El Rescate Del Talisman Appreciation Week
Posted: 11 Apr 2015, 11:13
I've been a mixture of busy and unwell recently, so haven't been able to come to Knightmare Chat. I've also been lazy in doing this forum post, which is the last of the Appreciation Weeks, so let's get this one going.
As always, this is a cross-platform endeavour. Knightmare Chat is tomorrow (and I WILL be there!), but you can always share your thoughts on Rescate here on the Forum.
Rescate is unique because I have yet to meet anyone who was a fan - unlike KM, which has the legions of fans, and Chevalier, which at least warranted a fansite. I did once live with a Spanish guy named Chico who recognised the name and sad that he'd watched it once or twice (with enthusiasm, which suggested he liked it), but I wouldn't call that fandom.
As such.
Anyway, so, Rescate.
The first thing - and the most memorable, certainly - is the characterisation of the Spanish replacement for Treguard. This changes throughout the programme, there being a huge, bellowing Hagrid-lite for one series and an older, gentler and more mature DM for another. Both have their merits, but in the case of the former, he's a lot funnier - for rather obvious Brian Blessed-related reasons. The latter is a little more helpful, but to me always seems a little aloof - he seems to WANT them to win, but doesn't give too much advice on how to do it.
Assuming you're watching the programme with Enormous Loud Spanish Treguard, once you get past that intro bit, the gameplay is rather odd, specifically if you consider the fact that in both KM and Chevalier they are going through a continuous Dungeon. Rescate seems to work on the unique basis that you have to complete an individual task in each room and then leave - often by the same route you came in.
Series 1-2 Treguard would have a fit - "the only way is onward..."
As a result, I always found Rescate hard to follow, as I'm not entirely sure what the team's target was, other than to survive until the end of an episode; in fact, I think that's exactly what they were meant to do, and it doesn't seem like too difficult a game, either. I suspect that the production team had a certain number of rooms they could cycle the team through and then the ending sequence, ensuring that they all get to the end... but I'm not sure I can get on board with that.
Then again, I'm not the target audience, so I'm not meant to. Had I grown up with this, I probably would have found KM too difficult to watch!
The end result of this is that I feel like I'm watching a computer game when looking at Rescate - individual levels played through systematically, which are designed to be completed in some sort of order to win with very little effort, but as it's not really explained what's going on (and my knowledge of Spanish is limited enough to not understand too much!) to any huge degree, I find Rescate a little disappointing.
Anyway! Thoughts?
As always, this is a cross-platform endeavour. Knightmare Chat is tomorrow (and I WILL be there!), but you can always share your thoughts on Rescate here on the Forum.
Rescate is unique because I have yet to meet anyone who was a fan - unlike KM, which has the legions of fans, and Chevalier, which at least warranted a fansite. I did once live with a Spanish guy named Chico who recognised the name and sad that he'd watched it once or twice (with enthusiasm, which suggested he liked it), but I wouldn't call that fandom.
As such.
Anyway, so, Rescate.
The first thing - and the most memorable, certainly - is the characterisation of the Spanish replacement for Treguard. This changes throughout the programme, there being a huge, bellowing Hagrid-lite for one series and an older, gentler and more mature DM for another. Both have their merits, but in the case of the former, he's a lot funnier - for rather obvious Brian Blessed-related reasons. The latter is a little more helpful, but to me always seems a little aloof - he seems to WANT them to win, but doesn't give too much advice on how to do it.
Assuming you're watching the programme with Enormous Loud Spanish Treguard, once you get past that intro bit, the gameplay is rather odd, specifically if you consider the fact that in both KM and Chevalier they are going through a continuous Dungeon. Rescate seems to work on the unique basis that you have to complete an individual task in each room and then leave - often by the same route you came in.
Series 1-2 Treguard would have a fit - "the only way is onward..."
As a result, I always found Rescate hard to follow, as I'm not entirely sure what the team's target was, other than to survive until the end of an episode; in fact, I think that's exactly what they were meant to do, and it doesn't seem like too difficult a game, either. I suspect that the production team had a certain number of rooms they could cycle the team through and then the ending sequence, ensuring that they all get to the end... but I'm not sure I can get on board with that.
Then again, I'm not the target audience, so I'm not meant to. Had I grown up with this, I probably would have found KM too difficult to watch!
The end result of this is that I feel like I'm watching a computer game when looking at Rescate - individual levels played through systematically, which are designed to be completed in some sort of order to win with very little effort, but as it's not really explained what's going on (and my knowledge of Spanish is limited enough to not understand too much!) to any huge degree, I find Rescate a little disappointing.
Anyway! Thoughts?