Calling all Dragon's Lair haters.

Sleepyeyed

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As some of you may or may not know, I am directing a documentary about Dragon's Lair. I find it incredibly interesting that the view of the game is quite polarized when it comes to arcade game fans. Some love it, some hate it. Both sides have their valid arguments and I've got a list of Dragon's Lair fans a mile long who are going to be in my film. What I don't have now is somebody who is the complete opposite of my "fanboys". There is another thread which has kind of died a bit here that has some great discussion about the documentary and some interesting points. You can check that out at http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?p=1942551

After much consideration I've come to the conclusion that the documentary will be benefited by those views that aren't aligned with the superfans of the game. I feel this will keep an objective viewpoint and allow for the viewer to come to their own decision about the game.

So now this is where I reach out to those who truly despise Dragon's Lair. I'm looking for somebody who has a hatred for this game, but can intelligently and eloquently back it up. I plan to shoot an interview on video, so if you're camera shy, you may want to sit this one out. I'm located in Albany, New York, so people in the northeast are encouraged to respond as budget and travel is a concern. Those who are interested can email me directly at [email protected] and put "I'm a hater" in the title.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this and I look forward to your replies. If anyone has any questions regarding the documentary then you can email me directly or check out my links to the youtube trailer and facebook and twitter pages.

www.facebook.com/dragonslairdoc
www.twitter.com/dragonslairdoc
 
After much consideration I've come to the conclusion that the documentary will be benefited by those views that aren't aligned with the superfans of the game.

I tend to agree.

That was one criticism I heard about the new film, Bully - it doesn't give nearly enough of the perspective from the bullies themselves. If that's the case, then it's a serious oversight IMHO.
 
DL is not a game, so you are already wrong there. But I do hate the interactive movie. Laserdisc player and processor were too slow. Just my 2 cents.
 
DL gets no love on this board i have noticed....

I have one. I never play it! But man, do I admire it, Just like i admired it back then. The animation and ingenuity hold up to this day - to integrate software (very limited abilities back then) with hardware to give the illusion of something years ahead of its time.

It will be the last game to leave my collection (next to the other brilliant game from its time - Star Wars).
 
It's my favorite game. Minus arcade upright I have owned every version of the game (sega cd to iPhone app).
 
It gets love, it's just that you're paying attention to only certain very vocal opinions.

Not to derail, but I'm in the middle. I appreciate the gameplay design for what it is. They were trying to find a way to utilize pre-rendered animation in a real-time setting and this was a pretty good experiment. The entire FMV era during the early and mid 90's showed that there is a very low limit to how far you can design gameplay around video clips being the main art asset.

With that said...Quick Time Event gameplay gets repetitive quick. It's even worse when there is no variation on what commands are being thrown at you (*ahem* Dragon's Lair *ahem*).

It is what it is. It's like hating on Space Invaders IMO. They were trying something new and from a design standpoint you have to at least appreciate that. *shrug*
 
I'm looking for somebody who has a hatred for this game, but can intelligently and eloquently back it up.
Ok, here goes... I quit watching cartoons around '76. And I sure as hell wasn't gonna pay 4 bits each throw to watch any more...

Tough to fill up an interview time allotment with that...:D

But, I mean, I really really really hate DL!! Bad!!
 
After much consideration I've come to the conclusion that the documentary will be benefited by those views that aren't aligned with the superfans of the game. I feel this will keep an objective viewpoint and allow for the viewer to come to their own decision about the game.

So now this is where I reach out to those who truly despise Dragon's Lair. I'm looking for somebody who has a hatred for this game, but can intelligently and eloquently back it up.

Ok I can't say I DESPISE DL, because Don Bluth Animation, humor and character designs are all fantastic... the issue is ... it plays like shit and isn't even a 'proper game' per se.

Dragon's Lair is the very example of "Great Graphics trump shitty game design" and I simply can't get behind that (I'm very much the opposite Gameplay > all other factors). I realize the LOOK of DL was Amazing in 1983, but even as a kid I knew the game played like shit, and would much rather play a Galaga or Pacman (or pretty much any other game of that era) that actually played like a game and played well.

I'll line up and pay full fare for any of Don Bluth's animated movies or TV shows, but the Dragon's Lair games and Space Ace simply were horrible to play, so despite being an interesting footnote in gaming history I probably wouldn't get one unless it was local and free.

DL gets no love on this board i have noticed....

I have one. I never play it! But man, do I admire it,

That right there pretty much sums it up.
 
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It was a disappointment for me. I remember waiting in a line for 20 minutes to play it. I put my 50 cents into the machine. With in a minute my 50 cents was gone. It was totally different than anything I'd ever played.

It really pissed me off. I could never finish the game...

I remember being able to play DK and Galaga for 20-30 minutes on a quarter.. but that damn thing never more than 2 or 3 minutes.
 
Somebody should make a music CD that shouts out the moves in time for DL with accompaniment. Then you could have the entertainment of the cartoon and the pressure of DDR. Right Right Pause Forward Left Forward Right Forward Fire... Yay.... Scene 2
 
I'm out...

I HATE the hardware because I know eventually, one day, I'm going to have to pay a small fortune again for something in that machine. Either the disc or the player... something is GOING to give.

But I love the game. I'm STILL paying off my credit card debt from when I bought all the art, CP, marquee, innards, etc to convert my empty DL cabinet back to DL... and I don't regret it at all.


You're going to find people that will poo-poo on the game because it's just a movie that you play through... but with a hobby centered around playing random gibberish on a 800lb+ television screen... I don't think there's really much room to talk bad about it.

"Watching a guy go up and down elevators and in and out of doors? Blah... what a waste."

"Watching a circle float around a maze with some ghosts? What a load of crap..."

I know, if you don't make that guy move up and down the elevators you lose your quarter. If you don't make that circle go around the maze and avoid the ghosts you lose a quarter. ... If you don't press up on the bridge scene in Dragon's Lair or right and right again in the room with the falling rocks... ... you lose a quarter (or 50 cents)... I don't really see too much of a difference.
 
If you really want to stir up some shit, start asking Dragon's Lair lovers questions about how the storyline is sexist. That would probably be more interesting to the general public than "dorks" arguing over the gameplay. As a dork, I would be more than happy to watch other dorks argue about the gameplay, but I like dorky shit.
 
If you really want to stir up some shit, start asking Dragon's Lair lovers questions about how the storyline is sexist. That would probably be more interesting to the general public than "dorks" arguing over the gameplay. As a dork, I would be more than happy to watch other dorks argue about the gameplay, but I like dorky shit.

The sexism and violence will be touched upon in the film. It seems as if the haters unanimously agree that it's the gameplay that is the most bothersome. I asked this question in the other thread, but didn't get much of a reply, so I'll ask again. Using 1983 technology, how would you change/improve Dragon's Lair?

Also, so far there have been no emails expressing interest in being in the film as of yet, so if you or somebody you know fits the description of a well-read Dragon's Lair anti-fan, then get those emails to [email protected]

Thanks for all your input guys, it's much appreciated.
 
I recently restored an original Dragon's Lair machine and can chime in on this from what my guests have said. Personally, I was a huge DL fan and got to the point that I could kill the dragon on my first Dirk, with the exception of whether the game was set to hard or extra hard. I was a total addict!

When people found out I got one, they were very excited, and some told me they couldn't wait to come over and see and play it.. I must have had 5 people that are arcade collectors tell me that. Once they got here, they loved the machine, but EVERY SINGLE ONE could not play the game at all and could barely get past the first screen! they then went on to tell me that they always admired the game, but found it too hard and too expensive back in the day. None of them said they hated the game, just that they never could play it and found it too expensive to try back in the day. None of them had the patience to try and learn the game now. :)

Perhaps not what you were looking for, but my $.02.

Looking forward to the documentary...
 
I don't think I qualify as a Dragons Lair hater because I've WON and beaten it. It was probably the first game that drew crowds of people around them and bolstered the player. People would actually cheer, clap and slap the back of the guy who beat Dragon's Lair.
I don't think this level of enthusiasm existed with any other game. But if you put some teenager on there that didn't even exist during the hayday of Dragons Lair, then that says alot about the style of the documentary.
 
Somebody should make a music CD that shouts out the moves in time for DL with accompaniment. Then you could have the entertainment of the cartoon and the pressure of DDR. Right Right Pause Forward Left Forward Right Forward Fire... Yay.... Scene 2

That is brilliant! Rep for you.

DL stole 50 cents from me as a child.... Never played it again. Watched some people play it for a while... yawn. :sleeping:
 
That is brilliant! Rep for you.

DL stole 50 cents from me as a child.... Never played it again. Watched some people play it for a while... yawn. :sleeping:

Dragon's Lair stole my money! And raped my girlfriend!!!!
 
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