OET (OurEpicTales)

Here I am up again at the wee hours.  Figuring that I could not possibly doze off in the next half hour or so, I turned to the App store to browse the new additions.  Dragon’s Lair caught my eye instantly and brought warm, fuzzy memories of my childhood years.  With a couple of heated left-over pizza and a glass of tea, I am proud to present this app to the OETers (and children of the 80s alike) and reminisce about the past role playing/story-based games of the past.  If you are still confused about this “Dragon’s Lair” thing, please see the video below before continuing.

If you are a new-comer to the game, you may be put off by the way you “control” the “action”.  It feels very much like watching a cartoon but you have to make the right decision and press the button at the right time or… face death (which happens often than not at the first go).  I’m sure you Guitar Hero/Rock Band fans can appreciate that (even fans of Indigo Prophecy, Parrapa the Rappa, and even the Adventures of Willy Beamish, if you can remember that one).

Why does it bring me a smile?  It brings me back to the time when we thought “virtual reality” and virtual reality goggles will dominate the gaming world in the near-future.  Too bad choose-your-own adventure books have gone out of style, audience-voted movies were a mess, and virtual reality goggles have all but blipped off our radar (remember the Nintendo’s attempt at this with their HUGE virtual reality goggle system? *Ahem* Virtual Boy).

How about the movies-to-game attempt in the 90s?  It seemed like a good concept since CD’s and not floppy or cartridge were thought to be the next step in console gaming.  Anyone who owned the short-lived Sega CD and who played the cine-style games would know the frustration of the limitation of hardware back then (they looked and played awfully in general).  You don’t have to take my word for it (see video below).

Well, the technology that we need to succeed in this venue as well as the cartoon/movie style gaming may be possible today but the target audience may not be the 20-somethings.  Do we need to though?  With games like Dragon Age Origins and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, it seems like they are coming very close to looking realistic (with voice-sync’d characters as realistic as real actors).

While we wait, why not relive the joys of your childhood with Dragon’s Lair and Monkey Island?  Before I go, here’s something for you to enjoy and remember:

Tags: app, daphne, dirk the daring, dragon's lair, game
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Hey OETers.  If you are looking for a quick RPG fix, I would recommend a little gem called Torchlight by Runic Games.  At $20, it can make a perfect gift (and it can run on netbooks!).

The graphics brings me back to my high school years in the 90s (think Final Fantasy, Ogre Battle, and Secret of Mana) and it isn’t hardware intensive.  There’s voice dialogues and reminds me of the old Diablo series with the scrolling speech.  If you have time, check it out.

My favorite character class is the Alchemist (think mage) that’s part melee and spell-caster (customizable to be full caster or partially melee).  Take a look at the trailer for the Alchemist below!

Now if only Blizzard would hurry with Diablo III (but I would be away from OET for a lengthy period of time… or covering it here!).

Tags: game, rpg, torchlight
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