Messages

I have a slight problem with some MIDI files in AGS. While they play normally, they sound rather creaky, as if played through really old speakers. If I open the same files in WinAmp, they sound normal. Also, most other MIDI files, as well as MP3/OGG/WAV, plays fine in AGS. An example of a MIDI that creaks is the opening track of Warthogs.

Does anyone recognize this problem?

Self-defense laser cannon?

Well, in my opinion, QFG3 was worse than QFG5. It was basically a paladin game, not a Quest for Glory game.

Not true. Try the wizard's duel on for size.

KQ1 was a technical breakthrough, but, at least in my opinion, not in terms of game design.

True, but neither are most of the Infocommies and LucasArts games you mention.

About "design errors":Stupid event triggers which make the gameplay in such an wide open world very linear. Pick up this totally unrelated item before something happens elsewhere.

That doesn't happen in either KQ1 or KQ2, and the former is highly non-linear.

I could also say that the parser wasn't that good in the game, but I don't know about that.

The parser is effectively the same as in SQIII, and less versatile than in Infocom games. This means you have to type verb-noun commands like "get cup", rather than true English like "read all books except the black then drop them in the cauldron" (yes, Infocom can parse that properly). But there are little or no cases of "read the designer's mind" in any of the games you mention. The most infamous instance of Sierra mindreading occurs at the end of Larry 2, because the game doesn't understand "bag" as a synonym for "airsick bag".

But I would say that KQ8 sold bad for a general game.

True, but that's because adventure games sell poorly as compared to games in general, since 1995 or so. That's why most companies stopped making adventure games. Of course, it is debatable whether or not KQ8 qualifies as an adventure game.

I guess I take facts sometimes not seriously enough. Sorry.
But I don't enjoy most of the King's Quest games.

You're welcome to your opinion, KQ is not everybody's cup of tea. I kind of agree with you in that I consider the LucasArts legacy much better than just about anything Sierra has produced. But I do consider facts to be somewhat important

My point is: if we would only count the King's Quest games which are good then there would only be a few leftover.
Let's count the first one for historical relevance.

It was actually a breakthrough in gaming history, so it's more than a little relevant.

The second is mostly a copy of the first one, set on a different island and has a different goal. It still contains the same design errors, so I wouldn't consider it a good game.

What design errors are these? I haven't seen any, and they're notably bug-free. Also, KQ2 is in no way a copy of KQ1 except that they have the same main character and incorporate fairy tales, and neither is set on an island.

The third one has its moments, so I'm not sure about that. Being trapped in Mordacks castle and having to find a way to free yourself was certainly a nice part.

KQ3 contains neither Mordack nor a castle, that would be KQ5. Assuming you mean Manannan's HOUSE, let me point out that design-wise, KQ3 was very innovative at the time; however, puzzle-wise it suffers from too many mountain paths, and the fact that 2/3rds of the game are basically the "spellbook" copy protection.

But it also had the usual unwarned, poorly integrated dead ends. Oh, and didn't you have to wait some minutes for a ship to arrive?

Dead ends were considered normal in adventure games back then; it wasn't until LucasArts started with the Loom / Monkey Island formula that this changed. Still, as dead ends go, KQ3 doesn't really have that many; the two main ones are eating your inventory (well duh that's a bad idea) and omitting one of the spells (but they're spelled out in the friggin' manual). It does, however, involve waiting for a few minutes, but the ship is actually a story-triggered event.

The fifth is plain bad. Great graphics, yes, but terribly boring gameplay. And the story is very linear, even for a King's Quest.

I agree with you here. Design-wise, KQ5 is abysmal. The main reason people love it is nostalgia, because it was the first adventure game they ever played. It does have good graphics and music, but it also has more dead ends than any other adventure game.

I think some didn't even consider that a King's Quest anymore initially. It's very cartoony and family orientated.

Well, yes, but people also didn't consider KQ3 a King's Quest at first, because the relationship between Gwydion and Graham isn't obvious until you're past the first half of the game.

Every new King's Quest game was a vehicle for the newest technology. But by the time it was released, far behind schedule, it looked a bit dated...

That's false. KQ8 sold exceptionally well for an adventure game. And none of the earlier games were released "far behind schedule".

Methinks you need to get your facts straight. And play the KQ games again

Post likewise withdrawn.

Post withdrawn. When I posted this, I thought Bicilotti was on the rating panel and announcing a preview. Guess I was wrong.

Certainly, and in the same (or better) quality than Flash, too.

Are you incapable of holding the camera upright? Probably half your photos are from the wrong angle!

I suggest rotating your monitor 90 degrees.

Finally got that book finished. And wow, Harry does die on page twelve!

Any chance of uploading those videos somewhere we can download them?

For those who haven't had enough photos yet...

It's a poorly written game that doesn't do the series justice. It ignores several of the class abilities, gets the heroic thief started on the anticlimatic beginner's task of pickpocketing, has annoyingly poor controls for actually hitting things in combat (but if you go machine gun you'll be ok), only barely distinguishes between the four different classes, and relies too much on an overdose of health and/or mana potions to get you through.

Aside from that, the game has virtually no sidequests whatsoever, and every single quest in the game consists of going to some place and killing stuff, except for one which is fedex. And it has "rush job" written all over it.

Just like there's only seven King's Quest games, there's only four Quest for Glory games.

I'll make a short entry.

Me Go Island?

I think the problem with allowing short games is that you're increasing the number of entries tenfold.

Actually it would be fun if there were three games with the same name. Or you can call them "Stranded", "STRANDED" and "Stranded??"

I suggested CTRL (STRG?)+F4 because that's how most tabbed applications do it. I wasn't aware of any other key combos that worked. I agree an X on every tab would be a nice option.

Control-W is also very standard (and slightly more convenient), as is Alt-F Alt-C (for file > close)

That's not what I meant I meant maybe it still occurs with the v2.8 editor, too.

I found a minor bug in 2.72 (haven't checked if it occurs in 2.8 as well) - if you place the AGS editor files in the same folder as a game, then try to open that game from that folder, it doesn't work. Perhaps this is to be expected, but instead of giving a message for that, it simply repeats the "welcome to AGS" popup box.

By popular request we have made part of the ATOTK soundtrack available for download as MP3. Enjoy!

http://crystalshard.net/atotk.php?page=down

The download links for Meta, Warthogs, and Infinite Monkeys are all broken. They point to the AGS games page but they use 'id' instead of 'game' in the URL for defining the game ID.

Fixed, thanks.

So, when you gonna start charging for the games? hehe

Well, actually I used to, but I stopped doing that several years ago.

Looks way better than it used to be!
Nice!
EDIT: Now all you need is a whole message board of your own. I recommend SMF.

I guess. I've always figured we don't have enough mailflow to keep a forum community going, though; I'd rather have a subforum in a forum that gets a lot of traffic, than my own forum that is mostly empty.

We've upgraded our website with prettier graphics (thanks to Fizzii), a better layout, and more stuff to look at and play with. Feel free to take a look

http://crystalshard.net

(this message paid for by the committee for pimping the Crystal Shard website)