At last, we have finished our great quest. The Kingdom of Gallowmere is safe from the evil clutches of Zarok and his undead army. Despite living life as a charlatan and fraud, utter incapable of defending himself, let alone his realm, Sir Daniel Fortesque has finally “lived” up to the legend, accomplishing in death what he failed to do in life.
Join us in recounting once more the ending of this epic adventure.
So, before we proceed, I have to issue 2 quick corrections.
- In the finale, I state that if the player doesn’t have all the Chalices, they cannot reach the end of the game because Zarok’s army will one shot them in a cutscene. While I do remember this, I cannot find any evidence to corroborate my claim. Therefore, it’s entirely possible that my memory is just a fragment of my imagination.
- I asserted that there was a glitch with the Ghost Ship level with made it impossible to get the Chalice. This, too, is erroneous. After the stream, I took some time to figure out what I was missing by watching someone else play through the original PS1 level. Turns out, there’s an enemy in the same area as the chalice, which I just missed. I could argue that the camera conspired against me, but bottom line is that I didn’t see them. And with that, I managed to get all of the Chalices.
And in obtaining that last Chalice, I finally show some of my favorite parts of the game. After being berated by the Gargoyles for almost all of the game, it’s such a powerful feeling to see them finally acknowledge us as a hero worthy of the title. And to commemorate our newfound status, the statue of Sir Dan has become stone, solidifying itself along with our place in the Hall of Heroes.
Should the player defeat Zarok after achieving this status, an additional scene is added to the end where Sir Dan is celebrating and frolicking with his fellows at the Hall, which you can see here:
It’s a powerful reward in the form of gratification, and a fitting end to the tale of Sir Daniel Fortesque.
As for my final thoughts, I think the team that set out to remake this game did a great job in accomplishing that task. Many of the problems that I have with the remake were problems I had with the base game with camera angles and extremely punishing platforming sections. If anything, there are improvements in that aspect with the addition of analog stick support and free moving camera in certain sections.
The updated art style and direction also does an excellent job at bringing the PS1 classic into the PS4 era. This is clearly a game aimed towards my nostalgia, and I’m not sure people unfamiliar with the PS1 game will be satisfied unless approaching it from a historical perspective. But for me, it was great to come back to one of my old favorites with a glossy new coat of paint.
Next time, we dig deeper into my nostalgia with more PS1-era platformers, with either Crash Bandicoot or Spyro the Dragon.
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