Wow, Chris, you must have been really inspired by this game!
Haha. I really liked Sierra games, but really - I am just amplified when it comes to writing and talking about the things I enjoy. You've probably noticed this from my lengthy responses over the last year or so.
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I suffered as a kid not having any of the great Sierra games except Police Quest. I wasn't ever able to finish even that one, but I did spend many days exploring the game and having a great time being a cop. I'm certain I would have cherished all of them. They were, of course, much more difficult to complete than the Lucasfilm games, which are solvable (for the most part, anyway) without walkthroughs.
Ahh man. I assume you have played most of them (Sierra ones) by this point, though. The Lucasfilm games seemed a lot more fluid, responsive, and polished than the Sierra adventure games. The SCUMM engine just worked a lot better. Many of the VGA Sierra (later SCI) games seemed quite buggy, regardless of puzzle difficulty. That said, there were plenty of Sierra puzzles that really caused me to scratch my head AFTER having looked up how to solve something I was stuck on for some time. I remember getting about 75% through Police Quest III and having to start completely over because I didn't do something. I didn't do something that was totally up to me to find and do. It was hard for them to give you complete freedom of adventure while still requiring you to do certain things. If you have freedom, you need multiple ways to solve the same puzzle. It helps keep the game fresh, caters to those that think along different lines, and also guards against possible bugs that arise simply because the player didn't play the game through the same way the developers did.
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I did greatly enjoy the Gabriel Knight series and will probably do a Matt Chat on them soon. They are a beast to get working on Vista, though (at least the second one, which is my favorite).
A gaping hole in my Sierra fandom. I have never played that series of games. I remember getting issues of Sierra's Interaction magazine and reading over it though. The first game seemed to have a great cast of voice actors.
Wow, Chris, you must have been really inspired by this game!
Haha. I really liked Sierra games, but really - I am just amplified when it comes to writing and talking about the things I enjoy. You've probably noticed this from my lengthy responses over the last year or so.
I suffered as a kid not having any of the great Sierra games except Police Quest. I wasn't ever able to finish even that one, but I did spend many days exploring the game and having a great time being a cop. I'm certain I would have cherished all of them. They were, of course, much more difficult to complete than the Lucasfilm games, which are solvable (for the most part, anyway) without walkthroughs.
Ahh man. I assume you have played most of them (Sierra ones) by this point, though. The Lucasfilm games seemed a lot more fluid, responsive, and polished than the Sierra adventure games. The SCUMM engine just worked a lot better. Many of the VGA Sierra (later SCI) games seemed quite buggy, regardless of puzzle difficulty. That said, there were plenty of Sierra puzzles that really caused me to scratch my head AFTER having looked up how to solve something I was stuck on for some time. I remember getting about 75% through Police Quest III and having to start completely over because I didn't do something. I didn't do something that was totally up to me to find and do. It was hard for them to give you complete freedom of adventure while still requiring you to do certain things. If you have freedom, you need multiple ways to solve the same puzzle. It helps keep the game fresh, caters to those that think along different lines, and also guards against possible bugs that arise simply because the player didn't play the game through the same way the developers did.
I did greatly enjoy the Gabriel Knight series and will probably do a Matt Chat on them soon. They are a beast to get working on Vista, though (at least the second one, which is my favorite).
A gaping hole in my Sierra fandom. I have never played that series of games. I remember getting issues of Sierra's Interaction magazine and reading over it though. The first game seemed to have a great cast of voice actors.
Chris Kennedy, Editor
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Email: chris@armchairarcade.com