Saturday, December 17, 2011

Let's Play King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones

A Blind Let's Play
Platform: PC/Windows
Released: 1985 (original), 2010 (remake)
Genre: Adventure
Setting: Fantasy
Developer: Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (original), AGD Interactive (remake)
Publisher: Same as above
Version: King's Quest II remake: 3.1

Playlist (Begins with King's Quest I):


 First Video in the Series:



Although Daventry is fairing well under King Graham's rule, he is lonely and unable to find anyone suitable to be his queen. Upon seeing a vision in his magical mirror, he journeys to the land of Kolyma to rescue some fair maiden locked in a tower. He has no idea what her name is, nor anything at all about her, save that she is miserable in that tower, and oh yeah, she's also very attractive. Well, the rest is just details, right? Join me as I help him rescue this mysterious would-be queen!

This is the second game in AGD Interactive's series of King's Quest remakes. The game has been expanded into quite more than the original, with not only 15 more characters to interact with, but with more puzzles and exposition as well. Plus there's a full musical score and speech acting, just like in the remake of King's Quest I. This... is gonna be good.

[Total Game Time - 12:27:12]

Selected Comments From YouTube:

YOU SHOULD HAVE WAY MORE SUBS THAN THIS HUN YOU PUT OUT SUCH GREAT CONTENT WHY AM I YELLING???? I HAVE NO IDEA!!!!!!

haha what a great game! the Kings quest games are so funny!  

heh.. you have a hairy ball coconut. Really appreciate you posting these playthroughs. That half hour went by so fast.My siblings and I used to play your adventure games when we were kids, and it's not the same playing them alone. Commentary is great !We couldn't ever get into Sierra games, the puzzles seemed more geared towards adults, and we mostly played the lucasarts ones. I noticed you didn't have Legend of Kyrandia on your play list.... any hope for that being a future series ?? 

Great job  I watched it all  Loved every minute of it  Thanks


Links of Interest:

Download the game for free, For PC or Mac, at AGD Interactive's Website

Matt Chat Video Retrospective on King's Quest I - III and Remakes

King's Quest II Remake on Reloaded.org

Short G4 Video Clip on King's Quest and King's Quest Remakes

Pawdugan's Video Retrospective on the Original King's Quest II












This post has been backdated to reflect the date of the original Let's Play.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Let's Plays???


Yes'm. Let's Plays. I'm into hobbies that are of an entertainment nature. Like, reading, movies, games (ahem), things like that.

Believe it or not, I had a radio show for two years. Two to four AM every Monday morning at a local college station. I had a blast though. Being a night-owl by heart, I really took to it. Having to be at work at seven AM made it difficult. Especially as the day wore on. Yawn-o-rama.


After that, I wanted to start my own independent comic book company. I didn't have the necessary funds to put into it, however. I knew also that I probably wouldn't have gotten all that money back.

But wow, I enjoyed reading comic books, and watching movies, and playing games. I resigned myself to being strictly on the receiving end of entertainment. Then I saw a couple Let's Plays (or LPs for short). Yes, pretty geeky, but wow, it looked fun! These people were being entertained, and entertaining others, practically simultaneously!

Keep in mind, by the way, I don't consider myself an entertainer. I'm not sure that what I do has any entertainment value at all, but please feel free to beg to differ.  ;)   But you know what, I am entertained. I'm having a blast playing through all these old games, some of which I've never finished. These games would probably remain unfinished if I wasn't doing LPs of them. Not only that, but watching prior footage (once during editing and once during YouTube playback) helps remind me to go back and talk to this NPC, or go back to this level, which has the lock that I just found a key for.

You may ask, why only retro PC and Amiga games? The answers are simple, and yes, there are two answers.

1) I love those old games. They're a slice of my childhood. King's Quest III: To Heir is Human was my first ever computer game. In a couple weeks, I'll be playing it for the first time since the 80's (well, it's the remake, but same difference), and beating that sucker once and for all. Damn Manannan, and his obsession towards two letters of the alphabet!


2) My computer sucks. I have what is called an Intel Integrated Graphics Chip. It blows. I can play more basic modern games like Return to Castle Wolfenstein or the first Portal, sure. But if I try to record them? The game slows down like hell, and then looks even worse when I play back the video. As it is, my videos are riddled with these glitches, which I believe are a cooperative fail on the part of Intel and YouTube. The videos look fine in the editing software (Windows Movie Maker or VirtualDub), and also in Windows Media Player, but YouTube doesn't like them, and thus I get these intermittent glitches. That said, this may change in a few months. I plan on getting a sleek new gaming computer with our tax return next year. With the stats on the one I've picked out, there should be no problem at all playing AND recording the likes of Skyrim, Crysis 2, and anything else out there. I might actually be able to get PCPX2 (a PlayStation 2 emulator) running for the first time in my life!

I'll be posting more on the glitches and new computer in the future. Needless to say, I have BIG plans in store for my YouTube channel. I hope to be playing through both retro and new games eventually, as well as independent games that need, and are worthy of, some attention. For the moment, I am uploading one RPG game and one Adventure game per day. I may change that to one retro game and one new game. New games will usually be RPGs, since there are very little new adventure games out there. But as far as the retro, do I play retro Adventure games... thus ignoring the old RPGs? Can't do that! Do I play old RPGs? Then what about the Adventures? Decisions, decisions.

So I'm rambling. Until next time, farewell.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Let's Play King's Quest I: Quest For the Crown

A Blind Let's Play
Platform: PC/Windows
Released: 1984 (original), 2008 (remake)
Genre: Adventure
Setting: Fantasy
Developer: Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (original), AGD Interactive (remake)
Publisher: Same as above
Version: King's Quest I remake: 4.1

Playlist:


First Video in the Series:



The Kingdom of Daventry is suffering from recent disasters and hardship. King Edward calls his bravest knight, Sir Graham, to his throne, and tells him there are three lost treasures of the kingdom hidden throughout the land that would end Daventry's troubles if found. If Sir Graham succeeds in his quest, he will be the new King of Daventry. Join me as I help Sir Graham find the treasures and restore the kingdom to its former glory!

This a blind let's play, meaning that this is the first time I've played ANY version of the first King's Quest game before. I know, I know...

[Total Game Time: 4:12:09]

Selected Comments From YouTube:


wow the version i played long ago certainly had no voice acting! there were so many versions of this game down the years. this one is from 2001?

Don't feed the troll?  Sounds like a lot of comments on YouTube.

• Ahhh...Sierra Games! Good times.


Links of Interest:

Download the Game For Free, For PC or Mac, at AGD Interactive's Website

Matt Chat Video Retrospective on King's Quest I - III and Remakes

King's Quest I Remake on Reloaded.org

Short G4 Video Clip on King's Quest and King's Quest Remakes

Pawdugan's Video Retrospective on the Original King's Quest I

King's Quest Series Retrospective on 1UP.com

King's Quest I Remake on WikiPedia (sub-article)

King's Quest I (Original) on Wikipedia

King's Quest I (Original) on MobyGames

King's Quest I (Remake) on MobyGames

Review (Original) on Adventure Classic Gaming

Review (Original) on Adventure Gamers

Review (Remake) on Adventure Gamers




This post has been backdated to reflect the date of the original Let's Play.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Let's Play Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon

A Blind Let's Play
Platform: Amiga
Released: 1992
Genre: RPG
Setting: Fantasy/Dungeon Crawler
Developer: Westwood Studios
Publisher: Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI)
Version: 1.05 AGA, WHDLoad Version: 0.1


Playlist:
First Video in the Series:



Khelben the somber archmage bids us to investigate the Church of Darkmoon. There have been disappearances and other strange goings-on in the vicinity. We soon find that the priests and priestesses are indeed behind the disappearances. I mean, come on, it's named "Darkmoon," for crying out loud! As expected, there is some dungeon-crawling, but the majority of the game consists of tower-crawling. Not that there's much difference, but this game is crazy fun anyway. 

Just like with EotB1, someone named CFou! refurbished the original Amiga game with the 256-color graphics from the IBM version. Here is the game in all it's AGA glory. And don't forget the automap.

[Total Game Time - 21:57:41]

Selected Comments From YouTube:

Cool, you'll be doing this EOB as well. The general consensus is that #2 is the best of the series. I can't wait for your take on it, but first, I've got some serious catching up to do on the second half of your EOB I run... :-)

Your faction with The Cult of the Diaper is taking a beating.. 

it's interesting to see a 2-cleric party go through this game. i resurrected san-raal and played 2 mages i think. this approach is good i think - taghor is much tougher and doesn't die nearly as much =) 

fireball fun for all the family! 8)

i saw the still and thought, that dwarf is on rhoids. lol

tough tower this but great fun to watch. crazy hard monsters still to come - keep those protection spells up! 8)

Amazing amount of work you went through in order to show us this longplay. Thanks for putting in the hours. It was great to relive this nostalgia trip once again. Keep up the good work and keep more of this stuff coming.

that was a really fun LP. very good entertainment! =) it was a heck of a challenge to figure out the keys while fighting the toughest monster in the game. i wonder if alain the ancient had touched amethyst would she have reached lvl 12 before the end? 

Ah, This game brings memories too. Never finished it tho. Watched my big brother play all of them through. And EotB3 was hard nut to crack. Endless mazes and teleportations if i remember right. One good dungeon crawler i might suggest is Bloodwych, we played it co-op a lot when we were young... To think of it, there weren't many other co-op crawlers. It has some nasty teleport, click buttons fast mazes too :) Time to get some snacks and enjoy the show.


Saturday, November 12, 2011

Let's Play Dragonsphere

A Blind Let's Play
Platform: PC/DOS
Released: 1994
Genre: Adventure
Setting: Fantasy
Developer: MicroProse
Publisher: MicroProse

 Playlist:


First Video in the Series:



This is a truly excellent fantasy adventure game, complete with some good music and not-so-good voice acting. Of course, it seems to follow the old "defeat the evil villain before he destroys the world" storyline, but it soon changes into something quite different. From the persecuted shape-changing Slathan, to the mysterious nomadic Soptus Ecliptus, to the mischievous Faeries of Brynn-Fann, this is an adventure I'll not soon forget.

I really like the theme song for the intro, but that's probably because I like the Phantasm movies so much. It sounds just like the movie's! Observe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTSkELbCUbw

[Total Game Time - 11:44:33]

Selected Comments From YouTube:

Didn't you just love to die from the drink and play this stupid game all over? We were all enthusiastic about it... not! :-)

I swear, There is like some kind of unplacable, Or untouchable.. Unrememberable? Nostalgia of this game.. I swear, I can not put my finger on it..
 
Links of Interest:




This post has been backdated to reflect the date of the original Let's Play.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Let's Play Lure of the Temptress

A Blind Let's Play
Platform: Amiga
Released: 1992
Genre: Adventure
Setting: Fantasy
Developer: Revolution Software
Publisher: Virgin Interactive

Playlist:


First Video in the Series:



Join me in this, my sixth Let's Play, this time of the classic adventure game from Revolution Software: Lure of the Temptress. I chose to play the Amiga version, using an emulator called Winuae, since the sounds on the PC are not so good (MIDI for the sound effects? Ugh.).

You can download the Amiga version here.

(Boot off of Lure of the Temptress_Disk0.adf. When it asks for "Disk A," put in Lure of the Temptress_Disk1.adf. "Disk B" is _Disk2.adf, and "Disk C" is _Disk3.adf.)

Please note that I did download a few other versions from other sites (including WHDLoad) and I could NOT get them to work at all.

For non-Amigans (or for someone who doesn't want to struggle with Winuae), you can download the PC version free from Good Old Games at the link below.

[Total Game Time - 5:43:04]

Selected Comments From YouTube:

It takes a lot of courage to do a "blind" LP of this game! :-)

Links of Interest:

Download Lure of the Temptress from GOG.com (PC version)

Lure of the Temptress' Official Website

Lure of the Temptress on Wikipedia

Lure of the Temptress on MobyGames

The Making of Lure of the Temptress, from Edge Magazine


Review in Amiga Action # 34 (July 1992)

Review in Amiga Format # 36 (July 1992) 



This post has been backdated to reflect the date of the original Let's Play.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Let's Play Beneath a Steel Sky

A Blind Let's Play
Platform: PC/DOS
Released: 1994
Genre: Adventure
Setting: Cyberpunk
Developer: Revolution Software
Publisher: Virgin Interactive

Playlist:



First Video in the Series:



Come along with me as I begin this journey through a dystopian city, with my little robot, Joey, as my only companion. Why is the council after me? How do we escape the city and exact bloody retribution upon them for killing off my entire tribe? Marvel as I face Officer Reich (who must be from Brooklyn), gab with two silly guards, feed a cat and steal from a dog, and get a hole drilled in my head... voluntarily. All that and more, for the low price of... nothing!

[Total Game Time - 8:34:06]

Selected Comments From YouTube:

Is that a girl playing/narrating?

I finished this game! Developers have created a very interesting main character. The game is full of great humor! 90' was a great time for adventure games! 

Thanks for the great videos!

Links of Interest:


Download Beneath a Steel Sky at ScummVM's Website

Beneath a Steel Sky's Official Website

Beneath a Steel Sky Remastered's Official Website (For iPhone and iPod Touch Only) 

Beneath a Steel Sky on Wikipedia

Beneath a Steel Sky on MobyGames
 
Review on Adventure Classic Gaming

Review on Adventure Gamers

Review for BASS Remastered for iPhone and iPad Touch on Adventure Gamers


This post has been backdated to reflect the date of the original Let's Play.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Let's Play The Strange and Somewhat Sinister Tale of the House at Desert Bridge

A Blind Let's Play
Platform: PC/Windows
Released: 2008
Genre: Adventure
Setting: Fantasy/Weird
Developer: Jonas Kyratzes
Publisher: Self Published
Version: 1.0

Playlist: 


First Video in the Series:



Written and developed by Jonas Kyratzes, this is the prequel (of sorts) to The Book of Living Magic. You are contacted by a talking picture frame from the Lands of Dream, and charged with the task of finding the owner of the house, Old Man Bill. Along the way, you encounter a dinosaur in the garden, a political turtle, a pair of Giant Hamsters of Doom, a spiderpig, mushrooms who say "excellent" a lot, a paranoid rabbit, and many other strange characters. We make potions, decipher encrypted journals, turn a chicken into a duck, and many other strange activities.

[Total Game Time - 4:58:06]

Links of Interest:


Jonas Kyratzes' Video Interviews on Matt Chat:    Part 1   Part 2   Part 3

TSASSTOTHATB on MobyGames



This post has been backdated to reflect the date of the original Let's Play.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Let's Play Eye of the Beholder

A Blind Let's Play
Platform: Amiga
Released: 1991
Genre: RPG
Setting: Fantasy/Dungeon Crawler
Developer: Westwood Studios
Publisher: Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI)
Version: 1.09 AGA  WHDLoad Version: 0.2

 Playlist:



First Video in the Series:



A year after this game was released for IBM, it was ported to the Amiga. No surprise to many, the sound was superior. What was surprising was that the graphics were not. The graphics were based on the old ECS chip, and didn't utilize the more advanced AGA chip at all. Fast forward to 2006. A programmer named CFou! refurbished the game with 256-color graphics from the IBM version. In essence, here is the game in all it's AGA glory. There's also an automap. Let's kill us some monsters!  ;)  

[Total Game Time - 22:14:20]

Selected Comments From YouTube:

I remember when disk drives sounded like that

Wow, I love that you're playing the Amiga version of this game! It makes a nice change from the usual SNES or PC playthroughs you find on YouTube.
I found this from searching for blind LPs, and have always been fascinated by the style of these kinds of games, but I've only ever played Undercroft on iOS... older games like these feel too intimidating for me. That's why I love blind LPs, I get to see everything the game has to offer, without committing to any frustration myself. :D

I like the fact you are playing this old game. I've played it considerably myself. I hope you enjoy it, I remember it being very hard later on!

Thank you for this Let's Play.  EOB is rarely done, and it has never been done blind. I'm already loving it... :-)

oh yeah. no maps on those style games is chore. i remember playing warriors of the eternal sun and trying to map it all on homemade graph paper. lol.

This game started my fear of all D&D spiders also. Baldurs Gate helped not at all to alleviate that.

I find myself talking, giving you advise and wonder about your spear fetish but you never seem to hear me. I have that effect on women.. Really though I have watched the whole series up to this point and am enjoying it. I do wonder why you dont keep a useful scroll handy in Goldmoon's weapon slot since she cant smack anything with her mace. Starting to view this episode now, plan on watching your other series when I finish this one. Thank you for doing these play through videos! 

All the Drow look like Hulk Hogan, all that is missing are them wearing the Hulk-A-Maniac tear away shirts and his theme music. 

4 day watching marathon complete! Watched each episode and enjoyed it very much. Good job on defeating the game and thank you for doing this Lets Play series!


Links of Interest:






This post has been backdated to reflect the date of the original Let's Play.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Let's Play The Book of Living Magic

A Blind Let's Play
Platform: Online/Flash
Released: 2011
Genre: Adventure
Setting: Fantasy/Weird
Developer: Jonas Kyratzes
Publisher: Jay is Games

Playlist:  



First Video in the Series:



Join me as I play this funny, short, odd Flash game by Jonas and Verena Kyratzes! We play the part of the unfortunately named Raven Locks Smith, as she searches for The Book of Living Magic.This is the second game taking place in The Lands of Dream. It's not exactly a sequel to The Strange and Somewhat Sinister Tale of the House at Desert Bridge (taking a deep breath now), but The Book of Living Magic was created and released after that game, so if you want to think of it as a sequel, then feel free.

[Total Game Time - 1:47:49]

Selected Comments From YouTube:

What an odd "game". Really more like an illustrated story... Very soothing music and voice and cute graphical style combines with the quirky sense of humor to create a very enjoyable experience.

Thanks for the commentary, it took bit over an hour to watch these all but it was totally worth it. There is whole another dimension to this when someone else is reading the story for you, thanks for that :)

• I dont know if it's just me, but after playing the game myself few weeks earlier, i find it nice just to close my eyes and come back to book of living magic once more. Thanks for that :)
 

Links of Interest:


The Book of Living Magic on MobyGames

Jonas Kyratzes' Video Interviews on Matt Chat:    Part 1   Part 2   Part 3

"The Making of The Book of Living Magic" Videos:   Part 1   Part 2   Part 3   Part 4   Part 5

Play The Book of Living Magic on Jay is Games



This post has been backdated to reflect the date of the original Let's Play.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Let's Play Sentinel Worlds I: Future Magic

Platform: PC/Tandy/DOS 
Released: 1988 
Genre: RPG 
Setting: Science Fiction
Developer: Karl Buiter
Publisher: Electronic Arts


Playlist:


Or click here to view the playlist on YouTube.

 First Video in the Series:



Here's a game that never got the recognition it deserved. Karl Buiter went on to develop another game called Hard Nova, which also did not do well in the market. Unfortunately, Sentinel Worlds II never saw the light of day, but Hard Nova is now considered a spiritual successor to this game.

Your mission is to stop raider ships from attacking cargo transports heading to colony worlds. This expands into a truly epic storyline.

I played the game with Tandy sound enabled. I originally played this on my Tandy 1000, so it was like old home week(s). I never got that far in the game back then, but I've done pretty well this time.

Not only was I the first to post an LP of this game, but it was my first LP ever. I get better, I promise!

[Total Game Time - 11:44:23]

Selected Comments From YouTube:

Mmmh SWFM! One day when I have enough time I will watch all your vids through in a long session!

It was a crime that this game never got a sequel. I ended up playing Hard Nova twice to satiate my fix.

Liking this LP so far. :) This looks like a kind of game I would've loved as a kid, but now wouldn't have the patience to play, so thanks for playing it for me. ;) On a side note, I find the Tandy music in this game to be reminiscent of music from the Sega Master System, particularly Phantasy Star (a game I loved as a kid, but I couldn't beat the final dungeon that had something like 8 levels and was one of those 3D mazes at which I suck with no automap :P ).

You should show the EA funmap as a bonus episode!!

I've been watching this LP straight from the first video. You've got a really soothing voice that reminds me of my favorite female comedian: Lily Tomlin. Ill def watch the rest and your other LPs too!

Links of Interest:




Sentinel Worlds I: Future Magic on Home of the Underdogs




This post has been backdated to reflect the date of the original Let's Play.