While KQ is still my favorite game series of all time, and has been since 1995 ;p, I do think that some other Sierra games were better than it, superseded it.
I personally find that out of all Sierra's series, the Space Quest series was the best written, best constructed and had just as great worlds as KQ had. The writing, humor, and pop cultural references were genius; Scott's acidic, "glass half empty" writing style--which mocked Roger, the player, Sierra in general, Ken Williams and pretty much everyone under the sun in a very tongue (half) in cheek way--Combined with Mark's art direction and sci-fi knowledge made it Sierra's best series IMO. There is not one single bad game in the series IMO; Even SQ5 isn't hated by the fans, it simply gets mixed reactions; And even it too has moments of genius. I do notice, though, that the SQ fan base tends to be more open minded and less ardent when it comes to SQ than KQ fans are when it comes to KQ.
The Conquests series was another brilliant, amazing, beautiful series which utterly trumped KQ as a fantasy series. I wish we'd gotten a VGA remake of Conquests of Camelot--that is one amazing game and one of Sierra's best ever. I wish the series would've continued; it had a hell of a lot of promise. Another series that GOG needs to re-release
Phantasmagoria, too, had a lot of promise and the first game is one of my favorite horror adventure games. I haven't gotten around to playing the sequel yet but I hear it's very different. As a fan of Lorelei Shannon as an author, I look forward to playing it since she wrote it. Regardless, I find Phantasmagoria (along with KQ8) to be Roberta's masterpiece.
Finally, Quest for Glory. This took everything that was great about Sierra's adventure games, and everything that was great about RPGs and blended them together to create what I feel is not a hybrid, but a new genre all together. It too trumps KQ as a fantasy series and is more in line of the direction (tone wise) which KQ should've headed. I hope and pray that GOG re-releases it in full. I've been dying to play it on a modern PC.
Other great Sierra games, IMO: Shivers, Light House, Rama. All classic adventure games that have been forgotten by most people. Same with Willy Beamish and Heart of China--Forgotten Sierra/Dynamix gems. And finally, Hunter/Hunted and Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance--two forgotten fun action games from Sierra's mid 9s peak.
I have to admit that while I always liked KQ, Space Quest was my favorite. :o QFG was way up there, too.
I think the QFG series is fantastic. I played them far after their release (just a couple years ago), and was very impressed, especially with Shadows of Darkness and Trial by Fire. Not many games can make bad puns while trying to battle something out of a Lovecraft story.
Space Quest.
Gabriel Knight. JANE JENSEN 4 EVER!!!!
Phantasmagoria is one of Roberta's masterpieces, and one of Sierra's best games. The sequel wasn't very good, though.
I've always really enjoyed Torin's Passage, which was supposed to be a series. It really sucks that it was never completed.
Quest For Glory (Hero's Quest) is an amazing series. From fun gameplay, to action, adventure, exploration and humor.... it's got it all. A great game series.
Space Quest is freakin' amazing too. Space Quest III is one of my favorite video games of all time, period.
Bt
Quote from: Cez on September 06, 2011, 05:01:08 PM
Gabriel Knight. JANE JENSEN 4 EVER!!!!
Phantasmagoria is one of Roberta's masterpieces, and one of Sierra's best games. The sequel wasn't very good, though.
The sequel is however, hilarious.
http://spoonyexperiment.com/category/phantasmagoria/
I can't recommend watching Spoony's LP enough! So freakin' hilarious! :rofl:
Its hard to say better than KQ. I think there are games that are almost equally good but in a different way. For example, the first doom was a masterpiece. I also really liked Dagger of Amon Ra. Grand Theft auto was pretty cool. Love the assasins creed series. I would say that many games bring back fond memories, especially including other systems. For example, I consider the first metroid on nintendo 8-bit a perfect game. From what I remember, 2 was pretty much the same.
Such a hard question... I'll say this, I agree with 90% of infamous adventures greatest games list. However, a BIG mistake in my opinion is having space quest 4 so far down the list.
Quote from: Big C from Cauney island on September 06, 2011, 08:35:31 PM
Such a hard question... I'll say this, I agree with 90% of infamous adventures greatest games list. However, a BIG mistake in my opinion is having space quest 4 so far down the list.
Yeah, but know that we didn't WRITE the list - we merely tallied up the results from the people who voted. So it was a collective of fans who voted the game there - which was surprising.
Bt
SQ4 = teh suck!11!
Just kidding.
Seriously though, it's one of my least favorite in the series, if not the least. I think I like SQ6 less, but they tend to flip flop depending on my mood.
The biggest travesty of the IA Contest list was that Hero's Quest was all the way down at number 13. THIRTEEN!! Best Sierra game EVER.
Quote from: Lambonius on September 07, 2011, 07:22:24 AM
SQ4 = teh suck!11!
Just kidding.
Seriously though, it's one of my least favorite in the series, if not the least. I think I like SQ6 less, but they tend to flip flop depending on my mood.
The biggest travesty of the IA Contest list was that Hero's Quest was all the way down at number 13. THIRTEEN!! Best Sierra game EVER.
Which SQ is your favorite?
For me it's something like:
1) SQ1VGA
2) SQ6
3) SQ4
4) SQ3
5) SQ5
6) SQ2
7) SQ1AGI
I'm quite surprised. Space Quest IV was the masterpiece of the series in my opinion. I'm glad that Space Quest made the top of the list, though!
Quote from: MusicallyInspired on September 07, 2011, 08:01:50 AM
I'm quite surprised. Space Quest IV was the masterpiece of the series in my opinion. I'm glad that Space Quest made the top of the list, though!
It's definitely their best work--But I put the other two ahead because SQ1VGA holds some very serious nostalgic value to me, and you know what nostalgia can do, and also it's just a fun little game. I can go back and play it again and again and I love the artwork and worlds you explore. Same goes for SQ6. I love where the story was going and think Josh was a fine addition to the "Guys from Andromeda". He has a mix of the acidic cynicism of Scott with some of the goofyness of Mark.
I wish SQ3 was longer...THAT had the potential to be their best, and it also seems like the game they had the most fun making. And the soundtrack is just plain awesome. SQ4, however, seems to have been a very unhappy experience for Scott and Mark, with Ken and the other executives pushing stuff down their throat that they didn't want. I mean Scott says he and Mark wanted to keep the parser system for SQ4. I would've LOVED that. Beautiful VGA graphics with an amazing, probably much more interactive parser? Epic.
One thing SQ1VGA had going for it, was the lack of X's on the screen.
SQ4 had quite a few red Xs like, KQ5 had the red Xs... Rather than the global descriptions.
My favorite is probably SQ2. Story, puzzles, graphics--it hits all the right notes for me. SQ4 had too many gotcha deaths for my tastes.
Quote from: Baggins on September 07, 2011, 08:55:23 AM
One thing SQ1VGA had going for it, was the lack of X's on the screen.
SQ4 had quite a few red Xs like, KQ5 had the red Xs... Rather than the global descriptions.
I forgot about those. There is something strangely frustrating about them.
Yeah. The infamous, "Red X." To me, it was like a mini BSOD; it was like a slap in the face, especially when trying to click on a small item on the screen.
One thing about SQ is underlying all the humor the series has a more or less consistent scifi universe that for the most part as realistic and serious as Star Trek as far as it's dangerous nature, and it's backstories.
So that being said, SQ4 pulling the whole going back into time to an AGI universe with monochrome characters feels a little inconsistent. Especially if you consider that later games actually acknowledge some of the continuity established in the SQ1 remake. In some cases some reference elements of both versions. Yet the SQ1 remake tries to acknowledge SQ4 (timepod for example)! Parodoxes ensue!
You're taking it too seriously. Yes SQ had seriousness, which was a great feature, but it's also comedy through and through. So it doesn't really matter how they approach consistency.
Yea, SQ was always a funny series. I really thought 4 was incredible, going back in time. I loved the galleria, getting a job, and buying the sq4 hint book. Also, floating in that middle space.
But that's the thing it wasn't consistent on the humor, SQ4 is arguably a very bleak and dark game in the series... It was least funny, it's actually sort of depressing. It's also kinda scary in many places.
The cd version helped tone it down a little bit with the addition of the narrator.
SQ5 almost was too serious as well, it felt almost too much like a strict star trek episode. Actually I've read that Scott Murphy criticizes SQ5 because of that reason.
I seriously feel 1-3 (including VGA remake) are the funniest games in the series, an least serious. Something was lost in the later games.
SQ6 though I think got back to the series humor in a more proper way.
Why does it need to be consistent? SQ4 was still quite hilarious, despite its serious main plot, I thought it was quite refreshing. I don't really find SQ3 all that terribly funny, though. It has a silly plot, for sure. Probably the most zany and silly of them all. But the writing never made me more than chuckle a little bit. It excelled in atmosphere and gameplay, though. SQ4's writing was incredibly funny to me. SQ5 was very funny too, but in a completely different way. SQ6, again, hilarious. Actually I consider to be the most funny of them all, but different style again. I can't stand the storyline or the characters, though. It doesn't feel like Space Quest to me at all.
Baggins doesn't understand the concept of humor. It's just not in his genes.
Bt
Speak for yourself ;)... I just happen to find English humor funnier! Monty Python is great. Different styles some styles I find funnier than others.
Some people don't get Lucasarts style humor. I do know many people who found Lucasarts games funny didn't find Space Quest's humor that funny!
Scott Murphy has been on record that he didn't get SQ5's style of humor and thought it relied on star trek too much.
The funniest parts of SQ4 were in the SQX period.
Scott Murphy never watched an episode of Star Trek in his life so he can't really appreciate it. It was a very different type of humour with Crowe alone at the helm, but it still worked very well.
That said, I also think it relied on Star Trek too much. I hate StarCon.
The Galactic Enquirer is very funny piece of literature though! There are quite a few funny moments in the game, One of my favorites is how you defeat W-D40. Quirk's total spoof on Kirk down to the toupee!\
BTW, one of the 'continuity errors' in SQ1VGA vs. SQ4 AGI is actually supposed to be an intended sight gag I believe.
Let me explain, in SQ4 you go back in time, to SQ1 era. But the game more or less tries to explain that its been some time since Roger left the settlement. In that time several businesses went bankrupt and closed down. It's been a while since the bartender saw you last. The pod appears in the time zone almost directly north of the bar.
In SQ1VGA it has the timepod appear almost the same exact point in time Roger leaves the planet, at the same location Roger leaves from (north lot of Tiny's so it appears in a different location than in SQ4). Now the sight gag, is that the mugger shows up angry that you stole his ship! Who should appear just in time for him to take revenge? Roger! (obviously a serious of unfortuntae events that doesn't occur in SQ4, but would have been totally funny if it had!)
Baggins, there's a 'continuity error' in your comments - KQ 1&4 or SQ 1&4? ;)
Well, that's more a problem with the SQ1 remake than SQ4. Scott didn't even like the remake. It's looked down upon by many for many reasons, that being only one. I consider that just one of its quirks. That said, it was a nice little tribute to make to the series. It's only meant to make people go "Ah cool!" Which brings me back to don't take it so seriously.
Well obviously, the same can be said about KQ1 Remake and the PQ1 Remake. KQ1SCI causes several of continuity errors with KQ3 for example too. PQ1VGA changes dates and also changes the sex and name of an important character who is murdered in PQ2!
The same sort of thing happens with QFG1 remake in its series. Corey Cole doesn't like the remake as much as the original version actually. Yet the QFG1 remake actually does add continuity to the series, that QFG5 acknowledges (the Black Bird, is more than just a easter egg joke to "Bogey"). Though Sam the begger is older in QFG5 much like in the original version of Hero's Quest.
Ya in general, the remakes shouldn't be considered the 'proper' storyline! If you are wanting to follow the proper story, you need to play the originals and work your way up. Though as mentioned some of the later games, definitely do make references to elements out of the remakes. Especially in Space Quest.
Amusingly, the Space Quest Companion played with the remake and the original, and tried to make both exist. It explained it had something to do with all the time travel Roger experienced, was causing paradoxes in the timeline! It actually explains this paradox in a very funny manner.
Another interesting tidbit, is in the Space Quest 1 remake's Hintbook, either Scott Murphy or Mark Crowe who wrote the book, actually acknowledges the Space Quest companion apparently. Or the Space Quest Companion acknowledged the rather obscure alien name from the Hintbook (as the name doesn't appear in the game)... They use the name for the alien in the underground city, Tenuctipin. There are some interesting discussions about their reason for developing the game as well, IIRC.
Yep. There IS such a thing as being too pedantic.
They're GAMES. It's better to enjoy them without busting out every neuron in your cerebellum.
Bt
Ya, that's probably the biggest problem with POS and AGDI games, they try to tie everything together... Overkill..
Tolkien was that way as well with his universe. But its just a series of books...
Games and books are 'just entertainment'!
I know Roberta Williams would be offended by the whole 'just games' remark for her games (or adventure games in general), though (actually she routinely said that view offended her in many interviews hah hah)!
Nice, joke, btw, but thinking about things won't 'bust neurons'.. thinking actually does the opposite, it strengthens neurons! ;)... Imagination and thinking are 'good for you'!
Now drugs and chemical tonics, those can bust neurons! So can apparently watching too much TV? :rofl:
(http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t97/Lambonius/971873-facepalm_display_super.jpg)
Or barring that,
(http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t97/Lambonius/KickInTheNuts.jpg)