RPG Sagas Revisited!

by Kris Wolfe

Well, I'll try to make this a short one, but I'd like to point out to people who think this is a cool idea that there is ALREADY a game series like this.

HOT DAMN! you cry! Where!?

Duh, it's on the computer! Jim is correct is saying that to transfer character stats and items and stuff from one game to another requires a separate card or disk, and the computer is the only "system" that supported such a thing until now.

So, what's this great game? It's Sierra's fine series, "Quest for Glory"! Yes, there are 5 games, and with each one you can import your character's money, stats, and inventory from a disk. It's ultra cool. But you have to be careful which character you choose! If you play through the first game with a theif, you'll be fine, but by the fourth game he'd better have other skills, cuz there's nothing to steal. But that's not the issue here. Quest for Glory is the line of Sierra RPGs that lack story the most. Both Space Quest and King's Quest have more involved, detailed stories, and Quest for Glory is, well, a quest. You can get a job, perform a mission, etc, but although there is a story the game's not exactly plot driven (but it is tons of fun.) However, I don't think there's anything about the system of the game that prevents a story, it's just not in the nature of this particular series to have a heavy story. And it does make the character yours. Your guy has done all sorts of stuff and he has no name. When he dies, unlike in Brave Fencer (a fine game) where you say, "Dammit! Musashi died!" you say, "Dammit! My guy died!" because you developed him and he's not someone else's character, he's an extentoin of yourself. And so there is merit to the way the game is designed, but that's a topic for another editorial.

Bringing up Space Quest is another point though. As Jim pined for (and those Crono Cross people keep whining about), you play with the same character through 6 different games, in 6 different stories which are vaugely connected (though there are some great in-jokes in the later ones especially...). This is a great thing--you feel that you know the character (Roger Wilco) quite well (he's a total loser) and you know bout his life and where he's been and what he's done, very intimately. And in the King's Quest game, in each of the seven games, you get a new character. In the first game you play as King Grahm. In another game, you play as his wife, and one as his son, and one as his daughter, etc. These games have EXTREME continuity from one another and are, I believe, a perfect example of what Jim wants. The people in them stay the same, have the same personalities, and even grow older and have children and stuff. It's definitly an RPG saga (with lots of puzzle solving, of course).

So, in conclusion, I'd say that Jim is correct; with the advent of memory cards, and with the new technology and wonderful story-writers and characters there are out there, this could be a great thing. These superb old computer games prove that the system works, and quite well too; now all the game companies need do is put it into practice, somehow.