Dave's Critiques - King's Quest (2016): Legacy

Transcript

Hey hey folks, Dave here. Just a friendly reminder that this is a critique. I will be discussing King’s Quest for those who have played it. If you are worried about spoilers, please pause the video, and go play the game before returning. For everyone else, let’s continue.

The King’s Quest games have an enduring legacy. I personally discovered Sierra through the Police Quest and Space Quest games (Police Quest was my first adventure game), but I met Graham and the kingdom of Daventry through King’s Quest 5, and then fell in love with the series through Alexander’s adventures through the Green Isles in King’s Quest 6. It doesn’t take too much searching online to find people who spent their childhoods with these games, a lot of them playing through them with family members. Help was needed. Death came easily, and many of the games had states where you could not continue if you missed doing something earlier, and would have to start over. Anyway, what I’m getting at is that the legacy of King’s Quest is mostly positive, and that’s why I think everyone was weary when Activision announced the new game series.

It’s also an episodic series. Episodic gaming is a strange beast. A long time ago I made a decision to only approach such games when all the episodes have been released. It’s because these games largely feel like a full game broken into parts at key story moments, and having to wait months for the next installment just makes the player forget about the characters and what was happening in the game world. King’s Quest is a little different. The framing device is that King Graham is now an enfeebled old man telling stories of his youth to his granddaughter. Each episode is a separate story from his past, often being placed between the original games. The beginning of chapter one has you stealing the magic mirror from the dragon that players might remember doing in KQ1, but then flashes back to explain how Graham become a Daventry knight in the first place. Chapter 3 has you searching for your future wife, and chapter 4 covers both the birth of Alexander and Rosella, and a family vacation they take to bond together after Alexander finally returns after all those lost years. The way it weaves Manannan and Mordack into all 5 episodes is really clever too, showing that the malice these wizards have against Graham and his family is deep rooted and not just evil characters being evil for an evil reason.

The earlier chapters actually have a bit of replay value due to the qualities of a successful king being the paths you can take in many of the game’s decisions. You can take action, show compassion, or use your intellect. These paths are externalised in the town folk, and throughout the game the path you choose to go down will endear you more towards either the Hobblepots, Wente and Bramble, or Amaya. I started off thinking intellect was the way to go. It is an adventure game after all. Then as I continued, the compassion path held greater sway over me, and I never missed a chance to visit Wente and Bramble in the later chapters. I think Wente’s love of puns and hugs won me over more than anything. The notion of choice plays a greater role in chapter 2 when it’s possible to let multiple characters die. I was slow on the uptake on how to save everyone so let Triumph and the Hobblepots die in the goblin dungeons. I felt terrible. Then at the end of the chapter Graham admits that since this happened a long time ago, his memory might be a bit foggy on how things went down, so to not take the story too seriously. One the one hand, I was relieved that I would see these characters again. On the other, I did feel a bit betrayed that the sad feelings I had regarding my lack of action were uncalled for, as this aspect of chapter 2 did not matter for the rest of the game.

But the important question regarding this King’s Quest is how it stays true to the legacy of the original series, and if it does, how does it continue that legacy? I think the answer to this question is threefold: family, puns, and puzzles. I will now talk about all three in turn. One of the joys of the original series was that there were games where the player was not controlling Graham. Throughout the 8 games you got to control Valanice, Rosella, and Alexander. It’s the same reason I loved the Xanth books so much as a teenager. Time passes from book to book, so you got to follow the children of characters you spent time with go on their own adventures, and then have children of their own. That series also revels in its love of puns. In this game, you control King Graham in all 5 chapters (at different points of his life), but in a passing of the torch, there are times when you play as Gwendolyn (the epilogue being her first adventure). Even though you only play as Graham, his family is always nearby, not only when the game cuts back to the present, but chapters 3 and 4 are focused on falling in love and raising a family. There’s a sequence in the early moments of chapter 4 that I imagine was pulled straight from the experiences of any members of the development team who have children of their own. A lot of the game feels like personal experiences were woven into the story. There are sections of chapter 5 where Graham’s dementia is interfering with his story. I watched my own father succumb and finally pass over years due to motor neuron disease, and those moments of the last chapter hit rather hard because of it.

And while the ending of chapter 5 is quite sad in terms of family and legacy (of Graham as a family member, and a beloved videogame icon), let’s lighten the mood a little with the next item on the list, puns. Puns have always been a part of King’s Quest. I still remember when you get killed by the witch who lives in the gingerbread house in KQ1, the death screen says she turned you into a Graham cracker. King’s Quest continues the tradition of the death screens being an opportunity for a groaner or two, but I was not expecting the long strains of punnery that were written into the dialogue. I found myself cracking up everytime one of these occurred, my favourite ending with a well deserved slow clap. Here, I’ll play it for you now. See? Marvelous. While the puns are a constant source of joy, I also found a lot of humour in the line reading and character interactions. There was one line reading in chapter 1 that had me barking out laughter. Again, I’ll play it for you. I think it also helps that the way they’ve written young Graham is like a more excitable Guybrush Threepwood. He doesn’t necessarily lose his exuberance as he gets older, but obviously he’s not as energetic in his excitement as he once was.

Finally there are the puzzles. When I first started playing, I worried it would be a linear affair with minimal adventure game puzzles like the recent Telltale games, or Life is Strange. It turns out King’s Quest is designed like an actual adventure game. There are chapters and sections of the game which are linear, but there are also sections where you have a large area of interconnecting screens with more than one puzzle to solve at a time. Often these puzzles have multiple solutions or are linked together in some way. In chapter one for instance, the order you tackle the trials is somewhat influenced by whose shop you first spend your coin at. While I was happy that we’re dealing with traditional adventure game design, there are some pitfalls of the genre here.

There’s not enough signposting to nudge the player toward a solution, and while it hasn’t caught on, I think every adventure game should have a hint button that the player can use when stuck. I’ve wanted this feature in every adventure game since the remake of The Secret of Monkey Island included it. Having the player character muse out loud to themselves the right direction towards a solution is internally consistent and takes the load off the frustration the player might be feeling. I guess this is a symptom of not having proper signposting. I think perhaps good adventure game puzzle design is a lot like modern level design. The trick is to nudge the player in the right direction through your design without them necessarily knowing you’re doing so. It’s definitely a tricky balance. If the puzzle is too easy, there’s no satisfaction from solving it, and if it’s too difficult a player might check a walkthrough. In both cases, the player is robbed of that good feeling “ah-ha” moment. There is the idea that such a feeling is more relegated to puzzle games where the puzzles are the most important aspect, while in adventure games, the puzzles can be an impediment to the story… but I think the best adventure games thread the elements of puzzle and story rather seamlessly. I’d say the best example of this in King’s Quest is chapter 3. It helps that each puzzle is contained in either one, or only a couple of screens, but there’s a pace and enjoyment to the story and the puzzle solving that is symbiotic in chapter 3 where I feel that the rest of the game favours one side over the other.

In the end, the legacy that Graham wants to leave behind is the legacy that the King’s Quest games want to leave behind. The whole game is about the passing of the torch from the older generation to a younger generation, just as the game itself has been inspired by these classic Sierra adventures to make something that while faithful to them, is modern, and leaves its own mark. I’m of the mind that it definitely succeeds in this ambition. I really enjoyed my time with this new Daventry, I loved all the nods to the original series, and I’m sure that I’m not alone in either wanting a sequel starring Gwendolyn, or for this treatment to be given to other classic Sierra games. A retelling of Space Quest or Gabriel Knight perhaps?

Thanks for watching.

Dave Critiques - Mirror's Edge Catalyst: In defence of the red trail

Transcript

Hey hey everyone, Dave here. Just a friendly reminder that this is a critique. I will be discussing Mirror’s Edge Catalyst for those who have played it. If you are worried about spoilers, please pause the video and go play the game before returning. For everyone else, let’s continue.

It’s been eight years since the first Mirror’s Edge. At the time, Mirror’s Edge was exciting because of how different it was. A first person parkour game with striking colour and visual design, a dystopian future, and a female asian protagonist. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. It was not without its flaws however. The game forced combat sequences. While you could pick up a gun and end them quickly, out of some sense of how I thought the game needed to be played, I refused to use a gun. This resulted in a lot of screaming in frustration whenever I was forced to take out a group of heavily armed guards. Sometimes the jumps were hard to judge due to depth perception problems, and the story was very low key, using a moving comic book format. Also, the game just kind of ended.

One source of excitement when a game has a sequel is the ability for the team to address the criticisms of the previous game. Moving now to Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, a lot of what I just mentioned was played with. Faith no longer can pick up firearms. The game has a whole tech tree full of combat upgrades, and the best way to deal with enemies when you have to fight them is to use your speed and acrobatic ability to knock them into each other or to jump off a wall and put them out of commision with a well timed boot. This doesn’t always work perfectly, and the forced fights can still be highly frustrating, but this approach to combat is leaps and bounds ahead of the first game.

The issue with judging jumps is still there, but I have a feeling that Faith’s upgraded bag of tricks like her grappling hook were put in place in order to cut down on this frustration as well as adding more spectacular ways of movement. There is a higher emphasis on wall runs and swinging on poles instead of straight leaps, so when you find yourself falling to your death, it is likely for another reason, and I will address that a little later. Finally the story is conveyed through 3D animated cutscenes instead of the comic book format of the last game. If anything, it puts the game in line with every other AAA release. The story itself is fine. The big bad company is doing a big bad thing from Faith’s point of view. Friends are lost, family is gained, there are narrative revelations. A character who you hate at the start is alright by the end. It works. I guess I could mention how they make you think Noah is dead once only so they can kill him on screen later on. That was kind of a slap in the face narratively speaking. I really enjoyed Plastic, so there was at least one character I was always happy to interact with.

So let’s talk about the gameplay. Most criticism of Mirror’s Edge Catalyst has to do with the open world and with runner vision. The gist is that the game is at odds with itself. The story missions are scripted, and make interesting use of Faith’s moveset and level layout. Meanwhile, the open world sections only really work if you follow the runner vision dictating the easiest path to your destination. If you turn this off, it’s easy to die or to get lost as there really are only a few variations on how you can traverse the city. Getting from district to district usually only has one path. Now I can see where this is an issue for a lot of people. There’s an open world, and yet you don’t seem to have freedom of movement. By following the red trail, you never really learn the landmarks or make the city your own. I can appreciate that, and I do agree to a point. By continually following the red trail, you may come to recognize certain areas of the game (especially the ones nearest to your base, as you’ll spend the most time going back and forth along those routes), but you never really know where these areas are in relation to the city. They’re just a path you’re familiar with as you’ve run through it on a multitude of occasions.

Honestly I did not have an issue with the red trail, but then, I enjoy the GPS features in modern open world games. Yes, it can be a little ridiculous like in Red Dead Redemption or The Witcher 3, but it’s invaluable for getting around these worlds, and more importantly it’s leading me to the next thing I want to do. Also, because I know I will reach my destination by following these trails, I can enjoy the sights and sounds on my way there instead of constantly wondering where I need to go next. And yes, I agree with the criticisms that these systems make it more difficult to learn about the world. Instead of a living breathing place, it becomes a space to inhabit between game activities. Why not just have levels or make use of a fast travel option?

Now the fast travel option is an interesting side note. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst and The Witcher 3 have fast travel options, and in my time with each game, I never used them. I think it was Tim Rogers that said if your game has fast travel, you might want to think about how boring your slow travel must be. For all its faults (and we’re about to get more into them), Mirror’s Edge Catalyst contains the joy of movement. When it works, running Faith from location to location is exhilarating. I never got bored with leaping over guard rails, wall running, swinging from rooftops, and rolling upon a hard landing. Yes some of the routes got quite familiar, but this has two advantages. One is that I only rarely got through an entire route without a mistake, so each new approach was a chance to run this area as seamlessly as I could. Secondly, and this applies to all open world games I think. The travel from location to location is downtime. It’s easy so you don’t have to exert much brain power or finger dexterity. Just navigate to the best of your ability, enjoy the sights and sounds, and let your mind wander. It gives you time to reflect, and you’ve just had a boss fight, or a really intense platforming sequence, returning to something low stress and familiar makes the game experience better overall. Peaks and valleys. It’s the gift and curse of the open world. If you’re following the main story without deviation like I did in Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, the downtime is appreciated. Of course if you’re completing a lot of side content, this still applies, but the flow of the gameplay can be disrupted.

And flow is the final thing I wish to discuss. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst has what I see as a flaw with the flow of its movement. Optimally you will be consistently moving forward, keeping an eye out for the colours and signs in the immediate future that tell you what you must do. You make your decision, and move to the next instance of decision making. The story missions in particular are setup to create this sequence over and over again using unique locations and dangers. The issue I have is that only on the rarest of times did the game play out for me in this optimal way. The majority of the time momentum, character behavior, or even my own button presses betrayed me leading to death. Yes, the checkpoints are close together, but when you respawn all sense of momentum is lost, and suddenly these unique set pieces because game frustrations as you complete them and make your way to the next one. In essence it seems like the game needs you to be perfect to actually enjoy the game in the first place. I will admit I got better as time went on, but what does that say then, that you need to complete Mirror’s Edge Catalyst to be able to play Mirror’s Edge Catalyst?

I think time in development is a factor too. There were about six or seven instances of gameplay that made me close to rage quitting for their seeming unfairness. Funnily enough all of these instances happened within the last three story missions, so I do have to wonder if these sections were not as polished as earlier levels. A shame too, as some of the spectacle as you climb The Shard was breathtaking, but like every other mission, the constant failure took the awe right out of the experience. I dunno, perhaps even with the red trail, my brain doesn’t work fast enough to make the right decisions to get through the game without error.

Thanks for watching.

The best games I played in 2016

Transcript

I wasn’t ever going to make a video like this. On the one hand, I’ve always wanted to. I think top games of the year lists are great. I love hearing what games made an impression on game critics whose work I enjoy. I’m actually amazed that most of them are able to play through all the big name titles and most of the smaller yet popular ones. I don’t have that luxury. I experimented a bit with playing games on release in 2016, but due to time management issues, personal interest, and lack of funds, it hasn’t really been feasible. That’s why the games I cover are so scattershot. I wait till games go on sale, meanwhile I play what’s in my enormous backlog and whatever games friends have gifted me. What I’m getting around to saying is this isn’t going to be a traditional best of 2016 list.

What I’ve decided to do is to make a list of the games I most enjoyed playing in 2016. If I have made a video on a game, that game is eligible (well, except for those 4 favourite game videos. It doesn’t seem right to include a game I’ve played countless times over the years on such a list). Since I started the new direction of this channel in November of 2015, I’ve extended the starting point of this list back a couple of months. So everything from my channel since I started these videos last November is eligible to be on this list. Some games on this list actually were released in 2016. Some were released in 2015, and some earlier than that. The cutoff point is if a video goes up on my channel before December 31st 2016, which is why this video has come out in the new year. Ok, sorry for the lengthy explanation. The following list is in alphabetical order. Enjoy!

Civilization VI (2016)

Civilization VI is on this list for its potential. I have put over a hundred hours into Civ 5, so I was always anticipating the next game in the series. A friend was nice enough to gift it to me, but so far I have only experienced the early game. I really like the changes made, and look forward to gaining an understanding of how it all works. At the moment, it hasn’t grabbed me like its predecessor, but I haven’t been able to dedicate the time to it either. I’m hoping to change that in 2017. Civ and strategy fans alike should enjoy how complete a package Civ 6 is upon release, which will only make the upcoming patches and expansions all the more exciting to see how they change things up.

Doom (2016)

I played both 1993’s and 2016’s Doom in the span of a month. Both are excellent games. The original holds up to this day, and while the new game is much more action packed, it too leaves an indelible mark on the legacy of the series. It’s the glory kills, vertical arenas, and fast movement creating high octane slaughter, rewarding the player for risky in your face action that earns it a place on this list. Anyone looking to play one of the more innovative shooters of 2016 not named Superhot should check the new Doom out.

Glitchhikers (2014)

Have you ever driven along a highway at night just to clear your head or to be with your own thoughts? Glitchhikers is that in game form. Yes you’re picking up passengers, but the passengers might not actually be there. It might be a nocturnal hallucination. Eerie, yet tranquil is the balance that Glitchhikers strives for. It’s a free download at itch.io and upon playing through the 20-30 minutes it takes, I easily paid the developer their asking price. Those looking for a short experimental gaming experience should definitely give this a try.

Her Story (2015)

An FMV game where you play detective by searching for keywords and watching short clips of police interviews. After discovering that yes the game is completable (I was unsure when I first played it), I spent an evening playing detective. There’s a narrative revelation that changes all the information you’ve received up to that point, and the joy I got out of piecing together timelines and information is why the game is on this list. Another short, experimental narrative experience, and definitely worth a play for those who love the idea of investigation without the game holding your hand.

Human Resource Machine (2015)

Human Resource Machine is the best game about programming I have played. Yes, I enjoyed it even more than Spacechem. I finished it too. Not completely on my own as those who have watched my video will know, but I gained a great amount of satisfaction from each puzzle solved, and that is why it’s on this list. I think anyone who has an interest in programming or puzzle games for their own sake would enjoy climbing the floors of Tomorrow Corporation’s latest.

Oxenfree (2016)

Am I the only one who when thinking of this game wants to call it “Olly Olly Oxenfree”? The way this tale deals with dialogue, player choice, and its online component creates the desire to play the game again, no matter the outcome. As adventure games are one of my favourite genres, I played a lot of them in 2016, and I’d say Oxenfree was my favourite. That’s why it’s on this list, and it is easily recommendable to fans of adventure and story based games.

Spelunky (2013)

I also played a lot of roguelikes this year through the Humble Monthly service. They seem to be the popular indie genre as of late. I think Spelunky is partly the reason. This game is the best of this genre I’ve played, with an honourable mention to The Binding of Isaac. Most people will have played Spelunky, but to those who haven’t, you should give it a try. Just don’t start with the multiplayer. It can ruin friendships. Despite not being very good, I felt a steady case of progression, and an enjoyment in learning the little quirks about the game. That’s why it’s on this list.

The Beginner's Guide (2015)

This is a sad game. It’s sad because we haven’t heard from Davey Wreden since it came out, and a lot of people who played it think what happens in the game may be based on real events. Regardless, this is a fascinating look at creativity, interpretation, and boundaries. It doesn’t take long to play, and I think everyone will come away from it glad they played it, even if they feel kind of terrible at the end. It’s a story that can only really be told in the medium of videogames, and for all these reasons I felt it deserves a place on this list.

The Talos Principle (2014)

One of the best puzzle games I’ve played in years, probably since The Swapper. The puzzles are clever, and can make you feel both smart and/or stupid once you solve them depending on their solution, but it’s everything else that makes The Talos Principle truly shine. The world, the secrets, the easter eggs, the three different endings, but most of all, why you are solving all these puzzles in the first place. It’s a game rich in symbolism, but not to the point where you need to make any wild leaps of interpretation. It also has given me my puzzle fix until I play through The Witness.

Thumper (2016)

This is how good Thumper is. I could not bring myself to play it for long due to mental health issues. The game is so oppressive and violent and unrelenting that I came close to having a panic attack during my time with it. Despite that, I’m still glad I bought it, and I think it deserves a place on this list. If you like rhythm games, and think you can handle what you’re watching on the screen, definitely give it a play.

Undertale (2015)

What a wonderful game. The way it is constructed, pushing you towards a path of nonviolence, but taking into account all aspects of possible player choice is truly masterful to behold. On top of that, the game is filled with some of the most charming characters alongside delightful music that I have seen. I look forward to revisiting the game sometime in the future and performing a true pacifist playthrough. It’s difficult to think of recommending Undertale to others. I imagine most who would enjoy what it has to offer will have played it. Let me give it a shot. It’s light-hearted but serious, funny, but sombre, is an RPG that encourages you not to engage in RPG mechanics, it’s heavily inspired by the Mother games, but is innovative in its own way. It’s worth a try.

Conclusion

And there you have it. These are the games I enjoyed playing the most in 2016. What games did you enjoy playing the most in 2016? Like my list, they don’t even have to be from 2016. I’d still like to know. Please leave a comment. If you’re interested in my initial thoughts regarding games on this list, I have included links to my videos on them in the description. Thanks for watching, and I look forward to making a new list once 2018 rolls around. I hope you all have a wonderful 2017.