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A Space Quest series playthrough
tried playing through SQ3, but the text parser just makes everything so much more tedious. of course for the ppl that played it before and know all the puzzles playing a text parser isn’t an issue.
and what about those “ppl that played it before and know all the puzzles” when played it the first time?
I’ve been playing the first game, honestly it’s a pretty bad game. It’s not as much fun as later games (I’ve only really finished Space Quest 6 though), there’s not much humour and a lot of puzzles rely on dying to find out what to do after restoring the game. I’m now supposed to kill the Orat but I’m not sure if I’ll finish this game or if I’ll just look at a let’s play and move on the remake from Infamous Quest.
I think, on retrospect, now that I’ve gone through SQ1 and SQ2 again back to back, neither of them are really strong games. I think SQ3 is the first actually good game in the series, though it is a bit aimless for a good while after you get out of the garbage scooper. To actually understand what you’re supposed to be doing is hanging on you playing through the Astrochicken arcade game as well as having the patience in decoding the secret message it contains witht the help of the decoder ring.
I do think the first three games do play out a bit like Mark and Scott trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t work in design and with SQ4 they finally grasp it.
Tomimt, would you mind to add spoiler tags to the SQ3 solutions above, please? Granted, most participants played the games before but some not for a long time, Iznogood contemplated joining, and some might be reading along, so it gives them the freedom to choose how much to know / be reminded of in advance. Thanks!
Some general thoughts…
I used to think of Space Quest as basically identical to King’s Quest gameplay but with a comedy sci-fi story. But nowadays I think the first Space Quest (1986) may not get enough credit for how it evolved its own subtly different gameplay style from the first two King’s Quests, despite using the same AGI engine and the same basic approach as graphic adventure games. I have never played the Sierra games in chronological order, but considering them in that order is interesting.
Based on the release dates, I think SQ1 would have been in development around the same time as KQ3 and The Black Cauldron, which were also really smart games that moved the KQ approach in new directions (KQ3 in structure, Black Cauldron with an ahead-of-its-time simplified interface). All three of these games had basically the first two King’s Quests to draw on, plus of course text adventures. I am less sure how SQ1, KQ3, and Black Cauldron relate to each other in terms of internal development timelines, so we’ll just compare SQ1 to KQ1-2.
Space Quest 1, as wilco commented is more linear and story-driven than KQ1 or KQ2. It’s quickly paced and you often move through set pieces rather than explore an open world. When looking at text adventures, creating a more story-driven game is not so very remarkable. But being a graphical adventure, I think SQ1 has a slightly different toolset than a text adventure and it used this to make a more “cinematic” game for the time.
As an exercise, forget the game has comedy for a second (as tomimt notes, it’s actually more serious than some later SQs). That opening sequence where you are on a ship which has been taken over by Sariens and all your crew has been killed is a legit attempt at suspense in a graphical adventure setting. So is being chased by a spider droid, for another example.
As you are a kind of action hero, the game puts you in dangerous situations often so it also has you die often, and therefore it moved toward making those deaths funny so you wouldn’t get too frustrated.
SQ1 also has a couple more visual puzzles than KQ1-2 (as opposed to just straight-up dexterity challenges like climbing the beanstalk in KQ1) and it includes the first arcade sequence in the genre (driving the skimmer), which again is a way to bring in more visual action and be more cinematic.
Sure, fire away when you’re stuck and I’ll throw in some pointers.
It actually occurred to me, that if the Space Quest games would be released now as a new series, and the first 3 games would be out just as they are, SQ1 and SQ2 would both be pretty much part 1 and 2 in an episodic release. Neither of them is really a location heavy, are pretty short in terms of plot and have reasonably few puzzles. SQ3 would probably end up split in half.
Sure, fire away when you’re stuck and I’ll throw in some pointers.
Oh sorry, I meant that this post includes some spoilers of SQ3 solutions and I was asking if you could spoiler tag them. (Granted if there’s anything in SQ3 where having the solution spoiled probably improves the experience and saves some aimless confusion, it’s that one about playing Astro Chicken, finding a hidden message, and using the decoder ring on it, but not everyone may feel that way.)
Ah, sorry about that.
In any case, I do really like the fact, that the first SQ games already have these little things you can do a bit differently. Like in SQ1 you can kill the orat either with the water or by leading the droid in the cave.
In SQ2 you can get to the platform by either just throwin the stone in the bushes and go in through the door the guard leaves open or you can kill him by throwing the rock on his head, after which you can open the door by using the keycard you get after the crahslanding.
In SQ3, getting rid of Arnoid is either done with the hook or with the help from the local fauna.
This is a cool idea, I am going to join and see how far I can make it. I started this with QFG recently (playing entire series) but am going to drop it to play this with the group and talk about it. I had no idea part 2 had a fan remake, awesome! Have been avoiding it due to no patience with the text entry.
See you all on Kerona!
I think, on retrospect, now that I’ve gone through SQ1 and SQ2 again back to back
you guys are monsters, don’t have anything else important in life to do, like other adventures you are still midway thru, huh?
you guys are monsters, don’t have anything else important in life to do, like other adventures you are still midway thru, huh?
It takes about an hour to play through them. They aren’t that long games and I know them both by heart. I played them way too much when I was a kid. (There’s a youtube speedrun that does SQ1 and SQ2 that takes about 15 minutes each if I recall right)
I’ve finished the firt and my impression was also surprise at how small it is! Ulence Flats onyl has the jukebox to make it last longer and after that it only yhe final sequence. (that I think it’s pretty great).
I did get stuck a bit in the jukebox because I remembered the magnet from the remake and kept thinking there was one in the original also… Also had to do th jukebox bit twice because I forgot the jetpack 
Although both versions are basically the same, like I said before, the original becomes much harder because it lacks the visual clues and some dialogues to avoid the dead ends. For example, it’s really easy to miss the cartridge, with the code that is used in end on the original. The remake makes it more easy to see. Also a lot of other objects. In one case I had to look in the walkthrough because I couldn’t pick up the grenade!!! That was a problem with the parser, no clues in what was there…
I think the remake looks excellent there is really no point in playing the original now but it does make it even faster to finish.
Also I had completely forgotten about the SQ4 little easter egg when leaving the Ulence Flats in the remake! Great moment
Ah, sorry about that.
In any case, I do really like the fact, that the first SQ games already have these little things you can do a bit differently. Like in SQ1 you can kill the orat either with the water or by leading the droid in the cave.
Interesting
Also different ways to hide and get in the washing machine room
As an exercise, forget the game has comedy for a second (as tomimt notes, it’s actually more serious than some later SQs). That opening sequence where you are on a ship which has been taken over by Sariens and all your crew has been killed is a legit attempt at suspense in a graphical adventure setting. So is being chased by a spider droid, for another example.
Good point. It does feel more like a sci-fi space epic like Star Wars, the comedy did come later in the series.
See you all on Kerona!
Welcome aboard!
I think I will skip the first three games, or perhaps watch a youtube playthrough of them, but I will probably give the last three a chance.
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
I think I will skip the first three games, or perhaps watch a youtube playthrough of them, but I will probably give the last three a chance.
Awww, now we gonna miss, but only half the half of fun, ohh what the heck, it is still ‘good’.
welcome man 
does anyone sees that Roger didnt have the humor or that whole idea of comedy (we have in mind about him) thru the first part (i am yet to see this through the 2nd) as it seems that Scott (i say Scott, because he had almost all the writing part to himself) had taken a different approach toward the series starting from the 3rd part.
So its seems that the whole idea stuck in my mind about Roger Wilco isnt really there from the beginning.
i have a vague memory of the series (what i played so far, that mean), and that is *beautiful*!!!, i get stuck, i enjoy the story, and above all it feels like i am playing it for the 1st time, sometimes. that is not strange, as i always had just replayed, The 3,4,6 parts all through my adventurous life, but only played the 1,2,5 one time each. and above this the last time i played the The Sarien Encounter was the year 1988, ouch!, can you imagine? and that wasn’t the VGA remake (off course), so bottom line, i am like playing my fav series again for the first time 
thanks wilco (wilco our OPer not that Wilco 
)for bringing this into action, i dont know why i didnt do it before, but each time i thought about Sierra’s tough playing style, i had a thought that i am old for it and the style, but it seems i was wrong afterall, i still got what it needs !:)
There’s definetly a huge difference between the writing styles of SQ1 and SQ2. SQ1 has a snarky comment here and there and a joke throwin in once and a while, but the overall tone of it is a bit more serious and a bit darker all in all.
SQ2 starts out right from the bat with more humour in it. There the sarcasm is turned to the max almost immediatly and it leaves no question that it is supposed to be a comedy and that the main charcater is supposed to be this kind of a lucky idiot who just from some reason manages to survive the odds.
SQ3 tones down the humour a bit, but it also manages to balance a bit better on how the jokes are delivered and how they’re woven into the plot itself.
BTW:
I’m just playig SQ3 with ScummVM and I’m pretty sure the robot fight is not quite working as it should under it. It feels like the energy meter is a bit over sensitive and in more than one occasion Elmo has managed to block my hit without his robot showing the blocking animation.
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