Sep 11, 2024 7:01 am
Well, to start, I will need to go to the very beginning. I think it was 1993 or so and our father had purchased our first Windows PC, along with a copy of King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow. They were actually Christmas presents so I don't think we got to actually play it until after the New Year, so I guess it was 1994. But I remember how formative this game was for my fantasy gaming at the time.
I would actually dream of the characters, both the minor ones and the major ones (Prince Alexander, voiced by Robby Benson. I mean who wouldn't fall in love with that?)
This game, combined with the board game experiences of the time (Hero Quest, Dragon Strike, and, I think... D&D First Quest - Yes, that also came out in 1994. I knew that's what it was) have helped form my perspective of what truly makes a beautiful roleplaying game. From the beautiful colors of KQVI, which got me and other members of my family addicted to Sierra Games, to the amazing boards of Dragon Strike and maps from D&D First Quest. All of that really shaped for me what a fantasy game was supposed to look and feel like.
I had a short addiction to point and click adventures set in fantasy worlds (there weren't many of them at the time), and of course family members would buy us other point and clicks (usually from Sierra) - Shivers, anyone? But I never really liked the dark and depressing colors. I liked the brighter colored ones.
And then, in 1999, shortly after my High School graduation, I discovered The Longest Journey. And I fell in love all over again. With the gameplay and the art and the writing and the voice acting. It was beauty (in the true, classical sense), and for a short time I was able to grasp it once again. Unfortunately, nothing after that ever came close again in appearance or tone, not even the two sequels that were made for it, despite its financial success.
But I really have begun to pine for these advanced pixel settings (It's not 8-bit, and that's what most of these newer games seem to be trying to emulate, is the "Nintendo" feeling). I'm not even sure that they are 16-bit, although it is possible that King's Quest VI was a 16-bit game. I think they have to be 32-bit though. (Or did it jump to 64, I can't remember).
For the longest time, I was trying to find games that would imitate or copy the KQVI and TLJ model: bright colors, beautiful stories, meaningful heartbreaking scenes, all told with a pixellated graphics that would leave just enough to the imagination to fill in far better details. I gave up hope of finding another one for a while, until 2005 when I found The Black Mirror; and I fell in love once again. (Maybe it's the posh British accents of the voice actors. -^0^-) Even the first sequel was lovely, though I was not as happy with the second sequel. In 2024, they attempted to remake The Black Mirror as a horror video game and it was of course sorely disappointing because it lost much of the story that gave it its original creep factor. And of course, being a horror video game, it had to lose its wonderful brightly colored environments.
So it was like these wonderful games would come out, occasionally, filled with light and story and romance (or at least a seeming potential for it) and emotional wonder and humor and amazing voice acting and beautiful environments that made me want to explore and see what was around the corner (even if I wasn't able to as it was a video game), and then they would end and I would be left bereft and alone again unless I replayed the game. But all too often, it felt like drinking from the same oasis in the desert repeatedly.
2010: The Silver Lining Ah, fan produced. Thank you so much, fans, for taking notes and trying to emulate the electronic medium of beauty.
2014: Moebius: Empire Rising, the first part of a multipart story that I don't think was ever finished. There's not even a second part, so I am forced to dream it on occasion.
Of course, my ultimate dream is to see some combination of these brightly colored pixel worlds filled with emotion, intrigue, and romance with a roleplaying game, and have often thought of trying to make one myself. I tried, but have not really succeeded at anything like these as of yet. So for now I am just waiting for and hoping that someone else will make an amazing adventure with the tried and true models above.
There is some hope in that regard, and I have to admit I have not been scouring itch.io as much as I might need to to find these wonders. Pioneer Valley Games has made some amazing assets for RPGs that are much more pixel-friendly than the JRPG/anime characters from RPGMaker, and I've even played and beaten some games that I could find that use those. I am still waiting to see if more come out from the amazing creators out there.
I would actually dream of the characters, both the minor ones and the major ones (Prince Alexander, voiced by Robby Benson. I mean who wouldn't fall in love with that?)
This game, combined with the board game experiences of the time (Hero Quest, Dragon Strike, and, I think... D&D First Quest - Yes, that also came out in 1994. I knew that's what it was) have helped form my perspective of what truly makes a beautiful roleplaying game. From the beautiful colors of KQVI, which got me and other members of my family addicted to Sierra Games, to the amazing boards of Dragon Strike and maps from D&D First Quest. All of that really shaped for me what a fantasy game was supposed to look and feel like.
I had a short addiction to point and click adventures set in fantasy worlds (there weren't many of them at the time), and of course family members would buy us other point and clicks (usually from Sierra) - Shivers, anyone? But I never really liked the dark and depressing colors. I liked the brighter colored ones.
And then, in 1999, shortly after my High School graduation, I discovered The Longest Journey. And I fell in love all over again. With the gameplay and the art and the writing and the voice acting. It was beauty (in the true, classical sense), and for a short time I was able to grasp it once again. Unfortunately, nothing after that ever came close again in appearance or tone, not even the two sequels that were made for it, despite its financial success.
But I really have begun to pine for these advanced pixel settings (It's not 8-bit, and that's what most of these newer games seem to be trying to emulate, is the "Nintendo" feeling). I'm not even sure that they are 16-bit, although it is possible that King's Quest VI was a 16-bit game. I think they have to be 32-bit though. (Or did it jump to 64, I can't remember).
For the longest time, I was trying to find games that would imitate or copy the KQVI and TLJ model: bright colors, beautiful stories, meaningful heartbreaking scenes, all told with a pixellated graphics that would leave just enough to the imagination to fill in far better details. I gave up hope of finding another one for a while, until 2005 when I found The Black Mirror; and I fell in love once again. (Maybe it's the posh British accents of the voice actors. -^0^-) Even the first sequel was lovely, though I was not as happy with the second sequel. In 2024, they attempted to remake The Black Mirror as a horror video game and it was of course sorely disappointing because it lost much of the story that gave it its original creep factor. And of course, being a horror video game, it had to lose its wonderful brightly colored environments.
So it was like these wonderful games would come out, occasionally, filled with light and story and romance (or at least a seeming potential for it) and emotional wonder and humor and amazing voice acting and beautiful environments that made me want to explore and see what was around the corner (even if I wasn't able to as it was a video game), and then they would end and I would be left bereft and alone again unless I replayed the game. But all too often, it felt like drinking from the same oasis in the desert repeatedly.
2010: The Silver Lining Ah, fan produced. Thank you so much, fans, for taking notes and trying to emulate the electronic medium of beauty.
2014: Moebius: Empire Rising, the first part of a multipart story that I don't think was ever finished. There's not even a second part, so I am forced to dream it on occasion.
Of course, my ultimate dream is to see some combination of these brightly colored pixel worlds filled with emotion, intrigue, and romance with a roleplaying game, and have often thought of trying to make one myself. I tried, but have not really succeeded at anything like these as of yet. So for now I am just waiting for and hoping that someone else will make an amazing adventure with the tried and true models above.
There is some hope in that regard, and I have to admit I have not been scouring itch.io as much as I might need to to find these wonders. Pioneer Valley Games has made some amazing assets for RPGs that are much more pixel-friendly than the JRPG/anime characters from RPGMaker, and I've even played and beaten some games that I could find that use those. I am still waiting to see if more come out from the amazing creators out there.
Last edited September 11, 2024 7:03 am