Discussing the Kyrandia series

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

I thought I'd start a new thread, instead of HiJacking the one about "how many time does it take for you to make your game".

I've started this thread out of curiosity. I have played the Kyrandia series and have not been particularly charmed, but it seems many people like it. I'm just curious about it. I'll now say WHAT specifically failed to draw me in.

Kyrandia - Book I

The maze. Man, that was cumbersome.
The walking deads. There was at least one, but it was a killer. Right in the end of the game, if I hadn't brought 2 flowers with me... bleh.
Too many red herrings for such limited inventory space.

All gameplay issues. I agree the story is very good, and I was not disappointed by voice acting.

Hand of Fate

Gameplay got better, other things got worse.

No walking deads, and that was a relief. But some puzzles were not of the best variety. I'm especially thinking of the last puzzle in the game - an action scene where you could NOT win without losing about 2 times to see what happened next. No, there was NO logical next step. I'm also thinking about the rainbow puzzle. The knowledge that one gemstone and one plant of the same color make a potion of that color is PRIVY to Ktrandia I - it is NOT mentioned in Hand of Fate ANYwhere. The story was quite good, but the voice acting really REALLY turned me OFF. It's got some of the worst voice acting I've ever heard. I mean, that time when Zanthia yells Bruno's name when at the top of the mountains she sees him fall? It's laughable.

For some reason, although the story itself was good, I found that the story-telling lacked. I don't know why, can't really tell why... I just got bored of going to new places and starting over with a brand new inventory. Places that didn't make the story move along, like the snow/hunters/sasquatch thingie. Which is odd - I usually like that, because it adds some depth. But in Hand of Fate, it felt like cannon fodder. Like also collecting all those conches and shells and sand dollars...

Malcolm's Revenge

Not played it through. Better voice acting, and still a victim of gameplay. I mean, come on - do the same thing umpteen times? Also, it's possible for you to get stuck - there are so many ways of leaving Kyrandia, in the beginning, that you can, unknowingly, conflict them and be... well, stuck.
My personal gripe - I've tripped the guard and cut through his net. After which Malcolm ALWAYS walked to the screen to the LEFT. But I wanted to go DOWN. Since the game didn't allow me, I was NEEDLESSLY FORCED to do another prison 10x fodder section. Also, some puzzles are lackluster. I mean, come on - use growing seeds to topple rocks and break fown walls? Who will ever realize that? After all, seeds take TIME to grow. There's no indication whatsoever in the game that the growing will be quick enough - and STRONG enough - to effectively topple rocks or break down a wall.

Well, this is it. Kyrandia lovers please reply, I really am curious. Maybe I'm being picky?

[Gilbert]

I think trial and error pizzles is part of the Kyrandia games, so live with it and LOVE it or hate it, that's all.

[Privateer Puddin']

Wow, Kyrandia, it has been a long time. All 3 games have merged into one sickly sweet memory, hmm.

I played these games with my friend when we were younger (he only liked 2 Lucas games, DOTT and FT, but totally loved the Kyrandia games)

What game had the milk puzzle? ¬¬

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Yes, that's true, but in some cases (seeds) there's not much info to encourage us to even try on account of it's lack of logic. In others (prison) it's just boring - Doing the same thing 10 times? It certainly is a punishment, and since you can only bring in one item at a time into the jail (and you have to GUESS that the seeds are the right item in the quarry, when there are MORE items that would apparently serve the purpose) it makes it... well... boring.

Also, trial and error games should be a bit more tolerant, methinks - direct reference to the final part of Kyrandia I I mentioned. Precisely because it allows so much, it should not have walking deads.

One more thing - in Hand of Fate, there are TWO times the same sequence of buttons must be pressed - a sequence shown by bees. Later on the same sequence opens a tavern door. This makes no sense, but forgetting that for a while (it's not a serious offence), I had to restart the game when I got there. I had simply MEMORIZED the bee's sequence (this was back when I still could memorize such things. ). But I didn't memorize it enough to still remember it when I got to the tavern. Also, the final scene of the game AND the potions-from-equal-color-plant-and-gem don't really qualify as trial and error - they're things which require meta-game knowledge, knowledge from outer things to the story and pertaining to the game itself. Could you ever defeat the hand with the little info you have? Why should you attack the hand the third time around? I mean, dodging it twice has been enough, and Bruno is still tied up... why should we assume he'll amazingly free himself NOW? And again, how do you know that potions are made of that? The game never implies. Sure, you can mix things at random in you cauldron... but one thing is trail and error - which usually gives you a decent number of combinations - and the other is overload. There are so many things you can put in the cauldron you might not even be aware of HOW many things you have to put in! Granted, trial and error will do that, but...

You see, I don't dislike trial and error puzzles - on the contrary, I think the most interesting puzzles are the ones where you have to try it and see for yourself how it works. But for some reason, Kyrandia has Ã, - in my opinion - somewhat failed at this.

Puddin' - Hand of fate.

[Privateer Puddin']

Hmm, i just loaded them up, the puzzle i was talking about was in 3, it did involve milk (pierce it to get cream), but maybe there was another in Hand of fate i don't rmember

* Privateer Puddin' shrugs and plays on

[Gilbert]

So it's just personal preference, personally I think the Kyrandia games pushed those things to a limit, so just love it or hate it.

If you love a game, none of the repetitive actions would make you bored (like for example you had to use the key on your car everytime in Pleurghburger), but if you don't like it, everything is annoying (like FOTAQ which I played recently, it's enjoyable with LOTS of stuff to do, but it's certainly not a good game).

Also, Kyrandia I was a game I bought for no reason and found out to be a VERY good game, it's also the first adventure game I beated all on my own without using any walkthroughs.
I like its simple and interesting design than the other more dialog based games (I hate extensive dialog based games, especially because I'm not a native English speaker, these games were not designed for international players).

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Heh. Maybe I'm just not fond of puzzle games and never really knew it.

You're right, of course - I guess it's just one of those "hate it or love it" games. And I don't seem to love it.

Well, I don't know if this thread will still see activity, but even if it doesn't it has already showed ME something, so it wasn't completely useless.

[Khris]

Recently, I wanted to play a good oldschool adventure I hadn't played before and Kyrandia came to my mind. I didn't even get to play part 2 or 3, though.

The limited inventory was so annoying me, I mean they only did this to make the game more difficult. The puzzles didn't convince me, either.

When I learned that Kyrandia 'features' dead ends, too, I immediately quit.
(And played through MI 1&2 once again )

[Snarky]

I didn't like Kyrandia I. In addition to other problems mentioned on this thread, I think the lack of character interactions made it less appealing.

Hand of Fate is a pretty excellent game, though. Messing around with potions, figuring out how magic works is one of those things you're supposed to be doing just for the fun of it, so that by the end of the game you have it down. I'm pretty sure that the final puzzle used logic that was implied by a previous puzzle, so you shouldn't need to be stuck there. As for how to win against the Hand, yeah there's really no way to know except by trial and error, but you could say the same thing about the end sequence of Gabriel Knight, and people seem to like that. Also, the voice acting is pretty good compared to other games like Flight of the Amazon Queen.

Overall, it's a game that stars a charismatic character, is set in a fun world, and uses some uncommon puzzles. It looks good, too.

[AGA]

I enjoyed the maze in the first game, since it wasn't really a maze - it had a puzzle to getting around, rather than just wandering and hoping you got where you wanted to go.

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Yeah, but the puzzle was easy, and once figured even made mapping the maze MORE dreary.

But then, I'm one of those maze-haters...

[Kinoko]

I admit, I remember spending a loooong time on the maze when I first played Kyrandia 1, but I actually remember it fondly. I truly did charm me, it was the first really -pretty- game I'd seen, and the music was lovely. I adored all the characters (man, who wouldn't wanna have a go at Brynn) and I loved the nature/gem based puzzles. Everything was just PRETTY. I loved the occasional smart-alecky/whiney comments of Brandon, and dropping things on his face to get a reaction. I really, and I usually do hate this in games, loved that you could die because it made me focus more while playing the game, thinking more about my actions, like not trying to jump the broken bridge. I really just... loved it o_o It's still one of my all time favourite games. In fact, I feel like playing it now (if only I could get past the copy protection >_<)!

The second game was nice, I thought. Not as good as the first, but still fun to play. I found myself getting stuck a little more,  and doing a loooot of trial and error, but in the end, I still remember it fondly.

I haven't played Malcolm's Revenge yet.

There used to be a pack you could buy with all three games in it, is that still available anywhere? I could kick myself for not buying it back in the day... back in the day when I thought adventure games would prosper forever.

On a side note, I DO agree with all the criticisms... it's just that I loved them anyway. That game had hypnotic powers over me.