KQ2-MAC game play suggestions and thoughts (spoilers ahead)
Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 3:28 am
I would first like to commemorate you on your wonderful remake of a game that I had played and discarded several decades ago. Unfortunately then I was too young to have money and the disks I gotten had some kind of bug in them so that the game kept crashing. Though a tribute to the group that originally designed KQ series... I never forgot the countless hours I spent slaving over the puzzles. And how many times I thought swimming out to sea was the answer... Roberta... you have no idea how many times I drowned. I wish that something like "Silly Graham you are not a fish, only fishes belong in the sea" was in there. Oh well... (Was there ever a tree house, that you climbed up a tree to get to? I feel like I am hallucinating that this was in the game.) The game left an impression so much so that I wanted to play it again so I could finish the game once and for all, 25 years later.
I think the KQ2 remake was well thought through and probably flows much better with the overall series. Too bad, it looks like to play the other titles I will have to resort to some archaic technology? Maybe I should keep my old pentium? hah.
Although the new KQ2 story line was well thought through. The game itself had a few areas that I feel could be improved. To remove frustration I sought out the walk through in two instances.
-- 1. The creation of the emerald and the finding of the workbench. (snake relationship)
-- 2. The climbing up the bridge at the end of the stone collection phase.
#1 For some reason I precision clicked on both the book and the candles and the flask but did not click at all on the workbench that all are on. So I completely missed the screen that shows them all in large form. And for the life of me couldn't figure out where to find a suitable place to mix the ingredients. Hagatha's cave was no longer accessible nor was the cottage. I remembered that I had the crystal from the beginning so that wasn't and issue, just a really good puzzle. Nor was the yellow flower or feather or blue item. (sapphire or water gem were candidates)
As the game requires one to use precision clicking in more then a few different areas, one should not be penalized by doing so in this case. I recommend you add a hitbox for the flask so that it can be precision clicked on as it is very noticeable on the workbench. Allow it to either show the bench up close or ask you to get closer to inspect it first before showing the bench up close. (this would give 2 pathways to the large screen with bench) Once seen the large screen makes it very apparent in what to do.
Now for the second part... where in the game is it discussed or hinted at that the snake is an enchanted horse? I could eventually find the writing on the wall and the bridal either by mistake or persistence... The next thought would then logically lead me back to the village and Mr. Ed. Who could care less and rather be left alone to eat his flowers.
Where then? Why the snake? The only thought would be that I try the gem on everything I could find in the game... which I doubt would be productive towards fun and more toward laboring. My point being is that naturally, snakes can be found in rocky crevasses. So there is nothing out of place by the snake on the mountain top. What did I miss? I rather feel that this area should have a second look for game flow...
#2 The hitbox for the climb up the broken bridge/dwarf scene is very close by Graham so that when I click on the top of the bridge (the location I want Graham to climb to) I get no response. This could be a MAC version issue?
I knew the right action, but after clicking on a presumably correct area, I didn't receive feedback to encourage me to keep trying even if I had to die 50 times first. Eventually I chose to look at the walk through and a quick word query gave me the answer. "Climb the bridge." is all I needed to read. So I went back and started clicking all over to see where the hitbox was.
Why not add a second hit box that says "You cannot reach that far away" so that at least I am encouraged to keep trying, and this time closer to Graham.
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Beyond that, everything else in the game was workable.
I didn't think to go south in the swamp (the only actual open path) until I got the clue in the church which told me to go south twice to start. (Wasn't the swamp maze in the original KQ2? )
I unfortunately read the part about the sword and the crystal when looking for the place to cook the emerald. But I did remember that I had a crystal I just forgot it was in the description of the sword that I read it. (would have eventually looked at every item in my inventory and solved this)
The choices for the 3 visions sequences were a bit off in that it isn't totally clear what is implied by each. Action statements might be a better way to run those.
Some of the puzzles might be a greater challenge to the younger crowd, but its better to leave them in and let the kids grow much needed brain power.
I think the KQ2 remake was well thought through and probably flows much better with the overall series. Too bad, it looks like to play the other titles I will have to resort to some archaic technology? Maybe I should keep my old pentium? hah.
Although the new KQ2 story line was well thought through. The game itself had a few areas that I feel could be improved. To remove frustration I sought out the walk through in two instances.
-- 1. The creation of the emerald and the finding of the workbench. (snake relationship)
-- 2. The climbing up the bridge at the end of the stone collection phase.
#1 For some reason I precision clicked on both the book and the candles and the flask but did not click at all on the workbench that all are on. So I completely missed the screen that shows them all in large form. And for the life of me couldn't figure out where to find a suitable place to mix the ingredients. Hagatha's cave was no longer accessible nor was the cottage. I remembered that I had the crystal from the beginning so that wasn't and issue, just a really good puzzle. Nor was the yellow flower or feather or blue item. (sapphire or water gem were candidates)
As the game requires one to use precision clicking in more then a few different areas, one should not be penalized by doing so in this case. I recommend you add a hitbox for the flask so that it can be precision clicked on as it is very noticeable on the workbench. Allow it to either show the bench up close or ask you to get closer to inspect it first before showing the bench up close. (this would give 2 pathways to the large screen with bench) Once seen the large screen makes it very apparent in what to do.
Now for the second part... where in the game is it discussed or hinted at that the snake is an enchanted horse? I could eventually find the writing on the wall and the bridal either by mistake or persistence... The next thought would then logically lead me back to the village and Mr. Ed. Who could care less and rather be left alone to eat his flowers.
Where then? Why the snake? The only thought would be that I try the gem on everything I could find in the game... which I doubt would be productive towards fun and more toward laboring. My point being is that naturally, snakes can be found in rocky crevasses. So there is nothing out of place by the snake on the mountain top. What did I miss? I rather feel that this area should have a second look for game flow...
#2 The hitbox for the climb up the broken bridge/dwarf scene is very close by Graham so that when I click on the top of the bridge (the location I want Graham to climb to) I get no response. This could be a MAC version issue?
I knew the right action, but after clicking on a presumably correct area, I didn't receive feedback to encourage me to keep trying even if I had to die 50 times first. Eventually I chose to look at the walk through and a quick word query gave me the answer. "Climb the bridge." is all I needed to read. So I went back and started clicking all over to see where the hitbox was.
Why not add a second hit box that says "You cannot reach that far away" so that at least I am encouraged to keep trying, and this time closer to Graham.
------------------------------------------------
Beyond that, everything else in the game was workable.
I didn't think to go south in the swamp (the only actual open path) until I got the clue in the church which told me to go south twice to start. (Wasn't the swamp maze in the original KQ2? )
I unfortunately read the part about the sword and the crystal when looking for the place to cook the emerald. But I did remember that I had a crystal I just forgot it was in the description of the sword that I read it. (would have eventually looked at every item in my inventory and solved this)
The choices for the 3 visions sequences were a bit off in that it isn't totally clear what is implied by each. Action statements might be a better way to run those.
Some of the puzzles might be a greater challenge to the younger crowd, but its better to leave them in and let the kids grow much needed brain power.