The Silver Lining (just played it)

jetboy

Random post but I just played through the first 4 episodes of TSL using Crossover. Aside from a bug preventing the ending cutscene for episode 4, I've gotta say I'm highly impressed!!!

This was a project that I monitored way back when it was 'KQIX'. Without saying more, it's amazing how much detail has gone into rebuilding the world and writing a story that ties together all the old games. I haven't played a game this deep for a while. For example, Dreamfall Chapters was great, but it felt too short. TSL has 1 more episode to come and I can't say it feels short at all.

If anybody's looking for a random game to play, I recommend it.

mossy_11

At first I was like 'what the hell is The Silver Lining'? Then I read KQIX and it started to come back to me. I'd totally forgotten about this thing. It's great that they actually (almost) finished it after so many years in development.

I've been playing through Secret Files: Tunguska lately and have really enjoyed it so far, despite some rough edges in the design and translation. Feels great to dive into adventure gaming again.

I'll add The Silver Lining to my list, right below all the King's Quest games I missed (which is most of them, I'm afraid).

jetboy

mossy_11 wrote:
At first I was like 'what the hell is The Silver Lining'? Then I read KQIX and it started to come back to me. I'd totally forgotten about this thing. It's great that they actually (almost) finished it after so many years in development.

I've been playing through Secret Files: Tunguska lately and have really enjoyed it so far, despite some rough edges in the design and translation. Feels great to dive into adventure gaming again.

I'll add The Silver Lining to my list, right below all the King's Quest games I missed (which is most of them, I'm afraid).

Damn you are lucky then!! IMO there are some real crackers and each game is based inside a really big world. I loved how you could walk anywhere, try anything, talk to LOTS of whacky characters and slowly the story would creep out at you. There was something magical about these worlds when compared with maze-style shoot-em-ups of the day. This was before the internet too... so the characters were like virtual friends and I HAD to work it all out by myself without walkthroughs. Thus, I took my time to discover all the easter eggs...etc (which are quite cleverly woven into TSL as key plot themes, some of the finest most obscure things are ridiculously well developed IMO!)

While more cinematic and prscriptive, TSL is certainly true to the classic form and feels like a real sequel (it is set in the KQ6 world but adapted).

Kinda neat that all the classics are designed by a woman who (I could be wrong) is more of a storyteller than a computer nerd. KQIV must be one of the first games to star a female hero too... it’s my personal favourite (the SCI version).

Congrats on your book BTW! I just updated my contact details and should be receiving my copy pretty soon. It’s really awesome to see that everything was successful!!!

mossy_11

Yep, she is more storyteller than computer nerd. Lots of articles over the years have delved into that, but I think we'll finally get a somewhat definitive take on her story and that of the company when academic Laine Nooney gets her book on them published.

And thanks! UK people have just started receiving their copies, so hopefully yours won't be too far behind. (I don't think my author copies took any longer than a week to reach me here in Melbourne last month.) It's exciting to know that other people can finally read this thing I slaved over for three years, and that I wrote mostly during a period of 12-18 months ago.

_Em

I was lucky enough to get hooked on Roberta Williams' work at KQ2 -- it was really the addition of the SQ easter egg that did it for me, as there are some "cheats" in KQ2 game design where if you didn't do things in just the right order, you couldn't finish the game and might not realize that for quite some time. I think it took me about a month of playing and frustration (and discovering ALL the game mechanics in the first section of the game) to realize I'd done two actions out of order, and that's why the game wasn't progressing.

I thought the KQ and SQ series were great; for me, LSL and PQ cheapened things a bit. I liked Roberta's storytelling more than Sierra's game engines.

I'm very happy that Sierra took over Broderbund's Lode Runner franchise though -- Lode Runner Online is a game I got back then because of the combination of Lode Runner and the Sierra label, and my kids still play it today!

for those reading the thread who have no idea what we're talking about: http://www.postudios.com/company/games/thesilverlining/

It's 5 episodes long, all available for free. I'm thinking of getting a WineSkin bundle set up and sending it to them so they've got a legit Mac download available :)

Squishy Tia

_Em wrote:
for those reading the thread who have no idea what we're talking about: http://www.postudios.com/company/games/thesilverlining/

It's 5 episodes long, all available for free. I'm thinking of getting a WineSkin bundle set up and sending it to them so they've got a legit Mac download available :)

That would be awesome. I'm always down for a new, deep game (or series).