The Legend of Kyrandia (1992)

Preliminary: I wish I liked the plot and humor better so far, but wow the gameplay, the Look, and the Sound are incredible for 92. And yet again 92 is showing how this is the start of my gaming era, being a 90 baby. Everything about this feels advanced, from the way you observe different things by clicking and he actually talks with a voice about them, the way you can just pick up and drop tiems without a bunch of extra steps, etc.

This screen, the conversation, and the music all remind me of Pajama Sam! The underwater geyser part with the boat you ride in No Need to Hide... And consistently the music, Look, gameplay have been amazing so far

And this dragon reminds me of a very nostalgic part in Putt Putt Travels Through Time

Day 1

Not loving this birthstone search. Seems like I'm wandering around hoping for right combination, which indeed is exactly what I'm doing lol but it's getting old. I'm wondering if something is broken because I have tried every combination of every available gem per the guides I've read...

Day 2

Well, I ran into some technical issues. But more than that, the tedious puzzle basis to this game, rather than the fun item retrieval adventure I was hoping for, is making me not want to try to solve the issue. The Look, Sound, and Feel are amazing, as are the mechanics of the gameplay, but the game design and execution bogged it down. After about an hour and a half of playing, in the Dragon cave, I am calling it quits. And don't even get me started about the fast-reaction part.

Look: 9/10 Yes

Sound: 8.5/10 Yes. And the voices are so well-done

Play: 7.5/10 Advanced in how you just click on things to make things happen, rather than convoluted menus, but the game design and puzzle-based gameplay is not my type of Adventure.

Feel: 7.5/10 So many feels, and the beginning is very worth playing, but unfortunately the Joy aspect bogs down over time.

Attachment: 7.5/10

Overall: 8/10

Completion: Was exploring the Dragon shaped cave

Playtime: ~1h 30m

I had this on Amiga and it was on a bunch of floppy disks so you had to switch out disks while playing the game. You had a list of different alphanumeric codes on a dark piece of paper that prevented it from being photocopied. You had to enter the right code from the list to start the game (this was how they tried to deter game copying as there was no restriction on copying disks at the time). This is the first point and click adventure game I remember playing. I guess its fantasy setting would appear to be generic to more experienced fantasy enthusiasts but for me it felt original. I thought the graphics were gorgeous at the time and really liked the music, particularly the more ominous sounding ones. I always found the castle near the end a bit creepy but maybe that was because I was a kid.

I needed a guide to beat this game and I remember getting a photocopy of the official guide from someone. There are definitely dated game design choices in this game that would never make it into a modern adventure game like getting stuck in an unwinnable situation. It's possible to not be able to progress without going back to an earlier save because you didn't get an item or do something in a previous area and have gone past a point of no return. There's that cave level where it's pretty much trial and error to navigate since you pretty much have to make your own map to make sure you don't repeat going to the same dead end.

The second game is better than this one in terms of design and gameplay. Zanthia is way more interesting than Brandon as a protagonist but the second game also seems more wacky and doesn't have anything that evokes uneasiness like the castle or Serpent's Grotto. I preferred the tone of the first game although it does have some wackiness itself. The third game with Malcolm as the protagonist tried some interesting things with his mood meter that supposedly affected the game depending on how good or bad he acted. There were multiple ways of getting off the island of Kyrandia at the beginning and you weren't forced to do it just one way. But it has some annoying puzzles. That third game actually did end with a possibility for a sequel that kind of retcons the first game. Out of the trilogy, the 2nd game is the best from a design and gameplay standpoint.

In my ideal world a sequel would take all the best elements of the first 3 games and maybe tone down the wackiness a bit in certain parts and add back some of that uneasiness/creepiness from the first game. Maybe even have multiple protagonists. I personally I would be fine if it was just Zanthia as she was the strongest protagonist although having Malcolm in some playable sequences would also make sense based on the ending of the third game. His mood meter mechanic could be something interesting to further explore in a game.