Sierra's Worse Adventure Game?

[Tawmis]

I don't think Codename Iceman is the worst. Of the games I played, I'd probably say King's Quest 7.

Interesting! Let's hear why! I think it's interesting hearing what makes these games the worse!

[stuntology]

Actually, I was going to say King's Quest 7 as well (of all the games I've played, and I've only ever finished its first four chapters).

The concept is good, and I liked switching between Valanice and Rosella. The story (what I finished of it) was also pretty decent, with good puzzles. The art was beautiful too.

However, I can't stand the 'multi use icon'. I wish i could 'look' at things, and have some sort of control in how I interact with the environment. It really diminishes the gameplay.

That, and that roughly 98% of the supporting characters make me want to scream. I absolutely hate the entire population of Falderal.

[BBP]

I absolutely hate the entire population of Falderal.

That's a very valid point. It definitely has its flaws, for me that was the slow walking (RUN stupid, it's the Boogeyman!), but it can't possibly be worse than that other Lorelei Shannon thing I already mentioned. And that also has a multi-use icon.

[Moon Dragon]

For tawm's sake, I'd like to say codname iceman , but seeing as I've never played it, I'll have to hop on the anti PH2 train, that one was bad and just disgusting at times (sometimes, I still get a bad memory when using a stabler). Though I thought that the detail with the changing folder names was a well done creepy effect.

I, personally like TP, but I think I was too naive to get the grownup references as a child, so they became new facets of the game as i grew older. I think the only one I ever really noticed when I was younger, was what Torin focuses on when talking to the princess by the pool of water after they meet.

Come to think of it, I actually remeber being diapointed that we never got to know more about the princess' origin, seing as she was so obviously different than the other inhabitants of escarpa and thus most likely came from the outher realm, just like torin. Could have been a good sequel. But other than that, I thought it was a good game and will most likely play it with my children, if I ever become a parent .

[Tawmis]

Come to think of it, I actually remeber being diapointed that we never got to know more about the princess' origin, seing as she was so obviously different than the other inhabitants of escarpa and thus most likely came from the outher realm, just like torin. Could have been a good sequel. But other than that, I thought it was a good game and will most likely play it with my children, if I ever become a parent .

I am sure I mentioned it here; but in a discussion with Al, he had mentioned that he had intended 2 or 3 more games for Torin's Passage, but Sierra was already in a downward spiral and declined it.

[Moon Dragon]

I am sure I mentioned it here; but in a discussion with Al, he had mentioned that he had intended 2 or 3 more games for Torin's Passage, but Sierra was already in a downward spiral and declined it.

That's just too bad. I actually thought it was a great young adult game. But maybe I am just being biassed because of the fact that I have such fond memories of me and my mom playing it together . It would have been great to see more of the different worlds and the great humor.

[Expack3]

I am sure I mentioned it here; but in a discussion with Al, he had mentioned that he had intended 2 or 3 more games for Torin's Passage, but Sierra was already in a downward spiral and declined it.

That's just too bad. I actually thought it was a great young adult game. But maybe I am just being biassed because of the fact that I have such fond memories of me and my mom playing it together . It would have been great to see more of the different worlds and the great humor.

I'm going to (figuratively ) shock Tawmis here by saying that I agree. Yes, Torrin's Passage is my personal 'worst Sierra adventure game ever', but if I ignore my reasons for disliking it, I'd say that it's a good adventure game which deserved a sequel. Who knows - maybe Al Lowe will get to continue the story one day using funds gathered via Kickstarter.

[Tawmis]

That's just too bad. I actually thought it was a great young adult game. But maybe I am just being biassed because of the fact that I have such fond memories of me and my mom playing it together . It would have been great to see more of the different worlds and the great humor.

I'm going to (figuratively ) shock Tawmis here by saying that I agree. Yes, Torrin's Passage is my personal 'worst Sierra adventure game ever', but if I ignore my reasons for disliking it, I'd say that it's a good adventure game which deserved a sequel. Who knows - maybe Al Lowe will get to continue the story one day using funds gathered via Kickstarter.

I'd love to see that (a Kickstarter for Torin's Passage). I'd just hope Al Lowe would do it away from Replay Games.

[Collector]

Activision would probably not hold the rights for it for as high of a ransom as they do the main quest series.

[Jules]

I liked ALL the games! This thread reminds me of a KQ5 playthrough video on youtube titled, "Absinthe makes the game more tolerable." XD

[Maxor127]

I don't think Codename Iceman is the worst. Of the games I played, I'd probably say King's Quest 7.

Interesting! Let's hear why! I think it's interesting hearing what makes these games the worse!

I've probably mentioned my reasons somewhere on here before. From what I still remember, I thought KQ7 was way too kidsy to the point where it was just disgustingly saccharine. The voices annoyed me. The dog town part was torture. I'm sure I could come up with more reasons, but I'm too tired. It's funny that I used to wonder what Sierra games would be like if they were like interactive Disney movies, and that's what KQ7 aspired to be, and I couldn't stand it. It's the only Sierra game I can think of that felt like a chore to play.

[Tawmis]

I liked ALL the games! This thread reminds me of a KQ5 playthrough video on youtube titled, "Absinthe makes the game more tolerable." XD

Clearly you've not played Codename: Iceman then.

Even if you liked them all - there has to be one at the bottom of the pile that you didn't enjoy for some reason!

[Datadog]

I'd hate to pick anything as the "worst" just because each game has something special going for it. I know I'd feel awful if I came across this thread and saw my own work on any of these lists. But there are certain low points in these games that future developers could stand to learn from, so instead of a strict "worst game", I'll just focus on some minor aspects.

Least-Impressive Graphics: Probably "King's Quest 7". The KQ series was always the fore-runner for new technology and new graphics, but KQ7 was the only time they didn't get the tech looking right on their first try. The hand-drawn animation looks barely a step above "Zelda CD-i", it isn't always well-integrated into the environments (Valanice should be able to reach the cheese!!!), and the character art is very inconsistent.

Least-Impressive Plot: Not counting any "do all the girls" stories found in LSL games, I probably found myself the least invested in "Space Quest 6". It takes about three-quarters of the game before we even have a mission, and the rest is just Roger wandering around solving puzzles to kill time.

Least-Impressive Puzzles:"Leisure Suit Larry 5" (sorry, Al!), the game where everything's made up and the puzzles and points don't matter. Forget to charge your camera? Forget to film the girl? Forget to find the evidence? The puzzles required to finish the game are easy enough, but you don't need to solve most of them to finish the game or get a different ending. These girls just go down on Larry if you talk to them enough. I could beat up on KQ5's "use cheese on machine", but honestly, the KQ5 puzzles have only grown in hilarity since then.

Least-Impressive Music: None. Sierra has a great track record with music.

Least-Impressive Design: Gonna have to go with "Phantasmagoria 2" on this one. It's not quite an adventure game; it's not quite a movie. It wants to be both, but can't get a handle on either. When it's a movie, it's just jump scares, S&M, and irrelevant dialogue. When it's a game, time stands still until you solve a puzzle you don't know exists. Why can't Curtis just work 9 to 5 and go home? Why doesn't work end until he's found the secret door and had the scary moment at the water cooler? It's a "click everything until you win" game that doesn't live up to that format.

[BBP]

Aw Datadog, I realize youre playing for humour, but it's a bit unfair to both KQ7 and Zelda. I've played all Zeldas for CD-i and a lot more CD-i games, and can assure you that with the system's low memory, any animation for non-VideoCard players looks craptacular to today's standards, with little colour variation. For some reason the Nintendo games get a lot of negative response, but they're some of the more enjoyable games for the system and tried to get maximum playability. Also: at the time of release, they got a lot better reviews than they do today, with trashing something in a review that uses a disproportional amount of words that begin with F having become the number 1 hobby in the same way making cupcakes is big now. Though not as tasteful.

A lot of people here and on the Replay forums have complained about LSL's lack of story in LSL6 and 7: but to be honest, I never found that to be a hindrance to game enjoyability: I love the silly humour and slightly odd puzzles. And LSL5 is enough reason for me to beg to forget about the story altogether.

[Jules]

I liked ALL the games! This thread reminds me of a KQ5 playthrough video on youtube titled, "Absinthe makes the game more tolerable." XD

Clearly you've not played Codename: Iceman then.

Even if you liked them all - there has to be one at the bottom of the pile that you didn't enjoy for some reason!

I've played it, but I don't want to label it a bad game because of the part that was nearly impassable. But the rest that I did manage to play, I enjoyed. ^_^

There's only one game whose story that I truly didn't like, but it's not a Sierra game: Sanitarium.