Sierra On-line Adventure Games
Now that Telltale has brought back the Monkey Island games and have done Sam & Max etc. What about remakes of the classic Sierra On-Line games such as Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest, Space Quest etc. I used to enjoy playing those too, I know they weren't quite as funny but still very enjoyable, just wondered what the legal issues are surrounding them. I know there has been a new LSL game on X-Box I think but the old classics deserve a remake or refresher.
What does everyone else think considering there seems to be a new wave of enthusiasm for the ol' point and click games.
Cheers
Danimate
What does everyone else think considering there seems to be a new wave of enthusiasm for the ol' point and click games.
Cheers
Danimate
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Just my opinion though, what's everyone else think?
Yes, this was a difference in philosophies between LucasArts and Sierra. Ron Gilbert has mentioned it quite a few times on his blog. In fact, Secret of Monkey Island did a nice job making fun of some of the random deaths in those games
Also though, could you die in Police Quest? It's been ages since I played it so I don't remember. Though to be honest, I don't suspect there would be enough interest (publicly) to revive that license. I think King's Quest or Space Quest are about the only two, and maybe Larry, though I almost wonder if someone else owns that license by now since I still occassionally see LSL games these days.
Edit: http://www.mobygames.com/game-group/leisure-suit-larry-series
Yes, Vivendi owns Larry now (I assume they got the rights when they gobbled Sierra up). In fact, I bet they still own all of Sierra's properties.
Ooooh, yes.
You could even "die" from not following the correct police procedure. And I remember a particular sewer with poisonous gas from Police Quest 2 that I never got through until I replayed the game much, much later.
Haha, yeah it's been almost 20 years (and it was my friend's copy) so I couldn't remember for sure
Actually, the only thing I even remember about that game was enjoying the fact that you could turn on the police siren and run all the red lights you wanted
My sister used to play the first game just because it was fun driving all around town. The cars were made of 2 pixels, I think! I remember me and my dad had lots of fun learning how the american police works (worked?) and then trying to use that to catch the bad guys. Since google wasn't around and several pages in the manual were missing we had to go order books at the library. Good times
King's Quest I, II, and Quest for Glory II
King's Quest III and upcoming Space Quest II
And the fanmade King's Quest: The Silver Lining.
That's about all we're gonna get officially. Nobody's gonna do anything with the old Sierra IPs anymore.
There is no more Vivendi, though. And since Vivendi was bought out by ActiVision the Larry license has actually switched to another publisher, I think. I can't remember the name. Box Office Bust was released by whoever acquired it anyway.
There's already threads speculating about LSL8 and Space Quest 7, by the way.
I did actually grow up on a lot of the Sierra games and although I prefer the humour and style of MI, DOTT and Sam & Max etc. Just wonder if there was a way of reimagining the older games into today. I think it might be wishful thinking on my part.
In Space Quest 6, the death dialogue box presented two options: "restore" and "try again." Clicking "try again" would take you back to just before you made your fatal mistake. I think this is really the best sort of compromise and something I could see Telltale employing. You still get to experience all the hilarity and charm of classic Sierra ridiculous death sequences, but you aren't really being punished for exploring, because you can always just "try again." I suppose they could also include an option at the beginning of the game to turn off the try again button for the more hardcore old-school Sierra fans.
Try again button is all right, although I have a nagging feeling that Sierra added those because some wimps didn't realize to save often enough and whined how dying ruins the game. In early Space Quest games you can die simply by walking out of the game area or allowing baddies to get you, but most of the time you die because you do something stupid, like drink from the pool of green acid, walk too close to hungry looking alien, draw enemy guard's attention by shouting to him, walk off the cliff etc. I always try stupid things, but I save constantly.
When you know that you can die, you have different attitude to puzzles. In Space Quest III one of my favourite puzzles was trying to get rid off the terminator (which is sent after Roger because he didn't pay whistle which he mail ordered in previous game). It wouldn't be as fun as it is if there was no risk of dying. It makes the danger seem more real and makes you try to figure out puzzle solution even harder when terminator is chasing you.
But like I said earlier in other thread, I don't believe that revival of Sierra titles will happen. And even if it does, I don't want to see revival without original designers and most of them are retired. Only active one is Jane Jensen, but I wish that she would return to Gabriel Knight one day. Third game of the series: "Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned" was one of the best adventure games ever.
http://store.steampowered.com/news/2679/