Realistic castles = dull?

Discussion of official LEGO Castle Theme sets and products
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Mr. D
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Post by Mr. D »

I'll confess I know absolutely nothing about what medieval videogames are out there, but I'm sure there's a few. And they must have some sense of realism, correct?


I play Age of Empires II - the Age of Kings Quite often and it is very reallistic.

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lemon_squeezer2
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Post by lemon_squeezer2 »

AoK is ok, but it does get a little silly at times. com'on, you can biuld a Castle or watchtower right in enemy territory. I prefer Rise of Nations.
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coyote
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Post by coyote »

ontopic:

I don't know who did their investigations at TLC on marketing.
I only know they did a bad job.

I don't know who did the design of the KK2-line.
I only know they did a bad job.

I don't know why they changed the colours.
I only know they did a bad job.

Although I own some legends, I would have prefered TLC doing some new, even more spectacular sets.

Ok, by now I'm pretty offtopic, therefore ...
I liked "Neverwinter Nights": Great game, no pink knights.
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wlister
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Post by wlister »

If TLC was truly trying to appeal to video game audiences, there would be one or two "hero" characters and a plethora of "bad" guy soldiers with one big "bad " guy to fight after their hero conquered the rest of the baddies. The colors would be darker, not lighter and each hero/bad guy would have many interchangeable weapons. If the "hero" is so great he needs many bad guys to whet his blade upon. So if the adventure/action game was their focus they would need sets that reflected this type of play.

If their focus was an AOK or other strategy game, then TLC would need well fortified keeps and lots of soldiers knights and seige euipment. They would also need villagers. Do we see that? No.

The KKII line does not reflect video game play any more than it competes well with the Megablok Dragons line. Those toys have a WOW factor missing in all the KKII sets. Sure an AFOL knows that Megabloks are crummy plastic and their error allowances are inferior to Lego, but to the general buying public, they look better. If anything the kids of today are more sophisticated when it comes to the toys they want. That should mean to gain an audience, the sets should be better.

For TLC, here is why they have lost money. The set quality has gone down, piece counts have shrunk, playability has been sacrificed for juniorization... Prices go up... surprise sales slump and they lose money...

If kids today are more sophisticated, why are the sets so much less sophisticated. Colorful is not better, my son doesn't want "girl" Lego. That is his quote after he saw the light blue and purple knights. It seems like the marketing strategy of a madman and I hope he gets put in the asylum before TLC ends up a faint memory in the realm of building toys.

Will
After a long absence, I have returned. I can't wait to start building again.
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Troy T. Moore
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Post by Troy T. Moore »

Stronghold and Stronghold Crusader castle sim games :D All I know is we do not have television, yes we have a TV and VCR but we do not have any signal coming in, and this is great for our kids. Mindnumbing hours in front of a TV are replaced with hours of creativity with Lego, crafts, outside stuff and whatever else. The kids have limited time on the computer as well as watching videos. We try to encourage them to develop their interneurons, not waste them! For the most part, my kids like historic, although my boy likes to see if he can get his ninja into the throne room to kill my king :)
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Dusty
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Post by Dusty »

After reading most posts on this subject I have decided to post my views on the new castls sets. So here goes

I overall like the sets. That doesnt mean I will keep them together. In fact I probably will grad the figs, and gear and piece the rest out to build other stuff. I would love to see more historical lego sets for castle and other stuff. I like the NASA stuff out now, but have yet to really actually buy it. That could be because a lot of stuff was just on clearance at my local Targets, so that is what I bought.

I am happy thought that they are coming out with castle Legos though. I missed a lot fo great lego years because I was a putz and couldnt decide what toys I liked. Legos have a lot of intrest for me now, but when I was younger I couldnt wait to save the money for sets I really wanted because it wasnt a lot to save till the Bdays and Xmas showed up so I lost intrest. Now though I can buy them but there isnt any castle except for HP and I try not to incorporate that into castle unless I piece out sets. SO the new sets are a great way to expand my army. Except for the good guys. I have far more good guys than bad guys, because I came back to legos as the original KK was going out.

So that is my long winded view.
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Realism

Post by Magnus »

In terms of medieval style PC games, "Medieval Total War"' is incredibly realistic interms of battlefield tactics. The sieges, involving castles could be alittle more dynamic though.

I absolutely hate and detest the new castle line which is coming out. I hate the juniorisation, I hate the color schemes, I hate the new grey, I hate the minifig accessories and cartoonish heraldry. They do have some useful pieces, but so do a couple of Jack Stone sets. I will probably buy some of the sets in order to get some grey pieces and hope that it works well enough with the original grey. Whether this is something that the 21st century kid will like or not, I guess we will find out n a few years when we see if the series continues and /or changes. I would imagine that if any kids find this new castle line, it may be American kids rather than Europeans kids as the latter group is far more familiar with what castles actually look like.

I truly appreciate that Jake has been interested in us and what we do, has taken part in an online chat and sent pictures to the site, and I hope we are able to maintain that relationship. But I must also seriously question to what extent he (and perhaps the general lego brass) is truly aware of the AFOL community and where our interests lie. He clearly thought that the upcoming sets would not only represent a "banner year" for lego castle, but also that the average AFOL castlehead would be over the moon with the new castle line. But most of the reactions here have ranged between "c'mon on now it isn't THAT bad" to "MY POOR EYES..."
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stuifzand
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Post by stuifzand »

TwoTonic Knight wrote:Everyone is so touchy!
Maybe that's because I'm from Europe, and you're not. :wink:
Then again: European guys are so lucky :D

Anyway, enough about this, thanks for clearing it up wlister
If you're a Dutch legofan, visit [url=http://www.lowlug.nl]Lowlug[/url]!
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davescastle
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Post by davescastle »

Just as a teaser TLC have left their real designs on realism at their Theme parks where any and all can walk around and gaze with pure amazement. The general public would pass through the store on the way out thinking that they could build something that they had just seen from the measley product line now available. Dont think so.................

The day I see The Neuschwanstein Castle- http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=70255 or even some of Carney's Castles as a Lego set at a competitive price I will........... I dont know what I will do........

I just think that TLC have gone backwards, even today, when you compare KK2 with the Megabloks Dragon line. Not that Im an MB fan but In these MB sets, you get an abundance of Knights, with a heap of weapons to choose from(maybe not the most realistic). Not only this, but their Castles are actually walled and have a Keep and are made with the stone or wood effect. Maybe they have thrown in the Fantasy Dragon, but I think all kids need a little Fantasy today. Its just how much and when to stop.

I see that TLC could not just compete with MB but would easily blow them out of the water, if they could only open their eyes and go with a re-release of their older products, surely there would be a profit to be made. No new molds or design work. Do you think that all of this has been discussed through the Board at TLC. I have a feeling that there may be one small man with small poppy syndrome who has just Brainwashed the whole company to think that KK2 will be a Hit or Pure arrogance or Im just too dissapointed to believe that this is what our kids of today want.

I was ready to buy some of these new sets when released, but it wasnt until JoJo reminded me that the colors will be different. Lets all start again, Forget it.................

just my two cents

Dave
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David Girard
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Post by David Girard »

What TLC should ask to us is why did we love, and still love the "realistic" castle line ?

I'm not sure Lego made a scan of kid's opinion for this new KK sets, because kids has said that it's not appealing. They prefer old "realistic" castles.

About the Europeans vs Americans bad and good, what are you waiting, admins, to lock this topic ? You locked "Canucks" topic for similar discussion.
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