In the meantime, I’m a day late for a weekly poll! Last week I was sussing out how many of the readers considered themselves to be total geeks (like me) and it turns out quite a lot of you consider yourself to be one and are proud of it. The question was “What type of geek are you (if any)?” In my opinion, there’s never been a better time to be a geek! The internet makes so much available to us in digital form including old TV shows, comics, video games and well...everything! It also gives us geeks the opportunity to build communities of like-minded people so we don’t have to feel ashamed of what we enjoy. Anyway, let’s look at the results...
I'm a total geek and proud of it! 29 Votes (42%)
I'm a bit of a geek, but only sometimes 24 Votes (34%)
I'm a total geek, but prefer to remain in the closet 10 Votes (14%)
I don't consider myself a geek. I just like video games. 6 Votes (8%)
Geeky and proud of it!
This week I’m going to trial something that may or may not be ongoing. I thought it would be interesting to get you guys to vote on what rating you think I’ll give to the game I’m currently playing. I realise that the majority of you may not have played the game and so the amount of votes that come in might be quite low, but since this is one of the more popular games of this time period, I thought it would be worth giving it a go with this one. I’m also going to give 10 points to the first person to guess the exact score (or closest to it) that I’m going to award it, but be aware that any guesses need to be made in the comments section of this post prior to my second gameplay post (so two posts from here). Good luck and in case you’re wondering, I have an idea of how these points might become useful in future, which I’ll reveal shortly.
Try not to offend Rosella!
I just wanted to give a quick shoutout to Killias2 who recommended The Adventure Gamer in his very helpful article about retro gaming. You can check it out here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.destructoid.com/blogs/killias2
10 points!
Wow, I really didn't think that little community post would get back here. Most of the sites I mention are pretty typical for fans of these blogs, but, outside of this circle, I really think people just don't know. I figured I'd give a little attention to my favorites, even if there aren't that many people frequenting the C-Blogs over at Dtoid.
DeleteIt's been so very long since I played KQIV, but as I recall, the series became progressively better. I think I'll guess 55.
ReplyDeleteThat's my basic guess but, just to be different, 56.
DeleteIt's like I'm playing the Price is Right or something.
I'll say 58!
DeleteI'll go 54 since nobody has guessed it yet and there are some rather annoying dead ends.
ReplyDelete57 for me.
ReplyDelete62 I reckon. It's got just enough to put it past the previous Sierra games.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to guess.... 60. KQIV is the one that made it famous as I recall. I think I have TECHNICALLY played this on my Dad's 386, but I'm probably wrong. Might have been VI or some other number. I also did about three screens of it.
ReplyDeleteCan I guess that it will be an integer between 0 and 101? I can use mathematical notation if you like :D
I stated in my earlier comment that KQ4 would top the leaderboard. So I have to say 63. Although on a closer look at the scores, Maniac Mansion might just be too tough to beat..
ReplyDeleteI guess I'll go with 59 since I haven't seen that one yet. While I did enjoy this game quite a bit growing up, especially due to pausing the game during typing, there are some very noticeable problems that I think will stop it from getting too high a score.
ReplyDeleteI'm playing along with KQIV right now, I am ~44/250 (interesting way to measure progress), and finding it much less intuitive than my 10-year-old self remembered.
ReplyDeleteYou should do a separate post on the hint lines of yesteryear, since I'm sure my sister and I racked up a ton of 1-900 charges with games like these!
Ok. I've never been exited about a game like this before. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/subgames/rob-swigarts-portal-1986-reborn-v20
ReplyDeletePortal, from 1986. An amazing electronic novel, told piecemeal and non-linearly as you read nodes from an awakening computer network more and more nodes would open unfolding the story like a beautiful literary flower.
I'm too young to have played it on C64, but my Dad got me a version of it for PC sometime in the 90s. I loved it, and it was the first time I'd seen this science fiction concept used in a story, though I've seen it used many times since. My one worry is that what was amazing in 1986 will be less stunning to people whom have seen it in other media. However, I don't think it has been in any mainstream movies or games, so could still be original enough for the main stream, and frankly, its message is more believable today then ever before.
Now it is being made into a 2D/3D adventure game, with full voice acting from some very talented voice actors. With additional sections of the plot written by the same author.
So yeah, I really, really want this to hit its funding goal. Really. It is an adventure game. You guys want a great adventure game to get made, right? *Bouncebouncebounce* Now just the month and a half long debate about if I can afford $30 for a copy of the 1988 novelization and if I need a second copy given that it will be DRM free.
Oh and you guys will help me play through it right? Because if this comes out it will be the only adventure game I've beaten in years. I've done a couple of flash games with hints, but man, I'll need you guys help on a full fledged adventure game. Perhaps in a year Trickster will let me guesspost or I could get you all to come to my blog....
DeleteOk, canageek, i took your advice and jumped over to kickstarter to have a look at that adventure.
DeleteI have to admit I never heard of that game before (I was 6 years old in 1986 and perhaps in Europe it was not as popular as in north America). But this really sounds like an intriguing story and very interesting setting. Unfortunately there is not much to see on that kickstarter page, so how this game will actually turn out... Who knows (at this preliminary stage)
But what the heck: I just pledged 100$ (looking forward to the novel, the comic and the short stories anthology! Let's hope this will be as good as it sounds!
I've added a Kickstarter section to the site to try to encourage some interest. If anyone's aware of any other adventure related projects, please let me know.
DeleteAkk, thought I posted this in the morning; Thank you both, that is awesome. I'm amazed at you risking $100; As a student, that is like, a month of groceries for me, or dinner of me and 4 friends at a really nice restaurant. Well, I loved the story, and so did my Dad, and we are both science fiction snobs, so it has SOME merit. The original book is online for free if you want to read it (though it will probably spoil the game)
DeleteHonestly, I'm not too fond of KQ4. I don't think it's any better than Police Quest or Space Quest II which both scored 52, so I'll match that and say KQ4 will get a 52.
ReplyDeleteI actually prefer Gold Rush to PQ and KQ4, despite it's major flaws. I grew up in southern California where the gold rush was taught to us heavily in elementary school as part of state history, and I was always fascinated by it. Playing the game brings back my childhood, so I'm obviously biased by the setting.
For KQ4, the fairy tale setting was already getting tiring to me by the 4th game, and the character of Rosella wasn't particularly interesting to me. Add to that the major game design flaws which weren't as bad as those in Gold Rush, but still very much there, and I was just left with a mediocre experience.
I'm guessing 54, I remember being blown away that it came on 9 360k floppies.
ReplyDeleteI didn't read the guessing game rules properly, so I'll revise my guess to 61, I don't think it will go below 54 and all the other numbers are taken :)
ReplyDeleteI'll go for 63, so, I honestly don't think it'll go this far, but if I don't react fast, all the other numbers will be taken! ;)
ReplyDeleteOK. I've tallied up all of guesses so far. Alfred, I'm afraid Fenrus has already taken 63. My second post for the game will likely arrive today, so the clock is ticking for any latecomers.
ReplyDeleteChumazik – 52
Lars-Erik – 54
Nicolaj – 55
Killias2 – 56
JosephCurwen – 57
Ilmari – 58
Klaoth – 59
Canageek – 60
16k – 61
Andy_Panthro – 62
Fenrus – 63
I've decided to do this differently next time. I'm going to allow people to choose the same rating as others, but each subsequent person will get less points if they're correct. For example, the first person to choose the correct score will get 10 points, but if another person also chooses that score, they'll get 8 points, then 6 and so on.
I'll take 53 then!
ReplyDelete:-)
Where is the picture of Rosella holding the shovel and lantern from?
ReplyDeleteGoogle. They have lots of great images there. ;)
DeleteA quick search for "rosella king's quest" brings up the image. It's on this page:
http://unicorntales.org/kq4-perilsofrosella-remake/