Game 156: The Legend of Kyrandia, Book Two: The Hand of Fate (1993) - Introduction

Written by Michael

Way back when, in 1992, Westwood Studios tried something a little different.  They had been known as competent designers of games, in all sorts of genres, but they hadn’t really had a big hit yet, and they were only ever credited as a designer while another company’s logo graced the box.  But their acquisition by Virgin Entertainment opened a door for them.  Now, they were able to distribute and market their own games.  And their debut adventure title was a beaut.  

This scene looked even more gorgeous on my 15” ViewSonic CRT monitor, if that can be believed.

Game designers Michael Legg and Brett Sperry had discovered a fun MUD to play online called Kyrandia  They bought the rights, took the walkthrough, and added characters with personality and quirks to the puzzles.  

Wait, has that ever happened before (ahem, Softporn, ahem)?

They developed a high-level graphical adventure game.  The screenshots in the magazine reviews and ads were breathtaking.  And because of it being released around the same time as King’s Quest 6, some connections were either made or imagined, especially in the eyes of the reviewers at the time.  Even the main character, Brandon, gave off a little bit of the entitled prince vibe from Alexander.

The game did well enough; not Sierra or LucasArts numbers, mind you, but healthy sales figures nonetheless.  It had some flaws, but was better than a lot of the third-party stuff out there.  A maze.  Limited inventory (and puzzles that required more inventory space). A couple of potential (but arguably fair) dead-ends.  More importantly, it did well enough that the new corporate owners gave the green light for the sequel. 

Meet the protagonist of our second game, as we met her in the first.

So, what’s to expect in this sequel?  Well, it seems that the land of Kyrandia is disappearing around us, piece by piece, rock by rock. We’re playing a young mystic that needs to mix potions and cast spells, and deal with characters whose moods can change based on our actions.  That’s all according to the back of the box, along with notes about the state-of-the-art lighting system and lots of humor.

What we learn from elsewhere is perhaps more important.  According to sources I scanned (trying not to be spoiled), it seems there’s no dead-ends and there are some alternate solutions to puzzles.

So, now to me.  It’s been a long, long time since I’ve played this.  Every time I intend to replay the whole series from over 25 years ago, I get into the first game, and then get sidetracked before I get to this one.  I remember very little about the game, except needing to mix potions of different colors, and that we’re going to see a big giant hand at some point (you could say, it’s our... fate).

By this time, I had completely stopped buying games on floppy, so I’ll be playing the CD-ROM copy that I’ve owned for nearly three decades (and still works great).  Like many of the CDs I had at the time, this one has traveled with me from my upstate New York childhood home, to school in southern California, to various places I’ve lived in the mid-Atlantic before returning to the town I grew up in.  Thank you, handy three-ring binder full of discs.

Sorry, Sierra.  This is WAY too many damn floppies.  Very effective form of copy protection -- give the thief carpal tunnel.

Going without floppies?  Well, not completely.  That would be too scary.  I still played shareware titles and still engaged with a little old school “sneakernet”, but by this time, the BBS was my domain (and a little, tiny bit of “Internet” with a capital I that I started to have access to, through a BBS gateway.)

So, without more delay (I could tell stories all day, you know), let’s check out the game.  I’ll be playing this in DOSBox, with my real, true-life MT-32 by my side.  Two reasons -- first is authenticity, the second is that, in ScummVM, every time I took a screenshot, it cleared all the text off the screen. Grrr.  As for DOSBox, you can’t enable subtitles until you’re playing the game, and the game doesn’t save that setting with your progress.

After learning the game was made by Westwood and Virgin, we’re presented by a giant gloved hand, presumably “The Hand of Fate”.  After the first time you’ve viewed the introduction, relaunching the game provides some choices here to view the introduction, start a new game, or load a saved game.  

The story we’re told: the land of Kyrandia is disappearing, tree by tree, rock by rock.  The mystics are baffled.  Remember them from the first game?  People like Kallak, who got himself turned to stone last time, and a newcomer, Marco, who brought a big giant hand with him.  

Hey, look, it’s Darm and his dragon!

Are they witches?  They all have their animal familiars.  A dragon, a giant hand, and, um, whatever type of marsupial Faun is.

Marco’s giant inflated glove apparently has some expertise with these situations, and tells us about an “anchor stone” that needs to be retrieved from the middle of the earth.

The youngest mystic, Zanthia, drew the shortest straw and was given the task.

And after the meeting, outside her office, she makes a plan, with her animal sidekick, Faun.  She says she has enough blueberries to get where she needs to go.  And then walks inside her laboratory...

...and finds it’s been ransacked.

If we stand still for more than a few seconds, she occasionally bursts out with whining about “Who would do this?” and “Who could be mad at me?”

But now, we have control.  Let’s check out the place.

First off, this has the same interface as the previous game, a one click system.  Click to look at something, and if it’s not nailed down, that click picks it up.  Click an item somewhere to either use it or drop it.  Click others to talk with them.

A notable change from last game, though -- it looks like we have space for more than ten items.  There’s a wheel to rotate the inventory, with space now for 20.  The big empty space on the screen next to the inventory, according to the manual, is for our spellbook and cauldron.

The original promo images for the game were mixed between the old inventory interface and the new rotating shelf one.  I suspect the playtesters started screaming at the designers, chasing them with pitchforks and torches, after playing the first game in the series.

As for talking?  Hey, Faun?  “At least they left my things alone.”  

Click on the broken mirror?  “Looks like my seven years bad luck has already started.”

Most everything worth clicking on either elicits a response, or in the case of a couple of items, can be picked up.  I take a flask and a bunch of blueberries.

After checking out the carnage, I head for the door.  Zanthia stops and insists on changing her outfit, Barbara Eden style.

Actually, I wouldn't mind living here, but the dampness would wreak havoc on my allergies.

And outside the lab, there’s more blueberries.  And an incredible track from teenage composer Frank Klepacki.  And to think, this is his rookie stuff, years before the Command & Conquer soundtrack. 

This seems like a good place to pause.  I’m opening up the sports book for some wagers on the score, and I think you’ll like the odds. The first game in the series scored a very healthy 62, how will this one do?

Session Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes