It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
The bold and the beautiful.

Dragon's Lair Trilogy is now available DRM-free on GOG.com. It contains both Dragon's Lair games, plus their sci-fi cousin Space Ace.

Even if you've never tried Dragon's Lair or Dragon's Lair: Time Warp before, it's hard to ignore their pop-culture footprint. A pretty straightforward story of a heroic knight braving all sorts of traps to save a princess in distress, made into an arcade legend thanks to the fluid animation, beautiful cartoon visuals, and...erm...challenging QTEs that bankrupted many a wee lad.

Its sci-fi counterpart, Space Ace, stars the intrepid Ace as he tries to grow the hell up and win back the lovely Kimberly. Would be nice if he could also thwart Borf's unsavory plan and save the rest of humanity from being reduced to defenseless infants.

All three games have been remastered and contain sweet extras, like interviews with the creators or insights on how their amazing animation came to be.
low rated
deleted
Oh look, the good old "memorize every move you have to make, by dying a thousand deaths" game. XD
I remember getting the C64 version as a birthday gift.

The graphics were stunning, of course - but the "gameplay"...
I experienced the same kind of "Oh, it's fun...initially, but then..." with "Brain Dead 13", a MSDOS game from 1995 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Dead_13).

I think, I'll pass...(I still have the C64 version, after all)
[Flashes a signal indicating that he generally approves of the release, but probably won't play it himself due to being awful at QTE.]
avatar
viranimus: I am older than this game and while I do respect that to some this may be the greatest of all time, I cannot for the life of me see the logic of an MSRP of 20$ for a 35 year old game. Happy its here for those who want this. I however cannot see my way clear to even look in this direction on simple economic practicality if nothing else.
Those are 3 (!!!) games, not one. All are completed games, so they go for aprox. 7 $ each.

avatar
irondragoon: I would really like it if a reviewer would actually review this release instead of jabbering on about how they blasted so many quarters in the early 80's or the "nostalgia is so rich". Yes, we get it. Us older dudes did that too and also feel that way. That does not help wit h THIS release. Can we download it for Daphne if we buy it? Is it better? These are the real questions.
I am afraid you cannot use it for any emulation. The game files/movies seem to be converted mp4-files, hidden/packed in an Unity Engine Resources-file.

This is no "real hardware"-files run by an emulation on top (like the SNK-Games here), it is a remake of the games, using the original movie-files but making "the game ifself" completely new with Unitiy Engine. Because of that we have the problems with the button overlay and the cropping in arcade mode.

On the other hand that would make it quite simple to correct all problems IF the movie-files are uncopped in the resource-file and the cropping starts with the Unitiy program on top. Change the program, cropping/overlay goes away.

At least there is a rest of hope that this is fixable and that GOG cares enough...
Post edited July 25, 2018 by Anime-BlackWolf
avatar
PassiveZombie: Whatever happened to "Escape from Singe's Castle?" Did that not make the trilogy, or was it renamed?
avatar
QunMang: Early Dragon's Lair ports had scenes removed to better fit the game on media of the time so it wasn't the full experience from the original Laserdisc. Escape From Singe's castle was just more scenes from the original game, and together (when installed on HDD at least the Amiga version, the only one that I can really speak of) it made for a more full Dragon's Lair experience.

(end of reply)

I well remember Dragon's Lair and Space Ace from the arcade days. 50 cents a pop compared to the normal quarter-per-play of other arcade games. This is actually the only laserdisc game I have ever finished, even to this day. It was quite a thrill to have memorized all the moves and finally rescue the princess. Once people started learning the game, operators started their dirty tricks. The one I remember most was them turning off the move sound that told people when the move registered- the controls were actually not always active. Sometimes you had to move the joystick a few times listening to the (no) (no) (no) (blip!) to know you properly made the move

As for Space Ace, I played that one almost as much but never got more than 80-90% of the way through. Dragon's Lair II Timewarp I never saw in an arcade, only ports of it, like on Amiga. I never finished it, but I remember using the cheat code to watch the computer play through the game.

There were other me-too games in the style of Dragon's Lair. One I remember well was Cliff Hanger, a game which I later learned was from the anime Lupin III. This game has TWO action buttons, adding to the complexity, labeled "Hands" and "Feet" I believe. Needless to say, never having finished even Space Ace I never got very far in this game.
Oh, okay. Thank you.
avatar
Anime-BlackWolf: There is only one installer, no other installers than the international one. So the international installer seems to be region-coded. I play on my fathers PC, OS language is set to german. I changed the Win10 keyboard layout to english US, did not work for the game.
You probably will have to change the regional settings not just the keyboard layout. It was this case with the first Batman from Telltale. I only have Win7 but on Win 10 this should be the way:

http s://msdn.microsoft.com/de-de/library/windows/hardware/dn898505(v=vs.85).aspx#ControlPanel

(Crap forum bug - was not able to post the kink. Delete the space between http and s)

But of course it would be much better if there would be a way to change language ingame. Add to this the button prompt and the bad localisation. This should be patched imo. Probably won't buy it given the actual state of the game. I don't want to support half assed games.

Edit: Just saw that you figured this out already by yourself.
Post edited July 25, 2018 by MarkoH01
avatar
viranimus: I am older than this game and while I do respect that to some this may be the greatest of all time, I cannot for the life of me see the logic of an MSRP of 20$ for a 35 year old game.
avatar
Fairfox: it look liek a cartoon

or somethang

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ $$$ PROFIT $$$
..... Well I was thinking more in line with the consumers perspective.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ /Shrug

Well played none the less.

avatar
Anime-BlackWolf: Those are 3 (!!!) games, not one. All are completed games, so they go for aprox. 7 $ each.
If it is something you love, more power to you. That said by your reasoning we can look at a different metric and tell a completely contradictory story. Those are 3 games. That main story run time is 1 hour, 1.5 hours and.... 17 MINUTES respectively. Totaling to just under 3 hours for those three games. (( Side note: Completionist ests= 2.5, 3.5 and 3.5 for a total of just under 10 hours. Even still 10 hours for 20$ is a questionable value ratio in modern gaming.))

That is an approx. 6-7$ per hour of content. While not TOO expensive, that is more in line with movie pricing/value (be it in theaters or home video/rental) which is VERY high when compared to the average cost per hour of most modern genres of games. IE Shooters/RPGs/MMO/ect.

Warning:

The following is further pontification on pricing and it is relevance. This long form is simply a side effect of mentally prepping to return to school for the fall semester, getting back into "scholastic shape" in both writing and thought processes. It just amounts to various musings and acts as just a supplement to the stated point above already made. It is not really relevant, or related to the portion of this "Reply" to quoted posts. , It was drafted only for my personal benefit. Others may not find the same, if any value in it. Read or ignore at your own discretion =)

Why "value" is relevant.
[spoiler]

There is a variable of contemporaneity as inherently a portion of the value of any media content is tied to its contemporary relevance that effectively puts "best by" dates to games which will yield higher value the sooner it is consumed to have social engagement with others regarding the content of the game.

Think of this as hearing friends talking about a show they all are discussing. If they are all current and engaged discussing season 7 of the show, you are still not going to be able to properly engage if you just started watching the first season last night.

Also this refers to the natural progression of time vs the progression of video games as a media. This is why games naturally depreciate in value over time. Gaming is constantly evolving with its own new advents and tropes. Think of playing a modern game today that you just discovered. Then going 12 sequels back to play the original game. While the original still has its own value, The texture and complexity that has evolved as its series has will paint the original as effectively a shell of what the franchises modern incarnation is and offers.

Just compare it to other video games and you would see its price/content ratio is incredibly disproportionate and the "value" of those >3 hours is completely subjective to the individual player. There is nothing wrong with it if you find high value in the > three hours you pay for.

There is another issue to consider here as well. Logical pricing. (Not related to any specific distributor, just pricing in general.) GoG serves as a very useful example here. While the old GOG Price tier system has fell away like a vestigial appendage, those "tiers" are still technically present as even new additions of old games often fall into specific price brackets. 3.99, 5.99, 9.99, 14.99, 19.99, ect.

Typically "true" GOGs fall to that original pricing structure many times if they are of a certain age. Either 3.99 or 5.99 base price, almost always being games greater than 10-15 years old.. In many cases, games less than 10 years old will stay in price brackets of 9-19.99 dependent on things like quality, hours of content, features, name recognition, etc. Games 5-10 years old tend to hover around that 20$ base mark.

There are also MANY examples on GOG of games that inexplicably defy many of these logical conventions. You almost always see them quickly reviewed as "Wait for a sale" scoffing at how high the base price is. Many time these "exceptions" come from big name publishers/devs.

So why does it matter? Technically it doesn't because in the end the value is in the eye of the consumer. However there is an institutionalized set of standards and systems that have naturally evolved that provide logical economic order. When examples surface that fundamentally deviate from this order, it becomes a glaring, uncanny valley that shines a light on its deviation from those norms and the disparity between how much they deviate that calls attention to it, and then becomes a point of distraction that you cant keep from being drawn back to. While there may be some games where one can justify this economic uncanny valley like say a Civilization title or a historic RPG like a Morrowind.

TES serves as a apt illustration of this. For example TES4 runs at 20$ for a 10 year old game. While Morrowind is 15 years old yet still has a 15$ base price. So if you know nothing about TES, why the disparity? They have similar levels of depth of content. They are roughly one generation apart in graphical fidelity, The former is far more beloved than the latter. So is Morrowinds price high for being as young as it is? Is Oblivion a bad game to still be "valued" that close to a complete generation step backwards? Is Morrowind being under priced for how beloved it is when compared to how much criticism Oblivion has? These questions illustrate the nuance of choosing to follow pricing structures for certain situations while deviating from them in others, which is why consistency is sought, and inconsistency more readily catches our attention.

[/spoiler]

EDIT:

D`oh. Man it would be nice if GOGs forums had more editing options as most similar size/scope forums do. [Spoiler] is a major force of habit to mitigate forum verbosity, and its absence is sorely missed. ...

... TO THE WISHLIST!!!

Post edited July 25, 2018 by viranimus
avatar
Anime-BlackWolf: On the other hand that would make it quite simple to correct all problems IF the movie-files are uncopped in the resource-file and the cropping starts with the Unitiy program on top. Change the program, cropping/overlay goes away.
The resource files are almost certainly hard cropped to 16:9. The screen grab crops exactly as much off the top and bottom as would be needed to force a 16:9 aspect ratio. So the "4:3" mode would just soft crop more from the left and right to make it fit the 4:3 screen.

Interestingly, the Wii version of Dragon's Lair Trilogy contains both cropped widescreen and also uncropped 4:3 video files of all three games, and at a higher quality than the laserdisc or DVD version. The 4:3 videos only play if your Wii is set to 4:3 mode. They aren't HD, but are probably struck from the same master that the Blu-Rays are struck from.
avatar
Anime-BlackWolf: On the other hand that would make it quite simple to correct all problems IF the movie-files are uncopped in the resource-file and the cropping starts with the Unitiy program on top. Change the program, cropping/overlay goes away.
avatar
ikantspelwurdz: The resource files are almost certainly hard cropped to 16:9. The screen grab crops exactly as much off the top and bottom as would be needed to force a 16:9 aspect ratio. So the "4:3" mode would just soft crop more from the left and right to make it fit the 4:3 screen.

Interestingly, the Wii version of Dragon's Lair Trilogy contains both cropped widescreen and also uncropped 4:3 video files of all three games, and at a higher quality than the laserdisc or DVD version. The 4:3 videos only play if your Wii is set to 4:3 mode. They aren't HD, but are probably struck from the same master that the Blu-Rays are struck from.
Really sad when an older port does a better job... I've wanted Dragon's Lair on GOG for some time, but this version comes with too many unexpected, frustrating caveats. The video is everything in Dragon's Lair and that 4:3 cropping is utterly shameful.

I wish I knew if the devs have any plans to at least address the stupid overlay in full screen mode, I can't justify this price tag unless some basic QOL changes happen.
Thanks GOG! I always wanted to play it. I hope that I can buy it in some sale :)
avatar
Anime-BlackWolf: I fear the complete PC must be regionally set to US/England/Australia to avoid this for us germans...
And there's no GOG option setup file in the game's folder either? That's unfortunate, I think so far I never had this problem of a GOG game forcing German language on me. But in that case I'll cross this offer off my wishlist. Thanks for the info! Have you written a complaint to support?
Nope, no setup file. Nothing. You cannot even change keys, video or audio settings in the game.

Until today I made no email to support. It is quite early after release, maybe they read the feedback here and a patch is already in the making.

The game is quite high in the sales rank, so there will be plenty of buyers to contact GOG outside the forum I think.
avatar
Anime-BlackWolf: The game is quite high in the sales rank, so there will be plenty of buyers to contact GOG outside the forum I think.
Unless it's a classic case of diffusion of responsibility, everybody thinking a lot of others will do it and nobody doing it as a result.
As already mentioned not really the proper trilogy since it's missing either The Curse of Mordread or more worryingly Dragon's Lair 3D.
Post edited July 29, 2018 by pferreira1983
low rated
deleted