Re: CRAP Poll # (Infinity - 6): Bring It Back!

On Sat, 28 Jun 2025 09:11:48 -0400, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com>
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Jun 2025 04:12:37 -0400, Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com> wrote:
>

Magic Candle was also a favorite.  I remember I loved gambling in it. :)

>
Don't remember that game at all.
>
Xocyll

>
That isn't surprising. I don't remember The Magic Candle being a best
seller. It is a top down CRPG which reminded me a lot of Ultima. It
got good reviews back in the day.

As fond as I was of the games, the Magic Candle probably has been
forgotten for a reason. They were very middling-quality games. The
gameplay was somewhat tedious, the writing was mid-tier and the
visuals and gameplay were behind the curve. Produced by a small
studio, the games were notable in trying to be bigger simulations than
the Ultimas but they just weren't up to the task of doing that and
making it really fun. The game's weren't bad, but they lacked that
spark that made them classics.

That said, the reason people are less familiar with "The Magic Candle"
series than, say, "Ultima" or "Kings Quest" probably has less to do
with the games themselves and more to do with the distribution and
marketing prowess of the respective companies. Origin especially had
excellent distribution contacts. In an era before chain stores, if you
wanted to sell your games you had to call up the manager of each store
individually and convince them to buy/stock your games. Origin's sales
team (and their list of contacts) was one of the best, and because of
that they got their games in every store. Mindcraft Software, the
studio that developed the "Magic Candle" games, was much smaller and
couldn't compete. So a lot of games just didn't stock their games.

In fact, one of the primary reasons Electronic Arts bought out Origin
was for their sales team. That they got the rights to Ultima Online
and Wing Commander and the rest was almost secondary.