Best Sierra Puzzles Tournament: Round 3

[Datadog]

We've enter the third round! Eight puzzles remain and the competition's heating up! The new tournaments for this round are:

1. "GK3: Le Serpent Rouge" vs. "GK2: Wagner's Lost Opera"
2. "KQ6: The Five Gnomes vs. "PQ2: The Time Bomb"
3. "QFG2: Julanar" vs. "KQ6: Death's Challenge"
4. "KQ3: Defeating Manannan" vs. "GK1: The Schattenjäger Rituals"

The tournament begins when Roger beats the Skate-o-Rama!

On second thought, this could take a while. Just go ahead, folks!

[AndreaDraco]

1. GK3: Le Serpent Rouge
2. PQ2: The Time Bomb
3. KQ6: Death's Challenge
4. GK1: The Schattenjäger Rituals

(Even if, in my opinion, retrieving Wagner's lost opera is still a better puzzle than the Time Bomb, for example.)

[BBP]

GK3 - Le Serpent Rouge
KQ6 - Gnomes
KQ6 - Death
KQ3 - Manannan

[Mostly]

1. "GK3: Le Serpent Rouge"
2. "KQ6: The Five Gnomes
3. "KQ6: Death's Challenge"
4. "GK1: The Schattenjäger Rituals"

[Collector]

1. "GK3: Le Serpent Rouge"
2. "KQ6: The Five Gnomes"
3. "KQ6: Death's Challenge"
4. "KQ3: Defeating Manannan"

[El Ravager]

1. GK2: Wagner's Lost Opera
2. KQ6: The Five Gnomes
3. QFG2: Julanar
4. GK1: The Schattenjäger Rituals

[cesarbittar]

1. "GK3: Le Serpent Rouge"
2. "KQ6: The Five Gnomes
3. "KQ6: Death's Challenge"
4. "GK1: The Schattenjäger Rituals"

[stuntology]

Woo! I can finally vote on half of the entries! And I think that both of my opinions are the unpopular ones… Here goes!

2. Somewhat close, but the time bomb. I do agree that the five gnomes is one of the best inventory puzzles, but that's all that it is. The time bomb requires a bit more thinking than simply clicking one item on another, and it's also timed, making it very tense and memorable.

3. Julanar by a landslide. There's nothing special about the mechanics of Death's challenge: it's a one-item use puzzle (simpler than the gnomes, which was 5(?) in succession). The thing that makes it great, in my opinion, is not the puzzle itself, but the emotional moments that occur due to it. The thing is, the Julanar puzzle has that as well (and better, in my opinion), while also being much more interesting design-wise. It's worked on piece by piece slowly throughout the game, using both items and actions to solve. Death's challenge is only a one-time item use.

[Datadog]

1. "GK3: Le Serpent Rouge": For, once again, the scope of the puzzle.
2. "KQ6: The Five Gnomes": For its non-alienating structure.
3. "KQ6: Death's Challenge": For its simplicity.
4. "KQ3: Defeating Manannan": For its payoff. You get to play the game once you've solved it.

Time to add these up!

[Datadog]

And moving to the next round...

The current winners are:

1. Gabriel Knight 3: Le Serpent Rouge
2. King's Quest 6: The Five Gnomes
3. King's Quest 6: Death's Challenge
4. Gabriel Knight 1: The Schattenjäger Rituals"

Next round up shortly!

[Collector]

So this is a Jane tournament. I do not have a problem with that.