For those not in the know, Dragon's Lair was an arcade game originally released in 1983. It featured the player controlling a bumbling knight named Dirk the Daring going on a quest, through a castle, to rescue a princess, Daphne, from a dragon.
In it's day Dragon's Lair got a lot of attention on two fronts: Firstly, it made use of Laser Disc technology which made it more powerful than it's arcade peers. And secondly, it boasted full animation by the legendary Don Bluth. Thus the graphics and animation were beautiful to look at (and still do thirty plus years later) and looked like nothing else at the time.
However, whilst the animation was a key selling point, the game itself presented a challenge to the player: It was their job to guide Dirk through the castle but it did not involve controlling him directly. No, what would happen is that a scene of animation will play out and the player would need to tap in the right command (whether pressing the attack button or moving the joystick) at the right time. If they succeeded, the scene will move to next one but if they failed there would be a death scene.
So yeah Dragon's Lair was nothing more than a series of QuickTime events. And guess what? There were no prompts whatsoever: it had to be all worked out by the player through trial and error. That may sound brutal but keep in mind that the game itself was built around a grand total of twenty minutes worth of animation. As such a length would make for a short game, you don't want it to be easy now, right?
So how did this game play out? Well, here's a playthrough of the recent revamp:
Original video located here. Accessed 27th November 2015
Personally, when I was a kid I never got to play Dragon's Lair but I did know of it through reputation. Aside from the art direction, the animation and Princess Daphne, a lot of that reputation rested on the brutal difficulty and how it is never clear on what the player needs to do and when they need to do it. But considering that this was an arcade game and arcade games thrive on draining the change from the player's pockets, having an arcade game that is too easy is out of the question.
Whilst I was unable to play Dragon's Lair that didn't stop me from admiring it from afar. But the earliest impression I got from Dragon's Lair was this is a dark fantasy. Now, these days the phrase "dark fantasy" is used to describe fantasy set in a rather less-than-spectacular setting (ie Dragon Age) - I however subscribe to the traditional use of "dark fantasy" in that it is used to describe the genre hybrid of fantasy and horror (ie Diablo).
And strange as this may sound, I always associated Dragon's Lair as being something of a horror game. Maybe it was because the eighties was a golden time for fantasy/horror hybrids (ie Jim Henson's The Storyteller and Return to Oz). Or maybe it was that ominous opening screen to Dragon's Lair itself:
Original image located here. Accessed 27th November 2015
Needless to say, upon viewing that play-through posted above, for the first time, I was really surprised to see the game was actually quite humorous and made heavy use of slapstick comedy. I suppose that the use of humor may ease the player's frustration of failing a move but when you fail plenty of Dragon's Lair (which you will inevitably do) the humor becomes less humorous and more annoying.
And even mocking.
Years later, I have no interest in playing Dragon's Lair - yes it is not the dark fantasy I was expecting and yes I'm not keen in QuickTime events. But at the same time I will will admit an admiration for the game series. Because it is undeniable it has animation and art direction that most game artists will kill for. Plus it is trying something new and certainly looks unique for it's era. And if it's truly the exercise in animation that Don Bluth claims it is then it has achieved such a goal and it's done so with flying colors.
And then there's the sequel:
Original video located here. Accessed 27th November 2015
.......I.......I've got nothing.
