Quick Look: King of Dragon Pass

Earthshaker!

Thanks for doing this, Austin. This was a great (impossible) game back in the day.

Oh man, First Crusader Kings II, now this?! Austin, you're digging into all the games that I love disproportionately.

Why is the first game I'm truly excited to play in a long time text-based and from 1999? Come on modern games, you're letting me down.

Got this game a couple years ago on Gog but even after following the tutorial in the manual I still didn't understand everything that was going on, I liked what I was reading but I didn't understand some of the mechanics completely like the magic. @austin_walker or anyone else do you know of a guide for easing people into the game?

@wazanator: So my first experience of KoDP was this forum LP from years ago. Reading that is what taught me the game, and then when it released on iOS is when I poured ours and hours into.

No mercy for ducks! #RememberThatD

"Take a look at this. Cabbage D. Sound familiar?"

"... You know what we do with that D right?"

"We remember that D."

[Hans Zimmer soundtrack kicks in]

Who knew V-Bomb was such a Warmonger.

@zerocrescent said:

Perhaps Vinny's Duckist inclinations may come from being traumatized by seeing the Howard the Duck movie at a young age. Or maybe he blamed all waterfowl after being attacked by Geese at some point. Because Geese are Jerks.

Yeah, they are.

I saw this when gog.com put it up and was kind ashamed I had never heard of it.

I got through the tutorial on ios and the only thing I'm kind of uncertain of is if there's some kind of limit on the number of actions you can take in a season? Like, what makes or doesn't make time go forward outside of using the season wheel?

The Android version is solid.

@august: Hey! Each season is two turns long. So you can (say) raid and build a shrine, or explore and hold a feast. If you ever wanna do nothing for a turn, just click the season wheel icon thing.

This seems super interesting, but i'm torn on which version to get. Since i don't own an ipad but just an iphone and i don't want to become blind playing it, ios devices are off the table. So by going for a pc version: the steam release page reviews say that the port UI is bad, that there is no manual save option, some graphical representation are replaced by plain text, and there are some bugs. On the other hand the gog version misses the new content...

Does anybody knows how significant is for a new player the content introduced in the updated version?

@austin_walker: But what if you don't have an ios? I would love this though between civilization, be and endless legend (GREAT game) doubt I would have time to play it.

Austin we all love Vinny, but he is an agent of chaos and not to be trusted for sage advice.

Austin is such a fantastic addition to the site.

What? Isn't this a very old game? I don't mean to be a stickler for ordering, but shouldn't this be an encyclopedia bombastica video rather than a quick look?

Never mind, got further into the video. Apparently this is a rerelease and I am a dork.

@austin_walker: Thanks!

I feel like this is the only game I've ever seen that generates stories that have the depth of literature. Like I just want to sit Ursula Le Guin or John Crowley down with this game and get their reaction.

I love this game and I'm very happy that it's showed up on Giant Bomb. ALL HAIL DUCKS

I'm really loving this Vinny and Austin playing strategy games (or whatever you want to call this and Crusader Kings) thing. "I want to put them in little cages and throw bread at them." Vinny is the greatest god of chaos. Awesome quicklook.

One of the best videos. We need playdates so that Vinny can live in Duckburg.

If you want to watch Austin play more KoDP, he played the 1999 version on Stream Friends:

Any duders here have dyslexia? I do, and games like this with a lot of text are really hard for me to enjoy. My problem is reading makes me extremely tired, so having to read a ton of text over several hours seems like an insurmountable task to me.

I've always described my dyslexia as such: most people can easily walk a mile on their two feet (regular reading), but for me it's like I have to walk that mile on my hands. Not impossible, it'll just take a lot of time and effort.

It always bums me out that I can't enjoy games with such rich world building. Shadowrun is one recent game that I find impossible to play because of my problems with reading comprehension.

#RememberThatD

I wish I could remember where I heard it, maybe on Active Time Babble (which is probably wrong, but it's sort of a blur at this point), but someone raved about the iOS version and I've been pecking at it since then.

And just because this is the only time I'll be justified in posting this, here is Alan Moore singing a warning about ducks.

Been playing too much Duck Game, Vinny?

@austin_walker: You are bringing the right sort of games to this site. Soon the Giant Bomb staff will be talking about crazy turn-based strategy games like they were nothing and final victory will be ours!

(in all seriousness, I can't really think of another game like King of Dragon Pass. It has such an unique identity that I'm glad you gave it some coverage here)

Man, I feel for you. That sounds like my personal hell. I read 1-2 books a week, often 600-1k page epic fantasies. I don't know what I would do with myself if I couldn't do that. I haven't been much of a gamer in years and I don't really watch TV. I would be super lost.

I tried playing this a few years ago. Vinny and his anti-anatidae ways were more successful than me.

@davidh219: yea, my brother is the same: he can go through 1-2 books a week. Whereas, something as easy as 1984 can take me a few months to read.

This needs to be the successor to Vinny Vania.

So strange, finished watching this and wanted more.. Turns out youtube and Austin from the past has me covered :P Austin and Stream friends play King of Dragon Pass

Every game needs a Vinny Announcer Pack.

I'll never forget that D

Some of the music in this really sounds like an off-key version of the Gummi Bears intro :D

EDIT: I now really need to rewatch all of the Gummi Bears episodes.

This game is great.

I had to deal with an asshole RPG party acting like typical PC's and abusing my hospitality. I do wonder if killing them would have gotten me some cool loot.

I think I made the right gesture of hospitality to the right person later on despite this, and very long story short I now have my Vikings going into battle on Triceratops.

This game is great.

I have some very faint memories of playing this back in the day and am now trying to see if I actually own a copy or if I have to just buy it again.. Damn it, Austin.

Also love how many times Austin called Vinny a bad person.

Just to give you a an idea of the eventual outcome of Vinny's anti-Anatidean bias, in one or two more turns the beastmen would have eradicated the Remember That Dragon That One In The Kape What Ever Happened to HiM He Seemed Like A CoolGuy Maybe we should get him back on board OTHER PERSON nah lets play mario kart!clan.

Vinny solving the Duck question.

Vinny: Outlaw Yanioth

Austin: That's a te-

Vinny: Out!

Austin: Vinny, no!

Vinny: REMEMBER THAT D!!

Such a good QL.

I will always Remember That D.

The clan that doesn't care as long you remember that D. Then all will be fine. XD

#RememberThatD #KillAllDucks

Life is a duck blur and remember that D.

This was great, thanks guys!

I really enjoy the pace that Austin moves through dense games such as this. Same with Crusader Kings II.

YES! I love this game! Super exited about this quick look(throwback)!

Just a heads up, there's actually an Android version out as well.

Unfortunately it's the same company that did the PC port seen in the Quick Look; it seems like the PC port is a port of the 2014 Android version, not the 2011 iOS version. On the other hand, I think the lack of a manual save is for the better, and on Android the Heroquests aren't completely filled out when you read them for the first time. The interface is really meant for a tablet over a phone, but you can (legally) emulate the Android version on the PC so you too can have crappy mouse controls meant for a touch device!

This was such a treat. I love listening to people explain the details of a game they have spent a ton of time with. An interesting looking game to boot, can't believe I've never heard of it.

I could watch Vinny and Austin play this game all day.

Edit: oh crap I didn't see the Crusader Kings Playdate. Prayers answered.