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Sierra What was the best game in each Sierra series?

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What do you feel was the best entry in each Sierra game series, and why?
 

Alex

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I haven't played them in a while, but to my recollection, the best Quest for Glory game was the second. All four original games were great, mind you (and the fifth one isn't nearly as bad as it could have been). But, I think the second game has three important advantages over the rest. First, it felt bigger than the other games, a tad more epic if you will. I especially remember fondly waking through the market maze, the battle with Ad Avis, entering the palace, the quest to become a wizard, etc. Another advantage it had is that I think its theme was better crafted than the other entries. The first quest for glory looked like a "normal" fantasy land. Which is not to say it had nothing to make it unique, but in the end its themes are all over the place, which puts it at a disadvantage. Quest for Glory 3 was certainly interesting with its fake african setting, it didn't really feel as well made as the fake arabian nights of the second game. And as for the fourth game, I think it is the one that gave the most focus to its setting of all of these. But at the same time, I think its themes didn't mesh all that well, trying to mix some hints of lovecraftian entities with a corny vampire love story. The last advantage the second game had was the parser, which I think makes for a more interesting interface than the point of click that came later. To be fair, I don't remember it utilising that interface as well as it could (in fact, I think the first game might win in this aspect), but still, it is an extra point the third game has over the third and fourth.
 

HanoverF

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Space Quest IV
Leisure Suit Larry IV
Quest for Glory IV
King's Quest III
Police Quest
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father
Manhunter: San Francisco
Conquests of the Longbow
The Dagger of Amon Ra
Both Phantasmagorias sucked


Because I said so
:martini:
 
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To be honest, QFG is a series I struggle with. I want to like it, and QFG3 is a great game, the problem is, the first QFG game I played was IV, and it struck me as really cheesy and rushed (The badly recorded voices, the voices not matching with the text on screen, etc), and it sort of turned me off to getting into the rest of the series for a long time. It seems to be the series people love the most and I wish I had played III first.
 

troupeg

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Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail
Space Quest V
King's Quest VI
Quest for Glory IV
Police Quest II
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father
Manhunter 2
Phantasmagoria 2
Conquests of the Longbow
The Colonel's Bequest

For most of these, it's subjective and I respect that, but on the other hand, anyone who disagrees with me on Leisure Suit Larry and King's Quest can suck my fat dong
 
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I agree 100% with ^, although talking about the "best" of the Phantasmagoria games is a bit of a low bar. Freddy Pharkas is also a game that doesn't get enough love.

I will actually give it to Korgoth though that KQIV is hugely underrated.
 

DalekFlay

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Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail
Space Quest V
King's Quest VI
Quest for Glory IV
Police Quest II
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father

Yeah pretty much. Might go Space Quest IV for the narration alone.

Manhunter 2
Phantasmagoria 2
Conquests of the Longbow
The Colonel's Bequest

Any of these worth playing today? I haven't touched any of these series at all.
 

troupeg

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Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail
Space Quest V
King's Quest VI
Quest for Glory IV
Police Quest II
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father

Yeah pretty much. Might go Space Quest IV for the narration alone.

Manhunter 2
Phantasmagoria 2
Conquests of the Longbow
The Colonel's Bequest

Any of these worth playing today? I haven't touched any of these series at all.


Phantasmagoria 1 and 2 just for the batshit insanity. It's not a good game, but it's a fun game to just see where it goes next
Manhunter 2, no.
Longbow, yeah
Colonel's Bequest is like Last Express, where it plays in real time and you can miss events, so up to you
 
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The Colonel's Bequest is one of the best Sierra adventure games. Go in blind. Slightly incorrect to say that it progresses in real time, it's just that there are a *lot* of hidden events that you can miss.

Conquests of the Longbow is also excellent, but I've only played it maybe twice and I don't remember it nearly as well.

The other two are pretty bad.
 

ghostdog

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Quest for Glory I, II and IV are fucking great. The best adventure games with RPG elements, in my book. And some of the best sierra games.

King's Quest series I'm not a huge fan of but I mainly remember V and VI for their beautiful graphics.

Police quest is very special as it is part adventure game, part police detective simulator. I think PQ2 was the best one.

Gabriel Knight 1 is the best in the series and my favorite supernatural mystery adventure. But Gabriel Knight 2 is the best FVM adventure sierra made.

Conquests of the Longbow is one of the most underrated adventure games ever imo.

For Larry I'm torn between 1 and Love for sail. The first one is a unique classic but Love for Sail is a better game.

Space Quest for some reason never clicked with me.
 

Unkillable Cat

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The only ones I'd be willing to say with certainty are Space Quest 4 and Gabriel Knight 1, though Space Quest 5 is just on the heels of SQ4.

I haven't played the Sierra games for reals in years, so I can't comment for certain on any of the other series. This hurts Quest for Glory the most, as I've yet to be able to play QFG4 without running into some major bugs. I really want to be able to say QFG4 is the best QFG game, but that's hard to do if its bugs bite so hard.

Also:

Space Quest IV

102.jpg
 

Aeschylus

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To be honest, QFG is a series I struggle with. I want to like it, and QFG3 is a great game, the problem is, the first QFG game I played was IV, and it struck me as really cheesy and rushed (The badly recorded voices, the voices not matching with the text on screen, etc), and it sort of turned me off to getting into the rest of the series for a long time. It seems to be the series people love the most and I wish I had played III first.
Man, you are just... sheesh.
Anyway, for me:
King's Quest VI -- Close between V and VI for me, but I prefer the puzzle design in VI.
Space Quest IV -- I still think it's the best one in spite of some truly infuriating bits.
Quest for Glory IV -- My favorite Sierra game in my favorite series, in spite of the occasional (ok, ok, frequent) crash bugs.
Gabriel Knight 1 -- A classic, though on recent replays 2 came pretty close to displacing it.
Eco Quest 2 -- Liked this one a lot when I was younger, and I think it held up better than the first game.
Leisure Suit Larry 6 -- Objectively this is not the best one, and I admit I mainly like it best because of nostalgia.
Laura Bow 1 -- I prefer it to the sequel (it stuck with me more at least), though there's some obnoxious sequences.
Conquests of the Longbow -- My 2nd favorite Sierra game behind QFG4.
Castle of Dr. Brain -- Possibly the best straight puzzle game of all time.
I don't like Police Quest much, but 2 was the least frustrating for me I suppose.
I hate both the Manhunter Games.
Phantasmagoria 2 -- Not great, but better than the first one imo.
Shivers 1 -- We don't talk about the 2nd one.
 

ghostdog

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IIRC Manhuter wasn't developed by Sierra, just published by them.

Anyway, I've only played the first one and I can say it has unique atmosphere and that I liked it a lot, despite some shortcomings.
 

Norfleet

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IThe first quest for glory looked like a "normal" fantasy land. Which is not to say it had nothing to make it unique, but in the end its themes are all over the place, which puts it at a disadvantage.
It wasn't really a "normal" fantasy land, it's just that it draws from much of the same roots as the "normal" fantasy land does: It was a decidedly Germanic fantasy land more so than the Tolkeinesque ones that modern "generic" fantasy is based on, but since these ultimately draw from the same roots, they have distinct similarities.
 

Aeschylus

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IIRC Manhuter wasn't developed by Sierra, just published by them.

Anyway, I've only played the first one and I can say it has unique atmosphere and that I liked it a lot, despite some shortcomings.
True, I guess I always just thought of them as Sierra games for some reason. I still maintain that they're shit though, although I agree that the atmosphere is pretty good. I liken them to Codename: ICEMAN in that it's an interesting concept let down by some baffling design decisions and obnoxiously finicky arcade sequences.
 

Martyr

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quick question for ya: is Police Quest 3 enjoyable without any prior knowledge of PQ 1 & 2 ?

I do plan on playing them all, but currently I'm pretty hyped about PQ 3 because I read that it's written by Jane Jensen.

regarding the topic: I love adventure games but I really suck at playing them. so the only Sierra games I've finished thus far are Gabriel Knight 1 and 2.
GK 2 is fucking awesome, a true masterpiece !!!
 

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