Software:Versailles II: Testament of the King

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Versailles II: Testament of the King
Cover art
Developer(s)Cryo Interactive
Publisher(s)Cryo Interactive
Réunion des Musées Nationaux
SeriesVersailles
Platform(s)Windows
ReleaseNovember 14, 2001
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Versailles II: Testament of the King (French: Versailles II : Le Testament) is a video game released in 2001. It was developed by Cryo Interactive and co-published by Cryo and Réunion des Musées Nationaux for Windows-based PCs. It is the sequel to the 1996 game Versailles 1685.

The game is set in 1700, 15 years after the previous game, at the time of the death of King Charles II. The player assumes the role of Charles-Louis de Farevolles, who turns up at the Court of Louis XIV, with neither influence at Court nor money.

A 25 piece orchestra, led by Skip Sempé, performs an hour of music for the game.

Plot

The game starts in 1700, when the main character Charles-Louis de Faverolles comes back to Versailles after being a page at Grand Ecuries under Monsieur Boisseuil and advanced school, in hopes of becoming a diplomat to Spain, as he wishes to be reunited with Elvira Malaga y Santiago, his childhood sweetheart. The Court is involved in the succession to the throne of Spain since Charles II is ailing and has no heir. Both France and the Habsburgs hope that one of their own will be named. In order to launch his diplomatic career in the court, Charles-Louis must encounter different challenges and at first make a few favours for important people.

At first, unable to meet his protector Boisseuilh, yet unemployed and short of coin, Charles-Louis is forced to stay at the Pelican Inn, close to the Grand Commun. After few minor adventures, Charles-Louis does a favor to Marquis de Torcy, the Foreign Affairs Minister. Disappointingly it has no impact to his starting career and first experience of surrounding court members is quite unwelcoming. Things go forward as Charles-Louis is acquainted to Lhuillier, the assistant building inspector to François Mansart. However, his new friend involves Charles-Louis in suspicious affair: a guard walks in and Lhuillier hands him a diamond and rushes out in a panic. To make it even worse, Charles-Louis loses the diamond by Teetotum game. Next morning, clueless of what happened, Lhuillier introduces Charles-Louis as possible assistant to him and Mansart is in agreement. Mansart wants Charles-Louis to take Marquis Castel dos Rios, the Spanish Ambassador around the garden of Versailles. The Ambassador knows of Charles-Louis love for Elvira Malaga y Santiago and is decided to help him. The pleasant mood is disturbed by worried Lhuillier, who asks to visit him. This is the point, in which the player must decide whether to win back the diamond, or to inform Lhuillier about its loss - the wrong solution may end the game. Lhuillier is under arrest in his room and states that you must give the diamond back to the Dauphin or one of his sons. The Dauphin is in Meudon with two of his sons and only the Duc d'Anjou is in Versailles. He can be found at Encelade garden; however, the guard won't let Charles near him. The Spanish Ambassador might be the one to give the diamond to the Duc d'Anjou since he is the one in favor at the moment. At the result, Lhuillier is spared for the theft of the Buckle diamond, but is dismissed, and Faverolles is given his position.

After doing some work in the gardens, Charles-Louis Faverolles is again involved in court intrigues. Charles-Louis is acquainted with mysterious lady in green, Prosperine, whom he had shortly met at the very beginning of the game. She gives him a letter and wants to meet at the Ballroom grove later to inform him about the secret she overheard visiting Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon. However, reaching her is difficult, as the grove is limited to special visitors only. On the end Prosperine gives him a sealed letter to read at home alone and to be burned afterwards. The letter claims that the King Louis XIV of France signed a secret treaty to divide the Spanish kingdoms with England and Holland. The player must decide whether to burn or not burn the letter – the wrong decision will end the game later in the game play.

Critical reception

Tom Houston of Just Adventure thought the game would appeal to fans of the edutainment genre.[1] Jihem of JeuxVideo described the title as "easy-gaming" - the gaming equivalent of easy listening.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Versailles II: Testimony of the King - Just Adventure + Review". 2002-04-08. Archived from the original on 2002-04-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20020408112825/http://justadventure.com/reviews/Versailles2/Versailles2.shtm. 
  2. ↑ "Test du jeu Versailles 2 sur PC - jeuxvideo.com". 2016-03-04. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304132059/http://www.jeuxvideo.com/articles/0000/00001780_test.htm. 
  • Versailles II Home Page
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.[18]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
  18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628. 
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