King's Quest 1: Quest fo the Crown

Once again I got to play the first king's quest game, from AGD Interactive and you can download it for free there and it's still rather fun game, although pretty hard at times. The AGD version is by far the better version to play, not only due to grahic upgrade or voices (with Josh Mandel reprising his roll from King's Quest V and VI), but how it's played. I have played the original game and the 1990 remake, they play like a slog. The original had typing commands as it's gameplay, sucks if you ain't a english major, and english wasn't my first languish, wouldn't solved it in Swedish either. The thing is that it still had it's charm as a real adventure exploring this world. Somehow I was able to find the dagger below the rock and get the soup bowl and figure it out without cheating, but more than that was pretty much impossible. Maybe caused by not exploating "look" at every area, but again, I don't think I would understand everything again.

Now, lets discuss some of the reason why the original was hard as hell. Remember, this is before the internet. Lots of dead ends where a mistake makes it impossible to progress, eat the carot or give it a second time to the goat before beating the troll, game over. The dwarf, randomly, pick-pockets you and steal a sacread treasure, game over. Fall down a hole without the shrinking mushroom? You guessed it, game over. AGD gives you a mode without dead ends, thank god. Now, the grand daddy of obscure and hard as nails adventure puzzles, The Rumpelstiltskin puzzle. You all know the tale of the gnome Rumpelstiltskin that wants you to guess its name. Fine and dandy, now lets ignore that it's spelled Rumplestiltskin here, you also needed to realize that a note you found in the Hanzel and Gretzel gingerbread house that tells you to "think backwards" are connected. Answer Nikstlitselpmur? No, the creators of Sierra thought that was to easy, so instead you had to swap the alphabet as well, giving you the answer Ifnkovhgroghprm. If someone solved this in 1984 I'm impressed. At least it gave you three takes. AGD accepts both versions thank god.

The story now, the kingdom of Daventry is fading away as king Edward the Benelovent is dying and the three sacread treasures have disapeard. He sends his bravest knight, sir Graham on a quest to reclaim the treasures and bring hope to Daventry as its new king. You have to destroy the monster holding the realm captive using your cunning, outsmart gnomes and dwarves. Traverse the sky and underworld, all for an all-seeing mirror, a shield which the bearer cannot loose with and a treasure chest of endless gold. Simple and straightforward. This is what started one of the greatest fantasy series in video games.

Doin' The Omoralisk Schlagerfestival '15 (9)

What an intense nail biter. Early on Italy takes the lead followed by Sweden and Russia, but as the night went on Italy falled behind while Russia assured its dominance with Sweden tailing behind. No longer a competition for the best music it developed into a battle between the free world and Russia. Was the hardened leadership of Russia and its all more aggressive world politics hand them a second victory while tramping on the human rights that defines the modern world or was Sweden gonna break through and win again after just 3 years since last time while taking their Eurovision high score up to 6 challenging Ireland on their dominance as the supreme Eurovision winner? The game changer happened when the UK delivered the points as Sweden went up to the lead and Russia trailed behind and with each country from now on they called even further away until the end when there was a around 50 points gap between us and Måns Zelmerlöw was declared victorious. Russia sends us fighter jets, we send a 30 something singer that knocks them out of the competition. It feels like Rocky 4.

Although Drago is played by a Swede... and Rocky would be a better Italian representative... maybe not the best analogy, but they had great cheesy 80's music so it might work

Well, that is how I perceived it as a political scientist and a huge fantasy geek with the constant good vs evil theme. Russia wasn't bad and the song wouldn't have been a bad winner, but you can't always ignore the real world politics like Russia's aggressiveness over our air space or the invasion of Ukraine. I think most of Eurovision had a sigh if relief that Sweden took it home again. Again, politics shouldn't be involved, but we know it will be. Overall it seemed that several countries had performed better than the first time. Armenia's druids had pushed up their vocals a bit and it became instantly better, France that I did't give a damn about made a rather bombastic song live and that was rather surprising. Well, Denmark seems to have lost the semi-finals this year, but if all former wins is an indication they must shape up to win next year.

Doin' The Omoralisk Schlagerfestival '15 (8)

Watching the families own rerun of the second semi-final right before the big show tonight after a days hard work. It was a rather boring show this time with a romantic duo after another and just like Lorren back in... whenever that was it feels like Sweden has a pretty good chance taking home this year as well. Otherwise it was countries like Switzerland, Portugal, Latvia and Slovenia that caught my ear. And Israel caught my eye since the main singer was wearing some golden shoes with wings...  and what country popularised golden shoes? Yes, Sweden all the way back in 1984.

And four of those I noticed went onward. I might have switched out Switzerland for Israel in my own personal opinion, but I will attribute their problem for coming just after Sweden that got more staying power for being more energetic than any other entry this evening and at the same time overshadowing Switzerland. A real pity in my opinion. Really, looking at the starting field the hardest competition for Sweden would probably be the already six qualified countries, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Austria and Australia. Well, maybe not France, but the others sounds really good, the little I've heard from them. Spain is a bit problematic since when she sings it's rather good, but the wailing or whatever that is doesn't sound good and what the hell is all Lord of the Rings imagery in the video? Same goes for Italy with a lot of movie scenes from films like Back to the Future, Spider-Man (the first Toby movie) and such. And Austria... looks like Supertramp and sounds like 10cc. UK is a decent 50 rock song, maybe not my favourite, but it at least sound competent. Australia sounds like a decent radio song actually. I guess of these Austria is my cup of tea while small parts of Spain hits a cord with me, otherwise I go with Australia I believe. Still, Sweden sounds better... and again I begin talking up Sweden even though I don't like this. Damn it!

Doing The Omoralsik Schlagerfestival '15 (7)

Alright, first semi-final is done and the starting field is shaping up, building bridges in Vienna. Really nice stage that looks a lot like an eye... although that can give you the wrong impression (the all-seeing eye, Sauron and 1984 is a couple of images that uses the eye, so how is that building bridges?). So how was the different entries from the first batch? Some were really good. I find the danish one the best with its happy go lucky attitude which reminds me with the entry from Switzerland from last year. Belarus was also rather good, maybe he didn't push more with his voice, but I liked it. The Belgium was also rather good, although the singer looked a lot like an old Swedish entry from 1968. But of course only the Belgian moved along, the rest left behind.

Some songs, like the Armenian entry had a really nice stage show with the visuals and costumes, but sadly the song couldn't fulfil the promise of the druid and nature looking show. The same for Georgia with its thunder and lightning show, that really needed something like Stormbringer to fit the mood. Really, most acts had figured out to put on a great light show, sadly they still couldn't get the music right, I mean come on. The first entry, Albania, looks like and sounds like a 90's boy band and my first thought was that they of course was a bit behind the rest of Europe since this was an eastern european country, but what do you know, the song was written by a swede. Apparently it's not Albania that is behind the times, its us. And they who sent the best hard rock song in ages back in 2013. And tonight the second semi with the Swedish entry. Lucky I can't see it until Saturday with the  grand final the same night.

Witch and Hero

Another simple 3DS game like Fairune, same company publishing so that may be why. Got this after testing the demo, not maybe for the gameplay which is very basic, run into monsters to collect monster blood to allow the witch to blast every monster with magic. No, the reason was the storytelling, which truth be told is also basic, but somehow it felt strong. Basically the witch and hero set out to fight the Medusa... but they fail and the witch turns to stone. The hero drags the witch away and protects her until they meet a wizard or something that turn her back to normal and they lived happily ever after... until she turns back to stone 5 seconds later, prompting the hero to fight Medusa once again and save the witch. This is what was the best part of old NES games with limited story, but clear cut goals and context. Either you made up your own story (if there was none or if you couldn't read the text in english... either due to me not learnt it yet or a really bad translations) or as in this case you made up more to fill the gaps. Fantasy at its best.

Now, the review I linked wasn't so favorable, and many things I would agree with the simplicity and such, but other things are rather nitpicky. For example the constant throwback that the hero is too stupid to use his sword? Ys don't have sword swings and that is a rater good game. Really, I think Fairune got a better grade and you don't swing a sword there either, that was even worse cause the strategy was running into the monsters, didn't matter which way, here that actually matters. You still take damage, but you can clearly see the pros in attacking from behind or such. Gameplay is a bit repetetive, enter a stage, fight monsters and collect gold and exp. Afterwards upgrade your different skills and go on until you can't progress and grind for more gold and exp. It's isn't longer than a couple of hour, and I might not recommend it on full price, but if it's on sale it's a fun little diversion.

Chrono Trigger

 

I'm gonna cheat since I've already wrote about this game back when I got the DS game back in 2009, but look at it... it was horrible written giving no explanation to why it was a good game. Really, 6 years later changes a person... and that I picked it up again and played it for the first time on a 3DS which I got in 2011. So, the best JRPG of all, was it true? It still holds up for me. The story is that Crono on the day of the Millennial Fair run in to the girl Marle who you take on a tour that ends at your best friends Lucca's recent invention, a teleporter. Well, Marle gets sucked in and it's up to you to follow her so you ends up in the year 600 AD where she is misstoken for the queen that gone missing that creates a paradox and she disapears. Together with Lucca and a frog knight named Frog saves the real queen ad restore Marle, who, if you didn't guess it is princess Nadia, decendant of the queen. Back in your own time you gets sentenced to death for kidnapping the princess so you break out, but are forced into another time gate, this time in the future were you meet Robo and discovers that in the year 1999 the monster Lavos emerges from the Earth and destroy the future of humankind. So you set up to stop it. All this sets up the game and are hardly spoilers. AWESOME!!!

Really, the story is fantastic. The characters grows on you, you feel for them and you want them to succeed. Also, the story is optimistic. The music also empathize this with a real can do attitude and hope. And that is what drives the motivation of the party, they can change the future and bring hope to a dying world. Also, Lavos is a great enemy. The theme is foreboding every time it shows up and then we have the battle themes. The final struggle with glimmers of hope in them. I love it. The music overall is fantastic as it portrays every age fittingly, the desolute world of 2300 and 12 000 BC, the magical sky world of 12 000 BC, the peaceful 1000 AD, the other battle themes, the main characters themes. I love it. And the graphics are... well, they look good and for many of them quite expressive, sadly one of the negatives is that besides the main characters there is hardly any unique sprite... and that includes important story characters like the kings, chancellors, Cygnus and so on. Would have been nice with character portraits or unique sprites for these characters. Granted, it makes it easy to see who is related to who between certain ages, but take Cygnus. This important knight that everyone talks about, that fights Magus and have a huge impact on Frog... and he looks like every other knight, you couldn't have spruced him up? The commander in gold armor had at least a gold armor.

Mechanics then. One of the first JRPGS without random encounters... instead they had scripted battles at certain points. Don't get me wrong, you could get away from some of them, but many you must fight if you want to pass a certain area... but at least you see them... most of them that is, sometimes they just shows up. Another thing I guess is the New Game + feature (although Zelda II might have introduced it) that enables you to play with full inventory and level from the start (which incidentally is how I played it this time, shortening the play time to 10-15 hours... what, it's not cheating if it's part of the game). At the moment all characters are level 99 and maxed out on strength and magic for the most of them. Of course, tech are mostly worthless at this point (when there isn't some puzzle enemies and you can bypass that with Ayla and Robo 9999 critical hit weapons), but it allows for experimentation so go wild I guess. The DS version also allows you to play the game with the touch screen. Works fine for the most part, but at least you got a choice, isn't that right Magical Starsign? Another good thing with the DS version is the animated cut-scenes that I guess was made for the PS1 version which are really good. Mostly for introducing certain characters and pivotal moments in the story. 

Still, after playing it again it feels so heart warming following the story overcoming the odds and so on, even though I probably overdosed on it the last time since it took me 4 years to play again. It has it's really dark moments (the Frog and Cygnus back story or Magus motivation), but still, finishing it saving everyone and made the world better feels so satisfying watching the first ending as Marle, Lucca and Cronos travels with the Epoch to search for Crono's mom that got caught in the final time warp. Sadly there is no continuation of the story. They made a sequal, but that split the fan base since it apparently took away the good ending for the characters. Since I haven't played it, mostly seen other play it, it just feels like a betrayal for the idea that you can change the future and that there is always hope. Sadly, we will probably never see such a bright story with these characters. Best hope is the game only released in Japan on some sort of satellite service.

Resident Evil 6

 

 So I finally gets around to this game, Resident Evil 6. Claimed to be one of the worst in the series and of course it's an anniversary game that tries to appeal to all fans of the series and have as many favorite characters as possible and what do you know, if you appeal to everyone no one will like it. Really, playing through it should be viewed as 4 games in one. One game with Leon Kennedy, one with Chris Redfield, one with Ada Wong and the last with someone named Jake Muller. Each scenario gives a different play-style for example more action, more exploring and more horror and so on. Taken one by one you get some favorites, mine being Leon Kennedy with the cathedral and underground levels. Chris in the middle with the damn Chinese levels and Jake on the bottom (might be due to a more classic low ammo combined with a modern testing facility which to me is the low point of the other Resident Evil games I've played). Gameplay-wise is also a mess, where the core walking around and fighting work as usual, but there is quick time event everywhere together with different driving stages with little explanation. You can't throw that at me without warning. Driving through the street of China took me forever before I realized what I did wrong.

Story-wise we are getting a chemical attack on the United States and China orchestrated by the head of NSA with intent to silence the President that want to uncover the truth of Raccon City. The reason is that it would diminish the power of the US... how I don't get since the rest of the world probably knows they nuked Raccon City (since most of the industrial world notice immediately if say Russia test a nuclear bomb which was part of the cold war propaganda that other countries then told they did it, kind of a whisper game). This is the main Kennedy story line, it intertwines with Chris Redfield who is hunting Ada Wong after losing most of his unit in some eastern European country to her mechination. They in turn are intertwined with Jake Muller who is pressed by Sheri Birkin to give his body to the NSA as he is full of antibodies against the latest virus. All the while Ada Wong is hunting some kind of clone (which is the real target for Chris) and helping Leon on the side. Really, 5 was hard to follow at times, but at least you followed one story that could branch out, here we have four from the get go that goes back and forth in time and over and over again.

So yes, I can see why people didn't like this game, and I have to agree for the most of it. It might be a working game, but the story is all over the place together with quick time events that forces you to be on your toes all the time. Foccusing on one story with cameos would have been better cause that could have tighten the story as well what the game wanted to be. The QTE's would probably still be there, but you can't fix everything.