It is time to write the closing chapter for this series of post. If you haven't read the previous chapters, I'd strongly suggest to start from there as this will make little sense and even spoil you the end of the game if you haven't played it.
1. Strange, we enter a room which looks like the dungeon, but we have high "defensive" windows. We are in some sort of military purpose tower, or tower jail or something.
2. The direction of the level this time is clear, it is up. For those who did the Hero's journey analysis, this has a strong symbolic meaning. Actually the whole going left has a good explanation in the layout of the Jaffar/princess room, where Jaffar enters from the right and the princess is on the left. No rules says that the level layouts had to be that way, it's just elegant design.
3. We climb, we jump. A very logical type of challenge in a tower.
4. We see all variety of combination of jumps, falling tiles. The one thing that I keep noticing is how on long jumps, you have a lower level, maybe allowing you to grab even if you slightly miss your jump. The game offers very small scale choices on the player's path.
5. We are quite high already when we reach a closed grid. Keep going up. Oh, now I open the grid, but I also saw the shiny sword... Something is going on.
6. The emptiness of the left side after the grid enhance the feeling of height, gives a feeling of largeness to the level.
7. A full row of loose tiles... We are arriving to the top of the tower.
8. The sword has disappeared. Something is going on.
9. Shadow man in front of you, for the first time, you can confront him. He attacks you, but he is not very aggressive. The shadow man came out of a mirror. The damage is reflected, if you kills him, you die. Put your sword away, and he does the same. Almost like a political statement at the end of the cold war. Fusing with the shadow man, even if it's just restoring you full self, is part of the hero's journey. It is very nice how the hero's journey has been built in this game. Starting as a prince, you have to strip much before the player can relate on an emotional level... The prince who lost everything, even his reflection... A pattern repeated in the story of prince of persia 2.
10. The leap of faith. During the game, we'd have few of those, of the game has always been fair. but this time, there is no clue. Actually, everything points out that you will die. Something is going on. This can't be a dead end because there was the shadowman so I must have come to somewhere important.
11. Tile from the roof are falling. Something is going on... As we start to notice, the whole game has been building a set of clear rules, a very clear design language where you pretty much never get trapped, explore a bit, everything is predictable except when you go tasting random potions. But now it's like those rules don't apply anymore. This level is magic and the only magic we saw untill now is Jaffar making a giant hourglass appear out of nowhere (In a very 1910's movie style).
12. Jaffar, a little loose tile to put more pressure on the player who was getting ready for the final boss. The way Jaffar is dealt in the video is a bit of a downer, he was quite a fighter (now as strong as guard of level 8) and had plenty of lives. A simple final boss, maybe because he is the whole prince, and without the treachery of the Vizir, the prince is suppose to own totally that old fool... at least until the next game (or is the next Vizir just as treacherous. They tend to be...)
13. And voila, the princess at the top of the tower. Grimm Brothers already knew where to put their princesses. For an optimal conservation, store your princesses at the top of your highest tower. The tower is symbol of boredom, they are not humid and dark but they are prisons just the same.
14. The final run, a looong run run and for the first time since level 6, you see an open balcony.
15. Hug and mouse cameo. GG. Final music, with sick cool goose-skin inducing variations.
Final Words Thanks for reading through all this. The next step might be to create a cleaner version of these blogs, look through Jordan Mechner's videos and articles about Prince of Persia and give references to my intuitive guesses. I read through the game design document of Prince of Persia 2 and you find few explanation for things that we went through.
It's also interesting to note that the original document of POP2 has water traps, which didn't get into the game but the water level mechanics were included in POP: the sands of time (Where Mechner returned to help).
Let's wish Mechner will return to the world of games with more fantastic designs.
Thank you for writing and sharing this excellent series with us. I have enjoyed playing Prince of Persia since I was a kid and you have raised my appreciation of this game to a new level with your insight.
Nice write-up. Also I like the touch that when you merge with your ghost you get +1 life, the life that your now 4hp ghost stole on the 5th level.
The prince who lost everything, even his reflection... A pattern repeated in the story of prince of persia 2.
In my opinion the relationship with the ghost or shadow as they call him is rather different in PoP1 than PoP2. Where in PoP1 you are more like enemies finally becoming one at the last level, in PoP2 you are already one but your shadow is evolving inside you. You're corporal self can no longer handle the PoP2 vizir, so your shadow needs to fight in the mental realm to defeat him.
1.) It's a very nice way to set up a map design checkpoint. From this point on the player is in full health and the map designer can focus on making the end as memorable as possible without having to consider multiple health levels and such.
2.) The shadow serves as a setup for the leap of faith. "I was meant to face the shadow there, there *HAS* to be more than a dead end behind him". Without the shadow telling you that you're in the right path, the leap of faith would be far less obvious solution.
I also really like the last few screens of 'victory parade' in the end. The pacing allows you to enjoy your victory, cool down a bit and watch things unfold without any immediate danger. First time completionist is probably a bit uncertain whether he has the game beat and whether he'll find the princess in one piece too. Allowing player to reflect a bit on what's going on makes the feeling far more enjoyable than just slapping the very brief ending cutscene there. It's kind of like the last few meters before the crossing the finish line on some long distance running contest.
On November 06 2013 01:21 Bacillus wrote: Two pretty nifty things about the shadow:
1.) It's a very nice way to set up a map design checkpoint. From this point on the player is in full health and the map designer can focus on making the end as memorable as possible without having to consider multiple health levels and such.
2.) The shadow serves as a setup for the leap of faith. "I was meant to face the shadow there, there *HAS* to be more than a dead end behind him". Without the shadow telling you that you're in the right path, the leap of faith would be far less obvious solution.
I also really like the last few screens of 'victory parade' in the end. The pacing allows you to enjoy your victory, cool down a bit and watch things unfold without any immediate danger. First time completionist is probably a bit uncertain whether he has the game beat and whether he'll find the princess in one piece too. Allowing player to reflect a bit on what's going on makes the feeling far more enjoyable than just slapping the very brief ending cutscene there. It's kind of like the last few meters before the crossing the finish line on some long distance running contest.
Thanks guys! It's been my pleasure. You are right on the points... It's a bit weird I forgot to mention about those. Having explained about the "victory" parade right 2 days before to a friend.
1. I didn't know. In the classic edition, there was a trick where you can slam a grid in front of the shadow, so it doesn't steal the potion... It didn't exist in PoP1, right?
2. More than a dead end behind the shadowman is the right way to put it, indeed. There was a little bit of exploring to do, but maybe the player does that first.
Now I need to make a video of a playthrough on my Mac Se/30!
On November 06 2013 01:21 Bacillus wrote: Two pretty nifty things about the shadow:
1.) It's a very nice way to set up a map design checkpoint. From this point on the player is in full health and the map designer can focus on making the end as memorable as possible without having to consider multiple health levels and such.
2.) The shadow serves as a setup for the leap of faith. "I was meant to face the shadow there, there *HAS* to be more than a dead end behind him". Without the shadow telling you that you're in the right path, the leap of faith would be far less obvious solution.
I also really like the last few screens of 'victory parade' in the end. The pacing allows you to enjoy your victory, cool down a bit and watch things unfold without any immediate danger. First time completionist is probably a bit uncertain whether he has the game beat and whether he'll find the princess in one piece too. Allowing player to reflect a bit on what's going on makes the feeling far more enjoyable than just slapping the very brief ending cutscene there. It's kind of like the last few meters before the crossing the finish line on some long distance running contest.
1. I didn't know. In the classic edition, there was a trick where you can slam a grid in front of the shadow, so it doesn't steal the potion... It didn't exist in PoP1, right?
I mostly meant that in the last level, the reunion with the shadow seems to heal you up to your full health, so you don't end up going to the last screens injured down to 1 life point or so. It helps the level designer to create a controlled starting point for the boss fight.
On November 06 2013 18:14 FFW_Rude wrote: Me neither. The only tricks i know in this game is to finish the first level without taking the sword.
That's actually how I first completed the level when I was a little kid. Figuring out how to dodge the first guard was somehow easier than the jumping bits near the sword.
There is two trick, either you perfectly time a jump through or you trick him to follow you and go around, drop behind him. The staircase are probably decorated with swords
On November 06 2013 20:12 0x64 wrote: There is two trick, either you perfectly time a jump through or you trick him to follow you and go around, drop behind him. The staircase are probably decorated with swords
You could jump through that guy ? I used the other technic with the secret passage in the first spike room (i think).
I randomly found this via search engine. not sure of the policy here for posting in a thread from years ago, if there's a problem, feel free to remove my post, and I won't do so again. but I'd like to offer my response.
I've long been a fan of PoP 1, particularly the Mac port. generally it has better sound and graphics (although some of the original graphics, like single pixels bubbling out of potions, have their charm). also, the Mac version gives the player and other characters a more Persianate, middle eastern appearance, which is appropriate; also, the swords are shamshirs (with a curve at the end) rather than straight.
being interested in game design, I've always thought PoP was very well designed, with how it introduces you to the rules, throws a few curveballs, has memorable moments (eg mirror, fat man, clone) and paces everything nicely. infinite lives + time limit is also an interesting setup, although you probably won't win on your first try, and will have to start over once you get the hang of it. I will say that the 1 hour time limit is the right balance; I find that if you explore around, drink every potion, and fight every guard, you'll have enough time to finish, with a little bit of slack. of course, you can beat the game in a half hour or less if you're skilled.
you've done a really good job in analyzing the game and its qualities. some of the things you described I intuitively knew, but now it's spelled out. your most interesting point was the thematic design of left/right, which I'd like to expound on. the Princess is to the left, and Jafaar enters from the right (as you said). but also, when you fight Jafaar, he's to your right, and you go left to meet the Princess. after the clone battle, you travel left across the invisible bridge. throughout the game, you often have to move left to reach the exit. and in level 6, you travel left until you're stopped by the clone, and then you must move right in level 7. left is good, right is bad. in addition to the left/right dichotomy, there's also up/down, in which you travel upwards to progress, and going down sets you back (eg going up to level 6 and falling to level 7, climbing up level 12, and climbing to fight Jafaar), which you also mentioned.
eta: not many people know this, but there are technically 14 levels in PoP. once you cross the invisible bridge in level 12 and enter the area with falling tiles, you transition to level 13; this is designed to be seamless and subtle. note that if you go to the right, the magic bridge is no longer there, and you can't go back. significantly, once you reach level 13, you will not get a game over even if time runs out (although you will at any point before the falling tiles). this lets the player focus on fighting Jafaar even if time is running out. for high score purposes, your remaining time is frozen the moment you defeat Jafaar, giving you a reprieve after the final challenge. level 14 is of course where you meet the Princess.
overall, thanks for this analysis, and I hope you don't mind me sharing my feedback.
EPT
