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Thursday, August 09, 2007


A Tale of Two Kingdoms is an epic tale in the style of the famous Sierra and LucasArts graphical adventure games. This ambitious project features five different endings, sidequests, alternate solutions, quality music and even a director's commentary.

The ancient kingdom of Theylinn is beset by enemies, and within the castle walls nobles vie for the old King's favor. Meanwhile, danger approaches in the form of an invading army, a hostile giant, and a mercenary troop who are ancient enemies of the Theylann king.

I had problems getting the graphics to look decent, so I made a small setup tutorial for anyone who requires it. Note that games saved when playing in one resolution setting do not work when loaded in another.

Name: A Tale of Two Kingdoms
Developer: Crystal Shard
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 100MB
Walkthrough: Click here

Labels:

7 Comments:
Anonymous Anonymous said at 8/10/2007 01:55:00 AM:  
This game totally rocks!!!
Anonymous Anonymous said at 8/10/2007 07:40:00 AM:  
Based on forum buzz, it may make sense to wait a month or so before playing this, as there are still major bugs being ironed out. (The game sounds like it's winnable, it's just also glitchy.)
Anonymous Anonymous said at 8/10/2007 05:40:00 PM:  
The main character is ugly. The gameplay's great though. Definitely worth a look.
Blogger Tim said at 8/10/2007 05:52:00 PM:  
I agree. The portrait of a priest was probably the best one of the pack, but the rest was all over the shop.

I'm not too fond of the gameplay (wasn't a fan of Hero's Quest series), but after playing a couple of chapters I have a feeling that a few of us might like it. :)
Anonymous Anonymous said at 8/11/2007 05:19:00 AM:  
didn't like the gameplay. too many illogical and forced puzzles. eg, why would a king lose his scepter in/under a vase, that is lying in the middle of the floor? doesn't make sense. and noboby has seen that vase lyign there at all? and getting an invisible nail in a doorframe while you have to get away quickly? thanks for the walkthrough for that one. and how didn't that guard see you standing right there next to the door when the statue fell to the ground? he must be blind. the game just isn't very well designed.
and a lot of times it just wasn't clear what i should be doing, and some of the backgrounds are really inconsistent. those in the city just isn't anywhere near sierra quality looking, i'm referring to the backgrounds where you walk in the city streets. but then there is that beautiful background at the faeries, and the one just south of the monastery.
portraits: goblins were done really well, others looked like they were done by someone else who uses too much reference to the point where you can recognise the source material.
it just feels like the authors listened to a lot of "how adventures games should be like" discussions, and just threw everything in they heard, from multiple solutions to puzzles, multiple endings, to non-linearity, etc etc.
and i was most disappointed by the commentary. it was really light. basic facts. no real behind the scene stuff. would have loved to hear from the musicians and artists, the guys who actually made the game.
and WHY bring in cuppit? it just breaks the whole game's credibility to bring in a talking blue cup from a completely different game that tries to be funny, but ends up being annoying.
Blogger Tim said at 8/11/2007 06:22:00 AM:  
You guys absolutely pull no punches when it comes to criticism. :) I wish I've seen more of these opinions in the AGS boards, but unfortunately most of them seem to be interested in congratulating the authors.

I'm sure some of the developers would be here to read the comments, so your effort in typing the entire thing out won't be wasted. :)

And the blue cup joke has to die. Really.
Anonymous Anonymous said at 8/28/2007 02:02:00 PM:  
Well, it's been less than a month, but the major bugs have been ironed out. Updated to v1.2, as of today.