MaddocI'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother?Registered Userregular
In LucasArts adventure games, poking around the environment and using items on things and people resulted in jokes
In a Sierra adventure game, poking around the environment resulted in death, and using items on things and people resulted in game states where it was impossible to finish the game
Um, in Sierra games you hunted werewolves and there was a sad gay German werewolf man and King Ludwig and a lost Wagnerian opera, so
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Librarian's ghostLibrarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSporkRegistered Userregular
Also in a Sierra game you could make a character and finish a game then IMPORT that exact character into the next game and the next and the next. It was really mind blowing and felt very powerful to finish that series you had started with the same character many years before.
In LucasArts adventure games, poking around the environment and using items on things and people resulted in jokes
In a Sierra adventure game, poking around the environment resulted in death, and using items on things and people resulted in game states where it was impossible to finish the game
I actually thought this was pretty hilarious in the time I spent with one
I wandered off into the sea and was carried off by the current and drowned! That was a neat little interactive thing
I definitely prefer it to the "humor" of LucasArts games, at least
Though yeah, getting failed states for things you didn't do immediately before is pretty bad
what if you made a modern sierra adventure game with the bullshit deaths and failstates but also a time travel mechanic so you could travel back five hours to fix the thing and then travel forward
what if you made a modern sierra adventure game with the bullshit deaths and failstates but also a time travel mechanic so you could travel back five hours to fix the thing and then travel forward
kaceypwe stayed bright as lightningwe sang loud as thunderRegistered Userregular
While I never really got into Sierra's catalog beyond King's Quest, I have said before and will probably say again that I'm a big fan of those games. I just find them very charming overall and there's something about the larger narrative structure that I'm really into, where you watch this family grow and you jump around to different members of said family throughout the series. It was also one of the first games to have a female protagonist (maybe the actual first PC game?), which is pretty cool.
But yeah, the early games in that series had some incredibly bullshit design. Ridiculously obscure puzzles, unwinnable situations that you couldn't see coming, etc. Not to mention a lot of terrible puns. So many terrible puns. But the early ones were the worst, and the overall design (not to mention storytelling and characterization) improved significantly as the series went on.
I was never really into adventure games when I was younger, but I do remember playing through Spycraft and oh man, 12 year old me felt so important and spyful playing that game.
Like seriously Under A Killing Moon and Overseer inspired my interest in weird sci-fi and pulp and eventually got me interested in film noir and it all sounds really silly now and I definitely played it at way too young an age, but oh my goodness
I somewhat enjoyed a King's Quest when I was younger
I'm not sure what number it was, but the subtitle was Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
I never got too far in it though, felt like I probably needed a guide or something
Day 9 and his pals did a playthrough of that one. "I took a mint" remains a running joke in his stream. That was also the sixth one in the franchise and they actually learned from previous mistakes and made it pretty decently, with very few (not sure it had any?) "you didn't do this 12 hours ago, you lose" instances.
I somewhat enjoyed a King's Quest when I was younger
I'm not sure what number it was, but the subtitle was Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
I never got too far in it though, felt like I probably needed a guide or something
Day 9 and his pals did a playthrough of that one. "I took a mint" remains a running joke in his stream. That was also the sixth one in the franchise and they actually learned from previous mistakes and made it pretty decently, with very few (not sure it had any?) "you didn't do this 12 hours ago, you lose" instances.
Yeah, that was the first game in the series that wouldn't let you go past a point of no return without warning you that you hadn't picked up whatever item you needed to progress (though, IIRC, it only give you one warning, and if you insisted on pressing on then it'd let you go directly into a puzzle that you couldn't solve before it killed you). It's really the only game in the series that holds up at all without looking at it through the veil of nostalgia; the earlier games are much more arbitrary both in their puzzles and in how often they kill the player for no discernible reason.
Sierra's games up to that point were pretty much all arbitrary like that, with a few exceptions (like the Quest for Glory series); the handful of traditional adventure games that they made after that, like Gabriel Knight and the last two Space Quests, were less obtuse and less unpredictably punitive. Then Myst came out and within like a year just about everyone who'd been making adventure games up to that point, Sierra included, was instead either making nakedly derivative Myst-likes or else trying and failing to translate adventure games into ugly PS1-era polygonal engines with awkward nigh-unusable control schemes.
I should mention that though I shit on Sierra earlier and still think most of their output is awful, I do think they're the kind of awful that you have to kind of grow through as a genre to figure out what you can and can't do. So in that regard, I'm glad they did what they did, so no one can do it again.
Just when I thought I couldn't like Xavier Woods any more than I do, he brings out a Buster Sword, hypes up VR and proclaims Yu Yu Hakusho as his favorite anime
It's a devil may cry style action game where your main weapon is a baby that you swing around using the umbilical cord that is still attached to you. Besides on the flash forward missions where the baby is black goop that you direct using nanomachines while listening to man-eater.
Finally the Hideo Kojima and HR Giger team up I always wanted.
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Brainiac 8Don't call me Shirley...Registered Userregular
I have been enjoying the new King's Quest game. Each episode is short and since I wait and grab them when they go on sale I don't feel ripped off.
The old Sierra games were terrible in design quite frequently. "What, you mean that pie that I got at the VERY beginning of the game that seemed inconsequential is really the most important item to get past a bear that doesn't appear until near the very end!"
If you used the pie any time between that, the game was impossible to finish.
In darksouls they choreograph attacks and there's reload points? Easy mode, call me when the most important decision in the game comes down to what you gave a dog in the first few minutes.
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BroloBroseidonLord of the BroceanRegistered Userregular
I have been enjoying the new King's Quest game. Each episode is short and since I wait and grab them when they go on sale I don't feel ripped off.
The old Sierra games were terrible in design quite frequently. "What, you mean that pie that I got at the VERY beginning of the game that seemed inconsequential is really the most important item to get past a bear that doesn't appear until near the very end!"
If you used the pie any time between that, the game was impossible to finish.
you also get a prompt at one point where your character is hungry and you need to decide on whether to eat
the pie
part of chicken leg
the entire chicken leg
if you eat the pie you're fucked, you'll need it later to fight a yeti
if you eat the entire chicken leg you're fucked, you'll need part of a chicken leg later to escape from some harpies
when you're in the bird's nest ( a timed sequence which you can't repeat or return to) make sure to grab the gold pixel beside you, before you are rescued from the harpy nest
it is a golden locket that must be used to make a character trust you in the final act of the game, if you do not have it you will be trapped in an endless maze
I have been enjoying the new King's Quest game. Each episode is short and since I wait and grab them when they go on sale I don't feel ripped off.
The old Sierra games were terrible in design quite frequently. "What, you mean that pie that I got at the VERY beginning of the game that seemed inconsequential is really the most important item to get past a bear that doesn't appear until near the very end!"
If you used the pie any time between that, the game was impossible to finish.
you also get a prompt at one point where your character is hungry and you need to decide on whether to eat
the pie
part of chicken leg
the entire chicken leg
if you eat the pie you're fucked, you'll need it later to fight a yeti
if you eat the entire chicken leg you're fucked, you'll need part of a chicken leg later to escape from some harpies
when you're in the bird's nest ( a timed sequence which you can't repeat or return to) make sure to grab the gold pixel beside you, before you are rescued from the harpy nest
it is a golden locket that must be used to make a character trust you in the final act of the game, if you do not have it you will be trapped in an endless maze
That was all specifically King's Quest 5. I think the only other of the Quest games that had a non winnable state was Space Quest 2 if you didn't send away for the whistle.
I have been enjoying the new King's Quest game. Each episode is short and since I wait and grab them when they go on sale I don't feel ripped off.
The old Sierra games were terrible in design quite frequently. "What, you mean that pie that I got at the VERY beginning of the game that seemed inconsequential is really the most important item to get past a bear that doesn't appear until near the very end!"
If you used the pie any time between that, the game was impossible to finish.
you also get a prompt at one point where your character is hungry and you need to decide on whether to eat
the pie
part of chicken leg
the entire chicken leg
if you eat the pie you're fucked, you'll need it later to fight a yeti
if you eat the entire chicken leg you're fucked, you'll need part of a chicken leg later to escape from some harpies
when you're in the bird's nest ( a timed sequence which you can't repeat or return to) make sure to grab the gold pixel beside you, before you are rescued from the harpy nest
it is a golden locket that must be used to make a character trust you in the final act of the game, if you do not have it you will be trapped in an endless maze
That was all specifically King's Quest 5. I think the only other of the Quest games that had a non winnable state was Space Quest 2 if you didn't send away for the whistle.
Yeah KQV is my high water mark for just incomprehensible game design and bad dead ends.
I baaaaaaaarely remember Police Quest having some of the same issues, where you could forget to do some completely innocuous things like inspect your car, and then chapters later you'd die from your tire exploding.
Librarian's ghostLibrarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSporkRegistered Userregular
Like I can see people being angry at these things now, but back then it was a known thing. You knew these games had stuff like that and you just saved a lot.
You would die immediatly in Police Quest if you didn't inspect your car. The tire would fall off the moment you left I think. If you did not inspect the weapon in the trunk I think you died later because the weapon was not prepared when you went on duty.
Again, at the time when that happened you'd be like, oh shit I better do that! then restore a save and do it.
Like I can see people being angry at these things now, but back then it was a known thing. You knew these games had stuff like that and you just saved a lot.
You would die immediatly in Police Quest if you didn't inspect your car. The tire would fall off the moment you left I think. If you did not inspect the weapon in the trunk I think you died later because the weapon was not prepared when you went on duty.
Again, at the time when that happened you'd be like, oh shit I better do that! then restore a save and do it.
the problem was that you only had so many save slots in those games
like KQV is maybe 15?
and the game would give you no indication that you had actually reached an unwinnable state, you'd just get far enough into it and think that you were missing some local object needed to solve the quest
but no you missed that shit like 8 hours ago and you've already saved over your earlier games
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In a Sierra adventure game, poking around the environment resulted in death, and using items on things and people resulted in game states where it was impossible to finish the game
Sure, you can get around that by just saving before you put in an answer
But on the other hand, fuck off
Still good, 16 years later
I actually thought this was pretty hilarious in the time I spent with one
I wandered off into the sea and was carried off by the current and drowned! That was a neat little interactive thing
I definitely prefer it to the "humor" of LucasArts games, at least
Though yeah, getting failed states for things you didn't do immediately before is pretty bad
because shivers ii: harvest of souls is the best pc game of all time so
sierra rules
That sounds pretty darn cool, to be honest
Steam ID - VeldrinD | SS Post | Wishlist
Like it is one thing to think Vow's opinions are super weird
But this is just rude and mean as all heck
3DS Friend Code: 0216-0898-6512
Switch Friend Code: SW-7437-1538-7786
But yeah, the early games in that series had some incredibly bullshit design. Ridiculously obscure puzzles, unwinnable situations that you couldn't see coming, etc. Not to mention a lot of terrible puns. So many terrible puns. But the early ones were the worst, and the overall design (not to mention storytelling and characterization) improved significantly as the series went on.
Steam ID - VeldrinD | SS Post | Wishlist
3DS Friend Code: 0216-0898-6512
Switch Friend Code: SW-7437-1538-7786
PSN: Robo_Wizard1
I can't think of a bad time to talk about Tex Murphy
My favorite one so far is probably the Super Best Friends marking out at Death Stranding. Their E3 videos are archived on their Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/superbestfriendsplay/profile
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
The first shivers was better.
But, the synopsis of Shivers II sounds way cooler than Shivers I.
Doom and Overwatch are still real good
I played it and it was great and dumb and goofy and I loved it to pieces
3DS Friend Code: 0216-0898-6512
Switch Friend Code: SW-7437-1538-7786
Day 9 and his pals did a playthrough of that one. "I took a mint" remains a running joke in his stream. That was also the sixth one in the franchise and they actually learned from previous mistakes and made it pretty decently, with very few (not sure it had any?) "you didn't do this 12 hours ago, you lose" instances.
I feel it's funny to say this in a thread filled with people who watched Giant Bomb react to E3
My Let's Play Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2go70QLfwGq-hW4nvUqmog
Yeah, that was the first game in the series that wouldn't let you go past a point of no return without warning you that you hadn't picked up whatever item you needed to progress (though, IIRC, it only give you one warning, and if you insisted on pressing on then it'd let you go directly into a puzzle that you couldn't solve before it killed you). It's really the only game in the series that holds up at all without looking at it through the veil of nostalgia; the earlier games are much more arbitrary both in their puzzles and in how often they kill the player for no discernible reason.
Sierra's games up to that point were pretty much all arbitrary like that, with a few exceptions (like the Quest for Glory series); the handful of traditional adventure games that they made after that, like Gabriel Knight and the last two Space Quests, were less obtuse and less unpredictably punitive. Then Myst came out and within like a year just about everyone who'd been making adventure games up to that point, Sierra included, was instead either making nakedly derivative Myst-likes or else trying and failing to translate adventure games into ugly PS1-era polygonal engines with awkward nigh-unusable control schemes.
Just when I thought I couldn't like Xavier Woods any more than I do, he brings out a Buster Sword, hypes up VR and proclaims Yu Yu Hakusho as his favorite anime
Finally the Hideo Kojima and HR Giger team up I always wanted.
The old Sierra games were terrible in design quite frequently. "What, you mean that pie that I got at the VERY beginning of the game that seemed inconsequential is really the most important item to get past a bear that doesn't appear until near the very end!"
If you used the pie any time between that, the game was impossible to finish.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
you also get a prompt at one point where your character is hungry and you need to decide on whether to eat
the pie
part of chicken leg
the entire chicken leg
if you eat the pie you're fucked, you'll need it later to fight a yeti
if you eat the entire chicken leg you're fucked, you'll need part of a chicken leg later to escape from some harpies
when you're in the bird's nest ( a timed sequence which you can't repeat or return to) make sure to grab the gold pixel beside you, before you are rescued from the harpy nest
it is a golden locket that must be used to make a character trust you in the final act of the game, if you do not have it you will be trapped in an endless maze
Fuck your hype
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
That was all specifically King's Quest 5. I think the only other of the Quest games that had a non winnable state was Space Quest 2 if you didn't send away for the whistle.
Yeah KQV is my high water mark for just incomprehensible game design and bad dead ends.
I baaaaaaaarely remember Police Quest having some of the same issues, where you could forget to do some completely innocuous things like inspect your car, and then chapters later you'd die from your tire exploding.
You would die immediatly in Police Quest if you didn't inspect your car. The tire would fall off the moment you left I think. If you did not inspect the weapon in the trunk I think you died later because the weapon was not prepared when you went on duty.
Again, at the time when that happened you'd be like, oh shit I better do that! then restore a save and do it.
It was so very fun.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
the problem was that you only had so many save slots in those games
like KQV is maybe 15?
and the game would give you no indication that you had actually reached an unwinnable state, you'd just get far enough into it and think that you were missing some local object needed to solve the quest
but no you missed that shit like 8 hours ago and you've already saved over your earlier games