like a teenage girl for all the Tumblr newfags. Don't worry, BT. King's Quest is in good hipstery hands.

I mean, this alone, does this sound like KQ? Or does it sound like some cutesy baby indie fag shit:

Okay, that's pretty fucking stupid. We live in such a shitty, shitty age. I mean call Roberta Williams whatever you want, but she had more balls than these modern developers, she wasn't afraid to use the term "Goblin" or "Troll" or "Minotaur" or "Pan" or "Ceres." Game designers have become safe, tame pussies.

When you're dealing with a company like Activision, sales are all that matter. I'm a KQ fan. I'm just being realistic. Would I have loved a Hi-Res 2D KQ game, with beautiful high quality handpainted backgrounds that was a direct sequel? Yeah. But that's utterly unrealistic, and would never happen, probably even if Sierra was still an independent company run by Ken Williams. This game is probably the closest one could come to it. It's certainly a lot better than KQ8 and KQ7 were.

But above you said Mask of Eternity was better.

I'm trying to say that I feel this, and any commercial King's Quest project, was doomed to fail no matter what. For a variety of reasons, including the commercial end, and the fact that Sierra game fans are impossible to please.

Look in a mirror.

Okay, this is officially the worst game I have ever played.

This game really raped KQ in the ass. I don't even know anymore.

Damn those impossible to please purists and their bitter hyperbole!

I don't know what's sadder - your borderline bipolar reactions to every development surrounding this game, and how you made it your personal mission to convince everyone how great this game was going to be only to backpeddle into the other extreme end of the spectrum, or just the fact that you're so emotionally invested in a King's Quest game of all things. It's not my intention to attack you or make you feel bad, but I also can't ignore your utter hypocrisy of complaining about other people being hyperbolic or suggesting the game was doomed to fail partially because of purists.

 

[Tehdagah]

He changed his opinion a lot.

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

I don't know what's sadder - your borderline bipolar reactions to every development surrounding this game, and how you made it your personal mission to convince everyone how great this game was going to be only to backpeddle into the other extreme end of the spectrum, or just the fact that you're so emotionally invested in a King's Quest game of all things. It's not my intention to attack you or make you feel bad, but I also can't ignore your utter hypocrisy of complaining about other people being hyperbolic or suggesting the game was doomed to fail partially because of purists.

I'm of two minds on the subject. Always have been. I don't react well to "new" things, unless they're very close to the old thing (IE, if this game had a similar tone, look and feel to say an HD KQ5, I'd have no issue with where I stood). Just how I am - I don't like change. But to be honest, yes, I've been hard on the game at times because it was different. But with the way this year has gone, I don't know what to think about much anymore. A lot has changed and none of it has really gone the way I wanted it to, whether it be in video games, TV or politics. I can't keep on fighting change - in any area, be it in politics or in something as trivial as a KQ game. This last year - meaning the period from 2015 to present - has been very hard on me personally and so I'm of unusually strong reactions to things that wouldn't effect me as much normally. I was insanely harsh on The Silver Lining - the self-styled KQ9 fangame - only to realize years later that I was wrong and it was actually a pretty good game, especially for a non-professional project. With this game, my mind tells me one thing and my heart says another. My mind says "This game sucks." But then I question myself and ask, what if I was my age now, just finding about (classic) KQ for the first time? I'd probably think, "Man, what childish shit!" and have no interest. Which makes me wonder - yes, this game is childish, but maybe I'm just too old to truly appreciate it? And so I try to give it the benefit of the doubt.

As to why I'm so emotionally invested in a KQ game...My personal experience of that series is connected with someone who I have very, very mixed emotions for. KQ was one of my biggest bonding experiences with this person, and yet also my escape from their abuse when I was a kid, if you want me to be all emo fag about it. It's always meant a great deal to me, from the time I first played a KQ game. My mixed emotions on the subject of KQ/Sierra/etc are tied up with a lot of unresolved stuff. I'm not really this passionate over anything else I happen to love.

To see Sierra repeatedly raped, both in "life" and in its death, is beyond sad to me, but what can I do at this point? I think everyone knows that bringing Sierra back as an indie hipster label was an insult to what the original company stood for. But at the same time, it's nice to see that the name still exists and see that mountain logo on a product. Every video game company I grew up loving - Blizzard, id, Interplay, LucasArts - is dead in some way. Blizzard may still exist as a physical, actual company, but it's not the same company that made Warcraft or Diablo or the Lost Vikings or Blackthorne. Interplay's pretty much gone. Id continues without the people who really made it standout. All these companies are dead in spirit, but at least their name survives, and while the name survives, it holds relevance and perhaps might lead new players to classic games. So while I wish Activision had handled the revival of Sierra in a proper fashion, I'm happy the name is back for the time being because maybe it'll lead new players to some classic games.

As to the game:

Did these guys create the game Roberta Williams might've made, had she had the same tools and budget available to her say in 1990? No. Definitely not. Does that mean every aspect of it sucks donkey balls? No, neither. It's basically a big budget fan game that happens to have the Sierra logo on it. And that's the lens I've chosen to view it under from here on out. As a fan game, it works. KQ died a looong time ago. But it's nice to see people paying homage to it in their own unique way. As I said earlier, I attacked TSL for years over its choice of direction...But you know what? Everyone's entitled to their spin on a dead franchise. Who the fuck am I to really judge?

 

[pippin]

I just wanted to inform those who have not played that there is a character named Mr. Fancycakes in this reboot of KQ.

Well...

http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/Fifi_le_Yipyap

 

[Korgoth of Barbaria]

I just wanted to inform those who have not played that there is a character named Mr. Fancycakes in this reboot of KQ.

Well...

http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/Fifi_le_Yipyap

One of the things I have disliked about this new game is that there is a very bi-sexual vibe to the game. The whole game. There's a lot of gender role bending. Graham throws himself in another man's around with his knees out; Valanice bends him back and he splays his leg in the air, the way women classically were depicted as doing, as they kiss; there is a subtle sense that he had romantic feelings toward Achaka which permeates the game. Fifi-le-Yipyap was one character, in a town that was intentionally over-the-top, and he was treated as a farcical character as well.