The spirited debate between lazy, ABF, and myself over the merits of 90's era PC games really got me to thinking about a lot of old PC games that I used to play back then. I wasn't some huge PC gamer, but I had quite a few adventure games and RPGs and some other random stuff from back then. Maybe it's nostalgia talking, but some of those games were pretty sweet and it was cool remembering all of them again. So, with that in mind, let's talk about some old PC games!
Normality - A scifi adventure game from Gremlin set in a 1984-esque police state that put you in control of a hippy teen named Kent Knutson. Your goal is to escape from your apartment and into the city and then to bring about the downfall of said police said with the help of a group of rebels. Rather than having pre-rendered backgrounds like most adventure games from the same period, it had a first-person perspective that allowed you to move around [the engine was used again in Realms of the Haunting, which I'll probably bring up later]. It still had the same kind of point-and-click inventory gameplay seen in other adventure titles, but the 3D was a nice twist on the old formula. Normality was a very quirky game with a very quirky sensibility, much like the Lucasarts games of the time, and I recall it being an absolute blast to play.
As of yet, I have been unable to get it to work properly with DoxBox. :(
I mean, I'll be the first to admit it's not much of a game, but it's games like this that will help the medium of videogames be recognized as a legitimate art form to rival film and literature. It was mindblowing. I forced myself to stay clear of any spoilers for four months, and it was totally worth the effort.
As with lots of the rumors we've been hearing, it's centered around a late 2010/early 2011 release date... with how many rumors there are of this, it's looking more and more likely. That's just about two years after the DSi, which isn't long, but oh well... at least I never bought one. :) But yeah, too bad for DSi owners... I remember being pretty unhappy after the GBA came out just 2 1/2 years after the GBC. Didn't buy a GBA for two or three years because of that.
Ryan , The Walton's will make thousands from the insurance policy they put on you as a walmart associate if you happen to die in a motor vehicle accident or commit suicide from being a depressed overworked underpaid peasant (walmart associate).
So I got Knights in the Nightmare back in early February, and have been playing it steadily ever since, playing a level or two almost every day since then. Often I just abandon games after a few hours despite liking them because of how many different games I have and that I keep getting more stuff, but this one really has me hooked, just like I was hoping...
I'd absolutely loved Riviera, it was one of my favorite GBA games. Yggdra, though, really disappointed me on the GBA. It had some interesting features, but just had so many problems that crippled it... the characters, the plot, the invincible enemies, etc, etc. I was hoping that KitN would be great again, but was hesitant because of my experience with Yggdra so I didn't get it right away. I'm glad I finally did, though, because yeah, the game is fantastic.
So far, I'm at about chapter 20 of the game (first playthrough).
About the only major criticism I can think of is that the plot is really confusing. I mean, I think I understand some of the basics, but it's deep, complex, and presented out of order so it's very, very hard to understand what's happening. The plot seems interesting enough, when I can make sense out of it, so I don't think the plot is bad, and the out-of-order presentation is interesting... but it just makes understanding it so much harder!
Also, of course, it's fairly depressing, what with how most of the characters in the game are either dead or you're seeing flashbacks of their last moments alive...
And the disconnect between the cutscenes, which usually show flashbacks of knights, and the gameplay, which is your wisp fighting monsters, is a little jarring at times I think. The cutscenes and gameplay have almost nothing in common, really. (I know that they're showing what happened to those characters in the level you're in, but still, it is a little odd somehow).
And of course the frustration at not really being able to get all of the characters unless I was willing to replay every mission over and over and use a guide every step of the way is extreme. I really hate missing characters... especially when it keeps giving ones I don't have much use for, but not the ones I need or have weapons for... (I've got like one weapon which any of my current Lance Knights can actually use, but it keeps giving me more of the guys...) frustrating! The random nature of the weapons you get (again, unless you're using a guide) is also annoying to say the least. Same goes for character power -- that you use some up with every attack and will never be able to replenish all of it via levelups. The 'solution' is soul transfer or whatever where you sacrifice one unit to strengthen another, but I don't want to do that unless I really have to... :(
Still, the game is really, really good. Many of those factors in the paragraph above are annoying, but not gamebreaking or anything like Yggdra Union's strict, cruel life-replenishment system coupled invincible enemies and cannons that you have to sit under and get shot by... and the actual gameplay is incredibly fun, with lots of depth and strategy in which types of characters to use, what they can do and where they can attack, which weapons to equip (reminiscent of Riviera a bit there, now that I think about it, though in general the games are very different of course), and more... all merged with a totally unique for the genre bullet-dodging game. Well, that's different, and awesome.
Oh, the tutorial was quite comprehensive and useful, but was also entirely optional. They did that really well.
So yeah, it's a fantastic, fantastic game that I'll definitely be playing more. I do find the Japanese RPG/strategy game fascination with hiding stuff from the player frustrating, though. I shouldn't need a guide just to properly play the game... yet many games like this sure seem to think that anyone without a guide should be punished. It's not a good game design philosophy. Still, the game is fantastic, almost certainly the best game from 2009 that I have played, and unlike Yggdra the hidden stuff does not ruin the game. It just leaves you without things that it'd be nice to have.
![[Image: blondes.jpg]](http://www.rochardsbunnyranch.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/blondes.jpg)
