King's Quest I AGI vs. King's Quest I SCI

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

Which do you prefer and why?

I love the writing and improvements in SCI and the graphics...The graphics of KQ1SCI made me fall in love with SCI graphis and I played it years after I played KQ5, 6 and 7....The graphics of KQ1SCI have a certain charm to them, Daventry looks like a beautiful realm right out of Robin Hood's England.

Also, this line is awesome, from Edward to Graham: "But you are brave and pure of heart. That is why I chose you to volunteer."

Yeah, Edward was really benevolent 

[Damar]

I had a pretty strong dislike for King's Quest I SCI.  I will admit that it streamlined certain aspects of the game, like actually having the introduction instead of expecting you to walk into the castle and talk to Edward yourself to get your quest.  It also did the obvious answer for the gnome's name instead of making you invert the alphabet.  Outside of that, though there's pretty much nothing I like about the game.

The improved graphics were unnecessary.  And honestly, even for improved graphics, they don't look particularly great.  I also felt like SCI made King's Quest a lot more goofy than it needed to be.  Yes, King's Quest has always had a goofy streak, but this went over the top for me into cartoon territory.  Replacing the alligators in the moat for snakes that smile for the camera.  Having a Graham-shaped hole when you fall down the beanstalk like you're a human Wile E. Coyote.  Even the Graham cracker was a bit over the top.  King's Quest I AGI had some light parts, but it was also darker and more violent.  SCI, though some of the forests appeared darker, was more like a cartoon.  A lot of the changes remind me of what George Lucas did to the Star Wars films.  "This will look cool and make the kids laugh!  It must be good!"

I also despise the change they made to the beanstalk and to the mountain stairs.  The original beanstalk was difficult in places but the SCI beanstalk was downright diabolical.  It is next to impossible for me to climb it.  And the mountain ramp is impossible.  In AGI, I would climb up the beanstalk, but then go down the mountain stairs for a change of pace when I was done.  The SCI mountain ramp is unworkable.  And then that stupid dwarf will run up on you and rob you.  I cannot tell you how many times I died climbing the SCI beanstalk and mountain ramp.

Basically, to sum it up, I remember reading that some people compared the SCI to colorizing old black and white films.  I would agree with that.  It was unnecessary and I don't feel that any of their improvements did anything helpful with the game and in most cases, they actually detracted from the game itself.

[MusicallyInspired]

Wow, I couldn't agree with you more. I thought KQ1SCI was breathtaking in every way. Especially for a 16 colour game! I also think AGI games had a lot more incredibly goofy humour than SCI games ever did. There were a couple little extra goofy things that were added to the remake like you mention, but on the whole I took KQ1SCI and the atmosphere it portrayed a lot more seriously than KQ1AGI. KQ1AGI felt like the cartoon, not KQ1SCI. And yes, I did play the AGI version first.

The beanstalk isn't really that hard. You just have to keep your hands on the beanstalk at all times (as opposed to your feet, like the AGDI remake). The dwarf is also easily avoidable if you're wearing the invisibility ring.

I partly agree with the whole "colourizing black and white films" standpoint but not entirely. They could always provide the original (and they did with the collections). But KQ1 didn't have a lot going for it in almost every respect. I mean, I know AGI has a vibe and a feel you just can't replace (Gold Rush! anyone?) and I love and respect that, but KQ1 was the least impressive AGI game Sierra ever made in almost every regard.

KQ1AGI is a great little game that broke a lot of ground. But the remake really did improve it in my opinion. In terms of presentation (beautiful art, music), story (the added element of the sick woodcutter's wife made a lot more sense than "we're poor help us!" and dying by falling through holes in their floor, talk about goofy!), and puzzle design (Rumplestiltskin anyone?). So I side with KQ1SCI.

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

The improved graphics were unnecessary.  And honestly, even for improved graphics, they don't look particularly great.  I also felt like SCI made King's Quest a lot more goofy than it needed to be.  Yes, King's Quest has always had a goofy streak, but this went over the top for me into cartoon territory.  Replacing the alligators in the moat for snakes that smile for the camera.  Having a Graham-shaped hole when you fall down the beanstalk like you're a human Wile E. Coyote.  Even the Graham cracker was a bit over the top.  King's Quest I AGI had some light parts, but it was also darker and more violent.  SCI, though some of the forests appeared darker, was more like a cartoon.  A lot of the changes remind me of what George Lucas did to the Star Wars films.  "This will look cool and make the kids laugh!  It must be good!"

Consider that even KQ6 has moments like this. For example, if you fall off the Cliffs of Logic, Alexander will turn and wave goodbye to the player before plunging to his death. Or if you make him fall enough times from a lesser height, he'll break the fourth wall by telling the player to cut it out.

[Damar]

Yeah, and I wasn't a huge fan of when that happened.  The main difference for me, though is that those were in the original game.  KQI SCI added in the cartoony things like the Graham cracker, the smiling serpents that wear your hat, the Graham-shaped hole, the Graham pancake when the giant catches you, and probably other things I'm not thinking of right now.  Those things didn't exist in that way before, but they were added in.  Using the Lucas example, it's the difference between Ewoks and Jedi Rocks.  We can complain about Ewoks all we want, but they were in the original film.  A corny musical number was added (ok maybe that's not the best example since it was replacing another corny musical number, but you get my point.)

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

Yeah, and I wasn't a huge fan of when that happened.  The main difference for me, though is that those were in the original game.  KQI SCI added in the cartoony things like the Graham cracker, the smiling serpents that wear your hat, the Graham-shaped hole, the Graham pancake when the giant catches you, and probably other things I'm not thinking of right now.  Those things didn't exist in that way before, but they were added in.  Using the Lucas example, it's the difference between Ewoks and Jedi Rocks.  We can complain about Ewoks all we want, but they were in the original film.  A corny musical number was added (ok maybe that's not the best example since it was replacing another corny musical number, but you get my point.)

Except the Lucas argument doesn't work because Lucas changed the original films themselves and didn't make the unaltered cuts available. You want Star Wars, the original untouched version in high quality? Too bad says Uncle George. Whereas both KQ1AGI and SCI exist separately and are both sold. Sierra never stopped making the original available for the sake of the remake.

[Damar]

Absolutely.  And that's why I really don't play the SCI version.  I'm happy to play AGI.  But updating it was just unnecessary.  I felt the same way about SQ1 VGA.  It was nice to look at, but I just didn't like any of the changes they made.  They seemed unnecessary and attention-seeking.  The game was fine on its own.

[MangoMercury]

I think I prefer the AGI for purely nostalgic reasons; the aesthetics of the SCI version don't really do it for me.