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Nov. 27th, 2017 02:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI've been rereading Laurence Yep's Dragon of the Lost Sea books, because the last time I did so was in 2008 and I wanted to make sure I remembered what was what in case I was gifted fic about them for Yuletide this year.
Dragon of the Lost Sea stars Shimmer, a snotty exiled dragon princess in disguise as an old woman who is on a quest to Restore Her Clan's Homeland and Regain Her Honor. Thorn, a sad teen orphan, tags along for the ride. Featuring the first great series sitcom moment, when two party members both independently decide during the same fight scene that for tactical reasons they have to briefly pretend to the other one that they're dead, OOPS, WAIT, NOW WE'RE BOTH IN MOURNING AND NOBODY'S DRIVING THE MISSION.
In Dragon Steel, Shimmer finds out that just defeating one minor enemy is not actually enough to magically fix her clan's ongoing sociopolitical problems, effects multiple jailbreaks, and picks up Indigo, another, even snottier teen orphan.
By the time Dragon Cauldron begins, the adventuring party includes Shimmer, Thorn, Indigo, a tragic and morally ambiguous spoiler character, and the Monkey King. The Monkey King is also now the narrator, which means that half the scenes now read completely like a sitcom. Take, for example, the opening of the book:
THE GANG GETS DISGUISES
MONKEY: Shimmer you have a giant dragon nose and a fancy silk robe, this is not a good disguise
SHIMMER: As a dragon princess, I need my robe and my nose for majesty!
THORN: Yes, but if your little old lady disguise looked a little more impoverished she would have an air of mystery! Don’t you need a tragic backstory?
SHIMMER: OK, you win, we’re all tragic now, everyone rub mud on yourselves
INDIGO: Thorn is too handsome, give him a giant wart
SHIMMER: Monkey, you’re supposed to be old, please stop bouncing
MONKEY: My character is a RETIRED ACROBAT
The argument takes a full chapter and the disguises last a sum total of two pages.
...and then in the fourth book, Dragon War, everybody has to attempt to fix the fact that while single-mindedly trying to help Shimmer's clan they not only pissed off every powerful figure in the area but accidentally triggered a reasonable-sized apocalypse, OOPS.
Anyway the books are just as much a delight as I have always remembered, and after rereading it turns out that something I really desperately want is for someone to turn them into a Bioware RPG.
Obviously, you play as Exiled Dragon Princess Shimmer. The first book is the easy setup mission where you pick up your first companion; books two and especially three are the main stage of the game where you quest around, get a lot of party banter, and make choices that seem like a good idea at the time but will definitely screw up the world in the endgame; and then book four is the epic finale. Thorn, Indigo, Monkey, and [spoiler character] are your companions and they are all hypothetically romanceable. You'd have to write some more side adventures into the third book to make it work, but otherwise the whole thing paces itself out remarkably well.
Most of the interesting Significant Choice stuff comes in the third book, so that's probably where you get to have the most fun with alternate possibilities. Obviously, the game has to drive you into releasing the Boneless King, because that's what sets up the climax. But you could have some other choices to get different endings, like:
- if you successfully prevent Civet from checking out the sinister magic tomb and getting possessed, she doesn't die later, but you don't get the key information that lets you have the best possible ending
- if you romance exclusively Indigo then Thorn will always sacrifice himself by jumping in the cauldron; if you romance anybody that's not exclusively Indigo, then either Thorn or Indigo might jump in the cauldron, but you can talk them out of it
- (romancing Indigo and Thorn at the same time without alienating either one of them is really difficult and involves very particular action and dialogue choices, but you can romance Monkey + anyone else REALLY EASILY)
- if you don't let anyone jump in the cauldron, or if you let the Smith and the Snail Woman take the cauldron instead of stealing it again, you can defeat the Boneless King without losing Civet but you can't restore the Inland Sea
- but if you romance Thorn or maintain a good enough relationship with him throughout the game, he can let the dragons live in the human kingdom instead
- if you interact with Pomfret in just the right ways you can get him to change sides earlier rather than at the end and then get him as a companion for some of the adventure, or even put him on the throne instead of yourself, but then somebody else has to sacrifice themselves to defeat the Boneless King in the final battle
- if you challenge your uncle for the throne, it's harder to win but you can then become queen of ALL dragons and not just the Inland Sea
- if you let your uncle take back the staff that Monkey stole, you get more allies for the final battle but you lose Monkey as a companion
- and if you don't have Monkey as a companion then you can't restore any cauldron-shaped friends at the end of the game
- if you romance Monkey and go on some Monkey-related side quests you can free him from his magical headband if you want and then everything goes REALLY weird
OKAY BIOWARE THERE YOU GO, IT'S ALL READY FOR YOU, YOU'RE WELCOME
Dragon of the Lost Sea stars Shimmer, a snotty exiled dragon princess in disguise as an old woman who is on a quest to Restore Her Clan's Homeland and Regain Her Honor. Thorn, a sad teen orphan, tags along for the ride. Featuring the first great series sitcom moment, when two party members both independently decide during the same fight scene that for tactical reasons they have to briefly pretend to the other one that they're dead, OOPS, WAIT, NOW WE'RE BOTH IN MOURNING AND NOBODY'S DRIVING THE MISSION.
In Dragon Steel, Shimmer finds out that just defeating one minor enemy is not actually enough to magically fix her clan's ongoing sociopolitical problems, effects multiple jailbreaks, and picks up Indigo, another, even snottier teen orphan.
By the time Dragon Cauldron begins, the adventuring party includes Shimmer, Thorn, Indigo, a tragic and morally ambiguous spoiler character, and the Monkey King. The Monkey King is also now the narrator, which means that half the scenes now read completely like a sitcom. Take, for example, the opening of the book:
THE GANG GETS DISGUISES
MONKEY: Shimmer you have a giant dragon nose and a fancy silk robe, this is not a good disguise
SHIMMER: As a dragon princess, I need my robe and my nose for majesty!
THORN: Yes, but if your little old lady disguise looked a little more impoverished she would have an air of mystery! Don’t you need a tragic backstory?
SHIMMER: OK, you win, we’re all tragic now, everyone rub mud on yourselves
INDIGO: Thorn is too handsome, give him a giant wart
SHIMMER: Monkey, you’re supposed to be old, please stop bouncing
MONKEY: My character is a RETIRED ACROBAT
The argument takes a full chapter and the disguises last a sum total of two pages.
...and then in the fourth book, Dragon War, everybody has to attempt to fix the fact that while single-mindedly trying to help Shimmer's clan they not only pissed off every powerful figure in the area but accidentally triggered a reasonable-sized apocalypse, OOPS.
Anyway the books are just as much a delight as I have always remembered, and after rereading it turns out that something I really desperately want is for someone to turn them into a Bioware RPG.
Obviously, you play as Exiled Dragon Princess Shimmer. The first book is the easy setup mission where you pick up your first companion; books two and especially three are the main stage of the game where you quest around, get a lot of party banter, and make choices that seem like a good idea at the time but will definitely screw up the world in the endgame; and then book four is the epic finale. Thorn, Indigo, Monkey, and [spoiler character] are your companions and they are all hypothetically romanceable. You'd have to write some more side adventures into the third book to make it work, but otherwise the whole thing paces itself out remarkably well.
Most of the interesting Significant Choice stuff comes in the third book, so that's probably where you get to have the most fun with alternate possibilities. Obviously, the game has to drive you into releasing the Boneless King, because that's what sets up the climax. But you could have some other choices to get different endings, like:
- if you successfully prevent Civet from checking out the sinister magic tomb and getting possessed, she doesn't die later, but you don't get the key information that lets you have the best possible ending
- if you romance exclusively Indigo then Thorn will always sacrifice himself by jumping in the cauldron; if you romance anybody that's not exclusively Indigo, then either Thorn or Indigo might jump in the cauldron, but you can talk them out of it
- (romancing Indigo and Thorn at the same time without alienating either one of them is really difficult and involves very particular action and dialogue choices, but you can romance Monkey + anyone else REALLY EASILY)
- if you don't let anyone jump in the cauldron, or if you let the Smith and the Snail Woman take the cauldron instead of stealing it again, you can defeat the Boneless King without losing Civet but you can't restore the Inland Sea
- but if you romance Thorn or maintain a good enough relationship with him throughout the game, he can let the dragons live in the human kingdom instead
- if you interact with Pomfret in just the right ways you can get him to change sides earlier rather than at the end and then get him as a companion for some of the adventure, or even put him on the throne instead of yourself, but then somebody else has to sacrifice themselves to defeat the Boneless King in the final battle
- if you challenge your uncle for the throne, it's harder to win but you can then become queen of ALL dragons and not just the Inland Sea
- if you let your uncle take back the staff that Monkey stole, you get more allies for the final battle but you lose Monkey as a companion
- and if you don't have Monkey as a companion then you can't restore any cauldron-shaped friends at the end of the game
- if you romance Monkey and go on some Monkey-related side quests you can free him from his magical headband if you want and then everything goes REALLY weird
OKAY BIOWARE THERE YOU GO, IT'S ALL READY FOR YOU, YOU'RE WELCOME
no subject
Date: 2017-11-28 03:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-03 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-03 06:38 pm (UTC)I think my first action is to try picking up used copies for my household. Only the first volume is still in print, and I think I read only that volume myself, back in the day.
no subject
Date: 2017-12-04 11:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-12-05 03:34 am (UTC)