The One Thing That Stuck Out For Me About King's Quest...

[MusicallyInspired]

^100% agreed.

[Tawmis]

Yeah, you can really see the budget diluting with each episode. The heart and the charm is still there, but Episode 1 is where all the meat is. Still, it does pull off some genuine tearjerker moments near the end. And Christopher Lloyd's narration was spot-on throughout.

It's my main concern with "episodic" games... where you're buying "chapters" of it at a time. That something happens (funding goes away, company breaks up, etc) - and you end up with an incomplete game, or a game that clearly loses it's caliber from the start.

[Rath Darkblade]

I loved the new King's Quest. The gameplay got progressively watered down with each episode (due to losing budget from ActiVision for not making it the hit they were expecting), but it's quite charming and I really like it. Sure, Graham acts more like Guybrush Threepwood from Curse of Monkey Island than what he was originally in the series, but it's still quite nice and a great homage to the classics. It deserves more love than I perceive it actually gets. It's better than a Telltale game that's for sure.

Yeah, you can really see the budget diluting with each episode. The heart and the charm is still there, but Episode 1 is where all the meat is. Still, it does pull off some genuine tearjerker moments near the end. And Christopher Lloyd's narration was spot-on throughout.

Sigh. I've noticed this sort of thing a lot, not just in games but in movies too: when a game or a movie is made by a big studio, and it isn't a big hit right away, quite often the studio would either pull the plug, or at least reduce the budget. No-one seems to either have faith in the product, or have the guts to fight for the product, any more. (I'm speaking generally, here; there are obviously exceptions).

At least two of the biggest products for the small and big screen - Star Trek and two of the Monty Python films (i.e. "Holy Grail" and "Life of Brian") - were almost lost to us because of various factors, including lack of faith in the franchise. Star Trek's Nielsen ratings on NBC were low, and the show was cancelled after 3 seasons. In syndication in the 70s, Star Trek became a huge hit. Monty Python's Holy Grail almost didn't see the light of day because the British Board of Film Classification thought it was unfunny, while "The Life of Brian" was famously controversial (see the same link, near the bottom, if you haven't heard of the controversy).

At the same time, we are seeing remakes of old games and old movies, which - while welcome - often take funds away from new ideas in games and films.

So what's the answer? I'm really not sure. Speaking as a viewer, I suppose that psychologically people draw comfort from seeing the same stories, but it would be nice to see a new story from time to time as well. Speaking as a creator (i.e. part-time author and video designer/director/actor), it would be nice to know which audience I was catering to - I write historical fiction and design, direct and act in videos about historical fact.

Is there an audience out there for that sort of thing? If so, it seems to keep an incredibly low profile...

[Datadog]

It's my main concern with "episodic" games... where you're buying "chapters" of it at a time. That something happens (funding goes away, company breaks up, etc) - and you end up with an incomplete game, or a game that clearly loses it's caliber from the start.

This is why I now wait for entire seasons to finish before buying anything. I never had much problems with Telltale. They only had a few misfires release-wise (they never finished Bone, and a lot of BTTF and JP development got jumbled up due to company restructuring). And in general, their latter episodes are much stronger than their first, so they usually end on a high note.

Although, to King's Quest credit, Chapter 1 already feels like a complete standalone game. The other four chapters are basically DLC stories. Plus an additional sixth chapter (an epilogue) appeared in my inbox without warning one day, so that was a nice touch. It's a different kind of episodic experience.

[notbobsmith]

Plus an additional sixth chapter (an epilogue) appeared in my inbox without warning one day, so that was a nice touch. It's a different kind of episodic experience.

Thanks for mentioning this. For whatever reason, I didn't notice the epilogue.

[MusicallyInspired]

You only got the Epilogue chapter if you bought the King's Quest Collection entry on Steam (all 5 chapters in one package). I didn't initially as I wanted to buy each episode separately at full price to support it, but I later bought the Humble Sierra Bundle which came with it and so the Epilogue unlocked for me.

King's Quest was also different in that each chapter didn't continue right away from the previous episode. They each take place years apart (mostly in between the main KQ games) and while there is an overarching plot thread that has a beginning, middle, and end, the chapters themselves are relatively self-contained. It was probably the best implementation of an episodic adventure game I've seen yet in that light. Nothing still beats a full proper adventure, but it definitely wasn't as bad. Though, the chapters were released QUITE a long ways apart which was hard.

[notbobsmith]

You only got the Epilogue chapter if you bought the King's Quest Collection entry on Steam (all 5 chapters in one package). I didn't initially as I wanted to buy each episode separately at full price to support it, but I later bought the Humble Sierra Bundle which came with it and so the Epilogue unlocked for me.

I had the epilogue, but since I hadn't played or even looked at the game for a while, I didn't know I had it.

King's Quest was also different in that each chapter didn't continue right away from the previous episode. They each take place years apart (mostly in between the main KQ games) and while there is an overarching plot thread that has a beginning, middle, and end, the chapters themselves are relatively self-contained. It was probably the best implementation of an episodic adventure game I've seen yet in that light. Nothing still beats a full proper adventure, but it definitely wasn't as bad. Though, the chapters were released QUITE a long ways apart which was hard.

The time between chapters was a bit of a pain. I ended up forgetting some of the choices that I made and a few plot points that occurred in the previous chapter. I need to replay this start to finish sometime.