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Adventure remakes poll

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First post, by robertmo

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Can you arrange these games in order of how much you would like them to be modernised with point and click interface. (No gfx/audio/story improvements)

Les Manley 1 In: Search For The King
Larry 3
Codename: Iceman
Space Quest 3
Conquest of Camelot
Police Quest 2
Laura Bow 1: Colonel's Bequest

If for some reason you don't want them to be modernised write in this thread: Adventure remakes

Reply 3 of 25, by collector

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I said active. That one has had little done in the past few years. Even the website has a js holiday snowfall script that has been running for the past couple of years. Latest update on their forums is from 2016. It is effectively dead. Can't say I care much for the 3D pre-rendered artwork anyway. I expect it to be abandoned before too much longer.

The Magic Mirror Games KQ4 remake has stopped as well. They could not find a sprite artist.

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Reply 4 of 25, by robertmo

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It's like an open project. Anybody can join at any moment, make some animations and leave. But the base of animations is constantly growing. They already have about half of them if not more. And they already have all the background images. So even if anyone would like to continue, he would have some work already done.

Reply 7 of 25, by Spikey

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PQ2 or Laura Bow 1, both struggle with the parser interface IMO, and all the rest actually do quite well with it. PQ2 needs updates beyond the parser change, though.
Iceman would be the next, but only if it had gameplay changes and tweaks on top of the P/C interface.

Larry 3, SQ3 and Camelot are all perfect as is. I would just want more music in SQ3, and marginally more in Camelot- and have no artists in mind who would be worthy of doing it, MusicallyInspired would be the only one in the frame.

As for Les Manley, the first game is quite good. It would need changes beyond just parser->P/C to properly update it, like changing some idiotic game designs (see: dead ends and excessive walking) which crop up once or twice.

When I say changes beyond, I mean if all you do is remove parser and make it P/C, you have made the game only slightly more accessible but not really addressed the issues that make it a hard game to play in 2018/9. Take Iceman for example, it has the makings of an amazing game, but the sub sequence, some other sequences and some insanely hard puzzles make for a game not many want to revisit. Simply changing the interface would make it slightly easier to look at things and use inventory items, but doesn't stop the bad game design from being a major barrier. You would need at least a 'lite remake' to make it playable in a real sense.

I don't see many advantages of a 'remake' which only removes parser. Usually, the switch from parser to P/C is cited as a negative by adventure game fans! (For me, and probably I am one of the few who thinks the following, Colonel's Bequest and PQ2 were horribly made games in terms of playing them, and have lots of conversation trees which most players won't ever see all of. P/C would go a long way to helping with that, even though it doesn't solve CB's timing/Act issues and PQ2's occasionally obtuse, annoyingly optional and hard to fathom puzzles.)

To end on a positive, I think Larry 3, SQ3 and Camelot are actually the best 3 EGA Sierra games ever made. Probably 3 of the best EGA games ever made total.

Reply 8 of 25, by root42

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I play the SCI EGA games solely with keyboard. Mouse support is minimal anyway, and keyboard input is pretty effective. I also don't care much about the VGA remakes. What I'd rather see is new games, like Thimbleweed Park. But the old games are good as they are. 😀

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Reply 10 of 25, by Shagittarius

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Parser will always be superior to modern mouse interface. Adventure games died because of the loss of the parser.

To elaborate what I mean is adventure games were always about finding the right action/object combination. When you removed the feeling of limitless solutions by removing the parser (even if it was an illusion) you turned the genre into 'click everything on everything' until something works which feels less open and creative and more like a boring job.

Reply 11 of 25, by beastlike

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Mel Odius Goes Six String Searchin'

Keep the PC speaker though or just one synth track with square wave only

Reply 12 of 25, by kolderman

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SQ3 is too perfect in it's current form IMO. With that MT32 score...the intro still gives me chills.

I think PQ2 would be good. I love the VGA remake of PQ1 and another one like that would be nice. Keep the midi score if possible.

Reply 13 of 25, by xjas

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IMHO the heavily-dithered vector art in the 16-color Sierra titles was gorgeous. SQ3 is the highlight of the series for me for that reason alone.

What I'd love to see more modern re-masters of are the pre-rendered Myst clones or Myst-ish games from that craze. Keep the surreal early ray-traced look, but give me a true 3D realtime environment to walk around in & explore. RealMyst did a great job, now let's see it done for Riven, Rama, Schizm, the Space Bar, etc.

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Reply 14 of 25, by dougdahl

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Shagittarius wrote:

Parser will always be superior to modern mouse interface. Adventure games died because of the loss of the parser.

Personally I tend to think that games like Doom and Myst were more likely to be the cause.
If a game company could make (at the time) a 3D shooter for less, to make more money, why wouldn't they?
And the mega-success of Myst meant that companies tried to copy that, failed, then gave up entirely, rather than being willing to sell a game with reasonable returns.
Even today look at how many game companies pile onto the latest mega-successful fad, then are shocked when the inevitable exhaustion sets in, and abandon the field entirely.
Rather than having a diversified portfolio of products to sell to every taste, today every game has to be a Games-As-A-Service Battle Royale. And in a few months time when that fad dies, on to the next thing.

Reply 15 of 25, by appiah4

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Well, personally my order would be:

Police Quest 2
Laura Bow 1: Colonel's Bequest
Codename: Iceman
Larry 3
Space Quest 3
Conquest of Camelot
Les Manley 1 In: Search For The King

Note, this is not necessarily the order that I think is from best to worst, but it also takes into account how much it would benefit from a GUI update. PQ2 for example, is almost impossible to beat with the interpreter unless you have a cheat guide, IMO. The SCUBA diving section had my teenage self nearly breaking my C1084 monitor..

Reply 16 of 25, by robertmo3

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adding Altered Destiny to the list

removing:
Police Quest 2
Laura Bow 1: Colonel's Bequest
Larry 3
Space Quest 3

any other notable parser TPPs?

Reply 17 of 25, by robertmo3

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games with point and click interface & complete gfx remake:

- King's Quest 1, 2, 3 (4 in production)
- Police Quest 1
- Larry 1
- Space Quest 1, 2, 3
- Quest For Glory 1, 2
- Gold Rush

games with point and click interface & 256 colours:

- Police Quest 2
- Larry 3
- Laura Bow 1

games with point and click interface or 256 colours:

- King's Quest 4
- Larry 2

games with point and click interface & 16 colours:

- Black Cauldron

games with mouse looking interface & 256 colours:

- Code Name: Iceman
- Conquests of Camelot

games with text parser interface & with complete gfx remake:

- Les Manley 1 In: Search For The King
- Altered Destiny

Last edited by robertmo3 on 2024-03-28, 09:26. Edited 7 times in total.

Reply 18 of 25, by hilram

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Space Quest 1 has already been remastered, there now exists a VGA version.

Reply 19 of 25, by robertmo3

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we already know 😉

Last edited by robertmo3 on 2024-03-28, 10:06. Edited 1 time in total.