Sierra classics circa '90

or somethin.

We should totally have a "when you're older" thread for all things like that.

DUDES

http://www.sarien.net/

holy moly

Crazy. In a great way.

The only thing I'm worried about is that on the first screen of King's Quest I, those crocs in the moat seem to be going awfully fast. Which means that in Space Quest I, the acid at the top of the cave might drip too quickly for Roger Wilco to dodge it. (I'd downloaded a version of SQ1 a couple years ago that had this problem.)

haha. i love how people don't realise that the command line is for chatting when other players are around, so they just walk around exclaiming "look at basket"

I tried to play Police Quest but when I got to the briefing room there was another player who was wandering round the room and not taking their place and the sergeant kept shouting at them and then I died instead of them. I think. Oh well.

(Does this get past the recipes-as-copy-protection of KQ3? Mind you, judging by PQ there is absolutely no chance of surviving any of these for more than a few screenfuls)

There are online walkthroughs that you can use for the recipes.

Okay not so exciting now that I keep trying to play and having other players push me out of the way.

Yeah, on KQII, at least, the water boundaries aren't well programmed/defined, so you walk on the green grass near a body of water and "fall in" and drown. Kind of annoying for really playing through the game.

Argh... I can't for the life of me pull over the red Corvette in PQ here. Stupid Mac and its lack of F keys.

Wow the multiplayer idea is crazy! I love it!

This is such a neat idea but my hat goes off to anyone who can stay alive for long enough to score more than 15 points without falling off an edge which didn't exist, dying because someone else on the same screen died, dying because someone else was standing where you needed to or took the item you needed first, the game mysteriously resetting to some random other point when you walk through a doorway, etc.

Trying to do the already ridiculous twisty-chasm-away-from-wizard-castle scene of KQIII in this is going to be a circle of hell.

But still, it is a really neat idea...

Trying to do the already ridiculous twisty-chasm-away-from-wizard-castle scene of KQIII in this is going to be a circle of hell.

Can't you just click at the bottom of the screen and have your character automatically transported there? I did that with the path to the castle in Black Cauldron.

The YT collections of ways to die in each Sierra game reminded me of how those games pissed me off. I WAS JUST TRYING TO GO OVER HERE and then you fuckin' killed me, you stupid game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcI7DvBdKw8

Enjoying the KQ5 one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vOn5D0XE9U

Next to look for Police Quest ones, cz 1 was ridiculously anal (did you walk round your car before getting in? no? then a tyre blows up and kills you! a tyre which is strangely fine if you do walk round the car) but at least made a kind of sense if you'd read the manual, PQ2 was just crazy for the utterly unpredictable death-from-mundane-object scenarios.

That car safety check was the most asinine thing! At least you got to go undercover as a pimp.

http://www.abandonia.com/games/315

Zak McCracken is the one Lucasfilm game I've never played. Would you recommend seeking it out? That page doesn't seem to have it for download...

It is AMAZING. I wish I could find a DL of it, been looking forever! (see above)

http://www.thehouseofgames.net/index.php?t=10&id=134

Seems to work anyway. Only given it about 5 minutes though.

The interface is reminding me that I never did finish Maniac Mansion.

Looks like btjunkie has a version for download, tho I don't think it's the original, it looks like some kind of graphic/sound update. Don't think the game was 74MB as first release!

Also I wanna take this time to say Quest For Glory III was my favorite Sierra game ever, but Monkey Island 2 is the best computer game ever.

anyone know what discworld was like? i just dned it but not tried yet

To 14y/o me who loved graphical adventures and Discworld books it was frustrating and not very Pratchett-ishly funny, but it had its moments I guess? But I got stuck and gave up on it, and years later I learnt that the solution to one of the puzzles I was stuck on was in fact something I'd been trying, just obviously not clicking "use" while standing on the exact right pixel.

Funnily enough I am helping mr spacecadet clear a bunch of stuff out and we just hit a seam of mid-90s games including Sam & Max, DoTT, Discworld, and he was all "man what an annoying game" and singled out the above puzzle as one he couldn't solve because the solution was illogical, whereas it had occured to me instantly except I couldn't make it work

(had encountered same puzzle with same solution in crappy 80s Spectrum game and also never found the exact right pixel to stand on to accomplish it, it being a task which requires proximity to a deadly thing - spoiler avoidance kinda making this post incomprehensible but hey)

Discworld was confusing to me too. Never finished it. Very beautiful game tho.

I had "The Dig" for a while and actually got pretty far, but I remember ending up on a really abstract puzzle that I couldn't figure out and just gave up on.

DOTT is so infinitely classic, maybe even better than Monkey Island 2. Best voice acting ever in a video game.

the solution to one of the puzzles I was stuck on was in fact something I'd been trying, just obviously not clicking "use" while standing on the exact right pixel

this is the most frustrating thing about adventure games, something like this happened to me in almost every adventure game I ended up being stuck in.

the other common thing that often got me stuck was not noticing there was some room I could go into or some box I could open so I was missing some important item later in the game which I should have gotten from that room or box.

Just found out there is a fan-made Zak McKracken 2: Between Time and Space. Has anyone played this?

I posted about a few adventure game remakes and add-ons in an adventure game forums. The games I mentioned are the most well known remakes and add-ons.

I would wait to play Zak McKracken 2: Between Time and Space and Broken Sword 2.5 (which looks awesome) until the English voice pack is released for both

I heard that some cheesy story stuff is low point of 'Between Time and Space' but otherwise everything else is superb

I know people always ask this but what ARE the contemporary equivalent of these games?

A new Monkey Island game and some new Sam and Max games have been released in small chapters/episodes over the past couple years (on pc, wii, ps3, and x-box 360). The complete games are called Tales of Monkey Island, Sam & Max save the world, and Sam & Max beyond time and space. The third new Sam and Max game is still in progress (being released in episodes).

See what I'm talking about at Telltale Games website.

Meanwhile the original Monkey Island has been released as a special edition and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge special edition is coming out very shortly. Special editions have English voice-overs and everything is hand-drawn and presented in 1080p (HD). Personally, I think getting this would probably be the best way to get into adventure gaming. But freeware is a good idea to.

note that Monkey Island and Sam & Max series are Lucas Arts adventure games (Sierra's main adventure game competition back in the day)

There are some modern graphic/point'n'click adventures out there, but none of them are as epic as your Monkey Islands etc. Zeebarf do pretty good ones:

A Small Favour
The Adventures of Reemus

http://pp23games.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/the-secret-of-monkey-island-special-edition-screenshot.jpg

Woah, the TSOMI special edition looks crazy! I'm definitely looking into it.

I recall that Monkey Island 2 made use of hand-drawn art for the backgrounds. Looks like they've redone them anyways but they look DAMN good!
http://www.lucasarts.com/games/monkeyisland2/#/home

If only we could convince Ron Gilbert to remake his original script for Monkey Island 3. The Curse of Monkey Island was great, but kinda a letdown after th ending of 2...

Back in the day I was always like "Sierra games give you OPTIONS, they are SO MUCH BETTER than LucasArts." But since I started playing old adventure games with my little sister, I've come to appreciate the value of a well-written but linear plotline versus "oh you didn't throw the boot at the rat three hours ago? GAME IS UNWINNABLE SORRY."

The new Telltale Sam and Max games are hilarious.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/full/73623773.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0ZRYP5X5F6FSMBCCSE82&Expires=1277507019&Signature=GTgfn10EZwg8e2RjDrqyp1JF3PE%3D

http://juiceoffer.com/uploads/monkey-island-2-001.jpg

I forgot how badass and terrifying LeChuck used to look.

http://i.imgur.com/QBvZSsY.jpg

I want that little trap door on the left to open up

colonel's bequest from the GOG sale right? i haven't played that one.

iirc opening up that laundry chute was the very first way i died in this game, this being the first playable screen.

but really it's a super interesting game, a nice side-experiment in What Other Kinds Of Games Can This Interface Make?. replay is important and if you really want to nail it you have to do some kind of insane stuff of basically, when you figure out which event triggers the clock advancing, you should double back and make sure you've done all the interacting and eavesdropping you can manage in that earlier time interval. but it's all about dialogue and clues and shit; there are inventory puzzles but fewer than in a king's quest game. the vibe is so great in any case, the 'creepy evening on the bayou' feel really comes through.

worrisome stereotype alert though - i want to say they mostly steer clear of really terrible dialect stuff for the african-american cook character, but said character is obviously a problematic and creaky old type from the get-go.

Fan art is amazing sometimes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq024O5HNk8